Dave Freer – Prometheus Blog

The 46th Prometheus Awards: Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon acceptance speech about reaching and inspiring young readers  

Editor’s note: Dave Freer won the first Special Prometheus Award for Young Adult Fiction for his novel Storm-Dragon, published by Raconteur Press. Speaking from his home in Tasmania, Australia, Freer delivered this acceptance speech Aug. 16, 2026, via Zoom during the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony.

“Reading is vital – to civilization, to liberty, to everything we wish for our species, especially for our young.” – Dave Freer

By Dave Freer

Author Dave Freer at his home desk in Tasmania Photo courtesy of author

Good afternoon everybody. For me that is actually ‘good predawn’ because it is 3 AM here. Like many authors I’ve kept a notebook next to the bedside so I could, on waking, hastily write down the gifts of the muse that sorted themselves into brilliance while I slept.

Unfortunately, the morning usually revealed gems like: ‘Orglvard at speed, with minchins and porgies.’ which I am sure meant something at the time, and was quite brilliant. I hope I am a little more awake than that, but I am not betting on it. I plead forgiveness in advance.

Firstly: Thank you all for awarding the Special Prometheus prize for Young Adult Literature to my book Storm-Dragon.

I am delighted to accept it. It’s flattering for me, but that is really rather beside the point. The real delight is that the Prometheus – an award which is a reliable indicator ‘you will love the book’ has put its mark on a YA SF-novel.

Continue reading The 46th Prometheus Awards: Dave Freer’s Storm-Dragon acceptance speech about reaching and inspiring young readers  

The 46th Prometheus Awards: Special Awards presenter Travis Corcoran on wonder, adventure, liberty, culture and the vital need for Young Adult Fiction 

Travis Corcoran, a guest speaker at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony, was introduced by LFS President William H. Stoddard with these words:
“The Best Novel and Hall of Fame awards are given annually. But the LFS also gives Special Awards, not every year, but when there’s a deserving recipient. A few years ago, we established the category of Special Awards for Young Adult Fiction. This year, for the first time, we’re giving such an award.
“To present this award, we have invited Travis Corcoran to speak. Corcoran received our Best Novel award in 2018 and 2019 for the two volumes of his Aristillus series, The Powers of the Earth and Causes of Separation; this year he has published a new novel, Red State Mars. He currently serves as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. We look forward to hearing what he has to say about young adult fiction and about this year’s honoree.”

By Travis Corcoran

There’s a strange thing about systems – they have state, and often state comes in two or more types, which trade off against each other.

Pendulums have both kinetic energy and potential energy. When a pendulum is dead still, it’s at its highest altitude, and when it’s moving rapidly, it’s at its lowest. Social phenomena can also have state that’s traded back and forth – hobbies and subcultures often reach their absolute peak at exactly the point when growth has fallen to zero. …but there’s no law of conservation of energy in subcultures – a hobby can lose both size and energy at the same time!

Ham radio, bowling leagues – many hobbies have suffered from losing both “altitude” and “speed” at the same time. Deadly in an airplane as a private pilot, and equally deadly to a subculture. …deadly in a subculture like science fiction, generally, or libertarian science fiction, more specifically.

Continue reading The 46th Prometheus Awards: Special Awards presenter Travis Corcoran on wonder, adventure, liberty, culture and the vital need for Young Adult Fiction 

By the numbers: The many reasons to watch the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony this Sunday Aug. 16 on Zoom (here’s the link) 

By Michael Grossberg

ONE Special Prometheus Award — the first for Young Adult Fiction.

TWO exciting guest speakers — leading libertarian thinker Ilya Somin, who will give the keynote speech on libertarian currents in SF/fantasy; and two-time Prometheus Best Novel winner Travis Corcoran (The Powers of the Earth, Causes of Separation), who will discuss the vital importance of Young Adult Fiction to encourage and inspire new generations of readers.

THREE Prometheus Awards — more than the usual annual two for Best Novel and the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

By the numbers alone, this Sunday’s 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony will be pretty special – with more awards and far more interesting and inspiring speakers (10) than is typical at our annual awards ceremonies.

You can watch the roughly hourlong awards show, which is open to the public, by using this Zoom link:

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

Please log in at 1 p.m. Sunday Aug. 16 Eastern time.

Continue reading By the numbers: The many reasons to watch the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony this Sunday Aug. 16 on Zoom (here’s the link) 

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, J. Kenton 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 Prometheus Award 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, other SF/fantasy fans and the general public 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, J. Kenton 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 