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{{Short description|American speculative fiction writer (1918–1985)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{use American English|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]]. -->
| name = Theodore Sturgeon
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| birth_name = Edward Hamilton Waldo
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1918|02|26}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|5|8|1918|02|26}}
| death_place = [[Eugene, Oregon]], U.S.
| resting_place =
| occupation = {{hlist|Fiction writer
| language =
| citizenship =
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| alma_mater =
| period = 1938–1985
| genre = {{hlist|[[Science fiction]]
| subject = Science fiction (as critic)
| movement =
| notableworks = {{
* ''[[More Than Human]]''
* "[[Microcosmic God]]"
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| children =
| relatives =
| awards = {{hlist|[[Hugo Award|Hugo]]
| signature =
| signature_alt =
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Sturgeon [[ghost-writer|ghost-wrote]] one [[Ellery Queen]] [[Mystery (fiction)|mystery]] novel, ''The Player on the Other Side'' (Random House, 1963). This novel was praised by critic [[H. R. F. Keating]]: "[I] had almost finished writing ''Crime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books'', in which I had included ''The Player on the Other Side'' ... placing the book squarely in the Queen canon"<ref name="KEAT">Keating, H. R. F. (1989). ''The Bedside Companion to Crime''. New York: Mysterious Press.</ref> when he learned that it had been written by Sturgeon. Similarly, William DeAndrea, author and winner of [[Mystery Writers of America]] awards, selecting his ten favorite mystery novels for the magazine ''Armchair Detective'', picked ''The Player on the Other Side'' as one of them. He said: "This book changed my life ... and made a raving mystery fan (and therefore ultimately a mystery writer) out of me. ... The book must be 'one of the most skillful pastiches in the history of literature. An amazing piece of work, whomever did it'."<ref name="KEAT" />
Disliking arguments with [[John W. Campbell]] over editorial decisions, after 1950 Sturgeon only published one story in ''Astounding''.<ref name="latham2009">{{Cite book |title=The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction |last=Latham |first=Rob |publisher=Routledge |year=2009 |isbn=9781135228361 |editor-last=Bould |editor-first=Mark |pages=80–89 |chapter=Fiction, 1950-1963 |editor-last2=Butler |editor-first2=Andrew M. |editor-last3=Roberts |editor-first3=Adam |editor-last4=Vint |editor-first4=Sherryl |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7CNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |access-date=2020-10-20 |archive-date=2024-01-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105045255/https://books.google.com/books?id=y7CNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Sturgeon wrote the screenplays for the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episodes "[[Shore Leave (Star Trek)|Shore Leave]]" (1966) and "[[Amok Time]]" (1967, written up and published as a [[Bantam Books]] "Star Trek Fotonovel" in 1978).<ref name=isfdb/> The latter featured the first appearance of [[pon farr]], the [[Vulcan (Star Trek)|Vulcan]] mating ritual, the sentence "Live long and prosper"<ref name=IAS_67>Nimoy (1995), p. 67.</ref> and the [[Vulcan salute|Vulcan hand symbol]]. Sturgeon also wrote several ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' scripts that were never produced. One of these first introduced the [[Prime Directive]].
He also wrote an episode of the Saturday morning show ''[[Land of the Lost (1974 TV series)|Land of the Lost]]'', "[[The Pylon Express]]", in 1975. Two of Sturgeon's stories were adapted for ''[[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''. One, "[[A Saucer of Loneliness]]", was broadcast in 1986 and was dedicated to his memory. Another short story, "Yesterday Was Monday", was the inspiration for ''The Twilight Zone'' episode "[[A Matter of Minutes]]". His 1944 novella ''[[Killdozer! (story)|Killdozer!]]'' was the inspiration for the 1974 [[Killdozer (film)|made-for-TV movie]], [[Marvel comic]] book, and [[Killdozer (band)|alternative rock band]] of the same name, as well as becoming the colloquial name for [[Marvin Heemeyer]]'s 2004 bulldozer rage incident.
Sturgeon published the "first stories in science fiction which dealt with homosexuality, '[[The World Well Lost]]' [June 1953] and 'Affair with a Green Monkey' [May 1957]",<ref>Duncan, David D. (1979). [http://www.physics.emory.edu/faculty/weeks//misc/duncan.html "The Push from Within: The Extrapolative Ability of Theodore Sturgeon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019010650/http://www.physics.emory.edu/faculty/weeks//misc/duncan.html |date=10-19-19}}. First published 1979, print. Retrieved 2020-03-20.<br> Quote: "first stories in science fiction which dealt with homosexuality, 'The World Well Lost' and 'Affair With a Green Monkey{{'"}}</ref> and sometimes put gay [[subtext]] in his work, such as the back-rub scene in "[[Shore Leave (Star Trek: The Original Series)|Shore Leave]]",<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hageman|first1=Andrew|title=A generic correspondence: Sturgeon–Roddenberry letters on sf, sex, sales and ''Star Trek''|journal=Science Fiction Film & Television|date=2016|volume=9|issue=3|pages=473–478|doi=10.3828/sfftv.2016.9.15|s2cid=193714832 |doi-access=}}</ref> or in his Western story, "Scars".<ref name="UW pg. 203">{{cite book|first1=Eric|last1=Garber|first2=Lyn|last2=Paleo|title=Uranian Worlds: A Guide to Alternative Sexuality in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror|edition=2nd|page=[https://archive.org/details/uranianworldsgui0000garb/page/203/mode/2up?q=Scars 203]|url=https://archive.org/details/uranianworldsgui0000garb|url-access=registration|location=Boston|publisher=G K HallA|year=1990|isbn=0-8161-1832-9<!-- printed without leading 0-->}}</ref>
Though not as well known to the general public as contemporaries like [[Isaac Asimov]] or [[Ray Bradbury]], Sturgeon is well known among readers of mid-20th-century science fiction anthologies. At the height of his popularity in the 1950s he was the most anthologized English-language author alive.<ref name="Engel_1994">
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}}</ref> Three Sturgeon stories were adapted for the 1950s NBC radio anthology ''[[X Minus One]]'': "[[A Saucer of Loneliness]]" (broadcast twice}, "The Stars Are the Styx" and "Mr. Costello, Hero".
[[Carl Sagan]] described "To Here and the Easel" as "a stunning portrait of personality disassociation as perceived from the inside", and further said that many of Sturgeon's works were among the "rare few science‐fiction novels [that] combine a standard science‐fiction theme with a deep human sensitivity".<ref name="sagan19780528">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/28/archives/growing-up-with.html |title=Growing up with Science Fiction |last=Sagan |first=Carl |date=1978-05-28 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2018-12-12 |page=SM7 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2018-12-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211180058/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/28/archives/growing-up-with.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[John Clute]] wrote in ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]'': "His influence upon writers like [[Harlan Ellison]] and [[Samuel R. Delany]] was seminal, and in his life and work he was a powerful and generally liberating influence in post-WWII US sf". He won comparatively few genre awards. (One was the [[World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement]] from the 1985 World Fantasy Convention.)<ref name=SFAwards/>
Sturgeon's original novels were all published between 1950 and 1961, and the bulk of his short story work dated from the 1940s and 1950s. Though he continued to write through 1983, his work rate dipped noticeably in the later years of his life; a 1971 story collection entitled ''Sturgeon Is Alive and Well...'' addressed Sturgeon's seeming withdrawal from the public eye in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Sturgeon lived for several years in [[Springfield, Oregon]].<ref name=Portal>{{cite news |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LPFVAAAAIBAJ&pg=2474,2425068&dq |title= Famed author, award-winner, dies in Eugene |last= Portal |first= Ann |date= May 10, 1985 |work= [[The Register-Guard]] |location= Eugene, Oregon |access-date= 2011-06-20 |archive-date= 2021-03-04 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210304063357/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LPFVAAAAIBAJ&pg=2474,2425068&dq |url-status= live }}</ref> He died on May 8, 1985, of [[lung fibrosis]], at [[Sacred Heart Medical Center University District|Sacred Heart General Hospital]] in the neighboring city of [[Eugene, Oregon|Eugene]].<ref name=Portal/>
He was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the [[Trap Door Spiders]], which served as the basis of [[Isaac Asimov]]'s fictional group of mystery solvers the [[Black Widowers]]. Sturgeon was the inspiration for the recurrent character of [[Kilgore Trout]] in the novels of [[
==Sturgeon's Law==
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This was originally known as ''Sturgeon's Revelation''; Sturgeon has said that "Sturgeon's Law" was originally
: "Nothing is always absolutely so."{{Cn|date=June 2023}}
However, the former statement is now widely referred to as Sturgeon's Law. He is also known for his dedication to a credo of critical thinking that challenged all normative assumptions: "Ask the next question." He represented this credo by the symbol of a Q with an arrow through it, an example of which he wore around his neck and used as part of his signature in the last 15 years of his life.<ref>{{
==Life and family==
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* In 1953, he wed Marion McGahan with whom he had a son, Robin (b. 1952); daughters Tandy (b. 1954) and Noël (b. 1956); and son Timothy (b. 1960). The children in "Tandy's Story" (1961) have the same names as these children.<ref name="sturgeon196104">{{Cite magazine |last=Sturgeon |first=Theodore |date=April 1961 |title=Tandy's Story |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v19n04_1961-04#page/n85/mode/1up |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction |pages=170–194}}</ref>
* In 1969, he began living with Wina Golden, a journalist, with whom he had a son, Andros.<ref>Noël Sturgeon [daughter], "Story Notes Volume XII", Sturgeon (2009), pp. 289–92.</ref><ref>Sturgeon (1978), p. 12.</ref>
* Finally, his last long-term committed relationship was with writer and educator Jayne Englehart Tannehill, with whom he remained until the time of his death. She joined Theodore Sturgeon at book signings for his collection "Maturity", and signed as "Jayne Sturgeon". Jayne Englehart had her own biological son, Mark J. Englehart, prior to her partnership with Sturgeon, to whom Sturgeon became like a stepfather.
Sturgeon was a lifelong [[smoking pipe (tobacco)|pipe]] smoker. His death from [[lung fibrosis]] may have been caused by exposure to [[asbestos]] during his merchant marine years.
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<ref name=SFAwards>
[http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit133.html#5050 "Sturgeon, Theodore"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016200141/http://locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit133.html |date=2012-10-16 }}. ''The Locus Index of SF Awards: Index to Literary Nominees''. [[Locus Publications]]. Retrieved 2013-03-26.</ref>
<ref name=sfhof-old>[http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ "Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521070009/http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ |date=2013-05-21 }}. Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions, Inc. Retrieved 2013-03-26. This was the official website of the hall of fame to 2004.</ref>▼
▲[http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ "Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame"]. Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions, Inc. Retrieved 2013-03-26. This was the official website of the hall of fame to 2004.</ref>
}}
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[[Category:Novelists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:
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