Category: Author Updates

Vernor Vinge and Terry Pratchett: A hidden connection between two Prometheus winners, one a master of serious SF, the other of satirical fantasy

By Michael Grossberg

Acclaimed SF writer Vernor Vinge (Creative Commons license)

Vernor Vinge wrote serious science fiction; Terry Pratchett wrote fantasy with a strong comical and satirical focus.

Terry Pratchett in 2012. (Creative Commons license)

Although each writer won more than one Prometheus Award for works that wove in libertarian and anti-authoritarian insights and themes, few of us tend to think of these two late great authors in the same breath, or any close to the same fiction or genre category.

While surely their respective fan bases overlap to some extent, even the hardest-core Pratchett and Vinge fans probably wouldn’t imagine that much else might link them – especially Fans of Vernor Vinge and Terry Pratchett, even if that fan base overlaps, probably don’t think of both authors together.

Yet, they had a strong connection in fiction, with one author favorably mentioning and imagining the future work of the other in a novel.

Continue reading Vernor Vinge and Terry Pratchett: A hidden connection between two Prometheus winners, one a master of serious SF, the other of satirical fantasy

Review: Sarah Hoyt’s No Man’s Land develops rich tapestry blending SF/fantasy tropes to imagine “first contact” with vast cultural, political and gender differences


By Michael Grossberg

Sarah Hoyt has always been a wonderful storyteller who frequently crosses genre boundaries with engrossing results.

With No Man’s Land, nominated for this year’s Prometheus Award for Best Novel, Hoyt has outdone herself.

Blending the tropes and appeal of science fiction and fantasy, Hoyt weaves many enticing elements into the three-volume novel. Her two deftly entwined stories encompass space opera, mystery, romance, adventure, suspense, intrigue and politics in a vivid “first contact” saga leavened with humor and humanity.

Continue reading Review: Sarah Hoyt’s No Man’s Land develops rich tapestry blending SF/fantasy tropes to imagine “first contact” with vast cultural, political and gender differences


Review: J. Kenton Pierce’s lively A Kiss for Damocles dramatizes how markets, evolving customs and laws help a post-apocalyptic colony recover without centralized authority


By William H. Stoddard

J. Kenton Pierce’s A Kiss for Damocles is a compellingly readable work of science fiction. It offers its readers an inherently dramatic situation: The struggle to survive and rebuild civilization in the aftermath of an apocalyptic war.

To add tension, remnants of the other side still linger, in the form of orbital systems waiting to strike down any resurgence of advanced technology.

Continue reading Review: J. Kenton Pierce’s lively A Kiss for Damocles dramatizes how markets, evolving customs and laws help a post-apocalyptic colony recover without centralized authority


Jo Walton on Poul Anderson: One Prometheus winner recommends another


By Michael Grossberg

It’s great to see one widely respected sf/fantasy author in praise of another. Especially when such praise reminds us of the talents and achievements of a truly grand master of sf/fantasy who has passed but is far from forgotten.

Jo Walton tips her hat to the late great Poul Anderson in her monthly book-review column for Reactor magazine.

Walton, who won her own Prometheus Award for Ha’penny, singled out the multiple-Prometheus-winning Anderson on her recommended-reading shortlist for All One Universe, his 1996 short-story anthology.

“This collection of stories and essays is just delightful—great thought-provoking stories, and mostly interesting essays, and I loved it,” Walton writes.

Continue reading Jo Walton on Poul Anderson: One Prometheus winner recommends another


It’s no ‘Mystery’ why libertarian author Steve Burgauer often writes science fiction 


By Michael Grossberg

Libertarian Steve Burgauer has written a dozen novels.

Libertarian SF novelist Steven Burgauer (Photo courtesy of author)

Although Burgauer writes historical and adventure novels, too – including his recently released The Mystery of the Broken Gargoyle – much of his work falls within the genre of science fiction.

Among his SF novels: The Railguns of Luna, Skullcap, The Grandfather Paradox, A More Perfect Union, Moonbeam and The Fornax Drive.

How was Burguauer first attracted to science fiction?

What makes him keep writing it?

And how does he relate such speculative fiction to the future, to progress and to liberty?

Continue reading It’s no ‘Mystery’ why libertarian author Steve Burgauer often writes science fiction 


Discovering libertarianism through fiction, part 2: How James Blish, Ayn Rand and other writers sparked my intellectual evolution


By Michael Grossberg

For me as a boy, The Star Dwellers was revelatory.

An idealistic drama about a fraught “second contact” between Earth humans and ancient aliens, James Blish’s 1961 novel sparked my thinking about ethics, economics and politics.

I couldn’t have imagined at the time what reading yet another Young Adult science fiction novel would lead me to, but ultimately The Star Dwellers paved the way for me to develop into a full-fledged libertarian by the early 1970s.

Continue reading Discovering libertarianism through fiction, part 2: How James Blish, Ayn Rand and other writers sparked my intellectual evolution


Discovering libertarian ideas through fiction: It usually begins with Rand and Heinlein – but in my unusual case, it was James Blish’s The Star Dwellers


“People come to libertarianism through fiction. They come through Ayn Rand… Robert Heinlein…. L. Neil Smith.”
– Libertarian feminist author Wendy McElroy at the 2000 Prometheus Awards ceremony

By Michael Grossberg

For quite a few libertarians, “It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand.” Or Robert Heinlein. Or other freedom-loving science fiction writers.

James Blish in the 1960s (Creative Commons license)

For me, though, my introduction to libertarian and classical-liberal ideas and ideals began earlier – at least in part – with James Blish.

Specifically, Blish’s The Star Dwellers.

When I read Blish’s 1961 novel as a pre-teen in the early 1960s, I came to understand for the first time key insights about voluntary consent and mutual exchange for profit as the best foundation for peace and progress.

Now a finalist for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame award for Best Classic Fiction, The Star Dwellers is a young-adult-oriented science fiction novel that revolves around a fraught “second contact” between star-faring humans and an ancient, advanced alien species.

Continue reading Discovering libertarian ideas through fiction: It usually begins with Rand and Heinlein – but in my unusual case, it was James Blish’s The Star Dwellers


Godspeed, Artemis astronauts! The first human return to lunar space after more than half a century is overdue – and welcome


By Michael Grossberg

The first human beings to journey into deep space since 1972 might be on their way as early as today.

The first flight of America’s ambitious Artemis mission aims to lift off in early March for the first crewed mission around the Moon since the Apollo era. Initially scheduled for February,  Artemis 2 might take off on its next window in early April if the mission can’t make any of five potential launch dates March 6-9 or March 11.

The Artemis 2 Orion rocket on the Cape Canaveral launching pad (NASA file photo)

“NASA does not expect to be able to land astronauts on the moon before 2027, at the earliest. Realistically, it’s unlikely that such an undertaking would occur before 2028. But the Artemis II mission is no perfunctory exercise. This will be a difficult and dangerous mission, and it’s a precursor to America’s eventual return to our nightly neighbor — this time, to stay,” columnist Noah Rothman wrote in an insightful National Review article about the prospects of the upcoming mission.

Continue reading Godspeed, Artemis astronauts! The first human return to lunar space after more than half a century is overdue – and welcome


The biggest novels in Prometheus history: An annotated list of the top dozen in page length (and why such epic works reward readers)


By Michael Grossberg

Size matters – or at least it can make a big difference, in helping a novel to achieve greater dramatic impact in its scope, depth, narrative complexity and emotional power.

Quite a few longer novels have been recognized by the Prometheus Awards over the past 47 years, whether as nominees, finalists or winners – from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon and Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged to the recent nomination of Sarah Hoyt’s three-volume No Mans Land for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

The three classic and epic works by Tolkien, Stephenson and Rand rank No. 1, 2 and 3 in page length in the history of the Prometheus Awards – as detailed in previous Prometheus Blog articles about the three bestselling winners and No Man’s Land.

So what are all the Prometheus-recognized novels and their ranks in page lengths on our top-12 list?

Continue reading The biggest novels in Prometheus history: An annotated list of the top dozen in page length (and why such epic works reward readers)


The epic power and enduring appeal of the biggest Prometheus-honored novels: The Lord of the Rings, Cryptonomicon and Atlas Shrugged


By Michael Grossberg

Of the many novels that have won a Prometheus Award over the past 47 years and are still widely read today, a notable few have done so with the help of their longer length and epic scale.

From J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings to Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon and Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, size does matter in literature.

Or at least size can significantly enhance a novel, if the writers are experts and at the top of their game. If well-structured, well-paced and compelling enough to sustain the reader’s interest, longer novels can attract and retain the reader’s interest even through hundreds of pages.

Continue reading The epic power and enduring appeal of the biggest Prometheus-honored novels: The Lord of the Rings, Cryptonomicon and Atlas Shrugged