With the 1995 publication of Dangerous Wishes, his 22 nd book, Sleator achieved one of his own dreams- to write a book set in a foreign country. A visit to Thailand in 1986 captivated him, enticing him to remain. Witnessing all the backstage drama prepared him to be a writer, he said. Sleator attended Harvard, majored in English and then worked as a rehearsal pianist for the Boston Ballet Company. Teens in Others See Us read minds in House of Stairs they respond to operant conditioning, in Interstellar Pig aliens disguised as humans must engage in a role-playing game that threatens their species.

His characters, often based on his family and friends, confront dangerous and evil situations that challenge them to use their wits to survive. Imagination, contended Sleator, allows the mind to escape from reality, and is a practical skill for dealing with everyday life. Sleator’s novels leave readers uncertain about endings and uneasy about characters. I met Sleator in 1996 when he addressed a graduate “Adolescent in Literature” class at New Jersey City University and interviewed him for SIGNAL, the International Reading Association’s journal devoted to young adult literature. Sleator, who died August 3 in Thailand, took topics from science and stretched them into the paranormal, creating tales that keep teen readers rapt and reading into the night. The fodder of science fiction and a few of the many themes writer William Sleator addressed in his 30 novels for adolescents. Cloning, genetic engineering, black holes, dystopia.

The Angry Moon by William Sleator