{"id":8248,"date":"2024-10-26T00:02:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T05:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=8248"},"modified":"2024-11-02T11:34:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-02T16:34:43","slug":"prometheus-hall-of-fame-nominees-capsule-reviews-of-kiplings-1912-novelette-and-c-s-lewis-1945-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/prometheus-hall-of-fame-nominees-capsule-reviews-of-kiplings-1912-novelette-and-c-s-lewis-1945-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, Part 1: Capsule reviews of Kipling\u2019s 1912 novelette and C.S. Lewis\u2019 1945 novel\u2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

\u201cAs Easy as A.B.C.,\u201d a novelette by Rudyard Kipling, was published in 1912.<\/p>\n

That Hideous Strength, <\/i>a novel by C.S. Lewis, was published in 1945.<\/p>\n

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

Of the 10 classic works of fiction nominated for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame, these Kipling and Lewis works are the oldest.<\/p>\n

Thus, perhaps these two classic works are a good place to begin our Prometheus Blog series offering capsule reviews of each nominee.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AS EASY AS A.B.C.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

* \u201cAs Easy as A.B.C.,” by Rudyard Kipling (first published 1912 in London Magazine), the second of his “airship utopia” stories and one of the earliest pioneering efforts to write a story set in the future, envisions a twenty-first century global society where privacy and individuality are much more emphasized than in our history.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Rudyard Kipling File photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this future based on free and easy transportation, the rule of law, declining population (!) and an inherited abhorrence of crowds, officials in the Aerial Board of Control\u2019s worldwide transportation authority are summoned to the remote town of Chicago, which is convulsed by a small group’s demands for revival of the nearly forgotten institution of democracy.<\/p>\n

Very much an ambiguous utopia (to borrow Ursula Le Guin’s label for her Prometheus Hall of Fame inductee The Dispossessed), <\/i>the beautifully written story looks back on an earlier era\u2019s faults with horror and perplexity – including Kipling\u2019s bitter condemnation of lynching and mob violence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
C.S. Lewis (Creative Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH<\/b><\/p>\n

C.S. Lewis\u2019 That Hideous Strength<\/i>, subtitled in one edition \u201cA Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups,\u201d offers a cautionary tale and mystery about a struggle between good and evil as hidden powers scheme to enslave humanity.<\/p>\n

Set initially at a musty college in mid-20th-century England but expanding into Arthurian fantasy, Satanic conspiracies and cosmic\/theological themes, the story exposes layer after layer of diabolical deception as a double-talking, self-seeking academia and corrupt bureaucracy promote a rising progressive-left ideology that seeks absolute power.<\/p>\n

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

At the center of the story is a sociologist and his wife, an aspiring literary scholar, who become enmeshed with a powerful but mysterious organization known as N.I.C.E. (National Institute of Coordinated Experiments) that aims to establish a major new facility on campus.<\/p>\n

A modern couple in a loveless marriage, Jane and Mark Studdock unexpectedly wind up on opposing sides of a deepening battle between spiritually-based Natural Law, reflecting the rhythms and decency of everyday life, and the insidious spirit-denying falsehoods of Logical Positivism (an influential mid-century philosophy that Lewis believed was seriously flawed, with civilization-threatening implications).<\/p>\n

Amidst its dramatic arc of demonic corruption and angelic redemption, Lewis\u2019 novel explores mid-century intellectual and political trends to warn about the dangers of a centrally planned pseudo-scientific and Nazi-like society literally hell-bent to control all human life.<\/p>\n

Lewis\u2019 concerns about the early rise of the therapeutic state and his critique of modernism, progressivism, the \u201cstrong man\u201d ideologies of fascism\/socialism and the dangers of scientism (science not as the value-free pursuit of truth, but as an elitist justification for social control) seem prescient today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Note: Although it can be read as a stand-alone novel, this is Book 3 of Lewis\u2019s Space Trilogy, which begins with Out of the Silent Planet <\/i>(set on Mars), continues with Perelandra<\/i> (set in Venus) and culminates with That Hideous Strength <\/i>(set on Earth).<\/p>\n

THE 10 CLASSIC FICTION NOMINEES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here, for the record, are the 10 Hall of Fame nominees for the 2025 Prometheus Awards, listed in chronological order of publication, recording or performance:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Easy as A.B.C.,” by Rudyard Kipling (1912), a novelette<\/p>\n

That Hideous Strength,<\/i><\/b> <\/i>by C.S. Lewis (1945), a novel<\/p>\n

“Death and the Senator,” by Arthur C. Clarke (1961), a short story<\/p>\n

“Ultima Thule,” by Mack Reynolds (1961), a novella<\/p>\n

“Conquest by Default,” by Vernor Vinge (1968), a novelette<\/p>\n

The Demon Breed,<\/i><\/b> by James H. Schmitz (1968), a novel<\/p>\n

“The Trees,” by Rush (1978), a song<\/p>\n

Orion Shall Rise,<\/i><\/b> by Poul Anderson (1984), a novel<\/p>\n

Between the Rivers<\/i><\/b>, by Harry Turtledove (1998), a\u00a0 novel<\/p>\n

Singularity Sky,<\/i><\/b> by Charles Stross (2003), a novel<\/p>\n

* For more about each work, read the full initial news story<\/a> about the Hall of Fame nominees.<\/p>\n

THE NEXT PHASE OF HALL OF FAME JUDGING
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Now that the Hall of Fame nominating deadline has passed and the full set of nominees are known, the LFS members who volunteer as judges on the Prometheus Hall of Fame finalist-selection committee have an important task to complete and not that much time to do it.<\/p>\n

Between now and early December, the Hall of Fame judging committee, chaired by LFS President William H. Stoddard, faces the challenge of reading, rereading, or viewing\/hearing (in the case of the nominated Rush song) each nominated work while discussing their merits with the goal of\u00a0 <\/span>ultimately ranking and selecting a slate of Best Classic Fiction finalists.<\/p>\n

The next slate of Prometheus Hall of Fame finalists should be announced by mid-December, giving all Libertarian Futurist Society members about six months to consider and rank them before voting by July 4 to select the winner.<\/p>\n

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

By offering this Prometheus Blog series of capsule reviews of each Hall of Fame nominee, we hope to whet the appetite of LFS members to begin familiarizing themselves early with the nominees – as well as share, if they wish, their thoughts and rankings with the Hall of Fame judges.<\/p>\n

Coming up soon:<\/strong> Part 2 of this Hall of Fame capsule review series will continue in chronological order and focus on two nominees published in 1961: Arthur C. Clarke\u2019s short story \u201dDeath and the Senator” and Mack Reynolds\u2019 novella \u201cUltima Thule.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

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

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

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0For 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>\u00a0on 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<\/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 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.<\/a><\/p>\n

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

*\u00a0Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, \u00a0join<\/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 \u201cAs Easy as A.B.C.,\u201d a novelette by Rudyard Kipling, was published in 1912. That Hideous Strength, a novel by C.S. Lewis, was published in 1945. Of the 10 classic works of fiction nominated for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame, these Kipling and Lewis works are the oldest. Thus, perhaps these two … Continue reading Prometheus Hall of Fame nominees, Part 1: Capsule reviews of Kipling\u2019s 1912 novelette and C.S. Lewis\u2019 1945 novel\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":[2353,1125,8],"tags":[938,1306,268,866,1313],"class_list":["post-8248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-updates","category-review","tag-as-easy-as-a-b-c","tag-c-s-lewis","tag-prometheus-hall-of-fame","tag-rudyard-kipling","tag-that-hideous-strength"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-292","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8248","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=8248"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8323,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8248\/revisions\/8323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}