Interviews – Prometheus Blog

The Rick Triplett interview, part 5: On the value of science fiction and education

Now retired but with some important life lessons and insights to share, Rick Triplett has worked for the cause of liberty in many ways over many decades – including as a Prometheus judge, reviewer and board member in the Libertarian Futurist Society.

Rick and Tennie Triplett at the first LFScon at Marcon in 2001 (Photo courtesy of Triplett)

Here’s the fifth and final part of the Prometheus Blog interview with Rick, recently honored by the LFS board as the LFS’s first Emeritus member:

Q: What role can fiction play in helping to form the future or inspire people with new visions of a free-er future?

A:I think fiction is where big ideas are popularized and gain broad acceptance. We’ll always need intellectuals and polemicists to lay the theoretical groundwork of the movement, but we need novelists, screenwriters, and lyricists to get those ideas into the popular culture.

Continue reading The Rick Triplett interview, part 5: On the value of science fiction and education

The Rick Triplett interview, part 4: On aikido, the right of self-defense, free trade and first-contact stories

Here is part 4 of the Prometheus Blog interview with Rick Triplett, a lifelong science fiction fan, decades-long libertarian, a veteran Prometheus Awards judge and recently honored as the Libertarian Futurist Society’s first Emeritus member.

Rick Triplett demonstrating the art of aikido in 2007 at a community cultural festival (Photo courtesy of Triplett)

Q: You’ve practiced aikido for many years – and have even demonstrated the martial art at area festivals. What attracted you to aikido and does it have any relevance to your libertarian views?

A: Aikido is a non-aggressive martial art (virtually the only one).

Its strategy is to de-escalate rather than resort to fighting; its tactics are to avoid and restrain, rather than to damage the opponent. Although its techniques can damage or kill, they are applied in a measured way that at least attempts allowing an attacker to shift from domination to negotiation.

It respects human agency including one’s own right to self-defense.

Continue reading The Rick Triplett interview, part 4: On aikido, the right of self-defense, free trade and first-contact stories

The Rick Triplett interview, part 3: On judging the Prometheus Awards and the nature of ideologies

Rick Triplett, 79, has seen the Prometheus Awards from the inside.

Rick Triplett, a veteran Prometheus Awards judge (Photo courtesy of Triplett)

Recently recognized by the Libertarian Futurist Society board as the organization’s first Emeritus member after decades of service, Rick has served as a judge in all three categories of the Prometheus Awards – chairing the Special Awards committee and serving as a finalist-selection judge on the two committees that help whittle down candidates and nominees to a short list in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction categories.

So Rick’s views about the challenges of judging the Prometheus Award are worth sharing, as well as his insights about the pros and cons of various ideologies.

Here is the third part of the Prometheus Blog interview with Triplett.

Continue reading The Rick Triplett interview, part 3: On judging the Prometheus Awards and the nature of ideologies

The Rick Triplett interview, Part 2: On Robert Heinlein, free societies, the value of Young Adult fiction and the Prometheus Awards

Here is Part 2 of the Prometheus Blog interview with veteran LFS member and Prometheus judge Rick Triplett, conducted by interviewer Michael Grossberg:

Robert Heinlein (Photo courtesy of the Heinlein Trust)

Q: Once you discovered the joys of reading, and became a voracious reader of “all things futuristic, scientific or heroic” (as you said in Part One of this interview), were there particular writers who especially captured your imagination?

A: The main one – as he was for many folks – is Robert A. Heinlein.

His juveniles were a giant leap forward from the less sophisticated ones I had read, like Tom Swift Jr., Tom Corbett, etc. and they had more relatable stories than those I found in pulp fan mags.

Continue reading The Rick Triplett interview, Part 2: On Robert Heinlein, free societies, the value of Young Adult fiction and the Prometheus Awards

Interview: LFS’s first Emeritus member Rick Triplett on favorite sf writers, ethics, coercion and liberty

Rick Triplett, a lifelong science-fiction fan and veteran libertarian, has made a big difference in the Libertarian Futurist Society.

Rick Triplett Photo courtesy of Triplett

That’s why the LFS board of directors recently honored Rick by making him the first LFS Emeritus member, with lifelong Prometheus Awards nominating and voting privileges.

Because Rick served as a judge for many years on all three categories of the Prometheus Award and has reviewed quite a few Prometheus-nominated novels, his thoughts and insights about favorite authors and Prometheus winners seem worth sharing in this interview.

Continue reading Interview: LFS’s first Emeritus member Rick Triplett on favorite sf writers, ethics, coercion and liberty

A banner year for Prometheus blog interviews: 2023 winner Dave Freer, frequent finalist Karl Gallagher, author/judge John Christmas and the late great James Hogan

By Michael Grossberg

This was an excellent year for interesting and informative interviews with a variety of authors, all worth reading (or rereading.)

Dave Freer with his 2023 Prometheus Awards Best Novel plaque for Cloud-Castles (Photo courtesy of Freer)

James P. Hogan (Creative Commons license)

The Prometheus Blog boasted more posted interviews in 2023 than ever before – most notably, with Australian sf writer Dave Freer, the first individual from the Southern Hemisphere to win a Prometheus award; and with the late great James Hogan, a two-time Prometheus winner for Best Novel.

Continue reading A banner year for Prometheus blog interviews: 2023 winner Dave Freer, frequent finalist Karl Gallagher, author/judge John Christmas and the late great James Hogan

The Hogan Interview, part 6: On AI, favorite novels and advice to aspiring writers

By Michael Grossberg

Two-time Prometheus Award-winner James P. Hogan left a lasting legacy for sf fans and liberty lovers.

Hogan had a lot to say, both in fiction and non-fiction, about humanity, technology, liberty, science and politics.

Here is the sixth and final part of a Hogan interview previously unpublished in its full, uncut form:

Continue reading The Hogan Interview, part 6: On AI, favorite novels and advice to aspiring writers

The Hogan interview, part 5: His views on science, writing YA novels and how The Saint inspired him

By Michael Grossberg

Prometheus-winning author James P. Hogan was a maverick thinker who championed both liberty and technology while recognizing the reactionary and harmful impact of government, bureaucracy and irrationality on our lives.

Such themes are woven into his 26 novels, many short stories and essays – almost all of which remain available in print and mostly remain fresh and timeless today.

Continue reading The Hogan interview, part 5: His views on science, writing YA novels and how The Saint inspired him

The Hogan interview, part 4: What he loved about America, why he moved to the U.S. and how his childhood shaped his pro-technology, pro-liberty views

By Michael Grossberg

For posterity, the Prometheus blog is proud to be the first to post a lengthy and revealing interview that two-time Prometheus winner James P. Hogan gave just after the turn of the 21^stcentury.

More than 90 percent of that interview was not included in a newspaper profile of Hogan, so it appears here uncut and complete for the first time.

Hogan (1941-2020) sadly is no longer with us, but almost all of his 26 novels remain in print – and many are worth reading or rereading for their ingenious premises, imaginative speculations (some of which have since come true) and their intelligent, insightful and realistic blend of science and politics.

Continue reading The Hogan interview, part 4: What he loved about America, why he moved to the U.S. and how his childhood shaped his pro-technology, pro-liberty views

The Hogan interview, part 3: On his Prometheus winners Voyage From Yesteryear & The Mirror Maze and writing high-tech sf thrillers

By Michael Grossberg

After working for many years in England as an electrical engineer, computer salesman and digital-information executive, James P. Hogan wrote his first novel Inherit the Wind to win an office bet.

Against the odds, he won that bet. With his first novel an acclaimed bestseller that received quotable praise from Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov, Hogan was on his way – and he ultimately would write 26 novels before his untimely death in 2010 – including the Prometheus winners Voyage From Yesteryear and The Multiplex Man.

Here is the third part of a previously unpublished 2001 interview with Hogan, which sheds light on his work, philosophy and many novels:

Continue reading The Hogan interview, part 3: On his Prometheus winners Voyage From Yesteryear & The Mirror Maze and writing high-tech sf thrillers