Prometheus Awards – Prometheus Blog

Voting for the Prometheus Awards: How one LFS member ranked his Best Novel ballot (revealed on a YouTube video) on the verge of tonight’s July 4 deadline 

By Michael Grossberg

How do Libertarian Futurist Society members rank the Best Novel finalists as they fill out the final Prometheus Awards ballot?

Members typically keep their rankings private, while the LFS vote-counting committee maintains strict confidentiality about the results, aside from the announcement of the winners. Today, though, on the verge of the midnight July 4 voting deadline, one LFS member chose to post a YouTube video explaining his rankings.

It’s the latest yeoman effort by novelist John C.A. Manley, who throughout this past awards-finalist season has repeatedly helped raise the visibility of the Prometheus Awards by posting YouTube discussions of award finalists and by reviewing each Best Novel finalist on his BlazingPineCones website.

“Help promote the fiction you want to see in the world,” Manley said in his email today to BlazingPineCones subscribers.

That’s an apt statement, which helps illuminates his (and our) vision of why the Prometheus Awards is important and clarifies why Manley has invested so much time and energy this year in highlighting our award.

So how did Manley, himself a Prometheus Best Novel nominee for All the Humans Are Sleeping, rank the five Best Novel finalists?
Continue reading Voting for the Prometheus Awards: How one LFS member ranked his Best Novel ballot (revealed on a YouTube video) on the verge of tonight’s July 4 deadline 

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 

“And the nominees are…” NOT the same thing as finalists! (How the Oscars differ from the Hugo and Prometheus awards, and why it matters)

By Michael Grossberg

“And the nominees are…”

Those words are familiar to just about everyone in America, since people frequently repeat them at several of the biggest annual televised awards ceremonies.

Especially at the Academy Awards, informally known as the Oscars – and still the premier annual American awards show in arts and entertainment despite its recent decline.

Yet I’d argue that such an iconic phrase is often misleading. Worse, it can lead to confusion and misperceptions about other awards – including our own.

The Prometheus Awards use the term “nominees” quite differently than the Oscars do.

What the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which sponsors and presents the Academy Awards, dubs “nominees” is actually what the Prometheus awards quite properly refers to as finalists.

That may seem like mere semantics, or a minor disagreement over labeling, but it’s an important distinction with significant differences.

In fact, finalists attain a higher level of recognition than nominees – and thus deserve greater respect and their own distinct name.

Continue reading “And the nominees are…” NOT the same thing as finalists! (How the Oscars differ from the Hugo and Prometheus awards, and why it matters)

Ilya Somin: The Cato Institute scholar, law professor and SF/fantasy fan will present the Hall of fame award at our 2026 ceremony 

By Michael Grossberg

Ilya Somin will be the guest presenter and keynote speaker at the Libertarian Futurist Society’s 2026 Prometheus Awards ceremony.

A professor of Law at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, a leading libertarian think tank, Somin has written several books reflecting his research and expertise on constitutional law, property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights.

Just as relevant to our upcoming August 2026 awards ceremony – which will be hosted on Zoom and open to the public – Somin is a long-time fan of science fiction and fantasy – which he plans to focus on in his speech presenting the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.

Continue reading Ilya Somin: The Cato Institute scholar, law professor and SF/fantasy fan will present the Hall of fame award at our 2026 ceremony 

Sequels, part 10: Like the Prometheus Awards, the Hugo awards often recognize sequels – including many of the same novels and authors

By Michael Grossberg

Within the 46-year history of the Prometheus Awards, 194 of the 505 novels nominated within the Best Novel category have been sequels, as previously reported – and 11 have gone on to win. Yet, the Prometheus Awards are not the only science fiction awards that often recognize sequels.

Quite a few have been honored by the Hugo Awards, voted by members of the World Science Fiction Society and presented annually at Worldcons.

By my count, the Hugos have honored sequels nine times in the Best Novel category. Interestingly, quite a few of those authors also have been recognized in the Prometheus Awards – including Lois McMaster Bujold, Orson Scott Card, C.J. Cherryh and Vernor Vinge. In several cases, both awards have recognized writers for the same works.

This overview of such recognition reminds us of the frequent overlap between the Hugos and the Prometheus awards while shedding light on the popularity and appeal of sequels.

Continue reading Sequels, part 10: Like the Prometheus Awards, the Hugo awards often recognize sequels – including many of the same novels and authors

Sequels, part 9: By the numbers, Prometheus Awards history is full of Best Novel sequels

By Michael Grossberg

Throughout the 46-year history of the Prometheus Award, 505 novels have been nominated for Best Novel.

That’s a surprisingly large number, at least to me – and a cumulative total that I don’t believe has been calculated and reported before, or at least not in many years.

Yet, when I counted them up recently, I was even more surprised by the number of Best Novel nominees that turn out to be sequels. (Quite a few were hard to identify as sequels, by the way, until I researched each title – with some so obscure, and not immediately recognizable as sequels when nominated and read by Prometheus judges and LFS members, because many work fine as stand-alone stories without any obvious indications of previous works.)

Can you guess how many Best Novel nominees have been sequels?

Continue reading Sequels, part 9: By the numbers, Prometheus Awards history is full of Best Novel sequels

Video: Watch the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony, with speeches by leading libertarian thinker David Friedman and tributes to the late Poul Anderson and Michael Flynn 

How did Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress give leading libertarian thinker David Friedman the radical idea that society can develop just laws and functional legal systems without government?

What life events, travels, famous scientists and space projects helped shape the late Poul Anderson’s 1983 novel Orion Shall Rise, the 2025 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner?

How did the late Michael Flynn’s childhood lead him to become an award-winning science fiction writer?

Why does Flynn’s CAEZIK SF & Fantasy publisher view him as one of the most underestimated sf writers of his generation?

What Prometheus-winning sf/fantasy authors rank high among Friedman’s favorites – and why?

To find out, watch the recorded YouTube video of the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony:

Continue reading Video: Watch the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony, with speeches by leading libertarian thinker David Friedman and tributes to the late Poul Anderson and Michael Flynn 

Celebrating the 45th Prometheus Awards: LFS co-founder Michael Grossberg’s speech presenting the Best Novel category to Michael Flynn’s In the Belly of the Whale 

Michael Grossberg, who chairs the Prometheus Best Novel judging committee, presented the Best Novel category Aug. 30 at the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony. Here is the transcript of his speech.

By Michael Grossberg

The Prometheus Awards, one of the oldest-sustained annual fan-based sf/fantasy awards after the Hugos and Nebulas, are unique in recognizing fantastical fiction that dramatizes the perennial conflict between liberty and power.

Since the Prometheus Award for Best Novel was first presented in 1979, 46 novels have won this annual category. Today, we will honor a 47th.

This year’s five finalists represent a diverse range of fiction by authors who appreciate how freedom makes possible and helps sustain peace, prosperity, progress, civility and social harmony – while its absence increases the risk of war, tyranny and other abuses of power.

Continue reading Celebrating the 45th Prometheus Awards: LFS co-founder Michael Grossberg’s speech presenting the Best Novel category to Michael Flynn’s In the Belly of the Whale 

Celebrating the 45th Prometheus Awards: Michael Flynn’s publisher Shahid Mahmud’s acceptance speech about one of our most underrated sf authors 

“I think Michael was one of the most underrated authors in the genre… his work holds up to some of the best science fiction I’ve ever read.
— Shahid Mahmud, publisher of CAEZIK SF & Fantasy

Novelist Michael Flynn at an sf convention several decades ago (File photo)

Introduction: CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, a company led by Shahid Mahmud, published Michael Flynn’s last and posthumous novel In the Belly of the Whale, the 2025 Prometheus winner for Best Novel – and the first novel originally published by CAEZIK to win a Prometheus Award.

In his comments during the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony, Mahmud paid tribute to Flynn, who died in 2023 at 75 after an impressive career writing science fiction. Winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award, Flynn was nominated seven times for the Hugo Award (including Best Novel for Eifelheim) and eight times for the Prometheus Award, winning three times for Best Novel.

Continue reading Celebrating the 45th Prometheus Awards: Michael Flynn’s publisher Shahid Mahmud’s acceptance speech about one of our most underrated sf authors 

Celebrating the 45th Prometheus Awards: A heartfelt family tribute to the late great Michael Flynn, three-time Best Novel winner

“He lived exactly the life he wanted to live.”
– Kevin Flynn, about his brother Michael

Two-time Prometheus winner Michael Flynn (Creative Commons license)

Michael Flynn won his third Prometheus Award for Best Novel for his posthumously published In the Belly of the Whale.

Here is the text of the eloquent, poignant and very personal acceptance speech by Kevin Flynn, brother of the late novelist, who died in 2023 at 75. The speech was recorded and presented Aug. 30, 2025, during the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony.

By Kevin Flynn

On behalf of Michael Flynn’s family, his daughter Sara, his son Dennis, his grandchildren Noelle, Zaid, and Adam, and his brothers Sean and Patrick, it is my privilege to be chosen by them to speak here today and accept this award. I know that Michael would be deeply moved by this recognition, which will serve as the capstone of his distinguished science fiction bibliography. Thank you so much for recognizing our brother’s work.

As Michael was nominated for the Prometheus Awards nine times, chosen as a Best Novel finalist eight of those times, and won the Best Novel award now for the third time, you know well of Michael’s passion for learning, for liberty, for liberation of the mind and pushing back on authority in pursuit of freedom of thought and expression.

For those of us who knew him so well, we know he would be reluctant to display his pride as publicly and shamelessly as I am going to do on his behalf. That was simply who our big brother was. But he was so much more, and I hope to use this short time to tell you what kind of human our brother was.

Continue reading Celebrating the 45th Prometheus Awards: A heartfelt family tribute to the late great Michael Flynn, three-time Best Novel winner