One of my favorite books ever is Temporary Autonomous Zone by Peter Lamborn Wilson, published under the pseudonym Hakim Bey.
I fed a copy of it into Google's NotebookLM which generated this summary and "podcast"
Hakim Bey’s T.A.Z. is a book outlining the concept of Temporary Autonomous Zones (TAZ), which are spaces of freedom and self-expression outside of the control of the state and capitalism. The book argues that these zones can be created through a combination of poetic terr0rism, ontological anarchy, and sorcery, all of which challenge the dominant power structures and norms. Bey proposes a series of strategies for creating and sustaining TAZ, ranging from practical tactics like hacking and squatting to more mystical approaches like ritual magic and altered states of consciousness. The book also examines the historical precedents for TAZ, including pirate utopias, indigenous tribal societies, and anarchist communes, suggesting that the concept is not a new idea but a recurring impulse in human history.
Author, journalist, editor, critic, and futurist Bruce Sterling helped spawn the cyberpunk movement with his numerous short stories and early novels including The Artificial Kid (1980), Schismatrix (1985), and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award-winning Islands in the Net (1988). He edited the sub-genre’s seminal manifesto Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology (1986). With his fellow cyberpunk William Gibson, Sterling co-wrote The Difference Engine (1990), which was one of the first novels to bring the concept of steampunk to the masses. Sterling’s other acclaimed novels include Heavy Weather (1994), Holy Fire (1996), Distraction (1998; Arthur C. Clarke Award), Zeitgeist (2000), The Zenith Angle (2004), The Caryatids (2009), Love Is Strange: A Paranormal Romance (2012), and the Sidewise Award nominated PIRATE UTOPIA (2016).
He was awarded Hugos for his novelettes “Bicycle Repairman” and “Taklamakan.” His numerous shorter works have been collected in Crystal Express (1989), 蝉の女王 [Japanese] (1989), Globalhead (1992), A Good Old-Fashioned Future (1999), Visionary in Residence (2006), Ascendancies: The Best Of Bruce Sterling (2007), Gothic High-Tech (2011), and Transreal Cyberpunk (2016 with Rudy Rucker). Beginning with The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier (1992), Sterling has produced several exceptional nonfiction books: Parco Giochi Con Pena Di Morte [ITALIAN] (2001 with William Gibson), Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years (2002), and Shaping Things (2005).
Currently living in Turin, Italy with his wife, political activist Jasmina Tešanović, Sterling often produces stories for the European markets under the names of Boris Srebro and Bruno Argento.
All of us at Tachyon wish the remarkable Bruce a happy birthday. Keep staying one step ahead of the rest of us.
For more info on PIRATE UTOPIA, visit the Tachyon page.
Genre: sci-fi (alternate history, mostly, with a hint of fantasy thrown in for flavour)
Year: 2015
Notes: the english-speaking edition came out in 2016 published by Tachyon Publications, but it was first published in Italian in 2015 in a collection of short stories with the same name and the undertitle “the short stories of Bruno Argento”, literal translation into Italian of Bruce Sterling’s name. (Read this review in Italian here)
First, a couple of things. As I was saying in the notes, the english and italian editions differ: the english edition consists only of the novella Pirate Utopia, while the Italian one is made up of five stories and was published one year before for Urania, the most famous sci-fi magazine in Italy. Why so? Well, because Bruce Sterling spends a lot of time in this country, mostly in Turin, a city in northwestern Italy, and this collection of short stories can be read a tribute to Turin and Italy in general. Three of the other short stories (Black Swan, The Parthenopean Scalpel and Esoteric City) can be found in a 2012 collection called Gothic High-Tech. This leaves out Pilgrims of the Round World.
My review will focus mostly on Pirate Utopia, but I have to say my personal favourite was probably Black Swan.
Pirate Utopia is a dieselpunk novella, a piece of alternate history focusing on the Regency of Carnaro and the city of Fiume (now known as Rijeka and part of Croatia), a self-proclaimed state which, historically, lasted only a few years. A result of post-war unrest and new ideologies, it didn’t last much and it was not successful: they wanted to annex Fiume to the Kingdom of Italy, and it didn’t end well. The population of Fiume did welcome the army that came to annex them quite enthusiastically, and that’s kinda what happens in Pirate Utopia. Which, again, refers to the Utopia of the city of Fiume: like in reality, it is led by Italian poet and controversial figure Gabriele D’Annunzio, but many other interesting characters inhabit this new frontier, most of which are deeply invested in Futurism. We follow the adventures of Lorenzo Secondari, WWI veteran and brilliant engineer, who starts his career as a pirate and owner of a torpedo factory which he runs with Frau Piffer, syndacalist leader of the women who work at the factory. Secondari’s knowledge and skills are necessary for Fiume to increase its power and its credibility in the eyes of foreign countries.
I love dieselpunk, and I enjoyed Pirate Utopia even if, to be fair, there isn’t much of a story, not in the traditional sense of the word: it reads mostly like a collection of episodes in Secondari’s life, and it mostly serves the purpose to show us the universe in which it’s set. It’s as if the whole alternate history setting is the main character here, filled with famous historical and literary figures and many inside jokes. As with any non-conventional story, it’s even harder to judge it: for me it was a very interesting read, because in Italian schools D’Annunzio and Futurism are usually brushed off because of their connection with Fascism, which remains a super delicate theme. But I can’t imagine what it must be to read this without having ever heard of Fiume and everything behind it. I bet it’s one hell of a ride.
Get some great reads while promoting civil liberties with The Humble Charity Book Bundle: Get the Vote Out 100% supporting the ACLU
The Humble Charity Book Bundle: Get the Vote Out 100% supporting the ACLU includes the Tachyon titles PIRATE UTOPIA by Bruce Sterling and STABLE STRATEGIES AND OTHERS by Eileen Gunn.
With the US midterm elections just around the corner, Humble Bundle has just launched a fun and informative selection of curated titles in support of a more perfect union. The Humble Charity Book Bundle: Get the Vote Out 100% supporting the ACLU focuses on civics, volunteerism, and positive resistance – with one cookbook, an angry bear, Cory Doctorow, and a few dystopian novels and comics in the mix too.
Participating publishers coming together for this project include IDW, Image Comics, Lonely Planet, Microcosm Publishing, No Starch Press, Oni Press, Quirk, Skyhorse, and Tachyon.
Working in conjunction with the ACLU and writer Gary Whitta (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Book of Eli), this promotion will be the first to offer the new science fiction anthology, RESIST: Tales From a Future Worth Fighting Against, featuring some of today’s most celebrated SF writers.
100% of all proceeds from this promotion will be donated to the ACLU.
The Humble Charity Book Bundle: Get the Vote Out 100% supporting the ACLU will run from October 22 through November 5 at 11 a.m. Pacific time.
For more info on PIRATE UTOPIA, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover and illustration by John Coulthart
For more info about STABLE STRATEGIES AND OTHERS, visit the Tachyon page.
I keep rolling the idea of building a techno pirate-utopia over in my mind, but where to start? The engineering problems are the easy bit.
Should I try and come up with some grand overall principles?
Or start with small practical problems (communications, identity etc) and build the solutions, then get people on board and try and figure things out organically?
I dunno, I’m not sure if I have a clear enough vision of what I want to begin yet.
I’m pretty sure that, like Field of Dreams, “if I build it, they will come”. There’s got to be enough people out there who want something different and are willing take a little risk.
Get Bruce Sterling’s provocative, entertaining PIRATE UTOPIA for only $1.99!
Bruce Sterling’s sly, smart, and subversive PIRATE UTOPIA is a Kindle Daily Deal for Monday, February 11.
For today only, the ebook is available for just $1.99!
A Kirkus 9 Great Books to Round Out 2016
An io9 16 Must-Read Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for November
A Speculition Best of 2016
A Village Voice Must-Read
2016 Locus Recommended Reading List
Who are these bold rebels pillaging their European neighbors in the name of revolution? The Futurists! Utopian pirate-warriors of the tiny Regency of Carnaro, the unlikely scourge of the Adriatic Sea. Mortal enemies of communists, capitalists, and even fascists (to whom they are not entirely unsympathetic).
“Fritz Lang directing Buckaroo Banzai.”
—Locus
The ambitious Soldier-Citizens of Carnaro are lead by a brilliant and passionate coterie of the perhaps insane. Lorenzo Secondari, World War I veteran, engineering genius, and leader of Croatian raiders. Frau Piffer, Syndicalist manufacturer of torpedos at a factory run by and for women. The Ace of Hearts, a dashing Milanese aristocrat, spymaster, and tactical savant. And the Prophet, a seductive warrior-poet who leads via free love and military ruthlessness.
Fresh off of a worldwide demonstration of their might, can the Futurists engage the aid of sinister American traitors and establish world domination?
Original introduction by Warren Ellis
Cover, illustrations, design, and design notes by John Coulthart
Afterword by Christopher Brown
Interview with Bruce Sterling by Rick Klaw
[STARRED REVIEW] “Cyberpunk progenitor Sterling’s alternate history novella is bizarre, chock-full of famous people in improbable situations, and wildly entertaining, even when the world-building seems to go a little off the rails. Lorenzo Secondari, a veteran of the recently ended Great War and forever changed by it, is the head engineer of the titular utopia, the Italian free state of Fiume. He and his compatriots build flying boats and fight communism while dealing with American secret agents, including Harry Houdini and Howard Lovecraft (who’s now working as Houdini’s publicity agent after going into advertising). Hitler died saving another man’s life in a bar fight, Wilson was poisoned, and Mussolini’s been disabled by a pair of bullets aimed “where a man least likes to be shot,” so the Europe in which Secondari is attempting to create his radio-controlled airborne torpedoes and other gizmos is already massively different from ours. An introduction by Warren Ellis and an interview with Sterling sandwich the novel, both bearing an air of false gravitas, but the actual story is wacky and fun what-if-ing at its finest.”
—Publishers Weekly
[STARRED REVIEW] “Noted sci-fi maven and futurologist Sterling (Love Is Strange, 2012, etc.) takes a side turn in the slipstream in this offbeat, sometimes-puzzling work of dieselpunk-y alternative history. Resident in Turin, hometown of Calvino, for a dozen years, Sterling has long been experimenting with what the Italians call fantascienza, a mashup of history and speculation that’s not quite science fiction but is kin to it. Take, for example, the fact that Harry Houdini once worked for the Secret Service, add to it the fact that H.P. Lovecraft once worked for Houdini, and ecco: why not posit Lovecraft as a particularly American kind of spook, “not that old-fashioned, cloak-and-dagger, European style of spy,” who trundles out to Fiume to see what’s what in the birthplace of Italian futurism-turned-fascism? Lovecraft is just one of the historical figures who flits across Sterling’s pages, which bear suitably futuristic artwork, quite wonderful, by British illustrator John Coulthart. Among the others are Woodrow Wilson and Adolf Hitler, to say nothing of Gabriele D’Annunzio and Benito Mussolini. “Seen from upstream, most previous times seem mad,” notes graphic novelist Warren Ellis in a brief introduction, but the Futurist project seems particularly nutty from this distance; personified by Lorenzo Secondari, a veteran of World War I who leads the outlaw coalition called the Strike of the Hand Committee in the “pirate utopia” of the soi disant Republic of Carnaro, its first task is to build some torpedoes and then turn them into “radio-controlled, airborne Futurist torpedoes,” not the easiest thing considering the technological limitations of the time. A leader of the “Desperates,” who “came from anywhere where life was hard, but honor was still bright,” Secondari and The Prophet—D’Annunzio, that is—recognize no such limitations and discard anything that doesn’t push toward the future. So why not a flying pontoon boat with which to sail off to Chicago, and why not a partnership with Houdini to combat world communism? A kind of Ragtime for our time: provocative, exotic, and very entertaining.”
—Kirkus
“A fantastic, comical, alternate historical dieselpunk affair … filled with astonishing characters, fine dialogue, and an abundance of ideas and is packaged with John Coulthart’s cool Futurist-Constructivist-inspired graphics, an introduction by graphic novelist Warren Ellis, and an interview with the author.”
—Booklist
“Quite brilliant.”
—Michael Swanwick, author of The Dragons of Babel
“Between 1920 and 1924, the Free State of Fiume was a real-world “pirate utopia,” an ungoverned place of blazing futurism, military triumphalism, transgression, sex, art, dada, and high weirdness. In Bruce Sterling’s equally blazing dieselpunk novella Pirate Utopia, the author turns the same wry and gimlet eye that found the keen edges for steampunk’s seminal The Difference Engine to the strange business of futurism.”
—Cory Doctorow, Boingboing
“Pirate Utopia is a rollicking, full-bodied, intelligent satire of a country that might have been a world player, had not events conspired against it in real life.”
—Strange Alliances
“An alternate history clusterfuck of brilliant, whacky world-building and hilarious, bizarre characters.”
—LitReactor
“A wild satire about serious issues. Sterling’s wonder-romp is perfectly matched by Coulthart’s superb designs. The best of their brilliant generation, Sterling and his collaborator have produced a book to treasure. Bravo!”
—Michael Moorcock, author of the Elric of Melniboné series and The Whispering Swarm
“Spiky, provocative, drenched in his trademark wit, Sterling delivers us a brilliant and surprising jolt of vividly rendered counter-factualism.”
—Alastair Reynolds, author of Revenger and the Revelation Space series
“Imagine if Hunter S. Thompson traveled in time to the Great War in order to write The Futurist Manifesto and you’d come a little closer to envisioning the surreal, madcap—and yet almost entirely factual! —adventure that is Bruce Sterling’s Pirate Utopia. It is sly, smart, and subversive—and also very, very funny.”
—Lavie Tidhar, author of Central Station and A Man Lies Dreaming
“Satirically glamorous, Bruce Sterling’s Pirate Utopia captures a comically refined view of the proceedings as only Bruce Sterling can…delightful…engaging…a visual treat.”
—Speculiction
“Pirate Utopia may seem to be about an ancient and almost forgotten struggle between Italy and Yugoslavia, but its themes are as relevant as this year’s presidential politics.”
—Locus
For more info on PIRATE UTOPIA, visit the Tachyon page.
Bruce Sterling’s PIRATE UTOPIA honored with Theaker's Quarterly Award
The Theaker's Quarterly Awards 2018 were recently announced with Bruce Sterling’s PIRATE UTOPIA garnering the prize on the books category.
As announced in Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #62, these are the winners of the Theaker's Quarterly Awards 2018. Voting was open to the public from February 11 to 25, and people could vote for as many items as they wanted in each category. Items were eligible if they had appeared in or were reviewed in the previous four issues of the magazine. Here are the results!
Books
1st PIRATE UTOPIA, by Bruce Sterling (Tachyon Publications)
2nd I Am Providence, by Nick Mamatas (Night Shade Books)
3rd Metronome, by Oliver Langmead (Unsung Stories)
Roy Christopher’s annual summer book reading list compiled from diverse hands includes Peter Lunenfeld’s recommendation.
Bruce Sterling’s PIRATE UTOPIA (Tachyon, 2016) also interrogates culture’s tortured relationship with power, but from a deiselpunk perspective, creating an alternative past in which the Futurists take over the Regency of Carnaro to wreck havoc on their enemies. It was a nominee for the 2016 Sidewise Award, Best Short-Form Alternate History. In my alternate history, it won.
At LANGUAGE LOG, Mark Liberman’s discussion about Melania Trump's jacket choices includes this unexpected update.
Update — I should add that a semi-true history of Fiume/Carnaro/Rijeka in the period after WWI can be found Bruce Sterling's novel PIRATE UTOPIA.
For more info on PIRATE UTOPIA, visit the Tachyon page.
