Our own John Bambenek has a new book out, Illinois Deserves Better: The Ironclad Case for an Illinois Constitutional Convention. It's a specialized topic, but one about which he feels very passionately, and we all ought to be paying as much attention to our local political issues as he is, because local politics are where real change and real progress begins.

It's a brave new world full of hope and change where every ray of light is just a little brighter, so here are some reading suggestions to get you ready for it.

Robert Heinlein's Farnham's Freehold is a good place to start, with a dystopian classic from the 60s which addresses issues of individual liberty and race relations and gender identity. It may open your eyes, or send you to the garage to check your food supplies.

Tom Kratman's Caliphate may be a little too close to reality for some reasders, but if you're worried about the war in Iraq and the issue of Islamic imperialism, you'll find much fodder for thought in this near-future scenario of fortress America and a muslim-dominated Europe.

Although I'd also recommend many of his other novels, here's a good place to start reading Bruce Sterling, with Heavy Weather which looks at the impact of extreme weather produced by global climate change on near-future American society.

And finally, since so many are intent on bringing the 60s back, consider reading Michael Moorcock's surrealistic dystopian classics The Final Programme, A Cure for Cancer, The English Assassin and The Condition of Muzak all together in one volume for the first time in 30 years.