James Nicoll Reviews

Today’s review: The End of the Empire by Alexis Gilliland, published in 1983. I last reviewed this short novel a quarter century ago. I really hope I don’t recapitulate point for point my comments in the original review. I trust this is a fresh look.

The Holy Human Empire was neither holy, nor entirely human, nor an empire. The Holy Human Empire was as mortal as any institution. The government that once ruled many systems had been reduced to portions of a single planet. Soon, the empire would not even have that much¹.

Faced with certain defeat on Portales, the imperial fleet flees. Amongst the lucky few to escape rebel wrath, intelligence officer Colonel Saloman Karff.

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Naomi Kritzer’s 2023 Liberty’s Daughter is a near-future fix-up novel.

Beck Garrison lives on a seastead community located comfortably outside the limits of American waters. Founded almost fifty years earlier, the cluster of seasteads is a glorious celebration of true liberty, which is to say the right of rich people to do whatever they want and for poor people to make that possible.

Beck’s father Paul is one of the local elites. That does not mean Beck is sitting on her hands, waiting for bondservants to feed her bonbons. The teenager has sought out gainful employment, eventually landing on the role of finder.

But first! A word about where the seasteads fit into the economy of the future.

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