He used a special writing style called "rhythmic prose". Prose writing tells a story, but rhythmic writing is often poetry. His prose text would fit into a standard poetry rhythm, or meter. This made subtle shift in mood. Usually the reader would not notice how the timing of the words changed their feeling.
His most famous novel is "More Than Human" (1953).
Sturgeon was born Edward Hamilton Waldo in Staten Island, New York City in 1918. His name was legally changed at age eleven after his mother's divorce and remarriage to William Dicky ("Argylle") Sturgeon. "Theodore Sturgeon" is occasionally misidentified as a pseudonym; it was in fact his legal name.
He sold his first story in 1938 to the McClure Syndicate, which bought much of his early (non-fantastic) work; his first genre appearance was "Ether Breather" in "Astounding Science Fiction" a year later. At first he wrote mainly short stories, primarily for genre magazines such as "Astounding" and "Unknown", but also for general-interest publications such as "Argosy Magazine". He used the pen name "E. Waldo Hunter" when two of his stories ran in the same issue of "Astounding". A few of his early stories were signed "Theodore H. Sturgeon."
Sturgeon ghost-wrote an Ellery Queen mystery novel, "The Player on the Other Side" (Random House, 1963). This novel gained critical praise from critic H.R.F. Keating, who "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" 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 skilful pastiches in the history of literature. An amazing piece of work, whomever did it'."
Sturgeon wrote the screenplays for the "" episodes "Shore Leave" (1966) and "Amok Time" (1967, later published as a "Fotonovel" in 1978). The latter is known for his invention of the pon farr, the Vulcan mating ritual, the first use of the sentence "Live long and prosper" and the first use of the Vulcan hand symbol. Sturgeon also wrote several episodes of "" that were never produced. One of these was notable for having first introduced the Prime Directive. He also wrote an episode of the Saturday morning show "Land of the Lost", "The Pylon Express", in 1975. Two of Sturgeon's stories were adapted for The New 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 New Twilight Zone episode A Matter of Minutes. His 1944 novella "Killdozer!" was the inspiration for the 1970s made-for-TV movie, Marvel comic book, and alternative rock band of the same name.
Although Sturgeon is well-known among readers of classic science-fiction anthologies (at the height of his popularity in the 1950s he was the most anthologized author alive) and much respected by critics (John Clute writes 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 is not much known among the general public and won comparatively few awards (though it must be noted that his best work was published before the establishment and consolidation of the leading genre awards, while his later production was scarcer and weaker). He was listed as a primary influence of the much more famous Ray Bradbury. Kurt Vonnegut based his character Kilgore Trout on Theodore Sturgeon.
Sturgeon died on May 8, 1985, of lung fibrosis, in Eugene, Oregon. Sturgeon lived for several years in the neighboring city of Springfield.
In 1951, Sturgeon said something that is now known as Sturgeon's Law. He said, "Ninety percent of SF [science fiction] is crud, but then, ninety percent of "everything" is crud." At first, this was called Sturgeon's Revelation. Sturgeon has said that "Sturgeon's Law" was originally "Nothing is always absolutely so." However, the former statement is now widely referred to as Sturgeon's Law. He is also known for his strong support of critical thinking and challenging 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.
Movie producers hired Sturgeon under his own name to write novelisations of these movies based on their scripts:
Sturgeon published numerous short story collections during his lifetime, many drawing on his most prolific writing years of the 1940s and 1950s.
Note that some reprints of these titles (especially paperback editions) may cut one or two stories from the line-up. Statistics herein refer to the original editions only.
The following table includes sixteen volumes (one of them collecting western stories) where up to three stories (representing no more than half the book) were previously published in a Sturgeon collection.
The following 6 collections consisted entirely of reprints of previously collected material:
North Atlantic Books has been releasing the chronologically assembled "The Complete Short Stories of Theodore Sturgeon", edited by Paul Williams, since 1994. The series will run to 13 volumes, with the last appearing in 2010.
The currently available volumes include:
Sturgeon was best known for his short stories and novellas. The best known include:
Article on-line from 2007 in which Wina Sturgeon recalls watching Apollo landing with TS in 1969
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was a continued attack by the "Luftwaffe" on Great Britain during the summer and the autumn of 1940.
Its first objective was to get control of the air space above Britain from the Royal Air Force (RAF), especially the Fighter Command.
The name comes from a famous speech, which was delivered by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the House of Commons: "The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin..."
The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought only by air forces, and it was also the largest and longest aerial bombing campaign until then.
In July 1940, coastal shipping convoys and shipping centres, such as Portsmouth, began to be the main targets. A month later, the "Luftwaffe" shifted its attacks to RAF airfields and infrastructure, which were other useful war targets. As the battle progressed the "Luftwaffe" also targeted aircraft factories and ground infrastructure.
Coastal radar stations were bombed and so for a time, only one radar mast was standing. The British used a backup system of human observers to get information to the headquarters of Fighter Command. Most historians agree that part of the campaign went into Germany's favour.
Eventually the Germans switched to attacking population centres, such as towns and cities, as well as factories. After the RAF bombed Berlin, and German air force bases in France, Hitler cancelled his orders not to bomb population centres and ordered attacks on British cities. The attacks on civilians were terror bombing tactics designed to cause panic and damage morale.
On 7 September 1940, a massive series of raids with nearly 400 bombers and more than 600 fighters targeted docks on the Thames in London day and night.