← Older revision
Revision as of 19:58, March 2, 2015
Line 1:
Line 1:
−
{{Cleanup}}
+
'''John Shirley''' (born 10 February 1953) is an American fantasist, author of noir fiction, and science-fiction writer. Shirley is a prolific writer of novels and short stories, TV scripts and screenplays who has published over 30 books and 10 collections. His novels include ''Everything is Broken'', ''The Other End'', ''Bleak History'', ''Crawlers'', ''Demons'', ''In Darkness Waiting'', and seminal cyberpunk works ''City Come A-Walkin'', and the ''A Song Called Youth'' trilogy of ''Eclipse'', ''Eclipse Penumbra'', and ''Eclipse Corona''.
−
'''John Shirley''' (born 10 February 1953) is an American fantasist, author of noir fiction, and science-fiction writer. Shirley is a prolific writer of novels and short stories, TV scripts and screenplays who has published over 30 books and 10 collections. His novels include ''Everything is Broken'', ''The Other End'', ''Bleak History'', ''Crawlers'', ''Demons'', ''In Darkness Waiting'', and seminal cyberpunk works ''City Come A-Walkin'', and the ''A Song Called Youth'' trilogy of ''Eclipse'', ''Eclipse Penumbra'', and ''Eclipse Corona''. His collections include the Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild award-winning ''Black Butterflies'', ''Living Shadows: Stories: New & Pre-Owned'' and ''In Extremis: The Most Extreme Stories of John Shirley''. He also writes for screen (The Crow) and television. As a musician
−
−
Shirley has fronted his own bands and written lyrics for Blue Öyster
−
Cult and others. In 2013 Black October Records released a two-CD
−
compilation of Shirley's own recordings, ''Broken Mirror Glass: The John Shirley Anthology - 1978-2012'' ...
−
−
== Biography ==
−
John Shirley was born in Houston, Texas and grew up largely in the vicinity of Portland, Oregon. His earliest novels were ''Transmaniacon'' and ''Dracula In Love'' for Zebra Books, and ''City Come A-Walkin'', a proto-cyberpunk novel, for Delacorte. He also wrote the ''A Song Called Youth''
−
<nowiki> </nowiki>cyberpunk trilogy for Warner Books, re-released as an omnibus in 2012
−
by Prime Books. 2012 saw his noir-flavored novel of apocalypse, ''Everything Is Broken'' released by Prime Books. In 2013 PM Press released Shirley's ''New Taboos''. HarperCollins/Witness plans his novel about Conan Doyle in the afterlife, ''Doyle After Death'', for an October 2013 release.
−
−
Besides having written numerous books John Shirley was lead singer of the punk band Sado-Nation, in 1978, and the post-punk funk-rock band Obsession, on Celluloid Records, while living in New York City and Paris, France, in the 1980s, and was later in the band the Panther Moderns. Shirley has also written 18 song lyrics recorded by Blue Öyster Cult. His one nonfiction book is ''Gurdjieff: An Introduction to His Life and Ideas'' (Penguin/Tarcher). He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife, Micky Shirley. John Shirley has three sons, twins Byron and Perry, now 27 and Julian, a Bay Area-based underground rapper
−
and recording artist, sometimes called "the jooj", 25 years old.
−
== Career ==
−
John Shirley is known for his cyberpunk science fiction novels, such as the ''A Song Called Youth'' trilogy, ''<nowiki>City Come A-Walkin'</nowiki>'' and ''Black Glass'', as well as his suspense (as in his novels ''Spider Moon'' and ''The Brigade''), horror novels and stories (e.g., ''Demons'' and ''Crawlers'') and horror film work. His best known script work is the film ''The Crow'', for which he was the initial writer, before David Schow reworked the script. He also wrote scripts for ''Deep Space Nine'' and ''Poltergeist: The Legacy''. Authors David Agranoff and Nancy Collins and editor/critic Paula Guran cite his intense, expressionistic early horror novels, such as ''Dracula In Love'' and ''Cellars'' as an influence on the splatterpunk movement in horror, and the subsequent "bizarro" movement. Appreciation
−
of John Shirley as an author of dark fiction was amplified by a January
−
2008 ''The New York Times'' review,<sup>[1]</sup> by critic Terrence Rafferty, of Shirley's story-collection ''Living Shadows'' which said in part:
−
−
Shirley's cyberpunk novels are ''City Come A-Walkin'' and the ''A Song Called Youth'' trilogy. Avant-slipstream critic Larry McCaffery called him "a postmodern Edgar Allen Poe."<sup>[2]</sup> Bruce Sterling has cited Shirley's early story collection ''Heatseeker'' as being a seminal cyberpunk work in itself. Several stories in ''Heatseeker'' were particularly seminal, including ''Sleepwalkers'', which, in just one example, probably provided the inspiration for William Gibson's "meat puppets" in ''Neuromancer''. Gibson acknowledged Shirley's influence in an introduction to Shirley's ''City Come A-Walkin''. Shirley's story collection, made up of increasingly bizarre stories, the whimsically titled ''Really, Really, Really, Really Weird Stories'' has developed a cult status.
−
−
William Gibson, the author of ''Neuromancer'', collaborated with Shirley on short stories—as did fellow cyberpunks Bruce Sterling and Rudy Rucker. Shirley's lyricism, wealth of ideas and imagination, crossover pioneering, and street-level honesty have been praised by other writers
−
including Clive Barker, Peter Straub, Roger Zelazny, Marc Laidlaw, and A. A. Attanasio. His more surreal work, as in ''A Splendid Chaos''
−
<nowiki> </nowiki>showed how it was possible to describe the indescribable with a
−
paradoxical believability and impeccable internal logic no matter how
−
bizarre the subject matter. Shirley's personal experiences as a
−
recovering drug addict and punk rocker brought real verisimilitude to
−
his darker, urban-tinctured writing.
−
−
In recent years Shirley has written "tie-in novels" and novelizations, such as ''Constantine'', based on the Keanu Reaves movie, and the best-seller ''Bioshock: Rapture'',(Tor, 2011), a novel providing a prequel to the ''Bioshock'' videogame story. He also wrote the apocalyptic, politically charged novel, ''The Other End''
−
<nowiki> </nowiki>which, according to the author's website, takes the apocalypse away
−
from the Christian Right and gives Judgment Day to Liberals to do with
−
as they please. This reflects his tendency to create fantasy
−
entertainment which is also political satire, or spiritual allegory.
−
E.g., ''Demons'', in which it is discovered that industry has
−
deliberately caused deaths by cancer as part of a vast secret program of human sacrifice. 2007 saw the release of a new story collection, ''Living Shadows'', from Prime Books. His novel of dark urban fantasy set in a slightly futuristic New York, ''Bleak History'', was published by Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books in 2009. In August 2011 Underland Press published ''In Extremis: The Most Extreme Stories of John Shirley'' and in January 2012 Prime Books published his near future apocalyptic political allegory, the novel ''Everything Is Broken''. His novel about Arthur Conan Doyle in the afterlife, ''Doyle After Death'', is scheduled to be released by HarperCollins/Witness in October 2013.
−
−
Shirley's work ranges in tone from the surreal to the grittily naturalistic to the nightmarish. He is also a songwriter and singer, having fronted numerous punk bands, including the New York band Obsession, who were recorded by Celluloid Records. He has written lyrics for Blue Öyster Cult, such as several songs on the album ''Heaven Forbid''.
−
−
In 2013 Black October Records released a two-CD compilation of Shirley's own recordings, ''Broken Mirror Glass: The John Shirley Anthology - 1978-2012'' ...
In 2013 Shirley teamed with Ubisoft to release a companion novel to release alongside the game ''Watch Dogs'', entitled ''Watch Dogs //n/Dark Clouds''. Following the events of Watch Dogs, <em>//n/Dark Clouds</em> gives players the opportunity to take their experience even further with new and familiar characters in the city of Chicago. One version of the ebook will be a standard digital book, but the other will be a totally upgraded interactive story with videos and images.
In 2013 Shirley teamed with Ubisoft to release a companion novel to release alongside the game ''Watch Dogs'', entitled ''Watch Dogs //n/Dark Clouds''. Following the events of Watch Dogs, <em>//n/Dark Clouds</em> gives players the opportunity to take their experience even further with new and familiar characters in the city of Chicago. One version of the ebook will be a standard digital book, but the other will be a totally upgraded interactive story with videos and images.
−
−
== Awards ==
−
Shirley's short story collection ''Black Butterflies'' won the following awards:
−
* The Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association
−
* International Horror Guild Award
−
* Selected as one of the best books of 1998 by Publishers Weekly
−
−
== Selected works ==
−
−
=== Novels ===
−
* ''Transmaniacon'' (1979)
−
* ''Dracula in Love'' (1979)
−
* ''<nowiki>City Come A-Walkin'</nowiki>'' (1980)
−
* ''Three-Ring Psychus'' (1980)
−
* ''The Brigade'' (1981)
−
* ''Cellars'' (1982)
−
* Several books in the Traveler series of post-apocalyptic men's adventure novels (as D. B. Drumm)<sup>[3]</sup>
−
* Several books in the Specialist series of mercenary/adventure men's adventure novels (as John Cutter)
−
* ''A Song Called Youth'' Series (also known as ''Eclipse Trilogy''):
−
** ''Eclipse'' (1985)
−
** ''Eclipse Penumbra'' (1988)
−
** ''Eclipse Corona'' (1990)
−
* ''In Darkness Waiting'' (1988)
−
* ''Kamus of Kadizar: The Black Hole of Carcosa'' (1988)
−
* ''A Splendid Chaos'' (1988)
−
* ''Wetbones'' (1991)
−
* ''Silicon Embrace'' (1996)
−
* "Demons" (2000, novella)
−
* "...And the Angel with Television Eyes" (2001, novella)
−
* "The View From Hell" (2001, novella)
−
* "Her Hunger" (2001, novella)
−
* ''Spider Moon'' (2002)
−
* ''Demons'', a new version with sequel novel ''Undercurrents'' (2002)
−
* ''Crawlers'' (2003)
−
* ''Doom'' (2005, novelization of the film version of the Id Software computer game)
−
* ''Constantine'' (2005, novelisation of the film featuring the DC/Vertigo comicbook character)
−
* ''John Constantine, Hellblazer: War Lord'' (2006, based on the comic book character, not the movie version)
−
* ''Predator: Forever Midnight'' (2006, Predator series tie-in)
−
* ''Batman: Dead White'' (2006, tie-in with ''Batman Begins'')
−
* ''John Constantine, Hellblazer: Subterranean'' (2006)
−
* ''The Other End'' (2007)
−
* ''Alien: Steel Egg'' (2007)
−
* ''Black Glass'' (2008)
−
* ''Bleak History'' (2009)
−
* ''BioShock Rapture'' (2011)
−
* ''Borderlands: The Fallen'' (2011)
−
* ''Everything Is Broken'' (2011)
−
* ''Borderlands: Unconquered'' (2012)
−
* ''Doyle After Death (2013)''
−
* ''Grimm: The Icy Touch (2013)''
−
* Watch Dogs //n/Dark Clouds (2013)
−
−
=== Short story collections ===
−
* ''Heatseeker'' (1989)
−
* ''New Noir'' (1993)
−
* ''The Exploded Heart'' (1996)
−
* ''Black Butterflies'' (1998)
−
* ''Really, Really, Really, Really Weird Stories'' (1999)
−
* ''Darkness Divided'' (2001)
−
* ''Living Shadows'' (2007)
−
* ''In Extremis: The Most Extreme Short Stories of John Shirley'' (2011)
−
−
=== Nonfiction ===
−
* ''Gurdjieff - An Introduction to his Life and Ideas'' (2004) ISBN 1-58542-287-8
−
−
== Music ==
−
Shirley wrote most of the lyrics for Blue Öyster Cult albums ''Heaven Forbid'' and ''Curse of the Hidden Mirror'' as well as the songs "Demon's Kiss" and "The Horsemen Arrive" from their soundtrack ''Bad Channels''. Their 1972 song "Transmaniacon MC" was the inspiration for the book ''Transmaniacon''.
−
−
In 2000, Shirley recorded several tracks with Tony and Paul DeStefano of Too Hip For The Room, and also appears on their Blue Öyster Cult tribute album ''Don't Fear The Remake''.
−
−
A two-cd compilation of select recordings by John Shirley and his
−
collaborators was brought out by the European label BLACK OCTOBER
−
RECORDS in December 2012. The album is called BROKEN MIRROR GLASS.
−
Recordings run through several musical eras, from 1979 - through 2012.
−
−
== References ==
−
# Rafferty, Terrence (27 January 2008). "Doesn’t Scare Easily". ''The New York Times''. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 27 January 2014. "In the title of Shirley’s collection, there’s a faint, happy echo of the passage from “Biographia Literaria” in which Coleridge coined his
−
famous phrase. Speaking of his contributions to the seminal 1798 volume
−
“Lyrical Ballads,” which included “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” the poet wrote: “My endeavours should be directed to persons and characters
−
supernatural, or at least romantic; yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to
−
procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of
−
disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.” That’s
−
exactly what good horror writers like Joe Hill and John Shirley do with
−
the shadows of their imagination. And there’s an explanation here, too,
−
of the hope that can keep even the most skeptical, fed-up reader coming
−
back to horror fiction. Watching vampires having sex may not strike you
−
as an adequate reward for suspending disbelief. But the poetry of fear
−
and mortality is worth all the belief you can muster."
−
# ''Avant-Pop: Fiction for a Daydream Nation''. Boulder: Black Ice Books (1993) p253. (ISBN 978-0932511720)
−
# Pat Hawk, Hawk's Authors' Pseudonyms III, Hawk Enterprise's, 1999, ISBN 0-9643185-2-0