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Here are six more selections from my libertarian SF library. Again I stress, these are limited to the works I own, and the nearest bookstore is a healthy drive away. If I've neglected a work you consider important, feel free to tell me about it on our forum.

J. Neil Schulman, Alongside Night
Ha, you thought I forgot this one, didn't you? A conscious homage to Heinlein's "juveniles", it's set in the near future when the U.S. government is breaking down and an underground is working to establish a libertarian society. Soon to be a motion picture.

F. Paul Wilson, An Enemy of the State
Those who remember the economic crisis of the late 1970's, when gold rocketed to $850/oz, will see its echoes in this book. This story is set in the far future, where the Outworld Imperium is starting to suffer the consequences of fiat currency and an overlarge welfare state. An anarchist cabal, the Sedition Trust -- I love that name -- plots to bring down the government. Trivia: if you've encountered the acronym "KYFHO", this is the book it came from.

Eric Frank Russell, The Great Explosion (short story "And Then There Were None")
I owe the late SEK3 (Samuel E. Konkin III) a debt for recommending this much-overlooked novel and short story. "The Great Explosion" refers to the diaspora from Earth when cheap interstellar flight is invented; this book is set many years later when Earth is trying -- and failing -- to reestablish authority over the colonies. The last third of the book appears as the short story "And Then There Were None," when Earth encounters a colony of nonviolent resisters. Trivia: this story is the origin of the acronym "MYOB."

C. M. Kornbluth, The Syndic
Another tip of the hat to SEK3 for recommending this, another book little known to most libertarians. The story portrays, not a truly libertarian society, but a North America which is run by organized crime (the Syndicate). Remnants of the U.S. government in exile wish to reestablish hegemony in North America.

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Oath of Fealty
Libertarians either love this book or hate it. Set in the very near future, it portrays an autonomous contractual community established in Los Angeles County, under attack by radical environmentalists. A bit dated now, but a fast-paced read.

Ken Macleod, The Stone Canal
This was recommended to me by Michael Grossberg of the Libertarian Futurist Society. It's not about an anarchist society, so much as set in an anarchist society, on a world colonized from Earth. This wouldn't be my first choice to introduce the ideas of a libertarian society, but Macleod is probably the newest writer on my list, and is certainly thought-provoking.


Speaking of the Libertarian Futurist Society, they're probably the best single source for information about libertarian SF. They give out the annual Prometheus Awards to honor both recent and past works of libertarian fiction. Every work I've recommended here, except A Drug War Carol and Oath of Fealty, has been honored with a Prometheus award. Plus several I haven't mentioned*, but which I do own. It's an excellent shopping list if you want more than the dozen I've suggested.

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* With the exception of The Probability Broach graphic novel, I've tried to limit myself here to only one work per author.