Synopses & Reviews
In
The Probability Broach, which won the coveted Prometheus Award for Best Libertarian Fiction, L. Neil Smith created a universe parallel to ours, in which George Washington was executed, there was no Civil War, drugs are sold in vending machines, a gorilla is President of the North American Confederacy, there is no United States, and everybody--and that means everybody--carries guns.
Now, in this much anticipated sequel to The Probability Broach, we again follow Detective Win Bear as he combats terrorists who have begun a campaign of bombings and murders that rocks his world. Since crossing over to the Confederacy from the United States in 1987, Win has found his niche, as the only detective in this alternative to the exploitative taxes, laws, and hypocrisies of the United States. Happily married and working at a job he loves, Win feels his life is complete so when innocent people start to die, Win will do what he must to prevent his home from becoming the oppressive place he escaped not long before. And that means going to the only spot in the Confederacy that harbors majoritarians, liberals, and other enemies of true Libertarian freedom . . . the American Zone.
Review
“L. Neil Smiths
Probability Broach. . . contained ideas I wish could be shouted to the world, ideas that come from the American heritage of freedom and which could bring still greater individual liberty, greater technical progress.”—Vernor Vinge, author of
A Fire upon the Deep"There's something tremendously attractive about the idea of a world where what you do is nobody's business but your own, and that's the kind of world that L. Neil Smith, award winning libertarian author and spokesperson, created in The Probability Broach and returns us to in The American Zone."—Ernest Lilley SFRevu
"The most freewheeling of the new libertarians."--Reason Magazine
"The Probability Broach is a brilliant, subversive novel."—Prometheus
Synopsis
L. Neil Smith's vibrant language and ideas resonate in this highly anticipated sequel to The Probability Broach. Smith writes about an America that might have been if history were a little bit different.
His is a world where government, police, and taxes do not exist. Drugs are available from vending machines and everyone owns a firearm, but there is peace -- until a group of rebels insists upon establishing a government and regulations. The Franklinites, as they are dubbed, attack and murder the once peaceful populous to bring about the order that they seek. But Win Bear, a detective who knows the true evils of government, has different ideas for the Franklinites.
Synopsis
In the North American Confederacy . . .
People are free--really free. Free to do as they please, whether it be starting a business, running for elected office, or taking target practice in the back forty. There's not a whole lot of government, nor is there a lot of crime, because everyone who wants to carries a gun, and isn't afraid to use it.
But someone has bombed the Endicott Building, killing hundreds of people, and Win Bear, the only licensed detective in the confederacy, has to find out who did this dastardly deed, and why. Because whoever did it has already shown their willingness to commit more terrorist acts, no matter how many people are hurt.
And that can't go on, or soon the confederacy will be just as the bad old United States--and that is something they want to avoid at all costs.
About the Author
L. Neil Smith is the two time winner of the Prometheus Award for Best Libertarian Fiction for his novels
Pallas (1993) and
The Probability Broach (1980). As founder and National Coordinator of the Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus, publisher of the on-line magazine
The Libertarian Enterprise, and a Life member of the National Rifle Association, Smith is renowned for his prominence in the Libertarian movement, of which he has been a part of for more than thirty-five years. Author of more than twenty books, Smith has been hailed for his ability to combine adventure, humor, and rivetingly original political concepts to create more compellingly than any other writer, novels that embody Libertarian concepts. He currently resides in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his wife and daughter.