Poul Anderson’s novel Orion Shall Rise to be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame

By Michael Grossberg

Orion Shall Rise, a 1983 novel by Poul Anderson, has won the 2025 Best Classic Fiction award and will be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

Poul Anderson (Creative Commons license)

Published by Timescale and first nominated for the Prometheus Award in 1984, when it became a Best Novel finalist, Orion Shall Rise explores the corruptions and temptations of power and how a free society might survive and thrive after a post-nuclear-war apocalypse on a largely depopulated Earth.

This will be Anderson’s fifth work to be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame, following Trader to the Stars (in 1985), The Star Fox (in 1995), “No Truce with Kings” (in 2010) and “Sam Hall” (in 2020.)

Continue reading Poul Anderson’s novel Orion Shall Rise to be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame

Michael Flynn, now a three-time Prometheus winner, wins posthumous Best Novel recognition for In the Belly of the Whale

By Michael Grossberg

For the first time in Prometheus Awards history, our annual Best Novel award has gone to a posthumous work.

Novelist Michael Flynn at an sf convention several decades ago (File photo)

Michael Flynn, who died in 2023 at 75, was able to finish writing In the Belly of the Whale before his passing.

CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, a strong supporter of Flynn’s work, published Flynn’s last novel in 2024.

The epic science fiction novel, a suspenseful and insightful exploration of the complex challenges, conflicts and threats to liberty aboard a large colony ship two centuries into a projected eight-century voyage to Tau Ceti, has now won the 2025 Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

Continue reading Michael Flynn, now a three-time Prometheus winner, wins posthumous Best Novel recognition for In the Belly of the Whale

“Rapport: – A new Martha Wells’ Murderbot story has just been published, free to read at Reactor

If you’re a Murderbot fan, here’s some good news.

Reactor has just published a Murderbot novelette by series author Martha Wells. And it’s free to read.

Titled “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy,” Wells’ new novelette can be read as a stand-alone but related story for those who have read Artificial Condition, the second book in The Murderbot Diaries.

Many Libertarian Futurist Society members have read Wells’ Prometheus-nominated series about a rogue security robot who secretly gains free will – especially her first four books including Artificial Condition.

So the new story should be of great interest, and also easy to read in context.

Continue reading “Rapport: – A new Martha Wells’ Murderbot story has just been published, free to read at Reactor

Apple TV’s entertaining adaptation of Wells’ Murderbot stories reflects their libertarian themes of free will, anti-slavery and bodily autonomy

By Michael Grossberg

It’s not that often that a Prometheus-award-recognized novel or story is adapted to the large or small screen.

So it’s newsworthy, as well as something of a relief, to report that the Apple TV+ new streaming series of Murderbot is pretty entertaining.

Martha Wells’ Murderbot stories and novels have won Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards, and have been nominated for the Prometheus Award, where her first set of novellas was recognized as a Best Novel finalist. So hopes were high for the TV series, which began streaming in May.

Based on the suspenseful and intelligent half-hour episodes of its first season, Apple TV’s series seems faithful to Well’s acclaimed series of novellas and novels about a rogue security robot who secretly gains free will.

Continue reading Apple TV’s entertaining adaptation of Wells’ Murderbot stories reflects their libertarian themes of free will, anti-slavery and bodily autonomy

Achieving personhood, escaping slavery and defending bodily autonomy: Why Martha Wells’ bestselling Murderbot series appeals to libertarian SF fans


By Michael Grossberg

Martha Wells, author of the Murderbot series (Creative Commons license)

Martha Wells’ Murderbot novellas and novels have become bestsellers and award-winners.

Besides winning Hugo and Nebula and Locus awards, various works in the series also have been recognized with Prometheus Award nominations, resulting in the first four linked novellas being selected together as a Best Novel finalist.

The Murderbot series has now been adapted into an Apple TV+ streaming series starring Alexander Skarsgard.

Why are these stories so popular – not only with SF fans in general but libertarian SF fans in particular?

Continue reading Achieving personhood, escaping slavery and defending bodily autonomy: Why Martha Wells’ bestselling Murderbot series appeals to libertarian SF fans


The deep connection between literacy and liberty, and our gratitude to LFS members who read and judge our annual awards

“Back in Homer’s day, people lived within an oral culture, then humans slowly developed a literate culture. Now we seem to be moving to a screen culture. Civilization was fun while it lasted.” – David Brooks

By Michael Grossberg

Liberty and literacy.

Both are admirable goals and crucial civilized values – and something to respect and remember as we celebrate Independence Day on July 4.

Both are difficult to achieve consistently and sustain over generations. And both, in my view, are deeply connected. In the long run, one may not be possible without the other.

Whether one studies history or philosophy, it becomes clear that the spread of literacy and the spread of liberty are deeply interwoven – and perhaps inextricably intertwined.

In the 21st century, when millions of people average three hours or more on their smartphones daily, most people claim they don’t have time to read. That’s a shame – and perhaps also a long-range problem for our civilization.

Certainly, reading is necessary to educate oneself in liberty and the liberal arts – and crucial to the Prometheus Awards.

While reading can be deeply rewarding, it’s also time-consuming, which is why the Libertarian Futurist Society wishes to express its gratitude to all of this past year’s LFS members and Prometheus Awards judges.

Continue reading The deep connection between literacy and liberty, and our gratitude to LFS members who read and judge our annual awards

Final reminder: Vote by July 4 in the Prometheus Awards!

With the July 4 voting deadline just days away, it’s not too late for LFS members to submit their ballots to help select this year’s Prometheus winners.

Participating in the Prometheus Awards does require some significant reading, and to lighten the load and lift the spirits, here’s a great bookshelf illustration that may seem familiar to book lovers and sf/fantasy fans while eliciting an awkward smile of identification.

As a reminder, LFS members should email their ranked ballots no later than midnight Eastern time July 4 to the designated address.

Continue reading Final reminder: Vote by July 4 in the Prometheus Awards!

TOR publishes three-volume set of Martha Wells’ Prometheus-nominated Murderbot novellas

By Michael Grossberg

Good news for Murderbot fans: All of the novellas in Martha Wells’ acclaimed, bestselling and Prometheus-nominated series about a self-aware robot have been bound together in paperback for the first time.

The three-volume set – accessibly but unimaginatively titled The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 1, 2 and 3 – has been published by TOR Books, to capitalize on the Apple TV new TV series based on the stories.

The set includes all four Murderbot novellas that were combined into one 2019 Prometheus Best Novel nomination and went on to be selected among that year’s finalists: All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy.

Network Effect, a full-length Murderbot novel, also was nominated for a Prometheus Award in 2021 in the Best Novel category.

Continue reading TOR publishes three-volume set of Martha Wells’ Prometheus-nominated Murderbot novellas

Two-time Prometheus winner George Orwell honored in United Kingdom with Royal Mint coin, but “Big Brother is (still) watching you”


By Michael Grossberg

Great Britain’s Royal Mint is honoring George Orwell – also worth celebrating today on the anniversary of his birthday June 25, 1903 – with a new coin, 75 years after his death in 1950.

Best known for his Prometheus-winning classics Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, the British novelist and essayist will be celebrated with a new  £2 coin.

In the Orwellian spirit of the well-known Nineteen Eighty-Four catch phrase that “Big Brother is watching you,” coin artist Henry Gray created a coin design that appears to be an eye, but at its center is actually a camera lens surrounded 360 degrees by the famous phrase.

Continue reading Two-time Prometheus winner George Orwell honored in United Kingdom with Royal Mint coin, but “Big Brother is (still) watching you”


Michael Flynn’s legacy: How the Best Novel finalists have received broader cultural recognition (Part Five)


By Michael Grossberg

Two-time Prometheus winner Michael Flynn has become a Best Novel finalist again this year for In the Belly of the Whale, an epic work illuminating the complex lives, work, challenges, conflicts and threats to liberty aboard a large colony ship two centuries into a projected eight-century voyage to Tau Ceti.

Two-time Prometheus winner Michael Flynn (Creative Commons license)

Flynn previously won the Prometheus Award for Best Novel for In the Country of the Blind (in 1991) and Fallen Angels (in 1992), co-written with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

One of the most frequently recognized authors within the 46-year history of the Prometheus Awards, Flynn wrote works that were ranked Best Novel finalists seven times – a track record exceeded only by Ken MacLeod, L. Neil Smith and F. Paul Wilson.

Sadly, Flynn, who died at 75 in 2023, is no longer around to do interviews about his final, posthumous novel.

But in Part Five of our ongoing Prometheus Blog series documenting how each of our 2025 Best Novel finalists have received broader cultural recognition for their fiction, talent and imagination, we offer the next best thing: One of the best and last interviews Flynn gave before he passed.

Continue reading Michael Flynn’s legacy: How the Best Novel finalists have received broader cultural recognition (Part Five)