Lewis Shiner (born December 30, 1950, in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

) is an American writer. Shiner began his career as a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

writer, and then identified with

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting said to focus on a combination of "low-life and high tech". It features futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberwa ...

. He later wrote more mainstream novels, albeit often with

magical realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical rea ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

elements. He was formerly a resident of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

(and a member of the Turkey City Writer's Workshop), and now lives in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Life and career

Shiner graduated from

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

in 1973. Several of his novels have

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

as a theme or main focus, especially the musicians of the late 1960s; for example, Shiner's 1993 novel ''Glimpses'' considers the great never-recorded albums of

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

. ''Say Goodbye: The Laurie Moss Story'' (1999) focuses on a fictional up-and-coming female musician and her subsequent fall back down. ''Slam'' (1990) is immersed in

skate punk Skate punk (also known as skatecore and skate rock) is a skateboarding, skater subculture and punk rock Music genre, subgenre that developed in the 1980s. Originally a form of hardcore punk that had been closely associated with skate culture, sk ...

and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

culture. Perhaps because novels with music as a major theme are not generally considered mainstream genre material, his work has frequently been overlooked. He is a contributing author to the

George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948) also known by the initials G.R.R.M. is an American author, television writer, and television producer. He is best known as the author of the unfinished series of Hi ...

-edited anthology ''

Wild Cards ''Wild Cards'' is a series of science fiction superhero shared universe anthologies, mosaic novels, and solo novels. They are written by a collection of more than forty authors (referred to as the "Wild Cards Trust") and are edited by George R. ...

'', notably creating that universe's most powerful character, the tantric sex magic wielding pimp, Fortunato. In July 2007 Shiner created the web site Fiction Liberation Front (FLF) as a venue for his short stories. The stories are released under the

Creative Commons license A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bu ...

and are available in

HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...

and

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

formats. Since 2006, Shiner has been a card-carrying member of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

. On July 22, 2007, ''

The News & Observer ''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...

'' began publishing a weekly column by Shiner, titled "Graphic Scenes", about

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

Bibliography

Novels

*''Frontera''. Riverdale, NY, US: Baen, 1984 (paper). *''Deserted Cities of the Heart''. New York, NY, US: Doubleday, 1988. *''Slam''. New York, NY, US: Doubleday, 1990. *''Glimpses''. New York, NY, US: William Morrow & Co., 1993. (

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

winner) *''Say Goodbye''. New York, NY, US: St Martin's, 1999. *''Black & White''. Burton, MI, US: Subterranean Press, 2008. *''Dark Tangos''. Burton, MI, US: Subterranean Press, 2011. *''Outside the Gates of Eden''. Burton, MI, US: Subterranean Press, 2019.

Collections

*''Nine Hard Questions about the Nature of the Universe''. Eugene, OR, US: Pulphouse Publishing, 1991. No ISBN (''Author's Choice Monthly'' #4) *''The Edges of Things''. Baltimore, WA, US: Washington Science Fiction Association, 1991. *''Twilight Time''. Eugene, OR, US: Pulphouse Publishing, 1991. No ISBN *''Private Eye Action As You Like It'' with Joe R. Lansdale. Holyoke, MA, US: Crossroads Press, 1998. *''Love in Vain''. Burton, MI, US: Subterranean Press, 2001. *''Shades of Gray'' (chapbook available with the signed, numbered limited edition of ''Black and White''). Burton, MI, US: Subterranean Press, 2008. *''Love in Vain'' (Australian edition, includes previously uncollected novellas "Perfidia" and "Primes"). Greenwood, WA, Australia: Ticonderoga Publications, 2009. *''Collected Stories''. Burton, MI, US: Subterranean Press, 2009. *''Widows & Orphans'' (chapbook available with the signed, numbered limited edition of ''Collected Stories''). Burton, MI, US: Subterranean Press, 2009. *''Heroes and Villains''. Burton, MI, US: Subterranean Press, 2017.

Wild Cards

* '' Wild Cards I: Wild Cards'' - contains the short stories "The Long Dark Night of Fortunato" and "Epilogue: Third Generation" written by Shiner in 1986 * '' Wild Cards II: Aces High'' - contains the short story "Pennies from Hell" written by Shiner in 1987 * '' Wild Cards III: Jokers Wild'' - contains segments of the character "Fortunato" written by Shiner in 1987 * '' Wild Cards IV: Aces Abroad'' - contains the short story "Zero Hour" written by Shiner in 1988

Editor

*''Modern Stories #1'' (April, 1983): A self-published

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

featuring original fiction by

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...

Howard Waldrop Howard Waldrop (September 15, 1946 – January 14, 2024) was an American science fiction author who worked primarily in short fiction. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2021. Early life Born in Houston, Mississippi, ...

, and Joe R. Lansdale, among others. *''When The Music's Over'' (

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

featuring alternatives to

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

) (Nominated for the

World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

)

Comics

* ''Time Masters'' (with Bob Wayne) Art by

Art Thibert Arthur Thibert () is an American comic book artist, primarily known as a freelance inker, although he has a substantial résumé as a penciler and has even written some comics. Thibert is best known for his work as an inker for Marvel Comics on t ...

and Jose Marzan Jr. (

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

February 1990 - September 1990) *"Scales" Art by Carlos Kastro (adaptation of the short story of the same name) in ''Omnibus: Modern Perversity'' (Blackbird Comics January 1992) *'' The Hacker Files'' Art by Tom Sutton (

August 1992 - July 1993) *"Steam Engine Time" Art by Doug Potter (adaptation of the short story of the same name) in ''Wild West Show'' (

Mojo Press Mojo Press was a small press which primarily published science fiction, horror fiction, horror, and Western (genre), western books and graphic novels between 1994 and 1999. History Mojo Press was founded in 1994 by publisher Ben Ostrander and man ...

1996)

References

External links

Official WebpageFiction Liberation Front (FLF)
*
''Austin Chronicle'' article about the Fiction Liberation FrontInterview on The Next Track podcastInterview on sfss.space
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shiner, Lewis 1950 births 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American science fiction writers Living people American atheists American male novelists Cyberpunk writers Industrial Workers of the World members Novelists from North Carolina World Fantasy Award–winning writers Chapbook writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers