Attribute to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

I forget exactly where I first wrote it: “At my age, time flies whether you’re having any fun or not.” But it’s true, and I just had another unsettling experience (some people would call it a “senior moment” that bears it out.

In a previous issue of this very publication, I described a (rather large) handful of literary undertakings I’ve been considering and asked my esteemed readers to vote with their dollars on what book they thought I should write the next time my desk was clear (not that it’s ever really clear). I said at the time that I’d give them about six months to indicate their preferences and then count up the votes. To my utter astonishment I tallied them up yesterday and discovered that almost a year and a half had gone by when I wasn’t looking!

See? Time flied.

In the end (which this is) a clear and overwhelming leader emerged, surprising the hell out of me, and attracting as much interest as the next two or three proposals combined. Therefore, I’m happy to tell you that my next book will be The Frozen Stars.

This is the novel in which (spoiler alert!) we see our old friend Win Bear enjoying (almost) eternal rest alongside his lovely wife Clarissa in the belt of asteroidal rubble between Mercury and Earth that was created when the planet Venus was broken up to make something more useful (what wouldn’t be?). They are in medical stasis there, waiting until a cure is discovered for Koman’s Mitochondriasis, a degenerative disease from which Clarissa suffers and for which even the North American Confederacy had no remedy. They’re awakened by a couple of sapient, glittering, crystalline insectoids, each about as big as a car, who offer them a deal. They’ll cure Clarissa (in fact, they’v already done it as as token of good faith) if Win will do something for them.

To make things even more interesting, they inform Win and Clarissa that they’ve been in deep sleep for tens of millions of years. Geologic time, already. When the shocked couple summon up a telescopic image of Earth (with Win’s telescope) they can see that the continents have drifted about 50 million years’ worth.That’s as much as I’m going to say right now, but Win will certainly strap on his trusty .41 Magnum, his pretty little Browning High-Power, and Tricky Dick Milhouse’s giant Bowie knife once again. We’ll see Ed and Lucy and any number of familiar North American Confederates and have some swell adventures along the way. Maybe I’ll throw in good old Captain Forsythe and Mr. Meep for good measure.

But first, I have to finish Only the Young Die Good (a J. Gifford and Surica Fieraru vampire novel) and Ares (about the Ngu family’s conquest of Mars) but I’m closing in on them and will start the new novel immediately after I send them off. My deep and heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped me make this decision.