Editing William Shunn (section)

==Life and career==
Shunn received a B.S. in [[computer science]] at the [[University of Utah]] in 1991.<ref>[http://www.continuum.utah.edu/2007fall/tty.html "Through the Years"], ''Continuum: The Magazine of the University of Utah'', Fall 2007</ref>  He went to work for [[WordPerfect|WordPerfect Corporation]] and was part of the team that developed [[WordPerfect]] 6.0 for [[MS-DOS]].  In 1995, he moved from [[Utah]] to [[New York City]].  He left the [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|LDS Church]] at the same time and created one of the earliest [[ex-Mormon]] web sites.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/19970101103844/http://rainfrog.com/bill/mormon.shtml "Mormon Matter"]</ref>

Shunn's first professional short story was published in ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]'' in 1993.<ref>Editorial introduction to "From Our Point of View We Had Moved to the Left," ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction]],'' February 1993</ref>  He has been nominated once for the [[Hugo Award]] and twice for the [[Nebula Award]].

Shunn is the author of a 2015 memoir, ''The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary''.<ref>Shunn, W., [https://www.accidentalterrorist.com/prelude.html ''The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary''], Sinister Regard (November 10, 2015). {{ISBN|978-1941928554}}</ref>

In the wake of the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], he created what may have been the first online [[survivor registry]].<ref>''Journalism After September 11,'' Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allan (eds), Routledge, 2002, {{ISBN|0-415-28799-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Cooper |first1=Charles |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/online-help-spawns-hope-for-victims/ |title=Online help spawns hope for victims |work=CNET |date=13 September 2001 |access-date=30 June 2022}} Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20010913185424/http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1014-201-7147460-0.html Retrieved 30 June 2022.</ref>

Shunn is also known for creating a web site, Spelling Bee Solver, that offers daily hints to [[The New York Times Spelling Bee|''The New York Times'' Spelling Bee]]. This tool is commonly used within the community of Spelling Bee players.<ref name="BeeTimes">{{cite news |last1=Amlen |first1=Deb |title=The Genius of Spelling Bee |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/16/crosswords/spellingbee-puzzles.html |access-date=4 November 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=16 October 2020}}</ref>