Tom Shippey

Tom Shippey

Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a scholar of medieval literature, including that of Anglo-Saxon England, medievalism, and of modern fantasy and science fiction, in particular the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, about whom he has written several scholarly studies. He is widely considered one of the leading academic scholars on Tolkien. Shippey retired from the Walter J. Ong Chair of Humanities at Saint Louis University's College of Arts and Sciences in 2008.

His work and life cross paths in many ways with that of Tolkien; like Tolkien, he attended King Edward's School in Birmingham and taught Old English at Oxford University. He occupied Tolkien's former chair at the University of Leeds.

Under the pseudonym of "Tom Allen" he has written two stories that were published in anthologies edited by Peter Weston. The first published was the fantasy story "King, Dragon" in Andromeda 2 in 1977; the second was the science fiction novelette "Not Absolute" in Andromeda 3 in 1978.

Under the pseudonym of John Holm, he is also the co-author (with Harry Harrison) of The Hammer and the Cross trilogy of alternate history/fantasy novels.

In 2009, he wrote a scholarly 21-page introduction to Flights of Eagles, a collection of James Blish works.

In addition to writing books of his own, he has edited both The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories, and The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories. From 2003 to 2007, he served as the editor of the journal Studies in Medievalism. He serves on the editorial board of Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review, and he reviews science fiction for the Wall Street Journal.

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