{"id":8070,"date":"2024-11-15T00:01:27","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T06:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=8070"},"modified":"2024-10-28T19:30:46","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T00:30:46","slug":"prometheus-winner-jo-walton-inducted-into-canadas-sff-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/prometheus-winner-jo-walton-inducted-into-canadas-sff-hall-of-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"Prometheus winner Jo Walton inducted into Canada\u2019s SFF Hall of Fame\u2028\u2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>
Jo Walton accepting her Prometheus Award in 2008<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another Prometheus-winning author has been inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association\u2019s Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Jo Walton, who won a Prometheus Award for Best Novel for Ha\u2019Penny<\/i>, is one of three Canadians inducted into Canada\u2019s 2024 Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Born in Wales, Walton has lived since 2002 in Montreal \u201cwhere the food and books are much better,\u201d according to her website and a report<\/a> in File 770.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

JO WALTON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Walton’s induction seems well-deserved, given the impressive scope and quality of Walton\u2019s novels and stories (listed on her website<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Walton\u2019s works have been nominated four times for a Prometheus Award, with three of her four nominated novels going on to become Prometheus Best Novel finalists.<\/p>\n

Besides Ha\u2019Penny<\/i>, a 2008 Prometheus Best Novel winner, Walton also was recognized by the Libertarian Futurist Society for Half a Crown,<\/i> the sequel to Ha\u2019Penny<\/em> and a 2009 Best Novel finalist ; The Just City,<\/i> a 2016 Best Novel finalist; and Necessity<\/i>, a 2017 Best Novel nominee.<\/p>\n

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

In Ha\u2019penny<\/i> – the middle novel in her alternate-history trilogy and a follow-up to Farthing – <\/i>Britain has slowly been turning more fascist after making peace with Hitler in 1941.<\/i><\/p>\n

A plausible and gripping fusion of a police procedural and cosy mystery with dystopian alternate history, Ha\u2019penny <\/i>revolves around Scotland Yard Inspector Peter Carmichael as he investigates an explosion in a London suburb that leads to evidence of a conspiracy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The story portrays the fall of a society into totalitarianism, emphasizing subtle moral corruption rather than overt brutality.<\/p>\n

For more on Walton\u2019s Ha-Penny,<\/i> read the Prometheus Blog\u2019s review-essay Appreciation.<\/a><\/p>\n

Walton is the third Prometheus Award-winner recognized by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association with their top \u201clifetime achievement\u201d honor.<\/p>\n

The other two were Canadian Cory Doctorow, a three time Prometheus Best Novel winner, and Canadian-born American SF writer A.E. Van Vogt, a posthumous Prometheus Hall of Fame winner.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A.E. Van Vogt (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A.E. VAN VOGT
\n<\/b>
\nVan Vogt, inducted in 1980 into the Canadian organization\u2019s Lifetime Achievement Awards, was inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame in 2005 for his classic SF novel The Weapon Shops of Isher.<\/i><\/p>\n

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

Imaginative and ingenious, van Vogt\u2019s 1951 novel dramatizes the power of self-defense to sustain personal freedom.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the novel A classic and superior example of hard sf blended with sociopolitical SF during the early golden age of science fiction, the novel introduced one of the most famous political slogans in science fiction: The Right to Buy Weapons is the Right to Be Free.<\/p>\n

Set i a future dominated by a dictatorial Empire of Isher, the story focuses on how that unjust and oppressive authority is challenged by some mysterious Weapon shops, which become a source of alternative opposition to tyranny.<\/p>\n

For more about the novel, read the Prometheus Blog appreciation essay-review of The Weapon Shops of Isher<\/i>.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
C\u00f3ry Doctorow in 2019 (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CORY DOCTOROW<\/b><\/p>\n

Doctorow, inducted in 2020 into the Canadian SF\/F Hall of Fame, first won the Prometheus Award for Best Novel in 2009 for Little Brother.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/i>He won his second Best Novel award in 2013 for Pirate Cinema, and his third in 2014 for Homeland<\/i>, the sequel to Little Brother.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

In his bestselling Little Brother,<\/i> Doctorow offers a powerful cautionary tale about threats to liberty from the National Security State.<\/p>\n

Now widely considered a modern classic in the coming-of-age and dystopian genres, the novel revolves around a high-school student and his techno-geek friends who are rounded up in the hysteria following a terrorist attack.<\/p>\n

With nods to Orwell\u2019s Big Brother, famously dramatized in the early Prometheus Hall of Fame winner Nineteen Eighty-Four, Little Brother <\/i>focuses on the plucky band of teen-agers as they\u2019re forced to defend themselves against the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s attacks on the Bill of Rights.<\/p>\n

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

Rounded up and imprisoned in a general sweep and subjected to harsh treatment, the teenagers attempt to assert their rights and, after being released, work to build tools that make it possible for private citizens to communicate privately and to organize out of the government\u2019s sight. Doctorow\u2019s libertarian emphasis is on how people find the courage to respond to oppression.<\/p>\n

For more about Doctorow\u2019s Prometheus-winning novels, read the Prometheus Blog Appreciations of Little Brother<\/a>, Pirate Cinema<\/a><\/i> and Homeland.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

OTHER CANADIANS RECOGNIZED<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield in 2011 in EMU suit. Photo: Robert Markowitz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Mike Glyer\u2019s File 770 news report<\/a> about the Canadian SF\/F awards, the other two Canadians inducted into this year\u2019s Hall of Fame are Chris Hadfield and Nalo Hopkinson.<\/p>\n

Hadfield is a retired astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He was the first Canadian to command the International Space Station and walk in space.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Nalo Hopkinson in 2017 (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jamaican-born Canadian resident Nalo Hopkinson is an award-winning sf\/fantasy author and artist. Among her novels: Sister Mine, The New Moon\u2019s Arms<\/em> and Brown Girl in the Ring. <\/em><\/p>\n

She was the youngest Grand Master and first woman of African descent to receive the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master lifetime honor from the Science Fiction Writers of America.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Robert Sawyer (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other great SF authors, writers and artists inducted in the Canadian SF\/F Hall of Fame over the decades include David Cronenberg, William Gibson, Tanya Huff, Guy Gavriel Kay, Charles de Lint, Judith Merril, Spider & Jeanne Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer and Robert Charles Wilson.<\/p>\n

For a full list of past CSFFA Hall of Fame winners, visit the website of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

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

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/b>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<\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>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 on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/b><\/a> an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/i>\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 <\/b>videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony<\/a> with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer<\/a> and Sarah Hoyt)<\/a>, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/b><\/a> for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us! <\/i><\/b>To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction,\u00a0 <\/span>join<\/a> the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg Another Prometheus-winning author has been inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association\u2019s Hall of Fame. Jo Walton, who won a Prometheus Award for Best Novel for Ha\u2019Penny, is one of three Canadians inducted into Canada\u2019s 2024 Hall of Fame. Born in Wales, Walton has lived since 2002 in Montreal \u201cwhere … Continue reading Prometheus winner Jo Walton inducted into Canada\u2019s SFF Hall of Fame\u2028\u2028<\/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],"tags":[952,2486,2484,2485,151,385,384,396,951],"class_list":["post-8070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-updates","tag-a-e-van-vogt","tag-awards","tag-c","tag-canadian-sff-hall-of-fame","tag-cory-doctorow","tag-hapenny","tag-jo-walton","tag-little-brother","tag-the-weapon-shops-of-isher"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-26a","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8070","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=8070"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8081,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8070\/revisions\/8081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}