Editorial

LFS proudly announces the finalists for the 1996 Prometheus Award and Hall of Fame Award. We have a very strong group of finalists in both categories, and a few nominees for the 1997 awards have already started to trickle in, signs that libertarian sf is alive and well. The general trend in sf seems to be more and more toward media tie-ins. In itself this may not necessarily indicate a negative turn, but it does mean a somewhat restricted field, as writers operate more within the bounds of someone else’s universe, universe more often than not which appears grayer in terms of politics, as well as imaginative ideas.

Victor Koman writes that he has a story entitled “Bloodlover” appearing in Dark Destinies III: Children of Dracula. It’s a story about a vampire in the court of Tsar Nicholas featuring Rasputin. Also, Koman and Jared Lobdell co-wrote a Fafhrd and Gray Mouser story that ought to appear in a forthcoming Fritz Leiber tribute entitled Lankhmar. Its title is “Meyer the Magician” and contains a parody of the renowned conservative fusionist. See page 5 on how you can get a copy of Koman’s latest science fiction novel, Kings of the High Frontier.

If you noticed a slew of typos in the previous issue you were not alone. As editor I assume full responsibility for those typos. Part of the newsletter was severely rushed to meet a late deadline, and it shows. I apologize.

Issue number 4 is planned for late September, with coverage of the 1996 Prometheus Awards, and a review or two. The main section will be a special commemorative feature on the republication of L. Neil Smith’s 1982 Prometheus Award winning novel, The Probability Broach. We’ll have a review of the new edition, plus letters from various people on Neil Smith’s influence and the power of The Probability Broach in particular.