Category: Vernor Vinge

What might have more lasting impact than a Prometheus award? (Or, what happened when I googled Rudyard Kipling’s “As Easy as A.B.C.”)


By Michael Grossberg

Sometimes, a review of a good novel can have a lasting impact, even more than an award or award nomination – something to ponder as we begin a new year of the blog and of the Prometheus Awards.

Perhaps that might seem counterintuitive or even heretical, when it comes to the Prometheus Awards and its 45-year-old track record of more than 100 winners – 106 at last count, including 46 in the Best Novel category, 48 in the Best Classic Fiction category and 12 Special Awards.

Yet, that thought was sparked recently by what happened when I was rereading Rudyard Kipling’s 1912 story “As Easy as A.B.C.” – one of four classic works selected as finalists for the Prometheus Hall of Fame – and decided to research it further via Google.

When I googled the words “Rudyard Kipling and “As Easy as A.B.C.,” guess what popped up rather high on the Google web links?

Continue reading What might have more lasting impact than a Prometheus award? (Or, what happened when I googled Rudyard Kipling’s “As Easy as A.B.C.”)


Best of the Blog: Looking back on some of 2024’s notable articles, including an essay, a speech and a tribute

Although the Prometheus Blog focuses primarily on posting reviews, essays, and updates newly written for timely publication, occasionally we have the honor of reprinting an older article or speech that remains timeless.

Poul Anderson (Creative Commons license)

One of the best highlights of 2024 on the blog was our reprint, as a timely Fourth of July remembrance, of a 1978 Leprecon speech by the late great Poul Anderson, one of the greatest libertarian SF/fantasy authors and a frequent Prometheus Awards winner.

Another blog highlight was an insightful addition to our occasional series on Economics in Science Fiction: LFS President William H. Stoddard’s essay on Aladdin’s Lamps, technocracy and “post-scarcity.”

Vernor Vinge at an SF con (File photo)

Finally, sparked by the passing last year of the major and widely beloved SF writer Vernor Vinge, the Prometheus Blog devoted more than one post to honoring the legacy of this brilliant and visionary author, one of only four writers to receive recognition (as Anderson did before he passed) with a Special Prometheus Award for Lifetime achievement.

As we begin a new year, with high hopes for a better and freer world, we include convenient links to all of the above stories, lest we forget.

Continue reading Best of the Blog: Looking back on some of 2024’s notable articles, including an essay, a speech and a tribute

Economics in science fiction: Aladdin’s Lamps, technocracy and “post-scarcity”

By William H. Stoddard

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”

The late great Vernor Vinge: A major SF writer worth remembering (and reading) on his birthday


By Michael Grossberg

Today, Oct. 2, is Vernor Vinge’s birthday.

Acclaimed SF writer Vernor Vinge (Creative Commons license)

If he had lived, Vinge would have been 80 years old.

Born Oct. 2, 1944, Vinge died in March, 2024 after struggling for several years with progressive Parkinsons disease.

Yet, Vinge is worth remembering (and likely to be well-remembered) for his consistently brilliant and often prescient science fiction – several works of which have been recognized with Prometheus Awards over the decades.

Continue reading The late great Vernor Vinge: A major SF writer worth remembering (and reading) on his birthday


2024 Prometheus Awards: Best Novel presenter Victor Koman’s speech on mortality, the awards’ longevity, the diversification of publishing and the future of liberty


Victor Koman, a veteran libertarian SF writer, had the honor of presenting the Best Novel category Sunday at the 44th Prometheus Awards ceremony.

Prometheus-winning novelist Victor Koman in 2019 Photo courtesy of Koman

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.

Continue reading 2024 Prometheus Awards: Best Novel presenter Victor Koman’s speech on mortality, the awards’ longevity, the diversification of publishing and the future of liberty


The Rick Triplett interview, part 4: On aikido, the right of self-defense, free trade and first-contact stories

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.

Rick Triplett demonstrating the art of aikido in 2007 at a community cultural festival (Photo courtesy of Triplett)

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.

Continue reading The Rick Triplett interview, part 4: On aikido, the right of self-defense, free trade and first-contact stories

Interview: LFS’s first Emeritus member Rick Triplett on favorite sf writers, ethics, coercion and liberty

Rick Triplett, a lifelong science-fiction fan and veteran libertarian, has made a big difference in the Libertarian Futurist Society.

Rick Triplett Photo courtesy of Triplett

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.

Continue reading Interview: LFS’s first Emeritus member Rick Triplett on favorite sf writers, ethics, coercion and liberty

RIP Vernor Vinge [UPDATED]

Vernor Vinge 

Science fiction writer Vernor Vinge, a longtime star in the field, has died. He was 79, the science fiction news site File 770 reports.

Vince (1944-2024) won the Hugo Award multiple times: For the novels A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky and Rainbows End, and for the novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High and The Cookie Monster.

He also won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Libertarian Futurist Society, won the Prometheus Award for A Deepness in the Sky and Marooned in Realtime, and won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for “True Names” and “The Ungoverned.”

“True Names,” inducted in 2004 into the Hall of Fame, is often cited as the first work of science fiction to depict cyberspace.

Updates:

David Brin on Vernor Vinge.

Tribute from John Scalzi.  

 

Continue reading RIP Vernor Vinge [UPDATED]

Enduring quotes from more classic Prometheus Award acceptance speeches (since 2000)

 

“When we started our writing career we never dreamt of winning the Prometheus Award. … Of all the awards in Science Fiction, … The Prometheus Award, above all others, became the one we truly wanted. [because] liberty must be championed and valued — of the myriad awards out there, only the Prometheus recognizes this essential fact. And the authors we respect the most have all won it.”

Eytan and Dani Kollin in 2010 (Creative Commons license)

– Eytan and Dani Kollin, co-authors of The Unincorporated Man, the 2010 Prometheus Awardwinner for Best Novel, from their Prometheus acceptance speech

By Chris Hibbert

Following up on a recent Prometheus blog post, here are more classic Prometheus Award acceptance speeches to savor.

These speeches, all since 2000, offer insightful quotes that still resonate today.

Continue reading Enduring quotes from more classic Prometheus Award acceptance speeches (since 2000)

A treasure trove of wisdom, wit and gratitude: Memorable Prometheus Award winners’ speeches

By Chris Hibbert

One of the things I do in my spare time is bring old issues of Prometheus onto the web. Prometheus, the LFS’ former print quarterly, was published from 1982 to 2015, and there are lots of articles of lasting value in this collection.  Well more than half the issues are now available on the web.

One thing I noticed a little while ago is that we have transcripts of many of the Prometheus Award acceptance speeches that have been given over the years, and they are worth reading again. We also have recordings of several of the ceremonies, but uploading those will be a separate project.

Here’s a quick guide to all the speeches that appeared in Prometheus:

Continue reading A treasure trove of wisdom, wit and gratitude: Memorable Prometheus Award winners’ speeches