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L. Neil Smith

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L. Neil Smith (full name- Lester Neil Smith III, also known by his nickname El Neil or The Sage of the High Plains) is a libertarian science fiction author and political activist. He was born on May 12 1946 in Denver. His works include the novels Pallas, The Forge of the Elders, and The Probablity Broach, each of which won the Libertarian Futurist Society's annual Prometheus Award for best libertarian novel.

Several of his works constitute the North American Confederacy series:

  • The Probability Broach is an alternate history novel in which history has taken a different turn because a single word in the Declaration of Independence was changed. The United States has become an anarchist society in this parallel universe, also known as the Gallatin Universe.
  • The Venus Belt is the next written novel from the Gallatin Universe, which takes place in outer space and discusses other settlements in our solar system. The Federalists are attempting to base a new civilization in outer space, with a plan to someday return to take over the government.
  • Their Majesties' Bucketeers is the third novel set in the Gallatin Universe. The story is a pastiche of the Sherlock Holmes tales by Arthur Conan Doyle, introducing the Lamviin, a trilaterally symmetrical race of aliens native to the arid planet of Sodde Lydfe. Their Majesties' Bucketeers introduces characters who would later interact with others in the Gallatin Universe.
  • The Nagasaki Vector is about a time traveller who is shifted into the Gallatin Universe by the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki which ended World War II on August 9 1945.
  • In Tom Paine Maru, the entrepreneurs of the Confederacy travel from world to world, exploring the various kinds of messes made by the Federalists who had been shifted back in time and scattered at random over the universe at the conclusion of The Venus Belt. The Federalists had created dozens of colonies, all of which had suffered disaster and retrogression under Federalist rule. Smith uses this device to criticize non-libertarian forms of government.
  • In The Gallatin Divergence, a time-travelling federalist woman wants to change history but is opposed by other members of the federalist community. As these two forces clash, history is once again altered and a third timeline is created.

Other works:

  • Pallas is the story of Emerson Ngu, a boy who lives in a dystopian socialist commune in a crater on the asteroid Pallas. Emerson creates a crystal radio and is astonished to learn of the world outside the commune. Escaping, he discovers that the rest of Pallas is a libertarian utopia. Unable to forget his semi-enslaved family -- whose "workers' paradise" is starving to death -- he innovates a cheap but durable gun (because the Libertarians on Pallas, to their shame, did not have a domestic firearms industry), and sets about liberating his former commune. At the same time, he must learn the skills necessary for life in the outside world. The novel thus functions both as a bildungsroman and a story of political revolution.
  • Upcoming works currently in production: Ceres and Ares, both set in the "Pallas" universe and being funded by private investors. Ceres was completed on December 25, 2004 and is now seeking a film and book deal. Ares is still open for investment. His Book and Film Agent is Alan R. Weiss.

Smith appeared as the Libertarian Party candidate for president on the Arizona ballot in 2000, although Harry Browne was chosen by the party's national convention, thanks to the efforts of the "Ad Hoc Conspiracy to Draft L. Neil Smith", a group of activists who obtained ballot access for him. He and running mate Vin Suprynowicz received 5,775 votes. Smith has since indicated that he will no longer pursue political office.

Smith is no newcomer to the Libertarian Party, though: he joined in 1972 (just after its beginnings in 1971), in 1977 and 1979 served on the Platform Committee, and in 1978 ran for state legislature in Colorado (winning 15% of the vote with a total expenditure of forty-four dollars). His influence, and that of the "Ad Hoc Conspiracy to Draft L. Neil Smith" (which has hundreds of informal members) helped influence the 2004 Libertarian Party selection of Michael Badnarik for President. Badnarik was profoundly influenced by Hope, by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman (Zelman founded and is Executive Director of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership). Smith endorsed the Free State Project in 2004, and endorsed Badnarik's campaign for President in 2004.

Smith regularly contributes essays to The Libertarian Enterprise, and his most influential essay is considered to be Why Did it Have to be ... Guns?.

L. Neil Smith should not be confused with J. Neil Schulman, another Libertarian science fiction writer. Smith is aware of this occasional confusion, once humorously signing a letter to Samuel Edward Konkin III as "Neil (L., not J.)"

Published works

North American Confederacy:

  • The Probability Broach (1980, unexpurgated edition 1996)
  • The American Zone (2001)
  • The Nagasaki Vector (1983)
  • The Venus Belt (1980)
  • Their Majestys' Bucketeers (1981)
  • Tom Paine Maru (1984)
  • The Gallatin Divergence (1985)
    • Brightsuit MacBear (1988) [1st in new series set in NAC universe]
    • Taflak Lysandra (1988) [2nd in new series set in NAC universe]

Forge of the Elders Series:

  • Contact and Commune (1990)
  • Converse and Conflict (1990)
  • Forge of the Elders (2000) [comprising the previous two books plus a previously-unpublished 3rd book]

Stand alone works:

  • The Crystal Empire (1986)
  • The Wardove (1986)
  • Henry Martyn (1989)
  • Bretta Martyn (1997) [sequel to Henry Martyn]
  • Pallas (1993)

Lando Calrissian (Star Wars) series (Omnibus edition The Lando Calrissian Adventures 1994):

  • Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon (1983)
  • Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu (1983)
  • Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of Thonboka (1983)

Non-Fiction:

  • Lever Action (1999)

With Aaron Zelman:

  • The Mitzvah (1999)
  • Hope (2001)
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