Wikipedia

William Shunn

William Shunn (born August 14, 1967) is an American science fiction writer and computer programmer. He was raised in a Latter-day Saint household, the oldest of eight children. In 1986, he served a mission to Canada for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was arrested for making a false bomb threat, for the purpose of preventing his fellow missionary from returning home.[1]

William Shunn
William Shunn at the 2007 World Fantasy Convention
William Shunn at the 2007 World Fantasy Convention
BornDonald William Shunn II
(1967-08-14) August 14, 1967 (age 57)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationShort story writer
EducationUniversity of Utah (BS)
Period1993–present
GenreScience fiction
Website
www.shunn.net

Life and career

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Shunn received a B.S. in computer science at the University of Utah in 1991.[2] He went to work for WordPerfect Corporation and was part of the team that developed WordPerfect 6.0 for MS-DOS. In 1995, he moved from Utah to New York City. He left the LDS Church at the same time and created one of the earliest ex-Mormon web sites.[3]

Shunn's first professional short story was published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1993.[4] He has been nominated once for the Hugo Award and twice for the Nebula Award.

Shunn is the author of a 2015 memoir, The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary.[5]

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, he created what may have been the first online survivor registry.[6][7]

Shunn is also known for creating a web site that offers daily hints to The New York Times Spelling Bee. This tool is commonly used within the community of Spelling Bee players.[8]

Awards and nominations

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Bibliography

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Fiction

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Nonfiction

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  • The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary (2015)

In 1993 or 1994, Shunn wrote a style guide for standard manuscript format (the generally accepted method for preparing a fiction manuscript for submission to professional markets), based on advice gathered at the Clarion Workshop and elsewhere.[9] First published to the web in 1995, this guide (and its later revisions),[10] commonly known as "Shunn format"[citation needed], has since been adopted by many magazines including Clarkesworld, Analog, and Interzone as a requirement for submissions.[11][12][13]

References

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  1. ^ "Missionary gets day's jail, $2,000 fine for bomb hoax", Monica Zurowski, Calgary Herald, February 27, 1987
  2. ^ "Through the Years", Continuum: The Magazine of the University of Utah, Fall 2007
  3. ^ "Mormon Matter"
  4. ^ Editorial introduction to "From Our Point of View We Had Moved to the Left," The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1993
  5. ^ Shunn, W., The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary, Sinister Regard (November 10, 2015). ISBN 978-1941928554
  6. ^ Journalism After September 11, Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allan (eds), Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0-415-28799-5
  7. ^ Cooper, Charles (13 September 2001). "Online help spawns hope for victims". CNET. Retrieved 30 June 2022. Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20010913185424/http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1014-201-7147460-0.html Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  8. ^ Amlen, Deb (16 October 2020). "The Genius of Spelling Bee". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  9. ^ W. Shunn, "Introduction to Proper Manuscript Format", shunn.net. Retrieved 8 Jun 2022
  10. ^ W. Shunn, "Proper Manuscript Format", shunn.net. Retrieved 17 Mar 2022. Earlier version published on Writers Write: The Internet Writing Journal, December 1998: https://www.writerswrite.com/journal/proper-manuscript-format-12984 Retrieved 17 Mar 2022. Earliest version published online in late 1995: https://shunn.net/format/original/ Retrieved 8 Jun 2022.
  11. ^ "Submissions". Clarkesworld. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  12. ^ "Writer's Guidelines". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  13. ^ Jelley, Gareth. "Submissions". Interzone. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
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