{"id":7011,"date":"2024-02-29T00:17:59","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T06:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=7011"},"modified":"2024-02-29T13:12:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T19:12:57","slug":"a-guide-to-the-best-novel-nominees-part-3-capsule-descriptions-of-libertys-daughter-paul-lynchs-prophet-song-and-sandra-newmans-julia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/a-guide-to-the-best-novel-nominees-part-3-capsule-descriptions-of-libertys-daughter-paul-lynchs-prophet-song-and-sandra-newmans-julia\/","title":{"rendered":"A guide to the Best Novel nominees, Part 3: Capsule descriptions of Liberty\u2019s Daughter, Paul Lynch\u2019s Prophet Song, and Sandra Newman\u2019s Julia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Here is Part 3 of the Prometheus Blog guide to this year\u2019s Best Novel nominees, an effort to illuminate why LFS members nominated 17 2023 sf\/fantasy novels for the next Prometheus Award.<\/p>\n

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

These capsule descriptions also aim to highlight the diverse range of novels nominated while outlining how each nominee fits the distinctive focus of the Prometheus Awards.<\/p>\n

The nominees highlighted in Part 3, alphabetized by author, include Naomi Kritzer\u2019s Liberty\u2019s Daughter,\u00a0<\/em>Paul Lynch\u2019s Prophet Song,\u00a0<\/em>and Sandra Newman\u2019s Julia.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Liberty’s Daughter,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>by Naomi Kritzer\u00a0(Fairwood Press, 264 pages) – Set in the not-too-distant future off the California coast, this novel of \u201csocial sf\u201d explores neighboring seasteading societies set up in different ways, some with libertarian rules and rationales.<\/p>\n

At the center of the story is Beck, a young Heinleinesque heroine who supports herself as a \u201cfinder\u201d (of various goods in short supply) and becomes a de facto detective investigating a missing worker. In the process, she uncovers abuses in indentured labor, risky skin-grafting businesses, mysterious diseases and more, all impelling her to try to right some wrongs.<\/p>\n

Rather than portraying an outright dystopia, Kritzer reveals the cooperation and social adaptations that arise to solve problems, deal with crime or fill gaps in apparently lawless communities – thus showing how a working libertarian society might function, \u00a0even against the policies and flawed persons who established it.<\/p>\n

Later, in an implicit contrast, Liberty’s Daughter revels similarly mixed realities and difficulties in the highly regulated and paternalistic United States.<\/p>\n

Provocative as a cautionary tale in its mixed verdict on libertarian seasteading, Liberty\u2019s Daughter\u00a0<\/em>suggests how voluntary unenforceable private behavior can result in positive social outcomes even without government or laws.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u2022 Prophet Song,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>by Paul Lynch (Atlantic Monthly Press, 320 pages) – Set in a near-future Ireland sliding inexorably into totalitarianism under a newly elected regime, this Booker-Prize-winning dystopian novel by the Irish writer offers a realistic and chilling portrait of a besieged wife\/mother and her family.<\/p>\n

Everything is seen entirely through the stream-of-consciousness perspective of the mother Eilish Stack amid her mounting confusion and anxiety as she struggles to comprehend drastic social changes and cope with police-state surveillance, interrogation, and disappearances.<\/p>\n

Eilish makes increasingly frantic efforts to find her trade-union husband and save her four children, sometimes from themselves. For instance, one son becomes a de facto resistor and conscious \u201cenemy of the state\u201d after his \u201cinappropriately directed laughter\u201d at school is redefined an Orwellian new crime.<\/p>\n

Lynch portrays the Kafkaesque nightmare of an endless bureaucratic maze of uncaring officialdom amid rioting, violent crackdowns and resistance as the family struggles to survive and later, escape tyranny.<\/p>\n

Prophet Song\u00a0<\/em>explores the horrific consequences of an increasingly invasive and unlimited government, with its elimination of civil liberties and due process, and suppression of the free flow of news and information, all disrupting and destroying lives, jobs and families.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n* Julia, <\/em><\/strong>by Sandra Newman (HarperCollins\u2019 Mariner Books, 394 pages) \u2013 Billed as \u201cA Retelling of George Orwell\u2019s 1984,\u201d this Orwell-estate-authorized sequel follows mostly the same time line but from the perspective of Winston Smith\u2019s lover.<\/p>\n

Although Julia remains largely one-dimensional in 1984<\/em>, Newman reveals her to be self-aware, sophisticated, more worldly and cynical than Winston, both a victim of and accomplice to Big Brother\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n

Working as a mechanic fixing novel-writing machines within the Fiction Department of the bureaucratic Ministry of Truth, Julia takes time off to indulge her impulses for promiscuous fun and subversive risk-taking.<\/p>\n

Adding a woman\u2019s quite different and protofeminist perspective sheds new light on Orwell\u2019s dystopian vision of Newspeak, Thought Police, Thoughtcrime, Two-Minutes Hate rallies, constant telescreen surveillance, ever-shrinking dictionaries, collectivist one-Party rule, and Oceana\u2019s ever-changing War with Eurasia today and Eastasia tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Extending the dystopian cautionary tale beyond Orwell\u2019s ending in a very adult novel (suggested for mature audiences because of extreme violence and explicit sex scenes), Newman weaves in revealing flashbacks, significant events and more background on recurrent characters that underline the horrors of totalitarianism.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most notable to LFS members, Julia finds many ways to dramatize the myriad virtues of freedom in making everyday life livable, more enjoyable and more humane and civilized.<\/p>\n

Coming up on the Prometheus Blog<\/strong>: Part 4 of our guide to the 2024 Best Novel nominees, which will offer capsule descriptions of Salman Rushdie\u2019s Victory City<\/em>, C.T. Rwizi\u2019s House of Gold\u00a0<\/em>and R.H. Snow\u2019s Trail of Travail.<\/em><\/p>\n

Check out Part One<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and Part Two<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>of our ongoing guide to the 17 2023 novels<\/a> nominated for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel.<\/p>\n

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

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus.<\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>an 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 <\/strong>videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer and Sarah Hoyt),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! <\/em><\/strong>To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction,join<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

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

By Michael Grossberg Here is Part 3 of the Prometheus Blog guide to this year\u2019s Best Novel nominees, an effort to illuminate why LFS members nominated 17 2023 sf\/fantasy novels for the next Prometheus Award. These capsule descriptions also aim to highlight the diverse range of novels nominated while outlining how each nominee fits the … Continue reading A guide to the Best Novel nominees, Part 3: Capsule descriptions of Liberty\u2019s Daughter, Paul Lynch\u2019s Prophet Song, and Sandra Newman\u2019s Julia<\/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":[31],"tags":[594,1338,2257,2245,2259,2246,16,2258,1345],"class_list":["post-7011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-awards-news","tag-best-novel","tag-julia","tag-libertys-daughter","tag-naomi-kritzer","tag-nomination","tag-paul-lynch","tag-prometheus-award","tag-prophet-song","tag-sandra-newman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-1P5","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7011","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=7011"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7124,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7011\/revisions\/7124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}