![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jones-Lord-trilogy-0.webp?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nJones, a Prometheus Best Novel finalist last year for Lord of a Shattered Land, <\/i>died almost five months after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in September 2024, according to the Fandom Pulse blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n His Chronicles of Hanuvar series, launched with Lord of a Shattered Land, <\/i>has been <\/i>acclaimed by fans for its imaginative and deft blend of ancient-Roman history, mythology, sword and sorcery.<\/p>\n \u201cHoward Andrew Jones is the leading Sword & Sorcery author of the 21st\u00a0century\u2026 His Lord of a Shattered Land<\/i>\u00a0is his best work yet\u2026 It\u2019s a magnificent achievement, destined to become a modern classic,\u201d wrote John O\u2019Neill, World Fantasy Award-winning publisher.<\/p>\n With a strong anti-slavery and anti-war theme and a plot focused on the general Hanuvar\u2019s heroic efforts to find and free the scattered and enslaved remnants of his vanquished people, Lord <\/i>was nominated for the 2024 Prometheus Awards and was selected one of five Best Novel finalists.<\/p>\n \u201cFar more than merely another nominally libertarian story about characters fighting for rather abstract liberty against a generic tyranny, Lord of a Shattered Land <\/i>weaves into its rich, varied and far-flung narrative more than a dozen key scenes or moments that underline what freedom means and how it motivates so many to try to achieve it for themselves and others,\u201d according to the Prometheus Blog review.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cJones is a superior writer who mostly shows us, rather than tell us, why freedom is so good and tyranny is so evil. Few sf\/fantasy novels have dramatized the lust for liberty and the lure of absolute power so well.”<\/p>\n Initially projected as a five-novel Baen Books series, the Chronicles of Hanuvar seems to have ended as a trilogy, including the 2023 sequel The City of Marble and Blood<\/i> and Shadow of the Smoking Mountain, <\/i>a 2024 novel.<\/p>\n Jones reportedly had outlined and begun writing the fourth novel in the Chronicles of Hanuvar series before his cancer diagnosis. (No word yet from Baen Books about whether Jones completed the fourth book in the series, if not whether another author might finish it, and whether other authors might be brought in to complete the projected series.)<\/p>\n The Prometheus Blog, and Libertarian Futurist Society members and leaders, wish to express our deepest sympathies to Jones\u2019 family and Baen Books.<\/p>\n ABOUT HOWARD ANDREW JONES<\/b><\/p>\n An Indiana native who formerly worked as a cameraman and production assistant in the television industry, an editor of technical books and an English professor at the University of Southern Indiana, Jones wrote a dozen novels and published many short stories.<\/p>\n Among his other novels: The Bones of the Old Ones, The Desert of Souls, For the Killing of Kings, Upon the Flight of the Queen, The Waters of Eternity, and When the Goddess Awakes.<\/i><\/p>\n He also wrote four novels under the title Pathfinder Tales as tie-in works in the world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and assembled and edited eight volumes of the short fiction of Harold Lamb.<\/p>\n Jones’ debut historical fantasy novel The Desert of Souls <\/i>was the first in his The Chronicles of Sword and Sand series (also known as the Dabir & Asim stories after the two principal characters), according to Wikipedia.\u00a0 <\/span>Published in 2011 to critical acclaim in 2011, it was included on Locus Magazine’s 2011 Recommended Reading List for Best First Novel, while the sequel, The Bones of the Old Ones,<\/i> received a starred Publishings Weekly review.<\/p>\n Jones\u2019 second independent series, the epic fantasy Ring-Sworn trilogy, was launched with the 2018 novel For the Killing of Kings. <\/i>According to Wikipedia, the series <\/i>received critical acclaim, including starred Publishers Weekly reviews for the first novel and the concluding volume of the trilogy, When the Goddess Wakes.<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Several passages in Lord of a Shattered Land<\/i> offer rueful recognition about the nature and limits of coercive rule and abuse of power in such a barbaric world:<\/p>\n \u201cAnswer me this, Antires. Why do playwrights always tell of kings and generals? Why not ordinary people?\u201d Today\u2019s modern world, similarly, would be better off if we exalted politicians and dictators less while appreciating more such strong and wise authors as Jones.<\/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<\/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<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\u201cThey write about those with the power to do things.\u201d
\n\u201cThe world would be better off if we exalted kings and generals less.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n