A Political History of SF 2005 Prometheus Awards, Pages 2 & 8 by Eric S
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Liberty and Culture Vol. 24, No. 1 Fall 2005 A Political History of SF 2005 Prometheus Awards, pages 2 & 8 By Eric S. Raymond The history of modern SF is one of five attempted revolu- written, the center of the Campbellian revolution was “hard SF”, tions—one success and four enriching failures. I’m going to offer a form that made particularly stringent demands on both author you a look at them from an unusual angle, a political one. This and reader. Hard SF demanded that the science be consistent both turns out to be useful perspective because more of the history of internally and with known science about the real world, permitting SF than one might expect is intertwined with political questions, only a bare minimum of McGuffins like faster-than-light star drives. and SF had an important role in giving birth to at least one distinct Hard SF stories could be, and were, mercilessly slammed because the political ideology that is alive and important today. author had calculated an orbit or gotten a detail of physics or biology The first and greatest of the revolutions came out of the minds wrong. Readers, on the other hand, needed to be scientifically literate of John Wood Campbell and Robert Heinlein, the editor and the to appreciate the full beauty of what the authors were doing. author who invented modern science fiction. The pivotal year was There was also a political aura that went with the hard-SF style, 1937, when John Campbell took over the editorship of Astounding one exemplified by Campbell and right-hand man Robert Heinlein. Science Fiction. He published Robert Heinlein’s first story a little over That tradition was of ornery and insistent individualism, venera- a year later. tion of the competent man, an instinctive distrust of coercive social Pre-Campbellian science fiction bubbled up from the American engineering and a rock-ribbed objectivism that valued knowing how pulp magazines of the 1910s and 1920s, inspired by pioneers like things work and treated all political ideologizing with suspicion. Jules Verne and H.G. Wells but mostly recycling an endless series Exceptions like Asimov’s Foundation novels only threw the implicit of cardboard cliches: mad scientists, lost races, menacing bug-eyed politics of most other Campbellian SF into sharper relief. monsters, coruscating death rays, and screaming blondes in brass At the time, this very American position was generally thought underwear. With a very few exceptions (like E.E. “Doc” Smith’s of by both allies and opponents as a conservative or right-wing one. Skylark of Space and sequels) the stuff was teeth-jarringly bad; But the SF community’s version was never conservative in the strict unless you have a specialist interest in the history of the genre I don’t sense of venerating past social norms—how could it be, when SF recommend seeking it out. literature cheerfully contemplated radical changes in social arrange- John Campbell had been one of the leading writers of space opera ments and even human nature itself ? SF’s insistent individualism also from 1930, second only to E.E. “Doc” Smith in inventiveness. When led it to reject racism and feature strong female characters decades he took over Astounding, he did so with a vision: one that demanded before the rise of political correctness ritualized these behaviors in higher standards of both scientific plausibility and story-crafting other forms of art. skill than the field had ever seen before. He discovered and trained Nevertheless, some writers found the confines of the field too a group of young writers who would dominate the field for most of narrow, or rejected Campbellian orthodoxy for other reasons. The the next fifty years. Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, first revolt against hard SF came in the early 1950s from a group Poul Anderson, and Hal Clement were among them. of young writers centered around Frederik Pohl and the Futurians Heinlein was the first of Campbell’s discoveries and, in the fan club in New York. The Futurians invented a kind of SF in end, the greatest. It was Heinlein who invented the technique of description by indirection—the art of describing his future worlds not through lumps of exposition but by presenting it through the —Continued on page 12 eyes of his characters, subtly leading the reader to fill in by deduc- tion large swathes of background that a lesser author would have drawn in detail. Inside Prometheus: From World War II into the 1950s Campbell’s writers—many Reviews of fiction by Kazuo Ishiguro, working scientists and engineers who knew leading-edge technology Jerry Oltion, John Twelve Hawks, from the inside—created the Golden Age of science fiction. Other SF pulpzines competing with Astounding raised their standards and Gen LaGreca; John David; new ones were founded. The field took the form of an extended James P. Hogan conversation, a kind of proto-futurology worked out through stories Serenity, the Movie & the Comic Book that often implicitly commented on each other. While space operas and easy adventure stories continued to be WorldCon photos & reports Prometheus Volume 24, Number 1, 2005 Libertarian Futurists Announce The newsletter of the 2005 Prometheus Awards Libertarian Futurist Society By Michael Grossberg Editor Anders Monsen The Libertarian Futurist Society an- having a positive effect on the dissemination nounced the annual winners of the of libertarian ideas.” Contributors Prometheus Award August 5 in Glasgow, The LFS, founded in 1982, presents Wally Conger Scotland at the 63rd World Science Fiction occasional Special Awards for outstanding Michael Grossberg Convention. achievement. The first Special Award was Chris Hibbert • Neal Stephenson won this year’s award presented in 1998 to Free Space, the first Max Jahr for Best Novel for The System of the libertarian sf anthology. The second Special Fred Moulton World. Award, and the first for lifetime achieve- Eric S. Raymond • A. E. van Vogt’s novel, The Weapon ment, was presented to Grand Master Poul William H. Stoddard Shops of Isher, won the Hall of Fame Anderson in 2000. David Wayland Award The other finalists for Best Novel were: • The Probability Broach: The State of Fear, by Michael Crichton (Harper Graphic Novel, written by L. Neil Smith Collins); Anarquia, by Brad Linaweaver and illustrated by Scott Bieser, won a Special and Kent J. Hastings (Sense of Wonder Award. Press); Newton’s Wake, by Ken MacLeod Letters and Submissions: • Give Me Liberty and Visions of (TOR Books); and Marque and Reprisal, Anders Monsen Liberty, anthologies edited by Mark Tier by Elizabeth Moon (Ballantine Books/Del 501 Abiso Ave and Martin H. Greenberg for Baen Books, Rey). Fourteen 2004 novels were nominated San Antonio, TX 78209 won a Special Award. for the 2005 award. [email protected] This is Stephenson’s first Prometheus The other finalists for the Hall of Fame Award after four nominations. The devel- award were: It Can’t Happen Here, a 1936 Subscriptions & Advertisements opment in the 1700s of the modern world’s novel by Sinclair Lewis; V for Vendetta, Libertarian Futurist Society classical liberal institutions, which paved a graphic novel (1988-89) by Alan Moore 650 Castro St. Suite 120-433 the way for modern libertarianism, is ex- and David Lloyd; A Time of Changes, a Mountain View, CA 94041 plored in the climax of the author’s ambi- 1971 novel by Robert Silverberg; and The [email protected] tious Baroque Cycle trilogy, which includes Lord of the Rings, the 1954 trilogy by J. Prometheus nominees Quicksilver and R. R. Tolkien. Basic Membership: $25/yr. ($30 int'l) The Confusion. The trilogy is a prequel The Prometheus awards for Best Novel, Full Membership: $50/yr. to Cryptonomicon, a 2000 Prometheus Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) and (oc- Sponsors: $100/yr. finalist for Best Novel. casional) Special awards honor outstanding Benefactors: $200/yr. A. E. van Vogt, the late author celebrated science fiction/fantasy that explores the pos- Subscriptions: $20/yr. ($25 int'l) as one of the masters of science fiction’s sibilities of a free future, champions human All memberships include one-year Golden Age, won for Best Classic Fiction (the rights (including personal and economic subscriptions. Hall of Fame) for The Weapon Shops of liberty), dramatizes the perennial conflict be- Isher, an imaginative and clever 1951 novel tween individuals and coercive governments, Classified ads: 50 cents/word, 10 percent dramatizing the power of self-defense to or critiques the tragic consequences of abuse off for multiple insertions. Display ad sustain personal freedom. This is van Vogt’s of power—especially by the State. rates available. All checks payable to the first Prometheus Award. Libertarian Futurist Society Author L. Neil Smith and artist Scott Bieser shared a Special Award for “reaching See a complete convention report, new audiences by presenting a libertarian speeches from the winners, and photos, on page 8. Prometheus © 2005 the Libertarian Fu- classic in graphic form” with The Prob- ability Broach: The Graphic Novel, an turist Society. The LFS retains a non- To nominate books for the 2006 exclusive license to republish accepted imaginative and vivid condensed adaptation of Smith’s Prometheus Award-winning 1982 Prometheus Awards: articles on its Web site; all other rights Best Novel: Michael Grossberg, revert to the contributor. Letters and novel. Give Me Liberty and Visions of [email protected] and 614- reviews are welcome. Bylined articles 236-5040 are strictly the opinion of the writer and Liberty, pro-freedom anthologies edited by Mark Tier and Martin H. Greenberg and do not necessarily reflect the opinion Hall of Fame: Lynn Maners, of the LFS members.