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<\/a><\/p>\nYet, Hoyt’s ode to Prometheus isn\u2019t about the awards themselves, but a tribute to the mythical character that inspired their name.<\/p>\n
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Her latest blog is worth reading \u2013 and quoting from:<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one is quite sure who he was. Or at least the mythology makes a right hash of it. Man, god or Titan. Titan surely, because he stood above gods and men, principles unwavering,\u201d Hoyt writes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we do know is that he liked humans, mankind. Which as we know is the original sin, unforgivable by the old horrors who called themselves gods…\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly (the gods) did things for their own good, and covered up their crimes with other crimes. And then Prometheus, man, god or titan, who cares? went and gave the groveling, stupid, dirty humans fire,\u201d Hoyt writes.<\/p>\n \u201cFire. Power. Energy. The ability to have that fire, that power, that energy do work for them, so they need not work themselves into early graves. Smoked meat, that means you don\u2019t need to hunt every day. Food that\u2019s easier to digest so babies and elderly people eat better. And by the by, the turbine, the nuclear plant, the car engine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd light. Don\u2019t forget the light. Light to see that the gods, presenting themselves as beautiful and golden were really a scabrous collection of old horrors, the old demons of mankind feasting on despair and making things more difficult for humans, because they can.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoyt\u2019s understanding and appreciation of Prometheus mirrors the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s appreciation, summarized in the introduction to our Prometheus Awards page listing past winners, finalists and nominees:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Prometheus Awards take their name from the Greek myth about a titan who brought fire to mankind. As Louis Rougier wrote in\u00a0The Genius of the West,\u00a0<\/em>his 1971 book with a preface by the Nobel-Prize-winning economist Friedrich Hayek:<\/p>\n Moreover, such Promethean themes often fill science fiction as well as other literature – for instance, figuring prominently in much of Ayn Rand\u2019s fiction, including Atlas Shrugged<\/em> and Anthem,<\/em>\u00a0her two sf-themed novels that were inducted early on into the Prometheus Hall of Fame. (According to ancient Greek mythology after all, Atlas was Prometheus\u2019s brother.)<\/p>\n Perhaps all that helps explain why novelist L. Neil Smith found it fitting to name the Prometheus Awards, when the first one was presented in the late 1970s for the best libertarian science fiction.<\/p>\n Even today, Hoyt\u2019s blog reminds us, the mythic memory of Prometheus (and of all the ancient Greek titans, including Atlas) point the way toward a freer and better future.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need people who hold the light aloft and say \u201cThose aren\u2019t gods. They\u2019re very naughty spoiled and superannuated children.\u201d Be Prometheus,\u201d Hoyt urges us.\u00a0\u201cIn whatever capacity you can, shed light on the truth. Hold aloft the torch.”<\/p>\n Inspiring words to motivate lovers of light and liberty.<\/p>\n Read the whole thing,<\/a>\u00a0published Oct, 4, 2021, or visit Hoyt’s blog for her latest posts.<\/a><\/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 enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published appreciation-reviews of past winners.<\/p>\n * Read\u00a0\u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0an essay in the \u00a0international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\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 *\u00a0Join us<\/strong>! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards,\u00a0join\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Award-winning novelist Sarah Hoyt has written a lovely and lyrical ode to Prometheus on her \u201cAccording to Hoyt\u201d blog. Hoyt won the 2011 Prometheus Award-winner for Best Novel for Darkship Thieves,\u00a0a Heinleinesque adventure-romance and the first novel in her exciting\u00a0Darkship series about bioengineered humans, an insidious tyranny on Earth and a fully libertarian anarcho-capitalist society … Continue reading A lyrical ode to Prometheus, according to Hoyt<\/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":[32,249,2206],"tags":[1264,1263,558,1265,424,4,18],"class_list":["post-3670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-updates","category-awards-history","category-sarah-hoyt","tag-according-to-hoyt","tag-atlas","tag-atlas-shrugged","tag-blog","tag-darkship-thieves","tag-prometheus","tag-sarah-hoyt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-Xc","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3670","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=3670"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3842,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3670\/revisions\/3842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lfs.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/330px-Prometheus_Adam_Louvre_MR1745_edit_atoma-226x300.jpg?resize=226%2C300&ssl=1\")
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<\/a>\u201cThe myth undergirding the civilization of the West is the myth of Prometheus – the philanthropic hero who dared defy the will of Zeus by stealing fire from heaven and giving it to mortal men whom that jealous tyrant of the heaven and the earth had decided to destroy. The story expresses the spirit of revolt against the prohibition of jealous gods (and) embodies that love of action which incited Hercules to rid the earth of tyrants.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lfs.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Prometheus-the-light-bringer-n.jpeg?resize=300%2C168&ssl=1\")
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