Michael Flynn (1947--2023) was an American SF writer whose work is mostly hard science fiction. His works include the near-future ''[[Literature/FirestarSeries Firestar]]'' series, ''The Wreck of the River of Stars'', ''Eifelheim '' and the SpaceOpera ''Literature/SpiralArm'' series.

He also wrote ''Literature/TheGreatPtolemaicSmackdown'', an account of the Galileo Affair.
----
!!Works by Michael Flynn:
[[index]]
* ''Literature/FirestarSeries''
* ''Literature/SpiralArm''
* ''Literature/TheForestOfTime''
* ''Literature/FallenAngels'' (with Creator/LarryNiven and Creator/JerryPournelle)
[[/index]]
----
!!Michael Flynn's works include examples of:
* AncientConspiracy: In ''Country of the Blind'', the 19th century produced a crop of competing conspiracies based on the use of "cliology" (substantially similar to psychohistory in Asimov's ''Literature/FoundationSeries''), a mathematical discipline which can be used to reliably predict and manipulate the course of historical events. One such group prefers to play the AncientTradition role of usually passive observation (while making killings in the stock market), while others seek power for its own sake.
* ObliviouslyEvil: In "The Promise of God", using magic erodes away a person's moral sense, so every magic user has to have a chaperone to constantly ride herd on them and stop them from, say, solving people's problems by simply killing them.
* SpaceWestern: "On the High Frontier" deliberately transplants Western cliches into space and gives them a hard-science spin.
* SpaceWhale: In "On The High Frontier" there are spacefaring creatures that resemble in part jellyfish, whales, and cattle, and are "herded" around the outer Solar System.
* StarshipLuxurious: In ''The Wreck of The River of Stars'', the starship ''The River of Stars'' started out as a luxury spaceliner.
----