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Bob Shaw

ボブ・ショウ

Bobu Shō

Aliases: Robert Shaw / BoSh
Pen Names: BoShNickname used in fandom and as a byline

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1931-12-31 (Belfast)
Died
1996-02-11 (Warrington) age 64
Nationality
Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Residence History
Belfast → Warrington

Career

Occupations
novelist, structural engineer, aircraft designer, journalist
Active Years
1951-1995
Influenced By
A. E. van Vogt

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Light of Other Days

1966 Science fiction (short story)

A representative short story that introduced the concept of "slow glass," exploring issues of time, vision and memory.

memoryvisiontime
Translations
  • Light of Other Days

Other Days, Other Eyes

1972 Short story collection

A collection including "Light of Other Days," featuring inventive ideas such as slow glass.

technology and everyday lifehuman relationships
Translations
  • Other Days, Other Eyes

Orbitsville

1975 Space opera / hard SF

A tale of adventure and civilizations around the massive artificial structure "Orbitsville," later developed into a trilogy.

explorationcivilization contactartificial megastructures
Translations
  • Orbitsville

Night Walk

1967 Science fiction

A novel with experimental elements; one of his notable longer works published in the English-speaking world.

technologyindividual quest

Bibliography

  • Night Walk
  • The Two-Timers
  • The Palace of Eternity
  • One Million Tomorrows
  • Ground Zero Man
  • Other Days, Other Eyes
  • Orbitsville
  • A Wreath of Stars
  • Medusa's Children
  • Land and Overland (The Ragged Astronauts, The Wooden Spaceships, The Fugitive Worlds)

Translations of Works

  • Other Days, Other Eyes
  • Medusa's Children
  • Vertigo / Terminal Velocity
  • Ship of Strangers

Style & Themes

Literary Style
a style that blends hard-SF conceptual rigor with humourconcise, idea-driven short fiction
Recurring Motifs
vision and memorysocial impact of technologymegastructures and space exploration

Legacy

Bob Shaw was a Northern Irish science-fiction writer best known for inventive concepts such as "slow glass." Primarily a short-story writer, he had a lasting influence on English-language SF and was active in fandom and public speaking.

Quotes

  • Reading van Vogt's short stories and early issues of Analog in childhood had a more important and longer-lasting effect on me than any LSD experience.
    Source: Interview / autobiographical remarks (source unspecified)

Trivia

  • Known in fandom by the nickname "BoSh."
  • "Light of Other Days" is famous for introducing the "slow glass" concept.
  • Worked as a structural engineer and aircraft designer while writing fiction.