Free Republic

"....The controversy over the Hugo Awards contains elements of a good dystopian science fiction story. Unfortunately, the media brat-fit over the successful effort to rescue escapist fantasy literature from its political pursuers comes not from the pages of Brave New World but from Slate,Salon, and Entertainment Weekly.Like sports, video games, and cake baking, science fiction strangely finds itself in the crosshairs of ideological killjoys. Perhaps it was only a matter of time and space before the genre obsessed with time and space became a culture-war battlefield.“To many of the people involved in this industry, politics and message trump entertainment or...

Oxford University Press Bans Use Of Pig, Sausage Or Pork-Related Words To Avoid Offending Muslims 14 Jan 2015 The Oxford University Press has warned its writers not to mention pigs, sausages or pork-related words in children's books, in an apparent bid to avoid offending Jews and Muslims. The existence of the publisher's guidelines emerged after a radio discussion on free speech in the wake of the Paris attacks. Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, presenter Jim Naughtie said: "I've got a letter here that was sent out by OUP to an author doing something for young people. "Among the things...

Michel Houellebecq, who first stirred controversy with sex novel Atomised, makes waves with book describing country after Islamist becomes president. Put France’s literary enfant terrible together with Europe’s most combustible political talking point, and sparks were always going to fly. Michel Houellebecq, whose tale of sex, mother-hatred and cloning Atomised was the French literary scandal of the Nineties, is turning his attention to “Islamisation”. His new novel Soumission (Submission), will not be published until January 7 but has already triggered a flurry of accusations that he is pandering to the growing Islamophobia gripping France. It is set in 2022 and...

By the time John Kennedy Toole won the Pulitzer Prize for his great American novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, he had been dead for 12 years. Toole reportedly killed himself in part due to years of frustration over unsuccessful attempts to get his outrageously funny book about New Orleans published. It was only after his mother browbeat author Walker Percy into taking up the cause that Louisiana State University Press published the book in 1980. The following year, it won the Pulitzer for fiction. It went from being considered a cult classic to a must-read: More than 1.5 million copies...

Book Publishing Needs Socialism to Save It Let me just state up front that I love America and wouldn’t live anywhere else but, I also believe there’s room for a blend of socialism and capitalism to exist in a democratic society, and when it comes to how books are sold or treated, I prefer what the French and other advanced nations do. They protect books and the printed word. I applaud them—and so should you. Here in the U.S., thanks largely to Amazon, books have become commoditized. You can buy clothes based on price—or a desk or the hotel you...

Martin Luther’s emphasis on literacy helped make modern day journalism possible. Rise of the Corruption Story Unnatural Acts In America, we expect journalists to have some independence from government and other leading power centers. We are not surprised to glance at the morning newspaper or television news show and see exposure of wrongdoing. We assume that the press has a responsibility to print bad news as well as good. And yet, that which seems ordinary to us is unusual in the history of the world, and even in much of the world today. How did the unnatural act of independent...

If left-leaning publications value diversity, why don't they have any?On the staff of The American Prospect, I’m the only member of an ethnic minority. That's not because I bring all the variety the magazine needs, or because the editors don't think diversity is valuable. Everyone on the masthead of this liberal publication is committed to being inclusive—not just of racial and ethnic minorities but of women; gays, lesbians, and transgender people; and the poor. Nearly 40 percent of the country is non-white and/or Hispanic, but the number of minorities at the outlets included in this article's tally—most of them self-identified...

Author Gary L. Harper of Louisiana says his father was the Zodiac killer.Who was the infamous Zodiac killer? The father of a man who is publishing a book out Tuesday, according to one account. Gary L. Stewart, who runs a cleaning company in Louisiana, is claiming in his new book that his father was the elusive and "still-at-large" Northern California serial killer, according to reports. In "The Most Dangerous Animal of All," Stewart lays out how he found out, following 12 years of research, that his father was the legendary murderer, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Zodiac killed...

NBC Bay Area's Stephanie Chuang shows why some are alarmed after a picture of the San Francisco International Airport was included in a publication run by Al Qaeda. A stock photo of San Francisco International Airport featured in an international publication – reportedly run by al Qaeda - is sounding off alarms on Capitol Hill, especially as the year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings nears. At a Homeland Security hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, said he was first alerted by a top law enforcement official in the Bay area to the picture of what appears to be...

British writer Robert Miller's expose´of religion's founder L. Rob Hubbard finds US publisherA British book the Church of Scientology managed to block in America is finally on sale in the US 27 years after it was published elsewhere in the world. The book, Bare-Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard, written by Russell Miller, a British journalist, and originally published in 1987, appeared in print and tablet editions in the US earlier this month. The book exposes many of the boasts of Mr Hubbard, the late founder of Scientology, about his early life and achievements as outright lies....

Ophelia DeVore-Mitchell, a former model, agent, charm-school director and newspaper publisher who almost single-handedly opened the modeling profession to African-Americans, and in so doing expanded public understanding of what American beauty looks like, died on Feb. 28 in Manhattan. She was 91.

I’ve always tried to be brutally honest with y’all when it come to money in this space because: 1 – It helps you trust the content I create here 2 – Being transparent is more comfortable for me than being vague 3 – Too many people in this space have wild misconceptions about how much money is or is not being made here, which leads to gossip and bitterness that’s a complete waste of time Since I first mentioned last year that I was writing a book and then more so when it was published, people have been curious about...

Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic political testament "Mein Kampf" is surging up electronic book bestseller lists, even as sales of the printed version have been stagnant for years. As of Wednesday, two electronic versions of "Mein Kampf" ranked 12th and 15th in the Politics & Current events section of the iTunes book store. On Amazon, Hitler's polemic ranked number one in the Propaganda & Political psychology section. There are currently six e-book versions of "Mein Kampf."One explanation offered for the surge in electronic sales concerns the relative anonymity offered by e-books as compared to their printed counterparts. "These are things that people...

Since losing the 2008 presidential election and almost completing a full term as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin has remained on the edge of the national consciousness. She's like America's racist aunt; not evil, just painfully ignorant and around the holidays she usually opens her mouth and says something embarrassing. Her newest book Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas is like her others: a delightful read if you're able to disconnect the hate part of your brain and just focus on the imaginary world she creates. It's an amusing, Seussian world, featuring combinations of real and...

Trayvon Martin's parents are working on a book about the killing of their son and the trial and acquittal in Florida of George Zimmerman, publishers say. Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin met with publishers to discuss the book, the New York Times reported Friday. Publishing executives said the couple talked about the role of race in the killing and religion in their lives. Trayvon was 17 and walking to a relative's house when he encountered Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, in a gated community in Sanford, Fla. The teenager was unarmed but Zimmerman's attorneys argued he jumped Zimmerman, who fired...

Dates are slowly being released for the next leg of Gov. Sarah Palin’s “Good Tidings and Great Joy” book tour. At time of writing we have: December 4th: Liberty University December 6th: Billy Graham Library December 7th: Books-A-Million, Monroe, LA (see article below) From Sarah Palin’s Facebook page: Honored to be participating in the final Convocation of 2013 this Wednesday at Liberty University. Look forward to discussing “Good Tidings and Great Joy” and how together we can protect the heart of Christmas. More information here: https://www.liberty.edu/online/liberty-news/?mid=107216 P.S. This is a photo of the Heath antler pile that I wrote about...

At a recent book tour stop for her best-selling book, Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin drew a blue-collar crowd consisting of all races in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. As can be seen in the video below, many who came to see Palin said they identified with her because she has a son in the military. Others said they loved her "values" and how she "stands by them." An active duty soldier said that Palin "speaks the truth" and is "straight-forward." "And I like that so much," the active duty soldier said....

<p>Former Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin met with conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh Monday, according to a post on Palin's Facebook page.</p> <p>"Mega dittos from the EIB network headquarters in Florida!" the former Alaska Gov. wrote of her visit to Limbaugh's radio network. "Got to meet one of my heroes today, Rush Limbaugh. As I've said many times, I was a ditto-head before ditto-head was cool!"</p>

When former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin went to Wausau, Wisconsin on Thursday, the whole city sold out of her new book, Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas. Palin held a book signing at the local Walmart, where a line snaked around the gigantic store (see video below) for the sold out book. Breitbart News has confirmed the town's Sam's Club and Barnes & Noble also sold out all their copies of her new book as well yesterday. At Walmart, Palin greeted a multitude of well-wishers and signed book after book. Just like her Bethlehem, PA stop,...

At a Sarah Palin book signing on Thursday in Wausau, Wisconsin, reporters who arrived early were put into a back room at the store and prevented from leaving. According to a manager at the store who spoke with The Atlantic Wire, the confinement was at the request of the people organizing Palin's event. On Tuesday, we attended the initial event on Palin's tour, organized around her war-on-Christmas-themed book, Good Tidings and Great Joy. We were able to walk freely among those waiting to talk to the governor, asking whatever questions we wanted. The scene in Wausau, according to reporters on...