J. Kent Hastings & Brad Linaweaver

... are the guest speakers scheduled for the 129th meeting of the Karl Hess Club, to convene on March 21, 2005.

Hastings & Linaweaver's Anarquia Book Signing.

This month we are especially pleased and proud to present Kent and Brad, two Founders of the KHC, to discuss their first collaboration, the alternate history novel of the Spanish Civil War, Anarquía. Fascists, Communists, Monarchists, Conservatives, Reactionaries, Libertarians, Anarcho-Syndicalists, Agorists, Anarchists, and more jostle in the revolutionary ferment of 1930s Spain. Out of this vibrant cacophony of political, philosophical, and military zeal comes a story of a determined band whose amazing technological breakthroughs and daring feats turn the tides of revolution in dramatic and unexpected ways.

Anarquia is a novel of scientific, political, and personal passion, Libertarian freedom, and a daring attempt to rid the world of the threats of Fascism, Communism, and a looming World War. As an intrepid band of Libertarian Anarchists battle Hitler, Stalin and Franco across the deadly landscape of the Spanish Civil War, they receive spectacular and unexpected help from Wernher von Braun and Hedy Lamarr, giving Anarquia more twists and action than one of von Braun's guided rockets or Hedy's explosive personality!

During the 1936 to 1939 Spanish Civil War, proponents of every major intellectual, economic, political, and philosophical movement of the 20th Century came together for what most believed was to be an epic battle for the future of mankind. Artists, literary émigrés, reporters, philosophers, literary giants, and political activists poured into Spain to be where the action was! Hedy Lamarr and Wernher von Braun join Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, John Dos Passos, Ayn Rand, G. K. Chesterton, and a host of others who populate Linaweaver and Hastings's universe in the alternate history Spanish Civil War universe of Anarquia.

Alternate history as you've never experienced it!

Harry Turtledove says, "Anarquia is the most gonzo Alternate History idea I have ever heard.."

"Anarquia is incredible and wonderful," says Ray Bradbury.

Cover art commissioned from Frank Kelly Freas, an award-winning giant in the field of science fiction illustration. Most recently he was Artist Guest of Honor at the 61st World Science Fiction Convention TORCON3 (Freas passed away January 2, 2005 after a long illness).

Anarquia has been nominated for a Libertarian Futurist Society Prometheus Award as Best Novel of 2004.

If you have one already, be sure to bring your copy to the club to be signed by the authors. Copies of the trade paper and hard-bound special editions will be available for purchase at the club.

About J. Kent Hastings

J. Kent Hastings wrote "The Information Underground Railroad" which appeared in The Agorist Quarterly #1, articles for New Libertarian Magazine, a regular column on spread-spectrum radio, encryption, and untraceable digital cash called "Techtics," for Tactics of the Movement of the Libertarian Left, the novelette "Revolution Is My Hobby" [as yet unpublished], and the short story "The Blue Light," about solar system colonists escaping from a global dungeon state on Earth, for the Prometheus newsletter.

Anarquia is Kent's first novel. He's been described by prominent netizen Phil Osborn as, "one of the former Anarcho-Village crew - one of the sane ones - who is a world-class expert on hacking, cybersleuthing, cryptology and information security."

About Brad Linaweaver

Brad Linaweaver is the author of the award-winning novel Moon of Ice, which has now appeared in both hardback and paperback in America and has been published in England. He authored the young adult novel, The Land Beyond Summer. He's sold about 60 short stories, some available in Clownface.

His magazine sales include Amazing, Fantastic, Galaxy, and Argosy. His anthology sales include Confederacy of the Dead, The Ultimate Werewolf, Elric: Tales of the White Wolf, Tales from the Great Turtle, Excalibur, Peter Staurb's Ghosts, Dark Destiny, Miskatonic University, Superheros, Psycho-Paths, Alternate Warriers, When the Black Lotus Blooms, What Might Have Been: Alternate Americas, Adventures in the Twilight Zone, and Grails: Visitations of the Night.

ADDENDUM: David Harmon took these images at the above meeting.