Author Updates – Prometheus Blog

The Man in the White Suit: One of the great libertarian film comedies – with a sci-fi premise 

Before he became best known to younger generations as Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, British actor Alec Guinness was known in part for his comedies.

Guinness made his name in six Ealing Studios film comedies between 1949 and 1957, most notably playing eight characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets and lead roles in The Ladykillers, The Lavender Hill Mob and The Man in the White Suit. The latter film, released in 1951, has a deserved reputation as one of the great movie comedies of its era. It also happens to be both libertarian and individualist in its wry themes.

Not only that: The Man in the White Suit has an ingenious plot whose premise is clearly science fiction, making the film of even greater interest to the Libertarian Futurist Society.

Continue reading The Man in the White Suit: One of the great libertarian film comedies – with a sci-fi premise 

‘The Tower and the Ruin’ and other Tolkien Society Award winners recognize the enduring influence of The Lord of The Rings and related works 

By Michael Grossberg

Recognized in the Prometheus Awards as a classic for its cautionary libertarian theme about how power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts even the good, The Lord of the Rings has become one of the most popular and enduring works of modern fiction.

Yet, I hadn’t fully grasped until recently just how enduring and influential J.R.R. Tolkien and his bestselling works have become to modern culture.

So many books and articles analyzing Tolkien’s life and fiction have been published and continue to appear that the Tolkien Society, founded in 1969, is able to sustain annual awards with full slates of finalists in several categories.

Perhaps the most significant work recognized is The Tower and the Ruin, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Creation, by Michael Trout, which won the 2026 Tolkien Society Award for Best Book. Continue reading ‘The Tower and the Ruin’ and other Tolkien Society Award winners recognize the enduring influence of The Lord of The Rings and related works 

A historic first: The Pope quotes a Prometheus-winning classic (and it makes sense that it’s Tolkien) 

By Michael Grossberg

A Pope has quoted a Prometheus-winning classic in an encyclical letter.

So far as I can tell, that seems to be a first.

The American Pope Leo XIV has quoted the British author J.R.R. Tolkien in his latest papal encyclical, published May 15, 2026: “On Safeguarding The Human Person In The Time Of Artificial Intelligence.”

The Pope quotes a powerful and wise statement by Gandalf from The Return of the King, the third volume of The Lord of the Rings. Libertarian Futurist Society members inducted the trilogy in 2009 into our Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

Continue reading A historic first: The Pope quotes a Prometheus-winning classic (and it makes sense that it’s Tolkien) 

Glenn Harlan Reynolds’ wish: If only Jerry Pournelle could have lived to see today’s remarkable progress in space 

By Michael Grossberg

Jerry Pournelle, a science fiction writer who also was devoted to championing scientific progress and space development, dreamed of what’s now fast becoming a reality on and off the Earth.

Jerry Pournelle in 2005 (Creative Commons license)

Sparked by his enthusiasm over the recent successful SpaceX Starship v.3 launch, Instapundit columnist and American legal scholar Glenn Harlan Reynolds has written a heartfelt column paying tribute to the prescient vision of Jerry Pournelle.

Pournelle, a Prometheus Best Novel winner, deserves to be remembered – and not only for his fiction.

“When I was still a kid, I read Jerry’s column “A Step Farther Out” in Galaxy magazine religiously. Jerry saw it all coming: vertical takeoff and landing spaceships, the need to lower costs to orbit, and the absolute necessity for both reusability and launch volume to make things cheap enough, and reliable enough, to build an interplanetary economy,” Reynolds writes.

“He wrote about the immense resources of space (both in terms of energy and material), and the wide-open human future they could support. As the blurb for a collection of his work published in 2022 says, “If you wanted a strategy for the technology of going to space in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, Dr. Jerry Pournelle was your man.”

Continue reading Glenn Harlan Reynolds’ wish: If only Jerry Pournelle could have lived to see today’s remarkable progress in space 

Prometheus Best Novel finalist David Brin to receive the Arthur C. Clarke Memorial Award at the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference 

By Michael Grossberg

Acclaimed science fiction writer David Brin will receive the National Space Society’s Arthur C. Clarke Memorial Award.

Novelist David Brin (ISDC, Creative Commons license)

Brin, a Prometheus Best Novel finalist and two-time Prometheus nominee, expressed his libertarian/liberal views about how the world should be and is evolving toward greater freedom in “Confessions of a Cheerful Libertarian,” published in the former Prometheus quarterly.

According to a report in File 770, Brin will receive the coveted Clarke Memorial Award for “his pivotal writing in sci-fi and futurism.”

Continue reading Prometheus Best Novel finalist David Brin to receive the Arthur C. Clarke Memorial Award at the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference 

“What is a Hater?” – Economist David Henderson applies Orwell’s 1984 insights about how authoritarians abuse language to discount criticism and demonize others 

By Michael Grossberg

One of the most chilling and distasteful aspects of the totalitarian dictatorship that George Orwell envisioned in Nineteen Eighty-Four was the “two-minute hate.”
Fuelled by State propaganda demonizing dissidents and alleged enemies, and reflecting the mob psychology of true believers manipulated by power-hungry rulers, the “two-minute hate” is the type of Reign of Terror phenomenon that no sane and decent person would wish to be part of – or be victimized by – in real life.

Yet, increasingly in American and European politics and culture, extreme partisans of Left and Right indulge in hateful rhetoric while ironically accusing others of “hate” – even when a bit of introspection and understanding of human behavior might reveal fewer people than one might think are actually motivated by that dark emotion.

Referencing Orwell and his Prometheus Hall of Fame-winning classic Nineteen Eighty-Four, libertarian economist David Henderson identifies the disturbing trend of using and abusing language to demonize anyone who holds differing views.

Continue reading “What is a Hater?” – Economist David Henderson applies Orwell’s 1984 insights about how authoritarians abuse language to discount criticism and demonize others 

How many Prometheus winners have reached the screen? More than you might realize! 

By Michael Grossberg

Of the 104 works of fiction that have won a Prometheus Award, 15 have been adapted into movies (sometimes more than once.)

Plus, two other Prometheus winners were conceived for and originated on screen – one as a feature film and the other as a TV series.

Thus, 17 Prometheus winners can be seen on the large or small screens.

That represents about 15 percent of all the Prometheus-winning works recognized since the award was first presented in 1979. Not a bad quotient, perhaps, but it certainly would be nice to see more of our recognized novels and stories raise their visibility and thereby find larger audiences.

So which works have reached the screen?

Just for fun or out of curiosity, before reading further, why not visit the Prometheus Awards page listing all the past winners and see how many you can recall that have had film or TV adaptations?

Hint: There’s more than you realize!

Continue reading How many Prometheus winners have reached the screen? More than you might realize! 

Orwell’s Animal Farm falls disappointingly short in new animated film version that distorts its anti-authoritarian themes 

By Michael Grossberg

When it comes to film versions of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the third time’s not the charm.

With visionary director-actor Andy Serkis at the helm of the recently released animated film version of Orwell’s classic anti-authoritarian fable and a host of great actors doing the voices of the farm animals, I’d hoped for the best for Animal Farm, inducted in 2011 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

Seth Rogen, Gaten Matarazzo, Glenn Close, Woody Harrelson, Kieran Culkin, Steve Buscemi, Kathleen Turner, Laverne Cox and Jim Parsons are among the actors voicing the animal characters in the story about pigs consolidating control on a farm in a movement for equality that is systematically corrupted.

Yet, Serkis’ long-in-gestation 2025 film, finally released in the U.S. in May 2026, has proved to be a major disappointment.

Continue reading Orwell’s Animal Farm falls disappointingly short in new animated film version that distorts its anti-authoritarian themes 

Robert Kroese launches Ransom’s Law, a five-novel SF series about corporate law in an interstellar future 

By Michael Grossberg

Prometheus-nominated SF author Robert Kroese has launched an ambitious five-novel series about corporate law in an interstellar and entrepreneurial future.

Acceleration Clause, published April 29 in 255 pages by St. Culain Press, is the first book in Kroese’s Ransom’s Law series about a corporate lawyer struggling to find new footing after a career misstep as part of a spaceship repossession crew.

Kroese is of interest to Libertarian Futurist Society members because he was nominated for the Prometheus Award for Best Novel in 2022 for Titan: Mammon Book 1.

Continue reading Robert Kroese launches Ransom’s Law, a five-novel SF series about corporate law in an interstellar future 

Capsule reviews of all five Best Novel finalists – with no spoilers! 

By Michael Grossberg

The 2026 Prometheus Best Novel finalists have been announced – and Libertarian Futurist Society members are reading them, with the ultimate verdict and winners to be selected by July 4 on the final ballot.

To spark thought and discussion, raise the visibility of these works and the award and hopefully serve as a helpful guide, the Prometheus Blog is publishing thoughtful, in-depth reviews by Prometheus judges of each finalist. Some LFS members may wish to read them right away; others may prefer to wait until they’ve finished a finalist before reading the review.

Meanwhile, to whet your appetite to read each finalist and vote in the final stage of the Prometheus Awards, here are roughly equal 200-word capsule descriptions of each finalist.

And we’ve striven to avoid revealing any spoilers, so it’s safe to read them now!

Continue reading Capsule reviews of all five Best Novel finalists – with no spoilers! 