It was brought to my attention that L. Neil Smith, author, has passed away. What you need to know about him was that he was never “L Neil Smith, the author” he was almost always “L. Neil Smith, the libertarian author”. He wrote books that enshrined, sometimes almost to reductio ad absurdum levels, libertarian ideals about liberty and personal freedom. His most notable book probably was “The Probability Broach” but my favorite was “Pallas“.
I don’t get maudlin or misty-eyed over the death of an author, but I do get a bit sad over the death of a like-minded individual. If he really believed the principles and ideas about the things he wrote, the he was my kinda guy and the world could stand to have a few more people like that in it.
Also worth pointing out that this last year also saw the death of Dean Ing…another author whose work resonated with me.
Tough time to be an author with libertarian and survivalist tendencies.