Free Republic

WRSA: What does the title of your new novel refer to? Red sandstone cliffs are common to the coastal region of Morocco I’m writing about, and they feature in the story. All the Dan Kilmer novels are going to contain a geographical feature in their titles. So far I’ve used up “Cay” and “Cliffs”, so I don’t anticipate running out soon. WRSA: I couldn’t find Cape Zerhoun or Port Zerhoun on any maps of Morocco. It’s a composite of a few different locations, but is largely based on the historical pirate port of Salé from the corsair era but relocated...

H. G. Wells’s foundational work of political science fiction, “The Time Machine,” predicted a future in which a small utopia of sprightly elites is kept running by a subclass that lives below the ground and is reduced to bestial violence. This prediction, carried to a horrifically logical extent, represented the intense wealth disparity of the Victorian England in which Wells wrote the novel. Judging from the major political narratives of the fictions of our era, films like “The Hunger Games,” “Elysium” and “Snowpiercer,” the certainty of a future rendered increasingly barbarous by class division remains essentially the same.

I’ve decided to reread a Tom Wolfe book during my week away from fake news. But which one? He’s such a prolific writer and the choices span both genres and generations: Bonfire of the Vanities, The Right Stuff, From Bauhaus to Our House…since I just reread - and reported on - The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test last year, during The Occupation, so that’s out: Interestingly, what was “new” journalism then – injecting yourself into the story and relating the facts as you  fancifully see fit, is now just journalism. Once the purview of Fine Arts and English programs, non-fiction today...

At a rain-soaked rally on July 7 in Midtown Manhattan, about 100-150 fans and a large contingent of police lined the sidewalk by S&S's offices. There, just after noon, Yiannopoulos announced that he had filed a lawsuit against Simon & Schuster with the Supreme Court of the State of New York earlier that morning. S&S, he said, let him keep $80,000 of the advance he had been paid. He is seeking damages of "at least" $10 million. "They have to pay for silencing conservatives," he said at the rally. "How many books could I have sold with their marketing muscle?"

I recently met the good people of St. Benedict Elementary School in South Natick, Massachusetts, which offers classical Catholic education to some very fortunate youngsters. The extensive summer reading lists the school suggests to those kids’ parents put me in mind of my high school English teacher, the late Fr. W. Vincent Bechtel—who did not, however, do suggestions, but made sure that his charges kept their noses to the grindstone from June through August by assigning us at least a half-dozen novels. Some of them—like Paul Horgan’s Things As They Are—I still reread with pleasure, a half-century later. So herewith,...

A teacher at a public high school in Alabama sent his students home with a summer reading list chock full of conservative authors from which to choose, including Ann Coulter, Ronald Reagan, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, and libertarian John Stossel. But parents became concerned that it leaned too far right and so now, the kids don’t have to read anything over the summer.

The American Spectator’s Kevin Kosar badgers the Toronto writer Adam McDowell. Kevin Kosar: Congrats on the publication of Drinks: A User’s Guide (Tarcher, 2016). It’s a smart-looking book, and I enjoyed it. So how’s the weather in Minnesota? Adam McDowell: It’s lovely, there are Canadian flags everywhere, people being very polite to each other. Kosar: Wait…. you’re a Canadian? In Canada? McDowell: Yes, born and raised in Toronto. Kosar: Why? McDowell: I’ve never had a doctor’s bill in my life. That’s explanation enough. Kosar: As a Canadian, I trust you consume barbarous quantities of drinks like Yukon Jack, Canadian Club,...

Dangerous, the book by former Breitbart Senior Editor Milo Yiannopoulos, was released for pre-order for the second time on Sunday, overtaking both Chelsea Clinton and Ben Sasse’s books and soaring to #1 on the Amazon best sellers list within a day. The book is now being published through Milo’s own “Dangerous Books” publishing house, after former publisher Simon and Schuster decided to drop the title. That decision was made despite the fact that the book had already received over 75,000 pre-orders, according to Milo. Left-wing activists, journalists, and celebrities celebrated the cancellation of Dangerous months ago. However, the relaunched book...

Here are 115 books the NAS recommends for colleges and universities with common reading programs. The first list contains 80 books appropriate in level of difficulty and length for any college freshman. The second list contains 30 more ambitious choices... Recommended Books for More Ambitious College Common Reading Programs MATTHEW ARNOLD – CULTURE AND ANARCHY (1869) The point of culture is the pursuit of perfection; the uncultured are mere Philistines. Arnold eloquently articulates the High Victorian ideal of culture as singular and normative—a valuable corrective to the modern view of culture as plural and descriptive. Students will learn to consider...

George RR Martin is, as Neil Gaiman famously once opined, not your bitch. It is eight years to the day since Gaiman wrote this to a fan on his website who had asked whether it was fair to feel that Martin was “letting him down” by taking so long to publish the later volumes in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. That was in 2009, meaning that that fan had another two long years ahead before he’d get his hands on the fifth book, A Dance With Dragons. If that chap was feeling let down then his disappointment...

Meet James Patterson's newest co-author: former President Clinton. Patterson and Clinton are co-writing a thriller titled "The President Is Missing," which is scheduled for release in June 2018. The book is about the disappearance of a sitting president.

"Forbidden Thoughts" is a conservative and libertarian science fiction anthology. What are the pros and cons of this book most notable for Milo Yianapolis writing the foreword?

I've read a number of books dealing with the 2016 presidential election. "Game of Thorns" is very good and explains why Trump won the election, despite the fact that almost all the pundits had Clinton winning easily. The first chapter of the book goes into detail about all the unethical and criminal activity in which the Clintons were involved, things I wasn't aware of. The next 5 chapters are a detailed description of what happened on election eve. This is a much more interesting book than "Shattered", in my opinion. Highly recommended.

HILLARY Clinton “faked a smile” and suppressed her “anger” when she was forced to concede defeat to Donald Trump after his meteoric rise to the Presidency, a tell-all book has claimed. The former Secretary of State seemed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory when she lost the electoral college, and with it the Presidency, to Washington outsider Donald Trump. Now a salacious book has claimed the Democrat’s rage “touched every nerve of her body” after being ordered by Barack Obama to admit defeat. The book ‘Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Election Campaign’ claims President Obama implored the first...

School is no place for books, one Manhattan principal apparently believes. In a scene out of “Fahrenheit 451,” administrators at Life Sciences Secondary School have ordered all textbooks rounded up and removed — calling them “antiquated,” sources say. Principal Kim Swanson and Assistant Principal Derek Premo, who launched the ban, “really frown upon the use of books,” an insider told The Post

I’ve quoted it many times; but until last week, I’d never actually sat down and read George Orwell’s 1984. Now I want to share my thoughts on this literary masterpiece. Calling a novel from the past “amazing in its relevance” is pretty cliché; but still true. First published in 1949, the vast majority of 1984’s frightening predictions have come true in some way. Much of it has described the trajectory of the Western world. But the book gives an almost-certain window into what life is like in North Korea. I also cannot recommend it enough for any Christian interested in...

Venezuela’s largest Jewish advocacy group has protested to the government a state-run radio broadcast that positively referenced the anti-Semitic "Protocols of the Elders of Zion." In a formal complaint filed this week with the Public Ministry, the Venezuelan Confederation of Israelite Associations denounced the broadcast in which journalist Cristina Gonzalez read the infamous text and suggested that listeners also should read it. “Venezuelan Jews know that promoting this anti-Semitic document only sows hate and discrimination, violating the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” the confederation said in a statement. During the broadcast, Gonzalez expressed her admiration for the Jewish...

More than 3,000 employees in 36 states will be laid off in the liquidation of one of the world’s largest Christian retailers. More than two years ago, suppliers forgave Family Christian Stores $127 million in debt so that it could remain open. Today, the chain—which bills itself as “the world’s largest retailer of Christian-themed merchandise”—announced it is closing all of its stores after 85 years in business. Family Christian, which employed more than 3,000 people in more than 240 stores across 36 states, blamed “changing consumer behavior and declining sales.” “We had two very difficult years post-bankruptcy,” stated president Chuck...

A new book that sells the concept of Communism “in the simple terms of a children’s story” has failed to sell on Amazon.com — except in the category for true believers. “Communism for Kids” by MIT Press “unfolds like a story, with jealous princesses, fancy swords, displaced peasants, mean bosses, and tired workers,” its Amazon.com page explains. […] Scathing customer reviews give the book a rating of only 1.7 out of 5 stars, with comments noting communism has killed “over 60 million people” and asking, “If Communism is so great why are they selling the book. Isn’t that capitalism?” …

I have a new book out — “The True Jesus,” which is my third Christian-themed book — and I want to tell you a little bit about it. In my previous books, I related that I didn’t always embrace the Bible and that I came to accept Jesus Christ later than some people do — after studying the evidence for Christianity’s truth claims. Contrary to a common misconception, there is an abundance of evidence that undergirds the Christian faith, and I examined much of that in my previous books. This book is different in that it allows the Gospels to...