{"id":10218,"date":"2026-04-06T00:04:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=10218"},"modified":"2026-01-19T16:16:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T22:16:52","slug":"vernor-vinge-and-terry-pratchett-a-hidden-connection-between-two-prometheus-winners-one-a-master-of-serious-sf-the-other-of-satirical-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/vernor-vinge-and-terry-pratchett-a-hidden-connection-between-two-prometheus-winners-one-a-master-of-serious-sf-the-other-of-satirical-fantasy\/","title":{"rendered":"Vernor Vinge and Terry Pratchett: A hidden connection between two Prometheus winners, one a master of serious SF, the other of satirical fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>
Acclaimed SF writer Vernor Vinge (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vernor Vinge wrote serious science fiction; Terry Pratchett wrote fantasy with a strong comical and satirical focus.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Terry Pratchett in 2012. (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although each writer won more than one Prometheus Award for works that wove in libertarian and anti-authoritarian insights and themes, few of us tend to think of these two late great authors in the same breath, or any close to the same fiction or genre category.<\/p>\n

While surely their respective fan bases overlap to some extent, even the hardest-core Pratchett and Vinge fans probably wouldn\u2019t imagine that much else might link them – especially Fans of Vernor Vinge and Terry Pratchett, even if that fan base overlaps, probably don\u2019t think of both authors together.<\/p>\n

Yet, they had a strong connection in fiction, with one author favorably mentioning and imagining the future work of the other in a novel.<\/p>\n


\n\"\"<\/a>In Rainbow\u2019s End,<\/i> a 2007 Prometheus Best Novel finalist, Vinge imagined a future\u00a0 in which Pratchett lived and wrote much longer – in the process, creating a new civilization as a counterpart to Ankh-Morpork, the capital city of the fantasy planet in his beloved and bestselling Discworld series.<\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t recalled that from having read Rainbow\u2019s End <\/i>nearly two decades ago, but I\u2019m glad that was mentioned by Paul Weimer in a File 770 essay<\/a> paying tribute to Pratchett.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish those novels could have been written, or if I could sneak a shadow or two over from ours and grab them and bring them back to our world (although his daughter might have strong opinions on that),\u201d Weimer wrote.<\/p>\n

I feel the same way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s nice to know that Vinge was a fan of Pratchett\u2019s work. (And who knows? Perhaps Pratchett was familiar with, and a fan of Vinge\u2019s work, too.)<\/p>\n

Vinge, who died in 2024, and Pratchett, who died in 2015, are major sf\/fantasy writers worth remembering – and still worth reading.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For starters, one might read Vinge\u2019s novels Marooned in Real Time<\/i><\/a>, the 1987 Prometheus Best Novel winner, and A Deepness in the Sky<\/i>,<\/a> the 2000 Best Novel winner. Or check out his Prometheus Hall of Fame-winning stories \u201cThe Ungoverned\u201d<\/a> and \u201cTrue Names<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Among Pratchett\u2019s best Discworld novels are Night Watch,<\/i> <\/a>which won the 2003 Prometheus Best Novel award, and The Truth<\/a>,<\/i> inducted in 2024 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also good to know that most people don\u2019t fit easily or completely into narrow boundaries – such as SF vs. fantasy, or comedy vs. drama.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many Pratchett and Vinge fans, both within and outside the LFS, read and enjoy both genres.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After all, Pratchett and Vinge were respective masters of their genres. So why not read both?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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