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Lucius Shepard

American novelist (1943–2014) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lucius Shepard
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Lucius Shepard (August 21, 1943 – March 18, 2014) was an American writer. Classified as a science fiction and fantasy writer, he often leaned into other genres, such as magical realism.

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Career

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Shepard was a native of Lynchburg, Virginia, where he was born in 1943.[1] His first short stories appeared in 1983, and his first novel, Green Eyes, appeared in 1984. At the time, he was considered part of the cyberpunk movement. Shepard came to writing late,[2] having first enjoyed a varied career, including a stint playing rock and roll in the Midwest and extensive travel throughout Europe and Asia. Algis Budrys, reviewing Green Eyes, praised Shepard's "ease of narrative style that comes only from a profound love and respect for the language and the literatures that have graced it."[3]

Lucius Shepard won several awards for his science fiction: in 1985 he won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, followed in 1987 with a Nebula Award for Best Novella for his story "R&R". This story later became part of his 1987 novel Life During Wartime, which won the Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis in 1990. His novella "Barnacle Bill the Spacer" won a Hugo Award in 1993. His poem "White Trains" won the Rhysling Award in 1988. Two early collections of short stories won the World Fantasy Award for best collection: The Jaguar Hunter in 1988 and The Ends of the Earth Collection in 1992.[4] His novella "Vacancy" won a Shirley Jackson Award in 2008.

Lucius Shepard resided in Portland, Oregon.

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Themes and evolution

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Shepard embraced many different themes throughout his career. In his early work, he wrote extensively about Central America. This included clearly science-fictional stories about near future high-tech jungle war (such as "R&R" and "Salvador"), as well as stories that seemed more in line with magic realism. Many of these, such as "Black Coral" (which concerns an American living on an island off of Honduras) and "The Jaguar Hunter" (the story of a man whose wife's debt forces him to hunt a mythical black jaguar, which his people consider sacred), explore cultural clashes. Shepard traveled extensively in Central America and lived there for a time.

Shepard stopped writing fiction for much of the 1990s.[why?] He returned near the end of that decade, producing such works as the novella Radiant Green Star, which won a Locus Award for Best Novella in 2001.[5] Though he still wrote Central American fiction, Shepard's interest seemed to be moving north: he published two short novels, "A Handbook of American Prayer" and "Viator", both set in North America. On that same note, he published many works where culture and geography were secondary (his novella "Jailwise" is a prime example), preferring to focus on wider questions such as the role of justice in society.

Much of Shepard's later work was nonfiction. He researched the Freight Train Riders of America and spent time riding the rails, writing both fiction and nonfiction based on those experiences. He was also a regular movie reviewer for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and electricstory.com.[6] His reviews are marked by general contempt for the current state of American film.

According to fellow author James Patrick Kelly, Shepard was an avid sports fan who often used dramatic sports moments as inspiration to write.[7]

In the summer of 2008, Shepard moved to Neuchatel, Switzerland in order to work on several screenplays. He served on the jury of the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) with the American director Joe Dante.

He died in March 2014 at the age of 70 of complications from a stroke.[1][8]

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Bibliography

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Novels

  • Shepard, Lucius (1984). Green eyes. New York: Ace.
  • — (1987). Life during wartime. New York: Bantam.
  • — (1993). The Golden. Shingletown, Calif.: Mark V. Ziesing.
  • — (2003). Colonel Rutherford's colt. Burton, Mich.: Subterranean Press.
  • — (2003). Floater. Hornsea, England: PS Publishing.
  • — (2004). Viator. San Francisco: Night Shade Books.
  • — (2005). Trujillo. San Francisco: Night Shade Books.
  • — (2006). A handbook of American prayer : a novel. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press.
  • — (2007). Softspoken. San Francisco: Night Shade Books.
  • — (2014). Beautiful blood : a novel of the Dragon Griaule. Burton, Mich.: Subterranean Press.

Short fiction

Collections
  • Shepard, Lucius (1987). The jaguar hunter. Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House.
  • Shepard, Lucius & Robert Frazier (1989). Nantucket Slayrides: Three Short Novels. Nantucket, Mass.: Eel Grass Press.
  • Shepard, Lucius (1991). The ends of the Earth. Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House.
  • — (1994). Sports & Music. Shingletown, Calif.: Mark V. Ziesing.
  • — (1997). Barnacle Bill the Spacer and Other Stories. London: Orion.[a]
  • — (1999). Beast of the Heartland and Other Stories. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows.[b]
  • — (2001). The Jaguar Hunter (2nd, revised ed.). New York: Four Walls Eight Windows.
  • — (2004). Trujillo and Other Stories. Hornsea, England: PS Publishing.
  • — (2004). Two trains running. Urbana, Ill.: Golden Griffin Press.
  • — (2005). Eternity and Other Stories. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press.
  • — (2007). Dagger Key and other stories. Hornsea, England: PS Publishing.
  • — (2008). The Best of Lucius Shepard. Burton, Mich.: Subterranean Press.
  • — (2008). Skull City and Other Lost Tales. Burton, Mich.: Subterranean Press.
  • — (2009). Vacancy & Ariel. Burton, Mich.: Subterranean Press.
  • — (2009). Viator Plus. Hornsea, England: PS Publishing.
  • — (2012). The Dragon Griaule. Burton, Mich.: Subterranean Press.
  • — (2013). Five Autobiographies and a Fiction. Burton, Mich.: Subterranean Press.
  • — (2021). Sheehan, Bill (ed.). The best of Lucius Shepard : volume two. Burton, Mich.: Subterranean Press.
  • — (2024). Crows and Silences: Selected Short Novels. Burton, Mich.: Subterranean Press.
Stories[c]
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Poetry

Chapbooks
  • Shepard, Lucius (1967). Cantata of death, weakmind & generation. Chapel Hill, N. C.: Lillabulero Press.
List of poems
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Non-fiction

  • Shepard, Lucius (February 1985). "How I spent my summer vacation : a student perspective on Clarion". Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction.
  • — (1989). "Introduction". In Garnett, David (ed.). Orbit science fiction yearbook two. Orbit.
  • — (Winter 1989). "Waiting for the barbarians". Journal Wired.
  • — (Spring 1990). "Remedial reading for the generation of swine". Journal Wired.
  • — (Summer–Fall 1990). "Stark raving : George Bush and the Pineapple of Doom". Journal Wired.
  • — (February 1991). "Read this". The New York Review of Science Fiction.
  • — (1992). "Incident in the Petén". In Boston, Bruce & Robert Frazier (eds.). Chronicles of the mutant rain forest. Horror's Head Press.
  • — (1995). "Avram Davidson 1923-1993". In Sargent, Pamela (ed.). Nebula Awards 29. Harcourt Brace.
  • — (1996). "God is in the details". In Wilson, Robin (ed.). Paragons. St. Martin's Press.
  • — (Fall 1996). "An appreciation of Avram Davidson". Eidolon.
  • — (1997). "Introduction". In Waldrop, Howard (ed.). Going home again. Eidolon Publications.
  • — (1998). "The year in science fiction and fantasy : a symposium". In Dann, Jack (ed.). Nebula Awards 32. Harvest.
  • — (1998). "Afterword". In Davis, Grania (ed.). The Avram Davidson treasury. Tor.
  • — (October 14, 1998). "This space for advertising". Event Horizon.
  • — (January 14, 1999). "The millenium cucaracha". Event Horizon.
  • — (May 18, 1999). "The Littleton Follies". Event Horizon.
  • — (2005). Weapons of mass seduction.

Film reviews

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Comics

  • Shepard, Lucius (w) Vermillion (1996–1997).
  • Shepard, Lucius (w), James Romberger, Marguerite Van Cook (a). "Platinum nights" Gangland, no. 2 (1998). Vertigo.

Critical studies and reviews of Shepard's work

Beautiful blood
  • Di Filippo, Paul (January 2015). "On Books". Asimov's Science Fiction. 39 (1): 102–106.
Five autobiographies and a fiction
  • Di Filippo, Paul (January 2014). "On Books". Asimov's Science Fiction. 38 (1): 101–105.

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Notes
  1. Later published in the United States as Beast of the heartland and other stories.
  2. Originally published in the United Kingdom as Barnacle Bill the Spacer and other stories.
  3. Short stories unless otherwise noted.
  4. Issue is dated "Mid-December".
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References

External links

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