By Michael Grossberg
Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon, one of 14 works nominated for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel, has been receiving some nice reviews from readers.
One of the most appreciative reviews has come from science-fiction novelist John C.A. Manley, himself nominated in the same Prometheus category this year for All the Humans Are Sleeping. Exploring issues of consent, freedom and technocracy, Manley’s dystopian SF novel focuses on a man who refuses to enter a virtual reality simulation prepared for survivors of a nuclear apocalypse.
To put it mildly, Manley’s nominated novel is quite different from Freer’s Young-Adult-oriented nominee.
“Imagine Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn appearing in Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon, add a little of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, and you’ve got Storm-Dragon by Dave Freer,” Manley writes.
Titled “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (but with Big Spaceships and a Small Dragon),” Manley’s review begins with a confession: He’s not “a big fan” of young adult fiction – and he offers several of the best-known examples to prove it.
“But Storm-Dragon had my son and me hooked by chapter two,” Manley writes.
He’d purchased the novel as a Christmas gift in December, “with some reluctance,” with plans to read it to Jonah, his blind 19-year-old son.
“It’s rated for ages eight and up — so I suspected we both might be too old to enjoy it…. I was wrong,” he said.
Initially, Manley was motivated to buy Storm-Dragon because of its nomination for this year’s Prometheus Award.
“The Prometheus Awards are for novels that promote freedom and oppose tyranny. So I assumed I’d find both the message and quality of Storm-Dragon to my liking — especially since Dave Freer won the 2022 Prometheus Award with his other novel, Cloud-Castles,” Manley writes in his first post about the novel.
In reading it with and to Jonah, Manley found several other things that made him glad he bought it.
“I enjoyed the story immensely. It contains great role models for children, teaching kids how to be independent, curious, adventurous, brave, loyal, and not to put up with abuse from anyone (whether it’s the bullies at Skut’s school, the corrupt council running their settlement, or the invading army holding them hostage),” he wrote.
“And… it also teaches kids how to take care of their pet. That said, their miniature, telepathic storm-dragon is hardly the focal point of the story (despite the book’s title). This fantastical extraterrestrial serves as a symbol of the children’s own budding potential, talents and strengths. That said, if you have kids who forget to walk the dog, this book might inspire them.”
Manley devoted three separate columns on his BlazingPineCone.com website and blog to Storm-Dragon, making it a three-part review.
Here’s a tidbit about the novel’s libertarian themes from his second column, but visit his website to read the whole thing:
“Unquestionably, Dave Freer’s story is rich in many pro-liberty themes — true to the author’s surname — including home-schooling, free-market economics, civil disobedience and the right to self-defense.
“Rather than preaching, these ideas are portrayed through incidents that both young and old readers will enjoy — including a cunning battle with the corrupt town council over the right to grow vegetables on one’s own property.”
Manley also offers Freer’s novel, as well as All the Humans Are Sleeping and his other novels, for sale on his website through his Blazing Bookshop.
Manley also has posted quite a few articles about the Prometheus Awards over the past year to his more than 1,000 followers, for which we thank him.
ABOUT THE LFS AND THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS
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Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.
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