L. Neil Smith (1946–2021)

Author L. Neil Smith became one of my literary heroes the instant I read his first novel, "The Probability Broach." It presented, in an exciting novel, all the concepts and precepts of human rights and individual liberty I believed in -- and still do! -- in a fictional form that was entertaining as well as instructional.
L. Neil's writing style just got better and better -- most of the time. (He had a vocabulary bigger than the dictionary and sometimes he did use too many words -- an understandable, and minor, flaw, I guess.)
As I've said in other reviews, L. Neil was so well-read and knowledgeable, he could over-awe near-hermits like myself who simply don't have the knowledge of popular culture he had. Therefore, some of the references went and go over our heads.
But that just means we can re-read and re-re-read his books and get fresh insight each time.
Yes, first we read L. Neil Smith's books for the philosophy, the ideas, the support of human rights and individual liberty, but we also read for his enjoyable style, his frequent tongue-in-cheek references.
Though Neil and I talked often on the phone, and e-mailed back and forth a lot, we never met. Still, I miss him every day. Selfishly: We need, we desperately need, thinkers and writers to help us spread the message of freedom.
We can, though, continue to be grateful we have what Schopenhauer called "that paper memory of mankind," books, plus Neil's powerful essays are also available on the Internet.
His influence remains. And we are grateful.… (mais)