“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
Novelist Michael Flynn at an sf convention several decades ago (File photo)
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.
“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.
LFS President William H. Stoddard emceed the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony, presented live on Zoom on Aug. 30, 2025. Here are his opening and closing remarks.
LFS President William H. Stoddard (Photo: Carol Stoddard)
Welcome to the Libertarian Futurist Society’s annual Prometheus Awards ceremony, in which we recognize outstanding works of libertarian science fiction. We’ve held these ceremonies every year since 1982, when L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach won Best Novel.
On one hand, we look for works that are pro-liberty — that explore the question of what a free society is, how we get there, or why the loss of freedom is a disaster.
On the other, we take “science fiction” to encompass all the fantastic genres: fantasy, many sorts of horror, alternative history, dystopia, utopia, and others.
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.
Mark your calendar: The45th 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.
To raise the visibility of the Prometheus Awards and reach out to recruit new members of the Libertarian Futurist Society, the LFS has created a new full-page ad, accented by our updated logo – just in time for the Seattle Worldcon.
The full-page ad, including a “bleed,” will appear in print in the Seattle Worldcon’s program book, to be distributed to all attendees during the Aug. 13-17 event at the Seattle Convention Center.
“Back in Homer’s day, people lived within an oral culture, then humans slowly developed a literate culture. Now we seem to be moving to a screen culture. Civilization was fun while it lasted.” – David Brooks
Both are admirable goals and crucial civilized values – and something to respect and remember as we celebrate Independence Day on July 4.
Both are difficult to achieve consistently and sustain over generations. And both, in my view, are deeply connected. In the long run, one may not be possible without the other.
Whether one studies history or philosophy, it becomes clear that the spread of literacy and the spread of liberty are deeply interwoven – and perhaps inextricably intertwined.
In the 21st century, when millions of people average three hours or more on their smartphones daily, most people claim they don’t have time to read. That’s a shame – and perhaps also a long-range problem for our civilization.
Certainly, reading is necessary to educate oneself in liberty and the liberal arts – and crucial to the Prometheus Awards.
While reading can be deeply rewarding, it’s also time-consuming, which is why the Libertarian Futurist Society wishes to express its gratitude to all of this past year’s LFS members and Prometheus Awards judges.
With the July 4 voting deadline just days away, it’s not too late for LFS members to submit their ballots to help select this year’s Prometheus winners.
Participating in the Prometheus Awards does require some significant reading, and to lighten the load and lift the spirits, here’s a great bookshelf illustration that may seem familiar to book lovers and sf/fantasy fans while eliciting an awkward smile of identification.
As a reminder, LFS members should email their ranked ballots no later than midnight Eastern time July 4 to the designated address.
Don’t be surprised when you go to renew your LFS membership in August or September. You’ll see new dues listed on the LFS website’s Membership page.
The Libertarian Futurist Society hasn’t increased the cost of its different levels of memberships since the 1990s. But as we head into the next membership-year cycle of renewals coming up this fall, dues for all six levels of LFS memberships are going up.
The LFS board of directors approved this belated increase unanimously during its May meeting – primarily in response to the rising cost of the gold coins we presentannually with the Prometheus Awards.
The dues increases will apply to all long-standing membership levels – Basic, Full, Sponsor and Benefactor – as well as to the new higher levels of Silver Benefactor and Gold Benefactor approved during the same board meeting.
With the Libertarian Futurist Society on the verge of sending Prometheus Awards ballots to LFS members, here’s a quick-reference guide to this year’s finalists.
This guide offers LFS members a timely summary of this year’s finalists in our two annual categories: Best Novel and the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.
Again this year, the Prometheus Blog was able to publish in-depth reviews of each of the finalists to add context and perspective on why each work deserved our recognition. So also included here, for the convenience of Prometheus voters, are links to each review.
Plus, this guide will offer tips on the availability of finalists – including links to those available free and online.
