A short life of the author
Theodore Sturgeon (1918–1985) — born Edward Hamilton Waldo on 26 February 1918 in Staten Island, New York — was one of the most gifted short-story writers in the history of science fiction. He began publishing in Astounding Science-Fiction in 1939 and produced a body of short fiction that is unmatched in the genre for emotional depth and literary quality.
Life and Career
More Than Human (1953) — about a group of misfit humans who merge into a gestalt being greater than the sum of its parts — is his masterpiece and one of the landmarks of science fiction. The novel won the International Fantasy Award.
His short stories are his greatest achievement. “Microcosmic God” (1941), “Baby Is Three” (1952, the basis for More Than Human), “The Man Who Lost the Sea” (1959), “Slow Sculpture” (1970, Hugo and Nebula winner), and “If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?” (1967) represent the peak of science fiction short fiction.
Sturgeon’s Law — “ninety percent of everything is crud” — is his most famous pronouncement.
Major Works and Themes
Sturgeon wrote about love, loneliness, and the human need for connection with an emotional directness that was rare in science fiction. His fiction insists that the most important questions are not technological but emotional and ethical.
Key Works
- More Than Human (1953) — International Fantasy Award
- “Slow Sculpture” (1970) — Hugo and Nebula Awards
- The Dreaming Jewels (1950)
Collecting Sturgeon
The Dreaming Jewels (1950, Greenberg) — the debut novel — brings $50–$200. More Than Human (1953, Farrar, Straus and Young) brings $100–$400. Sturgeon died in 1985. The North Atlantic Books Complete Stories series (13 volumes) is the definitive collection.