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American novelist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Joseph Shea (February 14, 1933 – March 10, 1994) was an American novelist and former journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy Illuminatus! It became a cult success and was later turned into a marathon-length stage show put on at the British National Theatre and elsewhere. In 1986 it won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. Shea went on to write several action novels based in exotic historical settings.
Robert Shea | |
---|---|
Born | Robert Joseph Shea February 14, 1933 New York City |
Died | March 10, 1994 61) | (aged
Alma mater | Manhattan College Rutgers University [1] |
Spouse | Yvonne Bremseth Shea, Patricia Monaghan |
Website | |
bobshea |
Robert Joseph Shea was born in New York City. He attended high school at Manhattan Prep (Manhattan College High School) in Riverdale, the Bronx. After graduation he attended Manhattan College and Rutgers University.[1]
Apart from co-authoring Illuminatus! with Wilson, Shea wrote several historical action novels, including Shike (1981), a two-volume novel set in Ancient Japan about the warrior monk Jebu and his love Lady Shima Taniko, All Things Are Lights (1986), and The Saracen, a novel published in two volumes in 1989 depicting the struggle between a blond Muslim warrior called Daoud ibn Abdullah and his French crusader adversary, Simon de Gobignon. His last published book was the Native American tale Shaman (1991).
All Things Are Lights and the outline for the unfinished novel Children of Earthmaker have been released under a Creative Commons license and are available to read and copy at Robert Shea's website. Lady Yang was finished but never published; a Creative Commons online version is in the works by Shea's son Michael.[2]
Three of his lectures and two panel discussions he participated in were recorded when he was a featured speaker at both the Starwood Festival[3] and the WinterStar Symposium (both with and without Robert Anton Wilson) and produced by the Association for Consciousness Exploration.
For several years, Shea edited the anarchist zine No Governor. The title comes from a quote attributed to Zhuangzi, "There is no governor anywhere." The zine was mentioned in and read by one of the characters in Illuminatus!.
Clipped from the Robert J. Shea Tribute page:
Shea was a resident of Glencoe, Illinois[1] He was survived by his son, Michael E. Shea, and his second wife, author Patricia Monaghan.[5]
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