Editor’s note: Veteran LFS member Robert Poole, who co-founded the Reason Foundation and has voted for the Prometheus Awards annually as one of the earliest LFS members, presented the Prometheus Hall of Fame category at the 44th annual Prometheus Awards ceremony. Here is the transcript of his remarks:
By Robert Poole
I’m honored to introduce the winner of the 2024 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award.
My Libertarian Futurist Society involvement dates back to the very first Prometheus Award ceremony.
Victor Koman, a veteran libertarian SF writer, had the honor of presenting the Best Novel category Sunday at the 44th Prometheus Awards ceremony.
Who better to fulfill that role than Koman, one of very few writers to win as many as three Prometheus awards for Best Novel?
Here, for the record, is the transcript of Koman’s speech.
The late great Ray Bradbury memorably dramatized the dangers of censorship and book-burning in Fahrenheit 451.
Bradbury’s Prometheus-winning 1953 novel, inducted in 1984 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, is occasionally brought up as a cautionary tale in contemporary discussions about freedom of expression, censorship, school libraries and what books are appropriate for students of different ages to read.
Fahrenheit 451 is referenced anew in an interesting Thinkspot column that challenges common media reporting about “book bans” in government-run schools and libraries across the country.
But do the lessons of Fahrenheit 451 truly apply?
Is “book banning” tantamount to book-burning and other forms of State-enforced censorship?
Not all literary award-winners stand the test of time.
Most works of arts and entertainment fade – even winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the Oscars, Tonys, Grammys, Emmys, Hugo and Nebula awards. Yet when they last and take on the patina of a classic, they should be remembered and recognized.
For only the third time in the 45-year history of the Prometheus Awards, a former Best Novel finalist is being inducted into the Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.
The Dragon Awards, presented annually at Dragon Con in Atlanta, have announced their 2024 finals – and one of this year’s Prometheus Best Novel finalists is among them.
Plus, among its finalist competitors is an author and her series previously recognized as a Prometheus Best Novel finalist.
So congratulations to Devon Eriksen and Martha Wells!
The Libertarian Futurist Society is pleased to announce that prominent libertarian policy expert and lifelong SF fan Robert (Bob) Poole will be a presenter at the 44th annual Prometheus Awards ceremony.
Poole, a veteran LFS member and consistent Prometheus Awards voter for decades, co-founded the Reason Foundation, a leading libertarian think tank that publishes Reason magazine.
Here is part 4 of the Prometheus Blog interview with Rick Triplett, a lifelong science fiction fan, decades-long libertarian, a veteran Prometheus Awards judge and recently honored as the Libertarian Futurist Society’s first Emeritus member.
Q: You’ve practiced aikido for many years – and have even demonstrated the martial art at area festivals. What attracted you to aikido and does it have any relevance to your libertarian views?
A: Aikido is a non-aggressive martial art (virtually the only one).
Its strategy is to de-escalate rather than resort to fighting; its tactics are to avoid and restrain, rather than to damage the opponent. Although its techniques can damage or kill, they are applied in a measured way that at least attempts allowing an attacker to shift from domination to negotiation.
It respects human agency including one’s own right to self-defense.
Rick Triplett, 79, has seen the Prometheus Awards from the inside.
Recently recognized by the Libertarian Futurist Society board as the organization’s first Emeritus member after decades of service, Rick has served as a judge in all three categories of the Prometheus Awards – chairing the Special Awards committee and serving as a finalist-selection judge on the two committees that help whittle down candidates and nominees to a short list in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction categories.
So Rick’s views about the challenges of judging the Prometheus Award are worth sharing, as well as his insights about the pros and cons of various ideologies.
Here is the third part of the Prometheus Blog interview with Triplett.
Here is Part 2 of the Prometheus Blog interview with veteran LFS member and Prometheus judge Rick Triplett, conducted by interviewer Michael Grossberg:
Q: Once you discovered the joys of reading, and became a voracious reader of “all things futuristic, scientific or heroic” (as you said in Part One of this interview), were there particular writers who especially captured your imagination?
A: The main one – as he was for many folks – is Robert A. Heinlein.
His juveniles were a giant leap forward from the less sophisticated ones I had read, like Tom Swift Jr., Tom Corbett, etc. and they had more relatable stories than those I found in pulp fan mags.
Rick Triplett, a lifelong science-fiction fan and veteran libertarian, has made a big difference in the Libertarian Futurist Society.
That’s why the LFS board of directors recently honored Rick by making him the first LFS Emeritus member, with lifelong Prometheus Awards nominating and voting privileges.
Because Rick served as a judge for many years on all three categories of the Prometheus Award and has reviewed quite a few Prometheus-nominated novels, his thoughts and insights about favorite authors and Prometheus winners seem worth sharing in this interview.
