FLYNN, Michael F(rancis)

(1947-)

   US writer who began publishing sf with "Slan Libh" in ASF in 1984, and who soon became identified as one of the most sophisticated and stylistically acute 1980s Analog regulars, some of his work appearing as by Rowland Shew. His first novel, In the Country of the Blind (1990), is an alternate-history thriller based on the premise that Charles BABBAGE's early-19th-century COMPUTER did in fact work, and is being used by a secret society to predict (and therefore to control) events. A 20th-century woman hacker discovers the conspiracy and exposes itsdatabases by use of a computer worm. Babbage's computer, by coincidence, features similarly in THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE (1990 UK) by William GIBSON and Bruce STERLING. MFF's second novel was Fallen Angels (1991) with Larry NIVEN (whom see for details) and Jerry POURNELLE. His third, The NanotechChronicles (1991), presents, with all MFF's engagingly lurid competence, a tale which exploits current speculations about the future of molecular engineering. MFF is on the verge of becoming a central creator of HARD SF.

   JC

   See also: ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION; MACHINES; STEAMPUNK.