I’m adding Robinson as one of my personal nominees for our creative dream team to brainstorm future terrorist scenarios & prevention.
I originally had Spider in my mental category of writers whose work I enjoy greatly, but who weren’t necessarily well suited for the task at hand. But the more I think about it, the more I think he’d have much to offer. His novel Night of Power is a rather original take on a takeover of New York City (the whole thing!), and his Mindkiller shows he knows how to explore the dark side of new technologies. (Not to mention that his excellent short story “Melanacholy Elephants” has some interesting insights for anyone paying attention to current debates on the how long copyrights should extend — no, really). My only complaint with Spider is that I wish he’d write more stuff outside of his Callahan’s short stories universe. Some of these, especially the earlier ones, are absolutely brilliant and touching works of SF, but I must admit I’ve tired of the crew over the years. But a man must pay the bills, so I’m not going to quibble with Mr. Robinson too much.
Anyway, check him out & send feedback my way if you have comments, as always…
To recap, our full list now is as follows:
Tom Clancy
John Barnes (see Mother of Storms).
Kim Stanley Robinson
Christopher Hitchens
Iain M. Banks
Ken MacLeod
Larry Niven
Jerry Pournelle
Al Franken
P.J. O’Rourke
George Carlin
Greg Bear
Gregory Benford
David Brin
Greg Egan
S.M. Stirling
Stephen Baxter
Stanislaw Lem
Dean Ing
Harry Stine*
Thomas Harris
Vince Flynn
Peter O’Donnell
Robert L. Forward
Vernor Vinge
Charles Sheffield
L. Ron Hubbard*
*Indicates deceased and not expected likely they will serve if called. (Hubbard I knew; it was pointed out to me in correspondance that Harry Stine has also passed on.)