{"id":1244,"date":"2019-12-19T17:16:13","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T23:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lfs.org\/blog\/?p=1244"},"modified":"2024-05-11T13:27:40","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T18:27:40","slug":"40th-anniversary-celebration-an-appreciation-of-james-p-hogans-the-multiple-man-the-1993-prometheus-best-novel-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/40th-anniversary-celebration-an-appreciation-of-james-p-hogans-the-multiple-man-the-1993-prometheus-best-novel-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Identity, mystery, bureaucrats, capitalists and green politics: An Appreciation of James P. Hogan\u2019s The Multiplex Man, the 1993 Prometheus Best Novel winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Libertarian Futurist Society’s Appreciation series aims to make clear why each Prometheus winner deserves recognition as a notable pro-freedom or anti-authoritarian work. Here\u2019s our Appreciation for James P. Hogan’s\u00a0The Multiplex Man,<\/em>\u00a0the 1993 Best Book winner:<\/p>\n

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

James Hogan\u2019s 1992 hard-sf political thriller revolves around a polite schoolteacher who wakes up one day to discover he\u2019s far from home and in a body not his own. Soon after returning home, he discovers that seven months have passed \u2013 and he can\u2019t return to his old body or life because he died six months ago.
\n\"\"<\/a>His suspenseful journey to solve multiple unfolding mysteries is set in an authoritarian future Earth where former Eastern\/communist countries have exploited space resources to boost their economies over the faltering West, undermined by Green-dominated governments\u2019 anti-industry regulations, education restrictions and propaganda.<\/p>\n

In this cautionary tale, the State authorities control virtually everything about people\u2019s lives and activities on Earth, while condemning as dangerous any dissent or unapproved behavior and viewing off-world colonies as enemies because of their competition for Earth resources.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With many plot twists and multiple characters including several engineers and scientists battling bureaucrats and politicos, The Multiplex Man\u00a0<\/em>weaves plausible body-transfer technology and disturbing political trends into a fast-paced adventure that explores the hows and whys of multiple identities.
\n
\n<\/em>More explicitly ideological in its pro-capitalist and anti-statist views than some other Hogan novels, the story shifts and alternates intriguingly between contrasting societies and viewpoints and now seems prophetic in its view of how U.S. Green politics would develop.<\/p>\n

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(Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Note: James Hogan (1941-2010), a British science fiction writer who lived for many years in the United States, also won a Prometheus Award for Best Novel in 1983 for Voyage From Yesteryear.<\/a>
\n<\/em>
\nHis Prometheus finalists for Best Novel include Mirror Maze\u00a0<\/em>(1990), The Infinity Gambit\u00a0<\/em>(1991), Paths to Otherwhere\u00a0<\/em>(1997), Cradle of Saturn\u00a0<\/em>(2000) and Martian\u00a0Nightlife\u00a0<\/i>(2002). Hogan also was nominated for Best Novel for\u00a0The Proteus Operation <\/em>(1986), The Legend That Was Earth <\/em>(2001), The Anguished Dawn <\/em>(2004),\u00a0<\/em>Echoes of an Alien Sky (2008) <\/em>and Migration (2011).<\/em><\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS<\/p>\n

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

* See related introductory essay<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>about the LFS\u2019 40th<\/sup>anniversary retrospective series of Appreciations of past Prometheus Awards winners, with an overview of the awards\u2019 four-decade history.<\/p>\n

* Other Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For a full list of winners \u2013 for the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the recently updated and enhanced Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on the LFS website.<\/p>\n

* Join us<\/strong>! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards, join<\/strong><\/a> the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), a non-profit volunteer association of libertarian sf\/fantasy fans and freedom-lovers.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists believe cultural change is as vital as political change (and often more fun!) in creating visions of a free future that can help achieve universal individual rights and a better world (perhaps eventually, worlds) for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Libertarian Futurist Society’s Appreciation series aims to make clear why each Prometheus winner deserves recognition as a notable pro-freedom or anti-authoritarian work. Here\u2019s our Appreciation for James P. Hogan’s\u00a0The Multiplex Man,\u00a0the 1993 Best Book winner: By Michael Grossberg James Hogan\u2019s 1992 hard-sf political thriller revolves around a polite schoolteacher who wakes up one day … Continue reading Identity, mystery, bureaucrats, capitalists and green politics: An Appreciation of James P. Hogan\u2019s The Multiplex Man, the 1993 Prometheus Best Novel winner<\/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":[43,159,2353,2045,8],"tags":[226,315,229,230,227,225,101,540,163,231,46,228,162,64],"class_list":["post-1244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-best-novels","category-book-reviews","category-james-p-hogan","category-review","tag-body-transfer-technology","tag-bureaucracy","tag-communism","tag-eastern-europe","tag-green-politics","tag-identity","tag-james-hogan","tag-markets","tag-mirror-maze","tag-political-thriller","tag-prometheus-awards","tag-the-genesis-machine","tag-the-multiplex-man","tag-voyage-from-yesteryear"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-k4","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244","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=1244"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7562,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244\/revisions\/7562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}