Sam Shepard novel coming out in December

NEW YORK – A novel Sam Shepard completed shortly before his death is coming out in December.

In an announcement Wednesday, Alfred A. Knopf says that “Spy of the First Person” will be released Dec. 5. In the novel, an unnamed narrator looks back on his life and the illness which afflicts him in old age.

Shepard died at his home in Kentucky in July after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a paralyzing condition also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Shepard was best known as a playwright. He also wrote prose fiction, including the story collections “Cruise Paradise” and “Great Dream of Heaven.”