Not all literary award-winners stand the test of time.
Most works of arts and entertainment fade – even winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the Oscars, Tonys, Grammys, Emmys, Hugo and Nebula awards. Yet when they last and take on the patina of a classic, they should be remembered and recognized.
For only the third time in the 45-year history of the Prometheus Awards, a former Best Novel finalist is being inducted into the Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.
Terry Pratchett’s comic Discworld novel The Truth, first recognized by the Libertarian Futurist Society as a 2001 Best Novel finalist, won the 2024 award for Best Classic Fiction.
Along with this year’s Best Novel winner, The Truth and the late great Pratchett will be recognized and discussed during the upcoming Prometheus Awards ceremony, scheduled for 2-3 p.m. Sunday Aug. 25 (Eastern time) and open to the public via Zoom.
Check out the Prometheus Blog review of The Truth, describing its hilarious yet serious tale about the importance of the development of a free and independent press and explaining how the novel’s libertarian themes fit our award.
Notably, before this year, only two other Best Novel finalists have received that rare honor: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Falling Free and Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon.
STEVENSON’S CRYPTONOMICON
Cryptonomicon, published in 1999 and a 2000 Best Novel finalist, was inducted in 2013 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.
Inspired by developments in cryptology during World War Two and prescient in its focus on electronic money and cryptocurrencies, Cryptonomicon explores the origins of information technology while weaving together two plotlines.
One WWII-era narrative revolves around Allied efforts to break the Axis codes for the U.S. Navy and hide from Hitler’s National Socialists (Nazis) that Germany’s Enigma code has been broken.
The other contemporary narrative, linked to the first by a later generation of the same families, focuses on a computer software expert working for a startup company who becomes involves in efforts to create a data haven.
What helps make Cryptonomicon especially interesting to libertarians is Stephenson’s historically based insight that a country with elements of political liberty might have advantages during a war over an enemy with an authoritarian mindset.
For a more comprehensive review, read Tom Jackson’s appreciation (from which the above description was taken) on the Prometheus Blog.
Incidentally, in the now-it-can-be-told department, Stephenson’s novel was a Best Novel finalist in 2000, the year that Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky won in a very close contest. At the time and since, many LFS members have commented that both novels were strong enough to win in an unusually strong year of Prometheus finalists.
BUJOLD’S FALLING FREE
Falling Free, a 1989 Best Novel finalist, was inducted in 2014 into the Hall of Fame.
Bujold’s Nebula-award-winning sf novel considers the legal and ethical implications of human genetic engineering in a story dramatizing the personal impact on the rights and liberties of “manufactured beings” owned by corporations.
The novel’s libertarian exploration of free will and self-ownership aligns well with the foundations of our humanity and liberty, which also are at the core of classical liberalism and modern libertarianism.
For more about Falling Free, read Michael Grossberg’s appreciation review-essay posted on the Prometheus Blog.
WHY SUCH RECOGNITION IS RARE
While it’s common for eligible older works to be nominated repeatedly for the Hall of Fame, It’s relatively rare for LFS members to nominate a former Best Novel finalist for consideration.
When they do, it’s because they consider that novel to be both superior and of lasting significance and appeal.
Of course, all Prometheus Awards finalists and winners should also fit the distinctive dual focus of the award on both quality and liberty.
Regarding the latter theme, works are considered eligible for our award if they fit the broad genres of speculative fiction (including science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, dystopian literature, horror, mythology, fable, etc.) and also in various ways champion individual rights, dramatize the perennial conflict between Liberty and Power, favor voluntary cooperation over institutionalized coercion, expose the abuses and excesses of coercive government, and/or critique or satirize authoritarian systems, ideologies and assumptions.
WHY FORMER WINNERS ARE INELIGIBLE FOR RENOMINATION
At the same time, not one former Prometheus Award winner in any category has been considered for additional recognition.
That’s because under our long-standing award rules, previously recognized Prometheus winners are ineligible for nomination – whether as possibilities for induction into the Prometheus Hall of Fame or as candidates for occasional Special Awards.
This necessary and pragmatic rule, first established soon after the Hall of Fame was launched in 1983, has several purposes.
First of all, LFS leaders quickly reached a consensus that formal recognition as a Prometheus Award winner is sufficient to put the work on the map and bring it to the attention of both sf/fantasy fans and libertarians – one of the primary goals of our distinctive award.
In addition, LFS members wanted to make sure that the new Hall of Fame category established its own separate identity from the Best Novel category while maintaining its own legitimate focus on older works of lasting value.
Without such a rule, there was a concern that the new Best Classic Fiction category would begin to overlap with the Best Novel category. Worse, LFS Executive Director Victoria Varga and other core LFS leaders worried that duplications would begin to appear on both awards’ lists of winners, and might end up collapsing the Hall of Fame category into a delayed, de-facto list of belated Best Novel winners.
THE LONGEVITY REQUIREMENT
To help further distinguish each annual Prometheus category, an additional Hall of Fame rule was adopted to ensure that enough time would pass after a work’s initial publication (or staging, screening, airing or other release) so that LFS members could have the perspective of judging potential classics with the greater perspective of hindsight.
Initially established with a mandate that at least five years must pass after the initial appearance or release of the new work before it could be considered for Hall of Fame nomination, this longevity rule later was expanded to a minimum of 20 years after publication.
For example, looking ahead to next year’s Prometheus Hall of Fame, for which nominations are now open, the 2025 Best Classic Fiction award is open to any otherwise eligible* works that first appeared in 2005 or earlier.
* Otherwise eligible means that the works must fall within the broadly defined genre of speculative fiction and also must dramatize or explore libertarian and/or anti-authoritarian themes.
So in summary, while former Best Novel nominees or finalists are eligible for Hall of Fame nomination (but rarely are), Prometheus winners in any category aren’t eligible for renomination in any category, including our occasional Special Awards.
HOW TO NOMINATE A CLASSIC WORK
The nominations deadline is Oct. 15, 2024 for the next cycle of the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.
To submit classic works for consideration or formally nominate eligible works that first appeared more than two decades ago, Libertarian Futurist Society members should contact William H. Stoddard (halloffame@lfs.org), who chairs the Prometheus Hall of Fame finalist judging committee.
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, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
