Works
Shaw is perhaps best known for "Light of Other Days" (August 1966), the story that introduced the concept of slow glass, through which the past can be seen. Shaw sold this story to Analog editor John W. Campbell, who liked it so much Shaw wrote a sequel for him, "Burden of Proof", in May 1967. The original story was written in four hours, but after years of planning. Shaw expanded on the concept in the novel Other Days, Other Eyes, and the concept was adopted by the Marvel Comics/Curtis Magazines anthology magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction.
His work ranged from essentially mimetic stories with fantastic elements far in the background (Ground Zero Man) to van Vogtian extravaganzas (The Palace of Eternity). Orbitsville and its two sequels deal with the discovery of a habitable shell completely surrounding a star, and the consequences for humanity. It won him the 1976 British SF Association Award. Later in his career he wrote the Land trilogy (The Ragged Astronauts, The Wooden Spaceships and The Fugitive Worlds), set on a system of worlds where technology has evolved with no metals. Like Philip K. Dick he continually focused on the nature of perception in his work.
Shaw was known in the fan community for his wit. Following his early membership of Irish Fandom, with Walt Willis, and James White, he always remained a keen reader of and contributor to fanzines. Later, and for many years, at the British science fiction convention Eastercon, he would deliver a humorous speech (often part of his famous series known by the tongue-in-cheek label of "Serious Scientific Talks"); these were eventually collected in The Eastercon Speeches (1979) and A Load of Old Bosh (1995), which included a similar talk from the 1979 Worldcon in Brighton, 37th World Science Fiction Convention. For these he won the 1979 and 1980 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. He wrote The Enchanted Duplicator with Walt Willis in 1954, a piece of fiction about science fiction fandom modelled on John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.
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