(1905). When her old body died, Ayesha was rein-
carnated in the body of an elderly priestess in yet
another lost Asian kingdom, this one ruled by an
insane king. Although portrayed as a villain in the
first novel, she is redeemed in this one, but once
again her end is an unhappy one, for in attempting
to express her love for Vincey she inadvertently
kills him. She and Allan(1920) is actually a prequel
to the first two adventures and blends her story
line with that of Allan Quatermain, who arrives
just in time to become instrumental in the resolu-
tion of a power struggle between She and another
immortal, this one a male. Wisdom’s Daughter
(1923), the last book Haggard wrote about
Ayesha, is a retroactive memoir of her life, how she
became immortal, the origins of her doomed love
affair, and how she came to the lost land where
Vincey found her.
Other writers have attempted sequels and par-
odies, the only one of which that is of lasting inter-
est is Journey to the Flame(1985), by Richard
MONACO, in which a pair of expeditions journey to
the lost land in search of her secrets. A reasonably
loyal but uninspired motion picture version was
produced as She(1965).
Shea, Michael (1946– )
Michael Shea’s reputation in fantasy and horror
fiction would appear to be out of proportion to his
output. Over the course of three decades he has
produced only seven novels and perhaps two dozen
shorter works, and many of them have been openly
imitative of Jack VANCE,H. P. LOVECRAFT, and
other writers. He is perhaps best known for his
character Nifft the Lean, a professional thief in a
typical sword and sorcery world who has appeared
in three book-length adventures.
Shea’s first novel was A Quest for Simbilis
(1974), a rollicking fantasy adventure set in the
same world as the Dying Earth series by Jack
Vance. The Dying Earth is set in a distant future in
which magic has supplanted technology, but spells
are so difficult to control that magicians can pos-
sess only a limited number of them at any given
time. Adding a new one requires relinquishing an
existing one. Shea set his baroque quest story in
that world, imitating Vance stylistically as well,
with surprising success for such a new writer. The
next several years disappointed his fans, however,
because he wrote only a handful of shorter tales
during this period, including the very impressive
“Polyphemus” (1981). Most of his short fiction
from this period and a few later ones have been
collected as Polyphemus(1988).
Nifft the Lean(1982) signaled the beginning of
a relatively productive period in the 1980s and also
won the World Fantasy Award. Nifft is a typical
roguish thief whose episodic adventures are remi-
niscent of the heroic fantasy of Fritz LEIBER,al-
though also distinctly Shea’s own. Nifft returned
for a full-length adventure in The Mines of Behe-
moth (1997), wherein he attempts to steal the
valuable fluid secreted by an oversized insect, and
in A’Rak(2000), in which a city makes a deal with
a spider god for protection, then hopes to renege
when the terms of payment come due. Nifft also
appears in some of Shea’s short fiction.
The Color out of Time(1984) is a sequel to The
Color out of Space (1927) by H. P. LOVECRAFT.
Something alien is lying hidden in a lake, altering
the physical makeup of anything living that comes
within its range. Shea also borrowed from Love-
craft for the novella I, Said the Fly(1993), in which
various unusual phenomena plague the world. His
one remaining novel is In Yana, the Touch of Undy-
ing(1985), in which a student uncovers the secret
of magical alternate worlds and possible immortal-
ity. His output has been very sporadic since 1990
but includes some memorable short stories, includ-
ing “Fast Food” (1994) and “For Every Tatter in Its
Mortal Dress” (2000). Although Shea’s published
fiction is impressive, there remains the feeling that
he has much unrealized potential.Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft(1797–1851)
Mary Shelley is, of course, most famous for her cre-
ation of FRANKENSTEIN(1818), originally Franken-
stein, or the Modern Prometheus.The genesis was a
contest suggested by Lord Byron and Percy Shelley
in which the participants each wrote a ghost story,
the term then in use for all supernatural tales, after
which Mary Shelley wrote her classic tale of the
creation of life after being inspired by a dream. The
novel is variously claimed by horror and scienceShelley, Mary Wollstonecraft 315