Editor’s Note: This is the second part of the keynote speech that Cato Institute scholar and law professor Ilya Somin, a lifelong SF/fantasy fan, gave when he presented the 2026 Prometheus Hall of Fame award. His speech, a highlight of the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony in August, explores libertarian currents in SF/fantasy.
There are, of course, many other libertarian themes in prominent science fiction and fantasy works. I do not have time to go over them all. I’ll just mention a few.
Robert Heinlein, as most of you, like we know, was one of the founding fathers of modern American science fiction, and he of course, was consciously libertarian, his ideology.
The same thing is true of a number of other very prominent science fiction writers like L. Neil Smith, Larry Niven, and David Brin, though obviously for example Brin has a very different strain of libertarianism than Heinlein.
Editor’s Note: Cato Institute scholar, author and law professor Ilya Somin (also a lifelong SF/fantasy fan) gave the keynote address and presented the Prometheus Hall of Fame award at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony. Here is the first part of his speech on libertarian currents in SF/fantasy.
It is an honor to be here and to have a small hand in presenting this award appropriately. I’m going to devote my keynote talk to discussing the relationship between libertarianism and science fiction, broadly defined.
I will explain why libertarianism is more represented in the science fiction genre and in the closely related fantasy genre than probably in any other literary or popular culture genre. I’ll give some examples, and I’ll briefly talk about why it matters, why we should care.
By Michael Grossberg Grand Master Robert Heinlein was remembered during LACon V, the recent World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles/Anaheim, California.
L-R: John Tilden, Marie Guthrie, Jason Aukerman, Robert James, Mike Sheffield at LACon V’s Heinlein panel (Photo courtesy of File 770 and Worldcon)
An “LA and Heinlein” panel discussion, highlighted in a File 770 post with this picture, included speakers from academia and the Heinlein Society.
“RAH has been gone for decades but he was still very much alive in the “L.A. and Heinlein” panel… It was an interesting hour of being walked through the Los Angeles years of Heinlein’s life and hearing about how he was an Influence for some of the then-fledgling writers there,” Rich Lynch wrote in his brief report.
Editor’s note: Trev and Tessa Huxley, Aldous Huxley’s grandchildren, spoke Aug. 16, 2026, at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony to accept the award for Huxley’s classic dystopian novel Brave New World, the 50th work to be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame. This is Trev Huxley’s speech.
Trev Huxley speaking at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony on Zoom (File photo)
By Trev Huxley
I look around today and find myself in a world that’s a combination of my grandfather’s, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World and his former student George Orwell’s 1984.
A number of years ago I sat down with a senior Facebook executive who during our discussion looked at me and said “Trev we know more about you than you know about yourself.”
It was a bit of a boast, but not one that was a very hollow boast. They at the time were acquiring every commercially known database that they could get their hands on and compiling with the data they collected to create a profile of everyone in their network.
We now live in a society where surveillance has gotten into such an extreme level that the Chinese government virtually knows everything about everyone that lives there and can track them everywhere in real time. That’s the 1984 downside of my reality.
Editor’s note: Dave Freer won the first Special Prometheus Award for Young Adult Fiction for his novel Storm-Dragon, published by Raconteur Press. Speaking from his home in Tasmania, Australia, Freer delivered this acceptance speech Aug. 16, 2026, via Zoom during the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony.
“Reading is vital – to civilization, to liberty, to everything we wish for our species, especially for our young.” – Dave Freer
By Dave Freer
Author Dave Freer at his home desk in Tasmania Photo courtesy of author
Good afternoon everybody. For me that is actually ‘good predawn’ because it is 3 AM here. Like many authors I’ve kept a notebook next to the bedside so I could, on waking, hastily write down the gifts of the muse that sorted themselves into brilliance while I slept.
Unfortunately, the morning usually revealed gems like: ‘Orglvard at speed, with minchins and porgies.’ which I am sure meant something at the time, and was quite brilliant. I hope I am a little more awake than that, but I am not betting on it. I plead forgiveness in advance.
Firstly: Thank you all for awarding the Special Prometheus prize for Young Adult Literature to my book Storm-Dragon.
I am delighted to accept it. It’s flattering for me, but that is really rather beside the point. The real delight is that the Prometheus – an award which is a reliable indicator ‘you will love the book’ has put its mark on a YA SF-novel.
Travis Corcoran, a guest speaker at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony, was introduced by LFS President William H. Stoddard with these words:
“The Best Novel and Hall of Fame awards are given annually. But the LFS also gives Special Awards, not every year, but when there’s a deserving recipient. A few years ago, we established the category of Special Awards for Young Adult Fiction. This year, for the first time, we’re giving such an award.
“To present this award, we have invited Travis Corcoran to speak. Corcoran received our Best Novel award in 2018 and 2019 for the two volumes of his Aristillus series, The Powers of the Earth and Causes of Separation; this year he has published a new novel, Red State Mars. He currently serves as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. We look forward to hearing what he has to say about young adult fiction and about this year’s honoree.”
There’s a strange thing about systems – they have state, and often state comes in two or more types, which trade off against each other.
Pendulums have both kinetic energy and potential energy. When a pendulum is dead still, it’s at its highest altitude, and when it’s moving rapidly, it’s at its lowest. Social phenomena can also have state that’s traded back and forth – hobbies and subcultures often reach their absolute peak at exactly the point when growth has fallen to zero. …but there’s no law of conservation of energy in subcultures – a hobby can lose both size and energy at the same time!
Ham radio, bowling leagues – many hobbies have suffered from losing both “altitude” and “speed” at the same time. Deadly in an airplane as a private pilot, and equally deadly to a subculture. …deadly in a subculture like science fiction, generally, or libertarian science fiction, more specifically.
Editor’s note: J. Kenton Pierce, who won the 2026 Prometheus Award for Best Novel for A Kiss for Damocles, delivered his acceptance speech Aug. 16, 2026, during the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony.
By J. Kenton Pierce
I am deeply grateful for this tremendous honor. Giving a speech wasn’t a problem I imagined having, considering that A Kiss for Damocles was up against books by people who’ve written some of my favorite stories.
I’m no deep political or philosophical thinker.I’m just a character-driven reader, so I lean in on crafting characters I’d enjoy spending time with.
George Orwell is one of only a handful of Prometheus-winning writers to remain world famous and widely read for more than one work of fiction.
Author Hans Christian Andersen (Creative Commons license)
Meanwhile, the Prometheus Hall of Fame classic that is perhaps best known around the world is Hans Christian Anderson’s fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”
George Orwell. (Creative Commons license)
Perhaps still most widely acclaimed for his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell is also frequently referenced and quoted for his satirical parable Animal Farm. (Forget the poorly reviewed 2026 animated film version, which substitutes a trendy and misguided anti-corporate ideology for Orwell’s explicit anti-communist theme.)
Of the 50 works of fantastic fiction that have now been inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, Orwell’s classics and Andersen’s evocative fable rank high among the most notable and enduring.
And that’s why they are frequently referenced in contemporary intellectual debates and commentary – and will continue to be relevant for generations.
The Book Loft in Columbus’ German Village (Creative Commons license)
A visit to a local bookstore brought home to me something that too many lovers of liberty tend to forget, take for granted or deny: Support for freedom, and an almost instinctive distrust of coercive and abusive authority, is deeply rooted within American society and history.
Such attitudes – while certainly not the same thing as consistent support for individual rights, non-aggression, free minds and free markets – show up nearly everywhere, including within many precincts of popular and commercial culture.
I was reminded of this truth anew the other day, when my husband and I visited The Book Loft, a famous and highly unusual bookstore in Columbus, for the first time in several years.
Robert Heinlein, as most of you, like we know, was one of the founding fathers of modern American science fiction, and he of course, was consciously libertarian, his ideology.
