Essays – Prometheus Blog

What a nomination means (and doesn’t mean) in the Prometheus Awards

When Libertarian Futurist Society members vote to select annual winners from the slate of Prometheus Awards finalists for Best Novel or the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, that really means something.

That’s because it’s the highest level of recognition possible by the LFS as a whole – and those two awards come with an engraved plaque and a gold coin prize.

Similarly, the annual slates of (typically four or five) finalists mean a lot, too. Achieving Prometheus finalist status can bring a worthy work or an emerging author to wider attention, not only by LFS members but the wider communities of SF/fantasy fans and libertarians.

Prometheus finalists are selected by hard-working LFS members appointed to the committees that judge each year’s Prometheus nominees in our two annual awards categories, with the wider LFS membership then having several months to consider and rank the finalists on the final ballot to choose the winners.

As such, and unlike a basic nomination, the slate of Prometheus finalists represents the first stamp of approval from the LFS itself as a nonprofit international association of freedom-loving SF/fantasy fans.

Continue reading What a nomination means (and doesn’t mean) in the Prometheus Awards

Why accurate language, objectivity (and Orwell) matter: Libertarian economist David Henderson aptly references 1984 in explaining common misperceptions about “privilege” 

By Michael Grossberg

George Orwell’s emphasis on clarity of language and objective definitions, exemplified in his seminal essay on “Politics and the English Language,” remains worth emulating in 2025 and beyond.

When so many so-called public intellectuals, columnists, opinion leaders and even professional economists embrace popular fallacies and use misleading language, it’s harmful both to literacy and liberty.

How pleasing it is, then, when a nationally known economist not only uses words accurately, in opposition to common misconceptions, misinformation and ideological bias, but also demonstrates how well he understands and appreciates Orwell’s classic fiction.

Continue reading Why accurate language, objectivity (and Orwell) matter: Libertarian economist David Henderson aptly references 1984 in explaining common misperceptions about “privilege” 

TANSTAAFL: Libertarian economist David Friedman examines an acronym popularized by Heinlein 

By Michael Grossberg

TANSTAAFL!

Many libertarians and other freedom-loving SF fans know that term well. For those who don’t recall, it’s an acronym for “There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.”

The Grand Master SF writer Robert Heinlein did his share to popularize the acronym in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. His bestselling, Hugo-winning novel, about a libertarian revolution on the Moon, was one of the first works inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

So did free-market economist and classical liberal Milton Friedman, who often quoted it over the years.

Both libertarians used the acronym to communicate the idea that nothing is truly free, and there’s always a cost to any decision.

But did the popular catchphrase inadvertently also spread a misunderstanding about economics?

Continue reading TANSTAAFL: Libertarian economist David Friedman examines an acronym popularized by Heinlein 

Awards standards series: What are the best criteria for Prometheus Award nominations? Explorations of libertarian ideas, visions of fully free futures, cautionary tales and genre criticism all have their place

Editor’s note: To kick off a new year of judging and for the sake of greater transparency about the Prometheus Awards, the Prometheus Blog is posting an occasional series of essays by LFS awards judges about how they view our distinctive award standards and how they apply them to weigh candidates and nominees.

By Eric S. Raymond

I am, and have been for many years, one of the 12 judges who screens LFS membership suggestions about novels deserving of the Prometheus Award.

This past year we had a record number of Best Novel nominations for the 2024 award – 17 – and trying to evaluate all of them in the time we have available was a real strain. In the future I think all the judges would prefer to see fewer but higher-quality submissions.

So I’m going to talk about what I consider a high-quality submission. Other judges have slightly different criteria and I’m not claiming to speak for them; but I will try to focus on the criteria I think we have in common, and towards the end of this post I’ll describe some axes of controversy within the committee’s emailing-list discussions and comparative reports.

Continue reading Awards standards series: What are the best criteria for Prometheus Award nominations? Explorations of libertarian ideas, visions of fully free futures, cautionary tales and genre criticism all have their place

How do judges evaluate Prometheus Award candidates? By balancing the criteria of literary quality and pro-liberty themes within the fantastical genre

By William H. Stoddard

The Libertarian Futurist Society has long had a hybrid process for choosing its annual award winners.

First the members nominate books for Best Novel, and books or other works for Hall of Fame. Then committees of judges review the nominees and select the best five in each category (or sometimes four or six) as finalist. The members read these finalists and rank them from best to worst, and their votes are totaled to select the winners.

But what does “select the best” mean?

Continue reading How do judges evaluate Prometheus Award candidates? By balancing the criteria of literary quality and pro-liberty themes within the fantastical genre

Economics in science fiction: Aladdin’s Lamps, technocracy and “post-scarcity”

By William H. Stoddard

Science fiction in recent decades has included an extensive exploration of an economic idea, or at least an economic term: The concept of scarcity. In a peculiarly science-fictional dialectical move, this exploration takes place by assuming the absence of scarcity and asking what follows from it.

The late Iain M. Banks is well known for making “post-scarcity” a premise of his Culture series, for example. In effect, this idea makes advanced technology a kind of djinn that can grant human wishes.

Similar ideas actually have a long history in science fiction.

Continue reading Economics in science fiction: Aladdin’s Lamps, technocracy and “post-scarcity”

What Pratchett’s The Truth, Bujold’s Falling Free and Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon have in common (and why former Best Novel finalists are eligible for Hall of Fame nomination, but former winners aren’t) 

By Michael Grossberg

Not all literary award-winners stand the test of time.

Most works of arts and entertainment fade – even winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the Oscars, Tonys, Grammys, Emmys, Hugo and Nebula awards. Yet when they last and take on the patina of a classic, they should be remembered and recognized.

For only the third time in the 45-year history of the Prometheus Awards, a former Best Novel finalist is being inducted into the Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

Continue reading What Pratchett’s The Truth, Bujold’s Falling Free and Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon have in common (and why former Best Novel finalists are eligible for Hall of Fame nomination, but former winners aren’t) 

Why former Prometheus winners aren’t eligible for Hall of Fame nomination, but former Best Novel finalists are (such as The Truth, the 2024 winner)

By Michael Grossberg

Not all literary award-winners stand the test of time.

Most works of arts and entertainment fade. Yet when they last and take on the patina of a classic, they should be recognized.

For only the third time in the history of the Prometheus Awards, a former Best Novel finalist has been inducted into the Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

Terry Pratchett’s novel The Truth, first recognized by the Libertarian Futurist Society as a 2001 Best Novel finalist, has won the 2024 award for Best Classic Fiction.

Before The Truth was inducted this year into our Hall of Fame, only two other Best Novel finalists have received that rare honor: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Falling Free and Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon.

Continue reading Why former Prometheus winners aren’t eligible for Hall of Fame nomination, but former Best Novel finalists are (such as The Truth, the 2024 winner)

A Fourth of July treat: Poul Anderson on ‘Science Fiction and Freedom’

Introduction: Poul Anderson (1926-2001) was a major American science fiction writer. He won the Hugo Award seven times and won the Nebula Award three times. He also won the Prometheus Award once (for The Stars Are Also Fire), the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award four times and also received our Special Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Poul Anderson (Creative Commons license)

Anderson delivered this speech March 19, 1978, at the banquet of Leprecon, a science fiction convention in Phoenix. The speech was then printed in the May 1978 issue of New Libertarian, Volume Four, Number Three. It is reprinted here with the permission of Astrid Bear, Poul Anderson’s daughter, and is copyright The Trigonier Trust.

The Prometheus Blog is reprinting his speech here because Anderson, one of the most recognized sf/fantasy authors in the history of science fiction and of the Prometheus Awards, had something important to say then about freedom and science fiction – something still valuable to ponder today.

Continue reading A Fourth of July treat: Poul Anderson on ‘Science Fiction and Freedom’

Literary qualities: Questions to consider in judging the Prometheus Awards, part 2

By Michael Grossberg

Given the complexity and multiple variables in weighing works of speculative fiction for how well they fit the distinctive dual focus of the Prometheus Awards, many LFS members and Prometheus judges have found a set of questions useful to answer as they read different works and consider their eligibility and quality.

These questions also may help LFS members as they read and rank finalists before voting to choose each year’s Prometheus winners.

After outlining a set of basic eligibility questions in the previous Prometheus Blog post, this post will focus on further questions related to overall literary quality.

Continue reading Literary qualities: Questions to consider in judging the Prometheus Awards, part 2