Will Shetterly

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-27

Will Shetterly, born in 1955, is an American fantasy and science fiction writer whose childhood was shaped by Dog Land, a roadside tourist attraction his parents owned, which directly inspired his acclaimed autobiographical novel Dogland (1997). He is also known for the novels Cats Have No Lord (1985), Witch Blood (1986), The Tangled Lands (1989), Elsewhere (1991), Nevernever (1993), Chimera (2000), and The Gospel of the Knife (2007), and has contributed numerous short stories to shared-world anthology series, particularly Terri Windling's Borderland series. With his wife, fellow fantasy author Emma Bull, Shetterly created and edited the shared-world fantasy setting of Liavek, producing a series of anthologies. His other creative work includes the comic book character Captain Confederacy and an appearance in the film Toxic Zombies. Outside fiction, Shetterly has been politically active, running for governor of Minnesota in 1994 on the Grassroots Party ticket. He won the Minnesota Book Award for Fantasy & Science Fiction for Elsewhere and received a World Fantasy Award nomination in 2008 for The Gospel of the Knife. Shetterly and Bull were part of the Minneapolis writing group The Scribblies, and he resides in Minneapolis; his literary archive was donated to Northern Illinois University in 2009.

Universe(s)

Books

• Liavek (1985) · Liavek Core Canon
• Liavek: The Players of Luck (1986) · Liavek Core Canon
• Liavek: Wizard's Row (1987) · Liavek Core Canon
• Liavek: Spells of Binding (1988) · Liavek Core Canon
• Liavek: Festival Week (1990) · Liavek Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 5 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 0 (None recorded)

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