William Warner Sleator III (February 13, 1945 – August 3, 2011), known as William Sleator, was an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

author who wrote primarily

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s but also wrote for younger readers. His books typically deal with adolescents coming across a peculiar phenomenon related to an element of theoretical science, then trying to deal with the situation. The theme of family relationships, especially between siblings, is frequently intertwined with the science fiction plotline. Due to the suspenseful and often eerie nature of some of his works, Sleator has been compared to young-adult horror writer

R. L. Stine Robert Lawrence Stine (; born October 8, 1943), sometimes known as Jovial Bob Stine and Eric Affabee, is an American novelist, short story writer, television producer, screenwriter, and executive editor. Stine has been referred to as the "St ...

(who has identified himself as a fan of Sleator's work). Others cite a strong resemblance to the paranoid, dream-like style of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

, which is most notable in ''

House of Stairs ''House of Stairs'' is a lithograph print by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher first printed in November 1951. This print measures . It depicts the interior of a tall structure crisscrossed with stairs and doorways. A total of 46 '' wentelteefje' ...

'', one of Sleator's more popular novels.

Biography

Early life, family and education

Sleator, the oldest of four siblings, was born in Havre de Grace,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, to William Warner Sleator, Jr., a professor of physiology and

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

, and Esther Kaplan Sleator, a pediatrician who did pioneering research on

attention deficit disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise Development ...

(ADD). The Sleator family moved to University City,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, a suburb of

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, when Billy (as the family called him) was three. His younger siblings are Vicky Wald, Tycho (Associate Professor of

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

), and

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

(Professor of

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

at CMU). He attended University City High School, where he was known as a composer who wrote scores for school plays and the orchestra. He graduated in 1963. He graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

with a degree in English in 1967.

Career

After college, Sleator moved to England, earning money by playing music in ballet schools. Eventually, Sleator returned to the United States to write his first novel, '' Blackbriar'', eventually published in 1972, which was based on real life experiences. His first published book was a children's story called ''The Angry Moon'', released in 1970. It won a Caldecott Honor citation. Sleator's writing style has been described as clean and simple. His characters are reluctant teenage heroes, and Sleator's younger siblings and friends have often found themselves being written into his prose, as in the semi-autobiographical story collection ''Oddballs''. Unlike the 'Golden Age' science fiction future-oriented model (one of

Buck Rogers Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily US newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books ...

tomorrowlands), Sleator's work often includes a morbid or negative fixation on the past or includes visions of dystopian or alternate worlds (future or otherwise) in which something has gone wrong. For example, Sleator's ''

The Green Futures of Tycho ''The Green Futures of Tycho'' is a 1981 science fiction novel for young audiences by William Sleator. The book explores time travel and the consequences of Tycho's choices. Plot summary The main character is Tycho Tithonus, an 11-year-old bo ...

'' takes place in the past in addition to the future; the world outside his ''

'' is hinted to be dystopic; ''

Interstellar Pig ''Interstellar Pig'', published in 1984 by Bantam Books, is a science fiction novel for young adults written by William Sleator. It was listed as an ALA Notable Book, a SLJ Best Book of the Year, and a Junior Literary Guild Selection. Plot ...

'' draws upon the supposed insanity of a long-dead prisoner. Elements of

Thai culture Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode bloc ...

also occasionally turn up in his stories. His 2009 short story "Fingernail" appears in the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

'' How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity'' and is from a young gay Thai man's perspective.

Personal life

Sleator struggled with alcoholism. He split his time between homes in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, and a small village in rural

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. His companion Siang Chitsa-Ard had died in 2008, and his preceding partner Paul Peter Rhode had died in 1999. He died on August 3, 2011, in Bua Chet, Thailand.

Works

* ''

The Angry Moon ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1970) * '' Blackbriar'' (1972) * ''

Run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

'' (1973) * ''

'' (1974) * '' Among the Dolls'' (1975) * '' Into the Dream'' (1979) * '' Once, Said Darlene'' (1979) * ''

'' (1981) * '' That's Silly'' (1981) * ''

Fingers A finger is a limb of the body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of most of the Tetrapods, so also with humans and other primates. Most land vertebrates have five fingers (Pentadactyly). Chambers 1 ...

'' (1983) * ''

'' (1984) * '' Singularity'' (1985) * ''

The Boy Who Reversed Himself ''The Boy Who Reversed Himself'' (1986) is a science fiction novel by William Sleator. The novel deals with an exploration into other dimensions, and provides a journey into the world beyond our own. Plot summary A high school girl, Laura, gr ...

'' (1986) * ''

The Duplicate ''The Duplicate'', published in 1988, is a science fiction novel for young adults written by William Sleator. Plot summary The main character, David, finds a device at the beach that can duplicate any living organism. After testing the devic ...

'' (1988) * ''

Strange Attractors In the mathematical field of dynamical systems, an attractor is a set of states toward which a system tends to evolve, for a wide variety of starting conditions of the system. System values that get close enough to the attractor values remain ...

'' (1989) * '' The Spirit House'' (1991) * '' Others See Us'' (1993) * '' Oddballs'' (1993) (story collection) * '' The Elevator'' (1993) (story collection) * '' Dangerous Wishes'' (1995) * '' The Night the Heads Came'' (1996) * '' The Beasties'' (1997) * '' The Boxes'' (1998) * '' Rewind'' (1999) * '' Boltzmon!'' (1999) * '' Unbalanced'' (2000) * '' Marco's Millions'' (2001) * '' Parasite Pig'' (2002) * '' The Boy Who Couldn't Die'' (2004) * ''

The Last Universe ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (2005) * ''

Hell Phone In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

'' (2006) * ''

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

'' (2008) * '' The Phantom Limb'' (2011)

References

External links

William Warner Sleator III
maintained by his brother Daniel

on Daniel Sleator's site * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sleator, William 1945 births 2011 deaths People from Havre de Grace, Maryland American science fiction writers American children's writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists Novelists from Missouri Novelists from Maryland Harvard University alumni Writers from Boston People from St. Louis County, Missouri American gay writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Massachusetts LGBT people from Missouri LGBT people from Maryland LGBT people from Massachusetts