Past Book Giveaway Portfolio: Sample #3

Receive this classic work of science fiction for free in epub and mobi formats when you sign up for our free email newsletter. Yes, LiberNoctis, the publisher of the new edition of C.M. Kornbluth’s The Syndic, is generously giving it away in both popular ebook formats. Existing newsletter subscribers can also get this ebook bundle for free. The giveaway ends at 12:00am EST on December 25, 2012. See below for details.

The Syndic by C.M. Kornbluth

What if the State — the monopoly government of a certain territory — left that territory? What if centralized, coercive government just went away? Would criminals take over?

For the sake of argument, let’s say they do. The government is gone and organized crime has taken over. Would the residents of that territory, the former citizens of the erstwhile government, be worse off or better?

The Syndic suggests that the answer is not straightforward. In fact the author, Cyril M. Kornbluth, explores a variety of answers in the form of an adventure undertaken by one of those future “criminals.” Kornbluth’s science fiction has been praised not just by his readers but by his fellow authors, some of whom were less than fond of Kornbluth himself.

*You will receive a download link via email after you confirm your free subscription to our email newsletter. Check your spam folder if it doesn’t show up in your inbox.

LiberNoctis brings you this classic of science fiction, with foreword and extensive afterword by noted libertarian writer Jeff Riggenbach on the history of the author, the novel, and the politics of mid-20th-century science fiction among Kornbluth’s contemporaries — men such as Isaac Asimov on the Left, Robert Heinlein on the Right, and libertarian science-fiction advocates who sought to redefine the political spectrum through the power of science fiction itself.

Bless the founding fathers for the exquisitely Newtonian eighteenth-century machinery of the Constitution, and curse them for visiting it in all its unworkable beauty on the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.
— Uncle Frank in The Syndic

How Existing Newsletter Subscribers Can Get The Syndic

Existing newsletter subscribers can earn the free ebook copies by helping us publicize this book giveaway. You only need to two of the following, although if you do more we’d greatly appreciate it:

Tweet about the book giveaway, include a link to this page and the hashtag #pubgcmkts, and mention @PrometheusUnb (suggested tweet: “Book Giveaway: Classic science fiction novel The Syndic by C.M. Kornbluth (epub/mobi). http://p-u.co/thesyndic #pubgcmkts @PrometheusUnb”);
Post the link to this page publicly on your Facebook timeline and mention @prometheusunboundwebzine;
Share a public post on Google+ about the book giveaway, include a link to this page and the hashtag #pubgcmkts, and mention @Prometheus Unbound;
Blog about the book giveaway with a link back to this signup page.

Be sure to email us with links to your tweet, status update(s), and post(s) to make sure we don’t miss them and that we correctly match them with your subscriber email address. We’ll email you the download link in return.

If you wish to know how libertarians regard the State and any of its acts, simply think of the State as a criminal band, and all of the libertarian attitudes will logically fall into place.
— Murray Rothbard, For a New Liberty

Please Review The Syndic

The publisher of this new edition of The Syndic thinks that it should be more widely read, especially by libertarians. We at Prometheus Unbound agree. So on behalf of the publisher, Kornbluth’s legacy, and the cause of liberty, we urge you to review this novel in one or more of the following venues: Goodreads, LibraryThing, and Amazon.com. Help us get the word out.

Praise for The Syndic and Kornbluth’s Other Work

“Despite its age, The Syndic is not a dead shell. It is a science-fiction classic that should be on every libertarian fiction-lover’s to-read list. It’s a short and quick, entertaining read — about half as long as the typical science fiction novel today, a quarter the length of the average epic fantasy novel. While characterization receives short shrift by contemporary standards, and events might feel a bit rushed to modern sensibilities, The Syndic’s strengths lie in its plotting and timeless ideas. The modern reader should be forewarned that attitudes toward women expressed within are rather old-fashioned, but the story is not without a strong female protagonist. Kornbluth’s prose is good and occasionally brilliant.”
— Geoffrey Allan Plauché, editor of Prometheus Unbound

“Today the name of Cyril M. Kornbluth no longer looms as large as it once did in the annals of science fiction. Libertarians in particular have good reason to remember this novel and to keep its memory alive.”
— Jeff Riggenbach in the Afterward of the LiberNoctis edition of The Syndic

“Kornbluth’s sharp observation is everywhere present, and in most of the stories his bitter insight.”
— Anthony Boucher on the collection The Explorers (1954)

“I haven’t enjoyed a book so much in years.”
— Spider Robinson on The Best of C.M. Kornbluth (1976)

“Critics judging Kornbluth by this anthology, edited by Pohl, have seen a growing bitterness in his later stories. This reflects editorial choice more than reality, because Kornbluth also wrote delightful humor in his last years, in stories not collected here. These tales demonstrate Kornbluth’s effective use of everyday individuals from a variety of ethnic backgrounds as well as his well-tuned ear for dialect.”
— Mark Rich on The Best of C.M. Kornbluth (1976)

~*~

Wait… You haven’t signed up for your free ebook yet? What are you waiting for? This giveaway ends at 12:00am EST on December 25, 2012. Get your free epub and mobi copies today.