Harry Turtledove – Prometheus Blog

Review: Harry Turtledove’s Between the Rivers offers historical perspective on long-establish elements of emerging freedom and civilization

Harry Turtledove’s Between the Rivers, one of this year’s Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, is suited to libertarian audiences in somewhat the same way as Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle: It neither portrays a free society, nor proposes a path to creating one, but offers a historical perspective on some of the long established elements of freedom as of their first appearance.

Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle novel The System of the World, the 2005 Prometheus Best Novel winner, is subtle about its fantastic elements (the presence of Enoch Root, also a character in Cryptonomicon, set centuries later, and the strange isotope of gold); Turtledove’s much less so, with active gods monitoring their human worships and wandering about the countryside.

So Stephenson can be read as a secret history, but Turtledove has to be taken as a historical fantasy. But Turtledove makes his historical parallels obvious, in the very title of his book: “Between the Rivers” literally translates the Greek name “Mesopotamia” for the land that was once Sumer, and later Babylonia, and is now Iraq.

Continue reading Review: Harry Turtledove’s Between the Rivers offers historical perspective on long-establish elements of emerging freedom and civilization

CAEZIK SF & Fantasy’s “Ninja Loot” book sale: Discounts on Michael Flynn, Harry Turtledove, other Prometheus-winning authors – and five free ebooks

CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, which has published quite a few Prometheus-winning authors and this year’s Best Novel winner, is having a book sale.

Quite a few titles have been discounted, and five of the ebooks are now free, for a limited time, in the so-called Ninja Loot Sale of the Maryland-based small press.

CAEZIK and Arc Manor publisher Shahid Mahmud also reports that his company has just added new titles from such science fiction and fantasy greats as Harry Turtledove, Mercedes Lackey, Katharine Kerr, Jim. C. Hines, Joan Slonczewski and more.

The sale includes Flynn’s In the Belly of the Whale, the 2025 Prometheus Best Novel winner, and Turtledove’s Powerless, among eight 2025 novels nominated so far for the next Best Novel award.

FREE EBOOKS

Plus, “somewhere in the sale, we have hidden 5 completely free ebooks,” Mahmud said.

I searched through the listings – not that hard, actually, and it didn’t take long at all – and discovered that the free ebooks include Captive Dreams, an anthology of Flynn’s stories and novellas.

Check out the sale here.

ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS AND THE LFS

* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer international association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.

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.

* Prometheus winners: For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including in 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. This page includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.

* 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.

* 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.

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Review: Harry Turtledove’s Prometheus-nominated Powerless critiques communism and blind obedience to authority

By Max More

Powerless, one of six novels nominated so far for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel, is the first novel I have read by Harry Turtledove. I chose to read it because of its anti-authoritarian message.

The structure and function of this alternate reality – in which communism has taken over the United States (and apparently much or all of the world) – seemed familiar and frighteningly plausible to me based on my study of the years under Lenin and Stalin.

Continue reading Review: Harry Turtledove’s Prometheus-nominated Powerless critiques communism and blind obedience to authority

Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees for Best Classic Fiction include novels by Blish, Dick, Huxley, Lewis, Roberts, Stross and Turtledove, a Pohl short story and Straczynski’s Babylon 5 

By Michael Grossberg

James Blish in the 1950s (Creative Commons license)

Works by James Blish, Philip K. Dick, Aldous Huxley, C.S. Lewis, Frederik Pohl, Adam Roberts, J. Michael Straczynski, Charles Stross and Harry Turtledove have been nominated for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Fiction.

Aldous Huxley (Creative Commons license)

A majority of this year’s Hall of Fame nominees are appearing on the short list for the first time – a promising sign that this category for time-honored classic fiction remains full of notable and lasting works worth recognizing.

The oldest nominee on the list is Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel Brave New World, with the second-oldest C.S. Lewis’ 1945 novel That Hideous Strength.

While Lewis’ cautionary sf novel has been nominated before and previously has ranked as a Best Classic Fiction finalist, Huxley’s dystopian classic has never before been nominated for the Prometheus Award – and is arguably overdue.

Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees for Best Classic Fiction include novels by Blish, Dick, Huxley, Lewis, Roberts, Stross and Turtledove, a Pohl short story and Straczynski’s Babylon 5 

What classic works deserve to be nominated for the Prometheus Hall of Fame? Let us know your suggestions before the end of September!

By Michael Grossberg

With only a month left before this year’s Prometheus Hall of Fame nominating deadline, it’s time for Libertarian Futurist Society members to seize the opportunity to consider what might be worthy of our recognition.

So far, just seven widely varied works have been nominated for possible induction into our Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

Between eight and 12 classic works – first published, performed, recorded, released, screened or staged at least two decades ago – have been nominated annually by LFS members in recent years for this annual Prometheus category. In each of the past two years, an eclectic variety of 10 works were nominated – including novels, novellas, stories and songs (just a subset of the many types of fiction eligible to consider for the Hall of Fame). So there’s certainly room for a few more nominations.

What older works of fantastical fiction (including but not limited to science fiction and fantasy) do you believe have stood the test of time and ripened into classics deserving of a nomination?

If you have any candidates to formally nominate or simply suggest, please let us know before this year’s deadline of Sept. 30, 2025. (The earlier, the better.)

Continue reading What classic works deserve to be nominated for the Prometheus Hall of Fame? Let us know your suggestions before the end of September!

Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 5: Capsule reviews of Turtledove’s Between the Rivers and Stross’ Singularity Sky 

By Michael Grossberg

Of the 10 nominees for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, the two most recently published are novels – one a historical fantasy set at the dawn of civilization, and the other, a work of futuristic science fiction set among interstellar colonies.

Between the Rivers, by Harry Turtledove, was published in 1998 by TOR Books.

Singularity Sky, by Charles Stross, was published in 2003 by Ace Books.

Both authors are Prometheus Award winners for Best Novel, with Stross winning in 2007 for Glasshouse and Turtledove winning in 2008 for The Gladiator.

Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, part 5: Capsule reviews of Turtledove’s Between the Rivers and Stross’ Singularity Sky 

From the late great Kipling, Lewis and Clarke to living authors Turtledove and Stross, LFS members nominate 10 classic works for the 2025 Prometheus Hall of Fame 

By Michael Grossberg

Five are novels, two are novelettes, one a novella, one a story and one a song, reflecting the wide range of fiction eligible for consideration in the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

Author Arthur C. Clarke (Creative Commons license)

The authors of these classic works range from the late great Rudyard Kipling, C.S. Lewis and Arthur C. Clarke to still-living authors, such as Harry Turtledove and Charles Stross.

Ten works of speculative fiction, first published or performed more than 20 years ago, have been nominated by LFS members for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

Continue reading From the late great Kipling, Lewis and Clarke to living authors Turtledove and Stross, LFS members nominate 10 classic works for the 2025 Prometheus Hall of Fame 

Before voting for this year’s Prometheus Awards, check out the full slate of blog reviews of the finalists

The Prometheus Blog has now succeeded in publishing reviews of all 2024 Prometheus Awards finalists – and all the reviews have convenient links posted below.

Although selective reviews have been posted of some finalists over the years, this is the first time in perhaps half a decade or so that reviews of all Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction finalists have been written and published.

Continue reading Before voting for this year’s Prometheus Awards, check out the full slate of blog reviews of the finalists

Hall of Fame finalist review: Harry Turtledove’s fantasy Between the Rivers imagines Bronze Age beginnings of a freer society

By William H. Stoddard

Over the years, most nominees for the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Prometheus awards have been science fiction, and set in the present or the near or far future. Harry Turtledove’s Between the Rivers is an exception: A work of fantasy, and set in an invented world that parallels the Bronze Age of 3000 years ago or more.

As its title suggests, its setting is based on Mesopotamia. It’s a realm of contending city-states, and seems to be the first place in its larger world to develop them; at any rate, there’s no indication of comparably civilized realms elsewhere.

Continue reading Hall of Fame finalist review: Harry Turtledove’s fantasy Between the Rivers imagines Bronze Age beginnings of a freer society

TOR Books founder Tom Doherty wins Heinlein Award

Publisher-editor Tom Doherty, who founded TOR Books, has won the 2024 Robert A. Heinlein Award.

Robert Heinlein (Photo courtesy of the Heinlein Trust)

The award, funded by the Heinlein Society and named after the Grand Master who has won more Prometheus Awards than anyone else, is bestowed for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space.

According to a Heinlein Society press release, the Heinlein award was given to Doherty in recognition of his work “in bringing the inspiring books of hundreds of authors writing about our future in Space to public awareness.”

One of the leading publishers of sf/fantasy, TOR Publishing Group has won every major award in the sf field – including Hugo, Nebula and Prometheus awards.

Continue reading TOR Books founder Tom Doherty wins Heinlein Award