Lewis Shiner has bestowed a great gift on the internet. Like many other authors, he’s begun putting his short stories up under the Creative Commons license. He’s been kind enough to format them in both HTML and PDF, and the list is big and wonderful. He’s also included his newest novel, a handful of screenplays, and some wonderful articles.
Shiner’s one of those speculative fiction writers that hasn’t received nearly the attention he should, in part due to his unwillingness to be pinned down to a particular genre format, which makes him one of my heroes. He was one of the early mirrorshade-carrying cyberpunks, but his works sprawl all over the map.
His novel, GLIMPSES, is one of the most touching stories about a son searching for his father I’ve ever read. Publishers didn’t seem to know what to make of it, as it contained time travel via a mystical stereo, and I’ve found it shelved all over.
Lew let me pick his brain about writing a long time ago at a comic convention, when he was writing the DC series Hackers, and I’ve always been grateful for how kind and helpful he was. Go check out the Fiction Liberation Front and read some of the stories he’s given us. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Insensate 