{"id":10626,"date":"2026-04-19T00:03:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T05:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=10626"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:46:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T20:46:05","slug":"former-winners-finalists-compete-with-newcomer-as-prometheus-best-novel-finalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/former-winners-finalists-compete-with-newcomer-as-prometheus-best-novel-finalists\/","title":{"rendered":"Former winners, finalists compete with newcomer as Prometheus Best Novel finalists\u2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Three former Prometheus winners, a frequent Best Novel finalist and a first-time nominee are competing to win this year\u2019s Prometheus Award for Best Novel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
J. Kenton Pierce (Photo courtesy of Raconteur Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Prometheus Best Novel Judging Committee, drawn from the LFS membership, has selected five 2025 novels as 2026 finalists from 14 nominated works. The Best Novel finalists, listed in alphabetical order by author, are Storm-Dragon,<\/i> by Dave Freer (Raconteur Press); War by Other Means, <\/i>by Karl K. Gallagher (Kelt Haven Press); No Man\u2019s Land,<\/i> by Sarah Hoyt (Goldport Press); A Kiss for Damocles,<\/i> by J. Kenton Pierce (Raconteur Press); and Powerless,<\/i> by Harry Turtledove (CAEZIK SF & Fantasy.)<\/p>\n

Pierce was nominated for the first time for a Prometheus Award, so his inclusion as a Best Novel finalist is particularly impressive in a year that many judges feel has been a superior one for freedom-themed SF\/fantasy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Karl K. Gallagher (2024 photo courtesy of Gallagher)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gallagher has been nominated quite a few times for the Prometheus Award, ending up a Best Novel finalist quite often. War by Other Means<\/i> is his seventh work to become a Best Novel finalist.<\/p>\n

Aside from his first nomination and Best Novel finalist in 2018 for his Torchship trilogy (Torchship, Torchship Pilot<\/em> and Torchship Captain)<\/em>, all the rest of Gallagher’s nominations have been for works within his ambitious Fall of the Censors series.<\/p>\n

That includes Storm Between the Stars<\/em> (2021), Between Home and Ruin<\/em> and Seize What’s Held Dear<\/em> (2022), Captain Trader Helmsman Spy<\/em> (2023), and Swim Among the People<\/em> <\/a>(2024). War by Other Means<\/em> is Book 7 of the projected nine-volume series.<\/p>\n

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

Freer, Hoyt and Turtledove, meanwhile, have each\u00a0 <\/span>won one Prometheus Award for Best Novel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Harry Turtledove in 2005 (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Turtledove won in 2008 for The Gladiator.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

With Powerless,<\/i> Turtledove has been nominated for Best Novel eight times – including for Between the Rivers <\/i><\/a>in 1999 (more recently, recognized as a Prometheus Hall of Fame finalist), Ruled Britannia<\/i> in 2004, Opening Atlantis <\/i>in 2009, Liberating Atlantis<\/i> and The United States of Atlantis <\/i>in 2010 and Joe Steele i<\/i>n 2016.<\/p>\n

With eight Best Novel nominations, Turtledove ranks among the top ten authors to have received the most Prometheus Award nominations since the award was first presented in 1979.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sarah Hoyt accepting her Prometheus Award in 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hoyt won in 2011 for Darkship Thieves<\/a>.
\n<\/i>
\nWith No Man\u2019s Land,<\/i> her three-volume novel, Hoyt has been nominated six times for Best Novel. That includes Darkship Renegades<\/i> (a 2013 finalist), A Few Good Men<\/i> (a 2014 finalist), Through Fire<\/i> (2017) and Darkship Revenge<\/i> (a 2018 finalist.)<\/p>\n

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

Freer won in 2023 for Cloud-Castles<\/i>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Storm-Dragon,<\/i> which was written as a Young Adult novel for ages 8 to 18 but broadly appeals to adults as well, is his second Prometheus nomination.<\/p>\n

Full-length reviews of each Best Novel finalist, explaining how each fits the distinctive focus of the Prometheus Awards, have been (or soon will be) posted on the Prometheus Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So stay tuned.<\/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 the 106 works that have won a Prometheus 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

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a> for comments, updates and links to the latest Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg Three former Prometheus winners, a frequent Best Novel finalist and a first-time nominee are competing to win this year\u2019s Prometheus Award for Best Novel. The Prometheus Best Novel Judging Committee, drawn from the LFS membership, has selected five 2025 novels as 2026 finalists from 14 nominated works. The Best Novel finalists, listed … Continue reading Former winners, finalists compete with newcomer as Prometheus Best Novel finalists\u2028<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31,2811,1125,10,2206],"tags":[414,1841,386,2773,1006,18],"class_list":["post-10626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-awards-news","category-awards-nominees","category-updates","category-news","category-sarah-hoyt","tag-best-novel-finalists","tag-dave-freer","tag-harry-turtledove","tag-j-kenton-pierce","tag-karl-k-gallagher","tag-sarah-hoyt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-2Lo","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10626"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10631,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10626\/revisions\/10631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}