{"id":6548,"date":"2023-11-01T14:01:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T19:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=6548"},"modified":"2025-06-19T20:09:27","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T01:09:27","slug":"michael-f-flynn-has-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/michael-f-flynn-has-died\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-time Prometheus winner Michael F. Flynn has died"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nWe are sorry to have to report that science fiction writer Michael F. Flynn has died. He was 75. Here is the obituary from\u00a0 his local newspaper in Pennsylvania.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Flynn won the Prometheus Award twice, in 1991 for In the Country of the Blind,<\/em> and in 1992 for Fallen Angels<\/em> (a collaboration with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Country of the Blind\u00a0<\/em>offers a suspenseful and pioneering \u201csteampunk\u201d-style adventure story that weaves in the use of Victorian technology and social transformation with a secret history, acquiring \u201clibertarian implications in its portrayal of lost freedom of choice,\u201d according to William H. Stoddard\u2019s Prometheus Blog appreciation<\/a> of the 1991 Prometheus Best Novel winner.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fallen Angels, <\/em>meanwhile, focuses on a group of individualistic, science-loving and freedom-loving misfits in a future in which the government has turned anti-science and anti-technology in a coalition among Greens, feminists and religious fundamentalists.<\/p>\n

The novel\u2019s title refers to two astronauts from NASA\u2019s stranded and closed-down space station who fall to earth while on one of their desperate flights to beef up the station\u2019s diminishing gas supplies by scooping up nitrogen gases from the Earth\u2019s outer atmosphere.<\/p>\n

For more about the 1992 Prometheus Best Novel winner, read the Prometheus Blog appreciation.<\/a><\/p>\n

OTHER WORKS<\/strong>
\nFlynn (1947-2023) was nominated numerous other times for the Prometheus Award and for the Hugo Award.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Flynn\u2019s other Prometheus-recognized novels include The January Dancer,\u00a0<\/em>a 2009 Best Novel finalist; Falling Stars<\/em>, a 2002 Best Novel finalist; Lodestar,\u00a0<\/em>a 2001 Best Novel finalist; Rogue Star<\/em>, a 1999 Best Novel finalist; and Firestar,<\/em> a 1997 Best Novel finalist.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Flynn, who died on Sept. 30, 2023, was the first winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Medal.<\/p>\n

Among his other novels: Eifelheim, The Wreck of the River of Stars\u00a0<\/em>and his Spiral Arm Series (including The January Dancer, Up Jim River, In the Lion\u2019s Mouth\u00a0<\/em>and On the Razor\u2019s Edge.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Much of Flynn\u2019s short fiction was published in Analog<\/em> magazine. His novelette \u201cHouse of Dreams\u201d won a Theodore Sturgeon Award in 1998. His short-story collections include The Nanotech Chronicles, The Forest of Time and other stories,\u00a0<\/em>and Captive Dreams.<\/em><\/p>\n

His new novel In the Belly of the Whale<\/em> will appear in May 2024.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

That perhaps-final Flynn work may well end up a contender for another Prometheus Award – based on the libertarian themes outlined in the book’s description on Amazon:<\/p>\n

“In the Belly of the Whale<\/em>\u00a0is a gripping epic that takes readers on a profound voyage through time and space aboard an enormous generation ship. The narrative captures the poignant transformation of Earth’s finest minds into a stifling regime, their rigid rules sparking an uprising among the hard-pressed crew.<\/p>\n

This provocative tale delves into the price of freedom, the metamorphosis of societies, and the repeating patterns of tyranny and liberation. Against this, Earth itself is undergoing a significant period of change, offering a layered, thought-provoking backdrop to the story.<\/p>\n

In the Belly of the Whale<\/em>\u00a0is a compelling exploration of humanity’s enduring pursuit of freedom, pushing the boundaries of the genre to offer a deeply insightful study of societal evolution and individual resilience. This is more than a space odyssey; it’s an invitation to delve into the heart of the human spirit and societal dynamics.”<\/p>\n

See the Wikipedia biography<\/a> for more details.<\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 for the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to the full set of published appreciation-reviews of past winners.<\/p>\n

* Read\u00a0\u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant elements of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch\u00a0 <\/strong>videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer and Sarah Hoyt),Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us<\/strong>! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards,\u00a0join\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are sorry to have to report that science fiction writer Michael F. Flynn has died. He was 75. Here is the obituary from\u00a0 his local newspaper in Pennsylvania.\u00a0 Mr. Flynn won the Prometheus Award twice, in 1991 for In the Country of the Blind, and in 1992 for Fallen Angels (a collaboration with Larry … Continue reading Two-time Prometheus winner Michael F. Flynn has died<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,2665,30],"tags":[1657,216,2130,2131,2129,205,17,97,2128,204,46,2132,2133],"class_list":["post-6548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-updates","category-michael-flynn","category-obit","tag-best-novel-winner","tag-fallen-angels","tag-falling-stars","tag-firestar","tag-in-the-belly-of-the-whale","tag-in-the-country-of-the-blind","tag-jerry-pournelle","tag-larry-niven","tag-lodestar","tag-michael-flynn","tag-prometheus-awards","tag-rogue-star","tag-the-january-dancer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-1HC","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6548"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6556,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6548\/revisions\/6556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}