Tag Archives: Lucius Shephard

Loot

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Some publishers, small presses in this context, will occasionally run grab bags. The best of these that I’ve found are the ones published by Subterranean Press. I’ve never done worse than break even, meaning that the titles I like have cover prices which total up to the cost of all the books put together. The books I’m not interested in I set aside for that day I eventually put things up on ebay.

So that’s how I figured it would be this time. I was hoping for half the books to be things I would be interested in. Instead, well, here’s what I got.  (Click to enlarge.)

20140915_231143That’s $430 worth of books for (IIRC) $150 plus shipping.  The Crowther, Nix, Lansdale, de Lint, Denton, and one Lumley are signed.  Every single one of them is something I would be interested in reading, although I wouldn’t be willing to pay cover price for some of them.  (Don’t ask me when I’m going to find time to read them.  I’m behind enough as it is.)

You can be sure that unless finances are really strapped, I’ll be ordering the next time Subterranean runs a grab bag.

RIP, Lucius Shephard (1947-2014)

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lucius shepardLucius Shephard passed away at the age of 66 on March 18, 2014.  Shephard began writing in the early 1980s.  Many of his early works near future science fiction set in a Central American war that resembled Viet Nam, something that was a real possibility at the time.  I remember reading some of his early stories in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.  In recent years his movie reviews have graced the pages of that magazine.

Shephard wrote at all lengths, but in my opinion his strengths were at the novella length.  Over the course of his career he won the Nebula for “R&R”, the Hugo for “Barnacle Bill the Spacer”, and the Shirley Jackson Award for “Vacancy”.   I always found his style to be densely written, but his stories were worth the work they required.

The Best of Lucius ShepardShephard attended at least one Armadillocon in Austin in the early 00’s.  I had the privilege of meeting him.  He was very open and approachable, always willing to chat with fans.  I was disappointed that he didn’t attend some of the later Armadillocons.

The Best of Lucius Shephard is available in ebook format and contains many of his best known works.