{"id":10212,"date":"2026-01-27T00:03:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T06:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=10212"},"modified":"2026-01-27T15:40:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T21:40:46","slug":"liberty-literacy-and-younger-generations-why-prometheus-best-novel-winner-dave-freer-wrote-storm-dragon-a-young-adult-science-fiction-novel-and-current-nominee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/liberty-literacy-and-younger-generations-why-prometheus-best-novel-winner-dave-freer-wrote-storm-dragon-a-young-adult-science-fiction-novel-and-current-nominee\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty, literacy and younger generations: Why Prometheus Best Novel winner Dave Freer wrote Storm-Dragon, a Young Adult science fiction novel and current nominee"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Prometheus-winning sf\/fantasy author Dave Freer understands how liberty and literacy are intimately intertwined – a frequent theme explored here on the Prometheus Blog.<\/p>\n

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As Freer explains on the Mad Genius Club<\/a> blog, his commitment to encouraging literacy and younger readers was a key motivation for him to write Storm-Dragon,<\/i> a Young Adult science fiction novel that\u2019s one of 10 2025 novels nominated so far for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need young people reading,\u201d Freer writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the one way you can future-proof your kids, because it is the one thing that will make them flexible enough to cope with whatever the future throws. It will give them advantages in learning – far more than schooling will,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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These days, Freer believes that boys need encouragement to read even more than girls do.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoys, we know, have been considered expendable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s the sort of thing that those who can’t think beyond first-order consequences (if that far) think is a good idea. Unfortunately, I am a writer, and, if you’re going to do that even half-way competently you need to project your mind several orders beyond that and get the ramifications of actions, even the indirect ones, or your book starts to be ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if you only have daughters, you do not want them growing up in a world where men do not read. Have you thought what else people get from reading? Second to none, the ability of words to be translated not just into images but into whole, complex worlds. Have you ever thought about what that does to the brain? You should.<\/p>\n

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One of the illustrations in Dave Freer’s novel Storm-Dragon (Image provided by author)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Freer also believes young people should read fiction because it expands their vicarious experience of living, including the proverbial walking a mile in another man\u2019s shoes.<\/p>\n

\u201cReading puts the reader inside the heads of others. It teaches one to imagine the feelings and thought-processes of others. Do you want your daughter to end up with a partner to whom other people are something they have some chance of understanding, or not?\u201d<\/p>\n

Winner of the 2023 Prometheus Award for Best Novel for Cloud-Castles, <\/i>Freer wrote Storm-Dragon <\/i>\u201cwith the intent of getting more boys reading and enjoying reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

Set on an ocean-dominated alien planet with hungry local wildlife and a besieged small human colony, Storm-Dragon<\/i> follows the adventures of a young boy who forges a telepathic bond with a small alien creature as he faces school bullies and slowly becomes aware of a corrupt local government and other human threats.<\/p>\n

Much like many of the Young Adult novels by Robert Heinlein or Andre Norton, Storm-Dragon<\/i> is enjoyable for all ages but targeted for younger readers, especially boys.<\/p>\n

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Dave Freer with his 2023 Prometheus Awards Best Novel plaque for Cloud-Castles (Photo courtesy of Freer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Regarding his latest Prometheus nomination for Storm-Dragon,<\/i> Freer commented: \u201cIf this pushes more young men to try it (reading science fiction), I’ve won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the individual benefits to young readers in education and vicarious experience, the spread of reading nearly universal literacy also has broad social, economic and political impacts. No wonder, since reading helps educate citizens citizen achieve and sustain liberty and self-government.<\/p>\n

Those who love to read, as well as those who write, should recognize more consistently, as Freer has, the crucial importance of teaching new generations to read, to enjoy reading and to read regularly – something sadly becoming less common as a habit in today\u2019s social-media-obsessed culture.<\/p>\n

For further reading
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\nCheck out our many blog posts<\/a> that explore the relationship of liberty and literacy.<\/p>\n

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ABOUT THE LFS AND THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS<\/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