Bestselling sf novelists, guest speakers and Libertarian Futurist Society leaders have delivered a fascinating, illuminating, often provocative and occasionally amusing variety of Prometheus Award speeches, Worldcon panel discussions and podcasts over the years.
C.J. Cherryh (Creative Commons license)
Poul Anderson, C.J. Cherryh, Travis Corcoran, Dave Freer, Cory Doctorow, Harlan Ellison, Sarah Hoyt, Barry Longyear, Ken MacLeod, Wil McCarthy, Neal Stephenson, Vernor Vinge and F. Paul Wilson are just a few of the Prometheus-winning writers who have discussed their pro-freedom and anti-authoritarian works of science fiction and fantasy.
Sarah Hoyt accepting her Prometheus Award in 2011 for Darkship Thieves (File photo)
In their acceptance speeches, these novelists often have shared personal stories and addressed a wide variety of timely and timeless subjects.
More recently, leading libertarian thinkers and authors David Friedman and Ilya Somin (both lifelong SF/fantasy fans) and Reason magazine’s Bob Poole, Katherine Mangu-Ward and Jesse Walker have given key speeches at annual awards ceremonies about libertarian themes in science fiction and fantasy, why those speculative genres historically have been more open to exploring such ideas and ideals, and other topics.
Dave Freer with his 2023 Prometheus Awards Best Novel plaque for Cloud-Castles (Photo courtesy of Freer)
Among the many subjects the above writers have discussed in the videos below: technology and free-market innovation, cultural change, the information society, the power of ideas, the critical links between literacy and liberty, the value of reading, the cautionary power of dystopian literature, the foundations of justice and individual rights, artificial intelligence, the importance of safeguarding freedom of expression and civil liberties, the civilizing and peaceful benefits of free trade and free markets and the dangers of unchecked government and authoritarianism.
Harlan Ellison at the 1984 LA Worldcon (Creative Commons license)
For their enduring themes and stimulating speeches, take the time to watch these videos. (Simply click on the videos or their underlined headlines to read some interesting author excerpts and insights to whet your appetite to watch the whole thing.)
Why do libertarian and anti-authoritarian themes emerge more strongly in SF and fantasy than other literary genres? How important is Young Adult Fiction in inspiring the young to read and to better appreciate the values of civilization and the emerging modern liberal/libertarian order sustaining liberty and civility? These were among the questions explored during the 46th Prometheus ceremony, with keynote speaker Ilya Somin (Cato Institute scholar, author, law professor and SF fan) highlighting libertarian currents in SF/fantasy, and two-time Best Novel winner Travis Corcoran presenting the first Special Award for Young Adult Fiction.
Why do Prometheus winners Anderson, Heinlein, Vinge, Pournelle, Cherryh and Bujold rank high among the favorite sf authors of law-and-economics-theorist David Friedman? How did Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress give Friedman (Milton’s son) the radical idea that society can develop just laws and functional legal systems without government? What helped shape Anderson’s novel Orion Shall Rise? How did Michael Flynn’s family, childhood and young adulthood lead him to become an award-winning sf writer and three-time Prometheus winner? Why does Flynn’s CAEZIK SF & Fantasy publisher view Flynn as one of the best (but also underestimated) sf writers he’s ever known? Those questions were answered Aug. 30, 2025, during the 45th Prometheus ceremony honoring Anderson (Prometheus Hall of Fame winner: Orion Shall Rise) and Flynn (Best Novel winner: In the Belly of the Whale).
How can SF help people envision a freer, better future? Can a realistic novel about space commercialization spur progress that transforms fiction into scientific fact? How important is humor in exposing and surviving oppression? Those were among the questions explored by Prometheus-winning SF authors and LFS leaders during the 44th Prometheus ceremony honoring Prometheus Hall of Fame inductee Terry Pratchett (The Truth) and Best Novel winner Daniel Suarez (Critical Mass).
“Authoritarianism is on the march… once more, and the first step in resisting it, is to be free in one’s own thoughts and imagination. That is, after all, where sci-fi lives, and the LFS is helping to keep free-thinking science fiction alive,” Suarez said in his acceptance speech.
The 2023 Prometheus ceremony offered inspiration, humor, sobering truths and rich insights about sf, liberty, history, culture, liberty and current authoritarian trends.
Speakers: Australian Dave Freer (Best Novel winner, Cloud-Castles); past winner/presenter Sarah Hoyt (Darkship Thieves); Heinlein Society’s John Tilden, Heinlein Trust's Art Dula (accepting Hall of Fame for Heinlein’s story “Free Men”) discuss his legacy and reveal excerpts from a 1947 archived letter about his vision of the future.
LFS president Bill Stoddard discusses the cycles of freedom and reaction, passing and new generations of Prometheus winners, and co-founder Michael Grossberg, addresses the nature of the State and Best Novel category.
Watch 2022 acceptance speeches by Wil McCarthy (Best Novel winner for Rich Man’s Sky) and by Heinlein Trust and Heinlein Society leaders (accepting for Robert Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy, inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame).
Plus, two-time Prometheus winner Travid Corcoran (Causes of Separation), Best Novel category presenter, gave a mythic-metaphoric speech about the decline of sf and the importance of libertarian science fiction; LFS co-founder Michael Grossberg introduced Corcoran and the Best Novel category; and LFS President William H. Stoddard, Hall of Fame presenter, explained why the Hall of Fame is important, why Citizen deserves a place in it and why the Libertarian Futurist Society has presented the Prometheus Awards for 40 years.
How is technology expanding book publishing and alternative fiction? How is that trend reflected in this year’s slate of Prometheus Best Novel finalists? What’s the historic relationship among sf, liberty and the libertarian movement? What are the challenges and tensions in balancing artistic merit in fiction and awards with ideology and positive social values? Following the 15-minute 2021 Prometheus Awards ceremony, with acceptance speeches by Barry Longyear (Best Novel: “The Hook”) and F. Paul Wilson (Hall of Fame: “Lipidleggin’”), those questions are explored in Reason-magazine-sponsored panel discussion with Reason editor-in-chief Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason books editor Jesse Walker and LFS President William H. Stoddard. Bonuses: Surprise appearance and comments by Reason’s Bob Poole, and post-panel Q/A session.
The 2020 North American Science Fiction Convention two-part event began with a 30-minute Prometheus Awards ceremony, emceed by Michael Grossberg and Tom Jackson, with acceptance speeches by C.J. Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher for Best Novel (Alliance Rising) and by Astrid Anderson Bear, accepting for her late father Poul Anderson for the story “Sam Hill.”
The video’s final 50 minutes focused on the LFS panel discussion about “Visions of SF, Liberty and Human Rights: The Prometheus Awards Over Four Decades...”, moderated by Tom Jackson, included Prometheus-winning novelists F. Paul Wilson, Sarah Hoyt, C.J. Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher and LFS leaders William H. Stoddard, Michael Grossberg and Tom Jackson.
Novelist F. Paul Wilson, the first Prometheus winner in 1979, joined LFS co-founder Michael Grossberg and LFS board member Tom Jackson, the moderator, in a wide-ranging discussion of fiction, ideas and history Aug. 1, 2020 during CoNZealand, the first streaming Worldcon.
Wilson discussed what the first Prometheus Awards ceremony was like, which of his Prometheus-winning novels is a particular favorite, how he feels about being known in some circles as a “libertarian sf writer” and discussed a possible Repairman Jack movie.
Wilson and Grossberg, meanwhile, discussed why should there be a Prometheus award and what are some of their favorite winners. Grossberg recalled which winners were especially gracious, how the awards have evolved over the years, and whether they’ve become more literary.
The 2019 Prometheus Awards ceremony, emceed by Fred Moulton and John Christmas at the Dublin Worldcon in Ireland, presented the Prometheus for Best Novel to Travis Corcoran for Causes of Separation. The Prometheus Hall of Fame inducted “Harrison Bergeron,” a short story by the late Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Corcoran gave a major, wide-ranging acceptance speech, while the emcees read Hall of Fame acceptance statements by Vonnegut’s family and the Vonnegut Museum/Library.
Corcoran discussed political and economic themes in his novel about renegade lunar colonists fighting for independence and a free economy against Earth-based authoritarian rule.
LFS presenters Chris Hibbert and Fred Moulton emceed the Aug. 17, 2018 Prometheus Awards ceremony at the San Jose, Calif. Worldcon, with Hibbert reading Travis Corcoran’s intellectually wide-ranging acceptance speech for The Powers of the Earth. Corcoran’s explicitly libertarian story, set largely on an underground Moon colony, portrays an anarcho-capitalistic society intentionally founded as a refuge from repressive and predatory government, but threatened by an invading Earth’s authoritarian bureaucracy and economic controls.
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards, honor outstanding freedom-loving fantastical fiction and find fellowship with other fans, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer international association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.
* Prometheus winners: For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website. This page includes links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each winning work since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both liberty and literary quality.
* Watch videos of the annual Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant elements of libertarian themes and insights in the evolution of the modern SF/fantasy genre.
* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook pagefor updates, comments, and links to Prometheus Blog posts.
