Interviews – Page 2 – Prometheus Blog

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

The Hogan interview, part 2: On The Genesis Machine, writing sf & making science credible

By Michael Grossberg

I still remember reading James P. Hogan for the first time. What a discovery – and what a mind-expanding thrill.

His science-fiction novels were compulsively readable and scientifically plausible, while often upholding values I cherished, such as a commitment to reason, science, progress, persuasion, free inquiry and liberty.

I loved Inherit the Stars and The Genesis Machine – his first two acclaimed and bestselling novels – for their brilliant science-laced plots and fascinating ideas. And then I read Voyage From Yesteryear, an explicitly libertarian classic that won the 1983 Prometheus Award for Best Novel – and remains today one of the few novels that convincingly portrays a fully free society in a plausible future.

Continue reading The Hogan interview, part 2: On The Genesis Machine, writing sf & making science credible

Two-time Prometheus winner James Hogan: The long-lost interview

By Michael Grossberg

Two-time Prometheus winner James P. Hogan died in 2010, but his ideas, words and novels live on.

For the first time in print, here is the wide-ranging, full-fledged uncut interview (recently rediscovered among some boxes of papers and memorabilia) that Hogan gave in 2001 to LFS co-founder Michael Grossberg.

Continue reading Two-time Prometheus winner James Hogan: The long-lost interview

Anderson, Heinlein, Tolkien, Hoyt, Pratchett and other favorite authors: The Prometheus interview (part 4) with Dave Freer

The Prometheus Award for Best Novel has been won over the decades by writers from the United States, England, Scotland and Finland – with Best Novel finalists from China, Japan, Canada and many other countries.

But Dave Freer is the first writer from the Southern Hemisphere to win a Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

Here is the fourth and final part of the Prometheus Interview with the Australian/Tasmanian author, the 2023 winner of the Prometheus for Best Novel for Cloud-Castles.

Q: Do you have any favorites among Prometheus Award winners?

A: It’s a good reading list, isn’t it? I think I have just about everything in the Hall of Fame.

Continue reading Anderson, Heinlein, Tolkien, Hoyt, Pratchett and other favorite authors: The Prometheus interview (part 4) with Dave Freer