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.
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
Not all literary works that win major awards continue to be widely read and influential, years or decades later. Yet, from Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four to Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” those that do are worth noting, for they often reflect important aspects of our era’s intellectual currents and popular culture.
In that context, the number of Prometheus-winning works that commonly are referenced by prominent columnists, essayists and authors continues to be impressive.
Of the more than 100 novels, stories, films and other works of fantastical fiction that have won a Prometheus award for Best Novel or Best Classic Fiction (our Hall of Fame) since the first prize was presented in 1979, more than a dozen are written about frequently in magazines, newspapers, Substack columns, books or referenced in movies, plays and other realms of popular culture.
Among the many Prometheus-winning authors most commonly written about – sometimes with a purely literary focus but more often used as resonant reference points for 21st century commentary – are George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Ayn Rand, J.RR. Tolkien, Neal Stephenson and Hans Christian Andersen.
Libertarian Futurist Society president William H. Stoddard emceed the 45th Prometheus Awards and introduced the Prometheus Hall of Fame category for Best Classic Fiction, which was presented by libertarian luminary and Prometheus-nominated fantasy novelist David Friedman.
The August 30, 2025 awards ceremony, presented live via Zoom on August 30, 2025, was recorded and later posted on Youtube. Here is the text of Stoddard’s speech:
The Prometheus Hall of Fame award was established in 1983.
Initially we gave it to two classic works of libertarian science fiction each year. Our first two winners were virtually inevitable choices: Robert A. Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, the book that established libertarian science fiction as a recognized genre, and Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, the fictional treatment of libertarian ideas that brought large numbers of people into what became the libertarian movement.
The next year’s award went to two classic dystopias, George Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
Since then we’ve settled down to one winner a year, and opened the award not merely to novels but to work in any narrative or dramatic form. Such works become eligible 20 years after their original publication.
To present this year’s award, we have the honor of having David Friedman as a guest speaker.
One of the most exciting and promising Libertarian Futurist Society outreach projects in years is our new Prometheus Awards Collection for Libraries.
The ambitious project offers a carefully curated selection of Prometheus-winning novels to be donated and mailed to interested libraries across the country upon their request.
The set of brand-new books was chosen to expand the range and variety of notable and acclaimed science fiction on library shelves across the country – especially to aid smaller libraries, which may have more limited resources.
Continue reading Introducing the Prometheus Awards Collection for Libraries
What do Poul Anderson, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, James P. Hogan, Sarah Hoyt, Victor Koman, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ken MacLeod, George Orwell, Ayn Rand, L. Neil Smith, Neal Stephenson, J.R.R. Tolkien, Vernor Vinge and F. Paul Wilson have in common?
Some rank high among bestselling and even world famous authors; some are not quite as well known but still have sold millions of copies of their books, and a few are lesser-known writers who deserve a wider readership.
Yet they’re all writers who have written notable speculative fiction (generally science fiction and/or fantasy) that in different ways championed freedom-loving themes and exposed the evils of authoritarianism.
And all of the above have been recognized for such works by winning Prometheus Awards – some for Best Novel, some for Best Classic Fiction and several for both annual award categories.
Science fiction in recent decades has included an extensive exploration of an economic idea, or at least an economic term: The concept of scarcity. In a peculiarly science-fictional dialectical move, this exploration takes place by assuming the absence of scarcity and asking what follows from it.
The late Iain M. Banks is well known for making “post-scarcity” a premise of his Culture series, for example. In effect, this idea makes advanced technology a kind of djinn that can grant human wishes.
Similar ideas actually have a long history in science fiction.
Continue reading Economics in science fiction: Aladdin’s Lamps, technocracy and “post-scarcity”
Have you seen the Atlas Society’s animated video highlighting Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged?
The video, which has received more than 600,000 viewings on You Tube, is billed as the “first-of-its-kind book trailer for Rand’s masterpiece novel.”
Continue reading Check out the Atlas Society’s animated Atlas Shrugged video
Everyone has their favorites among the fiction works that have won the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.
And by everyone, I mean virtually everyone – since at least some of the 46 winning works are enjoyed by libertarians and non-libertarians alike, and by both science fiction/fantasy fans and those who don’t often read that genre.
But how many rank the comedies that high?
Continue reading Making ‘em laugh: Which Hall of Fame winners best incorporate comedy?
Just how important are the engineers in Atlas Shrugged?
More vital – and central to Rand’s novel (and her other fiction) – than even her fans might imagine.
According to a well-researched essay published online in The Savvy Street, Rand’s bestselling magnum opus is in many ways a “literary celebration” of engineering.
Writer Peter Saint-Andre argues persuasively that virtually every significant character is an engineer of some kind in Rand’s epic novel about the role of the mind and the importance of rationality and liberty in sustaining human civilization.
Even those who believe they are fully familiar with Atlas Shrugged – inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame in the very first year of that award category in 1983 – are likely to find the essay both surprising and compelling in adding a crucial dimension of understanding about Rand’s classic work.
