Category: Reviews

Best of the blog 2024: More reviews posted than ever, including of the year’s two Prometheus Award winners


By Michael Grossberg

For the first time, the Prometheus Blog was able to post timely reviews of all five Best Novel finalists and all four Prometheus Hall of Fame finalists for Best Classic Fiction this past year.

Thanks to all the LFS members and Prometheus judges who took the time and effort to write thoughtful, insightful and illuminating reviews, just as Libertarian Futurist Society members were seriously considering the merits of the nominees and finalists and reading and ranking their favorites to help choose the 2024 Prometheus Award winners.

This enormous effort and success fulfills a long-term goal for the Prometheus Blog, established in mid-2017 as a replacement for Prometheus, the LFS’ former printed quarterly.

Our purpose in soliciting more full-length, in-depth reviews of our awards winners and contenders was twofold:

* to increase the substantive content of the blog, for both our membership and our wider public readership,

* to further enhance our annual awards-judging process by offering members more food for thought as they read and ranked the 2024 Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction finalists.

Continue reading Best of the blog 2024: More reviews posted than ever, including of the year’s two Prometheus Award winners


Review: Mackey Chandler’s April Series tells a good SF story with themes of agency, emancipation and declarations of independence

 


By William H. Stoddard

Back in 2020, I encountered an online listing for a novel by Mackey Chandler with the provocative title Who Can Own the Stars?, twelfth in a series and a 2021 Prometheus Best Novel finalist.

After reading it, I went back to the original volume, April, and read it and, in succession, all the rest. Two further volumes have come out since then – Let Us Tell You Again and The Long View, respectively 2023 and 2024 Best Novel nominees. With each, I’ve reread the entire series.

Continue reading Review: Mackey Chandler’s April Series tells a good SF story with themes of agency, emancipation and declarations of independence

Hall of Fame finalist review: Charles Stross’ Singularity Sky offers cornucopia of cutting-edge SF and libertarian themes

By Michael Grossberg

Although published more than two decades ago, Singularity Sky (Ace Books, 2003) still feels fresh and brilliant in its cutting-edge SF and explicitly libertarian vision.

A strong write-in candidate for Best Novel in the year it was first published more than two decades ago, Singularity Sky has been nominated for the first time for the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

Fabulously inventive and sophisticated in its cornucopia of world-building, Stross’ widely acclaimed first novel successively introduces a wild variety of clashing cultures, divergent interests, hidden motives and compelling characters. Although some story elements might seem fanciful or within the realm of fantasy, all are ultimately rooted in plausible science fiction.

Continue reading Hall of Fame finalist review: Charles Stross’ Singularity Sky offers cornucopia of cutting-edge SF and libertarian themes

Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 5: Capsule reviews of Turtledove’s Between the Rivers and Stross’ Singularity Sky


By Michael Grossberg

Of the 10 nominees for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, the two most recently published are novels – one a historical fantasy set at the dawn of civilization, and the other, a work of futuristic science fiction set among interstellar colonies.

Between the Rivers, by Harry Turtledove, was published in 1998 by TOR Books.

Singularity Sky, by Charles Stross, was published in 2003 by Ace Books.

Both authors are Prometheus Award winners for Best Novel, with Stross winning in 2007 for Glasshouse and Turtledove winning in 2008 for The Gladiator.

Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 5: Capsule reviews of Turtledove’s Between the Rivers and Stross’ Singularity Sky


Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 4: Capsule reviews of the Rush song “The Trees” and Anderson’s novel Orion Shall Rise


By Michael Grossberg

Unlike the annual Prometheus Award for Best Novel, the other annual Prometheus category for Best Classic Fiction is open to works being renominated.

Neal Peart, Rush drummer and songwriter of “The Trees.” Credit: Creative Commons

Of the 10 works of fiction nominated for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, three are returning nominees after reaching the level last year of Hall of Fame finalists.

One is the Rush fantasy-fable song “The Trees,” first recorded in 1978.

The other is Poul Anderson’s novel Orion Shall Rise, published in 1984.

Here, in the fourth part of the Prometheus Blog’s series about this year’s Hall of Fame nominees, are capsule review-descriptions of those two finalists.

Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 4: Capsule reviews of the Rush song “The Trees” and Anderson’s novel Orion Shall Rise


Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 3: Capsule reviews of Vinge’s “Conquest by Default” and Schmitz’s The Demon Breed


By Michael Grossberg

Of the 10 works of fiction nominated for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, two coincidentally were published in 1968.

One is “Conquest by Default,” a novelette by Vernor Vinge – a frequent Prometheus Award nominee, finalist and winner.

And the other is The Demon Breed, a novel by James H. Schmitz – a first-time Prometheus nominee.

Here, in part 3 of the Prometheus Blog’s series about this year’s candidates for induction into our Hall of Fame, are capsule review-descriptions of each work.

Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 3: Capsule reviews of Vinge’s “Conquest by Default” and Schmitz’s The Demon Breed


Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 2: Capsule reviews of an Arthur C. Clarke short story and a Mack Reynolds novella


By Michael Grossberg

Coincidentally, both Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “Death and the Senator” and Mack Reynolds’ novella “Ultima Thule’ were first published in 1961.

Of the 10 classic works of speculative fiction nominated for potential induction next year into the Hall of Fame, these two shorter works rank among the oldest.

The Hall of Fame, which focuses on older works of SF/fantasy that have endured and taken on the patina of classics, is open to nomination of speculative fiction of almost any type, length or format (published, performed, staged, screened or broadcast) that first appeared in some form at least twenty years ago.

So why was each of these works of fiction nominated?

Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 2: Capsule reviews of an Arthur C. Clarke short story and a Mack Reynolds novella


Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, Part 1: Capsule reviews of Kipling’s 1912 novelette and C.S. Lewis’ 1945 novel


By Michael Grossberg

“As Easy as A.B.C.,” a novelette by Rudyard Kipling, was published in 1912.

That Hideous Strength, a novel by C.S. Lewis, was published in 1945.

Of the 10 classic works of fiction nominated for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame, these Kipling and Lewis works are the oldest.

Thus, perhaps these two classic works are a good place to begin our Prometheus Blog series offering capsule reviews of each nominee.

Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, Part 1: Capsule reviews of Kipling’s 1912 novelette and C.S. Lewis’ 1945 novel


The rise of newspapers, crime, corruption and the virtues of a free press: An Appreciation of Terry Pratchett’s The Truth, the 2024 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner

The Prometheus Blog continues its Appreciation series with an essay-review describing how Terry Pratchett’s The Truth, the 2024 inductee into the Prometheus Hall of Fame, fits the focus of the Prometheus Award.

By Michael Grossberg

The truth shall make you free.

And The Truth shall make you laugh, while sparking a better appreciation of freedom – especially freedom of the press.

Terry Pratchett’s comic fantasy, winner of the 2024 Prometheus Hall of Fame award for Best Classic Fiction, tells a smart, sly and ultimately inspirational tale of underdogs seeking the truth against formidable opposition.

Continue reading The rise of newspapers, crime, corruption and the virtues of a free press: An Appreciation of Terry Pratchett’s The Truth, the 2024 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner

Free-market industrialization of our solar system: An appreciation of Daniel Suarez’s Critical Mass, the 2024 Prometheus Best Novel winner

By Charlie Morrison and Michael Grossberg

A deep understanding and passion for commercial space development informs and enlivens Critical Mass, the 2024 Prometheus winner for Best Novel.

A courageous band of astronaut-entrepreneurs strive to alleviate Earth-based problems through commercial space projects in Daniel Suarez’s grippingly realistic SF thriller.

Set mostly off the Earth and around the solar system, the suspenseful, fast-paced drama follows the resourceful heroes as they strive to achieve their ambitious, unprecedented goals amid Cold War tensions, shifting global political alliances and shortsighted opposition from Earth governments.

Continue reading Free-market industrialization of our solar system: An appreciation of Daniel Suarez’s Critical Mass, the 2024 Prometheus Best Novel winner