Libertarian Futurist Society Makes Retro Hugo Endorsement

Yet another group has put its shoulder to the wheel in the effort to get Hugo voters to consider their political views first.

The Libertarian Futurist Society issued a press release today with recommendations for the 1939 Retro Hugos, to be given this year at Loncon 3.

Several classic works of fiction of interest to libertarians – from Ayn Rand’s Anthem to C. S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet and T. H. White’s The Sword in the Stone – are on the just-announced ballot for the Retro Hugo Awards….

The release tells how to join the con and vote, with this encouragement:

Rand’s Anthem – the other well-known finalist in this category – may have a good chance to win – especially if more of her fans find out about the retro Hugos and decide to join the Worldcon as voting members in the Hugos and retro Hugos.

The Lewis and White books are up for Best Novel, while Rand’s story is a Best Novella nominee.

The full press release follows the jump.

Classic libertarian novels are finalists for Retro Hugo Awards

Rand’s Anthem and novels by C. S. Lewis and T. H. White are finalists for the Retro-Hugo Awards

Several classic works of fiction of interest to libertarians – from Ayn Rand’s Anthem to C. S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet and T. H. White’s The Sword in the Stone – are on the just-announced ballot for the Retro Hugo Awards.

These awards will be decided by sci-fi fans who join this year’s World Science Fiction Convention as either attending or supporting members. The latter category is available at a significantly lower registration fee. The awards are part of a project to retroactively give awards for a few years in which WorldCons were held but no Hugos were awarded. The Hugo awards are the leading annual recognition of outstanding sci-fi and fantasy by the world’s science fiction fans. This year’s retro Hugo ballot focuses on nominations for the year 1939.

Lewis’ novel, a finalist in the Best Novel category, is the first of his sci-fi trilogy that includes Perelandra and culminates with That Hideous Strength (a frequent nominee for the Prometheus Hall of Fame award for its strong critique of mid-20th-century collectivism and scientism).

White’s The Sword in the Stone, also a finalist for Best Novel, is the first of the five “books” that make up “The Once and Future King,” White’s popular retelling of the legend of King Arthur and explicitly champions individualism over collectivism.

Rand’s early work Anthem, a poetic parable about the rediscovery of the ego in a collectivist world, is one of 5 finalists in the Best Novella category. Rand’s most serious rival for the honor may be Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, the legendary sf editor who is considered a father of modern sci-fi and who, as an editor, worked closely with Robert Heinlein and other masters of sci-fi’s golden age. Who Goes There?, voted one of the finest sf novellas ever written in 1973 by the Science Fiction Writers of America, inspired three sci-fi horror films (including The Thing) about a dangerous alien discovered near the North Pole.

But Rand’s Anthem – the other well-known finalist in this category – may have a good chance to win – especially if more of her fans find out about the retro Hugos and decide to join the Worldcon as voting members in the Hugos and retro Hugos.

The 2014 Hugo award winners – and the 1939 retro Hugos – will be announced Aug. 14 in London at Loncon 3, the World Science Fiction Convention.

The deadline for online ballots and receipt of paper ballots for those who want to vote on the retro Hugos is Thursday July 31, 2014.

Rates until July 13 are 135 British pounds for full attending Memberships for adults, and 25 pounds for supporters (who can vote for all awards).

For more information about voting membership (you can sign up online), visit www.loncon3.org  (Signing up for a supporting membership and paying with a credit card is easy and takes less than five minutes.)

3 thoughts on “Libertarian Futurist Society Makes Retro Hugo Endorsement

  1. i read ANTHEM as a teen, thought it was reflective of a few other anti utopian books, sort of good, but not terribly realistic. It’s a short Ayn Rant book, can be read in about an hour.

    With this kind of voting block mentality surfacing, maybe it’s time to reconsider the retro Hugos and dump the concept.

  2. I expect that the next thing we’ll hear on the subject of the Hugos is that the ballot counters have been disqualifying ex-felons, and that the ballots have “hanging chads.”

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