Bob Shaw | |
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Born | 31 December 1931 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
Died | 11 February 1996 Warrington | (aged 64)
Occupation | Novelist, structural engineer, aircraft designer, journalist |
Bob Shaw, born Robert Shaw,[1] (31 December 1931 – 11 February 1996) was a science fiction author and fan from Northern Ireland. He was noted for his originality and wit. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1979 and 1980. His short story "Light of Other Days" was a Hugo Award nominee in 1967, as was his novel The Ragged Astronauts in 1987.
Life
Shaw was born and raised in Belfast, the eldest of three sons of a policeman.[2] He was introduced to science fiction at about 11 years old by reading an A. E. van Vogt short story in an early edition of Astounding magazine (which later became Analog).[3] He attended Belfast College of Technology.[4] In 1950 he joined the group Irish Fandom which was held at the house of James White, another Northern Irish science fiction writer, on Upper Newtonards Road. The group was influential in the early history of science fiction fandom and produced fanzines Hyphen and Slant, the latter of which Shaw contributed material to.[5] He published his first science-fiction story in 1951 but gave up writing for a few years and went with his family to live in Canada from 1956 to 1958. His novel Vertigo is set in Alberta and Orbitsville's limitless grasslands may have been influenced by this period in his life.[6] Originally trained as a structural engineer, he worked as an aircraft designer for Short and Harland, then as science correspondent The Belfast Telegraph from 1966-1969 and a publicity officer for Vickers Shipbuilding (1973-1975) before starting to write full-time. He, his first wife Sadie (nee Sarah Gourley) and their son and two daughters moved from Northern Ireland to Ulverston, England in April 1973 because they were worried about the political situation there. They later moved to Grappenhall in Warrington, where Shaw lived for some years after Sadie's death in 1991. Shaw nearly lost his sight through illness and suffered migraine-induced visual disturbances throughout his life. These appear in some of his works.[7] He was known as a drinker and at one stage considered himself an alcoholic.[8] He was quoted in 1991 as saying: "I write science fiction for people who don't read a great deal of science fiction." He married American Nancy Tucker in 1995 and went to the US to live with her, but returned to England in the last months of his life. Shaw died of cancer on 11 February 1996.[9]
Works
Shaw is perhaps best known for "Light of Other Days" (August 1966), the story that introduced the concept of slow glass, through which the past can be seen. Shaw sold this story to Analog editor John W. Campbell, who liked it so much Shaw wrote a sequel for him, "Burden of Proof", in May 1967. The original story was written in four hours, but after years of planning.[10] Shaw expanded on the concept in the novel Other Days, Other Eyes, and the concept was adopted by the Marvel Comics/Curtis Magazines anthology magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction.
His work ranged from essentially mimetic stories with fantastic elements far in the background (Ground Zero Man) to van Vogtian extravaganzas (The Palace of Eternity). Orbitsville and its two sequels deal with the discovery of a habitable shell completely surrounding a star, and the consequences for humanity. It won him the 1976 British SF Association Award.[7] Later in his career he wrote the Land trilogy (The Ragged Astronauts, The Wooden Spaceships and The Fugitive Worlds), set on a system of worlds where technology has evolved with no metals. Like Philip K. Dick he continually focused on the nature of perception in his work.[11]
Shaw was known in the fan community for his wit. Following his early membership of Irish Fandom, with Walt Willis, and James White, he always remained a keen reader of and contributor to fanzines. Later, and for many years, at the British science fiction convention Eastercon, he would deliver a humorous speech (often part of his famous series known by the tongue-in-cheek label of "Serious Scientific Talks"); these were eventually collected in The Eastercon Speeches (1979) and A Load of Old Bosh (1995), which included a similar talk from the 1979 Worldcon in Brighton, 37th World Science Fiction Convention. For these he won the 1979 and 1980 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. With Walt Willis, he was the author of the allegorical The Enchanted Duplicator, an oft-reprinted 1954 piece of fiction about science fiction fandom modelled on John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (though Shaw and Willis denied having read it beforehand).[7] He and his wife were members of the Liverpool Science Fiction Group (LiG).[citation needed] He was also (with Brian Aldiss and Harry Harrison) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.[citation needed]
Bibliography
- Night Walk (1967). London : Gollancz.
- The Two-Timers (1968). New York : Ace Books.
- The Palace Of Eternity (1969). New York : Ace Pub. Corp.
- The Shadow Of Heaven (1969). New York : Avon.
- One Million Tomorrows (1970). New York : Ace books.
- Ground Zero Man (1971). New York: Avon Books. - revised edition published as The Peace Machine (1985). London : Gollancz.
- Other Days, Other Eyes (1972). New York : Ace Books.
- Tomorrow Lies In Ambush (1973). New York : Ace Books. - collection.
- Tomorrow Lies In Ambush (1973). London: Gollancz. - collection.
- The Orbitsville Trilogy
- Orbitsville (1975). London : Gollancz.
- Orbitsville Departure (1983). New York : Daw Books.
- Orbitsville Judgement (1990). London : Gollancz.
- A Wreath of Stars (1976). London : Gollancz.
- Cosmic Kaleidoscope (1976). London: Gollancz. - collection.
- Cosmic Kaleidoscope (1977). New York: Doubleday - collection.
- Medusa's Children (1977). New York: Doubleday.
- The Warren Peace saga
- Who Goes Here? (1977). London : Gollancz. - reissued in 1988 with a short story The Giaconda Caper.
- Warren Peace (1993). London : Gollancz. - reissued in 1994 as Dimensions
- Ship Of Strangers (1978). London : Gollancz - collection.
- Vertigo (1978). London : Gollancz. reissued in 1991 as Terminal Velocity by the same publisher.
- Dagger of the Mind (1979). London : Gollancz.
- The Ceres Solution (1981). London : Granada.
- Galactic Tours (1981, with David A. Hardy).
- Courageous New planet (1981). Birmingham Science Fiction Group - limited-edition chapbook.
- A Better Mantrap (1982). London : Gollancz - collection.
- Fire Pattern (1984). London : Gollancz.
- Messages Found in an Oxygen Bottle (1986). Cambridge, Mass. : Nesfa. - collection. Bound double format with Between Two Worlds by Terry Carr
- Land and Overland Trilogy
- The Ragged Astronauts (1986). London : Gollancz.
- The Wooden Spaceships (1988). London : Gollancz.
- The Fugitive Worlds (1989). London : Gollancz.
- Killer Planet (1989). London : Gollancz.
- Dark Night In Toyland (1989). London : Gollancz - collection.
- Overload (1995). Birmingham Science Fiction Group - limited-edition chapbook.
Nonfiction
- The Best of the Bushel (1979)
- The Eastercon Speeches (1979)
- How to Write Science Fiction (1993)
- A Load of Old BoSh (1995) (includes The Eastercon Speeches)
Partial list of short stories
- "Light of Other Days" (1967)
- "Skirmish on a Summer Morning" (1976)
- "Unreasonable Facsimile" (1974)
- "A Full Member of the Club" (1974)
- "The Silent Partners" (1959)
- "The Element of Chance" (1969)
- "The Gioconda Caper" (1976)
- "An Uncomic Book Horror Story" (1975)
- "Deflation 2001" (1972)
- "Waltz of the Bodysnatchers" (1976)
- "A Little Night Flying" ("Dark Icarus") (1975)
See also
References
- ^ Nicholls (Gen. Ed.), Peter (1981). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. St Albans: Granada Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0586053808.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - ^ Paddy Lyons, Alison O'Malley-Younger (2008). No country for old men: fresh perspectives on Irish literature (1st ed.). p. 195. ISBN 3039118412. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ Stableford, Brian (1995). Algebraic fantasies and realistic romances (1st ed.). p. 22. ISBN 0893702838. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ Robert, Reginald (2009). Contemporary Science Fiction Authors (1st ed.). p. 240. ISBN 1434478580. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ Paddy Lyons, Alison O'Malley-Younger (2008). No country for old men: fresh perspectives on Irish literature (1st ed.). p. 195. ISBN 3039118412. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ Paddy Lyons, Alison O'Malley-Younger (2008). No country for old men: fresh perspectives on Irish literature (1st ed.). p. 197. ISBN 3039118412. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ a b c ""Cloud Chamber 118 - D. Langford"". Ansible.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ Christopher Priest. "Bob Shaw | Christopher Priest, author". Christopher-priest.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ "Bob Shaw Obituary". Independent.co.uk. 17 February 1996. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- ^ Transformations: the story of the science-fiction magazines from 1950 to 1970: Mike Ashley : Liverpool University Press (30 May 2005), ISBN 0853237697 p 286
- ^ Paddy Lyons, Alison O'Malley-Younger (2008). No country for old men: fresh perspectives on Irish literature (1st ed.). p. 200. ISBN 3039118412. Retrieved 8 November 2011.