Lewis Shiner

Who is Lewis Shiner?

Lewis Shiner is an American writer.

Shiner began his career as a science fiction writer, but then identified with cyberpunk, and later wrote more mainstream novels, albeit often with magical realism and fantasy elements. He was formerly a resident of Texas, and now lives in North Carolina.

Shiner graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1973.

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 focuses on a fictional up and coming female musician and her subsequent fall back down. Slam 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.

He is a contributing author to the George R. R. Martin edited anthology Wild Cards, notably creating that universe's most powerful character, the tantric sex magic wielding pimp, Fortunato.