Sad news: I’ve just heard that Michael F. Flynn, sci-fi writer and long-form blogger under the handle “The OFloinn,” died earlier this week. I first mentioned his writing in “What I’m reading lately: Dogs and Wolfe” (2023-07-01); I’d only just encountered it, but it was right up my alley¹ — deep dives into philosophy antique and/or scholastic, larded with offhand references to Chesterton, Belloc, Gilbert, Sayers, and Tom Lehrer. Flynn also produced, over the previous three decades, many award-winning science fiction stories and novels.

¹ Except for the font size.

This might be an appropriate week to read, or re-read, one of TOF’s long-form blogs, such as:

• 2013’s “The Great Ptolemaic Smackdown” (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX), on what happened to Galileo and why

• 2014’s “First Way” (0, I, II, III, IV), on Aristotle’s First Mover argument

• 2014–2016’s “In Psearch of Psyche” (I, II, III, IV, V, VI… apparently uncompleted), on the nature of the (vegetable, animal, human) soul

Rest in peace, TOF.