Category: Essays

Brave New World: Huxley’s 1932 dystopian classic ranks among the oldest works to win the Prometheus Hall of Fame award


By Michael Grossberg

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is one of the oldest works to win the  Prometheus Award for Best Classic Fiction.

Published in 1932 by Chatto & Windus, Aldous Huxley’s pioneering dystopian novel has become so well-known around the world that its title has become an emblematic catchphrase signaling the dangers of authoritarianism.

Brave New World is the third-oldest work and the second-oldest novel to be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame. (The roughly hourlong Zoom ceremony, open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Sunday Aug. 16 (Eastern time), with the Zoom link posted a week or so ahead on the Prometheus Blog.)

Continue reading Brave New World: Huxley’s 1932 dystopian classic ranks among the oldest works to win the Prometheus Hall of Fame award


Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World will be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame in Aug. 16 ceremony

By Michael Grossberg

Brave New World will be inducted this year into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, based on a vote by LFS members.

With its induction Sunday Aug. 16 during the 46th Prometheus awards ceremony, Aldous Huxley’s classic dystopian novel will be the 50th work to win this annual awards category, first presented in 1983.

Brave New World, ranked in fifth place by Modern Library on its list of the 100 Best Novels in English of the 20th century, continues to be considered among the most influential works of dystopian literature.

Continue reading Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World will be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame in Aug. 16 ceremony

Review: The bulletproof philosophy of the double-Prometheus-winning V for Vendetta, and why the graphic novel is more insightful and pro-liberty than the vivid film

By John C.A. Manley

The V for Vendetta graphic novel – inducted in 2006 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame – has been on my “Why haven’t I read this yet?” reading list for many years.

Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd in 1989, its fame doubled with James McTeigue’s 2005 film adaptation, written and produced by the Wachowkis and starring Hugo Weaving.

For the last two decades, V’s smiling mask has been haunting me, asking why I have not yet read this classic of pro-liberty fiction. Well, last month, I finally read it while narrating the artwork to my blind son, Jonah (forcing me to translate every sneer, smile and shadow into words). Despite the story’s numerous flaws — which oddly enough almost enhance its philosophical flair — I feel it’s a five-star work of art.

Continue reading Review: The bulletproof philosophy of the double-Prometheus-winning V for Vendetta, and why the graphic novel is more insightful and pro-liberty than the vivid film

“Fly Me to the Moon” – The Smithsonian museum highlights the power of science fiction in sparking advances in air and space



By Michael Grossberg

On a recent visit to the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C., I was delighted to discover some recognition of the work of a Prometheus-winning author. And not just any author, but the Golden Age Grand Master who has received more Prometheus Awards than anyone else: Robert A. Heinlein.

Destination Moon, a 1950 Technicolor feature film co-written by Heinlein, is highlighted in the Destination Moon gallery (Gallery 206) at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

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Voting for the Prometheus Awards: How one LFS member ranked his Best Novel ballot (revealed on a YouTube video) on the verge of tonight’s July 4 deadline


By Michael Grossberg

How do Libertarian Futurist Society members rank the Best Novel finalists as they fill out the final Prometheus Awards ballot?

Members typically keep their rankings private, while the LFS vote-counting committee maintains strict confidentiality about the results, aside from the announcement of the winners. Today, though, on the verge of the midnight July 4 voting deadline, one LFS member chose to post a YouTube video explaining his rankings.

It’s the latest yeoman effort by novelist John C.A. Manley, who throughout this past awards-finalist season has repeatedly helped raise the visibility of the Prometheus Awards by posting YouTube discussions of award finalists and by reviewing each Best Novel finalist on his BlazingPineCones website.

“Help promote the fiction you want to see in the world,” Manley said in his email today to BlazingPineCones subscribers.

That’s an apt statement, which helps illuminates his (and our) vision of why the Prometheus Awards is important and clarifies why Manley has invested so much time and energy this year in highlighting our award.

So how did Manley, himself a Prometheus Best Novel nominee for All the Humans Are Sleeping, rank the five Best Novel finalists?
Continue reading Voting for the Prometheus Awards: How one LFS member ranked his Best Novel ballot (revealed on a YouTube video) on the verge of tonight’s July 4 deadline


Imagining Travis Corcoran’s two Prometheus-winning Aristillus novels as movies on an IMAX screen


By Michael Grossberg

Which Prometheus Award winners would you like to see on screen someday?

Travis Corcoran wins his first Prometheus Award (photo courtesy of author)

So far, 17 Prometheus Award-winners have been adapted with varying degrees of success to the large or small screen or have been recognized as original movies – including George Orwell’s Animal Farm, most recently adapted for the third time into a 2026 animated film.

When I asked my fellow Prometheus Best Novel judges which other winning works they most yearn to see made into a movie or TV series, Lowell Jacobsen chose two related novels by the same author: Travis Corcoran.

Continue reading Imagining Travis Corcoran’s two Prometheus-winning Aristillus novels as movies on an IMAX screen


L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach: The Prometheus winner that one Best Novel judge dreams of seeing on screen someday


By Michael Grossberg

It’s relatively rare for a Prometheus-winning work of pro-freedom science fiction or fantasy to be adapted into a movie or for television. But that happened this year, with the recent 2026 release of an animated film of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, inducted in 2011 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

While the misconceived third film version of Orwell’s anti-authoritarian and anti-communist classic fable proved disappointing, our hopes remain high for more Prometheus-winning novels or stories to be filmed – and some are already in the works.

Meanwhile, sparked by this year’s film release, I asked Libertarian Futurist Society members I work with as fellow Best Novel judges which Prometheus-winning works they’d like to see on screen.

Adam Tuchman’s top choice is The Probability Broach, L. Neil Smith’s alternate-history SF novel that won the 1982 Best Novel award.

Continue reading L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach: The Prometheus winner that one Best Novel judge dreams of seeing on screen someday


Richard Salman’s unusually insightful review of the flawed new Animal Farm film illuminates George Orwell’s thinking and goals in writing his 1945 satirical fable


By Michael Grossberg

Of the many reviews of the flawed new film version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, perhaps the most insightful is one that broadens its critique to examine Orwell himself.

Richard M. Salsman, an economist and visiting assistant professor of political economy at Duke University, goes deeper than most other writers in contextualizing Andy Serkis’ widely panned animated film version.

With disturbing clarity, Salsman explains how Orwell’s evolving views led him to reverse his initial conception of Animal Farm as a critique of capitalism – but also how the British democratic socialist remained faithful to some of his deepest underlying assumptions.

This is a powerfully illuminating review and essay that deserves to be read in full at The Daily Economy, a publication of the American Institute for Economic Research.

But I also want to highlight some of Salman’s key insights, because they are so relevant to the themes and world view that shape the Prometheus Awards.

Continue reading Richard Salman’s unusually insightful review of the flawed new Animal Farm film illuminates George Orwell’s thinking and goals in writing his 1945 satirical fable


The rewards of patience: The Prometheus Hall of Fame’s track record of recognition and frequent renominations

By Michael Grossberg

Patience can be a virtue – especially when it comes to nominations for the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

Not all works that become Hall of Fame finalists or winners do so in the first year that they are nominated. But that’s never a permanent obstacle to recognition, because in this annual Prometheus category, Libertarian Futurist Society members benefit from the luxury of time.

If at first a work is overlooked or doesn’t rank high enough to become a finalist, it can be nominated and renominated in future years.

Continue reading The rewards of patience: The Prometheus Hall of Fame’s track record of recognition and frequent renominations

Calling for nominations for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame – and outside suggestions


It’s time to begin considering what’s worth nominating for potential induction into the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

Even as Libertarian Futurist Society members are voting to select the 2026 Hall of Fame winner from the current slate of finalists, it’s not too early to nominate eligible works for the 2027 Hall of Fame.

Only LFS members have the right to nominate works for any category of the Prometheus Award. However, publishers, authors and other SF/fantasy fans and libertarians are welcome to contact us to make suggestions.

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