Pirate Cinema wins 2013 Prometheus Award

The 2013 Prometheus Award presentation took place on August 30, on the Riverwalk level at the San Antonio Convention Center. The outside temperature at 1pm, a humid and sticky 100 degrees. Fortunately room 0008A was air conditioned, although tucked away in the far corner of the convention center.

A sparse crowd attended the presentation. Fran Van Cleave, the chair of Programming at the Libertarian Futurist Society, opened the presentation by welcoming the audience. Cory Doctorow then was announced as the winner, for his novel, Pirate Cinema. This was Doctorow’s second Prometheus Award; his novel Little Brother won in 2009. The following were all the finalists for the Prometheus award best novel category:  Arctic Rising, by Tobias Buckell  Pirate Cinema, by Cory Doctorow
 The Unincorporated Future, by Dani and Eytan Kollin
 Darkship Renegades, by Sarah Hoyt
 Kill Decision, by Daniel Suarez

Doctorow did not attend Worldcon to receive the award in person. Instead, he was one of 60,000 individuals at Burning Man. His editor at Tor, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, received the plaque with the one-ounce gold coin (real money), and read Doctorow’s gracious acceptance speech. The plaques this year were designed by Kent Van Cleave, and both prominently featured the names of the winning authors and books. Nielsen Hayden speed-read though the two type-written pages, which appear elsewhere in this newsletter. After a brief photo op with the award, Neilsen Hayden departed.

Fran Van Cleave then read the nominees for the Hall of Fame Award. Unlike the Best Novel award, the Hall of Fame is open to a wide range of fiction, from short stories to novels, fiction to science fiction. The list of this year’s Hall of Fame nominees span fiction from 1912 through 1999.  “Sam Hall,” by Poul Anderson
 Falling Free, by Lois McMaster Bujold
 “'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman,” by Harlan Ellison
 Courtship Rite, by Donald M. Kingsbury
 “As Easy as A.B.C.”, by Rudyard Kipling
 Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

The most recent work of the list, Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, was announced as the Hall of Fame winner. Stephenson was not present to receive the award, nor was a representative available to receive it on his behalf. The handsome plaque with a one tenth ounce gold coin will be forwarded to him via his publisher.

The fairly short ceremony then concluded. Next year's Worldcon takes place in London, which means there is a choice of venues for the 2014 award presentation. This could either take place in London if an LFS member is going to LonCon, or in Detroit at DetCon, which is the site of NASFiC, the North American alternative to international Worldcons.