Gerald Allan Sohl Sr. (December 2, 1913 – November 4, 2002) was an American television scriptwriter and science fiction author who wrote for ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...

'' (as a

ghostwriter A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often ...

for

Charles Beaumont Charles Beaumont (January 2, 1929 – February 21, 1967) was an American author of speculative fiction, including short stories in the horror and science fiction subgenres.Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, "Beaumont, Charles" in David Pringle, ed., '' ...

), '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', '' The Outer Limits'', ''

Star Trek: The Original Series ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship and its crew. It later acquired the retronym of ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' (''TOS'') to distinguis ...

'' (once using the pseudonym "Nathan Butler"), and other shows. He wrote more than twenty novels as well as feature film scripts. He also wrote the nonfiction works ''Underhanded Chess'' and ''Underhanded Bridge'' in 1973.

Novels

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reviewer Villiers Gerson described his 1953 novel ''The Transcendent Man'' as "contain ngenough twists to afford the reader a few hours' entertainment" despite being "oversimplified in motivation."

P. Schuyler Miller Peter Schuyler Miller (February 21, 1912 – October 13, 1974) was an American science fiction writer and critic. Life Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a lifelong interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as ...

found the plot unconvincing. Gerson later panned Sohl's ''The Altered Ego'', saying "This wordy book lacks characterization, emotion, suspense, and interest." His 1955 '' Point Ultimate'' is a piece of Cold War

invasion literature Invasion literature (also the invasion novel) is a literary genre that was popular in the period between 1871 and the First World War (1914–1918). The invasion novel first was recognized as a literary genre in the UK, with the novella '' The ...

: in 1999, a faraway

future history A future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors of science fiction and other speculative fiction to construct a common background for fiction. Sometimes the author publishes a timeline of events in the history, whil ...

at the time of writing, the US lies under a cruel

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

occupation, reinforced by a deadly artificial disease which makes conquered Americans dependent on the conquerors for the injections that keep them alive. In '' The Time Dissolver'' (1957), a man and a woman wake one morning to find that they have lost all memory of the past eleven years, including how they met and become married.

Ghostwriting

became increasingly ill from a mysterious brain illness, possibly

Pick's disease Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), or frontotemporal degeneration disease, or frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder, encompasses several types of dementia involving the progressive degeneration of frontal and temporal lobes. FTDs broadly present as ...

or very early onset Alzheimer's, and unable to write, Sohl ghostwrote three episodes of ''

'' for him. These were " The New Exhibit", " Queen of the Nile" and " Living Doll". Beaumont insisted on splitting the fees for each episode.

Bibliography

Novels

*''The Haploids'' (1952) *''The Transcendent Man'' (1953) *''Costigan's Needle'' (1953) *''The Altered Ego'' (1954) *''Point Ultimate'' (1955) *''The Mars Monopoly'' (1956) *''The Time Dissolver'' (1957) *''Prelude to Peril'' (1957) *''One Against Herculum'' (1959) *''The Odious Ones'' (1959) *''Night Slaves'' (1965) *''The Lemon Eaters'' (1967) *''The Anomaly'' (1971) *''The Spun Sugar Hole'' (1971) *''Dr. Josh'' (1973) (as by Nathan Butler) *''The Resurrection of Frank Borchard'' (1973) *''Mamelle'' (1974) (as by Nathan Butler) *''SuperManChu, Master of Kung Fu'' (1974) (as by Sean Mei Sullivan) *''Blow-Dry'' (1976) (as by Nathan Butler) *''I, Aleppo'' (1976) *''Mamelle, The Goddess'' (1977) (as by Nathan Butler) *''Death Sleep'' (1983) *''Kaheesh'' (1983) (as by Nathan Butler) *''Night Wind'' (1983) (as by Roberta Jean Mountjoy) *''Black Thunder'' (1983) (as by Roberta Jean Mountjoy)

Non-fiction

*''Underhanded Chess'' (1973) *''Underhanded Bridge'' (1973)

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

Obituary
on

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

website * * * * 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers 1913 births 2002 deaths American male short story writers American male screenwriters American male television writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-sf-writer-stub