What do you think?
Rate this book
Give Me LibertyCon
BEST-SELLING AND AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS WRITE FOR A GOOD All-new anthology from top names in science fiction and fantasy. A portion of the sales will fund a scholarship set up in the name of superfan, TVA engineer, and LibertyCon founder Timothy "Uncle Timmy" Bolgeo.
Join David Weber, Larry Correia, David Drake, and twelve other best-selling authors as they pay their respects to some of their devoted fans and to a lost friend. Fifteen stories from the authors' own worlds will showcase some of the names of their greatest fans in original works, written for a charity in honor of Timothy Bolgeo, the founder of LibertyCon.
Table of
FOREWORD
by Christopher Woods
“UNCLE TIMMY”
by Gray Rinehart
THE BASTION
by Christopher Woods
THE FINAL MISSION OF SPECIALIST ASTROGA
by Mike Massa
THE LIBERTY CON
by Timothy Zahn
AN ARIZONA WEREMYSTE IN CHATTANOOGA
by David B. Coe
LIBERTYCON 100
by Bill Fawcett
HIDDEN, A FAIRY TALE
by David Drake
LIBERTY FOR ALL
by Jody Lynn Nye
OR GIVE ME DEATH
by Chris Kennedy
“LIBERTYCON ODDITY”
by Gray Rinehart
THE TUCKERIZING
by Larry Correia
PARTNERS
by Kacey Ezell & Christopher L. Smith
OPEN SEASON
by Charles E. Gannon
IN THE DETAILS
by John G. Hartness
FOR LIBERTY
by Sarah A. Hoyt
HEART OF STONE
by David Weber
BUILDING THE BOLGEO
by Les Johnson
“BRANDY (SPRAKER, THAT IS)”
by Gray Rinehart
ON PAYING IT FORWARD
by Toni Weisskopf
ABOUT LIBERTYCON
by Brandy Spraker, Ann V. Robards & T.K.F. Weisskopf
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Join David Weber, Larry Correia, David Drake, and twelve other best-selling authors as they pay their respects to some of their devoted fans and to a lost friend. Fifteen stories from the authors' own worlds will showcase some of the names of their greatest fans in original works, written for a charity in honor of Timothy Bolgeo, the founder of LibertyCon.
Table of
FOREWORD
by Christopher Woods
“UNCLE TIMMY”
by Gray Rinehart
THE BASTION
by Christopher Woods
THE FINAL MISSION OF SPECIALIST ASTROGA
by Mike Massa
THE LIBERTY CON
by Timothy Zahn
AN ARIZONA WEREMYSTE IN CHATTANOOGA
by David B. Coe
LIBERTYCON 100
by Bill Fawcett
HIDDEN, A FAIRY TALE
by David Drake
LIBERTY FOR ALL
by Jody Lynn Nye
OR GIVE ME DEATH
by Chris Kennedy
“LIBERTYCON ODDITY”
by Gray Rinehart
THE TUCKERIZING
by Larry Correia
PARTNERS
by Kacey Ezell & Christopher L. Smith
OPEN SEASON
by Charles E. Gannon
IN THE DETAILS
by John G. Hartness
FOR LIBERTY
by Sarah A. Hoyt
HEART OF STONE
by David Weber
BUILDING THE BOLGEO
by Les Johnson
“BRANDY (SPRAKER, THAT IS)”
by Gray Rinehart
ON PAYING IT FORWARD
by Toni Weisskopf
ABOUT LIBERTYCON
by Brandy Spraker, Ann V. Robards & T.K.F. Weisskopf
CAST OF CHARACTERS
380 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2020
25 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 8, 2020
This book is a collection of stories written to give homage to LibertyCon and it's founder Richard T. "Uncle Timmy" Bolgeo as well as the staff and volunteers who have made this one of the south's preeminent Science Fiction/Fantasy conventions. Even though I live in Tennesse only about 100 miles from Chattanooga where LibertyCon is held I have never been to it. I can tell from these stories that it is my loss for not having gone. I have however been to several other area Science Fiction/Fantasy conventions and had the good fortune to meet Richard T. "Uncle Timmy" Bolgeo on two occasions. The first time was in the early eighties at KublaCon in Nashville Tennesse. Two friends and myself went and it was our first con. After checking in one of the first people we met was Uncle Timmy. Upon hearing that it was our first con he broke away from a group of people and explained about the various activities and how to participate and most importantly he told us about the con suite and where to find it. I had no real idea who he was but he made me and my friends feel most welcome. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.
The second time I met Uncle Timmy was a year or so later at ChattaCon in Chattanooga Tennessee. Once again he was one of the first people I saw and he again made me feel most welcome. I wish I had known him better.
The only other person I have met associated with this book is David Drake who contributed the story "Hidden, a Fairy Tale". I met him at Con*Stellation XXV Cygnus in Huntsville Alabama. A nicer and more intelligent person you will never meet.
Every story in this anthology is very good and a fitting tribute to Uncle Timmy and all the staff and volunteers of LibertyCon. If the world ever gets back to normal I will make it my goal to attend LibertyCon at least once. Following is a list of the contributors to this anthology. I hope you enjoy reading their stories as much as I did.
Contributors:
David Weber
David Drake
David B. Coe
Larry Correia
Sarah A. Hoyt
Timothy Zahn
Mike Massa
Charles E Gannon
Jody Lynn Nye
Bill Fawcett
Chris Kennedy
Kacey Ezell
Les Johnson
John Hartness
Christopher Woods
The second time I met Uncle Timmy was a year or so later at ChattaCon in Chattanooga Tennessee. Once again he was one of the first people I saw and he again made me feel most welcome. I wish I had known him better.
The only other person I have met associated with this book is David Drake who contributed the story "Hidden, a Fairy Tale". I met him at Con*Stellation XXV Cygnus in Huntsville Alabama. A nicer and more intelligent person you will never meet.
Every story in this anthology is very good and a fitting tribute to Uncle Timmy and all the staff and volunteers of LibertyCon. If the world ever gets back to normal I will make it my goal to attend LibertyCon at least once. Following is a list of the contributors to this anthology. I hope you enjoy reading their stories as much as I did.
Contributors:
David Weber
David Drake
David B. Coe
Larry Correia
Sarah A. Hoyt
Timothy Zahn
Mike Massa
Charles E Gannon
Jody Lynn Nye
Bill Fawcett
Chris Kennedy
Kacey Ezell
Les Johnson
John Hartness
Christopher Woods
June 25, 2020
If you are a science fiction fan and enjoy stories by assorted best-selling writers, then you SHOULD read this book.
If you have ever been to a science fiction convention then you NEED to read this book.
If you ever attended the LibertyCon science fiction convention in Chattanooga, TN then you MUST read this book.
An entertaining collection of stories dedicated to the late creator and driving force behind the best science fiction convention in the south (perhaps the best in the USA) - Richard "Uncle Timmy" Bolgeo. Timmy had an affirming impact on many people and will be missed.
(Full disclosure: I have a non-fiction, popular science essay in the book. My recommendation is therefore likely somewhat biased BUT I truly believe I would have loved the book even if my work were not in it.)
If you have ever been to a science fiction convention then you NEED to read this book.
If you ever attended the LibertyCon science fiction convention in Chattanooga, TN then you MUST read this book.
An entertaining collection of stories dedicated to the late creator and driving force behind the best science fiction convention in the south (perhaps the best in the USA) - Richard "Uncle Timmy" Bolgeo. Timmy had an affirming impact on many people and will be missed.
(Full disclosure: I have a non-fiction, popular science essay in the book. My recommendation is therefore likely somewhat biased BUT I truly believe I would have loved the book even if my work were not in it.)
September 19, 2022
Give Me Libertycon
3.10 actual rating
I am writing this prior to reading the book. I don’t usually preface my reviews, but this is an unusual book and therefore an unusual case. I have never been to a Con. My daughters (they are both in their 30s) have though and they enjoy them. I can’t handle loud areas anymore, so it is not something I will ever be able to do. I miss going to the fairs and festivals every year, but as the saying goes “needs must”. So why did I buy a book dedicated to a Con and to a beloved man from that community? John Hartness. I love Harker, and when John posted about this book I got it. That man got me to read something where the main character is a man named “Bubba”! I wound up buying all of those books. Anyway I was familiar with less than half of the authors. If I have missed some of the nuances from the overall universe in which some of these stories take place I apologize. When I buy an anthology I try to read every story regardless of whether or not I know the author as well as whether it is a genre I enjoy. I am not into military fiction, so I know I will be clueless about some of what is in here. I know the names David Weber and David Drake because my husband reads them. He owns most of the Honor Harrington series, so I have a passing knowledge of the character. As I said earlier I love John Hartness and own almost all of his stuff. The character of Harker was my gateway drug to Hartness. I have stories by several of the authors in other anthologies. Larry Correia’s work is great fun. I love the short story from “Fantastic Hope” - “Mr. Positive, The Eternal Optimist". It was very entertaining. Now onto the stories in THIS anthology.
The Bastion
Christopher Woods
3.5 stars
This was way more violent than the stuff that I normally read, but the main character was very cool. The back story is light on what caused him to be schizophrenic, but it does mention some procedures and trauma that have left him with the memories and personalities of other people. Mathew Kade is the name of the original man. He seems somewhat normal. I say “Somewhat” because he is still slightly psychopathic, just not as bad as others in his head. He is good at killing what needs to be killed. However if you need massive amounts done quickly then Stephen Gaunt is the one you want. He is rather terrifying. Thankfully he seems content with giving evil doers what they deserve. Stephen reminded me a little of “Dexter”. All of this is happening years after a near total collapse of society. Apocalyptic fiction is another genre I don’t normally read, but this story was fine. The story is from the “Fallen World” series.
The Final Mission of Specialist Astroga
Mike Massa
2.5 stars
This is a zombie/military story-neither of which is something that I normally read. Cathe Astroga became a soldier the hard way. She was a civilian when the world changed and zombies became real. It has been a while and in the time since she has proven herself in battle. Life had settled down to fairly boring routine when her boss Worf decided to make her the squad commander of a bunch of kids. Technically they are adults, but I am at an age where 20 is a kid. The story line itself was fine. Unfortunately towards the end it devolved into teenage boy territory. I will have to say that I never thought about whether or not zombies poop. I guess as the old children's book says, "Everybody Poops". The story is from a series of books “Black Tide Rising” that are from several different authors. John Ringo created it.
The Liberty Con
Timothy Zahn
3.5 stars
Rafe Bosphor is an agent trying to apprehend a conman “Uncle Jimmy”. Jimmy promises to people he will get them out of the area. Travel in strictly enforced. Think Eastern Europe during the height of the cold war. What is truly messed up is not only does the government want to arrest “Uncle Jimmy”, but they also take into custody the victims. So not only do you lose all of your money, but the state arrests you for both being naïve enough to fall for the con, and also for the crime of wanting to leave the area.
An Arizona Weremyste in Chattanooga
David B. Coe
4 stars
The backstory for this is a bit weird. Magicians in this series have an affliction to go along with their powers. Much like a werewolf they lose themselves around the full moon. Jay Fearsson is one such magician. Back in Phoenix he is a private investigator. He has been hired by Fritz Fotovich to find his daughter Nora. Jay is from a series of books called “The Case Files of Justin Fearsson”.
Libertycon 100
Bill Fawcett
3 stars
In the future individual thought is monitored. Reading is taught to only a select few. Libertycon and its people are Bastions of hope and they foment rebellion at every opportunity. One random line was silly. John is worried about his wounds bleeding through the clean suit he put on. He then takes 3 aspirin. As someone who has had a DVT and 2 strokes I can tell you if you do NOT want to bleed then you don’t take aspirin. I realize he’s taking it for the pain, but then the worry about the suit makes no sense. You will bleed. Just make the line saying it sucks that he is going to ruin the clean suit, but it can’t be helped. Otherwise the story was fine. A lot of stuff was happening that we as readers weren’t privy to. We learn about it towards the end. I would have preferred a more concrete ending.
Hidden, A Fairy Tale
David Drake
2.5 stars
The village where Hap lives has been under attack by an unseen bogeyman that kills by ripping out the throats of its victims. Hap has been forced to become a guard during the night while still doing his job of running the stables at the local inn. Overall I wanted a bit more info on the creature.
Liberty for All
Jody Lynn Nye
2 stars
Maybe it is reading this story after the events of January 6th. Maybe it is the full-on “country first” doctrine of Jerry the lead government agent. Whatever it was this story took me 3 days to slog through. The premise of the story has the government sending in agents with a kill order on “Uncle Jimmy”. Let me repeat…the US government sent agents to kill a US civilian on US soil. They have been told that the leader of the Con, Uncle Jimmy” is recruiting enemies of the country and brainwashing average people to go against their country. It doesn’t matter though. “I was following orders” went away as a defense a long time ago. I can't really say what angered me the most without giving away some of the ending. The Con is actually full of what are basically superheroes who help people. Some of those characters were neat. I wouldn’t mind them a story with them only.
Or Give Me Death
Chris Kennedy
3 stars
Zon and Con are members of an alien species-the Caroon. The corporation that owns the planet where they are from has hired mercs to terrorize and subjugate the Caroon. Zon and Con have come to Earth to hire their own mercs to help their people escape. They wind up hiring “Pat’s Patriots”, a unit that is staffed by so many red shirts that one has to wonder how they keep in business. Those are names of volunteers. I believe it is an honor for an author kill you off in his work. Let’s just say many people were “honored”. How the storyline fits into the “Four Horsemen Universe” I don’t know. Maybe the tech used or the alliance?
The Tuckerizing
Larry Correia
3.5 stars
Tom Stranger and his new assistant Jimmy have come to Libertycon to see what damages have been caused and try to mitigate others. Tom is an insurance agent that specializes in the multiverse. The fourth wall was broken to great comedic effect in the story.
Partners
Kacey Ezell and Christopher L. Smith
3 stars
Jack was playing a nice game of spades with a lovely woman named Taylor. All too soon giant ants or "gnats" for short attack the building leaving Jack and Taylor to fight their way back to Taylor’s ship.
Open Season
Charles E. Gannon
2 stars
There was immediately something problematic in this story. The author kept switching between using a character’s first name and their surname. At first I thought a new character had been in the room as well. If these were people that we are well acquainted with it would be fine. Calling Butcher’s character “Harry” or “Dresden” doesn’t matter. We all know who they are talking about. In this short story with the “Tuckerization” happening there is just not enough time to develop a relationship with a character well enough to know who was being talked about. It wasn’t the other characters doing this by the way. It was the narrator. Characters calling someone by different names make sense. In R.L. King’s “Alister Stone” series Verity calls Alister “Doc” until that 13th book. Her brother always calls him “Al”. The narrator never changes from “Alister”. Continuity in a story helps to solidify in the reader who these characters are. Overall it was a sloppy effort.
In the Details
John G. Hartness
3.5 stars
I have to say I was surprised by this story. I expected it to be my favorite story in the anthology. I liked the set up and how the names were included in a natural matter and not just a roll call. I am a few years late in reading this. It had been on my Kindle since the beginning, but everyone knows how TBR piles are. Anyway I had forgotten about Harker going to Memphis for a bit. When the story started off saying “three hour drive” I was like, “um Charlotte is way farther than that”. Because it is during the Memphis period we don’t get Luke or any of the others. The main story was fine, but the ending was disastrous. There was no mention of any clean up. Maybe I am being too harsh because I love Harker so much that I am holding his story to a higher standard than the others. I guess without Rebecca there Harker forgot that he just made everything worse for the humans of the town. I’m not sure I’d call Clarksville a “small town” though. After all that is where Ft Campbell is. (Yes it is supposed to be Kentucky, but that is just the post office. Most of the post is on the Tennessee side.) Military towns are rarely “small” no matter the actual population.
For Liberty
Sarah A. Hoyt
3 stars
This story is definitely geared towards hard-core fans. There are many references that went over my head that I am guessing would thrill people who read Sci-Fi as opposed to Urban Fantasy. The story line has a time cop trying to root out a plot at the LibertyCon on Earth C-23. This was written years before the TV series “Loki” came out, but it reminded me of the bureaucracy that they had.
Heart of Stone: An Honorverse Story
David Weber
4.5 stars
I knew David’s name and the “Honor” series in particular because my husband owns many of the books. Since I don’t normally read Sci-Fi I hadn’t actually read any of David’s work. This story takes place on the planet Sphinx which I gather from wiki is prominent in the Honorverse. Reading it in 2022 after two years of Covid 19 ravaging the planet was tough, at least for the first part. Once we got the back-story of why Dana was raising two boys she adopted as well as her daughters alone the story line moved to a lighter feeling. The point of view switches between Stone-a creature whose mate had died, the two boys-Mack and Zack, and Dana’s daughter Cordelia. I like how the Tuckerization happened in this story. This was my favorite story in the anthology.
3.10 actual rating
I am writing this prior to reading the book. I don’t usually preface my reviews, but this is an unusual book and therefore an unusual case. I have never been to a Con. My daughters (they are both in their 30s) have though and they enjoy them. I can’t handle loud areas anymore, so it is not something I will ever be able to do. I miss going to the fairs and festivals every year, but as the saying goes “needs must”. So why did I buy a book dedicated to a Con and to a beloved man from that community? John Hartness. I love Harker, and when John posted about this book I got it. That man got me to read something where the main character is a man named “Bubba”! I wound up buying all of those books. Anyway I was familiar with less than half of the authors. If I have missed some of the nuances from the overall universe in which some of these stories take place I apologize. When I buy an anthology I try to read every story regardless of whether or not I know the author as well as whether it is a genre I enjoy. I am not into military fiction, so I know I will be clueless about some of what is in here. I know the names David Weber and David Drake because my husband reads them. He owns most of the Honor Harrington series, so I have a passing knowledge of the character. As I said earlier I love John Hartness and own almost all of his stuff. The character of Harker was my gateway drug to Hartness. I have stories by several of the authors in other anthologies. Larry Correia’s work is great fun. I love the short story from “Fantastic Hope” - “Mr. Positive, The Eternal Optimist". It was very entertaining. Now onto the stories in THIS anthology.
The Bastion
Christopher Woods
3.5 stars
This was way more violent than the stuff that I normally read, but the main character was very cool. The back story is light on what caused him to be schizophrenic, but it does mention some procedures and trauma that have left him with the memories and personalities of other people. Mathew Kade is the name of the original man. He seems somewhat normal. I say “Somewhat” because he is still slightly psychopathic, just not as bad as others in his head. He is good at killing what needs to be killed. However if you need massive amounts done quickly then Stephen Gaunt is the one you want. He is rather terrifying. Thankfully he seems content with giving evil doers what they deserve. Stephen reminded me a little of “Dexter”. All of this is happening years after a near total collapse of society. Apocalyptic fiction is another genre I don’t normally read, but this story was fine. The story is from the “Fallen World” series.
The Final Mission of Specialist Astroga
Mike Massa
2.5 stars
This is a zombie/military story-neither of which is something that I normally read. Cathe Astroga became a soldier the hard way. She was a civilian when the world changed and zombies became real. It has been a while and in the time since she has proven herself in battle. Life had settled down to fairly boring routine when her boss Worf decided to make her the squad commander of a bunch of kids. Technically they are adults, but I am at an age where 20 is a kid. The story line itself was fine. Unfortunately towards the end it devolved into teenage boy territory. I will have to say that I never thought about whether or not zombies poop. I guess as the old children's book says, "Everybody Poops". The story is from a series of books “Black Tide Rising” that are from several different authors. John Ringo created it.
The Liberty Con
Timothy Zahn
3.5 stars
Rafe Bosphor is an agent trying to apprehend a conman “Uncle Jimmy”. Jimmy promises to people he will get them out of the area. Travel in strictly enforced. Think Eastern Europe during the height of the cold war. What is truly messed up is not only does the government want to arrest “Uncle Jimmy”, but they also take into custody the victims. So not only do you lose all of your money, but the state arrests you for both being naïve enough to fall for the con, and also for the crime of wanting to leave the area.
An Arizona Weremyste in Chattanooga
David B. Coe
4 stars
The backstory for this is a bit weird. Magicians in this series have an affliction to go along with their powers. Much like a werewolf they lose themselves around the full moon. Jay Fearsson is one such magician. Back in Phoenix he is a private investigator. He has been hired by Fritz Fotovich to find his daughter Nora. Jay is from a series of books called “The Case Files of Justin Fearsson”.
Libertycon 100
Bill Fawcett
3 stars
In the future individual thought is monitored. Reading is taught to only a select few. Libertycon and its people are Bastions of hope and they foment rebellion at every opportunity. One random line was silly. John is worried about his wounds bleeding through the clean suit he put on. He then takes 3 aspirin. As someone who has had a DVT and 2 strokes I can tell you if you do NOT want to bleed then you don’t take aspirin. I realize he’s taking it for the pain, but then the worry about the suit makes no sense. You will bleed. Just make the line saying it sucks that he is going to ruin the clean suit, but it can’t be helped. Otherwise the story was fine. A lot of stuff was happening that we as readers weren’t privy to. We learn about it towards the end. I would have preferred a more concrete ending.
Hidden, A Fairy Tale
David Drake
2.5 stars
The village where Hap lives has been under attack by an unseen bogeyman that kills by ripping out the throats of its victims. Hap has been forced to become a guard during the night while still doing his job of running the stables at the local inn. Overall I wanted a bit more info on the creature.
Liberty for All
Jody Lynn Nye
2 stars
Maybe it is reading this story after the events of January 6th. Maybe it is the full-on “country first” doctrine of Jerry the lead government agent. Whatever it was this story took me 3 days to slog through. The premise of the story has the government sending in agents with a kill order on “Uncle Jimmy”. Let me repeat…the US government sent agents to kill a US civilian on US soil. They have been told that the leader of the Con, Uncle Jimmy” is recruiting enemies of the country and brainwashing average people to go against their country. It doesn’t matter though. “I was following orders” went away as a defense a long time ago. I can't really say what angered me the most without giving away some of the ending. The Con is actually full of what are basically superheroes who help people. Some of those characters were neat. I wouldn’t mind them a story with them only.
Or Give Me Death
Chris Kennedy
3 stars
Zon and Con are members of an alien species-the Caroon. The corporation that owns the planet where they are from has hired mercs to terrorize and subjugate the Caroon. Zon and Con have come to Earth to hire their own mercs to help their people escape. They wind up hiring “Pat’s Patriots”, a unit that is staffed by so many red shirts that one has to wonder how they keep in business. Those are names of volunteers. I believe it is an honor for an author kill you off in his work. Let’s just say many people were “honored”. How the storyline fits into the “Four Horsemen Universe” I don’t know. Maybe the tech used or the alliance?
The Tuckerizing
Larry Correia
3.5 stars
Tom Stranger and his new assistant Jimmy have come to Libertycon to see what damages have been caused and try to mitigate others. Tom is an insurance agent that specializes in the multiverse. The fourth wall was broken to great comedic effect in the story.
Partners
Kacey Ezell and Christopher L. Smith
3 stars
Jack was playing a nice game of spades with a lovely woman named Taylor. All too soon giant ants or "gnats" for short attack the building leaving Jack and Taylor to fight their way back to Taylor’s ship.
Open Season
Charles E. Gannon
2 stars
There was immediately something problematic in this story. The author kept switching between using a character’s first name and their surname. At first I thought a new character had been in the room as well. If these were people that we are well acquainted with it would be fine. Calling Butcher’s character “Harry” or “Dresden” doesn’t matter. We all know who they are talking about. In this short story with the “Tuckerization” happening there is just not enough time to develop a relationship with a character well enough to know who was being talked about. It wasn’t the other characters doing this by the way. It was the narrator. Characters calling someone by different names make sense. In R.L. King’s “Alister Stone” series Verity calls Alister “Doc” until that 13th book. Her brother always calls him “Al”. The narrator never changes from “Alister”. Continuity in a story helps to solidify in the reader who these characters are. Overall it was a sloppy effort.
In the Details
John G. Hartness
3.5 stars
I have to say I was surprised by this story. I expected it to be my favorite story in the anthology. I liked the set up and how the names were included in a natural matter and not just a roll call. I am a few years late in reading this. It had been on my Kindle since the beginning, but everyone knows how TBR piles are. Anyway I had forgotten about Harker going to Memphis for a bit. When the story started off saying “three hour drive” I was like, “um Charlotte is way farther than that”. Because it is during the Memphis period we don’t get Luke or any of the others. The main story was fine, but the ending was disastrous. There was no mention of any clean up. Maybe I am being too harsh because I love Harker so much that I am holding his story to a higher standard than the others. I guess without Rebecca there Harker forgot that he just made everything worse for the humans of the town. I’m not sure I’d call Clarksville a “small town” though. After all that is where Ft Campbell is. (Yes it is supposed to be Kentucky, but that is just the post office. Most of the post is on the Tennessee side.) Military towns are rarely “small” no matter the actual population.
For Liberty
Sarah A. Hoyt
3 stars
This story is definitely geared towards hard-core fans. There are many references that went over my head that I am guessing would thrill people who read Sci-Fi as opposed to Urban Fantasy. The story line has a time cop trying to root out a plot at the LibertyCon on Earth C-23. This was written years before the TV series “Loki” came out, but it reminded me of the bureaucracy that they had.
Heart of Stone: An Honorverse Story
David Weber
4.5 stars
I knew David’s name and the “Honor” series in particular because my husband owns many of the books. Since I don’t normally read Sci-Fi I hadn’t actually read any of David’s work. This story takes place on the planet Sphinx which I gather from wiki is prominent in the Honorverse. Reading it in 2022 after two years of Covid 19 ravaging the planet was tough, at least for the first part. Once we got the back-story of why Dana was raising two boys she adopted as well as her daughters alone the story line moved to a lighter feeling. The point of view switches between Stone-a creature whose mate had died, the two boys-Mack and Zack, and Dana’s daughter Cordelia. I like how the Tuckerization happened in this story. This was my favorite story in the anthology.
June 11, 2020
Many of the stories were very good, and I appreciate the spirit behind the Tuckerization of the con staff and volunteers, but there were way too many stories with the theme of “the con is a cover for a secret/covert organization.” It actually got to the point where I would go “Oh, God, not another one.”
April 24, 2025
Overall a very good collection of science fiction and fantasy stories. I like most of the stories here, with only 2 stories I could not finish (I will omit their names, as this is a matter of personal taste and I would not want you to be infected by my opinion before reading the anthology). It is clear that the authors featured (including some very well known names for science fiction fans, such as Timothy Zahn and David Weber) have a great appreciation for LibertyCon, the Chattanooga summer conferences organized by Richard "Uncle Timmy" Bolgeo and his daughter, Brandy Spraker.
A few reviewers have complained about the relative abundance of stories featuring LibertyCon in some kind of secret history. But what did you expect from an anthology dedicated in its entirety to the conference? Of course it is going to be featured in some of the stories.
A few reviewers have complained about the relative abundance of stories featuring LibertyCon in some kind of secret history. But what did you expect from an anthology dedicated in its entirety to the conference? Of course it is going to be featured in some of the stories.
July 19, 2020
This is a collection of new short stories dedicated to LibertyCon, a science fiction convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Every story contains "Tuckerizations" of staff and volunteers from LibertyCon, and many of them are set at the convention.
The lineup of authors the editors were able to put together is incredible, as you can see on the cover. I enjoyed practically every story in the anthology, but these were my favorites:
"The Liberty Con" by Timothy Zahn
"Liberty for All" by Jody Lynn Nye
"The Tuckerizing" by Larry Correia (a Tom Stranger story)
"Open Season" by Charles E. Gannon
"For Liberty" by Sarah A. Hoyt
"Heart of Stone" by David Weber (an Honorverse story)
The lineup of authors the editors were able to put together is incredible, as you can see on the cover. I enjoyed practically every story in the anthology, but these were my favorites:
"The Liberty Con" by Timothy Zahn
"Liberty for All" by Jody Lynn Nye
"The Tuckerizing" by Larry Correia (a Tom Stranger story)
"Open Season" by Charles E. Gannon
"For Liberty" by Sarah A. Hoyt
"Heart of Stone" by David Weber (an Honorverse story)
June 7, 2020
This collection of stories is awesome. The balance of story types offers up something for everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed learning how/when all of the contributors met Uncle Timmy and the editors.
I have the pleasure of being a member of the LibertyCon family and one of those Tuckerized within this volume’s pages so my review is a little biased. I waited impatiently for it to arrive and it did not disappoint. I found myself laughing, crying, and feeling a little bit closer to my Con-family.
I have the pleasure of being a member of the LibertyCon family and one of those Tuckerized within this volume’s pages so my review is a little biased. I waited impatiently for it to arrive and it did not disappoint. I found myself laughing, crying, and feeling a little bit closer to my Con-family.
August 4, 2022
These are mostly very good stories, but for best enjoyment you’ll want to have attended LibertyCon. Much of the action takes place around Chattanooga and the convention, and even what action doesn’t take place there, involves the fans who run and attend the convention.
It’s filled with Tuckerizations, where real people’s names and sometimes the full person are used as characters in stories. Tuckerizations are one of the draws of LibertyCon’s art auction.
By far the best combination of both great story and great in-jokes was Larry Correia’s “The Tuckerizing”, which is such a mass of self-referential material it collapses in on itself and almost destroys the space-time continuum.
And that’s a spoiler.
Charles E. Gannon’s “Open Season” is a good example of how great these stories are even if you don’t get the in-joke. As a relative newcomer to LibertyCon, I just sort of assumed Joe Buckley was someone Gannon had a fun rivalry with. What I didn’t know is that Buckley is famous for being the most-killed character in Baen Tuckerizations. How Gannon handles that was funny even without knowing the joke, which is an amazing writing feat.
One of the saddest cases of prognostication occurs in Bill Fawcett’s (very good) “LibertyCon 100”.
Never go full CNN.
The award for the absolute worst pun goes to Chris Kennedy’s “Or Give Me Death”. It’s also a fun tale of mercenaries on a short but deadly mission on another planet. Runner up would have to go to Timothy Zahn’s “The Liberty Con” (also a very good story) but Zahn puts his pun up front at the beginning, in the title itself, whereas Kennedy hits you over the head with it toward the end.
Running a close second for most fun after Larry Correia is Sarah A. Hoyt’s “For Liberty”. I have a soft spot for time patrol stories, and this one, despite being lighthearted and short, addresses one of the big problems any time authority must have to address—how to avoid corruption when time itself is at the disposal of the infiltrators. Corruption is a ratchet—once someone is corrupted, they’re not usually going back, which means the advantage is always to the organization doing the corruption against the organization trying to remain true to their mission.
Among my other favorites are Mike Massa’s “The Final Mission of Specialist Astroga”, which sounds a lot like his “No Sh*t, There I Was” stories, a perennial favorite LibertyCon panel. It asks the question no one has ever asked, how does the E-4 mafia work in a zombie apocalypse?
Les Johnson’s “Building the Bolgeo: Nuclear Power and Propulsion for Exploration of the Solar System” is also worth the read. While it also ties heavily into LibertyCon (“Uncle Timmy” Bolgeo is LibertyCon’s founder and a nuclear engineer; his death transformed this book from a mere thank-you to the staff, into a memorial) it’s also a very simple introduction to how nuclear propulsion would work in a spacecraft, and why it’s the best currently-known choice for long-term exploration of our planetary neighbors.
I technically already knew everything here, but I didn’t really understand it—and I didn’t know I didn’t understand it. Johnson put that info into a context that integrated my disparate knowledge into a better understanding of how nuclear propulsion works. I start building tomorrow.
It’s filled with Tuckerizations, where real people’s names and sometimes the full person are used as characters in stories. Tuckerizations are one of the draws of LibertyCon’s art auction.
By far the best combination of both great story and great in-jokes was Larry Correia’s “The Tuckerizing”, which is such a mass of self-referential material it collapses in on itself and almost destroys the space-time continuum.
And that’s a spoiler.
“One of the writers claimed a mogwai was their service animal. But then somebody fed it after midnight and tossed it in the pool.”
Charles E. Gannon’s “Open Season” is a good example of how great these stories are even if you don’t get the in-joke. As a relative newcomer to LibertyCon, I just sort of assumed Joe Buckley was someone Gannon had a fun rivalry with. What I didn’t know is that Buckley is famous for being the most-killed character in Baen Tuckerizations. How Gannon handles that was funny even without knowing the joke, which is an amazing writing feat.
One of the saddest cases of prognostication occurs in Bill Fawcett’s (very good) “LibertyCon 100”.
Jack found most of the shows boring, but CNN did generate the occasional laugh when watching how the reporters twisted themselves into knots in order to explain how another decrease in food production or shortage of fuel benefited all patriots.
Never go full CNN.
The award for the absolute worst pun goes to Chris Kennedy’s “Or Give Me Death”. It’s also a fun tale of mercenaries on a short but deadly mission on another planet. Runner up would have to go to Timothy Zahn’s “The Liberty Con” (also a very good story) but Zahn puts his pun up front at the beginning, in the title itself, whereas Kennedy hits you over the head with it toward the end.
Running a close second for most fun after Larry Correia is Sarah A. Hoyt’s “For Liberty”. I have a soft spot for time patrol stories, and this one, despite being lighthearted and short, addresses one of the big problems any time authority must have to address—how to avoid corruption when time itself is at the disposal of the infiltrators. Corruption is a ratchet—once someone is corrupted, they’re not usually going back, which means the advantage is always to the organization doing the corruption against the organization trying to remain true to their mission.
Among my other favorites are Mike Massa’s “The Final Mission of Specialist Astroga”, which sounds a lot like his “No Sh*t, There I Was” stories, a perennial favorite LibertyCon panel. It asks the question no one has ever asked, how does the E-4 mafia work in a zombie apocalypse?
Les Johnson’s “Building the Bolgeo: Nuclear Power and Propulsion for Exploration of the Solar System” is also worth the read. While it also ties heavily into LibertyCon (“Uncle Timmy” Bolgeo is LibertyCon’s founder and a nuclear engineer; his death transformed this book from a mere thank-you to the staff, into a memorial) it’s also a very simple introduction to how nuclear propulsion would work in a spacecraft, and why it’s the best currently-known choice for long-term exploration of our planetary neighbors.
I technically already knew everything here, but I didn’t really understand it—and I didn’t know I didn’t understand it. Johnson put that info into a context that integrated my disparate knowledge into a better understanding of how nuclear propulsion works. I start building tomorrow.
July 5, 2020
All the stories were 4 stars or better. My favorites were The Final Mission of Specialist Astroga (Massa), The Liberty Con (Zahn), An Arizona Weremyste in Chattanooga (Coe), Hidden, A Fairy Tale (Drake), Heart of Stone (Weber), and Building the Bolgeo (Johnson).
June 16, 2020
An amazing assortment of authors and stories
LibertyCon is the event that sets the standard for fandom. The people honored in these stories made it disturbs today
The stories reflect the wide range of science and science fiction that fit under the LibertyCon umbrella.
LibertyCon is the event that sets the standard for fandom. The people honored in these stories made it disturbs today
The stories reflect the wide range of science and science fiction that fit under the LibertyCon umbrella.
July 21, 2020
So hard to write a review of a book of short stories. Some are a solid 5 stars and others, well, none were bad but a few were really only about a 3 star story. There were a number that used the convention as a back drop for the story in interesting ways.
February 17, 2021
An anthology of stories concerning a sf convention called Libertycon held in Chattanooga. Each story includes the names of volunteers who work the convention and range from fantasy to hard science. A really fun read even if you don’t know the people involved.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews