William Shunn (born August 14, 1967) is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

writer and computer programmer. He was raised in a

Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

household, the oldest of eight children. In 1986, he served a

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

to Canada for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

, but was arrested for making a false bomb threat, for the purpose of preventing his fellow missionary from returning home.

Life and career

Shunn received a B.S. in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

in 1991. He went to work for WordPerfect Corporation and was part of the team that developed WordPerfect 6.0 for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

. In 1995, he moved from

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He left the

LDS Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

at the same time and created one of the earliest

ex-Mormon Ex-Mormon or post-Mormon refers to a Religious disaffiliation, disaffiliate of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) or any of its :Rocky Mountain Saints denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement, schismatic breakoffs, ...

web sites. Shunn's first professional short story was published in ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...

'' in 1993. He has been nominated once for the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

and twice for the

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...

. Shunn is the author of a 2015 memoir, ''The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary''. In the wake of the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, he created what may have been the first online

survivor registry A survivor registry is a list of survivors of a disaster. This assists families and acquaintances in re-establishing contact, after they have been separated by the disruption caused by the disaster. Holocaust There are several databases of surviv ...

. 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.

Awards and nominations

* 2001: Nominated for

for Best Novelette for " Dance of the Yellow-Breasted Luddites" (''Vanishing Acts,'' ed.

Ellen Datlow Ellen Datlow (born December 31, 1949) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror editor and anthologist. She is a winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Bram Stoker Award (Horror Writers Association). Career Datlow began her career ...

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scien ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, NY, 2000) * 2006: Nominated for

for Best Novella and

for Best Novella for "

Inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...

" (''

Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...

'', April/May 2006)

Bibliography

Fiction

* Netherview Station story series: ** '' The Practical Ramifications of Interstellar Packet Loss'' (1998) ** '' Dance of the Yellow-Breasted Luddites'' (2000) ** ''

'' (2006) * ''

Strong Medicine ''Strong Medicine'' is an American medical drama with a focus on feminism, feminist politics, health issues and class conflict that aired on the Lifetime Television, Lifetime network from 2000 to 2006. It was created and produced in part by Who ...

'' (2003) * '' Love in the Age of Spyware'' (2003) * '' An Alternate History of the 21st Century'', chap-book (2007)

Nonfiction

* ''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 Clarion is a six-week workshop for aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers. Originally an outgrowth of Damon Knight's and Kate Wilhelm's Milford Writers' Conference, held at their home in Milford, Pennsylvania, United States, it was founded i ...

and elsewhere. First published to the web in 1995, this guide (and its later revisions),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. commonly known as "Shunn format", has since been adopted by many magazines as a requirement for submissions.

References

External links

Official site
*

(short story)
"Love in the Age of Spyware"
(short story from ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

,'' 16 July 2003)
"Strong Medicine"
(short story from ''

,'' 10 November 2003)
"The Missionary Imposition"
(personal essay)
Podcast of Shunn comparing the Book of Mormon to Lord of the RingsSpelling Bee Solver
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shunn, William 1967 births American science fiction writers Former Latter Day Saints Living people American Mormon missionaries in Canada University of Utah alumni 20th-century Mormon missionaries American male novelists American male short story writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists Novelists from Los Angeles 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers