Karl K. Gallagher, a frequent Prometheus Best Novel finalist, is about to publish Ultimate Conclusions, his first collection of short stories.
Most stories in the anthology will be stories Gallagher has published in other collections or webzines, but several will be new.
“They range from the tale of an Amish boy on the Moon to visits with a Norse God and Death himself,” Gallagher said on Kickstarter, where he has been getting support for the project.
“Their genres range from hard SF to mythic fantasy, but they all follow my approach to science fiction: take an idea to its ultimate conclusion. Not just looking at the initial consequence of the idea, but what the second-order and third-order effects downstream are. That’s where we find the unexpected and interesting stories,” he said.
Three previously unpublished stories are set within the fictional interstellar future of his Torchship Trilogy, a 2018 Best Novel finalist.
The stories will look at “some of the loose ends from the trilogy, such as the end of the war with the AIs and the fate of the forcibly uploaded people,” Gallagher told the Prometheus Blog in an email.
Ultimate Conclusions is being released through a Kickstarter campaign, which has an April 10 deadline but has already surpassed its financial goal – so publication appears certain.
“The content of the book is finished. The cover art is in work. All the suppliers are ones I’ve worked with before. This is the twelfth book I’ll have published independently, so I have some practice with the process,” Gallagher explained in his Kickstarter message to potential supporters.
Those who support Gallagher’s Kickstarter publishing campaign at different levels will receive a variety of bonuses, starting with an ebook of the anthology, then a paperback copy, and then various arts images and gaming materials related to Gallagher’s extensive history of gaming. (Several of his articles about gaming will be included in the book.)
Gallagher mentions some of his Prometheus Awards recognition in his Kickstarter call for support:
“I’m best known for my Torchship Trilogy, which is a hard SF adventure story about an undercover spy fighting a government which suppresses uncontrolled computers. The trilogy was a finalist for the Prometheus award for best libertarian science fiction novel,” he wrote.
Here’s a link to the Kickstarter page about Gallagher’s upcoming anthology, which he hopes to publish by the end of April.
GALLAGHER’S PROMETHEUS-NOMINATED NOVELS
Gallagher has been nominated six times for the Prometheus Award for Best Novel since 2017.
That puts Gallagher within reach of entering the top-ten list of the most-nominated authors in the 45-year history of the Prometheus Awards. (Check out the authors on the current list, compiled in this 2023 Prometheus Blog post, who each were nominated anywhere from 7 to 20 times.)
Gallagher’s first Prometheus nomination came in 2018 for the three novels in his interstellar Torchship trilogy (Torchship, Torchship Pilot and Torchship Captain), which were combined by LFS judges into one nomination (since together, they tell one complete story).
The trilogy became a 2018 Best Novel finalist.
Since then, Gallagher has been nominated repeatedly for his ambitious multi-volume Fall of the Censor series, an interstellar saga set in the distant future.
Gallagher launched his projected nine-novel series with Storm Between the Stars, which became a 2021 Prometheus Best Novel finalist.
Between Home and Ruin (Book 2) and Seize What’s Held Dear (Book 3) were 2022 Best Novel finalists. Check out the combined Prometheus Blog review of both novels.
Captain Trader Helmsman Spy (Book 4) was a 2023 Best Novel finalist.
Book 5 in the series is Swim Among the People, a current Best Novel nominee, and Book 6, published in November 2023, is Trouble in My Day.
Next up in the series, Gallagher says, is Book 7: War by Other Means.
Stay tuned to the Prometheus Blog for more author updates.
And check out Gallagher’s Prometheus Blog interview, posted in early 2023 in three parts: Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
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.
* 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 periodic 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, join the 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 better visions of the future, innovation, peace, prosperity, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, individuality and human dignity.
Karl K. Gallagher is not only a remarkable author, but also a fantastic Human Being. His journey in writing these novels is no less heroic than his series; the man behind the words is as awesome as the words he writes.