When he died in 2014, it was my unfortunate duty to write an obituary for Lucius Shepard. I considered him one of the finest short fiction writers in the genre in the 80s and 90, and tried to explain why in three short paragraphs. Here’s the core of what I wrote.

I first encountered him in the pages of Omni magazine in 1988, with his novelette “Life of Buddha.” I remember being astounded with the natural realism of his dialog, which captured the flow of modern speech in a way I’d never seen before. I read his brilliant Nebula Award-winning novella “R&R” — which opens with an artillery specialist in Central America getting a glimpse of a war map and wondering if he’s somehow caught up in a war between primary colors — and the novel it turned into, Life During Wartime (1987). His dark visions of the near future frequently involved inexplicable wars, and he wrote extensively about Central America, where he lived briefly.

Four years after his death, Shepard is in danger of being forgotten. Virtually all of his work is out of print, and his finest work — his award-winning short stories — is getting harder to find. Fortunately, it’s not getting more expensive. Those who know what to look for can snap up his best collections are bargain prices. In April I was the only bidder on eBay for a brand new copy of his World Fantasy Award-winning The Ends of the Earth (1991), and won it for the criminally low price of $7.99. It’s one of the finest fantasy collections of the last 30 years.

[Click the images for bigger versions.] 

The Ends of the Earth has been out of print in the US since it was published in hardcover by Arkham House in 1991 (above left, cover by Jeffrey K. Potter). It had a better run in the UK, with a simultaneous hardcover/trade paperback release from Millennium in 1993 (above right, cover by Chris Moore), a mass market paperback in 1994, and an ebook edition from Gateway / Orion in 2015.

The Ends of the Earth includes three long novellas, including  the Locus Award winning novella The Scalehunter’s Beautiful Daughter, originally published as a limited edition hardcover by Mark V. Ziesing in 1988:

“The Ends of the Earth”
“Nomans Land”
“The Scalehunter’s Beautiful Daughter”

Three stories in the book were nominated for the World Fantasy Award, “Life of Buddha,” “Shades,” and The Scalehunter’s Beautiful Daughter. “Aymara” and Scalehunter’s were also nominated for the Nebula award.

Here’s the complete Table of Contents, with award citations.

“The Ends of the Earth” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 1989)
“Delta Sly Honey” (In the Field of Fire, 1987)
“Bound For Glory” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1989)
“The Exercise of Faith” (Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, June 1987)
“Nomans Land” (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, October 1988)
“Life of Buddha” (Omni, May 1988) — World Fantasy Award nomination
“Shades” (In the Field of Fire, 1987) — World Fantasy Award nomination
“Aymara” (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1986) — Nebula nomination
“A Wooden Tiger” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1988)
“The Black Clay Boy” (Whispers VI, 1987)
“Fire Zone Emerald” (Playboy, February 1986)
“On the Border” (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1987)
The Scalehunter’s Beautiful Daughter (Mark V. Ziesing, 1988) — Locus Award Winner; Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award nominee
“Surrender” (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1989)

The Ends of the Earth was published by Arkham House in March 1991, and reprinted in the UK by Millennium in December 1993. It is 484 pages, priced at $24.95 for the Arkham edition and £15.99 for the Millennium edition.

See all our recent Vintage Treasures here.