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William Shunn

Goodreads Author

Born

in Glendale, California, The United States

Website

https://www.shunn.net/

Twitter

shunn

Genre

Science Fiction, Memoir, Fantasy

Member Since

May 2008

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/shunn

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William Shunn was born in Los Angeles and raised in Utah, the eldest of eight children in a devout Mormon family. A writer from a young age, he attended the Clarion Writers Workshop at Michigan State University in 1985, when he was 17. As was expected, he departed on a proselytizing mission for the LDS Church at the age of 19. He was assigned to preach in Alberta, Canada, but after six months he was convicted of felony mischief in connection with a false bomb threat and expelled from the country. The complete story is recounted in his memoir The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary, available November 10, 2015.

In 1991, Shunn graduated from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City with a degree in computer science. So William Shunn was born in Los Angeles and raised in Utah, the eldest of eight children in a devout Mormon family. A writer from a young age, he attended the Clarion Writers Workshop at Michigan State University in 1985, when he was 17. As was expected, he departed on a proselytizing mission for the LDS Church at the age of 19. He was assigned to preach in Alberta, Canada, but after six months he was convicted of felony mischief in connection with a false bomb threat and expelled from the country. The complete story is recounted in his memoir The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary, available November 10, 2015.

In 1991, Shunn graduated from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City with a degree in computer science. Soon thereafter he began finding success as a science fiction writer. His short fiction has appeared in Salon, Asimov's Science Fiction, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Science Fiction Age, Realms of Fantasy, Electric Velocipede, Storyteller, Newtown Literary, and various anthologies, including year's-best collections. His work has been nominated for the Hugo Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and twice for the Nebula Award.

A small collection of his stories, An Alternate History of the 21st Century, was published by Spilt Milk Press in 2007, with an introduction by Cory Doctorow. Cast a Cold Eye, a short horror novel co-written with Derryl Murphy, appeared from PS Publishing in 2009.

Shunn served three years as a national juror for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and for three years hosted and produced the acclaimed Tuesday Funk literary reading series in Chicago. He has long worked as a software developer, notably for WordPerfect Corporation and Sesame Workshop, and on September 11, 2001, he created what may have been the first online "survivor registry," a database that allowed people in affected cities a way to report their status and allowed friends and families to see if their loved ones were okay.

William Shunn left the Mormon Church in 1995 and developed one of the earliest ex-Mormon web sites. He lives in New York City. ...more

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William Shunn’s books

Average rating: 3.85 · 1,953 ratings · 261 reviews · 19 distinct works • Similar authors

	Glitter & Mayhem by John Klima (Editor), Lynne M. Thomas (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Michael Damian Thomas (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 3.75 avg rating — 621 ratings — published 2013 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Vanishing Acts: A Science Fiction Anthology by Ellen Datlow (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Bruce McAllister (Goodreads Author), Mark W. Tiedemann (Goodreads Author) 3.77 avg rating — 495 ratings — published 2000 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-First Annual Collection by Gardner Dozois (Editor), William Barton, Paul Melko 4.05 avg rating — 360 ratings — published 2004 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary 4.32 avg rating — 157 ratings — published 2015 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Year's Best SF 13 by David G. Hartwell (Editor, Contributor), Kathryn Cramer (Goodreads Author) (Editor, Contributor), Johanna Sinisalo (Contributor) 3.66 avg rating — 146 ratings — published 2008 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2007 Edition by Rich Horton (editor), Ruth Nestvold (Goodreads Author), William Shunn (Goodreads Author) 3.51 avg rating — 88 ratings — published 2007 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Inclination 4.20 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2006 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Alternate History of the 21st Century: Stories 4.38 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2007 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Our Dependence on Foreign Keys it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	After the Earthquake a Fire liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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William Shunn's Blog

This Year a Serial Takes Root

As near as I can pin it down, it was late January in 2009 when, frustrated by whatever recalcitrant writing project I was struggling with at the time, I opened up a new document and typed these sentences:

Everything changed when Hasta flipped Bobby Kimball the bird. The universe turned inside out—or at least that's how it seemed.

From then on, for Hasta and her friends, nothing was ever the same.

Thi Read more of this blog post »

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Published on February 04, 2022 05:00

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William Shunn rated a book it was amazing When Franny Stands Up by Eden Robins (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A caveat before I get to When Franny Stands Up, the debut fantasy novel by Chicago writer Eden Robins. Eden is a friend of mine. I met her something like twelve years ago, when I still lived in that windiest of cities. We were introduced by a mutual ...more
Sep 02, 2022 06:00AM · 3 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of When Franny Stands Up by Eden Robins. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — When Franny Stands Up by Eden Robins <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
William Shunn and 2 other people liked Roy's review of The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary: "I should start by saying that I know little about the Mormon church, and was drawn to this book for a reason completely unrelated to that. I’m a fan of the NYT Spelling Bee game, and the author of this book publishes a daily “solution page” for the p" Read more of this review »
May 05, 2021 11:25AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Accidental Terrorist by William Shunn. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Accidental Terrorist by William Shunn <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
William Shunn and 4 other people liked Michael's review of The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary: " One of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long, long time. Fact is, I'd been looking forward to this book for quite awhile, having heard large parts of the story over the years. (There had been a podcast, as well as postings on the author's webs" Read more of this review »
Jan 28, 2021 08:11PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Accidental Terrorist by William Shunn. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Accidental Terrorist by William Shunn <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">