Joel Shepherd (born 1974 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian science fiction author. He moved to Perth, Western Australia with his family when he was seven, where he later studied film and television arts at Curtin University. He now lives in Adelaide.
He is the son of Kate Shepherd, owner/operator of Austral Ed, a small Australian educational book supplier to Asia. He helps his mother in this business and has travelled widely as a result.
His first unpublished manuscript was shortlisted for the George Turner Prize in 1998 and the manuscript for Crossover was shortlisted in 1999.
His first novel Crossover was shortlisted for the science fiction division of the 2001 Aurealis Awards, that recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers.
His first three novels follow the adventures of Cassandra Kresnov, an artificially created super-soldier who becomes disillusioned with the policies and actions of her country, the League. She defects to the city of Tanusha, on the planet of Callay in the Federation, the League’s rival nation, and attempts to live as a civilian software expert.
Famous quotes containing the words joel and/or shepherd:
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
—Bible: Hebrew Isaiah, 2:4.
The words reappear in Micah 4:3, and the reverse injunction is made in Joel 3:10 (”Beat your plowshares into swords ...”)
“The metaphor of the king as the shepherd of his people goes back to ancient Egypt. Perhaps the use of this particular convention is due to the fact that, being stupid, affectionate, gregarious, and easily stampeded, the societies formed by sheep are most like human ones.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)