Hogan Wins Prometheus Award

Heinlein and Rand Novels First in Hall Of Fame ceremony

James Hogan has won the 1983 Prometheus Award, which was presented to him at the World Science Fiction Convention in Baltimore in September, for his novel Voyage from Yesteryear.

Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged were the first two novels to be given the Prometheus Hall of Fame award.

The Prometheus awards took place during a multi-awards presentation —including the Japanese Hugo awards and Science Fiction Chronicle magazine’s readership poll awards—moderated by Jack Chalker, Toastmaster of the Worldcon.

Novelist F. Paul Wilson (whose prepared remarks are printed in full in this issue) presented the award to James Hogan. Hogan flew from California to Maryland to receive it in person.

Voyage from Yesteryear, Hogan’s tale of two cultures in conflict—one authoritarian and one libertarian—exemplifies the kind of intelligent, thoughtful (and suspenseful) fiction that the Prometheus Award is intended to recognize. Voyage was chosen from 21 nominated novels, including finalists Friday by Heinlein, The Many-Colored Land by Julian May: Oath of Fealty by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, and Fire Dancer by Ann Maxwell.

Heinlein’s and Rand’s Hall of Fame novels were selected from ten finalists, including fiction by Ray Bradbury, Ken Kesey, Ursula Le Guin, and George Orwell.

About 100 people attended the awards ceremony (many people who wanted to attend were unable to find the right room, as the location had been changed twice by Worldcon staff) including reporters, novelists, and authors, sf agents such as Judy Lynn Del Rey, of Ballantine/Del Rey Books, Hogan’s agent for Voyage from Yesteryear.

In his acceptance speech, Hogan said that winning the Prometheus Award gave him a lot of encouragement, and in particular, encouragement from a discriminating audience who shared his basic values. (See the Letters column for Hogan’s letter to LFS.)