By Michael Grossberg Ray Bradbury envisioned in his classic novel Fahrenheit 451 a dystopian future of censorship and destruction of literature – a paradoxically chilling world in which firemen paradoxically don’t put out fires but set them to burn books. However haunting in its literary power, Bradbury’s dystopian vision sadly may not be as widely referenced in popular culture these days as George Orwell’s widely quoted 1984 and Animal Farm or Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged or perhaps even Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical story “Harrison Bergeron.” All of the above works have been in ..read more

By Michael Grossberg Few Prometheus Award winners are as much fun to read as Cloud-Castles. The 2023 Prometheus Awards plaque and gold coin Zestful and often funny but also imaginative and insightful in its visions of freedom, Dave Freer’s often satirical coming-of-age novel deservedly won the 2023 Best Novel award for its entertaining blend of adventure, comedy, sci-fi,  likable characters and nifty world-building. The novel’s settings, distinctive and ingenious, offer ripe possibilities for varied, cross-cultural exploration of different human and alien environments. And Freer delivers ..read more

The Prometheus Awards are distinctive among literature-oriented awards, including within the sf/fantasy field, for having a dual focus – on both overall literary quality and on libertarian/anti-authoritarian ideas. As LFS awards press releases summarize and define our award: “The Prometheus Awards recognize outstanding works of science fiction and fantasy that dramatize the perennial conflict between liberty and power and champion cooperation over coercion as the root of civility and social harmony. Such works may critique or satirize authoritarian trends, expose abuses of power by the instit ..read more

By Michael Grossberg Two writers have been recognized for the first time within the Prometheus Awards’ 45-year history as Best Novel finalists. Three other Best Novel finalist authors have been recognized more than once before in that annual category – and one is a previous Prometheus winner. Moreover, in a relatively rare occurrence for the Prometheus Awards, not all Best Novel finalists this year fall within the genre of science fiction; one happens to fit the fantasy genre. Devon Eriksen, Karl K. Gallagher, Gordon Hanka, Howard Andrew Jones and Daniel Suarez have each written a 2023 novel ..read more

By Michael Grossberg Maverick bestselling novelist Lionel Shriver is at it again, skewering popular shibboleths of elite culture and critiquing false ideologies through her imaginative and insightful fiction. Author Lionel Shriver in 2006 Photo: Walnut Whippet, Creative Commons license Shriver, recognized twice over the past decade as a Prometheus Best Novel finalist, has written Mania, a new 286-page alternate-history novel published April 9 by HarperCollins Publishers. The publisher’s description highlights a theme that seems promising from the perspective of the Prometheus Awards: “With ech ..read more

By Eric S. Raymond and Michael Grossberg For a first novel, Theft of Fire is impressive. Devon Eriksen is one hell of an SF writer. His prose is tight and energetic, his action scenes work and his world-building is more than competent. Billed as the first novel in Eriksen’s Orbital Space series and nominated for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel, this hard-sf space opera portrays a free-frontier space culture where big risks can lead to big rewards. AN ENTERTAINING BLENDBlending hard SF, romance, mystery, suspense and even comedy, Theft of Fire feels fresh even in its adroit rewor ..read more

  By Charlie Morrison and Michael Grossberg A courageous band of astronaut-entrepreneurs strive to address Earth-based problems through commercial space-industrialization projects in Critical Mass, nominated for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel. Adding to the suspenseful drama, set mostly off the Earth and around the solar system, the resourceful heroes of this fast-paced sci-fi thriller must achieve their ambitious and unprecedented goals amid Cold War tensions, shifting global political alliances and the shortsighted opposition of Earth governments. Daniel Suarez, the 2015 ..read more

“Howard Andrew Jones is the leading Sword & Sorcery author of the 21st century… His Lord of a Shattered Land is his best work yet… It’s a magnificent achievement, destined to become a modern classic.” — John O’Neill, World Fantasy Award-winning publisher of Black Gate By Michael Grossberg I admit I generally don’t enjoy fantasy as much as science fiction, but I loved Lord of a Shattered Land, one of the best sword-and-sorcery sagas I’ve read. Howard Andrew Jones’s epic fantasy, published by Baen Books and one of 17 nominees for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel, tell ..read more

Karl K. Gallagher, a frequent Prometheus Best Novel finalist, is about to publish Ultimate Conclusions, his first collection of short stories.   Most stories in the anthology will be stories Gallagher has published in other collections or webzines, but several will be new. “They range from the tale of an Amish boy on the Moon to visits with a Norse God and Death himself,” Gallagher said on Kickstarter, where he has been getting support for the project. “Their genres range from hard SF to mythic fantasy, but they all follow my approach to science fiction: take an idea to its ultimate ..read more

By Michael Grossberg Sequels can be tricky and often disappointing, falling short of the originals in potentially all sorts of ways. So it’s nice to report that C.J. Carey’s Queen Wallis (published by Sourcebooks in the U.S. and Quercus in the U.K.) is a worthy sequel that in several ways improves on Widowland, her 2023 Prometheus Best Novel finalist. Overall, this feminist dystopian novel is one of the most enjoyable works of alternate history I’ve read in years. With clever details made plausible by the British author’s historical research and civil-libertarian insights, Carey deepens a ..read more