Sci-fi writer dies at 67

Press, 15 May 1985, Page 12

Sci-fi writer dies at 67

NZPA-NYT New York Theodore Sturgeon, a leading figure in American science fiction, has died of lung ailments in Eugene, Oregon. Sturgeon preferred to think of his writing as speculative fiction, of “if’ fiction, and he crusaded to bring literary respect to the science-fiction genre.

His stories were concerned less often with technology or horror than with the realistic portrayal of unlikely events and unexpected points of view. He won the International fantasy award in 1954 for his second novel, “More Than Human,” and received the Nebula Award in 1970 and the Hugo Award in 1971 for a short story, “Slow Sculpture.”

His belief that “there is more room in inner space than in outer space,” as he once wrote, and his gift for inventing odd premises made Sturgeon a big influence on younger sciencefiction writers. A Kurt Von-

negut character, the author, “Kilgore Trout,” is said to have been named for Sturgeon. Sturgeon, whose real name was Edward Hamilton Waldo, was born on New York’s Staten Island in 1918. After high school, he went to sea as an engineroom wiper, and also worked elsewhere. In 1937, he sold his first short story, to McClure’s Syndicate, and in 1939 he turned to speculative fiction.

While working as a literary agent, he also sold his own stories to Astounding Science Fiction and Weird Tales. His first short-story anthology, “Without Sorcery,” was published in 1948, with an introduction by Ray Bradbury. Sturgeon’s novels include “The Dreaming Jewels” (later renamed “The Synthetic Man”), “More Than Human,” “Some of Your Blood” and “Venus Plus X.” He wrote short stories prolifically, under his own name and the pseudonymns E. Hunter Waldo and Frederick R. Ewing. Among his most praised collections were “E Pluribus Unicorn” (1953) and “The Worlds of Theodore Sturgeon” (1972). He also wrote plays; teleplays for “Star Trek,” “The Invaders” and “Wild, Wild West,” and book reviews for “New York Times” book review and “National Review.”