Rick Triplett, 79, has seen the Prometheus Awards from the inside.
Recently recognized by the Libertarian Futurist Society board as the organization’s first Emeritus member after decades of service, Rick has served as a judge in all three categories of the Prometheus Awards – chairing the Special Awards committee and serving as a finalist-selection judge on the two committees that help whittle down candidates and nominees to a short list in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction categories.
So Rick’s views about the challenges of judging the Prometheus Award are worth sharing, as well as his insights about the pros and cons of various ideologies.
Here is the third part of the Prometheus Blog interview with Triplett.
Rick also has served on the LFS board of directors and has frequently reviewed books (including many Prometheus nominees and finalists) for the Prometheus Blog and Prometheus, its quarterly print predecessor.
That’s not to mention Rick’s other lifelong commitments to liberty and the libertarian movement, such as his contributions to and support for the Reason Foundation, publisher of Reason, the leading libertarian magazine.
Q:What do you see as the main value of the Prometheus Awards?
A: First, advertising: It brings attention to novels worth reading and is promptly included among the blurbs on novels that have won it.
People of my acquaintance often ask me why I like SciFi. Sometimes I venture a short, canned explanation but it is easier to give them a link to LFS.org and let them explore.
I never miss an opportunity to include that link in occasional online posts: mostly such efforts fall on barren ground but once in a while it bears fruit, and you never know when a new reader will become a visionary with far reaching influence.
Q: As a Prometheus judge for many years in both annual categories and the occasional Special Awards, what standards were most important to you in examining and weighing various candidates and nominees?
A: I remember worrying that we might get a great story that was poorly, amateurishly told, but that never happened.
We got a lot of stories written in prose that, in more “literate” circles, might be called pedestrian; but usually it was at least readable. And we got a few stories that were not technically science fiction or fantasy, which is a conundrum we fudge a bit.
What I looked for was a story that would leave the reader thinking, “Hmmm; we seem to have more restrictions on us than I like; I would like to see my community become more free than it is now.”
That sort of influence moves readers in a direction (more choices) but not toward any particular ideology.
Q: How do you perceive ideologies of all stripes – and do you view libertarianism itself as an ideology?
A: I regard ideologies as theories that justify the use of force to get people to behave in particular ways deemed “moral.” Examples are communism, socialism, fascism, theocracy, democracy, monarchy, limited government, ad infinitum.
The concept “libertarian” is not really an ideology, for it contains people with many different values; but all of them strongly prefer finding ways to solve problems that don’t resort to the use of force – even big problems, like large-scale defense against aggression.
Enjoyable reads that inspire this preference for freedom and peaceful cooperation become Prometheus candidates, which are then sorted according to how powerfully they accomplish that goal.
Q: In the two previous parts of this Prometheus Blog interview, you discussed why you love Robert Heinlein and mentioned a few favorites that influenced you a lot among the list of more than 100 past Prometheus winners. What other Prometheus-winning authors do you admire?
A: I remember being awed by Michael Flynn’s novel Eifelheim. I am sad at his recent demise, but would love to read him again.
(Editor’s note: Flynn, who died at 75 in September 2023, won the Prometheus Award for Best Novel twice – for In the Country of the Blind (in 1991) and Fallen Angels (in 1992), the latter co-written with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
Flynn’s last novel, published posthumously in July 2024, is In the Belly of the Whale.)
More recently, I’ve been reading thrillers outside the sf/fantasy genre for the past few years (by Mickey Spillane, Lee Child, Stephen Hunter, Randy Wayne White, etc.).
I especially enjoy psychological mystery thrillers (by Patricia Cornwell, Lisa Unger, Camilla Läckberg, Tana French, etc.), but I’ve missed SciFi and in particular libertarian novels.
* Check out Part One and Part Two of the Prometheus Blog interview with Rick Triplett.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:
* Prometheus winners: For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including 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, which now 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.
* 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.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer and Sarah Hoyt),Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook page for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, jointhe Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future – and in some ways can be even more 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, individuality and human dignity.
Through recognizing the literature of liberty and the many different but complementary visions of a free future via the Prometheus Awards, the LFS hopes to help spread better visions of the future that help humanity overcome tyranny, end slavery, reduce the threat of war, repeal or constrain other abuses of coercive power and achieve universal liberty, respect for human rights and a better world (perhaps ultimately, worlds) for all.
