Lewis Shiner (December 30, 1950, Eugene, Oregon) is an American writer.
Shiner began his career as a science fiction writer, identified early on with cyberpunk, and later wrote more mainstream novels, albeit often with magical realism and fantasy elements. He was formerly a resident of Texas (and a member of the Turkey City Writer's Workshop), and now lives in North Carolina.
Several of his novels have rock music as a theme or main focus, especially the musicians of the late 1960s; for example, Shiner's 1993 novel Glimpses considers the great never-recorded albums of The Doors, Brian Wilson, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. Say Goodbye: The Laurie Moss Story (1999) focuses on a fictional up and coming female musician and her subsequent fall back down. Slam (1990) is immersed in skate punk and anarchist culture. Perhaps because novels with music as a major theme are not generally considered mainstream genre material, his work has frequently been overlooked.
In July 2007 Shiner created the web site Fiction Liberation Front (FLF) as a venue for his short stories. The stories are released under the Creative Commons license and are available in HTML and PDF formats. He has written a small manifesto explaining why he did this.
On July 22, 2007, The News & Observer began publishing a weekly column by Shiner, titled "Graphic Scenes", about comics.
Frontera. Riverdale, NY, USA: Baen, 1984 (paper). ISBN 0-671-55899-4
Deserted Cities of the Heart. New York, NY, USA: Doubleday, 1988. ISBN 0-385-24637-4
Slam. New York, NY, USA: Doubleday, 1990. ISBN 0-385-26683-9
Glimpses. New York, NY, USA: William Morrow & Co., 1993. ISBN 0-688-12411-9
Say Goodbye. New York, NY, USA: St Martin's, 1999. ISBN 0-312-24110-0
Black & White. Burton, MI, USA: Subterranean Press, 2008. ISBN 978-1-59606-171-2
Collections
Nine Hard Questions about the Nature of the Universe. Eugene, OR, USA: Pulphouse Publishing, 1991. No ISBN (Author's Choice Monthly #4)
The Edges of Things. Baltimore, WA, USA: Washington Science Fiction Association, 1991. ISBN 0-9621725-2-9
Twilight Time. Eugene, OR, USA: Pulphouse Publishing, 1991. No ISBN
Private Eye Action As You Like It with Joe R. Lansdale. Holyoke, MA, USA: Crossroads Press, 1998. ISBN 1-892300-02-8
Love in Vain. Burton, MI, USA: Subterranean Press, 2001. ISBN 1-931081-14-X
Shades of Gray (chapbook available with the signed, numbered limited edition of Black and White). Burton, MI, USA: Subterranean Press, 2008.
Collected Stories. Burton, MI, USA: Subterranean Press, 2009. ISBN 978-1-59606-252-8
Widows & Orphans (chapbook available with the signed, numbered limited edition of Collected Stories). Burton, MI, USA: Subterranean Press, 2009.
Editor
Modern Stories #1 (April, 1983): A self-published fanzine featuring original fiction by William Gibson, Howard Waldrop, and Joe R. Lansdale, among others.
When The Music's Over (anthology featuring alternatives to war) (Nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology)
Comics
Time Masters (with Bob Wayne) Art by Art Thibert and Jose Marzan Jr. (DC Comics February 1990 - September 1990)
"Scales" Art by Carlos Kastro (adaptation of the short story of the same name) in Omnibus: Modern Perversity (Blackbird Comics January 1992)
The Hacker Files Art by Tom Sutton (DC Comics August 1992 - July 1993)
"Steam Engine Time" Art by Doug Potter (adaptation of the short story of the same name) in Wild West Show (Mojo Press 1996)