author
Robert J. (Robert James) Shores
1881–1934
A journalist, poet, and humorist from Montana, he wrote with a quick wit and a taste for literary satire. His surviving books range from light verse to playful, observant essays that still feel lively more than a century later.
2 Audiobooks
Gay gods and merry mortals: some excursions in verse
by Robert J. (Robert James) Shores
New Brooms
by Robert J. (Robert James) Shores
About the author
Born in 1881, Robert J. Shores began writing young. A history article from The History Museum in Great Falls, Montana says he was editing a school paper as a teenager and publishing poems in the Great Falls Tribune by 1899. The same account says he later worked for the Butte Inter Mountain and other newspapers in cities including Seattle, Salt Lake City, Des Moines, St. Paul, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and New York.
Shores seems to have been drawn to humor as much as journalism. The Great Falls article credits him with a satirical response to Mary MacLane's work, and surviving editions of his own books show the same lively range: Gay Gods and Merry Mortals was published in 1910, and New Brooms followed in 1913. Project Gutenberg currently lists both titles, suggesting that his reputation today rests on a mix of verse and essay writing.
He died in 1934. While detailed biographical records are limited, the available sources point to a writer who moved easily between newspaper culture, comic observation, and literary experiment.