 After his first novel, "The Hustler", was published by Harper & Row in 1959, Tevis followed it with "The Man Who Fell to Earth", published in 1963.Aspects of Tevis' childhood are embedded in "The Man Who Fell to Earth", as noted by James Sallis, writing in the "Boston Globe"

During his time teaching at Ohio University, Tevis became aware that the level of literacy among students was falling at an alarming rate.That observation gave him the idea for "Mockingbird" (1980), set in a grim and decaying New York City in the 25th century.