J. Neil Schulman

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J. Neil Schulman should not be confused with another libertarian science fiction writer, L. Neil Smith.
J. Neil Schulman

J. Neil Schulman
Born April 16, 1953 (1953-04-16) (age 55)
Forest Hills, New York
Occupation novelist, filmmaker, actor, journalist, composer, publisher
Nationality American
Writing period 20th-century, 21st-century
Genres libertarian science fiction, comedy, suspense, fantasy
Literary movement Agorism
Influences
Official website

Joseph Neil Schulman (born April 16, 1953 in Forest Hills, New York, USA) is a novelist, screenwriter, journalist, radio personality, filmmaker, composer, and actor. His works include the novels Alongside Night and The Rainbow Cadenza, both of which won the Libertarian Futurist Society's annual Prometheus Award for best libertarian novel, and the anthology Nasty, Brutish, And Short Stories. His latest novel is the comic fantasy, Escape from Heaven, and he is producing his own screenplay adaptation as a feature film. His articles and essays have been published in magazines ranging from National Review to Cult Movies, and in newspapers including articles for the Los Angeles Times. His nonfiction books include The Frame of the Century? in which he suggested an alternate killer who could have framed O. J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife.

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[edit] Life and work

From 1972 to 1990 he was an editor and writer for Samuel Edward Konkin III's magazines, New Libertarian Notes, New Libertarian Weekly, and New Libertarian, there contributing his first published short stories, interviewing science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein (later writing the book The Robert Heinlein Interview, and other Heinleiniana), and writing articles on topics ranging from film music to the Holocaust.

In Schulman's new audiobook, I Met God, he reports on an eight-hour experience on February 18, 1997, in which God directly revealed himself to this former atheist. Schulman claims that this revelation gave him a personal insight into God which confirms the general concepts taught by the major religions but contains information that expands upon all existing religious dogmas: specifically, that while God is eternal and created all other conscious beings, God's giving his creations free will was God trading his omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence to become part of a community of independent souls.

[edit] Political writing

Schulman's earliest political writings, beginning in 1972, were in libertarian publications including Samuel Edward Konkin III's New Libertarian Notes, New Libertarian Weekly, and New Libertarian, for which Schulman was also an editor. He also wrote for other libertarian publications including Liberty, Reason, and Murray Rothbard's Libertarian Forum.

Schulman's writings on what he calls "gun prohibition" are prolific and have received national attention. Author and nationally-syndicated radio talk-show-host, Dennis Prager, attributed his conversation from favoring gun bans to favoring private gun ownership to Schulman's January 1, 1992 Los Angeles Times Op-Ed, "A Massacre We Didn't Hear About." An interview Schulman conducted for the September 13, 1991 issue of the Second Amendment Foundation's New Gun Week, with English usage expert Roy Copperud, on the grammatical meaning of the Second Amendment, has been incorporated into many legislative and judicial arguments since then. An interview Schulman conducted for the September 19, 1993 Orange County Register with criminologist Gary Kleck was subsequently quoted by witnesses on both sides of hearings on gun-control before the House Judiciary Committee's SubCommittee on Crime. These articles and others Schulman wrote are collected in Stopping Power: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns and in Self Control Not Gun Control. Academy-Award-winner and NRA President, Charlton Heston, called Stopping Power "the most cogent explanation of the gun issue I have yet read." The book received many positive reviews including from Jacob Sullum in National Review, and pro-gun-control Los Angeles radio talk-show host, Michael Jackson (radio commentator). One chapter from Stopping Power was excerpted in National Review as an article titled, "Medical Malpractice," then was chosen to be reprinted in the book Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Health and Society, Second Edition, Edited by Eileen K. Daniel, (Dushkin Publishing Group/Brown & Benchmark Publishers, 1996), as rebuttal to "Guns in the Household" by Jerome P. Kassirer, MD, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. Another chapter, "Talk At Temple Beth Shir Shalom," was reprinted in the book, Guns in America : A Reader, Jan E. Dizard, editor (New York University Press, 1999), and Schulman's chapter was praised in the Village Voice's review as "a tough Jew manifesto."

For his 54th birthday, which coincided with the Virginia Tech shootings, Schulman made the gesture of giving a reverse birthday present, releasing the PDF edition of Stopping Power as a free downloadfrom his website The World Wide Web Gun Defense Clock.

[edit] Filmmaking

Most recently Schulman moved into independent filmmaking as the writer, director, and executive producer of the feature film, Lady Magdalene's, shot in May-June, 2006, starring Star Trek icon (and fellow executive producer) Nichelle Nichols. As well, Schulman played Al Qaeda terrorist Ali in the film, and even composed the music for two songs (and lyrics for three more) for the soundtrack, including an original gospel song Nichols sang titled "Rahab the Harlot". The production is listed on IMDb and held its world première screening on February 2, 2008 at the San Diego Black Film Festival, where it won the festival's "Best Cutting Edge Film" award.

Schulman's original script, "Profile in Silver" is one of the best-remembered episodes of CBS's 1985 revival of The Twilight Zone.

[edit] Other

Schulman is a pioneer in the electronic publishing field, recognized by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times for founding the first two book publishing companies, SoftServ Publishing (1990) and Pulpless.Com (1995) that offered books by bestselling authors including Piers Anthony, Robert Silverberg, and Harlan Ellison for download to home computers and as on-demand printed editions.[citation needed] He taught "Book Publishing in the 21st Century" in the early 1990s for Connected Education. The transcript of that course is available as a free download in his book of the same title.[citation needed]

[edit] External links