Tag: Tom Stoppard

Best of the blog: A record year for posts, but also a sad one, in memoriam

By Michael Grossberg

Once again, the Prometheus Blog has posted a record annual number of articles, reviews, essays, trend pieces, interviews, author updates, progress reports and awards news. For the eighth consecutive year since the blog replaced our former printed quarterly newsletter in 2017, the Libertarian Futurist Society has increased the number of articles on our blog – a long-term goal.

By the last day of 2025, we anticipate having posted 120 articles, many quite substantive. That’s roughly double the number we posted in 2021 – raising the visibility of the Prometheus Awards, educating the public about libertarian sf/fantasy and enriching discussions and debate among LFS members about the relative merits of Prometheus Award nominees and finalists, and enhancing our awards process as we choose the winners each year. But which articles ranked among the most notable of the year?

Sadly, some of the most timely and poignant stories we wrote in 2025 were obits – marking the passing of several notable writers who demonstrated a passionate love of liberty – including Tom Stoppard, Barry Longyear, Howard Andrew Jones and Leslie Fish.

Continue reading Best of the blog: A record year for posts, but also a sad one, in memoriam

Why the visionary and darkly satirical film Brazil, co-written by the late great Tom Stoppard, deserves a Prometheus nomination next year

By Michael Grossberg

This seems the right moment to take a fresh look at Brazil, one of the greatest dystopian science fiction visions of our era – and also one of the most libertarian.

Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, the film is one of the most widely seen and arguably among the most enduring works of the avowed libertarian Tom Stoppard, the internationally acclaimed Czech-British playwright and screenwriter who died recently at 88.

Released in 1985, the film was directed by Terry Gilliam and co-written by Gilliam, Stoppard and Charles McKeown.

Continue reading Why the visionary and darkly satirical film Brazil, co-written by the late great Tom Stoppard, deserves a Prometheus nomination next year

Tom Stoppard, R.I.P.: The great playwright and screenwriter (Brazil) was also a “timid libertarian
”

By Michael Grossberg

Tom Stoppard (Creative Commons license)

Tom Stoppard, who died recently at 88, was universally recognized as one of our greatest playwrights and screenwriters.

Yet, the Czech-British writer was also an avowed libertarian. While that lesser-known fact was mentioned over the years in some profiles and in a few obits, it deserves more attention.

Especially when one realizes that some of Stoppard’s greatest plays have libertarian themes and that he co-wrote the screenplay for Brazil, one of the most libertarian sf/fantasy films of the past four decades.

Continue reading Tom Stoppard, R.I.P.: The great playwright and screenwriter (Brazil) was also a “timid libertarian
”