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<\/a><\/p>\nFor the record, here is a transcript of Tilden\u2019s speech:<\/p>\n
BY JOHN TILDEN<\/strong><\/p>\n It is my pleasure to provide a few remarks on this occasion of Robert Heinlein\u2019s short story \u201cFree Men\u201d being inducted into the Prometheus Award\u2019s Hall of Fame. I add my thanks to the Libertarian Futurist Society for this honor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Heinlein fan since I was a pre-teen, and I\u2019ve been involved with The Heinlein Society since its inception in 2000 as a charter member and now a lifetime member. I\u2019ve served on its board since 2012, and as its President since 2019.<\/p>\n Our charity exists to \u201cPay it Forward\u201d through continued good works supporting the literary legacy of Robert A. Heinlein and those causes he supported during his lifetime.<\/p>\n We were created with the initial support and guidance of Mrs. Virginia Heinlein, Robert\u2019s widow, and as an all-volunteer organization depend on membership dues and donations to support our programs. Those programs include discussing the significance of his works to both existing fans and helping to create new fans and keep Heinlein\u2019s legacy alive.<\/p>\n \u201cFree Men\u201d is an interesting part of that legacy. It was written after his first novel Rocket Ship Galileo\u00a0<\/em>around 1947, \u00a0but was not published until the collection The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein\u00a0<\/em>in 1966.<\/p>\n In the introductory material to this story when republished in the 1980 collection known as Expanded Universe<\/em>, Heinlein makes it a point to say that it is supposed to represent \u201cany\u00a0<\/em>conquered nation in any\u00a0<\/em>century.\u201d<\/p>\n We meet the company Captain, see how the company conducts itself, and how it deals with threats.\u00a0 There are some classic Heinlein elements in this short — reverence for Boy Scouts and the ability to make your way in the outdoors; using rules of order in a grassroots organization to conduct meetings and make decisions; the equal capability of women while still keeping to different gender roles. Pulling your own weight and fighting is what gives you the franchise in this company.<\/p>\n The company must deal with a member, Joe, who isn\u2019t strong enough to stay hidden away; it\u2019s hinted twice he\u2019s not pulling his weight, and he proves it by leaving.<\/p>\n Most of the story tells of the consequences that ensue from Joe\u2019s defection, making sure the company as a whole stays safe until the day that they can link up with the Provisional Government and have \u201cunity\u2026from coast to coast.\u201d<\/p>\n The key to the entire story is in just a couple of lines:<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s one thing this has taught me: You can\u2019t enslave a free man. Only person can do that to a man is himself.\u00a0 No sir\u2014 you can\u2019t enslave a free man. The most you can do is kill him.\u201d<\/p>\n And a little later:<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t you worry about [him]. A free man can take care of himself.\u201d<\/p>\n In Jim Gifford\u2019s Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader\u2019s Companion <\/em>he notes that this story may have been completed from undeveloped story notes for \u201cThe Stone Pillow,\u201d one of the \u2018Future History\u2019 stories that appeared as a title in Heinlein\u2019s famous timeline published with several revised versions.<\/p>\n While not exactly the plot noted in Heinlein\u2019s archives, the timing and circumstances of \u201cThe Stone Pillow\u201d could also fit \u201cFree Men.\u201d The 1950 version of the timeline indicates that the timeframe for \u2018The Stone Pillow\u2019 was the year 2025.<\/p>\n On that sobering note, I\u2019d like to point out that Heinlein made some interesting predictions in his lifetime but he wasn\u2019t right about everything!<\/p>\n It\u2019s not surprising to me that the LFS would choose to honor a story that very clearly restates some very core libertarian ideals as a key part of its plot.<\/p>\n I suspect that Mr. Heinlein would have been incredibly pleased that its message is still being honored some 76 years after he wrote it.<\/p>\n Again, thank you for allowing me to be a part of this day.<\/p>\n * \u00a0* \u00a0* \u00a0* \u00a0*<\/p>\n Coming up on the Prometheus Blog:<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n As part of our extensive coverage of the 43rd\u00a0<\/span>annual Prometheus Awards ceremony \u2013 which aired live on Zoom Aug. 19 and is now posted on Youtube and on the LFS website\u2019s Video page<\/a> – we will also be posting several interesting comments by Art Dula, primary trustee of the Heinlein Prize Trust, along with several exciting news updates from the Trust and revealing excerpts that Dula read from a 1947 letter that Robert Heinlein wrote about his vision of the future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n * Read the Prometheus Blog appreciations of some of Heinlein’s other Prometheus winners, such as his novels The Moon is a Harsh Mistress<\/a>, Citizen of the Galaxy,<\/a> Strangers in a Strange Land,<\/a> Red Planet,<\/a> Time Enough for Love<\/a><\/em> and Methuselah’s Children<\/a>,<\/em> and his stories “Requiem”<\/a> and “Coventry.”<\/a><\/p>\n IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE: * 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 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 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 Through recognizing the literature of liberty and the many different but complementary visions of a free future via the Prometheus Awards, the LFS hopes to help spread better visions of the future that help humanity overcome tyranny, end slavery and war, drastically limit other abuses of coercive power and achieve universal liberty, respect for human rights and a better world (perhaps eventually, worlds) for all.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John Tilden, president of The Heinlein Society, spoke Aug. 19 during the 2023 Prometheus Awards ceremony to accept the Prometheus Hall of Fame award for Best Classic Fiction for Robert Heinlein\u2019s short story \u201cFree Men.\u201d Tilden spoke eloquently about Heinlein’s legacy in general and about the setting and themes of his winning story in particular, … Continue reading \u201cYou can\u2019t enslave a free man\u201d – Heinlein Society acceptance speech for \u201cFree Men,\u201d the 2023 Prometheus Hall of Fame 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":[687,31,1860],"tags":[1700,2075,595,2073,2059,710,1659,2058,16,2076,21,2074,2072],"class_list":["post-6193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-award-acceptance-speech","category-awards-news","category-robert-heinlein","tag-free-men","tag-the-stone-pillow","tag-best-classic-fiction","tag-boy-scouts","tag-expanded-universe","tag-hall-of-fame","tag-heinlein-society","tag-john-tilden","tag-prometheus-award","tag-robert-a-heinlein-a-readers-companion","tag-robert-heinlein","tag-rules-of-order","tag-the-worlds-of-robert-heinlein"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-1BT","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193","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=6193"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6406,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193\/revisions\/6406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a>“FREE MEN”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>The story is of the Barclay Free Company, a small collection of holdouts against a foreign invasion of the United States where nuclear bombs are readily used to keep the population in line.\u00a0 It is clear that the company has men, women, children, and babies.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n
\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<\/a>*\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