Category: News

A diverse slate of firsts and lasts: 11 Prometheus Best Novel nominees offer SF and fantasy, drama, mystery and satirical cautionary tales

By Michael Grossberg

Eleven 2024 novels have been nominated for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

Writer Howard Andrew Jones (Photo courtesy of Baen Books)

Broadly embracing many forms of speculative fiction including science fiction, fantasy, dystopian cautionary tales and near-future political-tech thrillers, the diverse slate offers a wide variety and blends of genres, styles and themes – from the serious to the darkly satirical.

Two-time Prometheus winner Michael Flynn (Creative Commons license)

Most poignantly, this will be the last time that two authors are nominated for Best Novel because they’ve sadly passed away: Michael Flynn and Howard Andrew Jones.

Flynn, a two-time Prometheus winner for Best Novel, died in 2023 at 75.

Jones, a Best Novel finalist last year, died in January 2025 at 56.

Continue reading A diverse slate of firsts and lasts: 11 Prometheus Best Novel nominees offer SF and fantasy, drama, mystery and satirical cautionary tales

File 770’s year-end best-novels recommended reading list includes four Prometheus Best Novel nominees


By Michael Grossberg

File 770, a leading SF/fantasy publication that frequently posts reviews, has offered its annual list of outstanding novels.

Of the 35 novels on File 770’s “2024 Recommended SF/F List,” four have been nominated by LFS members for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

Meanwhile, four other novels on that list also have been under review on our unofficial “short list” of 2024 candidates to consider for nomination.

Continue reading File 770’s year-end best-novels recommended reading list includes four Prometheus Best Novel nominees


SF2 Concatenation: Year-end SF/fantasy “bests” list overlaps with Prometheus Awards candidates, nominees

By Michael Grossberg

Each year, SF/fantasy publications, critics and readers compile annual lists of the past year’s best fiction.

Such lists can be helpful to examine for general readers and Prometheus Awards judges, because they bring to our attention or remind us of significant works worth checking out and that might otherwise be overlooked.

Consider, for example, the “Best SF books of 2024” list by SF2 Concatenation (Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation), a digital zine website and online archive focused on reviewing SF books, news and related media.

Of the eight 2024 novels recognized on the Concatenation “bests” list, half have figured in some way in the current cycle of Prometheus Awards judging for Best Novel – a relatively high degree of overlap.

Continue reading SF2 Concatenation: Year-end SF/fantasy “bests” list overlaps with Prometheus Awards candidates, nominees

Introducing the Prometheus Awards Collection for Libraries

By Michael Grossberg

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

Why accurate language, objectivity (and Orwell) matter: Libertarian economist David Henderson aptly references 1984 in explaining common misperceptions about “privilege”


By Michael Grossberg

George Orwell’s emphasis on clarity of language and objective definitions, exemplified in his seminal essay on “Politics and the English Language,” remains worth emulating in 2025 and beyond.

When so many so-called public intellectuals, columnists, opinion leaders and even professional economists embrace popular fallacies and use misleading language, it’s harmful both to literacy and liberty.

How pleasing it is, then, when a nationally known economist not only uses words accurately, in opposition to common misconceptions, misinformation and ideological bias, but also demonstrates how well he understands and appreciates Orwell’s classic fiction.

Continue reading Why accurate language, objectivity (and Orwell) matter: Libertarian economist David Henderson aptly references 1984 in explaining common misperceptions about “privilege”


TANSTAAFL: Libertarian economist David Friedman examines an acronym popularized by Heinlein


By Michael Grossberg

TANSTAAFL!

Many libertarians and other freedom-loving SF fans know that term well. For those who don’t recall, it’s an acronym for “There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.”

The Grand Master SF writer Robert Heinlein did his share to popularize the acronym in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. His bestselling, Hugo-winning novel, about a libertarian revolution on the Moon, was one of the first works inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

So did free-market economist and classical liberal Milton Friedman, who often quoted it over the years.

Both libertarians used the acronym to communicate the idea that nothing is truly free, and there’s always a cost to any decision.

But did the popular catchphrase inadvertently also spread a misunderstanding about economics?

Continue reading TANSTAAFL: Libertarian economist David Friedman examines an acronym popularized by Heinlein


Acclaimed fantasy writer and Prometheus finalist Howard Andrew Jones, R.I.P.

By Michael Grossberg

Acclaimed fantasy author Howard Andrew Jones has passed away.

Jones, a Prometheus Best Novel finalist last year for Lord of a Shattered Land, died almost five months after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in September 2024, according to the Fandom Pulse blog.

Continue reading Acclaimed fantasy writer and Prometheus finalist Howard Andrew Jones, R.I.P.

How do judges evaluate Prometheus Award candidates? By balancing the criteria of literary quality and pro-liberty themes within the fantastical genre

Editor’s note: To kick off a new year of judging and for the sake of greater transparency about the Prometheus Awards, the Prometheus Blog is posting an occasional series of essays by LFS awards judges about how they view our distinctive award standards and how they apply them to weigh candidates and nominees.

By William H. Stoddard

The Libertarian Futurist Society has long had a hybrid process for choosing its annual award winners.

First the members nominate books for Best Novel, and books or other works for Hall of Fame. Then committees of judges review the nominees and select the best five in each category (or sometimes four or six) as finalist. The members read these finalists and rank them from best to worst, and their votes are totaled to select the winners.

But what does “select the best” mean?

Continue reading How do judges evaluate Prometheus Award candidates? By balancing the criteria of literary quality and pro-liberty themes within the fantastical genre

Heinlein, Anderson, Tolkien, Orwell, Rand, Hoyt, Vinge, Stephenson, Bradbury and Wilson among popular Prometheus-winning authors added as convenient index links on our blog

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?

Robert Heinlein in the 1980s (Photo courtesy of Heinlein Trust)

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.

George Orwell. (Creative Commons license)

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.

Continue reading Heinlein, Anderson, Tolkien, Orwell, Rand, Hoyt, Vinge, Stephenson, Bradbury and Wilson among popular Prometheus-winning authors added as convenient index links on our blog

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.”)