Prometheus Finalists 1984

New Procedures to Allow More Reading Time
Books Come Too Late, And All At Once, LFS Members Say

Five very exciting novels, all published in 1983, have been chosen as the finalists for the 1984 Prometheus Award.

Poul Anderson's Orion Shall Rise is the story of the people of four post-holocaust civilizations trying to fill conflicting needs: energy production and ecological balance. The Rainbow Cadenza, by J. Neal Schulman, is about women freeing themselves from government-imposed sex-conscription. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Zendara House is a feminist novel in which the female characters liberate themselves from male domination without succumbing to the blindness of man-hating. Double Crossing is Erika Holzer's gripping tale of two physicians, one an American and one a Russian, and the American journalist that is married to one and loves the other. L. Neil Smith's latest, Nagasaki Vector, is more of what Smith does best—a time-travel, alternate universe story in which a detective fights for freedom.

Finalists for the Hall of Fame, an award to honor classic libertarian fiction, include novels by Heinlein, Le Guin, Bradbury, Rand, and Bester. (The complete list of finalists is on page 5.)

Ballots can be found in this issue, and the voting deadline is August l5, 1984.

Both awards will be given at the World Science Fiction Convention, LA CON II, this September. James Hogan who won last year's Prometheus Award for his brilliant Voyage From Yesteryear will present this year's award. Brad Linaweaver, one of the younger generation of libertarian science-fiction writers, will present the Hall of Fame Award.

Now to the problems of the poor, besieged LFS Advisory member—who has to read 25 or more Prometheus nominees in a very short time and choose the best among them. Although Advisory members do get free copies of many of the Prometheus nominees—good-most of them arrive all at once and far too late to read them all—which is bad.

Some members have also complained that too many of the nominees are not well written and are often marginally libertarian.

Several good suggestions have been made to help solve these problems for next year.

First of all, marginal books could be eliminated by making it a rule that two or more members must nominate each book. All members will be able to vote on this in September. Second, we will begin accepting nominations September 1st for next year's award. So as soon as a book qualifies for a nomination, the publisher will be notified. Members will thus receive books over a six month period. Please note: Advisory members, that if you renew in September you will get every book that is sent out.

Plus, every member will receive a copy of the nominating rules and a list of books that are not eligible (former winners, for example).

There will be a section on the September nominating ballot for further suggestions.

PROMETHEUS FINALISTS 1984

Prometheus Award

• Double Crossing, Erika Holzer, Putnam
• Nagasaki Vector, L. Neil Smith
• Orion Shall Rise, Poul Anderson, Paperback
• Rainbow Cadenza, J.. Neil Schulman, S & S
• Zendara House, Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW

Hall of Fame

• Anthem, Ayn Rand, NAL
• Citizen of the Galaxy, Robert A. Heinlein, Scribner
• The Dispossessed. Ursula K. Le Guin, Avon
• Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, Ballantine
• The Great Explosion, Eric Frank Russell, Dodd, Mead
• Illuminatus, Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea, Dell
• Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell, NAL
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey, NAL
• The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester, Berkley
• The Syndic, C. M. Kornbluth, Pinnacle