Another Prometheus-winning author has been inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association’s Hall of Fame.
Jo Walton, who won a Prometheus Award for Best Novel for Ha’Penny, is one of three Canadians inducted into Canada’s 2024 Hall of Fame.
Born in Wales, Walton has lived since 2002 in Montreal “where the food and books are much better,” according to her website and a report in File 770.
Continue reading Prometheus winner Jo Walton inducted into Canada’s SFF Hall of Fame
Of the 10 nominees for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, the two most recently published are novels – one a historical fantasy set at the dawn of civilization, and the other, a work of futuristic science fiction set among interstellar colonies.
Between the Rivers, by Harry Turtledove, was published in 1998 by TOR Books.
Singularity Sky, by Charles Stross, was published in 2003 by Ace Books.
Both authors are Prometheus Award winners for Best Novel, with Stross winning in 2007 for Glasshouse and Turtledove winning in 2008 for The Gladiator.
Unlike the annual Prometheus Award for Best Novel, the other annual Prometheus category for Best Classic Fiction is open to works being renominated.
Of the 10 works of fiction nominated for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, three are returning nominees after reaching the level last year of Hall of Fame finalists.
One is the Rush fantasy-fable song “The Trees,” first recorded in 1978.
The other is Poul Anderson’s novel Orion Shall Rise, published in 1984.
Here, in the fourth part of the Prometheus Blog’s series about this year’s Hall of Fame nominees, are capsule review-descriptions of those two finalists.
Of the 10 works of fiction nominated for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, two coincidentally were published in 1968.
One is “Conquest by Default,” a novelette by Vernor Vinge – a frequent Prometheus Award nominee, finalist and winner.
And the other is The Demon Breed, a novel by James H. Schmitz – a first-time Prometheus nominee.
Here, in part 3 of the Prometheus Blog’s series about this year’s candidates for induction into our Hall of Fame, are capsule review-descriptions of each work.
Coincidentally, both Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “Death and the Senator” and Mack Reynolds’ novella “Ultima Thule’ were first published in 1961.
Of the 10 classic works of speculative fiction nominated for potential induction next year into the Hall of Fame, these two shorter works rank among the oldest.
The Hall of Fame, which focuses on older works of SF/fantasy that have endured and taken on the patina of classics, is open to nomination of speculative fiction of almost any type, length or format (published, performed, staged, screened or broadcast) that first appeared in some form at least twenty years ago.
So why was each of these works of fiction nominated?
“As Easy as A.B.C.,” a novelette by Rudyard Kipling, was published in 1912.
That Hideous Strength, a novel by C.S. Lewis, was published in 1945.
Of the 10 classic works of fiction nominated for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame, these Kipling and Lewis works are the oldest.
Thus, perhaps these two classic works are a good place to begin our Prometheus Blog series offering capsule reviews of each nominee.
Five are novels, two are novelettes, one a novella, one a story and one a song, reflecting the wide range of fiction eligible for consideration in the Prometheus Hall of Fame.
The authors of these classic works range from the late great Rudyard Kipling, C.S. Lewis and Arthur C. Clarke to still-living authors, such as Harry Turtledove and Charles Stross.
Ten works of speculative fiction, first published or performed more than 20 years ago, have been nominated by LFS members for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.
Harlan Ellison, the late great and rebellious “bad boy” of science fiction, may be due for a major revival of his works.
Ellison, whose Hugo-winning 1965 story “’Repent Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” was inducted in 2015 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, certainly deserves the recognition and new readership.
File 770 reports that the renewed interest in Ellison and the plans for his “posthumous comeback” are largely due to the efforts of writer/producer J. Michael Straczynski. For starters, Straczynski has edited Greatest Hits, a recently published new Ellison story collection.
And later in 2024, Straczynski plans to publish The Last Dangerous Visions – according to a Los Angeles Times story, the “long-promised, long-controversial and never-delivered” third and final volume in Ellison’s landmark anthology series of provocative short fiction.
Our Early Readers program seeks more LFS members as volunteers to help enhance our annual Prometheus Awards and the nominating and judging process for the Best Novel category.
As described in the previous Prometheus Blog post, we’re looking for freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans who enjoy reading speculative fiction (broadly defined to include sci-fi, fantasy, alternate-history, dystopian literature, mythic fables, “social” sf, near-future politicial thrillers, etc.).
Our ideal Early Reader participants also should be knowledgeable about libertarian and free-market sociopolitical and economic analysis to discern whether such genre novels are good fits for the Prometheus Awards – or not.
Consistent with our nonprofit, all-volunteer libertarian organization of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans, we’ve structured our Early Readers program to maximize individual choice in several ways.
Over the most-recent Prometheus Awards nomination and judging cycles, more Libertarian Futurist Society members have made a genuine difference by volunteering to read and report on various novels to help us determine whether any deserved Best Novel nominations.
This post aims to introduce and explain the goals of our Early Readers program – with sincere hopes that more LFS members will decide to join our efforts over this next awards cycle.
Now’s an excellent time to volunteer, since we’ve just recently begun compiling potential candidates from sf/fantasy novels already published (or to be published) during 2024.
What we’re always striving to identify, within the much larger field of sf/fantasy and speculative fiction, are the relative few novels that seem relevant to the Prometheus Awards and its distinctive dual focus, at once literary and thematic.
