William Tenn

William Tenn was the pseudonym of Philip Klass (May 9, 1920 – February 7, 2010), a British-born American science fiction author, notable for many stories with satirical elements.

Biography Born to a Jewish family in London, Phillip Klass moved to New York City with his parents before his second birthday and grew up in Brooklyn. After serving in the United States Army during World War II as a combat engineer in Europe, he held a job as a technical editor with an Air Force radar and radio laboratory and was employed by Bell Labs.

Phillip and Fruma Klass married in 1957, and they moved in 1966 to State College, Pennsylvania, where he taught English and comparative literature at Penn State University for 22 years.

His second story, the widely reprinted "Child's Play" (1947), told of a lawyer who creates people with his Bild-A-Man kit, a Christmas gift intended for a child of the future. After publication in Astounding Science Fiction (May 1946), Tenn was soon hailed as the science fiction field's reigning humorist, and during the early 1950s, readers of Galaxy Science Fiction looked forward to issues featuring his satirical science fiction.

Many stories followed, including "Venus and the Seven Sexes" (1951), "Down Among the Dead Men" (1954), "The Liberation of Earth", "Time in Advance" (1956) and "On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi" (1974). One of his non-fiction articles, "Mr. Eavesdropper", was later collected in Best Magazine Articles, 1968. His essay and interview collection Dancing Naked was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Related Book in 2004. He was given the Author Emeritus honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1999. Theodore Sturgeon summed up Tenn's humorous viewpoint on life:

Tenn wrote two novels, both published in 1968. Of Men and Monsters is an expansion of his story "The Men in the Walls", originally in Galaxy Science Fiction (October 1963). Children of Wonder (anthology edited by William Tenn) (1953) Of All Possible Worlds (1955) The Human Angle (1956) Time in Advance (1958) A Lamp for Medusa (novella published as a double with The Players of Hell by Dave Van Arnam) (1968) Of Men and Monsters (novel) (1968) Once Against the Law (anthology of crime fiction edited by Tenn and Donald E. Westlake) (1968) The Seven Sexes (1968) The Square Root of Man (1968) The Wooden Star (1968) On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi! (1974); published in several collections Immodest Proposals: The Complete Science Fiction of William Tenn, Volume I (omnibus) (2000) Here Comes Civilization: The Complete Science Fiction of William Tenn, Volume II (omnibus) (2001) Dancing Naked, the Unexpurgated William Tenn (non-fiction omnibus) (2004) [Hugo Nominee, Best Related Book, 2005]

Online William Tenn: "Constantinople" (full text). William Tenn: "Poul Anderson" (full text). William Tenn: "Remembrance of Worldcons Past" (full text) William Tenn: "Welles or Wells: The First Invasion from Mars" (full text). "Streets of Mud, Streets of Gold," $25,000 award-winning essay by Fruma Klass (full text) William Tenn: "On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi!" (full text)