Bob Shaw facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bob Shaw
Born	Robert Shaw 31 December 1931 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Died	11 February 1996(1996-02-11) (aged 64) Warrington, England
Occupation	Novelist, structural engineer, aircraft designer, journalist
Period	1954–1995
Genre	Science fiction

Robert Shaw (born December 31, 1931 – died February 11, 1996) was a talented science fiction writer from Northern Ireland. He was known for his original ideas and clever humor. Bob Shaw was also a big fan of science fiction. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer twice, in 1979 and 1980. His short story "Light of Other Days" and his novel The Ragged Astronauts were also nominated for the Hugo Award.

Life of Bob Shaw

Bob Shaw was born and grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was the oldest of three sons. He first discovered science fiction when he was about 11 years old. He read a short story by A. E. van Vogt in a magazine called Astounding Science-Fiction. During World War II, American soldiers passed through Northern Ireland. They often left their used science fiction magazines at Smithfield Market. This is where Bob Shaw found them.

He studied at Belfast College of Technology. In 1950, he joined a group called Irish Fandom. Another Northern Irish science fiction writer, James White, was also in this group. They met at the house of Walt Willis in Belfast. This group was important in the early history of science fiction fans. They created fan magazines called Hyphen and Slant. Bob Shaw wrote for both of these. During this time, he got the nickname "BoSh." His first professional science fiction short story was published in 1954.

Bob Shaw and his first wife, Sadie, lived in Canada from 1956 to 1958. They had a son and two daughters. His novel Vertigo is set in Alberta, Canada. The huge grasslands in his Orbitsville books might have been inspired by his time there. He was trained as a structural engineer. He worked as an aircraft designer for Short and Harland. Later, he was a science reporter for The Belfast Telegraph from 1966 to 1969. He also worked in publicity for Vickers Shipbuilding.

In 1973, Bob Shaw and his family moved from Northern Ireland to England. This is where he wrote most of his books. They first moved to Ulverston and then to Grappenhall in Warrington. After his wife Sadie passed away in 1991, Bob Shaw lived alone for some years.

He almost lost his eyesight due to an illness. He also had migraine headaches that caused strange visual effects. Because of this, ideas about seeing and vision often appeared in his stories. In 1991, he said, "I write science fiction for people who don't read a great deal of science fiction." In 1995, he married Nancy Tucker from America. He went to live with her in the US. However, he returned to England in the last months of his life. Bob Shaw died from cancer on February 11, 1996.

Bob Shaw's Famous Works

Bob Shaw is well-known for his short story "Light of Other Days," published in 1966. This story introduced the amazing idea of slow glass. Slow glass is a special material that lets you see events from the past. Bob Shaw sold this story to Analog editor John W. Campbell. Campbell liked it so much that Shaw wrote a follow-up story called "Burden of Proof." The original story was written quickly, but Bob Shaw had planned it for years. He later expanded on this idea in his novel Other Days, Other Eyes.

His stories covered many different styles. Some were very realistic with just a touch of fantasy, like Ground Zero Man. Others were wild and imaginative, like The Palace of Eternity. His Orbitsville series is about finding a huge, hollow shell that completely surrounds a star. This shell is big enough for people to live inside. The series explores what happens to humanity after this discovery. Orbitsville won the British SF Association Award in 1976.

Later in his career, he wrote the Land and Overland trilogy. This series includes The Ragged Astronauts, The Wooden Spaceships, and The Fugitive Worlds. These stories are set in a world where technology developed without using any metals. Like the writer Philip K. Dick, Bob Shaw often explored how we see and understand the world in his fiction.

Bob Shaw's Humor and Fan Activities

Bob Shaw was famous among science fiction fans for his great sense of humor. He was an early member of Irish Fandom with Walt Willis and James White. He always loved reading and writing for fanzines, which are magazines made by fans.

At the British science fiction convention called Eastercon, he gave funny speeches for many years. These talks were often part of his "Serious Scientific Talks" series, which was a joke name. These speeches were later collected in books like The Eastercon Speeches (1979) and A Load of Old Bosh (1995). He even gave a similar talk at the 1979 Worldcon in Brighton. For these humorous talks, he won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1979 and 1980. In 1954, he wrote The Enchanted Duplicator with Walt Willis. This was a funny story about science fiction fandom that was inspired by The Pilgrim's Progress.

See also

In Spanish: Bob Shaw para niños

• List of Northern Irish writers