The Venus Belt

1981 Smith, L[ester] Neil, [III] (1946-2021). The Venus Belt. New York: Ballantine Books. 211 pp. Rpt. Rockville, MD: Phoenix Pick, 2009. 163 pp. PSt

The libertarian eutopia of Smith’s 1980 The Probability Broach is threatened by an authoritarian dystopia. Second in the North American Confederacy series, followed, in publication order, by Their Majesties' Bucketeers. Illus. New York: Ballantine Books, 1981. 182 pp.; The Nagasaki Vector. New York: Ballantine Books, 1983. 242 pp., neither of which have much to do with the main themes in the series; Tom Paine Maru. New York: Ballantine. 273 pp. Rpt. rev. Rockville, MD: Phoenix Pick, 2009. 222 pp. [An author’s note says that the first edition was badly cut by the publisher and that this version reflects his original intent]; The Gallatin Divergence. New York: Ballantine, 1985. 223 pp.; Brightsuit MacBear. New York: Avon, 1988. 212 pp.; and Taflak Lysandra. New York: Avon, 1988. 230 pp. (1989), in all three of which there are clashes between the Confederacy and the authoritarian Federalists; and The American Zone (2001) which is a sequel to The Probability Broach. In the chronology of the series, the volumes are The Probability Broach, The Nagasaki Vector, The American Zone, The Venus Belt, The Gallatin Divergence, Tom Paine Maru, Brightsuit MacBear, Taflak Lysandra, and Their Majesties' Bucketeers. A story set in the same future is his 1989 “The Spirit of Exmas Sideways.”