shapeshift v.
to change shape, by a natural capability, and adopt the form and sometimes abilities of an animal or other being
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1970
page image
Keith Roberts
bibliography
Compton Holywell was over two miles away; by the time she reached it she thought her lungs were going to burst. She’d been meaning to shape-shift and fly back, but she hadn’t dared; patrols of her own people were out already, quartering the entire area, hunting angrily for whoever had been wildcatting.
Mayday in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Nov. 19/1
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1980
page image
Joan D. Vinge
bibliography
His sister Arwyn had not been able to shape-shift before Braide’s curse; and so she could not now.
Hunt of the Unicorn in Basilisk 20 -
1986
The lizard’s shrunken, emptied body lay only a few inches from his face. Tristan watched it a long while, expecting some new trick, but apparently this time the transformation was real and final. Cheris had shape-shifted for the last time.
Mountains of Channadran 262 -
1990
Anne McCaffrey
Jody Lynn Nye
bibliography
He’s so young, he doesn’t know yet that it’s considered bad manners by his people to shape-shift in public.
Death of Sleep (1992) 55 -
1993 SFRA Review Jan. 103
Elementals of various first world clans who can shapeshift from monstrosity to human form.
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1994
Ian McDonald
The car shapeshifted, slimming and streamlining itself, pressing itself close to the black skin of the highway, growing spoilers and tailfins.
Necroville (1995) 68 -
1996 SFX May 96/2
Hit a button and it shape-shifts back to normal.
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2018
Sherrilyn Kenyon
bibliography
‘Awesome. Trapped here with you. No wine. No beer.’ He scanned him with a look. ‘And you can’t even shapeshift into a woman. Damn, I pissed off the wrong god last night.’
Stygian 224
Research requirements
antedating 1980
Earliest cite
Joan Vinge
Research History
Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a 1992 reprint of Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye's 1990 "The Death of Sleep".Douglas Winston submitted a 1986 cite for the variant "shape-shift" (as "shape-shifted") from Susan Dexter's "The Mountains of Channadran".
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1980 cite from Joan D. Vinge.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2018 cite from Sherrilyn Kenyon.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1970 cite from Keith Roberts.
Last modified 2021-11-01 21:57:47
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