RealityStudio is saddened to note the passing of Eric C. Shoaf on 24 August 2019. He contributed numerous items to RealityStudio, including his entire William Burroughs bibliography. We never met Eric in person but our correspondence with him began in 2005, not long after the founding of the site, and ended only two weeks before his passing, when he sent in the draft of an epic interview with Richard Aaron of Am Here Books. Eric was the author of a handful of books including William S. Burroughs: A Collector’s Guide, Gonzology: A Hunter Thompson Bibliography, and Tom Wolfe: A Bibliographic Analysis. Please join RealityStudio in wishing well to his loved ones.
Published by RealityStudio on 2 Sept 2019.
What a shock. He appeared to be firing up the collecting engines for another epic run. His scholarship will be missed.
Until August 2019, Eric was at work on his essay for “Burroughs Unbound: William Burroughs and the Performance of Writing,” a collection of essays forthcoming from Bloomsbury. Unfortunately, he had to withdraw from the project in early August because of his failing health; he died shortly thereafter. He will be missed in the book, which will be the poorer for his absence, and sorely missed in the field as both a meticulous scholar and collector. RIP, Eric