{"id":3821,"date":"2021-11-17T19:55:57","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T01:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lfs.org\/blog\/?p=3821"},"modified":"2024-01-03T20:18:25","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T02:18:25","slug":"prometheus-winning-author-neal-stephenson-to-discuss-his-latest-sf-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/prometheus-winning-author-neal-stephenson-to-discuss-his-latest-sf-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Prometheus-winning author Neal Stephenson to discuss his latest sf novel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prometheus-winning author Neal Stephenson will discuss his latest novel Nov. 19 in an American Purpose\u00a0<\/em>podcast.
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Stephenson, a two-time Prometheus winner for Best Novel, will discuss his 2021 novel Termination Shock\u00a0<\/em>at 12 p.m. Friday Nov. 19 (Eastern Time) in an online discussion with Francis Fukuyama, chairman of the editorial board of American Purpose<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

Widely acclaimed both within the field of science fiction and outside it, Stephenson is known for writing speculative fiction, cyber punk, and other related genres.\u00a0Termination Shock\u00a0<\/em>is his 13th\u00a0book.<\/p>\n

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Set in the future on Earth when climate change has resulted in heat waves, superstorms, flooding and rising sea levels, Termination Shock\u00a0<\/em>(The Borough Press, published Nov. 11, 2021) revolves around a billionaire\u2019s plan to address the climate threat by inviting a small group of representatives from around the world to a Houston meeting where he intends to propose a geo-engineering solution.<\/p>\n

Registration is free for the online podcast. To register for the American Purpose event, visit https:\/\/www.americanpurpose.com\/events\/neal-stephenson-and-francis-fukuyama-discuss-stephensons-new-book-termination-shock\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Stephenson \u2014 who coined the term “metaverse” in his 1992 novel\u00a0Snow Crash<\/em>\u00a0\u2014is a leading sf writer of great interest to Libertarian Futurist Society members, especially after winning the 2005 Prometheus award for best novel for The System of the World <\/em>and the 2016 Best Novel award for\u00a0Seveneves.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Stephenson’s 2000 novel\u00a0Snow Crash<\/i>\u00a0became a cult classic in Silicon Valley thanks to its imaginings of the wired world we now inhabit.\u00a0Stephenson\u00a0has served as an advisor to a number of future-oriented companies, including Blue Origin.<\/p>\n

His epic novel\u00a0Cryptonomicon<\/em>, a 2000 Prometheus Best Novel finalist, was inducted in 2013 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame \u2013 the first former Best Novel finalist (that didn\u2019t win that year) to be inducted years later, once eligible for consideration for the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

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* Read Tom Jackson\u2019s Prometheus blog review-essay Appreciation<\/a> of Stephenson\u2019s\u00a0Cryptonomicon.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Including his three Prometheus-winning novels, Stephenson has been nominated 10 times for this award, presented annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society.<\/p>\n

* Read William H. Stoddard\u2019s Prometheus blog\u2019s review-essay appreciation<\/strong> <\/a>of Stephenson\u2019s The System of the World.<\/em><\/p>\n

* Read Michael Grossberg\u2019s Prometheus blog review-essay Appreciation<\/strong> <\/a>of Stephenson\u2019s\u00a0Seveneves.<\/i><\/p>\n

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Among Stephenson\u2019s other Best Novel nominees: Fall or Dodge in Hell\u00a0<\/em>(in 2020), REAMDE <\/em>(in 2012), Anathem\u00a0<\/em>(in 2009), The Confusion\u00a0<\/em>(in 2005), Quicksilver\u00a0<\/em>(in 2004) and The Diamond Age <\/em>(in 1996).<\/p>\n

Libertarian Futurist Society members serving on this year\u2019s Best Novel finalist-judging committee are reading Termination Shock\u00a0<\/em>to determine if its plot, characters and themes make it eligible to consider as a potential 2021 nominee.<\/p>\n

Of course, only a handful of well-written and imaginative works of science fiction and fantasy fit the distinctive focus of the Prometheus Award, which for more than four decades has recognized outstanding works of science fiction and fantasy that dramatize the perennial conflict between liberty and power.<\/p>\n

Such works critique or satirize authoritarian trends, expose abuses of power by the institutionalized coercion of the State, champion cooperation over coercion as the roots of civility and social harmony, and uphold individual rights and freedom for all as the only moral and practical foundation for peace, prosperity, progress, justice, tolerance, universal human flourishing and civilization itself.<\/p>\n

* For more information about American Purpose<\/em> magazine, including how to get a free subscription to receive emails of essays, updates and upcoming events, visit the magazine\u2019s subscription page.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Interestingly, free-market economist Tyler Cowen (In Praise of Commercial Culture)<\/em>\u00a0, <\/a>\u00a0who posts the insightful Marginal Revolution<\/em> blog,<\/a> is among the writers and thinkers on the editorial board of American Purpose<\/em> magazine, which upholds such classical-liberal and libertarian ideals and principles as \u201crespect for the rights of the individual,\u201d civil liberties, equal protection under the rule of law, and respect for the autonomy of institutions of civil society. Such classical-liberal (and libertarian) principles \u201chave recently come under attack on both the left and the right,\u201d magazine editors wrote in a basic statement of the magazine\u2019s mission.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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* Read the\u00a0introductory essay<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0of the LFS\u2019 40th\u00a0<\/sup>anniversary retrospective series of Appreciations of past Prometheus Awards winners, with an overview of the awards\u2019 four-decade-plus history, that was launched in 2019 on the 40th<\/sup>anniversary of the awards and continues today.<\/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\u00a0 international 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Prometheus-winning author Neal Stephenson will discuss his latest novel Nov. 19 in an American Purpose\u00a0podcast. Stephenson, a two-time Prometheus winner for Best Novel, will discuss his 2021 novel Termination Shock\u00a0at 12 p.m. Friday Nov. 19 (Eastern Time) in an online discussion with Francis Fukuyama, chairman of the editorial board of American Purpose magazine. Widely acclaimed … Continue reading Prometheus-winning author Neal Stephenson to discuss his latest sf novel<\/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":[32,2204,10],"tags":[1268,1320,1324,1322,20,513,1321,352,1319,512,511,350,1323],"class_list":["post-3821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-updates","category-neal-stephenson","category-news","tag-american-purpose","tag-anathem","tag-climate-change","tag-fall-or-dodge-in-hell","tag-neal-stephenson","tag-quicksilver","tag-reamde","tag-seveneves","tag-termination-shock","tag-the-confusion","tag-the-diamond-age","tag-the-system-of-the-world","tag-tyler-cowen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-ZD","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821","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=3821"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3829,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821\/revisions\/3829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}