Michael Shea (Author)

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Michael Shea 2008

Michael Shea (born on 3. July 1946 in Culver City , California , died on 16th February 2014 in San Francisco , California) was an American writer in the field of fantasy , science fiction and horror fiction . Shea wrote mostly fantasy and often used themes from horror literature in his science fiction. Shea is best known for his Nifft trilogy.

Life

Michael Shea grew up in Culver City, close to the MGM studios . He studied at UCLA and the University of California at Berkeley . In 1996 he read The Eyes of the Overworld (German as Das Auge der Überwelt and Der Lachende Magier ) by Jack Vance , the second novel in his Dying Earth cycle. He was so impressed by reading that four years later, after a first marriage and a two-year trip as a hitchhiker in France and Spain, he wrote a sequel, which was published with the approval of Jack Vance in 1974 under the title A Quest for Simbilis (German as Reise in the underworld or Cugel in the underworld ) appeared.

Shea's most famous work, the Nifft trilogy, also owes a lot to Jack Vance. For their first volume Nifft the Lean (1982, German as Die Reise in die Unterwelt und Fischzug im Demonenmeer ), he received the World Fantasy Award in 1983 . The Growlimb received the World Fantasy Award for best short story in 2005. In 1987 Shea settled in Healdsburg , California .

In his other works, too, he liked to move in the fictional worlds of other authors. Thus the 1984 published novel rejects The Color Out of Time (German as the color of the time ) on HP Lovecraft's short story The Color Out of Space on. His stories, which are closely related to Lovecraft's Cthulhu myth , were published in 2017 as Demiurge: The Complete Cthulhu Myth Tales of Michael Shea .

His last work was the extra- novel series created as a trilogy , the third volume of which was no longer completed due to Shea's sudden death. The novels are set in a near-future Los Angeles in which the poor struggle to survive in front of television cameras.

“… Brutally over the top, and its characters function more as types than flesh and blood. But Shea's broad strokes are pretty vibrant and never less than fully entertaining. "

“… Brutally exaggerated, and his characters act like types rather than flesh and blood. But Shea's broad strokes are quite lively and no less than entertaining. "

- Erik Himmelsbach : Los Angeles Times

Shea was married to artist Linda Shea for 35 years and had two children.

bibliography

Nifft
  • 1 Nifft the Lean (1982, collection)
    • German: The journey through the underworld. Ullstein Science Fiction & Fantasy # 31081, 1984, ISBN 3-548-31081-8 (contains only part of the stories in the original edition).
  • 2 The Mines of Behemoth (1996, 1997)
  • 3 The A'rak (2000)
  • The Pearls of the Vampire Queen (1977, short story)
    • English: The pearls of the vampire queen. In: The journey through the underworld. 1984.
  • Come then, Mortal. We Will Seek Her Soul (1982, short story)
    • German: So come on, mortal - we are looking for her soul. In: The journey through the underworld. 1984.
  • Shag Margold's Eulogy of Nifft the Lean, His Dear Friend (1982, short story)
    • English: Shag Margold's eulogy for the drought Nifft his dear friend. In: The journey through the underworld. 1984.
  • The Fishing of the Demon-Sea (1982, short story)
    • English: Fishing in the sea of ​​demons. Ullstein Science Fiction & Fantasy # 31098, 1985, ISBN 3-548-31098-2 .
  • The Goddess in Glass (1982, short story)
    • German: The goddess in the glass. In: The journey through the underworld. 1984.
  • The Incompleat Nifft (2000, collective edition of 1 and 2)
  • Epistle from Lebanoi (2012, short story)
The extra
  • 1 The Extra (2010)
  • 2 Assault on Sunrise (2013)
  • The Extra (1987, short story)
Single novels
  • A Quest for Simbilis (1974)
    • German: Journey to the Underworld. Translated by Lore Strassl. Pabel (Terra Taschenbuch # 285), 1977. Also called: Cugel in der Unterwelt. Translated by Lore Strassl. Fantasy Productions, Erkrath 2008, ISBN 978-3-89064-470-7 .
  • The Color Out of Time (1984)
    • German: The color from time. Festa (HP Lovecraft's Library of Secrets # 2614), 2004, ISBN 3-935822-67-7 .
  • In Yana, the Touch of Undying (1985)
  • I, Said the Fly (1993)
Collections
  • Polyphemus (1987)
  • The Autopsy and Other Tales (2008)
  • Copping Squid and Other Mythos Tales (2009)
  • And Death Shall Have No Dominion: A Tribute to Michael Shea (2016)
  • Demiurge: The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales of Michael Shea (2017)
Short stories
  • The Angel of Death (1979)
    • English: The angel of death. In: Werner Fuchs (Hrsg.): Grotto of the dancing game. Droemer Knaur (Knaur Science Fiction & Fantasy # 5754), 1982, ISBN 3-426-05754-9 .
  • The Autopsy (1980)
    • English: the autopsy. Translated by Biggy Winter. In: Manfred Kluge (Ed.): Terrarium. Heyne Science Fiction & Fantasy # 3931, 1982, ISBN 3-453-30854-9 . Also called: the autopsy. Translated by Stefan Troßbach. In: Edward L. Ferman, Anne Jordan (eds.): The best horror stories. Droemer Knaur (Knaur Horror # 1835), 1989, ISBN 3-426-01835-7 .
  • Polyphemus (1981)
  • Nemo Me Impune Lacessit (1982)
  • That Frog (1982)
  • The Horror on the # 33 (1982)
    • German: Horror in line 33. In: Ronald M. Hahn (Ed.): Myths of the near future. Heyne Science Fiction & Fantasy # 4062, 1984, ISBN 3-453-31004-7 .
  • Grunt-12 Test Drive (1983)
    • German: Test drive with the Grunt-12. In: Ronald M. Hahn (Ed.): Night in the ruins. Heyne Science Fiction & Fantasy # 4099, 1984, ISBN 3-453-31059-4 .
  • Creative Coverage, Inc. (1983)
  • Uncle Tuggs (1986)
  • Fill It With Regular (1986)
    • German: Normalbenzin. In: Ronald M. Hahn (Ed.): Travel companions. Heyne Science Fiction & Fantasy # 4485, 1988, ISBN 3-453-01018-3 .
  • Fat Face (1987)
    • German: Fettsack. In: Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling (ed.): The new book of fantasy. Bastei Lübbe Paperback # 28191, 1990, ISBN 3-404-28191-8 .
  • Delivery (1987)
  • I, Said the Fly (1989)
  • Salome (1994)
  • Pick and Grim (1994)
  • Johnny Crack (1995)
  • Tollbooth (1995)
  • Fast Food (1995)
  • Upscale (1995)
  • Piece A 'Chain (1996)
  • Water of Life (1999)
  • For Every Tatter in Its Mortal Dress (2000)
  • The Rebuke (2002)
  • The Growlimb (2004)
  • Incident Report (2004)
  • The Presentation (2005)
  • The Pool (2007)
  • Tsathoggua (2008)
  • The Recruiter (2009)
  • Copping Squid (2009)
  • Dagoniad (2009)
  • The Battery (2009)
  • Tsathoggua (2009)
  • Hew the Tintmaster (2010)
  • Momma Durtt (2012)
  • Under the Shelf (2014)
  • Beneath the Beardmore (2014)
  • An Open Letter to Mr. Edgar Allan Poe, from a Fervent Admirer (2016)
  • Credit Card (2016)
  • In Memory Drive Slow (2016)
  • King Gil Gomez and Monkey-Do (2016)
  • Demiurge (2017)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Michael Shea (1946-2014) , obituary in Locus , March 3, 2014, accessed on August 9, 2018.
  2. ↑ Hannes Riffel, Sascha Mamczak: Michael Shea (1946-2014). In: The Science Fiction Year 2015. Golkonda Verlag, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-944720-48-7 .
  3. ↑ Erik Himmelsbach: 'The Extra' by Michael Shea , Los Angeles Times (online) February 11, 2010, accessed September 25, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Shea, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Culver City , California , United States
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 2014
Place of death San Francisco , California , United States