[winterhawk]

I just found out some sad news today. Some of you oldtimers might remember Bill Shapland, aka "Shapcano," longtime proprietor of the "Shapcano's Shadowrun Stories" website (shapcano.com), where he posted many of his wonderful stories and gave a lot of newbie SR writers not only a place to post their own but a lot of encouragment and kind words.

I hadn't talked to him for quite a while, but I had the privilege of writing with him and trading stories back and forth, and I definitely enjoyed reading the tales of his shadowrunner team. I was very sad today when a fellow SR writer, DeckerM, told me that she'd heard he'd died in April.

Anyway, for those who remember him, let's raise a glass to one of the pioneers of Shadowrun fanfiction.  And to those who don't, check out his website. He's got some good stuff there to remember him by.

RIP, Bill.

[Wolfboy]

amen hawk, shap you will be missed.

[Bull]

Well shit.  *sigh*

We're gettin' old, hoss.  We lost another one.

[Chance359]

Shapcano's stories were some of the first SR fan fiction I read.  Emailed him a time or two about the detail he went into in his writing of martial arts.  I was thinking about using one of his characters as a contact in a SR5 game in Manhattan, now I'm sure of it. 

[Palladion]

I hadn't talked to him for quite a while, but I had the privilege of writing with him and trading stories back and forth, and I definitely enjoyed reading the tales of his shadowrunner team. I was very sad today when a fellow SR writer, DeckerM, told me that she'd heard he'd died in April.

Any info on what happened, how he passed?  Shapcano's writing is what turned our local group onto playing Shadowrun in the first place.  His site is down, I would love to get a copy of all his archived stories and post them somewhere for future generations.

(Edit: I managed to find most of his Owen Glendower and the Lost Boys stories except the last two.)

[jojojajumbo]

That is certainly devastating.
I was going to email Shapcano that "Shadowrun Returns" came out and I enjoyed playing this computer game.
I exchanged a few email with Shapcano over the past few years when I found his web-site.
His friendship and stories kept me together in this crazy world.
He will always live in my memory

[Ecthelias]

Oh damn, that really sucks. I used to read his stuff way back, same time I was reading your fics, Hawk. In fact, this was what got me started on SR.

*Raises a pint*

RIP Shap, you'll be missed.

[Michael Chandra]

Any info on what happened, how he passed?

I found this when googling his name. Definitely the same, given this part: "He was an avid reader and a prolific writer of science fiction, completing three novels and multiple short stories, most set 50 years in the future in a world inhabited by dragons and teeming with magic and political unrest."

[Sede]

Welp, that sucks. I'd never heard of the guy until now, but after reading this I did a quick bit of reading around. Daaaaaaaamn, this guy was to storytelling what color was to TV; never mind everything he was doing in meatspace.

Sleep well, pal. You've earned it.

[Charybdis]

Wow....   .. just wow.

His work was a big inspiration for most of my games, and more than a few stories.

RIP mon ami.... 

[Tatterdemalian]

 

This is heartbreaking.  Shap and I were good pals for a long while and I can not comprehend the loss of his wonderful talents.  Snapper and Al were an idea based off a few people I knew and myself and I was pretty meek in the department of wanting to write and show my stuff.  Shap urged me to go for it...told me I needed to do it and was nice enough to go through my work and critique it with a practiced eye.  Even when I had moved on and occasionally sniffed around my old stuff, he always said hello and kept pushing me to work on a new adventure of my two dorks...

Losing him is like Luke losing Old Ben in my eyes.  He was a great teacher.  Maybe I will go back to them again...at least in honor of one hell of a nice dude. 

RIP Omae.  I will miss you and your wonderful words

[Horsemen]

*Raises a glass in honor and memory*

[Club]

Well, that would explain why his site went down.

Is there any way someone could ask his estate if the novels could be published or posted somewhere else? They aren't really the right format for e-novelization, but maybe if say Winterhawk or DeckerM could put a sub-page on their sites, his stories could be preserved for at least a few more years.

Yeah, reading his stories gave me something to do for about a month around '02, when things were going to crap for me. I've got them on disk, but it would be nice to see them still up.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

You could always pull them off the disk and put them somewhere accessable - posted here, for example, or perhaps on deviantART - with links from here to there, of course...

[Palladion]

Does anyone have or able to resurrect all of Shapcano's stories and files? I managed to find a few online scattered around, but I was hoping to get a full collection. I have been pondering an archive of sorts...