“I think Michael was one of the most underrated authors in the genre… his work holds up to some of the best science fiction I’ve ever read.
— Shahid Mahmud, publisher of CAEZIK SF & Fantasy
Introduction: CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, a company led by Shahid Mahmud, published Michael Flynn’s last and posthumous novel In the Belly of the Whale, the 2025 Prometheus winner for Best Novel – and the first novel originally published by CAEZIK to win a Prometheus Award.
In his comments during the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony, Mahmud paid tribute to Flynn, who died in 2023 at 75 after an impressive career writing science fiction. Winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award, Flynn was nominated seven times for the Hugo Award (including Best Novel for Eifelheim) and eight times for the Prometheus Award, winning three times for Best Novel.
Here is the slightly edited transcript from Mahmud’s acceptance speech Aug. 30, 2025, which followed the very personal, inspiring and amusing family-oriented speech by Michael’s brother Kevin Flynn during the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony.
By Shahid Mahmud
I have very different political views than Michael (Flynn) did, and we loved having some debates. But he never ever took offense at anything I said.
Especially In this day and age, it is so refreshing to be able to argue with someone when you know you are actually having a discussion.
A WILLINGNESS TO EXPLORE IDEAS
That was all Michael. He would relish, in fact, some of my opinions so he could argue against them, but in a friendly manner, like two adults having a discussion.
I really loved that about him, because it showed true respect – not for me in particular, but for ideas and his willingness to explore ideas even if he didn’t agree with them.
We were two people, just sitting and having a discussion. That’s something that we all can learn from in this day and age.
ONE OF THE MOST UNDERRATED SF AUTHORS
I am not saying this because I published him: Michael was one of my favorite authors. I think he was one of the most underrated authors in the genre, in terms of how well he was known among the readers. I think his work holds up to some of the best science fiction I’ve ever read.
He was known as a hard science fiction writer, but I think the term does him an injustice. Don’t get me wrong. The science in his book is immaculate. And I know how hard he worked at that, but I think his work is a lot more.
FLYNN’S STORY “MELODIES OF THE HEART”
Obviously, Michael spun good stories. But he had that secret power to make characters that we really cared about. I rarely have felt more empathy for characters than I have for some of his.
If you have any doubts about that, just read the absolutely stunning novella he wrote called “Melodies of the Heart,” published in The Forest of Time collection that Kevin (Flynn, Michael’s brother) mentioned.
To me, in that story, the science even becomes irrelevant. It’s about the human condition, about grief and loss. I don’t know anyone who can read that story without shedding a tear.
FLYNN’S HUGO-NOMINATED NOVEL EIFELHEIM
His prose, when he was at the top of his form, I don’t think could be bested. The use of language in Eifelheim, published by TOR, is almost lyrical in the poetic use of language. Parts of his book are almost poetry written as prose.
(Editor’s note: A Hugo Awards Best Novel finalist, Eifelheim is a science fiction alien-first-contact novel that alternates between 1348 in Europe during the Black Death and today, when a contemporary historian and his physicist girlfriend become interested in solving the mystery of how a small German town disappeared in 1348 and has never been resettled.
Eifelheim also incorporates some libertarian and anti-authoritarian themes, as reflected in this quote: ““I fear the hands of all those neighbors, raised together, may impose one day a tyranny weightier than the hand of a single lord. With a lord, at least you know who to bring to account, but when a mob raises its many hands, which holds the blame?”)
If you haven’t read anything by Flynn, do yourself a favor and read him. You will find some of the best science fiction stories and in some of the best-written works out there.
CHARACTERS TO CARE ABOUT
But let me warn you about something.
I’ll close with this: He loved killing characters.
If you remember his novel The Wreck of the River of Stars, nearly everybody dies. You get invested in his characters, because he wrote good characters, and then he kills them almost all off.
And this is an absolutely true story. I once asked him to write a number of novellas for me for a collection. And I told him, ‘please, please, Michael, just don’t kill off your characters.’
DON’T KILL THE BABY!
Soon enough, I got a message from him: ‘Shahid, I have to kill off the baby.’
I said: ‘No, no, Michael, you can’t kill the baby! You can’t kill off babies in stories. People don’t like it.’
But he insists. And then he sends me the story…. and he had to kill off the baby.
So rest in peace, Michael, and thank you for all the joy – and the sadness, with his onus for killing off those characters.
And thank you to the Prometheus people for recognizing his outstanding talent.
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.
Note: Michael Flynn won his first Prometheus Award for Best Novel in 1991 for In the Country of the Blind and his second in 1992 for Fallen Angels, co-written with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
Read the Prometheus Blog appreciation for Flynn’s In the Belly of the Whale, the 2025 Best Novel winner.
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.
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