Freedom Book of the Month for January 2000:
Revolutionary Language
by David C. Calderwood
iUniverse.com, 1999, 324p., trade pb., $13.95

We are at the threshold of more than a new century or a new millennium. The combination of digital cash, strong encryption, and the availability of goods and services over the Internet may soon combine to make David C. Calderwood's "Revolutionary Language" look more like historical analysis than science fiction, and the past century like another world.

"Revolutionary Language" is the story of Andy, a computer programmer who develops secure systems for a number of clients -- and who ends up on the bad side of government when he won't help a zealous prosecutor spy on those clients. Imprisoned and then paroled, an embittered Andy becomes -- courtesy of the state's treatment and some friendly academic anarchists -- the tax system's worst nightmare. He begins work on the project of a lifetime: a complete system for confidential commerce that can't be monitored by the state, distributed via free download to all comers.

These concepts aren't new, of course. We've known since the early days of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption software that Big Brother can be avoided, and that he'll make life hard on anyone who facilitates such avoidance. PGP author Phil Zimmerman, among others, saw the inside of a jail cell in the early stages of the battle to make strong crypto available.

We now have a number of digital cash systems to choose from (e-gold comes to mind) and a number of avenues for anonymity on the Net. iProxy and Anonymizer have been around awhile, and Zero Knowledge Systems is pushing ahead into the territory Calderwood describes in the novel.

"Revolutionary Language" is more than a techie story. A brutal love triangle, agonizing ethical debates between Andy and the friends who are aware of his project's nature, and shadowy groups who hover at the edge of events make it a page-turner. Tension between friends, lovers and enemies translates to constant suspense and an occasional spillover into explosive violence.

This is a brilliant first novel, a first rate piece of speculative fiction, and an engaging look at what things are and might become.

June 2000: Law's Order by David Friedman

May 2000: Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith

April 2000: Reciprocia by Richard G. Rieben

March 2000: The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers by Ayn Rand

February 2000: Addiction is a Choice by Jeffrey A. Schaler

January 2000: Revolutionary Language by David C. Calderwood

Special December 1999 Feature: The Freedom Book of the Year: Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998 by Vin Suprynowicz

November 1999: Conquests and Cultures by Thomas Sowell

October 1999: A Way To Be Free by Robert LeFevre, edited by Wendy McElroy

September 1999: Assassins (Left Behind) by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

August 1999: Don't Shoot the Bastards (Yet): 101 More Ways to Salvage Freedom by Claire Wolfe

July 1999: The Mitzvah by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman

June 1999: The Incredible Bread Machine by R.W. Grant

May 1999: Send in the Waco Killers by Vin Suprynowicz

April 1999: It Still Begins with Ayn Rand by Jerome Tuccille

March 1999: The Dictionary of Free-Market Economics by Fred Foldvary

February 1999: Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand edited by Mimi Reisel Gladstein and Chris Matthew Sciabarra