A Proposal

Long before the Prometheus Award was established great novels were written that demonstrated the value of individual liberty. This is why the Prometheus Hall of Fame was created: to honor outstanding fiction from previous generations.

And the novels that have been inducted into our Hall of Fame so far represent the highest level of quality and significance. From Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, from Robert Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress to George Orwell’s 1984, our Hall of Fame winners have stood the test of time.

All Hall of Fame possi– bilities—both winners and finalists—should stand the same test of time. Ideally, at least a generation should pass before contemporary novels are eligible for consideration. After all, contemporary novels are considered for recognition through our Prometheus Awards.

Unfortunately, when the Hall of Fame was established in 1983 we didn’t think that far ahead. We required any Hall of Fame nominee to be at least five years old, in retrospect, that rule seems woefully deficient.

Think about it. “If this goes on,” to quote the title of one of Heinlein’s most prescient short stories, then the Hall of Fame could be reduced to sort of johnny-come-lately Prometheus Awards list, a novel that didn’t win one award might appear just a few years later on the other award's list.

Such duplication would undermine the very raison d’etre of the Hall of Fame. In fact, it would make the Hall of Fame irrelevant—a “booby prize” Prometheus Award for those books that didn’t win the first time they were considered.

Of course, such a possibility—even if it remains merely a possibility in most years—would destroy the credibility of the Hall of Fame. At this early date in the history of the Hall of Fame, what we must do is be vigilant about maintaining and enhancing the stature of both the Hall of Fame and Prometheus Awards. Nothing less will allow us to achieve our goal of having an impact on the future of freedom—and the future of fiction.

So far, all Hall of Fame winners were originally published before the first Prometheus Award winner—F. Paul Wilson’s Wheels Within Wheels, which was published in 1978. Let’s keep it that way for now.

Here’s what I propose:

Why 1975? Why not, for example, 1977, the year before the first Prometheus Award? First, 1975 is an easily remembered date, marking off the last quarter of the twentieth century from earlier eras. Second, the wonderfully satirical Illuminatus! trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson came out in 1975, making it the most recently published Hall of Fame nominee. That year might be the best cut-off point, until enough time passes to give us the critical distance that only a historical perspective can provide. All other Hall of Fame winners were published from the 1930’s through the 1960’s. Many more worthwhile novels were published during and before that era.

With the modern rule change, the Hall of Fame will preserve its separate identity and separate purpose from the Prometheus Award. It would be a shame to ignore the libertarian classics from earlier generations, many of which still have not been included in the Hall of Fame. Let’s concentrate on these worthwhile books first. There will be time enough to acknowledge more contemporary novels in future decades.

Michael Grossberg, the founder of the Libertarian Futurist Society, is the science fiction critic for The Cincinnati Enquirer. He helped create the Hall of Fame.