An Interview with Robert Arvanitis on the Economics of Lord of the Rings
By Tamara Wilhite
I was in an online debate on artificial intelligence when Robert Arvanitis brought up something he’d written referencing Lord of the Rings. From the title “The Orcs that ran away”, I thought it was a short fantasy story. In reality, it was a financial paper on the economic impact of the production of the Lord of the Rings movies in New Zealand and how AI was used to solve it.
A New Poem: After Midnight
By Michael Lind
Poetry Editor’s note: Michael Lind, a premier public intellectual and academic, is also a stellar poet, so it goes without saying that we at Liberty Island are thrilled to begin featuring his work, starting today. A new poem of his will run each week.
Finding Treasures in the Bible
Sometimes the greatest rewards in God’s word are beyond the obvious.
By Chris Queen
I’ve written before about the blueberries at my mom’s house. My late father transplanted a few blueberry bushes from the North Georgia mountains over 30 years ago, and they’ve thrived ever since.
We get huge, tasty blueberries off these bushes nearly every summer, and other than some pruning and getting rid of briars, we haven’t done much to cultivate them. The berries we pick are better than anything you can find at a store.
An Interview with Author Cheah Kit Sun
By Tamara Wilhite
Cheah Kit Sun or “Benjamin” is Singapore’s first Hugo and Dragon Award-nominated author. His book No Gods, Only Daimons was nominated for the Dragon Awards in 2017. His short story “Flashpoint: Titan” in There Will Be War: Volume X was a 2016 Hugo Award nominee. And I had the opportunity to talk to him.
Murmurations: Part 3
By Tom Weiss
The ongoing weekly serial continues. Click here for the introduction, here for Part 1, and here for part 2.
Movie Review: In The Heights Chases Nostalgia
By Alex Himebaugh
In the Heights, the musical by Hamilton’s Lin Manuel Miranda, is bringing people back to the movie theater after the covid slump with its exciting music and dancing. If you haven’t already, I would suggest you join the fun and go see the movie. Do so before reading this review as it does contain spoilers.
The Quality We Miss the Most
We have a severe lack of kindness in our culture today.
By Chris Queen
In a Facebook group, I saw a young woman ask a question that was elementary. It’s a question that, with just a little research, she could have answered on her own in about five minutes. But she asked the group anyway.
Another woman commented, answering curtly, but following up with something to the effect of, “People ask this question all the time, so all you needed to do was conduct a little research.” The tone of her comment wasn’t followed by “you idiot,” but it might has well have been.
Book Review: Riding to America’s Rescue
By Conservative Book Club
If you want to read a series of comic novels that celebrate America—the old, pre-woke America—and that skewer the insanities of modern liberalism at the same time, you could do a lot worse than The Custer of the West series by H. W. Crocker III, the second installment of which is Armstrong Rides Again!
An Interview with Scott Bieser
By Tamara Wilhite
One of Scott Bieser’s fans asked Liberty Island Magazine to interview Scott Bieser. He is the author of the libertarian comic series Quantum Vibe. He has created book covers, graphic novels and a ton of webtoons. And I had the opportunity to interview him.
