Theodore Sturgeon

Theodore Sturgeon (born Feb. 26, 1918, Staten Island, N.Y., U.S.—died May 8, 1985, Eugene, Ore.) was an American science-fiction writer who emphasized romantic and sexual themes in his stories.

After dropping out of high school, Sturgeon worked at a variety of jobs. He sold his first short story in 1937 and began to publish in science-fiction magazines under several pseudonyms. He was especially prolific between 1946 and 1958. His most noted work is More than Human (1953), about six outcast children with extrasensory powers. In Venus plus X (1960), he envisioned a utopia achieved by the elimination of all sexual differences. Sturgeon’s other science-fiction and fantasy novels include The Dreaming Jewels (1950; also published as The Synthetic Man), The Cosmic Rape (1958), and Some of Your Blood (1961). He also wrote western, historical, and mystery novels and television scripts, including several for the Star Trek series (he was the formulator of the series’ Prime Directive—a policy of noninterference with other cultures), and was a columnist for the magazine National Review.

Sturgeon was unusual among his peers in writing about loneliness, love, and sex. His typical protagonists are youthful victims of repression who are liberated from their isolation by the intervention of superhuman forces or by the development of their abnormal powers. His narratives are considered daring for featuring the problems of hermaphrodites, exiled lovers, and homosexuals. Although his stories have been criticized for their sentimental conclusions and adolescent emotionality, his concentration on human relationships is unique among Golden Age science-fiction writers.