{"id":3151,"date":"2021-05-20T18:57:03","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T23:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lfs.org\/blog\/?p=3151"},"modified":"2024-05-10T20:08:41","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T01:08:41","slug":"free-will-self-ownership-and-the-foundations-of-humanity-lois-mcmaster-bujolds-falling-free-the-2014-prometheus-hall-of-fame-winner-for-best-classic-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/free-will-self-ownership-and-the-foundations-of-humanity-lois-mcmaster-bujolds-falling-free-the-2014-prometheus-hall-of-fame-winner-for-best-classic-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Free will, self-ownership and the essence of humanity: Lois McMaster Bujold\u2019s Falling Free, the 2014 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner for Best Classic Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Here is the Prometheus Blog Appreciation of\u00a0Lois McMaster Bujold\u2019s\u00a0Falling Free,
\n<\/em>the 2014 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner for Best Classic Fiction:<\/p>\n

By Michael Grossberg<\/a>
\n<\/strong>
\nFalling Free\u00a0<\/em>is a Nebula-award-winning sf novel that explores free will and self-ownership, two important concepts at the foundation of our humanity and liberty that also happen to be at the core of modern libertarianism and classical liberalism.<\/p>\n

Lois McMaster Bujold’s 1987 novel, part of her bestselling Vorkosigan Saga, considers the legal and ethical implications of human genetic engineering.<\/p>\n

In particular, the story conveys the personal impact on the rights and liberties of \u201cmanufactured beings\u201d owned by corporations \u2013 a theme also explored in F. Paul Wilson\u2019s Prometheus-winning novel Sims<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First published as four installments in Analog\u00a0<\/em>magazine (from December 1987 to February 1988), Falling Free\u00a0<\/em>focuses on the creation of genetically modified people in a new human species called \u201cQuaddies,\u201d who have four arms, with the second pair appearing where unmodified humans have legs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Designed to work efficiently in zero gravity on space habitats, the Quaddies are young and na\u00efve, but intelligent and eager to work and master new skills.<\/p>\n

Initially created clandestinely as biological tools to be employed as a space labor force because of their comfortable adaptation to zero gravity, the Quaddies are viewed as highly profitable workers by corporations and commercial interests \u2013 since they wouldn\u2019t require mandatory time off as other humans would, since normal bodies tend to deteriorate over time in weightless conditions.<\/p>\n

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

Basic libertarian issues of human rights versus slavery arise in the novel because the company that created them treats Quaddies as chattel slaves, with no rights as human beings, no recognition of their feelings or desires and full dependency on the company for life support in space.<\/p>\n

Not regarded as human, Quaddies are classified as \u201cpost-fetal experimental tissue cultures,\u201d justifying authoritarian control over their limited access to information. Even worse, the Quaddies are unable to disobey orders to reproduce and mate in breeding programs that ignore their actual partners, or to have their pregnancies terminated.<\/p>\n

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

Worse, the Quaddies\u2019 very existence is threatened after a new artificial-gravity technology makes them obsolete. Treated like mere tools to be discarded, the young human species faces both tyranny and potential extinction.<\/p>\n

As the stakes rise from liberty-versus-slavery to include life-and-death issues, a bipedal human engineer, assigned to help train the Quaddies on a space habitat, gets to know and appreciate them and soon decides to help them break free.<\/p>\n

On one level, that\u2019s an easy decision, since the Quaddies are easy to appreciate and even love: Despite their ignorance and carefully inculcated misconceptions about the world, these new human beings are idealistic and caring \u2013 as well as generally unfamiliar with politics, deception and violence. Although forced to do some bad things, they don\u2019t know any better because of how they\u2019ve been raised, separated from the wider human worlds.<\/p>\n

After adopting a thousand Quaddies, Leo Graf, the engineer, faces very real risks in breaking the rules, but he wants to do what\u2019s right. Part of his responsibility, and a moral imperative within that quest, is teaching these \u201clittle people\u201d to be free.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And as the Quaddies learn, they grow up. No longer na\u00efve children, they become more complex and self-aware adults, demonstrating intelligence, wisdom and a more sophisticated understanding of their less-than-ideal world and its politics.<\/p>\n

Enhancing the story\u2019s emotional impact, despite a one-dimensional villain, is Bujold\u2019s ability to write science fiction that\u2019s plausible \u2013 and create great space opera. In terms of the science and technology imagined, her stories make sense. She also creates believable characters worth caring about.<\/p>\n

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

With its heroic engineer and plucky, endearing new-human underdogs, Falling Free\u00a0<\/em>is Heinleinesque in its can-do spirit and Question Authority individualism.<\/p>\n

A reading tip:\u00a0Falling Free, <\/em>included in the 2007 omnibus\u00a0Miles, Mutants and Microbes<\/em>, easily can be read as a stand-alone novel in the Vorkosigan Saga. But it\u2019s also a good place to start if interested in reading the whole series.
\n\"\"<\/a>Commonly listed as the fourth published novel in that series, the novel actually is the first book in that future interstellar history in internal chronological order.<\/p>\n

Set well before the birth of Miles Vorkosigan is born, and about two centuries before the events in Cordelia\u2019s Honor, Falling Free\u00a0<\/em>has its own settings and characters, different from the main series of Vorkosigan novels.<\/p>\n

Note: Lois McMaster Bujold (1949 – ), the 36th\u00a0<\/sup>author named a Grand Master (in 2019) by the Science Fiction Writers of America, has won four Hugo Awards for Best Novel, matching Robert Heinlein\u2019s record.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lois McMaster Bujold (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Falling Free\u00a0<\/em>was the first of her books to win a major sf award – the 1988 Nebula Award for best novel.\u00a0Her overall Vorkosigan Saga won a Hugo Award for Best series in 2017.<\/p>\n

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

\n

* Coming up soon on the Prometheus Blog:\u00a0<\/strong>An Appreciation of Harlan Ellison\u2019s \u201c\u2019Repent, Harlequin!\u2019,\u00a0<\/i>Said the Ticktockman,\u201d the 2015 inductee into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

*\u00a0Prometheus winners:<\/strong>\u00a0For a full list of Prometheus Award winners \u2013 for the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 on the LFS website.<\/p>\n

* Read\u00a0\u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 an essay in the June 2020 issue of the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards and the Libertarian Futurist Society, quotes from articles on the Prometheus Blog and explores the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us<\/strong>! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards,\u00a0join<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), a non-profit volunteer association of libertarian sf\/fantasy fans and freedom-lovers.
\nLibertarian futurists believe exploring and dramatizing a positive vision of human flourishing and human possibilities in the future is key to achieving universal individual rights and a better world (perhaps eventually, worlds) for all.<\/p>\n

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

Here is the Prometheus Blog Appreciation of\u00a0Lois McMaster Bujold\u2019s\u00a0Falling Free, the 2014 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner for Best Classic Fiction: By Michael Grossberg Falling Free\u00a0is a Nebula-award-winning sf novel that explores free will and self-ownership, two important concepts at the foundation of our humanity and liberty that also happen to be at the core … Continue reading Free will, self-ownership and the essence of humanity: Lois McMaster Bujold\u2019s Falling Free, the 2014 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner for Best Classic Fiction<\/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":[159,2353,160,8],"tags":[1113,877,477,427,1114,955,1075,1074,1071,1070,371,1073,1072],"class_list":["post-3151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-novels","category-book-reviews","category-hall-of-fame","category-review","tag-cordelias-honor","tag-falling-free","tag-freedom","tag-genetically-engineered-humans","tag-grand-master","tag-heinlein","tag-heroic-engineer","tag-indentured-servitude","tag-lois-mcmaster-bujold","tag-quaddies","tag-slavery","tag-space-habitat","tag-zero-gravity"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-OP","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3151","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=3151"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7491,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3151\/revisions\/7491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}