GIVE ME LIBERTY [Mass Market Paperback]

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

- conclusion of speech attributed to Patrick Henry, 1775, in favor of a resolution to commit Virginian troops to the Revolutionary War

Anvil, Christopher: "Gadget vs. Trend" (1962) is written in the form of a series of newspaper articles set in the then-near future, framed with two newspaper reports covering speeches by a Boston sociologist, each decrying the current popular trend - initially "creeping conformism" - which reverses itself over the course of the story. :) The second article in the sequence is the revelation of a "privacy shield" device by the inventor's grandson, who puts it on the market as a QuietWall unit. As the story unfolds, the original inventor's downplayed concerns about side effects are made clear when the device's true function - the generator of a stasis field - is discovered, and customers begin developing unforeseen uses for the technology. An ultimate defense can be quite awkward in the hands of people resisting arrest, eviction, or process servers...

Biggle, Lloyd jr: "Monument" (1961) A low-rent space bum, having spent his life scraping by on odd jobs and a little prospecting, was lucky to half-land, half-crash the ship he barely knew how to run on a tropical paradise of a planet, where in time he became a respected elder. And foreseeing what would happen when greedy speculators eventually rediscovered his home, he took steps to teach the younger generation how to fight the *civilized* way. This is a beauty of a story, as the eventual unscrupulous politically-connected creep who grabs a foothold on the planet knows how to get things done, but can neither frighten away nor justify the use of force against the rightful inhabitants.

Herbert, Frank: "Committee of the Whole" (1965) The viewpoint character, an attorney representing a cattle rancher about to testify before a televised Senate subcommittee hearing in opposition to a change in the law governing grazing rights, worries that his client is overconfident - and worries still more on being told that his client has modified his statement without prior consultation, and brought along a new gadget that another attorney has been helping him attempt to patent...Very realistically drawn political situation, from the diplomatic illness of an overly cautious ally to the warning signs of which powerful reporters have attended in person rather than sending flunkies.

Leinster, Murray: "Historical Note" (1951) Party politics in the Soviet Union force a professor and his university to hype his latest discovery - and office politics in Aerodynamic Design (who need a new product such that they can blame failures on somebody else) lead to the creation of a revolutionary personal flyer. But when members of the now-flying infantry can go *anywhere* at will, things begin to get out of hand.

MacLean, Katherine and de Vet, Charles: "Second Game" (1958, 1986) grew into the novel COSMIC CHECKMATE, and is chiefly responsible for my initial interest in this book, as my copy was disintegrating. Narrator Robert Lang, a master strategic analyst of the human Federation, has been sent to learn why the newly-discovered planet Velda violently rebuffed attempts at contact. As Velda's warrior culture much admires master gameplayers, and Lang's boast "I'LL BEAT YOU SECOND GAME" both gains the attention of the powerful gives him the first game to identify their weaknesses. But in real life, surely there is no second game...

Russell, Eric Frank: "And Then There Were None" (1951) Several centuries after the development of a super-duper space drive touched off the Great Explosion of colonization, Earth is attempting to establish diplomatic relations with an obscure fringe world whose people don't care, and who turn out on exploration to have a very unusual economy.

van Vogt, A.E.: "The Weapon Shop" (1942) grew into THE WEAPON SHOPS OF ISHER; it's set several thousand years in the future under a Solar System-wide monarchy, and opens on the day one of the fabled weapon shops that the government mysteriously refuses to take action against opens for business in the protagonist's small town - a small businessman about to become a victim of big business/big government. The story doesn't show to best advantage in this short form; there are inconsistencies with whether a given technology is presented as impressive, and gaps between how political figures are shown in a 'shocking' way (just angry) then described (sexually scandalous). Several kinds of magic technology are involved, and more than one organization that openly considers itself incorruptible (something only inconsistently challenged in the story).

Vinge, Vernor: "The Ungoverned" (1985) is set in 'the ungoverned lands' long after the Bobble War (see his novel THE PEACE WAR or the omnibus ACROSS REALTIME). Vinge works without exposition, so readers must pick up historical context as they go along; what was once the United States has fragmented, with the New Mexico Republic on the western side having decided to conquer the ungoverned, far richer farmlands to the east - partly for the land itself, partly to eliminate their dependence on imported technology, and partly because they've bought into their own propaganda that the ungoverned lands will welcome liberation from the protection agencies who sell them law enforcement of their choice. But the protagonist sees no reason why an invading army should be exempt from his contact to protect his clients...The story has a technology = power to the people theme, well-handled; nobody breaks character to supply exposition, but a sufficient variety of characters appear that the reader gets the information eventually.

Good yarns, whether sc-fi or not, are even better when the themes resonate with a coherent belief structure.

As a libertarian, I read each of these not-so-well-known stories with joy and a sense of recognition, at times a feeling of ah-ha!

Not all stories are equally well written, but each one is readable, sometimes informing, often amusing or a little bit thrilling, as when an enemy attacks ... Arkansas / Oklahoma and is thwarted by a stubborn farmer.

good stuff.

This is an amazing anothogy of truly thought provoking stories written by top-notch sci-fi authors. Each story deals in it's own way with anarchy or alternate forms of government. With the exception of "The Ungoverned", by Vernor Vinge, all of these were new to me, and every single one should be cataloged as a classic. If you are a connoisseur of this genre, then it's a must for your collection.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 6 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars