{"id":10045,"date":"2025-11-30T11:34:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T17:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=10045"},"modified":"2025-11-30T11:45:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T17:45:34","slug":"r-i-p-leslie-fish-the-prometheus-winning-writer-musicians-stories-and-songs-poetically-embodied-resistance-to-tyranny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/r-i-p-leslie-fish-the-prometheus-winning-writer-musicians-stories-and-songs-poetically-embodied-resistance-to-tyranny\/","title":{"rendered":"R.I.P., Leslie Fish: The Prometheus-winning writer-musician\u2019s stories and songs poetically embodied resistance to tyranny\u2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

Leslie Fish, a Prometheus-winning author, writer and musician, has passed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Leslie Fish, playing the guitar and singing her songs (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fish (1953-2025) died Nov. 29 at age 72, while in hospice care at her home.<\/p>\n

She won a Special Prometheus Award in 2014 for her fantasy novella \u201cTower of Horses\u201d<\/i><\/a> and related song, \u201cThe Horsetamer\u2019s Daughter.\u201d Both focus on peace, freedom, community and resistance to tyranny.<\/p>\n

Fish\u2019s Prometheus Award was the first time – and still the only example – within the history of the awards that a song was recognized, and that a paired song and novella have received a joint award.<\/p>\n

Like \u201cTower of Horses,\u201d many of Fish\u2019s stories and songs embody anarchist, anti-war and anti-taxation themes affirming both individualism and community.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

LESLIE FISH\u2019S SONGS
\n<\/b>
\nAs suggested by the obit<\/a> posted today on File 770, a leading sf\/fantasy-industry news website, Fish was one of the pioneering and leading filk-singers and musicians in sf\/fantasy fandom.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Along with The Dehorn Crew, Fish created the first commercial filk<\/a> recording in 1976, Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain’t Even Been Yet, according to Wikipedia. <\/i>Her second recording, Solar Sailors<\/i> (1977), included the song “Banned from Argo<\/a>“, a comic song parodying Star Trek<\/i><\/a> which has since spawned over 100 variants and parodies.<\/p>\n

Her song “Hope Eyrie” is regarded by some as being as close to the anthem<\/a> of American science fiction fandom<\/a> as is possible in such a disparate group.<\/p>\n

Fish, winner of 10 Pegasus Awards for filk excellence, was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1995.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>LESLIE FISH\u2019S STORIES<\/b><\/p>\n

She wrote several books – including the fantasy-romance Of Elven Blood,<\/em> a non-fiction work Offensive as Hell: The Joys of Jesus-Freak Bashing<\/em>, and with C.J. Cherryh, A Dirge for Sabis,<\/em> collected within The Sword of Knowledge<\/em> trilogy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Her dozens of pieces of published short fiction include many demonstrating her original fantasy or sf world-building, but also stories set in the Alliance\/Union series of Prometheus winner C.J. Cherryh (Alliance Rising<\/a>),<\/i> the CoDominium universe of Prometheus winner Jerry Pournelle<\/a> and Marion Zimmer Bradley\u2019s Darkover series (including \u201cTower of Horses.\u201d)<\/p>\n

TOWER OF HORSES
\n<\/b>
\nBasically an underdog\u2019s inspiring tale with quite a few plot twists, according to the Prometheus Blog Appreciation review-essay about the 2014 winner, \u201cTower of Horses\u201d focuses primarily on young Cath, a rural girl growing in in the country with her family, all struggling to survive without modern technology (or any knowledge of its existence) in a provincial community of farmers, ranchers and local farmer\u2019s-market traders.<\/p>\n

While the fantasy-oriented novella appeals to all ages, it also works well as a good example of Young Adult fiction, with its coming-of-age focus and 14-year-old central character.<\/p>\n

As the appreciation notes, \u201cYounger readers, in particular, should easily grasp the story\u2019s very plain and human message that most adults simply don\u2019t like being told what to do, especially when it comes to their own lives, property and hard-earned money.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fish also indirectly was part of another Prometheus-recognized work: Fallen Angels<\/a>,<\/i> the 1992 Best Novel winner by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn. One of the characters in the science-fiction novel is \u201cJenny Trout,\u201d \u201cclearly meant to be Fish,” according to Wikipedia.<\/p>\n

Fish often wove pagan and anarchist themes into her music, according to her bio.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>She set to music many poems by Rudyard Kipling (“As Easy as A.B.C.,”<\/a> a frequent Prometheus Hall of Fame finalist), an author admired by economist and political theorist David Friedman<\/a> and many other libertarians for his anti-authoritarian, individualist, anti-lynching and anti-mob-rule themes.<\/p>\n

FISH\u2019S PROMETHEUS BLOG INTERVIEW
\n<\/b>
\nInterviewed<\/a> for the Prometheus Blog after winning the special award, Fish discussed science fiction, fandom, politics and the important libertarian strains within both fandom and science fiction.<\/p>\n

\u201c(In sf fandom), the Prometheus is now considered third after the Hugo and Nebula…. I first heard it mentioned more than 30 years ago, described as a \u2018freethinkers\u2019 literary award\u2019 of considerable virtue, but not on a par with the Nebula or Hugo. … You\u2019re coming up in the world of Sci-Fi, my friends!,\u201d Fish said in that interview.<\/p>\n

Discussing anarchism elsewhere, Fish said: “What sort of anarchist future would I like to see? There’s no reason for a government-free society to be nothing but agrarian, no reason at all that it couldn’t be industrial and space-faring.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Here is the first part<\/a> (“Self-Reliance, Liberty and SF”) and second part<\/a> (“Attending Cons and Thinking Outside the Box”) of the two-part Prometheus Blog interview with Leslie Fish.<\/p>\n

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ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS AND THE LFS<\/b><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us!<\/b> To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, \u00a0join<\/a> the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer international association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and 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\u2019s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.<\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/b>For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced \u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0on the LFS website. This page 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\u2019 distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/a><\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/a> an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/i>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n