Lucius Shepard
Lucius Shepard was an American writer. Classified as a science fiction and fantasy writer, he often leaned into other genres, such as magical realism.
Career
Shepard was a native of Lynchburg, Virginia, where he was born in 1943. 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, 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."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. His novella "Vacancy" won a Shirley Jackson Award in 2008.
Lucius Shepard resided in Portland, Oregon.
Themes and evolution
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, as well as stories that seemed more in line with magic realism. Many of these, such as "Black Coral" and "The Jaguar Hunter", explore cultural clashes. Shepard traveled extensively in Central America and lived there for a time.Shepard stopped writing fiction for much of the 1990s. 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. 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, 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. 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.
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 with the American director Joe Dante.
He died in March 2014 at the age of 70 of complications from a stroke.
Novels
Short fiction
| Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected | Notes |
| "All the perfumes of Araby" | 1992 | Novelette | ||
| "The All-Consuming" | 1990 | |||
| "The Arcevoalo" | 1986 | Novelette | ||
| Ariel | 2003 | Novella | ||
| Aymara | 1986 | Novelette | ||
| AZTECHS | 2001 | Novella/chapbook | ||
| Barnacle Bill the Spacer | 1992 | Novella | ||
| "Beast of the heartland" | 1992 | |||
| "The black clay boy" | 1987 | |||
| "Black coral" | 1984 | |||
| "Bound for glory" | 1989 | |||
| "Chango" | 1989 | |||
| Crocodile rock | 1999 | Novella | ||
| Dagger Key | 2007 | Novella | ||
| "Dancing it all away at Nadoka" | 1986 | |||
| "Delta Sly Honey" | 1987 | |||
| Dog-eared paperback of my life | 2009 | Novella | ||
| The drive-in Puerto Rico | 2002 | Novella | ||
| "The end of life as we know it" | 1985 | |||
| "The ends of the Earth" | 1989 | |||
| Eternity and afterward | 2001 | Novella | ||
| "The etheric transmitter" | 1984 | |||
| "The exercise of faith" | 1987 | |||
| The Father of Stones | 1989 | Novella/Chapbook | ||
| "Fire Zone Emerald" | 1986 | |||
| "The fundamental things" | 1985 | |||
| "The glassblower's dragon" | 1987 | |||
| Halloween Town | 2009 | Novella | ||
| "... How my heart breaks when I sing this song..." | 1985 | |||
| "How the wind spoke at Madaket" | 1985 | |||
| Human history | 1995 | Novella | ||
| "Jack's decline" | 1988 | |||
| "The jaguar hunter" | 1985 | |||
| "Jail bait" | 2004 | Novelette | ||
| Kalimantan | 1990 | Novella/Chapbook | ||
| The last time | 1994 | Novella/Chapbook | ||
| Liar's house | 2003 | Novella/Chapbook; "The Dragon Griaule" | ||
| "Life of Buddha" | 1988 | |||
| "A little night music" | 1992 | |||
| Louisiana breakdown | 2003 | Novella | ||
| "The man who painted the Dragon Griaule" | 1984 | F&SF, December 1984 | "The Dragon Griaule" | |
| "Mengele" | 1985 | |||
| "The night of White Bhairab" | 1984 | F&SF, October 1984 | ||
| "Noman's land" | 1988 | Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Oct 1988 | ||
| "On the border" | 1987 | Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, August 1987 | ||
| "A personal matter" | 1993 | Amazing Stories, July 1993 | Excerpt from The Golden | |
| Pizza man | 1996 | |||
| "R & R" | 1986 | Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, April 1986 | ||
| "Radiant green star" | 2000 | Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, August 2000 | ||
| "Reaper" | 1984 | Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, December 1984 | ||
| "Romance of the Century" | 2000 | |||
| "Salvador" | 1984 | F&SF, April 1984 | The Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection, ed. Gardner Dozois | |
| The Scalehunter's Beautiful Daughter | 1988 | Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, September 1988 | Novella/Chapbook | |
| "Shades" | 1987 | Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, December 1987 | ||
| The skull | 2012 | Subterranean Press | Novella | |
| "Skull City" | 1990 | Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, July 1990 | ||
| "Solitario's eyes" | 1983 | F&SF, September 1983 | ||
| "A Spanish lesson" | 1985 | F&SF, December 1985 | ||
| "Sparring partner" | 2001 | Playboy, March 2001 | ||
| "Sports in America" | 1991 | Playboy, July 1991 | ||
| Stars seen through stone | 2007 | F&SF, July 2007 | Novella | |
| "The storming of Annie Kinsdale" | 1984 | Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, September 1984 | ||
| "The sun spider" | 1987 | Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, April 1987 | ||
| "Surrender" | 1989 | Novelette | ||
| The Taborin Scale | 2010 | Subterranean Press | Novella | |
| "The Taylorsville reconstruction" | 1983 | |||
| A traveler's tale | 1984 | Novella | ||
| Valentine | 2002 | Four Walls Eight Windows | Novella | |
| "Victory" | 1992 | Omni, May 1992 | ||
| "Voyage south from Thousand Willows" | 1986 | |||
| A walk in the garden | 2003 | Novelette | ||
| "The way it sometimes happens" | 1988 | Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, December 1988 | ||
| "A wooden tiger" | 1988 | F&SF, October 1988 | ||
| "Youthful folly" | 1988 | Omni, November 1988 |