Tag: Dave Freer

The first Special Award for Young Adult Fiction isn’t actually the first Prometheus Award to recognize Young Adult works


By Michael Grossberg

Dave Freer’s novel Storm-Dragon will be the first work to receive a Special Prometheus Award for Young Adult Fiction Aug. 16 at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony. Yet, it’s far from the only example of Young Adult Fiction to be recognized in the awards’ history.

By my latest count – and including this year’s three winners – 111 works of fantastical fiction have been named as winners of a Prometheus Award since 1979. Of those works, 14 fall clearly into the Young Adult realm or are deemed accessible enough to appeal to younger readers.

Those works should be of great interest to younger readers, roughly anyone between the ages of eight and 18.

They also should spark the curiosity of parents, grandparents, teachers and other adults seeking good pro-freedom SF/fantasy to share or gift.

So which Prometheus Award winners do fit the parameters of Young Adult Fiction?

Continue reading The first Special Award for Young Adult Fiction isn’t actually the first Prometheus Award to recognize Young Adult works


Here’s the Zoom link to watch the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony, with speakers Ilya Somin, Travis Corcoran, 2026 winners Dave Freer and J. Franklin Pierce and Aldous Huxley’s grandchildren


By Michael Grossberg

The 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony is shaping up to be one of the most interesting, thought-provoking and exciting in years.

Ten speakers from around the world have been lined up for the roughly hourlong awards show, which will present the two annual categories for Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (the Prometheus Hall of Fame) plus an occasional Special Award – the first  the first for Young Adult Fiction.

Here is the Zoom link to watch the awards live:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87824388418?pwd=CsoznF4wtlLNTYvEotlIpVJkCoGb9I.1

All Libertarian Futurist Society members and other freedom-loving SF/fantasy fans are invited to watch the live Zoom event, which will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1 p.m. Eastern time) on Sunday Aug. 16, 2026.

So who are the 10 presenters, winners and other speakers?

Continue reading Here’s the Zoom link to watch the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony, with speakers Ilya Somin, Travis Corcoran, 2026 winners Dave Freer and J. Franklin Pierce and Aldous Huxley’s grandchildren


Why a Prometheus-winning writer is relieved he didn’t win a second Best Novel award this year (and why his publisher is thrilled)


By Michael Grossberg

One would reasonably expect any writer who becomes an awards finalist to feel disappointed if they don’t win – even in a year with especially strong competition.

Dave Freer with his 2023 Prometheus Awards Best Novel plaque for Cloud-Castles (Photo courtesy of Freer)

Thus, it seemed a bit strange to learn that Dave Freer was relieved that he didn’t win the Best Novel category this year.

Freer won his first Prometheus Award for Best Novel in 2023 for Cloud-Castles. So why wouldn’t he want to win a second for Storm-Dragon, his 2026 Best Novel finalist?

“I was actually a little worried that STORM-DRAGON would win the Prometheus,” Freer told his publisher Raconteur Press in a special awards-news update on their Substack column.

Continue reading Why a Prometheus-winning writer is relieved he didn’t win a second Best Novel award this year (and why his publisher is thrilled)


Prometheus-winning novelist Travis Corcoran to present first Special Award for Young Adult Fiction at the Aug. 16 ceremony

By Michael Grossberg

Travis Corcoran (Photo courtesy of author)

Travis Corcoran, a two-time Prometheus-winning novelist, will present the first Special Prometheus Award for Young Adult Fiction.

Corcoran was invited to speak because he’s a passionate believer in encouraging younger generations to read – and convinced that writing good young-adult SF/fantasy can help young readers better envision more positive futures – including a future of freedom.

Corcoran will discuss the vital importance of young-adult fiction in his speech presenting that occasional category at the 46th Prometheus Awards. The roughly hourlong ceremony, open to the public via Zoom and with Ilya Somin as the keynote speaker, is set to start at 1 p.m. (Eastern time) Sunday Aug. 16.

Corcoran has praised YA fiction for its potential to offer positive portraits of young people as capable, rational and independent-minded individuals. Such characters can be admirable role models for the young, in Corcoran’s view, because they tend to be better suited for living in, and sustaining, the dynamic live-and-let-live interactions of free societies.
 Continue reading Prometheus-winning novelist Travis Corcoran to present first Special Award for Young Adult Fiction at the Aug. 16 ceremony

Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon wins first Special Prometheus Award for Young Adult Fiction

By Michael Grossberg

The Libertarian Futurist Society will present its first Special Prometheus Award for Young Adult Fiction to Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon.

Several years ago, the LFS Board of Directors unanimously approved this new awards category in recognition of the crucial connection between literacy and liberty and the vital importance of writing fiction, including fantastical fiction, that attracts and engages young people.

Storm-Dragon, by Dave Freer, will receive the Special Award Aug. 16, 2026, at the 46th annual Prometheus Awards, along with the previously announced 2026 winners in the two annual categories for Best Novel (J. Kenton Pierce’s A Kiss for Damocles) and the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction (Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.)

Continue reading Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon wins first Special Prometheus Award for Young Adult Fiction

J. Kenton Pierce’s A Kiss for Damocles: First-time nominee wins Prometheus Award for debut novel over stiff competition


By Michael Grossberg

A first-time Prometheus nominee might not be expected to win the Best Novel award, especially with a debut novel or when up against solid works by several popular and acclaimed previous winners.

J. Kenton Pierce (Courtesy of Raconteur Press)

Yet, that’s part of the impressive accomplishment this year of J. Kenton Pierce, whose debut novel A Kiss for Damocles has won the 2026 Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

The science fiction novel, published by Raconteur Press and launching Pierce’s Tales From the Long Night series, illuminates the ethics and efficacy of free trade and self-defense as a proper foundation for civilization.

This year’s award, focusing on novels published in 2025, was considered by many Libertarian Futurist Society members and Prometheus Best Novel judges to have one of the strongest lineups in many years.

Continue reading J. Kenton Pierce’s A Kiss for Damocles: First-time nominee wins Prometheus Award for debut novel over stiff competition


A final reminder: Vote for the Prometheus Awards by July 4


By Michael Grossberg

Which finalist will win the Prometheus Award for Best Novel? And which work will be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame?

Libertarian Futurist Society members will help answer those questions by participating in the final stage of judging this year’s Prometheus Awards.

With the July 4 voting deadline just a few days away, it’s not too late for LFS members to submit their ballots.

Continue reading A final reminder: Vote for the Prometheus Awards by July 4


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


Review: Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon offers Heinleinesque Young Adult tale of discovery, self-reliance and courage against abuses of power


By Michael Grossberg

Storm-Dragon, a 2026 Prometheus Best Novel finalist, offers an entertaining tale embodying golden-age SF themes of initiative, imagination, resilience and self-reliance.

Dave Freer’s Young Adult novel appeals to adults, too — especially those of us who grew up reading YA novels by Robert Heinlein and Andre Norton.

The novel revolves around a boy who adopts an intelligent-alien pet on Vann’s World, an ocean-dominated planet with a small human colony facing dangers alien and human, visible and hidden.

Continue reading Review: Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon offers Heinleinesque Young Adult tale of discovery, self-reliance and courage against abuses of power


Capsule reviews of all five Best Novel finalists – with no spoilers!


By Michael Grossberg

The 2026 Prometheus Best Novel finalists have been announced – and Libertarian Futurist Society members are reading them, with the ultimate verdict and winners to be selected by July 4 on the final ballot.

To spark thought and discussion, raise the visibility of these works and the award and hopefully serve as a helpful guide, the Prometheus Blog is publishing thoughtful, in-depth reviews by Prometheus judges of each finalist. Some LFS members may wish to read them right away; others may prefer to wait until they’ve finished a finalist before reading the review.

Meanwhile, to whet your appetite to read each finalist and vote in the final stage of the Prometheus Awards, here are roughly equal 200-word capsule descriptions of each finalist.

And we’ve striven to avoid revealing any spoilers, so it’s safe to read them now!

Continue reading Capsule reviews of all five Best Novel finalists – with no spoilers!