William Stoddard's Hall of Fame Presentation

Libertarians, as I'm sure most of you have noticed, love to define things; and libertarians being individualists almost always come up with slightly different definitions of the things they define. This has certainly shown up in discussions of which works are eligible for the Hall of Fame award—which works do qualify as libertarian science fiction. Any number of works, including at least one Hall of Fame winner, have been matters of heated debate.

On the other hand, the work I have the pleasure of giving the award to this year is by an author whose qualifications I don't think have ever been questioned. I don't think there is any debate about his fittingness for the award. Also, I think, given the content of the novel—this is a somewhat humorous novel in intent—I think some of the features of its humor are things that many libertarians have wish fulfillment dreams about. I am referring to the novel Lone Star Planet, by H. Beam Piper, the winner of this year's Hall of Fame award.

It’s my pleasure to introduce Dr. Jerry Pournelle, who will be accepting on behalf of Mr. Piper.