Hi dear members of this group ;
Please update me how can i read a book ?
Please kindly send me your gaude to my e-mail :
aalerta23@yahoo.com
tnx

Hello Alireza. Welcome to the group. Thanks for joining us.

Do you mean, how do you find book recommendations that are good? I hope you check out my novel, Reason Reigns. I posted the first 88 pages in my profile. We have members that have advertised their books in the "Happy & Brainy" group.

Have a wonderful day Alireza and everyone.

I'm compiling a list of libertarian fiction released to print in 2008. (Including my own new release.) Most of these, I plan to read myself. I'll be posting the list at AbesTurn.com/libertarian-fiction-2008. But I'd appreciate further suggestions.

Here's the list so far (in order of release date):

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Reason Reigns by Ilyn Ross

Roswell, Texas by L. Neil Smith, Rex F. May

The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod

The Return of the Last Space Explorer by Simon Drake

Fe Fi FOE Comes by William C. Samples

The Conscience of Abe's Turn: The Birth of the Conscience (Volume 1) by J. Timothy King

Any other suggestions?

Hello Tim. Thanks for joining us. Welcome to “To the Glory of Man”. Good fortune on your endeavors. Please tell us about your book: "The Conscience of Abe's Turn: The Birth of the Conscience".

A million thanks for including Reason Reigns in your list.

What do you think of the Libertarian Party?

Hi everyone. Have a wonderful Friday and weekend.

Thanks for the welcome, Ilyn.

If you read The Conscience of Abe's Turn, I hope you'll understand why libertarians seem paranoid of the police state. (At least that's the goal.) It's about a team of civil-rights activists who resort to espionage in order to subvert the police-state tactics of their hometown of Abe's Turn. (As Zorro or Robin Hood, but with 21'st-century swordplay.)

Everything the government does in Abe's Turn is based on actual government in America. In one case, I even took the actual words of a pro-drug-war sheriff, who clearly didn't understand the concept of "civil rights," and put those words into the mouth of my villain.

The biggest challenge I've had writing Abe's Turn is that when you take real American news stories and transplant them into a novel, they seem so fantastic, you don't believe they could ever actually happen. The defense that "It actually happened" is not good enough, because when someone's reading a novel, he wants to feel as though it "could" happen, and truth is stranger than fiction. So you have to build up the story over time through the characters' interactions. And so in this first volume, the conflicts are actually pretty tame. (Still, people have been telling me things like "I can't put it down," which is always fun to hear.)

The Conscience of Abe's Turn is actually a series of novelettes, done in the style of a TV series. The first volume includes the first 4 episodes, which take place over half a year. That makes it about the size of a novel, but (as with a TV show) there are some significant loose ends left in the overarching story line. (I have a planned 24-episode story arc.) The book also contains extra chapters, including a short story, which my father tells me is the best thing I've written. (But you know parents: they'll be as honest as they can, without hurting your feelings.)


For the list, I'm interested in any book that addresses libertarian themes, because I'm a little disheartened by pop fiction, which seems to always be conservative or liberal. And the cops are always the good guys. That disheartens me, too. So I wanted to write something that breaks with that pattern, and I like to read stuff that breaks with the pattern.

I haven't read Reason Reigns yet, but it sounds reminiscent of Ayn Rand's work. Is that an accurate impression?


The LP... Well... Sure. Why not?

Seriously, I've had some contact with my local LP. And I've voted Libertarian before, and intend to again. But whether the LP--or any third party--will ever make a significant difference in American politics? Not under the current system, and I don't see the system changing, at least not without some sort of dramatic upheaval. And the LP, like any political party, is... uh... a political party. So with it, you get all the crap you expect from political parties.

But there are some exciting things happening by people who have been connected with the LP here in Massachusetts, like ballot question 1, to repeal the state income tax. Carla Howell and Michael Cloud and company are behind that. It's kinda cool to have the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation (whose mission apparently is to make sure we keep paying taxes, because otherwise, I guess, they wouldn't have anything to do with themselves--no taxes means no taxpayers means no more taxpayer foundation)... It's kinda cool to have the MTA release a bulls*** report decrying question 1, on the grounds that it'll decimate government schools and government law enforcement. Well, yeah, I guess that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Except that it's not true. Politicians will always fund schools and police, because the populace wants those things. And they'll always take as much money as they can away from those things to spend on their pet projects, because that's how they go back to the taxpayer and say, "We're out of money, and we need more taxes in order to build a new school," or whatever. Question 1 has nothing to do with it.

But I'm going off on a tangent.

-TimK

Thank you so much Tim.

I will answer your question about Reason Reigns tonight or tomorrow. Have a wonderful day Tim and everyone.

Hello Tim, Alireza, and everyone. Have a fun week.

Tim asked: "I haven't read Reason Reigns yet, but it sounds reminiscent of Ayn Rand's work. Is that an accurate impression?"

In Reason Reigns (RR), that I am an Objectivist-Thomist shows in the characters of Ron Balian and Toni Connor. I wrote this in my Goodreads profile: “The values, virtues, and achievements of my heroes, as well as their battles, are an inspiration in my life and writing.” In RR, one would see the values, virtues, and battles of these heroes: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ayn Rand, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Mike Milken, Balian of Ibelin, and others.

I wrote in my Goodreads-review: “It (RR) is a novel I wish I had read when I was a youngster; it depicts philosophy in a way that kids could grasp and enjoy.”

Youngsters would be able to grasp and enjoy RR while Ayn Rand’s novels are for more mature readers. Philosophy is a practical necessity, so I wrote RR to present philosophic ideas through a thrill-packed story where children shine gloriously.

I picked up Fe Fi FOE Comes on Tim's recommendation. Still reading it, but it is a true freedom story wrapped in science fiction.

Thank you for telling us, Debutante. I'll check it out, too. Welcome to the group - thanks for joining us.

Thank you Ilyn. I love AR's books and pretty much everything in that vein. I'm putting Reason Reigns on my to read shelf.

Thank you so much, Debutante.

Okay so I finished the book! Long read like 870 pages, but well worth it. So the book begins in the here and now and everything is pretty messed up worldwide, like it actually is. There's someone writing about the future though, and the govt is after him to stop his writing because he's stirring people up, but get this - the future he is writing about is REAL! It seems the people now are beginning the future reality. Everything turns on whether or not freedom will remain lost or be sustained - and it is the FOE that are the champions of freedom in the future. No matter where anyone in the world is if someone is trying to harm them or oppress them then they can call the FOE and they will come.

I don't want to give too much away, but when you get into the story you begin to wonder how we could have all been gyped so much for almost forever, and how close we are to losing it all!

Oh yes - the powerful love stories!!

This book is going to be read and read again. I don't understand why the mainstream is ignoring it ... well maybe I do. LOL

Thank you, Debutante and Tim for telling us about Fe Fi FOE Comes. I will include it in my to-buy list.