News – Prometheus Blog

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” – Hans Christian Andersen’s Prometheus-winning fable continues to resonate and inform today’s culture and commentary

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” is in the news again, offering resonant metaphors that some find applicable to today’s sociopolitical culture.

Hans Christian Anderson statue in Copenhagen

Gerard Baker, a Wall Street Journal columnist, found intriguing parallels between the themes of Hans Christian Andersen’s Prometheus-winning fable and the surprising results of the recent 2024 U.S. presidential election.

“It’s an “Emperor’s New Clothes” event for America and perhaps for the rest of the West too, an overdue recognition and repudiation of the regime of oppressive insanities we have been subjected to for a decade or more,” Baker wrote in his Wall Street Journal column.

Continue reading “The Emperor’s New Clothes” – Hans Christian Andersen’s Prometheus-winning fable continues to resonate and inform today’s culture and commentary

Seattle’s upcoming Worldcon pays affectionate tribute to Poul Anderson  

The late great Poul Anderson has received unexpected and positive recognition from the 2025 Worldcon, set for Seattle.

Partly in honor of the previous Seattle Worldcon in 1961, the Worldcon blog has paid tribute to Anderson’s novel The High Crusade, a 1961 Hugo finalist.

Continue reading Seattle’s upcoming Worldcon pays affectionate tribute to Poul Anderson  

Prolific author Sarah Hoyt has more works in progress (beyond her Prometheus-winning Darkship series)

By Michael Grossberg

Prometheus-winning author Sara Hoyt is nothing if not prolific – with quite a few novels in progress.

Sarah Hoyt, the 2011 Prometheus winner for Best Novel (File photo)

Currently listed on Amazon with 92 titles (including books she’s written and anthologies to which she’s contributed stories), Hoyt has written more than 50 books (including more than 40 novels) by my rough count – and counting.

According to a Mad Genius Blog post, Hoyt plans to write more novels and stories that will appear first on her fiction-focused Substack blog – with several already appearing serially, chapter by chapter.

Continue reading Prolific author Sarah Hoyt has more works in progress (beyond her Prometheus-winning Darkship series)

Orwell’s 1984, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and other Prometheus-recognized dystopian cautionary tales are popular again, post-election (but deserve a sober reading)

By Michael Grossberg

Two of the best-known Prometheus Hall of Fame winners are enjoying a surge in sales.

George Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 shot up on Amazon’s best-seller list after the recent U.S. presidential election.

So did Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a 1987 Prometheus Best Novel finalist. (The Testaments, Atwood’s sequel to her classic dystopian novel, was recognized as a Best Novel finalist in 2020.)

Both Orwell’s classic and Bradbury’s classic dystopian novels were inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame in 1984, only the second year of the Hall of Fame.

All three novels – well-worth reading (or rereading) – offer cautionary tales about the rise of various types of authoritarian or totalitarian governments that institutionalize massive violations of individual rights – from censorship to torture and mass murder.

Check out the Prometheus blog review-essay Appreciations of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Fahrenheit 451.

Continue reading Orwell’s 1984, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and other Prometheus-recognized dystopian cautionary tales are popular again, post-election (but deserve a sober reading)

Sarah Hoyt announces plans for more books in her Prometheus-winning Darkship Thieves series

By Michael Grossberg

Fans of Sarah Hoyt, especially fans of her Darkship Thieves series, have reasons for thanksgiving – or at least raise their hopes of enjoying more books in that fictional universe.

Hoyt, who won the 2011 Prometheus Award for Best Novel for Darkship Thieves, has revealed plans to write more (much more!) in her Darkship universe.

“No, I’m not abandoning Darkship Thieves,” Hoyt writes in a recent column on the Mad Genius Club blog.

“I have at least five more in that universe, though it might extend to ten or twenty, depending on how much I like the ‘next generation,’” she writes.

Continue reading Sarah Hoyt announces plans for more books in her Prometheus-winning Darkship Thieves series

Prometheus winner Jo Walton inducted into Canada’s SFF Hall of Fame  

By Michael Grossberg

Jo Walton accepting her Prometheus Award in 2008

Another Prometheus-winning author has been inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association’s Hall of Fame.

Jo Walton, who won a Prometheus Award for Best Novel for Ha’Penny, is one of three Canadians inducted into Canada’s 2024 Hall of Fame.

Born in Wales, Walton has lived since 2002 in Montreal “where the food and books are much better,” according to her website and a report in File 770.

Continue reading Prometheus winner Jo Walton inducted into Canada’s SFF Hall of Fame  

Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 5: Capsule reviews of Turtledove’s Between the Rivers and Stross’ Singularity Sky 

By Michael Grossberg

Of the 10 nominees for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, the two most recently published are novels – one a historical fantasy set at the dawn of civilization, and the other, a work of futuristic science fiction set among interstellar colonies.

Between the Rivers, by Harry Turtledove, was published in 1998 by TOR Books.

Singularity Sky, by Charles Stross, was published in 2003 by Ace Books.

Both authors are Prometheus Award winners for Best Novel, with Stross winning in 2007 for Glasshouse and Turtledove winning in 2008 for The Gladiator.

Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 5: Capsule reviews of Turtledove’s Between the Rivers and Stross’ Singularity Sky 

Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 4: Capsule reviews of the Rush song “The Trees” and Anderson’s novel Orion Shall Rise 

By Michael Grossberg

Unlike the annual Prometheus Award for Best Novel, the other annual Prometheus category for Best Classic Fiction is open to works being renominated.

Neal Peart, Rush drummer and songwriter of “The Trees.” Credit: Creative Commons

Of the 10 works of fiction nominated for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, three are returning nominees after reaching the level last year of Hall of Fame finalists.

One is the Rush fantasy-fable song “The Trees,” first recorded in 1978.

The other is Poul Anderson’s novel Orion Shall Rise, published in 1984.

Here, in the fourth part of the Prometheus Blog’s series about this year’s Hall of Fame nominees, are capsule review-descriptions of those two finalists.

Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 4: Capsule reviews of the Rush song “The Trees” and Anderson’s novel Orion Shall Rise 

Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 3: Capsule reviews of Vinge’s “Conquest by Default” and Schmitz’s The Demon Breed 

By Michael Grossberg

Of the 10 works of fiction nominated for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, two coincidentally were published in 1968.

One is “Conquest by Default,” a novelette by Vernor Vinge – a frequent Prometheus Award nominee, finalist and winner.

And the other is The Demon Breed, a novel by James H. Schmitz – a first-time Prometheus nominee.

Here, in part 3 of the Prometheus Blog’s series about this year’s candidates for induction into our Hall of Fame, are capsule review-descriptions of each work.

Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 3: Capsule reviews of Vinge’s “Conquest by Default” and Schmitz’s The Demon Breed 

Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 2: Capsule reviews of an Arthur C. Clarke short story and a Mack Reynolds novella 

By Michael Grossberg

Coincidentally, both Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “Death and the Senator” and Mack Reynolds’ novella “Ultima Thule’ were first published in 1961.

Of the 10 classic works of speculative fiction nominated for potential induction next year into the Hall of Fame, these two shorter works rank among the oldest.

The Hall of Fame, which focuses on older works of SF/fantasy that have endured and taken on the patina of classics, is open to nomination of speculative fiction of almost any type, length or format (published, performed, staged, screened or broadcast) that first appeared in some form at least twenty years ago.

So why was each of these works of fiction nominated?

Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 2: Capsule reviews of an Arthur C. Clarke short story and a Mack Reynolds novella 