Author: Michael Grossberg

Michael Grossberg, who founded the LFS in 1982 to help sustain the Prometheus Awards, has been an arts critic, speaker and award-winning journalist for five decades. Michael has won Ohio SPJ awards for Best Critic in Ohio and Best Arts Reporting (seven times). He's written for Reason, Libertarian Review and Backstage weekly; helped lead the American Theatre Critics Association for two decades; and has contributed to six books, including critical essays for the annual Best Plays Theatre Yearbook and an afterword for J. Neil Schulman's novel The Rainbow Cadenza. Among books he recommends from a libertarian-futurist perspective: Matt Ridley's The Rational Optimist & How Innovation Works, David Boaz's The Libertarian Mind and Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress.

Ilya Somin: The Cato Institute scholar, law professor and SF/fantasy fan will present the Hall of fame award at our 2026 ceremony 

By Michael Grossberg

Ilya Somin will be the guest presenter and keynote speaker at the Libertarian Futurist Society’s 2026 Prometheus Awards ceremony.

A professor of Law at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, a leading libertarian think tank, Somin has written several books reflecting his research and expertise on constitutional law, property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights.

Just as relevant to our upcoming August 2026 awards ceremony – which will be hosted on Zoom and open to the public – Somin is a long-time fan of science fiction and fantasy – which he plans to focus on in his speech presenting the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

Continue reading Ilya Somin: The Cato Institute scholar, law professor and SF/fantasy fan will present the Hall of fame award at our 2026 ceremony 

Discovering libertarianism through fiction, part 2: How James Blish, Ayn Rand and other writers sparked my intellectual evolution 

By Michael Grossberg

For me as a boy, The Star Dwellers was revelatory.

An idealistic drama about a fraught “second contact” between Earth humans and ancient aliens, James Blish’s 1961 novel sparked my thinking about ethics, economics and politics.

I couldn’t have imagined at the time what reading yet another Young Adult science fiction novel would lead me to, but ultimately The Star Dwellers paved the way for me to develop into a full-fledged libertarian by the early 1970s.

Continue reading Discovering libertarianism through fiction, part 2: How James Blish, Ayn Rand and other writers sparked my intellectual evolution 

Discovering libertarian ideas through fiction: It usually begins with Rand and Heinlein – but in my unusual case, it was James Blish’s The Star Dwellers 

“People come to libertarianism through fiction. They come through Ayn Rand… Robert Heinlein…. L. Neil Smith.”
– Libertarian feminist author Wendy McElroy at the 2000 Prometheus Awards ceremony

By Michael Grossberg

For quite a few libertarians, “It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand.” Or Robert Heinlein. Or other freedom-loving science fiction writers.

James Blish in the 1960s (Creative Commons license)

For me, though, my introduction to libertarian and classical-liberal ideas and ideals began earlier – at least in part – with James Blish.

Specifically, Blish’s The Star Dwellers.

When I read Blish’s 1961 novel as a pre-teen in the early 1960s, I came to understand for the first time key insights about voluntary consent and mutual exchange for profit as the best foundation for peace and progress.

Now a finalist for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame award for Best Classic Fiction, The Star Dwellers is a young-adult-oriented science fiction novel that revolves around a fraught “second contact” between star-faring humans and an ancient, advanced alien species.

Continue reading Discovering libertarian ideas through fiction: It usually begins with Rand and Heinlein – but in my unusual case, it was James Blish’s The Star Dwellers 

Review: Ray Nayler’s Where the Axe is Buried offers realistic cautionary tale about AIs, oppression and resistance

By Michael Grossberg

Today, it seems like nearly everyone is caught up in either utopian dreams or dystopian nightmares about AI. It feels like it’s almost gotten to the point where you can’t pick up a science fiction story or watch SF on the large or small screens without coming across exaggerated scenarios projecting humanity’s highest hopes or worst fears about what may be coming in artificial intelligence.

Where the Axe is Buried, one of 14 works nominated for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel, takes a more intelligent, balanced, nuanced and realistic view of such possibilities.

Where all too often such AI-themed novels uncritically embrace one extreme or the other, Ray Nayler’s post-apocalyptic utopian/dystopian tale probes both scenarios from an anti-authoritarian, very human and humane perspective. His novel is notable for finding both extremes lacking from the standpoints of community, common decency and personal liberty.

In a gripping but sobering narrative highlighting libertarian themes of resistance to tyranny and human endurance under oppression, Nayler ultimately rejects such wishful social engineering as an unattractive prescription for suffering and stagnation.

Continue reading Review: Ray Nayler’s Where the Axe is Buried offers realistic cautionary tale about AIs, oppression and resistance

Godspeed, Artemis astronauts! The first human return to lunar space after more than half a century is overdue – and welcome 

By Michael Grossberg

The first human beings to journey into deep space since 1972 might be on their way as early as today.

The first flight of America’s ambitious Artemis mission aims to lift off in early March for the first crewed mission around the Moon since the Apollo era. Initially scheduled for February, Artemis 2 might take off on its next window in early April if the mission can’t make any of five potential launch dates March 6-9 or March 11.

The Artemis 2 Orion rocket on the Cape Canaveral launching pad (NASA file photo)

“NASA does not expect to be able to land astronauts on the moon before 2027, at the earliest. Realistically, it’s unlikely that such an undertaking would occur before 2028. But the Artemis II mission is no perfunctory exercise. This will be a difficult and dangerous mission, and it’s a precursor to America’s eventual return to our nightly neighbor — this time, to stay,” columnist Noah Rothman wrote in an insightful National Review article about the prospects of the upcoming mission.

Continue reading Godspeed, Artemis astronauts! The first human return to lunar space after more than half a century is overdue – and welcome 

Where to get the five 2026 Hall of Fame finalists – for as low as $5.87 total if you act fast 

By Michael Grossberg

If you don’t already have the books to read of the five novels selected as 2026 finalists for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame award, here’s some helpful tips on where you can find each of them.

First published between 1932 and 2003, the five Best Classic Fiction finalists are James Blish’s The Star Dwellers, C.S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Adam Roberts’ Salt and Charles Stross’ Singularity Sky.

Surprisingly, it turns out the total cost of buying copies of all five novels right now – as ebooks or in print – is remarkably low. In fact, a recent price check on Amazon confirms that all five finalists can be purchased for just $5.87 total, assuming you’re willing to get most as ebooks.

Of course, if you prefer to check your local library for these titles, you should be able to borrow the books for free. Yet it’s possible one of the older and lesser-known titles may not be widely available, and anyway, some LFS members often prefer to buy their own copies to add to their home library.

In most cases, each novel is available in multiple formats – including hardback, paperback and ebook, sometimes also as an audio book.

Continue reading Where to get the five 2026 Hall of Fame finalists – for as low as $5.87 total if you act fast 

The biggest novels in Prometheus history: An annotated list of the top dozen in page length (and why such epic works reward readers) 

By Michael Grossberg

Size matters – or at least it can make a big difference, in helping a novel to achieve greater dramatic impact in its scope, depth, narrative complexity and emotional power.

Quite a few longer novels have been recognized by the Prometheus Awards over the past 47 years, whether as nominees, finalists or winners – from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon and Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged to the recent nomination of Sarah Hoyt’s three-volume No Mans Land for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

The three classic and epic works by Tolkien, Stephenson and Rand rank No. 1, 2 and 3 in page length in the history of the Prometheus Awards – as detailed in previous Prometheus Blog articles about the three bestselling winners and No Man’s Land.

So what are all the Prometheus-recognized novels and their ranks in page lengths on our top-12 list?

Continue reading The biggest novels in Prometheus history: An annotated list of the top dozen in page length (and why such epic works reward readers) 

The epic power and enduring appeal of the biggest Prometheus-honored novels: The Lord of the Rings, Cryptonomicon and Atlas Shrugged 

By Michael Grossberg

Of the many novels that have won a Prometheus Award over the past 47 years and are still widely read today, a notable few have done so with the help of their longer length and epic scale.

From J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings to Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon and Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, size does matter in literature.

Or at least size can significantly enhance a novel, if the writers are experts and at the top of their game. If well-structured, well-paced and compelling enough to sustain the reader’s interest, longer novels can attract and retain the reader’s interest even through hundreds of pages.

Continue reading The epic power and enduring appeal of the biggest Prometheus-honored novels: The Lord of the Rings, Cryptonomicon and Atlas Shrugged 

Does size matter? Sarah Hoyt’s unusual three-book novel No Man’s Land achieves epic scope yet is not unprecedented in literary history 

By Michael Grossberg

Does size matter?

The question arises in fiction when authors conceive novels that are noticeably bigger in word count and longer in page length than usual.

In theory, a bigger novel makes possible a larger canvas, allowing for an epic scope, a more complex narrative, richer world-building, more full-bodied characters, greater subtleties and depths.

Whether or not ambitious authors fulfill that potential and achieve their literary goals when writing bigger novels varies, of course. So does whether readers will find it rewarding to invest the extra time needed to read such magnum opuses.

Such questions are interesting and timely to ponder now that Sarah Hoyt’s No Man’s Land has been nominated for the Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

Continue reading Does size matter? Sarah Hoyt’s unusual three-book novel No Man’s Land achieves epic scope yet is not unprecedented in literary history 

A guide to Prometheus Awards voting: Check out our reviews of this year’s five Hall of Fame finalists by Blish, Lewis, Huxley, Roberts and Stross 

By Michael Grossberg

As a guide to the Prometheus Awards and for the convenience of Libertarian Futurist Society members, the Prometheus Blog has once again published full-length and in-depth reviews of all of this year’s Prometheus Hall of Fame finalists for Best Classic Fiction.

Libertarian Futurist Society members, who have the right to vote to select the annual Best Classic Fiction winner from the finalists, are invited to read our reviews of the five novels selected as 2026 finalists – hopefully, to whet your appetite to read each finalist and vote in this year’s Prometheus Awards.

First published between 1932 and 2003, the five finalists were written by James Blish (The Star Dwellers), C.S. Lewis (That Hideous Strength), Aldous Huxley (Brave New World), Adam Roberts (Salt) and Charles Stross (Singularity Sky).

Other SF/fantasy fans and other libertarians, outside the LFS, also are invited to check out the reviews to better understand how they fit the distinctive dual focus of the Prometheus Awards on both quality and liberty.

Continue reading A guide to Prometheus Awards voting: Check out our reviews of this year’s five Hall of Fame finalists by Blish, Lewis, Huxley, Roberts and Stross 