Quote of the Week

"But when fascism comes it will not be in the form of an anti-American movement or a pro-Hitler bund, practicing disloyalty. Nor will it come in the form of a crusade against war. It will appear rather in the luminous robes of flaming patriotism . . ."
—John T. Flynn, As We Go Marching

(Our Quote of the Week is taken from The Heretic's Handbook of Quotations, Charles Bufe, ed. When we're in the mood, we change our Quotation of the Week between 15:00 and 18:00 GMT on Monday mornings; ditto for our Definition of the Week.)

Definition of the Week

FREE adj. 1) In advertising, anything bearing a hidden cost, as in "two free dinners with purchase of . . ."; 2) A descriptive term often used by subjects of repressive governments to describe tthemselves and their nations, as in the oft-heard oxymoronic assertion, "This is a free country"; 3) n. A self-identifying label commonly used by these same individuals, as in "the land of the free" or, more simply, "the free." When used in this manner, an acceptable synonym is "gang of slaves."

Our Definition of the Week is taken from The Devil's Dictionaries (Second Edition, revised & expanded): The Best of The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Biercee, and The American Heretic's Dictionary, by Chaz Bufe. This week's definition is by Bufe.

About See Sharp Press

See Sharp Press (distributed by Independent Publishers Group) is a cause-driven small press, dedicated to making the world a freer, more rational place. We publish nonfiction in the areas of anarchism, atheism, music intruction/reference, psychology, skepticism, and classic anarchist/socialist/atheist reprints. Our other niche is anti-authoritarian science fiction. If you'd like more info, here 'tis.

(Privacy Policy: We do not collect user info. We contact those who order from us only once, to acknowledge their orders. And we never share information with anyone.)

What's New

The most informative treatment of the Amazon/IPG controversy we've seen is the Seattle Times piece Amazon.com trying to wring deep discounts from publishers. We'd recommend this article to anyone interested in the future of book publishing in this country, or indeed the world.

New Releases

• See Sharp's newest title, Hungry for Peace: How you can help end poverty and war with Food Not Bombs, by Keith McHenry, is a how-to manual for those wanting to start Food Not Bombs groups, and is more than twice as large as the previous manual, Food Not Bombs. This new large-format book contains well over 100 photos and illustrations, including many ready-to-reproduce flyers; a history of the group, both in the U.S. and internationally; information on consensus process; information on obtaining free food (not from dumpsters!) to serve the hungry and homeless; and dozens of vegan receipes for groups of six and groups of 100.

  For a limited time, Hungry for Peace is available directly from See Sharp Press for $12.00 rather than its $18.95 cover price.

• Our other new title, The Messiah Game (Part I), by Tom Flynn, is back from the printer. It's our first science fiction novel and is a reprint of Part I of his well received Galactic Rapture. It's a satiric look at a far future of galactic civilization, messianic movements, the craziness of religious belief, and the tricks and techniques used by "spiritual" snake oil salesmen.

  In its review of the book, the San Diego Union Tribune stated: "The twining yarns of the multiple plots weave seductively and the reader cares about the characters and their conditions." The review on the Infinity Plus site called the book "Endlessly thought-provoking. Tremendous fun."

• Our other new title, Free Radicals: A Novel of Utopia and Dystopia, by Zeke Teflon, takes a sharp look at political repression, interstellar colonization, political and religious cults, and playing the blues in dive bars in the late 22nd century. It will be released in early May.

Upcoming Releases

• For Fall 2012, we'll issue Part II of The Messiah Game, Kathy DeGrave's new science fiction novel, The Hour of Lead, and second editions of two of our music books.

• For Spring 2013, we'll issue Part III of The Messiah Game, an as-yet-untitled sci-fi novel, a book on consensus process by Keith McHenry, a book on religious intrusion into daily life by Marie Castle, and another exposé of the Mormon Church.

Recent Rants

In addition to reading it, we'd also recommend that you check out Courage to Resist, whose goal is to "support the troops who refuse to fight." Among other things, they carry Free Bradley Manning t-shirts, buttons, and "silent agitator" stickers. Please also support Wikileaks by ordering something from their online store. And please do check out Anonnews, the news site of Anonymous, the hero hackers group which is Wikileaks' primary online defender.