2009 Prometheus winners

On July 6, 2009, the Libertarian Futurist Society announced the winners of the Prometheus Awards for Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction. The Prometheus Awards will be presented at Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, August 6-10, 2009, in Montréal, Quebec, Canada.

The winner of the Best Novel award is Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow (TOR Books). The Hall of Fame award was won by "The Lord of the Rings”, a 3-volume novel by J. R. R. Tolkien, written in 1955. Doctorow will receive a plaque and a one-ounce gold coin, while a smaller gold coin and a plaque will be presented to Tolkien's estate.

This was Doctorow's first nomination for a Prometheus award. Little Brother is a powerful cautionary tale about a high-school student and his friends who are rounded up in the hysteria following a terrorist attack. Doctorow focuses on the consequences and costs of the repression by government agencies in the aftermath of the attack. Marcus Yallow and some of his friends are rounded up and imprisoned in a general sweep, and Marcus' attempt to assert his rights earns him harsh treatment. After they are released, he works to undermine the terrorist state and build tools that make it possible for private citizens to communicate privately and to organize out of the government's sight. The emphasis is on how people find the courage to respond to oppression.

“The Lord of the Rings” has been nominated several times in the past. Tolkien's novel evokes the struggle between freedom and absolute tyranny and the dangerous temptations of power over others. His heroes (the hobbits) are everymen, but they rise above their humble station and struggle to ensure that their world will not be dominated by an absolute dictator. This classic work has delighted many readers of all ages for several decades, and has become the standard model for a quest novel. The struggle to escape oppression is central to the action, though it's taken for granted by the protagonists who just want to be left alone, but willingly shoulder the burden so others can be free.

The other finalists for Best Novel were Matter, by Iain Banks (Orbit Books), The January Dancer, by Michael Flynn (TOR Books), Saturn's Children, by Charles Stross (Ace Books), Opening Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove (Penguin/Roc Books), and Half a Crown, by Jo Walton (TOR Books). Twelve novels published in 2008 were nominated for the 2009 award.

The other finalists for the Hall of Fame award were Falling Free, a novel by Lois McMaster Bujold (1988), Courtship Rite, a novel by Donald M. Kingsbury (1982), “As Easy as A. B. C.,” a short story by Rudyard Kipling (1912), The Once and Future King, including The Book of Merlyn, a novel by T. H. White (1977), and The Golden Age, a novel by John C. Wright (2002).

The Prometheus awards (originally created in 1979) honor outstanding science fiction and fantasy that explores the possibilities of a free future, champions human rights (including personal and economic liberty), dramatizes the perennial conflict between individuals and coercive governments, or critiques the tragic consequences of abuse of power—especially by the State.