Author Updates – Prometheus Blog

Tom Stoppard, R.I.P.: The great playwright and screenwriter was also a libertarian 

Tom Stoppard, who died recently at 88, was universally recognized as one of our greatest playwrights and screenwriters.

Yet, the Czech-British writer was also an avowed libertarian. While that lesser-known fact was mentioned over the years in some profiles and in a few obits, it deserves more attention.

Especially when one realizes that some of Stoppard’s greatest plays have libertarian themes and that he co-wrote the screenplay for Brazil, one of the most libertarian sf/fantasy films of the past four decades.

Continue reading Tom Stoppard, R.I.P.: The great playwright and screenwriter was also a libertarian 

Prometheus finalist author Devon Eriksen releases audiobook of Theft of Fire (but what about the sequel?)

Theft of Fire, a 2024 Prometheus Best Novel finalist, is now available as an audiobook.

Author Devon Eriksen has announced the belated recording and availability of the audiobook, which is available on Apple Books, Google Play and Kobo.

Billed as the first novel in Eriksen’s Orbital Space series and blending hard SF, romance, mystery, suspense and even comedy, Theft of Fire offers a Heinleinesque space opera portraying a free-frontier space culture where big risks can lead to big rewards.

“Was it easy? No. Was it cheap? Also no. But thanks to the support of Kickstarter backers, the Theft of Fire: Orbital Space #1 audiobook exists, and I am so delighted to announce it now,” publicist Christine Eriksen wrote in a blog update on Eriksen’s website, devoneriksen.com

Continue reading Prometheus finalist author Devon Eriksen releases audiobook of Theft of Fire (but what about the sequel?)

The Prometheus Young Adult Honor Roll: A reading and holiday gift guide for parents, teenagers and children 

By Michael Grossberg

When Libertarian Futurist Society leaders added Young Adult (YA) fiction as an additional category of pro-freedom fantastical fiction that might be recognized with a Special Prometheus Award, quite a few worthy YA works already had won a Prometheus Award.

That’s why the LFS also set up a Prometheus Award Young Adult Honor Roll at the same time – a list that parents, grandparents and others should be aware of when choosing presents for the holidays or birthdays.

After all, what better present for a child or teenager than a good book?

Continue reading The Prometheus Young Adult Honor Roll: A reading and holiday gift guide for parents, teenagers and children 

CAEZIK SF & Fantasy’s “Ninja Loot” book sale: Discounts on Michael Flynn, Harry Turtledove, other Prometheus-winning authors – and five free ebooks

CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, which has published quite a few Prometheus-winning authors and this year’s Best Novel winner, is having a book sale.

Quite a few titles have been discounted, and five of the ebooks are now free, for a limited time, in the so-called Ninja Loot Sale of the Maryland-based small press.

CAEZIK and Arc Manor publisher Shahid Mahmud also reports that his company has just added new titles from such science fiction and fantasy greats as Harry Turtledove, Mercedes Lackey, Katharine Kerr, Jim. C. Hines, Joan Slonczewski and more.

The sale includes Flynn’s In the Belly of the Whale, the 2025 Prometheus Best Novel winner, and Turtledove’s Powerless, among eight 2025 novels nominated so far for the next Best Novel award.

FREE EBOOKS

Plus, “somewhere in the sale, we have hidden 5 completely free ebooks,” Mahmud said.

I searched through the listings – not that hard, actually, and it didn’t take long at all – and discovered that the free ebooks include Captive Dreams, an anthology of Flynn’s stories and novellas.

Check out the sale here.

ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS AND THE LFS

* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer international association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.

Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.

* Prometheus winners: For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website. This page includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.

* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.

* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.

Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook page for comments, updates and links to the latest Prometheus Blog posts.

Thoughts and tips on improving our reading habits – as this cycle of Prometheus nominations moves into higher gear

By Michael Grossberg

Reading is a key pleasure in life – and a great way to expand one’s understanding and appreciation of the world around us. Reading a wide variety of fantastical fiction, including but not limited to science fiction and fantasy, is also crucial to judging and voting in literary awards – including the Prometheus Awards.

With the previous awards cycle now completed and this year’s Prometheus Award winners announced, Libertarian Futurist Society members have begun the next cycle of reading and considering potential 2025 candidates for nomination for next year’s award. So this is a good time to share a variety of helpful insights into reading – and reading better.

Substack columnist Tomer Rozenberg offers a wide variety of tips in his recent column on “Why We Put Books Down and How to Pick Them Back Up” – tips worth considering not only for this year’s Prometheus-related reading but also for future years.

“As someone who has poured their heart and soul into writing—which is quite a sensitive point for me as a book author—I’ve found myself wondering: why do people stop reading books they’ve started? And more importantly, how can we rediscover the joy that comes from a truly engaging read?,” Rozenberg poignantly asks.

Continue reading Thoughts and tips on improving our reading habits – as this cycle of Prometheus nominations moves into higher gear

How Arc Manor Books, CAEZIK SF & Fantasy and Phoenix Pick support Prometheus-winning authors, including this year’s Best Novel winner

By Michael Grossberg

Besides the late great Michael Flynn, Arc Manor Books has published quite a few other Prometheus-winning authors – including Poul Anderson, Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, L. Neil Smith, Harry Turtledove and Jack Williamson.

Two of Arc Manor’s major imprints are CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, launched in 2020 with a “new” previously unpublished novel by Robert A. Heinlein, and Phoenix Pick, which reprints classic SF and Fantasy “from the ashes” of other publishing houses, with some new titles.

Thus, the Maryland-based small-press, created by Shahid Mahmud in 2006 to utilize the exciting new emerging technologies being developed in the publishing marketplace, should be better known, especially by Libertarian Futurist Society members and other freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.

Continue reading How Arc Manor Books, CAEZIK SF & Fantasy and Phoenix Pick support Prometheus-winning authors, including this year’s Best Novel winner

Bradbury, Heinlein, Le Guin, Vonnegut stories ranked among the 26 best SF stories by New Scientist 

By Michael Grossberg

E.M. Forster isn’t the only Prometheus-recognized author on New Scientist’s intriguing list of the 26 best science fiction/fantasy stories of all time.

Kurt Vonnegut in 1972 (Creative Commons license)

Although Forster’s “The Machine Stop” is the only story on the list specifically inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame, as described in a recent Prometheus blog post, several other enduring authors have stories on the magazine’s list – just not the ones our award has recognized.

Ursula K. Le Guin (Creative Commons license)

Among those writers: Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Ursula K. Le Guin and Kurt Vonnegut.

It’s interesting to see which of their stories are recognized by the magazine, and why.

Continue reading Bradbury, Heinlein, Le Guin, Vonnegut stories ranked among the 26 best SF stories by New Scientist 

Ayn Rand’s Prometheus Hall of Fame winner Anthem has been adapted into a graphic novel – twice! 

By Michael Grossberg

Did you know that Ayn Rand’s Anthem has been adapted into a graphic novel?

If so, did you realize that Rand’s Prometheus-winning ode to individualism, freedom and the rediscovery of the self has actually been adapted twice – with two different graphic novels? (I didn’t.)

The first one was published in 2011; and the second, in 2018. Together, the two versions reflect the continuing appeal and relevance of one of Rand’s earliest works.

Both are interesting to read – and to compare.

Continue reading Ayn Rand’s Prometheus Hall of Fame winner Anthem has been adapted into a graphic novel – twice! 

First Anthem, then Red Pawn and Top Secret: Atlas Society publishing graphic novels of Rand’s shorter fiction

By Michael Grossberg

Fans of Ayn Rand, a two-time Prometheus Award-winner, can now appreciate some of her earliest-published fiction through the visually striking and fresh perspective of graphic novels.

The Atlas Society, a nonprofit organization promoting Ayn Rand’s fiction and philosophy, has launched an ambitious long-range project: to commission and create graphic novels of Rand’s stories, screenplays and other fictional works as they fall out of copyright and become available for fresh interpretations.

First up was the Society’s graphic novel of Rand’s poetic dystopian novella Anthem, followed by adaptations of Rand’s early screenplays into Red Pawn and Top Secret.

TOP SECRET: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL

Published most recently, Top Secret: The Graphic Novel is based on Rand’s screenplay for a movie about the making of the atomic bomb. The graphic novel adapts Rand’s 16-page outline from Jan. 19, 1946. Continue reading First Anthem, then Red Pawn and Top Secret: Atlas Society publishing graphic novels of Rand’s shorter fiction

Orwell’s Prometheus-winning Animal Farm being adapted into an animated film  

By Michael Grossberg

One of the best known and most enduring Prometheus Hall of Fame winners for Best Classic Fiction has finally been adapted into an animated film.

Actor-director Andy Serkis has worked for years to bring to the screen a new animated film version of George Orwell’s fable Animal Farm, a Prometheus Hall of Fame inductee for Best Classic Film. Serkis’ film, which has been screened overseas at a film festival, is not yet available to watch in the United States.

Orwell’s cautionary and satirical fable focuses on a group of anthropomorphic farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to achieve a fully egalitarian society where all the animals are equal. Ultimately, the rebellion is betrayed, with a pig named Napoleon becoming dictator of the farm, which ends up in a far worse state than before.

Continue reading Orwell’s Prometheus-winning Animal Farm being adapted into an animated film  