Free Republic

If we fall, we’ll get back up again. If we tear it down, we’ll rebuild, bigger and better. That’s what we tell ourselves. That’s what we believe. That isn’t necessarily what happens, as the ruined cities and collapsed civilizations scattered around the world demonstrate. Where does this belief come from? And how does it affect societies, both in the real world and in science fiction? Background: The Generational Cycle Theory The “Fourth Turning” theory suggests that societies go in cycles, typically over four generations.

So why are there so few mothers, so few fathers, so few families of any size in modern science fiction stories? As I said above, the answer is that, in the so-called modern mindset, families (especially large ones) are considered pathologies. They are considered an abnormal “deviation giving rise to social ills.” When families are portrayed at all, they are made individually and collectively the butt of tasteless jokes; this provides the social reinforcement for the ideological notion that having a family is irresponsible. These insulting stereotypes encourage the absurd notion in our collective ultra-modern hubris that children, families, and...

This interview arose from the digital arguments when George Phillies merely proposed setting up pages to advertise N3F on Mewe and Parler. Mr. Hunt was defending free speech and the platforms themselves, so I contacted him for an interview. This is the result. Jason Hunt is the CEO and publisher of SciFi4Me. Corporate Vision Magazine called them the best horror, science fiction and fantasy entertainment media news platform in 2020. And I had the opportunity to interview him. Tamara Wilhite: How long as SciFi4Me been around? And how has it changed over the years? Jason Hunt: We got started in...

Science fiction and horror author Andrew Fox’s first novel was Fat White Vampire Blues. He’s continued to put out a steady stream of science fiction and fantasy that’s equally edgy and entertaining. For example, he recently released a short story collection titled Hazardous Imaginings: The Mondo Book of Politically Incorrect Science Fiction. And I had the opportunity to interview him. Tamara Wilhite: Hazardous Imaginings seems to be modeled off of Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions. Is that intentional? Andrew Fox: Most assuredly. Not long after Harlan died, I watched a documentary on him that had been made pretty late in his...

I ran across Harry Turtledove's Twitter feed and it turns out he is an Trump hating super liberal loon. He just accused Sen Josh Hawley of being a Nazi and that was the final straw for me. I am pretty sure most (probably 90%) of his reading audience aka customers tend to be men who fall on the right of the political spectrum. Stop making this liberal and other liberal scum any money. So if I may humbly ask for a boycott against Harry Turtledove. I won't post links to his Twitter and I am pretty sure it is his...

Kevin Trainor is an Army Security Agency veteran. This is what led to his memoir What Did You Do in the Cold War, Dad? He’s also an avid anime fan as well as a published sci-fi author. Tamara Wilhite: You have such an interest in Anime that you’re the nominal head of the Anime & Recruiting bureau of the National Fantasy Fan Federation. What does that entail? Kevin Trainor: Mostly I’m looking to get other anime fans interested in the N3F as a place to publish and read reviews of anime and manga, maybe publish some art. We’re reaching out...

I had never heard of Baen Books, and that’s on me. It’s apparently a big player in the Science Fiction genre, something I’m not into, so there’s no reason I would know of it, but there’s plenty of reason why plenty of other people do know of it. The publisher has been canceled by a sci-fi conference, which was to honor Weisskopf as Guest of Honor. This is what now might be called a Parler Attack. Parler had been unfairly smeared as the organizing platform for the Capitol Hill riot, when in fact our own and other analyses show that...

Dr. Rectenwald was a Professor of Liberal Studies and Global Liberal Studies at NYU from 2008 to 2019. He also taught at Duke University, North Carolina Central University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Case Western Reserve University. His scholarly and academic essays have appeared in *The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Academic Questions, Endeavour, The British Journal for the History of Science, College Composition and Communication, International Philosophical Quarterly, the De Gruyter anthologies Organized Secularism in the United States and Global Secularisms in a Post-Secular Age, and the Cambridge University Press anthology George Eliot in Context*, among others. He holds a...

Bujold, and Harry Turtledove, none of whom fit into the conservative author narrative. Let’s stop right here before we go any further. Sanford is engaging in a shell game. Despite the qualifying paragraph, he’s doing everything possible here to depict Baen Books as being predominantly a publisher of what he calls “socially conservative writers.” Such a conveniently vague three words those are—which papers over what is in fact a very diverse group of authors. How diverse? Well, let’s start with me. Which I think is appropriate not simply because I’m writing this essay but because over the past (almost) quarter...

I have a request for fellow sci-fi buffs. Back in 2015, I checked a book out of the local library, which was apparently the first of a series, begun post-2010, in which an American guy witnesses a UFO crash on a lonely road, ends up amidst a firefight and saves a woman who proves to be the empress of an interstellar empire. Of course, they fall in love and he joins her in space and has to try to protest her as a revolution breaks out. I liked the book a lot, but couldn't find subsequent issues listed. It looked...

The Hugo Awards turn into a participation trophy of sorts ...

A New Book Makes the Case That Fantasy Art Is America’s Least Understood Fine-Art Form—See the Wild Images Here Taschen presents 500 pages of dragons, wizards, and fantasy maidens.

The fake entertainment media is already trying to blame Wonder Woman 1984’s crash and burn at the international box office on the pandemic. Don’t you believe it.

Tamara Wilhite: In "The Perihelion", a post-Civil War 2 American has split between the Redlands and the Bluecore cities. This is arguably more practical than trying to have entire states secede from the United States, because it doesn’t force millions of people to be relocated in order to get ideologically consistent populations. Can you tell the audience more about these novels?

I woke up on time this morning, hitting the alarm on the first ring. I had slept OK that night according to my fitness tracker. I didn’t need it to tell me I normally slept badly, but the social workers wouldn’t let you get healthcare under the limited government programs if you didn’t wear it.

If men were benign, there would be no need for superheroes.” – Mike Baron. Mike Baron is a comic book creator. He launched the science fiction comic “Nexus” in the 1980s. However, he’s been busy releasing a variety of comic books and novels ever since. And I had the opportunity to interview this prolific author.

This factoid about the L0hengrin character is otherwise trivial to the story. It has no bearing on the plot, and feels tacked on solely for the benefit of the author’s desire to appease the reader. In fact, L0hengrin is quickly sidelined in the story, only popping up a few times, clearly only serving the purpose of assuring the reader that the white heterosexual cis-gendered male author is sufficiently woke enough to be a part of the club.

On Tuesday, Ready Player Two, the sequel to the wildly successful 2011 novel Ready Player One, was published. I am a big fan of the first novel. I loved the thrilling story and the ’80s pop culture references. I stayed up until 2:30 a.m. to finish the novel because I didn’t want to wait another day to find out how it ended. Two years ago I drove several hours to attend a book signing event with the author, Ernest Cline. When the movie came out later that year, I went to see it on opening day. So, believe me, when...

There was a mixed crowd at the event. He wondered if they’d do the classic speed dating style of interviews. That was always a frustrating waste of time, since the system catered to extroverts and he was an introvert. “We’ll be starting in a couple of minutes. Just remember to be yourself. And give feedback on the app after every session.” Jensen nodded silently given the mouthful of grapes. Be yourself is such tripe advice, but it couldn’t get worse that trying to fake being perfect by the ever-changing standards of the ideal man. .... “I guess I don’t need...

Science fiction and horror author Andrew Fox’s first novel was Fat White Vampire Blues. He’s continued to put out a steady stream of science fiction and fantasy that’s equally edgy and entertaining. For example, he recently released a short story collection titled Hazardous Imaginings: The Mondo Book of Politically Incorrect Science Fiction. And I had the opportunity to interview him.