Drexel University and Sturgeon and his brother were still in the local public school to their attempts to catch poison ivy to delay the move—"Then we moved to Philadelphia, a little apartment on 34 Street with a sort of sun room, which was Argyll's study and had a single couch which was his and Mother's bed, and a kind of living room with a kitchenette built into one wall, where we slept on the floor on mattresses."— and his father's treatment of a puppy he couldn't discipline—". . . he used to whip her with a wire after rubbing her nose in it—so he got rid of her." (p 14) These go on to include Sturgeon's first gay experiences in his 14th year—"So [20-year-old] Bert blew me practically continuously from Friday evening until dinner time Sunday; we kept score and I came 14 times. Sweet are the uses of respectability. My God! It never occurred to me until this minute that Dr. Taft was probably the one—the only one, as sole mentor, who could possibly have insured Argyll's total ignorance!" (p. 52); and in his long letter to his mother and Argyll, included in the same volume, Sturgeon harshly critiques his first novel, The Dreaming Jewels: "My use of one detested Argyll would have been fine, but one wasn't enough; there had to be two, and as a result the balance of the work was destroyed and its literary worth was lost in vengeful polemic" (p 62). Relationship with Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut likely based the name of his fictional science-fiction writer Kilgore Trout on Sturgeon's name. They became friends when Sturgeon moved to Truro, Massachusetts. See also Theodore Sturgeon Award Citations General and cited sources External links The Theodore Sturgeon Page - an informative and comprehensive fan site The Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust – owners of Sturgeon copyrights, information on Sturgeon publications Theodore Sturgeon Papers (MS 303 and MS 254) housed at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Theodore Sturgeon's online fiction at Free Speculative Fiction Online Gary Westfahl's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Film The Work of Theodore Sturgeon – lengthy biographical and critical study of Sturgeon 1918 births 1985 deaths American horror writers American science fiction writers American speculative fiction critics American speculative fiction editors Hugo Award-winning writers Nebula Award winners People from Springfield, Oregon People from Staten Island Science fiction critics Science Fiction Hall