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Clayton Barstow's dead brother was the author of a popular book exposing terrorism
in the U. S. After his death at the hands of the terrorists, the FBI recruits Clayton
to take his place in an investigation centering on the small town of McAdam City, Kentucky.
But shortly after he arrives in McAdam City, the FBI seemingly deserts him. As he
looks for the clues to track down his brother's killers, he is watched by the terrorists.
In an effort to rid themselves of this menace, they frame him for the death of an informant
and for the bombing of an abortion clinic. Soon, Clayton is on the run - and McAdam City is
in open rebellion against the U. S. government.
The first time I met Jack Williamson at Aggie Con (a Science Fiction Convention
in College Station, Texas), I was still quite young. As I recall, I had just read a
book of his titled Bright New Universe which I supposed was somewhat of a reply
to Huxley's Brave New World. I didn't quite get the message. Now, I get it.
In fact, I've been getting it for years.
Mr. Williamson prefers to write novels that express the "anti-Frankenstein"
perspective. That is to say, there is nothing that man was not meant to know.
Technology should rightly free men and women not only from drudgery, but from
tyrany as well. Its a viewpoint he expresses quite well.
So how is he able to write book after book on this theme and always make it
seem fresh and new? I don't know. Maybe its magic. Or maybe he's really the
incarnation of Homer, come to visit us again. Whatever the means, I'm just grateful
to be able to lay hands on a new Williamson book whenever he can be persuaded to write.
You can use this link to purchase  The Silicon Dagger from Barnes & Nobel.
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