Category: Reviews

Review: The bulletproof philosophy of the double-Prometheus-winning V for Vendetta, and why the graphic novel is more insightful and pro-liberty than the vivid film

By John C.A. Manley

The V for Vendetta graphic novel – inducted in 2006 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame – has been on my “Why haven’t I read this yet?” reading list for many years.

Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd in 1989, its fame doubled with James McTeigue’s 2005 film adaptation, written and produced by the Wachowkis and starring Hugo Weaving.

For the last two decades, V’s smiling mask has been haunting me, asking why I have not yet read this classic of pro-liberty fiction. Well, last month, I finally read it while narrating the artwork to my blind son, Jonah (forcing me to translate every sneer, smile and shadow into words). Despite the story’s numerous flaws — which oddly enough almost enhance its philosophical flair — I feel it’s a five-star work of art.

Continue reading Review: The bulletproof philosophy of the double-Prometheus-winning V for Vendetta, and why the graphic novel is more insightful and pro-liberty than the vivid film

“Fly Me to the Moon” – The Smithsonian museum highlights the power of science fiction in sparking advances in air and space



By Michael Grossberg

On a recent visit to the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C., I was delighted to discover some recognition of the work of a Prometheus-winning author. And not just any author, but the Golden Age Grand Master who has received more Prometheus Awards than anyone else: Robert A. Heinlein.

Destination Moon, a 1950 Technicolor feature film co-written by Heinlein, is highlighted in the Destination Moon gallery (Gallery 206) at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

Continue reading “Fly Me to the Moon” – The Smithsonian museum highlights the power of science fiction in sparking advances in air and space



Imagining Travis Corcoran’s two Prometheus-winning Aristillus novels as movies on an IMAX screen


By Michael Grossberg

Which Prometheus Award winners would you like to see on screen someday?

Travis Corcoran wins his first Prometheus Award (photo courtesy of author)

So far, 17 Prometheus Award-winners have been adapted with varying degrees of success to the large or small screen or have been recognized as original movies – including George Orwell’s Animal Farm, most recently adapted for the third time into a 2026 animated film.

When I asked my fellow Prometheus Best Novel judges which other winning works they most yearn to see made into a movie or TV series, Lowell Jacobsen chose two related novels by the same author: Travis Corcoran.

Continue reading Imagining Travis Corcoran’s two Prometheus-winning Aristillus novels as movies on an IMAX screen


L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach: The Prometheus winner that one Best Novel judge dreams of seeing on screen someday


By Michael Grossberg

It’s relatively rare for a Prometheus-winning work of pro-freedom science fiction or fantasy to be adapted into a movie or for television. But that happened this year, with the recent 2026 release of an animated film of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, inducted in 2011 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

While the misconceived third film version of Orwell’s anti-authoritarian and anti-communist classic fable proved disappointing, our hopes remain high for more Prometheus-winning novels or stories to be filmed – and some are already in the works.

Meanwhile, sparked by this year’s film release, I asked Libertarian Futurist Society members I work with as fellow Best Novel judges which Prometheus-winning works they’d like to see on screen.

Adam Tuchman’s top choice is The Probability Broach, L. Neil Smith’s alternate-history SF novel that won the 1982 Best Novel award.

Continue reading L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach: The Prometheus winner that one Best Novel judge dreams of seeing on screen someday


Richard Salman’s unusually insightful review of the flawed new Animal Farm film illuminates George Orwell’s thinking and goals in writing his 1945 satirical fable


By Michael Grossberg

Of the many reviews of the flawed new film version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, perhaps the most insightful is one that broadens its critique to examine Orwell himself.

Richard M. Salsman, an economist and visiting assistant professor of political economy at Duke University, goes deeper than most other writers in contextualizing Andy Serkis’ widely panned animated film version.

With disturbing clarity, Salsman explains how Orwell’s evolving views led him to reverse his initial conception of Animal Farm as a critique of capitalism – but also how the British democratic socialist remained faithful to some of his deepest underlying assumptions.

This is a powerfully illuminating review and essay that deserves to be read in full at The Daily Economy, a publication of the American Institute for Economic Research.

But I also want to highlight some of Salman’s key insights, because they are so relevant to the themes and world view that shape the Prometheus Awards.

Continue reading Richard Salman’s unusually insightful review of the flawed new Animal Farm film illuminates George Orwell’s thinking and goals in writing his 1945 satirical fable


Read our reviews of this year’s Best Novel finalists by Freer, Gallagher, Hoyt, Pierce and Turtledove


By Michael Grossberg

As a guide to Prometheus Awards voting, the Prometheus Blog has once again published full-length and in-depth reviews of each of this year’s five Best Novel finalists.

Here, for your convenience, are the embedded links to the reviews of the five Best Novel finalists:  Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon, Sarah Hoyt’s No Man’s Land, J. Kenton Pierce’s A Kiss for Damocles), Karl K. Gallagher’s War By Other Means and Harry Turtledove’s Powerless.

Whether Libertarian Futurist Society members read the reviews (which do contain a few spoilers) before, during or after reading the finalists themselves, the reviews are designed to illuminate and raise the visibility of each novel.

Other SF/fantasy fans and other libertarians, outside the LFS, also are invited to check out the reviews to better understand how they fit the distinctive dual focus of the Prometheus Awards on both quality and liberty.

Continue reading Read our reviews of this year’s Best Novel finalists by Freer, Gallagher, Hoyt, Pierce and Turtledove


The Man in the White Suit: One of the great libertarian film comedies – with a sci-fi premise


By Michael Grossberg

Before he became best known to younger generations as Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, British actor Alec Guinness was known in part for his comedies.

Guinness made his name in six Ealing Studios film comedies between 1949 and 1957, most notably playing eight characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets and lead roles in The Ladykillers, The Lavender Hill Mob and The Man in the White Suit. The latter film, released in 1951, has a deserved reputation as one of the great movie comedies of its era. It also happens to be both libertarian and individualist in its wry themes.

Not only that: The Man in the White Suit has an ingenious plot whose premise is clearly science fiction, making the film of even greater interest to the Libertarian Futurist Society.

Continue reading The Man in the White Suit: One of the great libertarian film comedies – with a sci-fi premise


“Tired of Giving Lies a Helping Hand” – A review of Harry Turtledove’s Best Novel finalist Powerless


By John C.A. Manley


Charlie Simpkins is no philosopher. He’s just another “comrade” in the West Coast People’s Democratic Republic, operating a vegetable shop in Los Angeles. He smokes the government-issued Progress cigarettes, he drinks the rationed rotgut at the local class-four tavern and, generally, lives a life of silent compliance.

Until, one day, the government asks him to put up a communist propaganda poster, with the words “WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!” Instead of taping it to the window of his shop, he tosses it in the garbage.

That’s how Harry Turtledove’s Powerless opens: With one man finally saying no, even though the consequences could easily involve time breaking rocks in a concentration camp.

Continue reading “Tired of Giving Lies a Helping Hand” – A review of Harry Turtledove’s Best Novel finalist Powerless


How many Prometheus winners have reached the screen? More than you might realize!


By Michael Grossberg

Of the 104 works of fiction that have won a Prometheus Award, 15 have been adapted into movies (sometimes more than once.)

Plus, two other Prometheus winners were conceived for and originated on screen – one as a feature film and the other as a TV series.

Thus, 17 Prometheus winners can be seen on the large or small screens.

That represents about 15 percent of all the Prometheus-winning works recognized since the award was first presented in 1979.  Not a bad quotient, perhaps, but it certainly would be nice to see more of our recognized novels and stories raise their visibility and thereby find larger audiences.

So which works have reached the screen?

Just for fun or out of curiosity, before reading further, why not visit the Prometheus Awards page listing all the past winners and see how many you can recall that have had film or TV adaptations?

Hint: There’s more than you realize!

Continue reading How many Prometheus winners have reached the screen? More than you might realize!


Orwell’s Animal Farm falls disappointingly short in new animated film version that distorts its anti-authoritarian themes


By Michael Grossberg

When it comes to film versions of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the third time’s not the charm.

With visionary director-actor Andy Serkis at the helm of the recently released animated film version of Orwell’s classic anti-authoritarian fable and a host of great actors doing the voices of the farm animals, I’d hoped for the best for Animal Farm, inducted in 2011 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

Seth Rogen, Gaten Matarazzo, Glenn Close, Woody Harrelson, Kieran Culkin, Steve Buscemi, Kathleen Turner, Laverne Cox and Jim Parsons are among the actors voicing the animal characters in the story about pigs consolidating control on a farm in a movement for equality that is systematically corrupted.

Yet, Serkis’ long-in-gestation 2025 film, finally released in the U.S. in May 2026, has proved to be a major disappointment.

Continue reading Orwell’s Animal Farm falls disappointingly short in new animated film version that distorts its anti-authoritarian themes