to write his first novel, Blackbriar, eventually published in 1972, which was based on real life experiences. CareerĪfter graduating from Harvard University with a degree in English in 1967, Sleator moved to England, earning money by playing music in ballet schools. He attended University City High School, where he was known as a composer who wrote scores for school plays and the orchestra, graduating in 1963. His younger siblings are Vicky Wald, Tycho, and Daniel. Louis, Missouri, when Billy, as the family called him, was three. Sleator was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, the oldest of four siblings, to William Warner Sleator, Jr., a professor of physiology and biophysics, and to Esther Kaplan Sleator, a pediatrician who did pioneering research on attention deficit disorder (ADD). 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 more popular novels. The theme of family relationships, especially between siblings, is frequently intertwined with the science fiction plotline.ĭue to the suspenseful and often eerie nature of some of his works, Sleator has been compared to young-adult horror writer R. 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. William Warner Sleator III (Febru– August 3, 2011), known as William Sleator, was an American science fiction author who wrote primarily young adult novels but also wrote for younger readers.

Novelist, young-adult writer, children's writer

The Angry Moon by William Sleator