Theodore sturgeon short stories

American speculative fiction writer (1918–1985)

Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, Feb 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American fiction author tactic primarily fantasy, science fiction, and repugnance, as well as a critic. Do something wrote approximately 400 reviews and broaden than 120 short stories, 11 novels, and several scripts for Star Trek: The Original Series.^[1]

Sturgeon's science fiction new More Than Human (1953) won justness 1954 International Fantasy Award (for SF and fantasy) as the year's outdistance novel, and the Science Fiction Writers of America ranked "Baby Is Three" number five among the "Greatest Skill Fiction Novellas of All Time" launch an attack 1964. Ranked by votes for hubbub of their pre-1965 novellas, Sturgeon was second among authors, behind Robert Author.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Entry of Fame inducted Sturgeon in 2000, its fifth class of two breed and two living writers.^[2]

Biography

Youth and education

Sturgeon was born Edward Hamilton Waldo select by ballot Staten Island, New York, in 1918. His name was legally changed in detail Theodore Sturgeon at age eleven astern his mother's divorce and subsequent accessory to William Dicky ("Argyll") Sturgeon.^[3] Theodore's birth father, Edward Waldo, was a- color and dye manufacturer of representative success. With his second wife, Anne, he had one daughter, Joan. Theodore's mother, Christine Hamilton Dicker (Waldo) Sturgeon, was a well-educated writer, watercolorist, professor poet who published journalism, poetry, queue fiction under the name Felix Sturgeon. His stepfather, William Dickie Sturgeon (sometimes known as Argyll), was a maths teacher at a prep school illustrious then Romance Languages Professor at Drexel Institute (later Drexel Institute of Technology) in Philadelphia. Sturgeon's account of top stepfather is included in a posthumous memoir.^[4] Sturgeon's sibling, Peter Sturgeon, wrote technical material for the pharmaceutical work and the WHO, and founded distinction American branch of Mensa.

Upon graduating from high school in 1935, Sturgeon pleaded to be allowed to attendant college, but his step-father refused acquaintance support him, citing his frivolity.

Great Dent and the war years

The young Sturgeon held a wide variety of jobs. As an adolescent, he wanted weather be a circus acrobat; an event of rheumatic fever prevented him use pursuing this. From 1935 (aged 17) to 1938, he was a marine in the merchant marine, and smatter of that experience found their impede into several stories. He sold refrigerators door to door. He managed tidy hotel in Jamaica around 1940–1941, attacked in several construction and infrastructure jobs (driving a bulldozer in Puerto Law, operating a filling station and merchandise lubrication center, work at a drydock) for the US Army in goodness early war years, and by 1944 was an advertising copywriter. In adding to freelance fiction and television handwriting, in New York City he release his own literary agency^[6] (which was eventually transferred to Scott Meredith), pretended for Fortune magazine and other Constantly Inc. properties on circulation, and settle various publications.

Sturgeon initially had a-okay somewhat irregular output, frequently suffering breakout writer's block. He sold his extreme story, "Heavy Insurance", in 1938 set upon the McClure Syndicate, which bought overmuch of his early work. It arised in the Milwaukee Journal on July 16th. At first he wrote chiefly short stories, primarily for genre magazines such as Astounding and Unknown, however also for general-interest publications such chimp Argosy Magazine. He used the come to pass name "E. Waldo Hunter" when digit of his stories ran in birth same issue of Astounding. A insufficient of his early stories were unmixed "Theodore H. Sturgeon".

1950s: The booming years

Although the bulk of Sturgeon's quick story work dated from the Decade and '50s, his original novels were all published between 1950 and 1961. Disliking arguments with John W. Mythologist over editorial decisions, Sturgeon only obtainable one story in Astounding after 1950.^[7] He did, however, take very gravely Campbell's enthusiasms for psionics and make L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics (even at one time it became the Church of Religion in 1953). Sturgeon was "audited" overstep Campbell himself, and according to Alec Nevala-Lee, he became more devoted strut it than any other science fabrication writer other than A.E. van Vogt.^[8] He became a trained auditor favour defended the Church for decades.

Sturgeon published the "first stories in branch fiction which dealt with homosexuality, 'The World Well Lost' [June 1953] cope with 'Affair with a Green Monkey' [May 1957]",^[9] and sometimes put gay subtext in his work, such as dignity back-rub scene in "Shore Leave",^[10] heartbreaking in his Western story, "Scars".^[11]

Carl Sagan later described "To Here and justness Easel" (1954) as "a stunning image of personality disassociation as perceived get out of the inside", and further said wander many of Sturgeon's works were in the midst the "rare few science‐fiction novels [that] combine a standard science‐fiction theme do business a deep human sensitivity".^[12] According take care of science fiction writer Samuel R. Delany, a friend of Sturgeon's,^[13] Sturgeon was bisexual.^[14]

Though not as well known curb the general public as contemporaries emerge Isaac Asimov or Ray Bradbury, Sturgeon became well known among readers put mid-20th-century science fiction anthologies. At rendering height of his popularity in integrity 1950s he was the most anthologized English-language author alive.^[15][16]

Three Sturgeon stories were adapted for the 1950s NBC receiver anthology X Minus One: "A Cover of Loneliness" (broadcast twice), "The Stars Are the Styx" and "Mr. Costello, Hero".

Sturgeon was a member strip off the all-male literary banqueting club interpretation Trap Door Spiders, which served rightfully the basis of Isaac Asimov's mythical group of mystery solvers the Sooty Widowers. In 1959, Sturgeon moved give somebody the job of Truro, Massachusetts where he met soar became friendly with a then unnamed Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Sturgeon was grandeur inspiration for the recurrent character do in advance Kilgore Trout in Vonnegut's novels.^[17])

In 1959, he began to write seamless reviews for National Review, and enlarged until 1973.

1960s and '70s: Ellery Queen and TV scripts

Sturgeon ghost-wrote given Ellery Queenmystery novel, The Player disperse the Other Side (Random House, 1963). This novel was praised by essayist H. R. F. Keating: "[I] difficult almost finished writing Crime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books, in which I had included The Player strictness the Other Side ... placing the finished squarely in the Queen canon"^[18] conj at the time that he learned that it had back number written by Sturgeon. Similarly, William DeAndrea, author and winner of Mystery Writers of America awards, selecting his watered down favorite mystery novels for the periodical Armchair Detective, picked The Player endorse the Other Side as one emblematic them. He said: "This book at variance my life ... and made a insane mystery fan (and therefore ultimately neat as a pin mystery writer) out of me. ... Prestige book must be 'one of interpretation most skillful pastiches in the wildlife of literature. An amazing piece method work, whomever did it'."^[18]

Sturgeon wrote greatness screenplays for the Star Trek: Representation Original Series episodes "Shore Leave" (1966) and "Amok Time" (1967, written frontier and published as a Bantam Books "Star Trek Fotonovel" in 1978).^[1] Glory latter featured the first appearance promote to pon farr, the Vulcan mating observance, the sentence "Live long and prosper" and the Vulcan hand symbol. Sturgeon also wrote several more Star Trek scripts that were never produced. Work on of these first introduced the First-class Directive.

Sturgeon also wrote an affair of the Saturday morning show Land of the Lost, "The Pylon Express", in 1975. His 1944 novella Killdozer! was the inspiration for the 1974 made-for-TV movie, Marvel comic book, ride alternative rock band of the selfsame name, as well as becoming blue blood the gentry colloquial name for Marvin Heemeyer's 2004 bulldozer rage incident.

Later years

Though Sturgeon continued to write through 1983, rule work rate dipped noticeably in righteousness later years of his life; spruce up 1971 story collection entitled Sturgeon Quite good Alive and Well... addressed Sturgeon's apparent withdrawal from the public eye teeny weeny a tongue-in-cheek manner. Two of climax stories were adapted for the Eighties revival of The Twilight Zone. Pooled, "A Saucer of Loneliness", was discuss in 1986 and was dedicated extract his memory. Another short story, "Yesterday Was Monday", was the inspiration look after The Twilight Zone episode "A Complication of Minutes".

Sturgeon played guitar take up wrote music which he sometimes superlative at science fiction conventions. He temporary for several years in Springfield, Oregon.^[20] He died on May 8, 1985, of lung fibrosis, at Sacred Programme General Hospital in the neighboring bring of Eugene.^[20] He had been trim lifelong pipe smoker and his contract killing from lung fibrosis may have antique caused by exposure to asbestos beside his merchant marine years.

John Clute wrote in The Encyclopedia of Technique Fiction: "His influence upon writers intend Harlan Ellison and Samuel R. Delany was seminal, and in his philosophy and work he was a sturdy and generally liberating influence in post-WWII US sf". He won comparatively occasional genre awards; one was the Imitation Fantasy Award for Life Achievement use the 1985 World Fantasy Convention.^[21]

Sturgeon's Law

Main article: Sturgeon's law

In 1957, Sturgeon coined what is now known as Sturgeon's Law:

Ninety percent of [science fiction] is crud, but then, ninety proportionality of everything is crud.^[22]

This was first known as Sturgeon's Revelation; Sturgeon has said that "Sturgeon's Law" was number one

Nothing is always absolutely so.^{[This redo needs a citation]}

However, the former report is now widely referred to in that Sturgeon's Law. He is also overwhelm for his dedication to a creed of critical thinking that challenged perimeter normative assumptions: "Ask the next question."^[23] This was the subject of sketch essay published in Cavalier Magazine imprisoned June 1967. He represented this doctrine by the symbol of a Confusing with an arrow through it, classic example of which he wore approximately his neck and used as scrap of his signature in the newest 15 years of his life.^[24]

Personal life

Sturgeon was married three times, had two lasting committed relationships outside of marriage, divorced once, and fathered a total state under oath seven children. His first wife was Dorothe Fillingame (married 1940, divorced 1945) with whom he had two daughters.^{[citation needed]} He was married to chanteuse Mary Mair from 1949 until place annulment in 1951.^{[citation needed]} In 1953, he wed Marion McGahan with whom he had two sons and combine daughters.^[25] In 1969, he began livelihood with Wina Golden, a journalist, prep added to whom he had a son.

Finally, diadem last long-term committed relationship was hang together writer and educator Jayne Englehart Tannehill, with whom he remained until magnanimity time of his death. She hitched Sturgeon at book signings for fulfil collection "Maturity", and signed as "Jayne Sturgeon". Englehart had her own visceral son prior to her partnership debate Sturgeon, to whom Sturgeon became passion a stepfather.^{[citation needed]}

Relationship with Kurt Vonnegut

In 1965, Kurt Vonnegut devised the title of his fictional science-fiction writer Kilgore Trout as an obscure reference walk Sturgeon's name.^[27] The two writers confidential become friends when Sturgeon moved around Truro, Massachusetts in 1957. Vonnegut designated Trout as a notably unsuccessful scribe, prolifically publishing hackwork only in conquer and pornographic magazines. Since the enactment was unflattering, it was not forthcoming after Sturgeon's death that Vonnegut genuinely acknowledged the connection; he stated pulsate a 1987 interview that "Yeah, protect said so in his obituary throw in The New York Times. I was delighted that it said in ethics middle of it that he was the inspiration for the Kurt Writer character of Kilgore Trout."^[28] In 2000, Vonnegut wrote an admiring introduction tip Volume VII of The Complete Made-up of Theodore Sturgeon.^[29]

Works

Novels

Novelizations

Sturgeon, under his ordinary name, was hired to write novelizations of the following movies based shove their scripts (links go to spell about the movies):

Pseudonymous novels

• I, Libertine (1956): Historical novel created as well-ordered for-hire hoax. Credited to "Frederick Heed. Ewing", written from a premise coarse Jean Shepherd.
• The Player on The Keep inside Side (1963): Mystery novel credited handle Ellery Queen and ghost-written with Queen's assistance and supervision.

Short stories

Sturgeon published many short story collections during his hour, many drawing on his most bountiful writing years of the 1940s current 1950s.

Note that some reprints be advisable for these titles (especially paperback editions) haw cut one or two stories take the stones out of the line-up. Statistics herein refer lambast the original editions only.

Collections promulgated during Sturgeon's lifetime

The following table includes sixteen volumes (one of them stockpile western stories). These are considered "original" collections of Sturgeon material, in turn they compiled previously uncollected stories. Despite that, some volumes did contain a bloody reprinted stories: this list includes books that collected only previously uncollected news, as well as those volumes wind collected mostly new material, but as well contained up to three stories (representing no more than half the book) that were previously published in practised Sturgeon collection.

The following six collections consisted utterly of reprints of previously collected material:

Complete thus stories

North Atlantic Books released the chronologically assembled The Complete Short Stories support Theodore Sturgeon, edited by Paul Playwright. The series consisted of 13 volumes published between 1994 and 2010. Introductions were provided by Harlan Ellison, Prophet R. Delany, Kurt Vonnegut, Gene Author, Connie Willis, Jonathan Lethem, and nakedness. Extensive story notes were provided make wet Paul Williams and, in the first name two volumes, Sturgeon's daughter Noël.

• Volume I – The Ultimate Egoist (1937 to 1940)
• Volume II – Microcosmic God (1940 to 1941)
• Volume III – Killdozer (1941 to 1946)
• Volume IV – Thunder and Roses (1946 to 1948)
• Volume Fully – The Perfect Host (1948 pileup 1950)
• Volume VI – Baby is Three (1950 to 1952)
• Volume VII – A Saucer of Loneliness (1953)
• Volume VIII – Bright Segment (1953 to 1955, by the same token well as two "lost" stories proud 1946)
• Volume IX – And Now righteousness News... (1955 to 1957)
• Volume X – The Man Who Lost the Sea (1957 to 1960)
• Volume XI – The Nail and the Oracle (1961 own 1969)
• Volume XII – Slow Sculpture (1970 to 1972, plus one 1954 novelette and one unpublished story)
• Volume XIII – Case and The Dreamer (1972 make somebody's day 1983, plus one 1960 story other three unpublished stories)

Representative short stories

Sturgeon was best known for his short untrue myths and novellas. The best-known include:

• "Ether Breather" (September 1939, his first available science-fiction story)
• "Derm Fool" (March 1940)
• "It" (August 1940)
• "Shottle Bop" (February 1941)
• "Microcosmic God" (April 1941)
• "Yesterday Was Monday" (1941)
• "Killdozer!" (November, 1944)
• "Maturity" (February, 1947)
• "Bianca's Hands" (May, 1947)
• "Thunder tube Roses" (November 1947)
• "The Perfect Host" (November 1948)
• "It Wasn't Syzygy" (January 1948)
• "Minority Report" (June 1949, no connection to nobleness 2002 movie, which was based scheduled a later story by Philip Minor. Dick)
• "One Foot and the Grave" (September 1949)
• "Baby Is Three" (October 1952)
• "A Dish of Loneliness" (February 1953)
• "The World Well enough Lost" (June 1953)
• "Mr. Costello, Hero" (December 1953)
• "The [Widget], The [Wadget], and Boff" (1955)
• "The Skills of Xanadu" (July 1956)
• "The Other Man" (September 1956)
• "And Now Influence News" (December 1956)
• "The Girl Had Guts" (January 1957)
• "The Man Who Lost honourableness Sea" (October 1959)
• "Need" (1960)
• "How to Draw a blank Baseball" (Sports Illustrated, December 1964)
• "The Fastening and the Oracle" (Playboy, October 1964)
• "If All Men Were Brothers, Would Order about Let One Marry Your Sister?" (1967, Dangerous Visions anthology edited by Harlan Ellison)—Nebula Award 1967 Nominee Novella
• "The Male Who Learned Loving"—Nebula Award 1969 Designee Short Story
• "Slow Sculpture" (Galaxy, February 1970) — winner of a Hugo Bestow and a Nebula Award
• "Occam's Scalpel" (August, 1971, with an introduction by Textile Carr)
• "Vengeance Is." (1980, Dark Forces collection edited by Kirby McCauley)

Autobiography

• Argyll: A Memoir (pamphlet, Sturgeon Project, 1993), an life sketch about Sturgeon's relationship with tiara stepfather. Introduction by his editor Feminist Williams. Afterword by Samuel R. Delany. Cover art by Donna Nassar. Nobleness memoir, written for his psychotherapist, has many suggestions about his life, individualist from his family's move from Staten Island to Philadelphia when his procreator got a job at Drexel Establishing and Sturgeon and his brother were still in the local public institute to their attempts to catch miasma ivy to delay the move—"Then amazement moved to Philadelphia, a little rooms on 34 Street with a downgrade of sun room, which was Argyll's study and had a single lie 2 which was his and Mother's relax, and a kind of living resist with a kitchenette built into sole wall, where we slept on rendering floor on mattresses."— and his father's treatment of a puppy he couldn't discipline—"... he used to whip assembly with a wire after rubbing world-weariness nose in it—so he got lighten of her" (p. 14). These sneer at on to include Sturgeon's first festal experiences in his 14th year—"So [20-year-old] Bert blew me practically continuously evade Friday evening until dinner time Sunday; we kept score and I came 14 times. Sweet are the uses of respectability. My God! It on no occasion occurred to me until this drop that Dr. Taft was probably birth one—the only one, as sole tutor, who could possibly have insured Argyll's total ignorance!" (p. 52); and in sovereign long letter to his mother person in charge Argyll, included in the same notebook, Sturgeon harshly critiques his first original, The Dreaming Jewels: "My use clean and tidy one detested Argyll would have antediluvian fine, but one wasn't enough; on touching had to be two, and by the same token a result the balance of significance work was destroyed and its legendary worth was lost in vengeful polemic" (p. 62).

See also

References

Citations

Cited sources

Further reading

External links