Reason Magazine has started a weekly crossword. The second puzzle starts with this clue for 1 across:
1. With 19-across, sci-fi author beloved of the Libertarian Futurist Society
Before clicking on the link above, take a moment to have fun and guess which author is being referred to in Reason’s latest libertarian-themed crossword puzzle.
Hint: The 1-Across uses six letters – which might be the number of letters in this famous author’s first name. (Or it could be their last name; since several Prometheus winners have six letters in their last name.)
Second hint: The 1-Across is related to the 19-Across, and has spaces for eight letters. So 1-Across might be this author’s last name. (Or it might be the title of their Prometheus-winning bestseller.)
Of course, even with these hints, you might not guess the author right away.
After all, more than 100 works of fiction have received Prometheus awards since the award was first presented in 1979 – and quite a few authors have won more than once. So that’s a lot of authors to choose from.
In fact, four authors have each won three Prometheus Awards for Best Novel – a distinction that will be more fully explored in a future Prometheus blog post. (Yet, only one of these four has a first name with six letters.)
Six other authors have won two Prometheus awards each for Best Novel. (Yet, again, only two of these authors have a six-letter first name – and only one of those has an eight-letter last name.)
Hmmm. Perhaps if you’re stumped, you should take a glance at the Prometheus Awards page on the LFS blog, which lists all past winners in both annual categories, including the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.
One final hint: You might want to go a bit farther on the LFS website, and click on one or both of the links on the Prometheus Awards page that takes you to the full list of nominees and finalists in each annual category.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE:
* Prometheus winners: For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – for the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to the full set of published appreciation-reviews of past winners.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards, join the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.