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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — An aide says science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has died. Rohan De Silva says Clarke died early Wednesday after suffering from breathing problems. He was 90-years-old. Clarke is the author of more than 100 books, including "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Billionaire leverages harsher libel rules to suppress unflattering book NEW YORK - Rachel Ehrenfeld writes about terrorism for a living. But now she is the one who feels targeted. Her modest midtown Manhattan apartment is filled to the ceiling with books, most having to do with global terror networks and Mideast conflict. Sitting at her desk, she gazes out at the Hudson River. She says she has a hard time placing her work. She says she has been blacklisted. If she travels to England, she fears she will be arrested. "I feel like a leper," she said. Ehrenfeld faces a...

<p>NEW YORK - Norman Mailer, the macho prince of American letters who for decades reigned as the country's literary conscience and provocateur with such books as "The Naked and the Dead," died Saturday, his literary executor said. He was 84.</p>

Eva Rutland wrote her name in a careful scrawl on the first page of her memoir, "When We Were Colored: A Mother's Story," and included an endearment for her old friend Ruth Hill Thompson. Rutland, who is blind, could be forgiven the poor penmanship. When Thompson quickly checked the signature, as if to verify its authenticity, Rutland protested: "I can write my name!" And a great deal more. The 90-year-old graduate of Spelman College, who joined the 70th reunion of the class of 1937 (the most senior alumna to attend this year's graduation ceremonies), pursued a part-time career as a...

I promised I would ask of the wisdom well that abides on this FR forum... (The Moderator's indulgence is begged... herewith for a brief vanity post!) Is anyone on the forum aware of resources or possess the personal expertise that might help a newbie commentator/author jump through all the legal hoops for publishing & copyrighting (articles & short books) while using a pen name (Nom de Plume/Nom de Guerre) The initial works are several articles that will knock the stuffings out of the premises of the left... ...AND... ...Awaken/enlighten right-thinking Americans and the community of faith, as this election cycle...

By the summer of 1862, George McClellan had come within six miles of Richmond and Union forces had obtained 50,000 square miles of key territory in the West. The Confederacy, a fledgling country then only a little over a year old, was an inch away from ceasing to exist. If it had surrendered then, the North would have allowed slavery to persist in the South, at least for a time. But the South was cursed by a hero named Robert E. Lee who took command of the Army of Northern Virginia. “[L]ee’s counteroffensive in the Seven Days battles and other...

I Love You, Madame Librarian By Kurt Vonnegut August 6, 2004 I, like probably most of you, have seen Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. Its title is a parody of the title of Ray Bradbury’s great science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451. This temperature 451° Fahrenheit, is the combustion point, incidentally, of paper, of which books are composed. The hero of Bradbury’s novel is a municipal worker whose job is burning books. And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over...

The author of the German war novel "Das Boot", Lothar-Guenther Buchheim, has died, his spokeswoman said on Friday. He was 89. An artist, art collector and director of his own museum, Buchheim will be best remembered for the 1971 novel that presented a new perspective on the Nazi era by detailing the claustrophobic life on board a war-time submarine, or "U-Boot". In 1981, director Wolfgang Petersen turned the book into a six-hour film, which at the time was the most expensive movie in German history. Unlike Hollywood war films, with their stereotyped Nazi characters, Petersen portrayed the universal suffering of...

Robert Anton Wilson, co-author of the cult classic "The Illuminatus! Trilogy," a science-fiction series about a secret global society, has died. He was 74. Wilson died peacefully of natural causes at his home Thursday in Capitola in Santa Cruz County, his daughter Christina Pearson said Saturday. Post-polio syndrome had severely weakened Wilson's legs, leading to a fall seven months ago that left him bedridden until his death, Pearson said. Wilson wrote 35 books on subjects such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy, metaphysics, paranormal experiences, conspiracy theory, sex, drugs and what he called quantum psychology. He wrote the "Illuminatus" trilogy with...

He was denounced as anti-Muslim by protesters outside, but controversial author Steven Emerson drew applause inside Tucson's Jewish Community Center on Monday night when he called on Muslim leaders to "unambiguously condemn" Islamist terrorist groups. He also drew applause when he criticized Western newspapers for succumbing to intimidation and "appeasing Muslim demands" by not running controversial Muslim cartoons that made headlines this year. Hard-core jihadists are a minority of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims, he said. But he added that minority is disproportionately influential and said genuinely moderate Muslims would do well to better empower themselves by vocally condemning groups...

WASHINGTON - The Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, has fired an employee who admitted to the first publication on a Web site of Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record)'s e-mails to a former male page. The e-mails and later disclosures of sexually explicit computer messages from the Florida Republican to other male pages sparked a campaign-season scandal that threatens the GOP's majority in Congress. "He inappropriately used Human Rights Campaign resources. He was fired," organization Vice President David Smith said of the employee. "The Human Rights Campaign believes in being very aboveboard in our political activity." Smith...

Oriana Fallaci (1929 - 2006) was called a leftist. Oriana Fallaci was called a fascist. I do not believe in the Left or the Right. I believe in the wet grass under my stockened feet soaking my skin. That is very much reality; that is not the symbolism of semantics. Labels are what men and women pin on each other as they seek to define the truth in their own minds. Fallaci was very much herself, whatever she believed in, and like most of us, her beliefs likely changed over time, with the ebb and flow of crisis and chaos,...

A private burial for Walter Burke Davis Jr., a writer and historian best known for his books on the Civil War, was held Aug. 21 in Greensboro, N.C. Mr. Davis, whose 47 books included novels and biographies, died Aug. 18 in a Greensboro hospital. The former resident of Meadows of Dan in Patrick County, who also wrote fiction and nonfiction for young readers, was 93.

<p>Mystery writer Mickey Spillane dies after a long illness, a nursing home spokesman says. He was 87.</p>

Liberals are positively orgasmic over the accusations recycled from nut websites in the New York Post that bestselling author Ann Coulter plagiarized others’ writings. Oddly, the Post didn’t think these accusations were important enough to ask her about when interviewing her in early June. Perhaps this is because the accusations of plagiarism aren’t news. Calling Coulter “mean” and other four-letter words wasn’t gelling with Americans who actually know how to read, so liberals had to move on to plan B -- she’s a plagiarist! In his second article citing “plagiarism expert” and CEO of iParadigms John Barrie, New York Post...

John Lennon once wrote that "All you need is love." If that's the case, former presidential candidate Al Gore is a happy man. He is in the middle of a media lovefest celebrating his work, his career - even his efforts as actor, author, dancer and comedian. The former vice president has both a movie and a book about global warming debuting under the title "An Inconvenient Truth." He has gone from media darling to "the summer's most unlikely movie star," as NBC's Katie Couric called him in a May 24 interview. Gore, who Couric also called "funny, vulnerable, disarming,...

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2006 – Military "brats" are powerfully shaped by the culture they grow up in, and that culture makes a lasting impression, author Mary Edwards Wertsch said. Military brat Mary Edwards Wertsch is the author of "Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress." The book has been credited with recognizing the military as a home culture. Courtesy Photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "It has everything to do with everything that's ever happened in my life," the St. Louis resident said. Wertsch, who wrote "Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress," lived in 20...

Monday, February 13, 2006 You know your city is too small when... (The back of Heather Wilson's head, on the left, with the top of the computer screen I'm hiding behind visible as I take the photo as quietly as I can...) ...you go to Starbucks to write and the evil Congressman (yes, man) Heather Wilson walks in, dressed in a manly blazer and manlier pants. Just call her W's mini-me. I don't know what the hell she's doing here. She is sitting here in front of me as I write. I just happened to have my digital camera and...

I just finished reading another amazing novel by Dean Koontz, "Cold Fire". The afterword ... is hilarious: "Then, as is often the case when life is good, someone said, 'Hey, let's make a movie!' and life got strange, dark, and scary. "By this I do not mean to imply - although I can't stop you from inferring - that a lot of movie-industry executives are as brainless, voracious, and destructive as the flesh-eating bacteria ... I've met smart, fair, creative executives over the years...although I've noticed their kind either eventually get fired," (NOTE TO SELF: KELLY GOODE!!!) ... He goes...

'Help! Mom!' casts liberals as villains By Cheryl Wetzstein The Washington Times Published October 16, 2005 WASHINGTON -- Katharine DeBrecht, a married mother of three, wanted to make a point about the importance of conservative values. So, she penned a children's book -- "Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!" -- to stand up to the "liberal agenda that's being thrown at our kids from the left." **SNIP** Liberals have lambasted the book as "brainwashing" and "Nazi propaganda." The Democratic Underground Web site listed Mrs. DeBrecht as one of its "Top 10 Conservative Idiots" last month. "If ever there...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Attorneys for a man who has written books on how to grow marijuana and avoid getting caught asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to overturn his drug convictions. Ed Rosenthal, the self-described "Guru of Ganja," was convicted two years ago of growing and distributing hundreds of marijuana plants. He says he was authorized to do so by the city of Oakland under a 1996 California medical marijuana law. After U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer refused to allow a jury to hear that defense, Rosenthal was convicted of being a major drug supplier. Breyer sentenced him to...

Children"s Author: Warn Kids About Liberals Tue Sep 13, 3:00 AM ET (PRWEB) - Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 13, 2005 - – The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina has exposed an ugly truth about liberals, and parents need to teach this to their kids, according to the author of a controversial upcoming children"s book. Katharine DeBrecht — the author of the soon-to-be-released "Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed" (Kids Ahead; hardcover: $15.95; ISBN 0976726904) — dismisses the notion that parents should not talk to their young kids about politics. If anything, she claims, the behavior of liberals following...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Iraqi insurgency is in its last throes. The economy is booming. Anybody who leaks a CIA agent's identity will be fired. Add another piece of White House rhetoric that doesn't match the public's view of reality: Help is on the way, Gulf Coast. As New Orleans descended into anarchy, top Bush administration officials congratulated each other for jobs well done and spoke of water, food and troops pouring into the ravaged city. Television pictures told a different story. "What it reminded me of the other day is 'Baghdad Bob' saying there are no Americans at the...

The French sociologist Emmanuel Todd was one of the few experts to predict the fall of the Soviet Union. Now he is predicting the fall of the United States of America. His book After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order (Columbia University Press, 2003) has been a bestseller in Europe. It plays into many Europeans' sentiments against the Iraq war and their belief that America has become an Evil Empire. (See "The Darth Vader fallacy," June 11.) But his book offers encouragement to America-phobes: Far from being an invincible hyperpower, according to Mr. Todd, the United States is...

Author blocked from Clinton's office Seeking apology for alleged rape of Juanita Broaddrick Posted: June 3, 2005 9:15 p.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com An author seeking an apology from Bill Clinton for his alleged rape of Juanita Broaddrick was blocked from entering the former president's Harlem offices today. Candice E. Jackson, author of "Their Lives: The Women Targeted by the Clinton Machine," said she wanted to give Clinton or his scheduler a letter of apology for him to sign. The incident occurred in the presence of the crew of a New York City WB-affiliate station. Spokesmen for both Bill and...

LANCASTER, Pa. - Tristan Egolf, a political activist and author whose first novel at age 27 won him comparisons to William Faulkner and John Steinbeck, has died. He was 33. Egolf died May 7 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a Lancaster apartment, said G. Gary Kirchner, Lancaster County coroner. Egolf had shown signs of depression over the past 18 months, said Michael Hoober, a family therapist in Lancaster and friend of Egolf. "He pushed the envelope wherever he went," Hoober said. "His creativity was always right in front of him, but somewhere in there it started to fall apart."...

Texas is the only state that prohibits voters who participate in a political party's primary election or a local party convention from signing ballot access petitions for political parties or independent candidates for office. Since 1972, the six other states that had a similar provision have dropped it. Now, the Libertarian Party of Texas is working with state legislators to get a bill passed to eliminate this facet of election law, which is called "primary screenout." On Feb. 28, State Representative Todd Baxter, a Republican, filed the bill (HB 1721) for consideration by the state House's Elections Committee after Libertarians...

VATICAN CITY -- If you're not among the millions who have already read "The Da Vinci Code," an Italian cardinal has a plea for you: Don't read it and don't buy it. Genoa Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who previously was a high-ranking official of the Vatican's office on doctrinal orthodoxy, told Vatican Radio on Tuesday that the runaway success of the Dan Brown novel is proof of "anti-Catholic" prejudice. Allegations in the novel that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and has descendants have outraged many Christians and have been dismissed by historians and theologians.

(New York, March 7, 2005) - The Iranian author Taqi Rahmani, who has spent a total of 17 years in prison, was awarded a Hellman/Hammett grant for persecuted writers, Human Rights Watch said today. Each year, Human Rights Watch awards Hellman/Hammett grants to writers targeted for expressing views that the government opposes, for criticizing government officials or actions or for writing on topics that the government does not want reported. For 17 years of the quarter-century since the Iranian revolution, Taqi Rahmani has been in prison. In his extensive writings on religious modernism and the political history of Iran, the...

Second Lady read her latest children’s book, ‘When Washington Crossed the Delaware,’ to students in the Lower School. Commemorating the 100th day of the 100th year of the Potomac School, Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, read to children in grades kindergarten through sixth last Tuesday, sharing her new book on George Washington the day after his birthday. Cheney was introduced by fourth-grader Kate Perry. “This is my grandmother,” the pretty blond girl said. “She’s written many books, and she likes to tell stories. I’m very proud she’s my grandma.” Giving Cheney a quick hug, she sat down...

DENVER - Hunter S. Thompson, the "gonzo journalist" with a penchant for drugs, guns and flamethrower prose, might have one more salvo in store for everyone: Friends and relatives want to blast his ashes out of a cannon, just as he wished. "If that's what he wanted, we'll see if we can pull it off," said historian Douglas Brinkley, a friend of Thompson's and now the family's spokesman. Thompson, who shot himself to death at his Aspen-area home Sunday at 67, said several times he wanted an artillery send-off for his remains. "There's no question, I'm sure that's what he...

The godfather of gonzo believes America has suffered a "nationwide nervous breakdown" since 9/11, and as a result is compromising civil liberties for what he calls "the illusion of security." The compromise, he says, is "a disaster of unthinkable proportions" and "part of the downward spiral of dumbness" he believes is plaguing the .....

AP News Alert ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- The son of Hunter S. Thompson says the author shot himself to death at his Aspen-area home.

Don't know why I didn't think of announcing this earlier to the forum but I'll be doing a presentation/ signing at the Braden River Library (SR 70 - a few miles east of I-75) at 10:00 AM tomorrow (2/19). Any freepers around, come on by. Jim Macomber Author: "Bargained for Exchange" "Art & Part" "A Grave Breach"

Jack L. Chalker, the award-winning author of more than 60 SF novels and anthologies, died at Bon Secours hospital in Baltimore, Feb. 11, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announced. Chalker had been hospitalized since Dec. 25 for congestive heart failure and suffered from lung and kidney distress while in the hospital. He was 61. Chalker is best known for his Well of Souls and Dancing Gods series of novels and frequent columns for Fantasy Review and Pulphouse magazines. He also founded a small publishing company, The Mirage Press, and is the co-author of the widely read reference...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday said Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a founder of the notorious Crips street gang who was nominated for a Noble Peace Prize while in prison, can be executed for killing four people in 1981. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to grant Williams another hearing based on his argument that prosecutors violated his rights when they dismissed all potential black jurors from hearing the case. Agreement from a majority of the 24 active judges is required to grant a rehearing. Judge Johnnie Rawlinson was joined by eight other judges in...

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Danny Sugerman, longtime manager of the Doors and the principal caretaker of the Los Angeles band's legend, died Wednesday in West Hollywood after a long battle with cancer. He was 50. Sugerman became involved with the Doors as a teenage fan during the group's heyday in the late '60s. He worked as a go-fer for the band, and idolized flamboyant lead singer Jim Morrison. After Morrison's death in Paris in 1971, he became increasingly involved with the surviving members' career and eventually served as their manager. At his death, he was partnered with co-manager Jeff...

A FINE MIND -ANN COULTER Ann turned 43 On December 8 – one would never guess by looking at her She is a fan of Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead She is lawyer She is an author and favorite on talk shows & for interviews. She takes NO crap. She is witty, funny, pretty and drives LIBs absolutely crazy She is the “future wife” of many FReepers from what I hear Ann a Second Amendment Gal!!!!

Tonight George Noory is interviewing John Taylor Gatto, once NYC Teacher of the Year, turned author History of Education in America and Dumbing Us Down. John Taylor Gatto has also been labelled "homeschooling guru" by many American homeschooling groups and families. From the Coast to Coast site: "Legendary teacher and reformer, John Taylor Gatto, looks at our classrooms and how they are evolving generations that may not contribute to a healthy society in the future." John Taylor GattoWFLA Live Streaming Audio Listen Here

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana woman who wrote a book on how to find "secret" government benefits fraudulently obtained $80,000 in Social Security money by claiming she was too disabled to work, Marion County's prosecutor said Tuesday. Diane Holmes-Despain, 51, faces charges of forgery, theft, welfare fraud, conspiracy and corrupt business influences, Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said. Holmes-Despain's husband, Joel Despain, 43, faces a conspiracy charge on suspicion that he helped cover up the alleged scam. Brizzi said the woman wrote books, some under the name of J.J. Despain, and taught continuing-education classes at Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis. The couple filed income...

Rep. Lynda Boudreau of Faribault was a leading advocate for gun-rights activists at the Minnesota Legislature, and her defeat this month gave heart to those who opposed her crusade to expand access to concealed-weapons permits.

Iris Chang, whose haunting childhood memories of oral stories about the rape and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians at the hands of Japanese soldiers compelled her to write an acclaimed book about the atrocity, was found dead Tuesday from a self-inflicted gunshot. Chang apparently drove down a road south of Los Gatos and shot herself to death in her car. Santa Clara County Deputy Terrance Helm said a motorist driving Tuesday morning on Highway 17 south of The Cats restaurant in unincorporated Los Gatos and noticed a car a short distance down a private water district road....

Douglas Brinkley is the William Ginsburg of the Kennedy death circus. Before the crash, the boyish, gap-toothed Brinkley was known primarily as a Michael Beschloss-in-waiting, a telegenic historian fielding calls from the cable news networks. Now the University of New Orleans professor has parlayed a contributing editorship at George and a friendship with Kennedy into a job as a necropublicist. Between Saturday and Tuesday, Brinkley appeared on MSNBC, Late Edition, Meet the Press, Good Morning America, Dateline, Today (twice), and NPR (twice). He also penned columns about his relationship with Kennedy for Newsweek and the New York Times, and was...

He's on now. John E. O'Neill & Jerome R. Corsi Used pseudonym on the FR, called Muslims Rag Heads and apologized after the left found out that he's an author. He said his comments made on the FR were just jokes and the left should calm down. This is all I heard since I just turned on the Radio in the middle of the program and didn't hear the introduction.

I need information. The Associated Press is claiming that one of the authors of the book Unfit ofr Command is a FReeper who has posted some, ah, inteeresting things. (At least they mentioned us.) AP reports as follows: WASHINGTON (AP) - One of the authors of a new anti-John Kerry book frequently posted comments on a conservative Web site describing Muslims and Catholics as pedophiles and Pope John Paul II as senile. But as he prepared to launch the book, "Unfit for Command," Jerry Corsi apologized for the remarks in an interview with The Associated Press Tuesday, saying they were...

ROME (AP) - Oriana Fallaci, the Italian journalist known for ruthlessly grilling her subjects, says she detests interviews but has granted one herself - to herself - because she is dying of cancer. The Milan daily Corriere della Sera published the slim volume, "Oriana Fallaci Interviews Oriana Fallaci," as a supplement to its newspaper Friday. In the work, Fallaci, 74, asks herself why she agreed to the interview. "Because death is on my back. Medicine has issued the sentence: 'Lady, you cannot get better. You won't get better,'" is the reply. Fallaci's battle with cancer began some 11 years ago....

Her tragic story stole readers' hearts and triggered an international outcry. She became a best-selling author in the same league as J.K.Rowling and Michael Moore. She petitioned the United Nations personally, was published in 15 countries, and Australians voted her memoir into their favourite 100 books of all time. But Norma Khouri is a fake, and so is Forbidden Love. With Australian sales approaching 200,000, the book told of her lifelong friendship with a girl named Dalia in Amman, Jordan. In their 20s, Khouri wrote, she and Dalia started a hairdressing salon together. Dalia met and fell in love with...

Obituaries in the News Apr 3, 2004 The Associated Press Aaron Bank LOS ANGELES (AP) - Retired Army Col. Aaron Bank, a military icon called "the father of the Green Berets" for his role as the first commander of the Army's elite Special Forces, has died. He was 101. Bank died Thursday of natural causes in an assisted-living facility in Dana Point, said his son-in-law, Bruce Ballantine. In 1952, the Army approved 2,300 spaces for men in a Special Forces unit, the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), at Ft. Bragg, N.C. Bank was a key figure in pushing for its...

(IsraelNN.com) Dictator, warmonger, mass murderer, sociopath and author. According to the Daily Telegraph of London, which obtained one of only a few surviving copies, Saddam Hussein spent his last days before the war writing a novel, entitled Be Gone Demons! According to the newspaper, the novel focuses on a heroic Arab leading character (“a pure, virtuous Arab. Salim is tall and handsome with a straight nose....”) leading an underground resistance against an Iraq taken over by an old, fat and evil Jew named Ezekiel. The Ezekiel figure runs throughout the historical narrative, from Biblical times to the present day. Throughout...