John Shirley

John Shirley (born February 10, 1953) is an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and songwriter whose work includes science fiction and horror. He is associated with the early development of cyberpunk; his 1980 novel predates many of the works commonly associated with the genre, and William Gibson described Shirley as "cyberpunk's Patient Zero" in an introduction to a later edition of the novel. His fiction also includes the A Song Called Youth trilogy and the story collection Black Butterflies.

Shirley co-wrote the screenplay for the 1994 film The Crow with David J. Schow, and has written lyrics for Blue Öyster Cult. Black Butterflies won the 1998 Bram Stoker Award for Fiction Collection, and his novel Gunmetal Mountain won the 2024 Spur Award for Original Mass-Market Paperback Novel.