FREE SPACE

An all-new anthology, comprising 17 stories and three poems, whose ``shared-future'' backdrop is inspired by Libertarian Futurist philosophy. By consensus, then, the future denizens of Free Space will, inevitably, be healthier, happier, smarter, and more fun-loving than the gloomy, tyrannical fatalistic grouches who choose to remain lurking at the bottom of Earth's gravity well. Humor indeed is an important and effective component of the material here, which ranges from William F. Buckley's Soyuz cosmonauts demanding political asylum in the US so that they can meet Solzhenitsyn, to the self-referential metafiction of John Barnes, by way of luminaries such as James P. Hogan, Gregory Benford, Ray Bradbury, Poul Anderson, and others less renowned but more politically committed. Worth a try: It's often engaging and chortle-provoking, even if you find politics tiresome.