Celebrating the 45th Prometheus Awards: A heartfelt family tribute to the late great Michael Flynn, three-time Best Novel winner

“He lived exactly the life he wanted to live.”
– Kevin Flynn, about his brother Michael

Two-time Prometheus winner Michael Flynn (Creative Commons license)

Michael Flynn won his third Prometheus Award for Best Novel for his posthumously published In the Belly of the Whale.

Here is the text of the eloquent, poignant and very personal acceptance speech by Kevin Flynn, brother of the late novelist, who died in 2023 at 75. The speech was recorded and presented Aug. 30, 2025, during the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony.

By Kevin Flynn

On behalf of Michael Flynn’s family, his daughter Sara, his son Dennis, his grandchildren Noelle, Zaid, and Adam, and his brothers Sean and Patrick, it is my privilege to be chosen by them to speak here today and accept this award. I know that Michael would be deeply moved by this recognition, which will serve as the capstone of his distinguished science fiction bibliography. Thank you so much for recognizing our brother’s work.

As Michael was nominated for the Prometheus Awards nine times, chosen as a Best Novel finalist eight of those times, and won the Best Novel award now for the third time, you know well of Michael’s passion for learning, for liberty, for liberation of the mind and pushing back on authority in pursuit of freedom of thought and expression.

For those of us who knew him so well, we know he would be reluctant to display his pride as publicly and shamelessly as I am going to do on his behalf. That was simply who our big brother was. But he was so much more, and I hope to use this short time to tell you what kind of human our brother was.

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Here’s the Zoom link to watch the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony with speeches by David Friedman, Astrid Anderson Bear, Kevin Flynn and more


 

Mark your calendar and tune in to watch the 45th Prometheus Awards!

Half a dozen interesting and inspiring speakers, including three book authors, will participate in the 40-minute live ceremony, scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Saturday (Eastern time) Aug. 30 and open to the public via Zoom.

Poul Anderson, a seven-time Prometheus winner, who died in 2001 (Creative Commons license)
Three-time Prometheus winner Michael Flynn, who died in 2023 (Creative Commons license)

This will be the first ceremony in the Prometheus Awards’ 46-year history in which both winners will be recognized posthumously – with eloquent, personal, revealing, amusing and inspirational speeches about their lives and works by the family members who loved them and knew them best.

Continue reading Here’s the Zoom link to watch the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony with speeches by David Friedman, Astrid Anderson Bear, Kevin Flynn and more



The 2025 Prometheus Awards ceremony is set for Aug. 30 via Zoom, with libertarian theorist and novelist David Friedman presenting the Hall of Fame


By Michael Grossberg

Mark your calendar: The 45th Prometheus Awards has been confirmed for Saturday Aug. 30, with a leading libertarian thinker and novelist as a guest presenter.

The Zoom-led ceremony will run from 2 to 3 p.m. that Saturday (Eastern time) and will be open to all LFS members and the public. (The Zoom link is below.)

Among the speakers: leading libertarian thinker and fantasy novelist David D. Friedman, who will present the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction; Astrid Anderson Bear, daughter of the late sf/fantasy writer Poul Anderson, a frequent Prometheus Awards winner; CAEZIK SF & Fantasy publisher Shahid Mahmud; author Kevin Flynn, brother of the late sf novelist Michael Flynn, a three-time Prometheus winner; LFS President William H. Stoddard, and Libertarian Futurist Society co-founder Michael Grossberg.

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The 2025 Prometheus Awards ceremony is set for Aug. 30 via Zoom, with libertarian theorist and novelist David Friedman presenting the Hall of Fame


The Locus rave review of Michael Flynn’s last novel – with a remarkable apology – may signal a broader re-evaluation of the three-time Prometheus winner


By Michael Grossberg

Winning literary awards and receiving rave reviews can boost the careers of novelists, by raising their visibility and enhancing their reputation. That’s sadly no longer fully possible for the late great Michael Flynn.

Michael Flynn, a three-time Prometheus Best Novel winner (Creative Commons license)

Flynn, who died in 2023 at 75, recently was announced in an LFS press release as the 2025 winner of the Prometheus Award for Best Novel for In the Belly of the Whale.

His epic social novel, a sobering drama about challenges and conflicts among the crew on a vast colony ship two centuries into a projected eight-century voyage to settle Tau Ceti, was the last novel Flynn wrote before his death. 

Published in 2024 by CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, Flynn’s novel has garnered some attention – especially an extraordinary review in Locus magazine (excerpted below) that amounts to a mea culpa for previously overlooking and underestimating Flynn.

Yet, both during his five-decade writing career and after his passing, Flynn has not garnered as much attention and appreciation from other critics and mainstream publications as I think the author and his last book deserve.

Shahid Mahmud, CAEZIK founder-publisher and a huge enthusiast for Flynn’s fiction, agrees. Mahmud tells me that he considers Flynn one of the most underestimated science fiction writers of his generation.

Continue reading The Locus rave review of Michael Flynn’s last novel – with a remarkable apology – may signal a broader re-evaluation of the three-time Prometheus winner


Michael Flynn, now a three-time Prometheus winner, wins posthumous Best Novel recognition for In the Belly of the Whale

By Michael Grossberg

For the first time in Prometheus Awards history, our annual Best Novel award has gone to a posthumous work.

Novelist Michael Flynn at an sf convention several decades ago (File photo)

Michael Flynn, who died in 2023 at 75, was able to finish writing In the Belly of the Whale before his passing.

CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, a strong supporter of Flynn’s work, published Flynn’s last novel in 2024.

The epic science fiction novel, a suspenseful and insightful exploration of the complex challenges, conflicts and threats to liberty aboard a large colony ship two centuries into a projected eight-century voyage to Tau Ceti, has now won the 2025 Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

Continue reading Michael Flynn, now a three-time Prometheus winner, wins posthumous Best Novel recognition for In the Belly of the Whale

Michael Flynn’s legacy: How the Best Novel finalists have received broader cultural recognition (Part Five)


By Michael Grossberg

Two-time Prometheus winner Michael Flynn has become a Best Novel finalist again this year for In the Belly of the Whale, an epic work illuminating the complex lives, work, challenges, conflicts and threats to liberty aboard a large colony ship two centuries into a projected eight-century voyage to Tau Ceti.

Two-time Prometheus winner Michael Flynn (Creative Commons license)

Flynn previously won the Prometheus Award for Best Novel for In the Country of the Blind (in 1991) and Fallen Angels (in 1992), co-written with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

One of the most frequently recognized authors within the 46-year history of the Prometheus Awards, Flynn wrote works that were ranked Best Novel finalists seven times – a track record exceeded only by Ken MacLeod, L. Neil Smith and F. Paul Wilson.

Sadly, Flynn, who died at 75 in 2023, is no longer around to do interviews about his final, posthumous novel.

But in Part Five of our ongoing Prometheus Blog series documenting how each of our 2025 Best Novel finalists have received broader cultural recognition for their fiction, talent and imagination, we offer the next best thing: One of the best and last interviews Flynn gave before he passed.

Continue reading Michael Flynn’s legacy: How the Best Novel finalists have received broader cultural recognition (Part Five)


The Best Novel finalists range from exciting visions of humanity’s challenging possible futures in space to cautionary dystopian tales on Earth

By Michael Grossberg

This year’s five Prometheus Best Novel finalists plausibly imagine everything from dystopian Earth scenarios sparked by authoritarian true-believer cults to more positive but challenging interstellar futures for humanity.

C.J. Cherryh, left, and Jane Fancher (Photo courtesy of Jane Fancher)

Works published in 2024 by C.J. Cherryh & Jane S. Fancher, Michael Flynn, Danny King, Wil McCarthy and Lionel Shriver will be competing for the 45th Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

Two-time Prometheus winner Michael Flynn (File photo)

First presented in 1979, the Prometheus Awards have recognized hundreds of authors and a dizzying variety of works. This year’s slate of finalists embrace the old and the new.

Of these authors, British writer Danny King is new to our award, being recognized for the first time as a Best Novel finalist.

British writer Danny King (Creative Commons license)

Lionel Shriver, a Portugal-based American writer who’s lived in Nairobi, Bangkok, Belfast and London, is being recognized for the third time as a Best Novel finalist.

Author Lionel Shriver in 2006 Photo: Walnut Whippet, Creative Commons license

Wil McCarthy, and writing partners Cherryh and Fancher, each previously won a Prometheus Award, while Flynn (1947-2023) is a two-time previous Best Novel winner being recognized posthumously for what may be his last work.

Novelist Wil McCarthy (Photo courtesy of Baen Books)

In brief, here are this year’s Best Novel finalists, in alphabetical order by author:
* Alliance Unbound, by C.J Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher (DAW)
* In the Belly of the Whale, by Michael Flynn (CAEZIK SF & Fantasy)
* Cancelled: The Shape of Things to Come, by Danny King (Annie Mosse Press)
* Beggar’s Sky, by Wil McCarthy (Baen Books)
* Mania, by Lionel Shriver (HarperCollins Publishers)

Continue reading The Best Novel finalists range from exciting visions of humanity’s challenging possible futures in space to cautionary dystopian tales on Earth

Best Novel finalist review: Michael Flynn’s In the Belly of the Whale offers sobering drama about un-libertarian aspects of multi-generation colony-ship voyages

By Michael Grossberg

In the Belly of the Whale, the ambitious final and posthumous novel by two-time Prometheus winner Michael Flynn, explores the complex lives, work, challenges and conflicts aboard a large colony ship two centuries into a projected eight-century voyage to Tau Ceti.

The epic multifaceted 472-page novel takes some time to fully introduce its large cast of characters among 40,000 people who live in the hollowed-out asteroid ship dubbed The Whale. Yet, patience is rewarded with Flynn’s highly plausible and intricate world-building and wise grasp of human nature.

In the Belly of the Whale – one of 11 2024 novels nominated for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel – builds dramatic intensity coupled with rich and even revelatory insights that freshen this seemingly familiar SF subgenre while raising deeper questions than most SF writers, scientists or space-colonization enthusiasts have considered about the prospects and costs of such generations-long voyages.

Continue reading Best Novel finalist review: Michael Flynn’s In the Belly of the Whale offers sobering drama about un-libertarian aspects of multi-generation colony-ship voyages

A diverse slate of firsts and lasts: 11 Prometheus Best Novel nominees offer SF and fantasy, drama, mystery and satirical cautionary tales

By Michael Grossberg

Eleven 2024 novels have been nominated for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

Writer Howard Andrew Jones (Photo courtesy of Baen Books)

Broadly embracing many forms of speculative fiction including science fiction, fantasy, dystopian cautionary tales and near-future political-tech thrillers, the diverse slate offers a wide variety and blends of genres, styles and themes – from the serious to the darkly satirical.

Two-time Prometheus winner Michael Flynn (Creative Commons license)

Most poignantly, this will be the last time that two authors are nominated for Best Novel because they’ve sadly passed away: Michael Flynn and Howard Andrew Jones.

Flynn, a two-time Prometheus winner for Best Novel, died in 2023 at 75.

Jones, a Best Novel finalist last year, died in January 2025 at 56.

Continue reading A diverse slate of firsts and lasts: 11 Prometheus Best Novel nominees offer SF and fantasy, drama, mystery and satirical cautionary tales

2024 Prometheus Awards: Best Novel presenter Victor Koman’s speech on mortality, the awards’ longevity, the diversification of publishing and the future of liberty


Victor Koman, a veteran libertarian SF writer, had the honor of presenting the Best Novel category Sunday at the 44th Prometheus Awards ceremony.

Prometheus-winning novelist Victor Koman in 2019 Photo courtesy of Koman

Who better to fulfill that role than Koman, one of very few writers to win as many as three Prometheus awards for Best Novel?

Here, for the record, is the transcript of Koman’s speech.

Continue reading 2024 Prometheus Awards: Best Novel presenter Victor Koman’s speech on mortality, the awards’ longevity, the diversification of publishing and the future of liberty