Category: Award acceptance speech

The 46th Prometheus Awards: Raconteur Press’ Ian McMurtrie makes commitment to continue publishing stories of courage, self-reliance, resilience, honor and valor

 

Editor’s note: Raconteur Press published two of this year’s three Prometheus winners: J. Kenton Pierce’s A Kiss for Damocles, the 2026 Best Novel winner; and Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon, which received the first Special Prometheus Award for Young Adult Fiction.

Co-publisher Ian McMurtrie made these remarks Aug. 16, 2026, at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony.

By Ian McMurtrie

Good afternoon, members of the Society, fans, ladies and gentlemen.

On behalf of Dave Freer and Kenton Pierce; on behalf of the fans, and of the staff at Raconteur Press, allow us to express our delight at our authors winning not one, but two Prometheus Awards in our inaugural year of publishing novels and Boy’s Adventure books.

We consider this honor from the members of the Libertarian Futurist Society to be solid proof that there is still a place in this jaded world for stories of courage, self-reliance, honor, resilience, and yes – valor.

In this new Golden Age of Publishing, these awards are proof that the field remains wide open to anyone with a vision, drive, and grit.

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The 46th Prometheus Awards: Trev Huxley’s Brave New World acceptance speech about our surveillance society and the ‘designer drug’ of social media

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.

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The 46th Prometheus Awards: Tessa Huxley on her grandfather Aldous Huxley and the relevance today of Brave New World, the 2026 Hall of Fame winner


Editor’s note: Tessa Huxley, Aldous Huxley’s granddaughter, 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.

By Tessa Huxley

For some reason I felt the need to reread Brave New World in February of this year, long before Michael Grossberg wrote to my brother and I regarding the Prometheus Award. Like many of you, I am sure, I had read it as a teenager and again in my late 20’s and in my 30’s.

What really struck me in February was just how incredibly relevant the book is today, in 2026.

Continue reading The 46th Prometheus Awards: Tessa Huxley on her grandfather Aldous Huxley and the relevance today of Brave New World, the 2026 Hall of Fame winner


The 46th Prometheus Awards: Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon acceptance speech about reaching and inspiring young readers



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.

Continue reading The 46th Prometheus Awards: Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon acceptance speech about reaching and inspiring young readers



Brave New World’s timely warning needed now: Huxley trustee Jack Miles’ acceptance speech for Aldous Huxley’s Hall of Fame winner


Jack Miles, co-trustee of the Aldous and Laura Huxley Trust (Photo courtesy of Miles)

Editor’s note: This is the text of the acceptance speech by Pulitzer-winning author Jack Miles, co-trustee of the Aldous and Laura Huxley Literary Trust, for Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the 2026 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner. Miles delivered a somewhat shorter speech Aug. 16, 2026, during the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony.

By Jack Miles

Speaking for the Aldous and Laura Huxley Literary Trust, I am pleased to salute the Libertarian Futurist Society for awarding the Society’s Prometheus Award to Aldous Huxley’s dystopian masterpiece, Brave New World.

By imagining proleptically and prophetically just how far state control over society might go, Brave New World delivered a warning that is as needed now as it ever was. 

Continue reading Brave New World’s timely warning needed now: Huxley trustee Jack Miles’ acceptance speech for Aldous Huxley’s Hall of Fame winner


The 46th Prometheus Awards: J. Kenton Pierce discusses good characters, conflicts and restrictions on liberty in his Best Novel acceptance speech for A Kiss for Damocles 


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. 

Continue reading The 46th Prometheus Awards: J. Kenton Pierce discusses good characters, conflicts and restrictions on liberty in his Best Novel acceptance speech for A Kiss for Damocles 


Here’s the Zoom link to watch the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony, with speakers Ilya Somin, Travis Corcoran, 2026 winners Dave Freer, J. Kenton Pierce and Aldous Huxley’s grandchildren


By Michael Grossberg

The 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony is shaping up to be one of the most interesting, thought-provoking and exciting in years.

Ten speakers from around the world have been lined up for the roughly hourlong awards show, which will present the two annual categories for Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (the Prometheus Hall of Fame) plus an occasional Special Award – the first Prometheus Award for Young Adult Fiction.

Here is the Zoom link to watch the awards live:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87824388418?pwd=CsoznF4wtlLNTYvEotlIpVJkCoGb9I.1

All Libertarian Futurist Society members, other SF/fantasy fans and the general public are invited to watch the live Zoom event, which will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1 p.m. Eastern time) on Sunday Aug. 16, 2026.

So who are the 10 presenters, winners and other speakers?

Continue reading Here’s the Zoom link to watch the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony, with speakers Ilya Somin, Travis Corcoran, 2026 winners Dave Freer, J. Kenton Pierce and Aldous Huxley’s grandchildren


Best Novel winner J. Kenton Pierce on gratitude, good fortune, a journeyman’s skill at writing and his advice to writers


By MIchael Grossberg

J. Kenton Pierce insists he’s no master craftsman.

“I’m a maladjusted ape with a keyboard and a lifetime subscription to Maladaptive Daydreaming With ADHD,” Pierce wrote in a July post on his Substack column Tales from the Long Night.

Yet, somehow, Pierce’s first novel A Kiss for Damocles won the 2026 Prometheus Award for Best Novel. Moreover, in this past year’s highly competitive process, Pierce’s novel beat out four other widely admired and first-rate novels ranked as finalists, each written by a well-respected previous Best Novel winner.

“I’m still having some trouble wrapping my brain around this. I’ve read in many places over the years that the conventional wisdom is thus: a writer’s first novel is mediocre at best, and even that’s considered unlikely. Yet here I am, sitting on a debut novel that’s placed ahead of authors who’ve written some of my favorites,” Pierce wrote.

Continue reading Best Novel winner J. Kenton Pierce on gratitude, good fortune, a journeyman’s skill at writing and his advice to writers


Why a Prometheus-winning writer is relieved he didn’t win a second Best Novel award this year (and why his publisher is thrilled)


By Michael Grossberg

One would reasonably expect any writer who becomes an awards finalist to feel disappointed if they don’t win – even in a year with especially strong competition.

Dave Freer with his 2023 Prometheus Awards Best Novel plaque for Cloud-Castles (Photo courtesy of Freer)

Thus, it seemed a bit strange to learn that Dave Freer was relieved that he didn’t win the Best Novel category this year.

Freer won his first Prometheus Award for Best Novel in 2023 for Cloud-Castles. So why wouldn’t he want to win a second for Storm-Dragon, his 2026 Best Novel finalist?

“I was actually a little worried that STORM-DRAGON would win the Prometheus,” Freer told his publisher Raconteur Press in a special awards-news update on their Substack column.

Continue reading Why a Prometheus-winning writer is relieved he didn’t win a second Best Novel award this year (and why his publisher is thrilled)


A Pulitzer-winning writer and Aldous Huxley’s two grandchildren to accept Hall of Fame award Aug. 16 for Brave New World

By Michael Grossberg

Brave New World, the classic dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) warning about a future “soft tyranny” under a seemingly benevolent State, will be the 50th work to be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

The Libertarian Futurist Society is pleased to announce that Huxley’s two grandchildren Tessa and Trevenan Huxley and Pulitzer-winning author Jack Miles will accept the posthumous award following the keynote speech by Ilya Somin, guest presenter of the Hall of Fame category.

The Huxleys and Miles, co-trustee of the Aldous and Laura Huxley Literary Trust, will deliver acceptance speeches at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony, roughly an hourlong live Zoom event beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday (Eastern time) Aug. 16 and open to the public.

Tessa Huxley, Aldous Huxley’s granddaughter (Photo courtesy of Tessa Huxley)

“I was delighted to learn of the honor being bestowed upon my grandfather,” Tessa Huxley said in an email.

“I am pleased that others find Brave New World as important and relevant as I do.  I re-read Brave New World early this year and was really struck by the seductive nature of his imaginary world and that of the USA… In particular, in 2026 where Americans seem endlessly obsessed by consumerism and pleasure seeking and apparently rather proud of it.”

Continue reading A Pulitzer-winning writer and Aldous Huxley’s two grandchildren to accept Hall of Fame award Aug. 16 for Brave New World