Best of the blog, part 2: Six more 2022 reviews, interviews worth rereading about libertarian science fiction

By Michael Grossberg

What were the “best” Prometheus Blog articles of 2022?

Which were the most illuminating and/or the most surprising? (No surprise that I happen to have some favorites.)

Looking back and following a recent blog post recommending six favorites from last year, I picked six more favorites among the more-than-weekly 67 blog posts of 2022, which offered a wide range of reviews, essays, author interviews, awards updates and Prometheus-Award-winner appreciations

Second chances don’t always occur in life, but the first few weeks of 2023 offers a timely opportunity to look back at some of the best Prometheus blog articles of 2022.

Continue reading Best of the blog, part 2: Six more 2022 reviews, interviews worth rereading about libertarian science fiction

Author update: Other freedom-loving fiction by writer-songwriter Leslie Fish, a 2014 Prometheus winner

Anti-statist and anarchist themes frequently fill the stories, songs, books and other fiction by Leslie Fish, a 2014 Prometheus Award winner.

“Most of my fan fiction has subtle or blatant Anarchist themes,” Fish recently told the Libertarian Futurist Society.

So does her “fan-fic” novel “The Weight,” which is “pretty blatant,” she said.

Meanwhile, her sf/fantasy novel “Of Elven Blood,” published through Writers Of The Apocalypse Press and available on Amazon, is among her pro-published writings that have “subtle anti-statist themes,” Fish said.

That news will come as no surprise to the fans of Fish’s Darkover-inspired novella “Tower of Horses” and her related filk song “The Horsetamer’s Daughter.”

Together, Fish’s novella and the song that inspired it received the 2014 Special Prometheus Award – the first time that the award has recognized a song.

“That got me into the Darkover anthology series — which, alas, is now coming to an end,” Fish said.

Continue reading Author update: Other freedom-loving fiction by writer-songwriter Leslie Fish, a 2014 Prometheus winner

A song of community and resistance to tyranny, and the novella it inspired: An appreciation of Leslie Fish’s “The Horsetamer’s Daughter” and “Tower of Horses,” the 2014 Special Prometheus Award winner

Here is an appreciation of writer-songwriter-singer Leslie Fish’s song “The Horseman’s Daughter” and related novella “Tower of Horse,” together recognized with a 2014 Special Prometheus Award.

By Steve Gaalema and Michael Grossberg

“Tower of Horses,” Leslie Fish’s rich Darkover novella, may be one of the most libertarian stories ever recognized with a Prometheus Award.

With its very believable and human characters, suspenseful plot and resonant coming-of-age and temptations-of-power themes, Fish’s fantasy novella is certainly one of the most satisfying, and emotionally involving.

Together with Fish’s epic folk-song “The Horsetamer’s Daughter,” the novella received a Special Prometheus Award in 2014 – the first time within the history of the awards that a song was recognized, and the first time that a paired song and novella have received a joint award.

Continue reading A song of community and resistance to tyranny, and the novella it inspired: An appreciation of Leslie Fish’s “The Horsetamer’s Daughter” and “Tower of Horses,” the 2014 Special Prometheus Award winner