{"id":5415,"date":"2023-05-07T19:33:01","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T00:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=5415"},"modified":"2023-05-07T19:33:01","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T00:33:01","slug":"appreciating-sf-author-nancy-kress-her-beggars-trilogy-and-other-prometheus-nominated-novels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/appreciating-sf-author-nancy-kress-her-beggars-trilogy-and-other-prometheus-nominated-novels\/","title":{"rendered":"Appreciating sf author Nancy Kress, her Beggars trilogy and other Prometheus-nominated novels"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Prolific sf author Nancy Kress has won Hugos and Nebula awards but she\u2019s never won a Prometheus Award. Not yet, anyway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nor was Kress nominated for The Eleventh Gate,\u00a0<\/em>an interesting 2020 novel (recently reviewed<\/a> in the Prometheus blog) that pits libertarian planets against more authoritarian worlds.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Kress has been frequently recognized within the history of the Prometheus awards.<\/p>\n

In fact, she has been nominated four times for Best Novel \u2013 and one of her novels (Beggars in Spain) <\/em>was voted a Best Novel finalist.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AN ALIEN LIGHT
\n<\/strong>Kress\u2019 first Prometheus nomination was in 1988 for An Alien Light.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The novel, a mixture of sf and fantasy, explores \u201chumanity\u2019s infinite capacity for change,\u201d according to a Library Journal review.<\/p>\n

The story resolves around a complex experiment by an alien race in which two primitive warring human cultures become experimental subjects under the observation of the aliens, who teach them secrets of science while ultimately hoping to learn enough about humans to succeed in destroying other settled human worlds.<\/p>\n

In order to survive and preserve humanity\u2019s future, members of each primitive culture must forge common ground and learn to cooperate.<\/p>\n

One can glimpse why An Alien Light\u00a0<\/em>was nominated by LFS members. And as most freedom lovers and many adults understand on at least a gut level, cooperation is a basic prerequisite of and foundation for civilization.<\/p>\n

After all, cooperation by definition must be voluntary. While not often championed as much as it could and should be as a libertarian virtue, cooperation is the intricately related and connected other half of free-market competition, both necessary to achieve Hayekian \u201cspontaneous-order\u201d coordination of productive efforts in society and its ever-evolving economy.<\/p>\n

Cooperation also is the antithesis of the coercion that libertarians oppose, whether it\u2019s private criminal violence or the institutionalized force at the foundation of all government by its nature.<\/p>\n

THE BEGGARS BOOKS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kress\u2019 second Prometheus nomination came in 1994 for Beggars in Spain,\u00a0<\/em>which was recognized as a Best Novel finalist that year. (That year\u2019s winner was L. Neil Smith\u2019s Pallas.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Beggars in Spain<\/em> – whose initial novella version won both the Hugo and Nebula awards and was one of the earlier sf works to explore genetic engineering in a central way\u00a0– <\/em>revolves around Leisha Camden, a beautiful and extraordinarily intelligent woman, one of a growing number of human beings genetically modified to never require sleep.<\/p>\n

Increasingly persecuted by other humans as outcasts and victims of political repression, blind hatred and mob violence, such enhanced individuals are driven from human society and from Earth itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But Leisa chooses to remain behind, according to the book description, in a world \u201cmarked for destruction in a devastating conspiracy of freedom…\u201d<\/p>\n

Her third Prometheus nomination came in 1995 for the sequel Beggars and Choosers, <\/em>the second of three novels in Kress\u2019 Beggars or \u201cSleepless\u201d trilogy.<\/p>\n

The trilogy finale is Beggars Ride.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

CROSSFIRE
\n<\/strong>Nancy Kress\u2019 fourth and most recent Prometheus nomination came in 2004 for\u00a0Crossfire.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The novel explores the conflicts and human-rights issues that arise when a human colony incorporating diverse groups \u2013 New Quakers, devout Muslims and the Cheyenne – settles on a distant planet, only to discover primitive humanoid aliens.<\/p>\n

Although the humanoid aliens live only in a few isolated villages without any advanced technology, evidence indicates that they aren\u2019t native to the planet. An ethical dilemma is sparked when the humans learn that the primitive aliens are divided into two groups at war with each other.<\/p>\n

EXPLORING DIFFERENT WORLDS \u2013 AND ASSUMPTIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Widely hailed for her combination of science and philosophy, believable characters (both human and alien) and focus on realistic ethical questions, Kress naturally would seem to be the type of novelist attracted to the exploration of the issues, conflicts and challenges that inevitably can and do arise in many different types of societies \u2013 including libertarian societies.
\n
\n<\/em>While Kress doesn\u2019t appear to be an avowed libertarian, she does have an evident and long-standing interest in the development of free and less-free societies, in all their complexity and inevitable problems \u2013 a fitting and juicy subject for fiction in general and science fiction in particular.<\/p>\n

And who knows?<\/p>\n

Perhaps her four Prometheus Award nominations between the late 1980s and early 2000s helped sparked her interest in libertarian political-economic philosophy and indirectly led to her incorporating such subjects and themes into more recent works, such as The Eleventh Gate.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Bio:\u00a0<\/b>Winner of six Nebula Awards, two Hugos, a Sturgeon and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (for\u00a0Probability Space<\/i>), <\/em>Nancy Kress is the author of thirty-four books, including twenty-six novels, four collections of short stories, and three books on writing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sf author Nancy Kress (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her work has been translated into Swedish, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Japanese, Croatian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Greek, Hebrew, and Russian.<\/span><\/p>\n

A New York native now based in Seattle, Kress is also the monthly “Fiction” columnist for\u00a0Writer’s Digest Magazine\u00a0<\/em>and \u00a0teaches writing regularly at various places, including Clarion and The Writing Center in Bethesda, Maryland.<\/p>\n

Most recently, she won a Nebula award in 2013 for\u00a0After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall,<\/i>\u00a0and in 2015 for her novel\u00a0Yesterday’s Kin<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE:
\n<\/strong>
\n<\/u><\/strong>* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \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 the full set of published appreciation-reviews of past winners.<\/p>\n

* Read\u00a0\u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0an essay in the 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

*\u00a0Watch\u00a0 <\/strong>videos <\/strong>of the 2022 Prometheus ceremony with Wil McCarthy, and 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.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/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

Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital, and in some ways even more powerful than politics in the long run, by sparking innovation, better ideas, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights and differences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg Prolific sf author Nancy Kress has won Hugos and Nebula awards but she\u2019s never won a Prometheus Award. Not yet, anyway. Nor was Kress nominated for The Eleventh Gate,\u00a0an interesting 2020 novel (recently reviewed in the Prometheus blog) that pits libertarian planets against more authoritarian worlds. Nevertheless, Kress has been frequently recognized … Continue reading Appreciating sf author Nancy Kress, her Beggars trilogy and other Prometheus-nominated novels<\/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":[32,37],"tags":[1810,1813,1812,1814,594,571,1815,1804,232,46,1806,1811,1805],"class_list":["post-5415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-updates","category-memorial-tributes","tag-an-alien-light","tag-beggars-and-choosers","tag-beggars-in-spain","tag-beggars-ride","tag-best-novel","tag-cooperation-versus-coercion","tag-crossfire","tag-nancy-kress","tag-pallas","tag-prometheus-awards","tag-space-opera","tag-the-beggars-trilogy","tag-the-eleventh-gate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-1pl","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5415","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=5415"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5853,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5415\/revisions\/5853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}