What libertarian fiction is everyone working on?

[J.P.]

I know a few of us here are published already, but is anyone currently working on pieces and, if so, what are they?

Give us the deets here!

I'm currently writing a short story about NH seceding from the union, as well as a 3rd entry in my steampunk series where the outlines of a vast socialist conspiracy start to become visible as our heroes discover mysterious forces manipulating the European empires into a war.

I also have plans for a murder mystery set on a seastead, and a short story about an alternate world where anarcho-capitalist Europeans discover America and how that changes their dealings with the natives.

Finally, my big project next year will probably be my first novel, based on a private military company that topples dictatorships in 3rd world countries for a profit (by becoming a private rights-enforcement agency after the fall of the existing rulers), and I'm editing a novella that I wrote about a doctor operating under a stifling government healthcare system and the mysteriously ill girl and her mother who visit him late one night.

[Matthew]

Dude, lots of great ideas there!

Right now, I am working on a novel that will probably be called The Preferred Observer. It deals with the nature of observation, evidence and belief, as well as some good old Rothbardian libertarianism. It will be somewhat near-future sci-fi.

[Bretigne]

I've just gotten the scripts off to the artists for the next chapters of Urban Yogini (first chapter here: http://www.cultural-nomad.com/urban/p...) and plan to publish the first 4 chapters as a short graphic novel early next year.

I'm also about halfway finished with a short novel about how economic liberalization impacts the lives of six different people in an imaginary (but not THAT imaginary) Asian country. I'm hoping to finish it up in the spring.

I've also got a script for a pilot episode of an an-cap/cryptocurrency/sci-fi TV show that has been on the back burner for a few years. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it (the script is complete) - I may turn it into a web comic.

[Andy]

Bretigne, I like the focus on non-violence in the urban yogini conception... I'm interested to see where you take it. I explore my own takes on "non-violence" in my novel, though I'll note that in episode 1, your hero picks up two policemen - which you have them describe as an "assault" - and then flies them up and puts them on a ledge. In my conception, those *are* violent acts... it almost seems like *you* think so as well by using the term "assault" (I take it as given that an assault is violent). Perhaps your sense of "non-violence" comes out more clearly in the following sections.

[Bretigne]

Andy, yes, I do try to deal with this distinction later on. Her restriction is NOT the NAP, but is the yama "ahimsa" which means "non-harming" rather than non-aggression or even non-violence. So yes, according to my own beliefs (including the NAP), what she does with the police officers could be considered a form of "violence". (It would not be considered "aggression" however, since she was doing it in defense of someone the officers had aggressed against.)

The idea with Urban Yogini is to raise the issues of violence vs. non-violence/aggression vs. non-aggression - and also "harming" vs. "non-harming". She is *not*, strictly speaking, a libertarian heroine, since it is not the NAP that binds her. However through her adventures and struggles (and conflicts with other "peaceful" people who fully support violence when used by the state), the issues of the NAP, aggression, violence, etc. are explored.

[Andy]

Very cool! My work also explores similar themes and through a similar method of positing a group of people committed to my own variant I call the non-initiation of violence principle, and while that's something I'm intrigued with, part of its appeal for my work is that it allows me to explore its relationship to the same things you mention, e.g. NIVP vs NAP, aggression vs violence, the nature of Statism, and indeed there are also some considerations of "harm" that is neither violent nor aggression.

Happy to see another "libertarian" willing to dig at the roots of libertarianism a bit and share it out to the larger community.

[G.R.]

I'm just about ready to publish a fantasy / paranormal trilogy of novels which are lightly philosophical, introducing a few libertarian / anarchist ideas such as getting government out of marriage, individual / property rights, the failures of socialist economic "planning", etc. After that, I'm also working on an extended series (14 books), set in a fantasy world, delving more into various aspects of an anarchist society and how it compares to monarchist / democratic / socialist societies. The stories will deal with such things as no-victim-no-crime, how a free market justice and personal defense system could work, how government regulations and union power restrict business and employment, the effects of taxes and regulations on trade and competition, who is best suited to decide what's in the best interests of any given person (obviously, the individual himself), etc. Drawing on a lot of Rothbardian / Hoppean texts for inspiration, and hope to every god known to man that I can do them justice.

[Geoffrey]

Gabriela,

Do you have all three finished already? Are you putting them out at the same time or very close together?

[G.R.]

They're darn near finished. 1 and 3 are ready to roll, 2 is still getting some editing. I'm debating how much to space publishing them, though. As a reader, I hate having to wait for the next in the series, so I don't want them too far apart, but I'm not too keen on releasing them all at once either.

[Geoffrey]

Maybe a few months in between? That'll give you 9 more months to get a fourth novel ready to publish. :)

[J.]

So far I've self-published one novel and a short story, and I'm working on outlines for at least five (!) more books. All of them inspired by libertarian ideals :)

The Good Fight is my debut YA horror novel; it's a dystopian mirror of modern-day Toronto, where the creeping left-wing authoritarianism rampant in this city has a chilling origin. Two teenagers find themselves the target of a vicious enemy looking to strip them of their individuality, and have to fight for their own liberty if they want to survive.

A Canadian Christmas Carol is a libertarian twist on the Dickens classic. Instead of a miserly moneylender, Elias Tatch is a politician who built his career on throwing other people's money at poorly-researched solutions to problems he doesn't understand. The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future intervene to try and show him the error of his ways and how his far-left beliefs are hurting Canada; can they thaw his cold heart and teach him the value of liberty?

[JT]

I recently published my first novel; The Bellows Project (facebook.com/BellowsProject). It is a libertarian autobiographical science-fiction space opera. I have now started my second novel, but it doesn't even have a working title yet. Your Canadian Christmas Carol sound interesting. I'll have to check it out!

[James]

China invades Taiwan. U.S. tries to intervene. China dumps their U.S. bonds along with Russia and the Middle East. A run on the dollar ensues causing America to lose reserve currency status igniting hyperinflation. The government takes over private industry while instituting a police state. Sound scary? Got to check out the thriller "Liberty Lost: How Debt Destroyed Our Freedoms". First four chapters available to read at www.jamesgcolt.com .Liberty Lost