Category: Awards history

See the video of the 44th Prometheus Awards ceremony, with speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Daniel Suarez and Victor Koman, Reason’s Bob Poole and LFS leaders

How can science fiction and fantasy help people envision a freer, better future?

Can a grippingly realistic novel about near-future space commercialization play a role in transforming dreams of such progress into scientific and economic fact?

How important is humor in exposing and surviving oppression and tyranny?

Such are among the fascinating and fertile questions explored by SF authors and freedom-loving SF/fantasy fans during the recent 44th annual Prometheus Awards ceremony.

Airing live Aug. 25, 2024, the half-hour-long ceremony honored Daniel Suarez, winner of the 2024 Prometheus Award for Best Novel for Critical Mass; and the late great Terry Pratchett, whose comic-fantasy Discworld novel The Truth was inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

Continue reading See the video of the 44th Prometheus Awards ceremony, with speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Daniel Suarez and Victor Koman, Reason’s Bob Poole and LFS leaders

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


What Pratchett’s The Truth, Bujold’s Falling Free and Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon have in common (and why former Best Novel finalists are eligible for Hall of Fame nomination, but former winners aren’t)


By Michael Grossberg

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.

Continue reading What Pratchett’s The Truth, Bujold’s Falling Free and Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon have in common (and why former Best Novel finalists are eligible for Hall of Fame nomination, but former winners aren’t)


Did you know that fantasy is just as eligible as science fiction for Prometheus Awards recognition? (And that shouldn’t be news!)

By Michael Grossberg

Works of fantasy are eligible to consider for the Prometheus Awards, along with science fiction.

The Lord of the Rings, inducted in 2009 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame

Fantasy has always been eligible for nomination – which might be news to some.

Many falsely assume that the Prometheus Awards are exclusively focused on “libertarian science fiction.”

And many continue to do so, even though several notable works of fantasy have been selected this year as finalists in both annual categories for Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (the Prometheus Hall of Fame.)

Continue reading Did you know that fantasy is just as eligible as science fiction for Prometheus Awards recognition? (And that shouldn’t be news!)

Which sf/fantasy literary awards are the most worthwhile? (You might be surprised how high the Prometheus award ranks)

Naturally, the Prometheus Awards are important to Libertarian Futurist Society members and other freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.

Gold coins are used as prizes in the Prometheus Awards

But where does our award rank among other sf/fantasy literary awards in the considered opinion of leading sf/fantasy editors?

Prominent sf/fantasy novelist Charles Stross, who won the 2007 Prometheus Award for Best Novel for Glasshouse, shared a private conversation with a top editor that actually ranks the Prometheus Award quite high.

Continue reading Which sf/fantasy literary awards are the most worthwhile? (You might be surprised how high the Prometheus award ranks)

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]

TOR Books founder Tom Doherty wins Heinlein Award

 

Publisher-editor Tom Doherty, who founded TOR Books, has won the 2024 Robert A. Heinlein Award.

Robert Heinlein (Photo courtesy of the Heinlein Trust)

The award, funded by the Heinlein Society and named after the Grand Master who has won more Prometheus Awards than anyone else, is bestowed for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space.

According to a Heinlein Society press release, the Heinlein award was given to Doherty in recognition of his work “in bringing the inspiring books of hundreds of authors writing about our future in Space to public awareness.”

One of the leading publishers of sf/fantasy, TOR Publishing Group has won every major award in the sf field – including Hugo, Nebula and Prometheus awards.

Continue reading TOR Books founder Tom Doherty wins Heinlein Award

Tor.com’s new website Reactor worth visiting – and not just for its stories about the Prometheus Award and Prometheus-winning fiction

Tor Published Group, one of the major sf/fantasy publishers, has redesigned and renamed its Tor.com website to reflect the online magazine’s independence and enhanced publisher neutrality.

Libertarian Futurist Society members should keep track of the new website, now named Reactor.

And not only for its broad coverage for 15 years of “SFF (science fiction and fantasy) books and pop culture.

Continue reading Tor.com’s new website Reactor worth visiting – and not just for its stories about the Prometheus Award and Prometheus-winning fiction

Who are the most nominated authors in Prometheus history? Here’s the top-ten list

 

Who are the most popular authors in Prometheus Awards history?

Prometheus, the light bringer (Creative Commons license)

One could answer that question in several different ways, such as looking at a bestselling writer’s number of books sold or in print – or more narrowly, in terms of our award, comparing the number of Prometheus Awards different writers have won over the decades in different categories. (The Prometheus Blog will explore the latter perspective in later postings.)

But let’s focus first on one parameter that roughly reflects the ongoing popularity and relevance of different sf/fantasy authors among LFS members over more than four decades: How many times an author has simply been nominated by LFS members for a Prometheus Award.

Without peeking at the next page or examining the track record of past winners on the LFS website’s Prometheus Awards page, how many of the Top Ten most popular authors can you guess?

Continue reading Who are the most nominated authors in Prometheus history? Here’s the top-ten list

Who’s won the most Prometheus Awards for Best Novel? A reader’s guide, Part 2

By now, more than four decades after the Prometheus Awards were first presented, many authors have won the annual award for Best Novel – but just 10 writers have won more than one.

Continue reading Who’s won the most Prometheus Awards for Best Novel? A reader’s guide, Part 2