Sohl, Jerry
Entry updated 4 November 2024. Tagged: Author.
Working name of US author and former journalist Gerald Allan Sohl Sr (1913-2002), active from about 1950 in sf and other genres as Sohl and under various pseudonyms, including Nathan Butler and Sean Mei Sullivan. He began publishing sf with The 7th Order (March 1952 Galaxy; 2010 ebook) and soon released The Haploids (1952), the first of several 1950s novels whose slick surface and sharp economy of scale marked him as a professional craftsman. These books include The Transcendent Man (1953), Costigan's Needle (1953) – which deftly depicts the colonizing of a Parallel World – The Altered Ego (1954) – which ingeniously treats as a problem in detection an Immortality puzzle involving personality recordings, though without the concept of Clones the technology of transference was clearly unwieldy – and Point Ultimate (1955), a fine example of 1950s Paranoia in its picture of Russians occupying America through use of a plague virus (see Pandemic). In all these books Sohl's use of science, though enjoyable, seems in hindsight somewhat opportunistic, and several of his tales fail ultimately to make much sense of the premises they dramatize. His sf output began to slacken by the end of the decade, though he remained active in other areas, several non-sf novels being published as by Butler.
Of Sohl's later sf, The Odious Ones (1959) and Night Slaves (1961) – the latter adapted as the made-for-Television film Night Slaves (1970) – best demonstrate his competence, though Death Sleep (1983) is a competent Near Future medical thriller. From 1958 Sohl did considerable television work, including scripts, under various names, for The Invaders (1967-1968), The Outer Limits (1963-1965), the original Star Trek (1966-1969) and The Twilight Zone (1959-1964), some of this work being represented in Filet of Sohl: The Classic Scripts and Stories of Jerry Sohl (coll 2003) edited by Christopher Conlon. [JC]
Gerald Allan Sohl Sr
born Los Angeles, California: 2 December 1913
died Thousand Oaks, California: 4 November 2002
works
- The Haploids (New York: Rinehart and Company, 1954) [hb/H Lawrence Hoffman]
- The Transcendent Man (New York: Rinehart and Company, 1953) [hb/Jerome Kuhl]
- Costigan's Needle (New York: Rinehart and Company, 1953) [hb/Robert Shore]
- The Altered Ego (New York: Rinehart and Company, 1954) [hb/Franklin Webber]
- Point Ultimate (New York: Rinehart and Company, 1955) [hb/Saragasso]
- The Mars Monopoly (New York: Ace Books, 1956) [dos: pb/Ed Valigursky]
- The Time Dissolver (New York: Avon Books, 1957) [pb/Richard Powers]
- Prelude to Peril (New York: Rinehart and Company, 1957) [hb/Ben Feder Inc]
- One Against Herculum (New York: Ace Books, 1959) [dos: pb/Ed Emshwiller]
- The Odious Ones (New York: Rinehart and Company, 1959) [hb/Ben Feder]
- Night Slaves (New York: Fawcett Gold Medal, 1961) [pb/Paul Lehr]
- The Anomaly (New York: Curtis Books, 1971) [pb/uncredited]
- The Spun Sugar Hole (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971) [hb/Paul Bacon]
- The Resurrection of Frank Borchard (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973) [hb/Lawrence Ratzkin]
- Supermanchu, Master of Kung Fu (New York: Ballantine Books, 1974) as by Sean Mei Sullivan [pb/]
- I, Aleppo (Toronto, Ontario: Laser Books, 1976) [early version appeared in The New Mind (anth 1973) edited by Roger Elwood, as "I Am Aleppo": pb/Kelly Freas]
- Death Sleep (New York: Ballantine Books/Fawcett Gold Medal, 1983) [pb/Joe DeVito]
- Kaheesh (New York: Ballantine Books/Fawcett Gold Medal, 1983) as by Nathan Butler [pb/uncredited]
collections and stories
- Filet of Sohl: The Classic Scripts and Stories of Jerry Sohl (Boalsburg, Pennsylvania: BearManor Media, 2003) [coll: edited by Christopher Conlon: pb/uncredited]
- Brknk's Bounty (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2010) [story: ebook: first appeared January 1955 Galaxy: na/]
- The Hand (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2010) [story: ebook: first appeared January 1955 Imagination: na/]
- The 7th Order (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2010) [story: ebook: first appeared March 1952 Galaxy: na/]
- The Ultroom Error (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2010) [story: ebook: first appeared May 1952 Space Science Fiction: na/]
- The Elroom (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2019) [story: ebook: first appeared March 1955 If: na/]
- The Counterweight (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2019) [story: ebook: first appeared November 1959 If: na/]
- The Little Red Bag (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2019) [story: ebook: first appeared January 1960 If: na/]
- Death in Transit (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2022) [story: ebook: first appeared June 1956 Infinity: na/]
links
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