King Freedom

When tyrant fanatics long have commanded both government and institutions of religion, what can ordinary people do? People just trying to live a decent life, sometimes just trying to live at all. People of sincere faith, or of none. King Freedom is a tale of escape from oppression. Both an actual escape, and the story of how one young man so beaten down he has no personality at all can grow to be a full human being. Reviews: "King Freedom [is] a delightful and thought-provoking tale of dystopia, tyranny, and growing up.… Uncle River gives us an intense story of how one young man learns how to transcend the limits of his world, and find a freedom that he could never have imagined." —Don Sakers, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 2011 "If science fiction is the literature of outsiders, no one is better suited to writing it than Uncle River." —Publishers Weekly "River's slow-paced perspective will challenge readers to stop and reflect on just what kinds of worlds are worth building." —Publishers Weekly, reviewing Counting Tadpoles, 7 December 2009 River [has a] penchant for letting his quirky creativity guide each tale to its often surprising denouement, with mostly engaging results." —Carl Hays, Booklist Citation and Review, about Counting Tadpoles, December 2009 "River's self-imposed isolation has undeniably nourished his fertile imagination to yield dreamlike tales that range widely across the speculative fiction universe." —Stanley Schmidt, from his introduction to Counting Tadpoles