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Lester Neil Smith III (May 12, 1946 – August 27, 2021), better known as L. Neil Smith, was an American
libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
science fiction author and political activist. His works include the trilogy of
Lando Calrissian Landonis Balthazar "Lando" Calrissian III is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) as an old friend of Han Solo and the administrator of the floating Cloud City on the gas p ...
novels, all published in 1983: ''
Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu Landonis Balthazar "Lando" Calrissian III is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) as an old friend of Han Solo and the administrator of the floating Cloud City on the gas ...
'', '' Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon'', and '' Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka''. He also wrote the novels ''Pallas'', ''The Forge of the Elders'', and ''
The Probability Broach ''The Probability Broach'' is a 1979 science fiction novel by American writer L. Neil Smith. It is set in an alternate history, the so-called " Gallatin Universe", where a libertarian society has formed on the North American continent, styled ...
'', each of which won the
Libertarian Futurist Society The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly ...
's annual
Prometheus Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newl ...
for best
libertarian science fiction Libertarian science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on the politics and social order implied by right-libertarian philosophies with an emphasis on individualism and private ownership of the means of production—and in so ...
novel. In 2016, Smith received a Special Award for Lifetime Achievement from the
Libertarian Futurist Society The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly ...
.


Early life

Smith was born in
Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
on May 12, 1946. His father was an
Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
officer, and his childhood was spent in various places including
Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the s ...
, McQueenie, and
La Porte, Texas La Porte ( ) is a city in Harris County, Texas, United States, within the Bay Area of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 35,124. La Porte is the fourth-largest incorporated c ...
;
Salina, Kansas Salina is a city in, and the county seat of, Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889. In the early 1800s, the Kanza tribal land reached eastward from the middle of the Kansas Territory. In 1 ...
;
Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
; and
Gifford, Illinois Gifford is a village in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 911 at the 2020 Census. History Gifford was laid out in 1876 and named for Benjamin F. Gifford. Along with nearby Penfield, the town had a station on the no ...
(all before he completed fifth grade) and then St. John's, Newfoundland and Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, where he graduated from high school.


Writing career


North American Confederacy series

Several of Smith's works are set in his North American Confederacy universe: * ''
The Probability Broach ''The Probability Broach'' is a 1979 science fiction novel by American writer L. Neil Smith. It is set in an alternate history, the so-called " Gallatin Universe", where a libertarian society has formed on the North American continent, styled ...
'' (1980) is an
alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alte ...
novel in which history has taken a different turn because a single word in the
Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...
was changed. The United States has become replaced by a
minarchist A night-watchman state, or minarchy, whose proponents are known as minarchists, is a model of a state that is limited and minimal, whose functions depend on libertarian theory. Right-libertarians support it only as an enforcer of the non-aggre ...
/
libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
society, the North American Confederacy, in this parallel universe, also known to science fiction fans as the Gallatin Universe because of the pivotal role of
Albert Gallatin Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was a Genevan–American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist. Often described as "America's Swiss Founding Father", he was a leading figure in the early years o ...
during the
point of divergence Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...
in 1794. The antagonists of the series are styled Federalists, or sometimes "Hamiltonians", after the historical political party of
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
and
Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charle ...
. In 2004, a
graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
version was released, illustrated by Scott Bieser. * '' The Venus Belt'' (1980) takes place in outer space and discusses other settlements in the Gallatin Universe solar system. The Federalists are attempting to base a new civilization in interstellar space, kidnapping and enslaving a quarter of a million women as breeding stock from the anti-libertarian timeline from which the viewpoint character of ''The Probability Broach'' had escaped, with a plan to someday return in force to take over both of the alternate versions of Earth discovered by way of the P'wheet/Thorens probability broach. * '' Their Majesties' Bucketeers'' (1981) is a
pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking i ...
of the
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
tales by
Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...
, introducing the Lamviin, a trilaterally symmetrical race of aliens native to the arid planet of Sodde Lydfe. ''Their Majesties' Bucketeers'' introduces characters who later interact with others in the Gallatin Universe. * '' The Nagasaki Vector'' (1983) is written from the perspective of a time traveler who is shifted from yet another alternative probability line into the Gallatin Universe by the
nuclear explosion A nuclear explosion is an explosion that occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from a high-speed nuclear reaction. The driving reaction may be nuclear fission or nuclear fusion or a multi-stage cascading combination of the two, ...
over
Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
(on August 9, 1945) during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. * In '' Tom Paine Maru'' (1984), 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'' (1985), a time-traveling Federalist woman wants to change history but is opposed by the protagonists of ''The Probability Broach''. As these two forces clash, history is once again altered and yet another timeline is created. * '' The American Zone'' (2001), the final book in the series, is a direct sequel to ''The Probability Broach'' concerned with the refugees from various anti-libertarian versions of the United States who take up residence in the Confederacy, and the response of the Confederacy to terrorist violence.


Star Wars expanded universe novels

Smith wrote three novels set in the ''Star Wars'' expanded universe. All three feature con-artist, associate of
Han Solo Han Solo is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. The character first appeared in the 1977 film '' Star Wars'' portrayed by Harrison Ford, who reprised his role in '' The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) an ...
and previous owner of the ''
Millennium Falcon The ''Millennium Falcon'' is a fictional starship in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Designed by Joe Johnston for the movie '' Star Wars'' (1977), it has subsequently appeared in '' The Star Wars Holiday Special'' (1978), ''The Empire Strikes Ba ...
'',
Lando Calrissian Landonis Balthazar "Lando" Calrissian III is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) as an old friend of Han Solo and the administrator of the floating Cloud City on the gas p ...
, first introduced in the film ''
The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based on a stor ...
''. The novels take place between ''
Revenge of the Sith Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." P ...
'' and '' Episode IV: A New Hope'' * ''
Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu Landonis Balthazar "Lando" Calrissian III is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) as an old friend of Han Solo and the administrator of the floating Cloud City on the gas ...
'' (July 1983), the first novel in the series, follows Calrissian as he wins a droid, Vuffi Raa, in a sabacc game, but must travel to the Rafa system to claim it, where he is forced by Rokur Gepta into a quest for an ancient artifact. * '' Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon'' (October 1983), picks up with Calrissian and Vuffi Raa some time later, having started a freight business. Calrissian is invited to a high-stakes sabacc game in the Oseon system, where circumstances require him to assist in a drug sting, while defending against Rokur Gepta's revenge. * In '' Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka'' (December 1983), Calrissian and Vuffi Raa assist a persecuted alien race facing starvation instigated by the Centrality, and learn about Vuffi's origins. The three novels were collected as '' The Lando Calrissian Adventures'' Omnibus Edition (1994).


Other works

* ''Pallas'' was conceived as the first installment of a series that Smith called "The Ngu Family Saga". ''Pallas'' is the story of Emerson Ngu, a boy who lives in a
dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
n socialist commune in a crater on the
asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...
Pallas Pallas may refer to: Astronomy * 2 Pallas asteroid ** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas * Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon Mythology * Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena * Pa ...
. Emerson secretly builds 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 slowly starving to death—he designs 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 In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age), in which character change is import ...
and a story of political revolution. * The writing of ''Ceres'', the second work in "The Ngu Family Saga," was funded by private investors organized as Project Ceres by Alan R. Weiss, a friend of Smith's. The plot centers on a figure skater from a small asteroid who is determined to compete successfully in the much heavier gravity of Earth, and her brother, pursuing mineral riches as an "asteroid hunter". * ''The Mitzvah'', a novel about a Catholic priest who is a pacifist and influenced by socialist values of the 1960s. His world is shattered when he learns that the German immigrant parents he grew up with have adopted him, and his true parents were a Jewish couple murdered in the
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
.


Politics

Smith joined the Libertarian Party in 1972 (just after its beginnings in 1971). He served on the Platform Committee in 1977 and 1979, and in 1978 ran for the state legislature in Colorado, losing to Ronald Strahle by 10,895 votes to 1,925. In 1999, Smith announced that he would run for president in
2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
as an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...
if his supporters would gather 1,000,000 online petition signatures asking him to run. After failing to achieve even 1,500 signatures, his independent campaign quietly died. He next tried an abortive run for the Libertarian Party nomination, which ended almost as quickly when, in the California primary,
Harry Browne Harry Edson Browne (June 17, 1933 – March 1, 2006) was an American writer, politician, and investment advisor. He was the Libertarian Party's Presidential nominee in the U.S. elections of 1996 and 2000. He authored 12 books that in total hav ...
overwhelmingly defeated him, 71% to 9%. Although Browne was chosen by the party's 2000 national convention, Smith, because of a dispute between the Libertarian Party's national organization and its Arizona affiliate, appeared as the Libertarian Party candidate for president on the
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
ballot. He and running mate
Vin Suprynowicz Vin Suprynowicz (born c. 1950) is an American libertarian author who formerly edited editorial pages for the Las Vegas, Nevada-based ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''. He has published two volumes of nonfiction essays on the philosophy of law and socie ...
received 5,775 votes in the national election, less than 0.01% of the vote. Shortly thereafter, Smith's supporters announced a new 1,000,000-signature petition drive; however, in late 2003, with the new drive once again failing to achieve even a small fraction of that total, Smith announced that he would not pursue another political office. Smith endorsed the Free State Project and Badnarik's campaign for president in 2004. Smith is the founder of, and regularly contributed essays to, ''The Libertarian Enterprise'', an
anarcho-capitalist Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enfo ...
and
paleolibertarian Paleolibertarianism (also known as the "Paleo strategy") is a libertarian political activism strategy aimed at uniting libertarians and paleoconservatives. It was developed by American anarcho-capitalist theorists Murray Rothbard and Lew Rockwe ...
journal.


Published works


Fiction


Coordinated Arm series

* ''The Wardove'' (1986) * ''Henry Martyn'' (1989) * ''Bretta Martyn'' (1997) (sequel to ''Henry Martyn'', connects to ''The Wardove'') * ''Phoebus Krumm'' (2009) (online comic with art by Scott Bieser, sequel to ''Bretta Martyn'', hardcopy edition in November 2010)


Forge of the Elders Series

* ''Blade of p'Na'' (2016) * ''Contact and Commune'' (1990) * ''Converse and Conflict'' (1990) * ''Forge of the Elders'' (2000) omprising the previous two books plus a previously-unpublished third book


Lando Calrissian (''Star Wars'') series

* ''
Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu Landonis Balthazar "Lando" Calrissian III is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) as an old friend of Han Solo and the administrator of the floating Cloud City on the gas ...
'' (1983) * '' Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon'' (1983) * '' Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka'' (1983) * Omnibus edition '' The Lando Calrissian Adventures'' (1994)


Ngu Family Saga

* ''Pallas'' (1993) * ''Ceres'' (2009)


North American Confederacy series

* ''
The Probability Broach ''The Probability Broach'' is a 1979 science fiction novel by American writer L. Neil Smith. It is set in an alternate history, the so-called " Gallatin Universe", where a libertarian society has formed on the North American continent, styled ...
'' (1979, unexpurgated edition 1996, graphic novel 2004) * ''The Nagasaki Vector'' (1983) * ''The American Zone'' (2001) * ''The Venus Belt'' (1980) * '' Their Majesties' Bucketeers'' (1981) * ''Tom Paine Maru'' (1984) * ''The Gallatin Divergence'' (1985) ** ''Brightsuit MacBear'' (1988) irst in new series set in NAC universe** ''Taflak Lysandra'' (1989) econd in new series set in NAC universe


Stand-alone works

* ''The Crystal Empire'' (1986) * ''Hope'' (2001; with Aaron S. Zelman) * ''The Mitzvah'' (1999; with Aaron S. Zelman) * ''
Roswell, Texas ''Roswell, Texas'' is a serialized, online graphic novel which started in 2006 and was completed early in 2008. It appeared in installments on the web site of Big Head Press. Written by science fiction novelist L. Neil Smith with Rex F. May (b ...
'' (2006) (online comic with art by Scott Bieser, hardcopy edition in June 2008) * ''Timepeeper'' (2008) (online comic with art by Sherard Jackson) * ''Sweeter Than Wine'' (2011)


Non-fiction

* ''Lever Action'' (2001) * ''Down With Power'' (2013)


See also

*


References


External links

*
"My Political Plans", an essay by Smith


page on Smith
''L. Neil Smith at Random'', Web log

Roswell, Texas
new on-line comic by Neil.
Asteroids in Science Fiction

LibraryThing author profile
*
Author’s Biography as of May 12, 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, L. Neil 1946 births 2021 deaths Candidates in the 2000 United States presidential election 20th-century American essayists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American essayists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers American alternate history writers American gun rights activists American male essayists American male novelists American male short story writers American political writers American science fiction writers Colorado Libertarians Novelists from Colorado Writers from Denver