Brad Linaweaver (1952-2019)

Brad Linaweaver in 1989 holding his Prometheus Award. Photo by and (c) Andrew Porter.

Prometheus Award-winning author Brad Linaweaver died August 29 after a long battle with cancer. He would have been 67 on Sunday.

I met Brad long ago through other Libertarian fans and knew about his good sense of humor – he attended the satirical Hogu Ranquets organized at Worldcons by Elst Weinstein and John Novak. His goal was a pro writing career and he made his mark with some noteworthy sff.

The novella version of his novel Moon of Ice was a Nebula Award finalist (1983) and the novel length version won a Prometheus Award (1989). Linaweaver shared a second Prometheus Award (1998) with Ed Kramer for co-editing Free Space, a libertarian science fiction anthology from TOR books. His novels Anarquia with J. Kent Hastings, and Sliders (based on the television series) were also Prometheus nominees.

Linaweaver’s other novels include The Land Beyond Summer, four Doom novels with Dafydd ab Hugh, and three Battlestar Galactica novels with actor Richard Hatch.

He had original story credits on a number of films, including The Brain Leeches and Jack-O for Fred Olen Ray.

He was proud to add, in the bio he sent me when I ran program at the 2000 Loscon, “Besides playing a werewolf in the upcoming Vampire Hunters Club, his media credits include story adaptations for radio, and cameo appearances in almost a dozen feature films, including Attack of the Sixty Foot Centerfold. Brad even did a scene with Kato Kaelin before he because America’s most famous houseguest (Kato, not Brad).” Kaelin was a witness in the OJ Simpson trial (1995).

His nonfiction appeared in National Review, Chronicles, Reason, The Agorist Quarterly,and Famous Monsters of Filmland.

In 2004, he co-authored Worlds of Tomorrow with Forrest J Ackerman, a hardcover coffee table book that spotlights science fiction cover art from the Golden Age.

He was the publisher of Mondo Cult Magazine and its associated website, edited by Jessie Lilley Campbell.

One of Linaweaver’s proudest possessions was a small brass cannon once owned by Robert and Virginia Heinlein. For nearly 30 years they fired it every July 4 at the Heinlein residence. Virginia bequeathed to Linaweaver when she died in 2003. He restored it and in 2007 made a video of it being fired several times (with very small charges). (Cannon discharges begin around 6:41.)

9 thoughts on “Brad Linaweaver (1952-2019)

  1. SIGH I never read the novel version of Moon Of Ice, but I thought the original novella was extraordinary.

    Requiescat In Pace.

  2. I liked Brad a lot. Solicited Moon Of Ice, edited it for HITLER VICTORIOUS & helped get it expanded into a novel. The novel carries endorsements from Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and William F. Buckley, Jr.[1] !
    Heard from him just months ago. Had no idea. Sad.
    SO MANY FRIENDS GOING….

  3. Brad and I had a cordial but distant relationship. Probably because I only saw him at Cons and we never talked politics. Sad I won’t see him again.

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  6. This is a shock. Brad and I have not spoken since around 2006, so an 8/31 IM I just read from Robert Meyer Burnett was the first I’d known of it. I did not know he had been suffering from cancer.

    We collaborated on several short stories, e.g. “The Light That Blinds” in Dark Destiny II. He was responsible for getting me and my daughter Vanessa roles in Fred Olen Ray films, such as KidWitch and Invisible Mom. KoPubCo published his non-fiction book, Post-Nationalism: George Bush as President of the World (subsequently withdrawn by the author).

    With the loss earlier in the same month of our mutual friend and co-conspirator J. Neil Schulman, the universe of libertarian science-fiction writers has contracted considerably.

  7. And so the summer of 2019 ends with the death of two of the Anarchovillage writers (http://community.fortunecity.ws/lavendar/ducksoup/393/anarcho.htm), J. Neil Schulman and Brad Linaweaver (okay, technically, Brad didn’t live there but was clearly associated with the writers there as were a number of other affiliated writers including Heinlein biographer Bill Patterson – also gone – and prolific writer John DeChancie and Brad collaborator Kent Hastings who are both still with us, fortunately). I came aboard back around 1980, sometime after my brief time with APA-L and my infamous but record-setting stint with the early LASFAPA (http://efanzines.com/File770/File770-153.pdf – see page 29), taking over what had previously been Victor’s apartment (#8) upstairs and then proceeded to move in several girlfriends while also attending the Cal. State University, Long Beach (CSULB) Film School a couple of miles down the street, but Victor, Neil, Chris Schaefer (also a CSULB Film School alumnus)(Spielberg is too), Andy Thornton (who collaborated with Bill Patterson on their book, “The Martian Named Smith: Critical Perspectives on Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land”) and Sam Konkin were already there – writers all (although the gigantic manuscript for Chris Schaefer’s monumental unpublished biography of legendary director/producer William Castle now appears to have been lost, along with Chris Schaefer who may or may not still be around out there somewhere). Prolific magazine writer Susan Moynihan joined us later, as did “Argosy” magazine writer John Staib (who was also the first of us to go after publishing only four short stories). And hanging out with all of us at all of the endless parties and gatherings was Brad.

    As Victor noted above, he collaborated with Brad on several stories, and while I ultimately became a screenwriter with dozens of produced features, my Hollywood screenwriting only came after publishing a number of short stories and several novels, nearly all of which were written at the Anarchovillage. But like Victor, I also ended up collaborating with Brad via my adaptation of his short story, “A Real Babe”, turning it into a feature length screenplay which Brad always considered my absolute best screenplay ever (I don’t know about that, but I thought it was pretty good) but which, unfortunately, will probably never get produced now that his departure leaves “Babe” in legal limbo, which is a shame for me and Brad both.

    And I could go off into all sorts of Brad stories – we were friends for easily 30+ years which covers a lot of adventures and misadventures – but that could easily turn into another gigantic LASFAPA-like doorstop so I’ll save that for another day (although I do hope to one day have the time one day to do a comprehensive and, knowing me, likely a pretty lengthy and detailed history of the Anarchovillage, Long Beach’s only writers colony ever, and a true science fiction and fantasy writers colony at that – has there ever been another one?). But for now, I’ll just say, Neil and Brad, I’ll miss you both. What a truly very dark and very sad way to end the summer of 2019.

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