Libertarian Futurist Society
The Libertarian Futurist Society has announced Best Novel and Hall of Fame finalists for this year's Prometheus Awards, which will be presented at Denvention 3, the 66th World Science Fiction Convention August 6-10, 2008 in Denver, Colorado.
BEST NOVEL
First presented in 1979 at the World Science Fiction Convention, the Prometheus Award for Best Novel recognizes pro-freedom novels of speculative fiction or science fiction/fantasy, that dramatize the value of personal liberty, expose abuses of coercive power to the extremes of tyranny, offer anti-authoritarian satires or imagine a fully free future.
The 2008 Prometheus finalists for Best Novel:
* Ragamuffin, by Tobias S. Buckell (TOR Books), set in the same world as Crystal Rain, focuses on a struggle for power that leads to total war for humanity's right to live free from alien rulers.
* The Execution Channel, by Ken MacLeod (TOR), imagines a post-9/11 era of terrorism, paranoia, espionage in an environment of media spin, disinformation and a rogue media outlet that broadcasts murders and executions.
* Fleet of Worlds, by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner (TOR), is a prequel to Niven's classic Ringworld that dramatizes the deception and dominations of alien Puppeteers over enslaved descendants of a human colony ship.
* The Gladiator, by Harry Turtledove (TOR) , a Crosstime Traffic story about a future where the Soviet Union won the Cold War but curious teenagers rediscover capitalism.
* Ha'penny, by Jo Walton (TOR), an alternate-history sequel to Farthing, portrays a convincing surrender of freedom for illusory safety in a 1940s-fascist Great Britain.
This is the ninth nomination for MacLeod, who has won three times (The Star Fraction, The Stone Canal, and Learning the World); the third nomination (all as collaborations) for Niven, who won in 1992 for Fallen Angels (with Michael Flynn and Jerry Pournelle). Turtledove has been nominated once before; this is the first nomination for Buckell and Walton. Special congratulations to TOR Books, for its grand slam of all five finalist slots for the second time in this category's three-decade history. The Best Novel finalist-judging committee read more than 15 novels this past year as awards possibilities, including nine official nominees. Here are the other nominees: The Guardener's Tale, by Bruce Boston (Sam's Dot Publishing); Echoes of an Alien Sky, by James Hogan (Baen Books); Gradisil, by Adam Roberts (Prometheus Books' Pyr); and Off Armageddon Reef, by David Webber (TOR).The Hall of Fame finalist-judging committee considered more than 20 classic works of fiction in all categories.
HALL OF FAME
Novels, novellas, stories, graphic novels, anthologies, films, TV shows, TV series, plays, poems, music recordings and other works of fiction, first published or broadcast more than five years ago, are eligible for the Prometheus Hall of Fame.
This year's Hall of Fame nominees are a group of true classics - the earliest was first published in 1912, the latest in 1977. All five nominees are by well-known British authors. Despite their age, these works still have things to say to present-day libertarians.
The 2008 Prometheus finalists for Best Classic Fiction:
* Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange (1963), a stylized cautionary novel of behavior modification gone wrong and a classical-liberal warning against the denial of human free will.
* Rudyard Kipling, "As Easy as A.B.C." (1912), a short story by the great 19th-century novelist that looks back at the racial conflicts of the twentieth century from the perspective of a global civilization of the future.
* C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength (1945), a novel that completes Lewis' science-fiction trilogy and brings out the libertarian strain in his Christian faith in its portrayal of a corrupted research organization that hides totalitarian ambitions behind the name of science.
* J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (1954), a three-part fantasy novel that affirms the classic values of Western and British civilization by weaving lessons about the terrible temptations of unlimited power through an epic journey to destroy the Ring of Power and the Ringbearer's struggle against the Ring's addicting nature in a war against the totalitarian state of Mordor.
* T. H. White, The Once and Future King, a separately published five-part noel (1938-1958) including a posthumously published finale The Book of Merlyn (1977) weaves anarchist-libertarian themes into its classic fantasy retelling of the Arthurian legends as an attempt to subordinate power to the service of justice, freedom and peace.
A PROUD PROMETHEUS HISTORY
Originated and first presented in 1979 by author L. Neil Smith to recognize a long-standing libertarian strain in science fiction and encourage more fiction in the proud tradition of Robert Heinlein, Eric Frank Russell and other golden-age sf authors, the Prometheus Award is one of the most enduring awards after the Nebula and Hugo awards, and one of the oldest fan-based awards currently in sf and fantasy.
The annual Best Novel winner receives a plaque and one-ounce gold coin, recently worth more than a thousand dollars.
The Hall of Fame winner receives a plaque and a smaller gold coin.
A full list of past winners in all Prometheus categories is posted on the Libertarian Futurist Society website, www.lfs.org
For more information, contact LFS Board President Chris Hibbert (Email: publicity@lfs.org) or LFS Board Vice President Bill Stoddard, chair of the Hall of Fame finalist judging committee (Email: HallOfFame@lfs.org).
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