Michael Grossberg, who chairs the Prometheus Best Novel judging committee, presented the Best Novel category Aug. 30 at the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony. Here is the transcript of his speech.
The Prometheus Awards, one of the oldest-sustained annual fan-based sf/fantasy awards after the Hugos and Nebulas, are unique in recognizing fantastical fiction that dramatizes the perennial conflict between liberty and power.
Since the Prometheus Award for Best Novel was first presented in 1979, 46 novels have won this annual category. Today, we will honor a 47th.
This year’s five finalists represent a diverse range of fiction by authors who appreciate how freedom makes possible and helps sustain peace, prosperity, progress, civility and social harmony – while its absence increases the risk of war, tyranny and other abuses of power.
The 2025 Best Novel finalists, selected by the Prometheus Best Novel judging committee from 11 2024 novels nominated by LFS members, include:
Alliance Unbound, by C.J Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher
In the Belly of the Whale, by Michael Flynn
Cancelled: The Shape of Things to Come, by Danny King
Beggar’s Sky, by Wil McCarthy and
Mania, by Lionel Shriver
And the winner is Michael Flynn’s In the Belly of the Whale, published by CAEZIK SF & Fantasy.
Flynn, who sadly died in 2023 at 75, is now a three-time Prometheus winner, and the first Best Novel winner to be recognized posthumously.
When Flynn won his first award in 1991 for In the Country of the Blind, Illuminatus! co-author Bob Shea presented the award to him at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago.
Shea observed that “Flynn’s novel dealt with a conflict between free will and historical determinism.”
In his acceptance speech, Flynn said he was glad to finally learn what the novel was about.
Of course, all good novels incorporate multiple dimensions of meaning – and Flynn’s latest Prometheus winner is rich in its narrative, characters and themes.
An epic social novel, In the Belly of the Whale explores the complex lives, work, challenges and conflicts of 40,000 human colonists aboard a colossal generation ship during a long 12-light-years voyage to another star.
The ship’s society, future and survival are undermined by crew class divisions, enforced eugenics and a traditional shipboard command structure that has calcified into an authoritarian hereditary aristocracy.
Flynn’s last novel warns us, and generations to come, that without sustaining the culture of liberty, humanity may be doomed even if such ships do reach their distant destinations.
His enduring theme: The price of freedom (and survival itself) is eternal vigilance.
Congratulations to Flynn’s family and his publisher on his latest Prometheus recognition.
Michael’s brother Kevin Flynn, himself an author, will accept the award on behalf of Flynn’s family.
Note: Read Kevin Flynn’s acceptance speech for his late brother, which offers personal stories – many poignant and inspirational, and some amusing – about Michael Flynn’s childhood, coming of age and career.
WATCH THE 45TH PROMETHEUS AWARDS CEREMONY
* Watch the full 45-minute video of the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony, which was recorded Aug. 30, 2025 with six eloquent, thought-provoking, occasionally poignant or amusing speeches by David D. Friedman, Astrid Anderson Bear, Kevin Flynn, LFS President William H. Stoddard and LFS co-founder Michael Grossberg. The ceremony is posted on YouTube and available to see here.
ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS AND THE LFS
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.
* Prometheus winners: For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website. This page includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook page for comments, updates and links to the latest Prometheus Blog posts.
