Prometheus Blog

Sinisalo wins Prometheus Award for The Core of the Sun

Prometheus Award ceremony to be held Aug. 11 at Worldcon Helsinki, Finland

The Libertarian Futurist Society has chosen The Core of the Sun, by Johanna Sinisalo, as the 2017 winner in the Best Novel category of the 37th annual Prometheus Awards.

LFS members also voted to induct Robert Heinlein’s story “Coventry” (first published in 1940 in Astounding Science Fiction) into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for best classic fiction.

In a separate awards process, the LFS also recently selected the first chapter of Freefall, a Webcomic by Mark Stanley, to receive a Special Prometheus Award in 2017.

Continue reading Sinisalo wins Prometheus Award for The Core of the Sun

Review: Mark Stanley’s Freefall, Chapter 1 explores the rights of robots with humor

By William Stoddard

Mark Stanley has been writing and drawing Freefall for nineteen years now, making it one of the longest-running Webcomics ever. He officially announced the completion of its first chapter on July 11, 2016. Stanley has just been awarded a Special Prometheus Award for Freefall.

The core of Freefall is character-driven comedy.

Continue reading Review: Mark Stanley’s Freefall, Chapter 1 explores the rights of robots with humor

Review: The Corporation Wars: Insurgence, by Ken MacLeod

By Chris Hibbert

Ken MacLeod’s The Corporation Wars: Insurgence is the second book of a trilogy. It (along with the first book in the series, Dissidence, is a finalist for the Prometheus award this year.

Insurgence continues the story of awakened robots struggling for freedom, and uploaded human ex-combatants fighting to retake the planetary system the robots had been mining and exploring.

This installment focuses less on the robots’ claim to be agents worthy of separate respect, and more on the uploaded warriors struggle to figure out the nature of the reality they inhabit while mostly following orders to fight the battles their supervisors are pursuing.

Continue reading Review: The Corporation Wars: Insurgence, by Ken MacLeod

Review: Unusual aliens, libertarian ethics accent L. Neil Smith’s Blade of p’Na

By Tom Jackson

I’ll start my review with a confession. Even though I honor L. Neil Smith for creating the Prometheus Award, and I devote a great deal of time and energy trying to help the award continue, I don’t always love his work.

I enjoyed The Forge of the Elders (the 2011 Prometheus Award-winner for Best Novel) but I didn’t care for Pallas or Ceres very much. Smith the angry libertarian polemicist does little for me, either in the Ngu Family Saga or on Facebook.
Continue reading Review: Unusual aliens, libertarian ethics accent L. Neil Smith’s Blade of p’Na

Ken MacLeod at Edinburgh International Book Festival

Ken MacLeod blogged about being asked to host a series of talks and interviews at the annual Edinburgh Festival (“The largest festival of its kind in the world”).

He brought in luminaries like Stephen Baxter, as well as several Prometheus winning and nominated authors, including Charles Stross, Jo Walton, and Ada Palmer.

If you will be in the vicinity, consider stopping by.

Review: The Corporation Wars: Dissidence, by Ken MacLeod

By Chris Hibbert

Ken MacLeod’s The Corporation Wars: Dissidence is the first book of a trilogy. It (along with the second book in the series, Insurgence) is a finalist for the Prometheus award this year.

The story starts with a scene in which a pair of mining robots exploring an asteroid (in a distant solar system) and representing different corporate interests have an encounter, which leads them to realize they have opposing interests, which leads them each to recognize that they have interests, which leads them to self-awareness.

The corporations are in a tenuous situation, trying to assert their ownership of the robots, trying to be civil about their contractual cooperation, but objecting strenuously to breaches by the opposing robots.

Continue reading Review: The Corporation Wars: Dissidence, by Ken MacLeod

Review: The Core of the Sun, by Johanna Sinisalo

By Chris Hibbert

Johanna Sinisalo’s The Core of the Sun is a finalist for the Prometheus Award this year. It has enough SF elements to qualify as standard near-future fiction, and provides biting social commentary. In feel, it reminds me a lot of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, but I liked this better in several ways.

The story takes place in a future Finland that has managed to selectively breed its women so that they’re either docile sex dolls and mothers (“eloi”), or sterile, powerless but competent workers (“morlocks”). They’ve also outlawed psycho-active drugs from alcohol to heroin, and somehow included capsaicin (hot peppers) on that list.

Continue reading Review: The Core of the Sun, by Johanna Sinisalo

Review: The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047 by Lionel Shriver

By Tom Jackson

With The Handmaid’s Tale, science fiction readers who inclined toward feminism got to see what the tools of science fiction would look like in the hands of a skilled mainstream writer, Margaret Atwood.

Libertarian science fiction fans who have wondered what an equally skilled mainstream writer could do by taking a stab at science fiction now have their novel, too: The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 by Lionel Shriver.

Continue reading Review: The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047 by Lionel Shriver

Special Award for Freefall

The Libertarian Futurist Society is pleased to announce a Special Prometheus Award for the webcomic Freefall.

From the official press release: “Freefall is set on a planet in another solar system, Jean, colonized by a small number of human beings and a large number of robots. Its main characters are a squidlike intelligent alien, Sam Starfall; a robot, Helix; and a genetically enhanced humanoid wolf, Florence Ambrose. The strip is largely humorous, but a major storyline has explored the rights and legal status of created beings. ”

Full press release here.

Now, go enjoy the comic!

Fiction workshop opportunity

Calliope Authors Workshop, sponsored by Taliesin Nexus, is taking applications for their fiction workshop.

If you’re working on a manuscript (or any body of work) that could use some editorial feedback, apply to the Calliope Authors Workshop. The deadline is May 31st. The workshop will last over a weekend in mid September 2017.

It’s a great opportunity to get advice from authors, agents, and editors. Plus it’s a free trip to Los Angeles.

Applicants must submit:

– A completed application
– A creative work:
Novel Track (at least 50 pages or a completed novel);
Graphic Novel Track (at least 20 pages or a completed novel);
Narrative Non-fiction Track (at least 50 pages or a completed manuscript);
Short Story Track (a completed short story of 8 to 25 pages);
– A two page detailed treatment of the work, including character descriptions and arcs, plot outline, and setting notes

Taliesin Nexus is a network of film and television producers, screenwriters, and directors who share a passion for a free society. Their website lists various programs and opportunities for writers and film makers.