Is "The Black Arrow" gratuitously vulgar?

Laissez Faire Books is refusing to carry The Black Arrow, Vin Suprynowicz's extraordinary new novel of freedom and resistance. They say Vin's book contains "gratuitous vulgar" sexual scenes and may put off some of their customers. Vulgar? Well, the novel's only truly vulgar sexual acts are committed by the bad guys -- and sex may be the least of their vulgar acts. Gratuitous? Not at all.

But hey, kiddies, it's a free market, and Laissez Faire Books can do whatever the hell it wants. It can carry the latest drivel by Sean Hannity for all I care. However, by shrugging off the most important libertarian novel in, well, maybe a decade, LFB has proved my point when, in a post here last month, I placed them in the conservative, not radical, libertarian camp.

You can find quite a fierce debate about LFB's decision (including posts from LFB itself) right here. And if you want to read The Black Arrow, which I urge you to do, go ahead and buy it directly from the radicals at Liberty Book Shop.

By the way, this photo of Jessica Biel has absolutely nothing to do with Vin's novel. It's a promotional photo from last year's Blade Trinity movie, starring Wesley Snipes. I offer it here for two reasons. First, it radiates the spirit of The Black Arrow, and if someone has the good sense to make a film of the book, Jessica Biel would make a dynamite "Madison." Second, Jessica Biel is extremely hot.