William Sleator
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William Sleator | |
Born: | February 13, 1945 (age 62) Havre de Grace, Maryland |
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Occupation: | Writer |
Nationality: | American |
Genres: | Science fiction |
William Warner Sleator III (born Feb 13, 1945) and known as William Sleator, is a noted science fiction author who writes primarily for the so-called "young adult" audience (pre-teens and adolescents), but has also occasionally written for younger audiences. 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. A theme that is frequently intertwined with the science fiction plotline is that of family relationships, especially between siblings.
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. Others cite a strong resemblance to the paranoid, dream-like style of Franz Kafka, which is most notable in House of Stairs, one of Sleator's most powerful novels.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Sleator was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, the oldest of four children, to William Warner Sleator II, a professor emeritus of physiology and biophysics and his wife, Esther Kaplan Sleator, a pediatrician who pioneered attention deficit disorder (ADD). The Sleator family moved to St. Louis, Mossouri when Billy, as the family called him, was three. His younger siblings are Vicky Walt, Tycho, and Daniel. He attended University City High School in St. Louis, where he known as a popular composer who wrote scores for school plays and the orchestra, graduating in 1963.
[edit] Career
After graduating from Harvard with a degree English in 1967, Sleator moved to England, earning money by playing music in ballet schools. Eventually, Sleator returned to the US to write his first novel, Blackbriar, which was based on real life experiences. His first book, however, was published in 1970 and was a children's story called The Angry Moon. Sleator's writing has been described as a clean, simple style. His characters are reluctant teenage heros, and Sleator's younger siblings and friends have often found themselves being written into his prose. Elements of Thai culture also occasionally turn up in his stories.
[edit] Personal life
Sleator splits his time between homes Boston, Massachusetts and rural Thailand.
[edit] Bibliography
- The Angry Moon (1970)
- Blackbriar (1972)
- Run (1973)
- The House of Stairs (1974)
- Among the Dolls (1975)
- Take Charge: A Personal Guide to Behavior Modification (1976) (non-fiction; with William H Redd)
- Into the Dream (1979)
- Once, Said Darlene (1979)
- The Green Futures of Tycho (1981)
- That's Silly (1981)
- Fingers (1983)
- Interstellar Pig (1984)
- Singularity (1985)
- The Boy Who Reversed Himself (1986)
- The Duplicate (1988)
- Strange Attractors (1989)
- The Spirit House (1991)
- Others See Us (1993)
- Oddballs (1993) (collection)
- Dangerous Wishes (1995)
- The Night the Heads Came (1996)
- The Beasties (1997)
- The Boxes (1998)
- Rewind (1999)
- Boltzmon! (1999)
- Marco's millions (2001)
- Parasite Pig (2002)
- The Boy Who Couldn't Die (2004)
- The Last Universe (2005)
- Hell Phone (2006)
[edit] External links
- William Sleator at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The William Sleator page at The Green Futures of Tycho fan site.