Henry Slesar

Henry Slesar (June 12, 1927 – April 2, 2002) was an American

Slesar was married three times: to Oenone Scott, 1953–1969; to Jan Maakestad, 1970–1974; and to Manuela[4] Jone in 1974.^[5] He had one daughter and one son.

Pseudonyms

In addition to writing chiefly under his own name, Slesar published under several pseudonyms, particularly on early short stories. These included:

• Clyde Mitchell – a Ziff Davis "house pseudonym" used by some science fiction and fantasy authors in Amazing Stories and Fantastic, which were edited by Paul W. Fairman. (Authors publishing as Clyde Mitchell include Robert Silverberg, Randall Garrett, Harlan Ellison, and others.) Slesar used the Mitchell name for "The Monster Died at Dawn" in Amazing Stories (November, 1956), and "A Kiss for the Conqueror" in Fantastic (February, 1957).
• O. H. Leslie – Slesar chose this name, which he used from 1956 to 1964, again for Paul Fairman as well as other magazines.

In Amazing Stories he published such stories as "Marriages Are Made in Detroit" (December 1956), "Reluctant Genius"^[8] (January 1957), "No Room in Heaven" (June 1957), and "The Anonymous Man" (July 1957), "The Seven Eyes of Jonathan Dark" (January 1959).

In Fantastic he published such stories as "Death Rattle" (December 1956), "My Robot" (February 1957), "Abe Lincoln—Android" (April 1957), "The Marriage Machine" (July 1957), and "Inheritance" (August 1957).

• Ivar Jorgensen – This pseudonym, a house name, was also used by Robert Silverberg, Randall Garrett, Harlan Ellison, Howard Browne, and Paul Fairman himself. Slesar's use of the name appeared in Fantastic for "Coward's Death" (December 1956) and "Tailor-Made Killers" (August 1957).
• E. K. Jarvis – another Ziff Davis house name, also used by Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison, Paul W. Fairman, Robert Bloch, and Robert Moore Williams. Slesar used it for "Get Out of Our Skies!"^[9] in Amazing Stories (December 1957).
• Lawrence Chandler – Another Ziff Davis house name, shared by Howard Browne, Slesar used it for "Tool of the Gods" in Fantastic (November 1957).
• Sley Harson – Nearly an anagram of Slesar's name, he used it in collaboration with his friend Harlan Ellison. Together they published "Sob Story" in The Deadly Streets (Ace Books, 1958).
• Gerald Vance – Another Ziff Davis house name; shared by William P. McGivern, Rog Phillips, Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett. Slesar sold the story "The Lavender Talent" to Paul Fairman at Fantastic (March 1958).
• Jeff Heller – A pen name he used when collaborating with his friend, M*A*S*H writer Jay Folb.^[1]
• Eli Jerome - A pen name derived from the first names of his two brothers-in-law, the husbands of his sister Doris Greenberg and his sister Lillian Gleich. Used in stories in Alfred Hitchcock collections and 2 teleplays on Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("Party Line" and "One Grave Too Many", both 1960).

Other house names Slesar employed were Jay Street, John Murray, and Lee Saber.

After 1958, he wrote chiefly under his own name.

Career

In 1955, he published his first

He wrote a series of stories about a criminal named Ruby Martinson for Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine—"The First Crime of Ruby Martinson" (September, 1957), "Ruby Martinson, Ex-Con" (June, 1958), "Ruby Martinson, Cat Burglar" (June, 1959), "Ruby Martinson’s Great Fur Robbery" (May, 1962). He also penned the screenplay for the 1965 film Two on a Guillotine, which was based on one of his stories.

His first novel-length work was 20 Million Miles to Earth, a 1957

In 1974, he won an

He wrote mainly science-fiction scripts for the CBS Radio Mystery Theater during the 1970s.^[11]

In 1983, Procter & Gamble wanted to replace him as the head writer for The Edge of Night, but ABC/ABC Daytime kept him. After his eventual replacement as head writer by Lee Sheldon, the network named him and Sam Hall the new head writers of its soap opera One Life to Live, but he left that show after only one year. He was later the head writer of the CBS Daytime series Capitol.

His last novel was Murder at Heartbreak Hospital (

Other late works included "interactive mystery serial" stories for MysteryNet.com, which invited readers to contribute their ideas.

Bibliography

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2019)

Novels

• The Gray Flannel Shroud. New York: Random House, 1959. (Series: A Random House mystery)
• Enter Murderers. New York: Random House, 1960. (Series: A Random House mystery)
• The Bridge of Lions. New York: Macmillan, 1963.
• The Thing at the Door. New York: Random House, 1974. (
  ISBN 0-394-49007-X
  )
• Murder at Heartbreak Hospital. Chicago, Ill.: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1998.

• Clean Crimes and Neat Murders: Alfred Hitchcock's Hand Picked Selection of Stories by Henry Slesar. Introduction by Alfred Hitchcock. New York: Avon, 1960.

Cover title: A Bouquet of Clean Crimes and Neat Murders.

Spine title: Alfred Hitchcock Presents Clean Crimes and Neat Murders.

• A Crime for Mothers and Others. New York, N.Y.: Avon, 1962.
• Murders Most Macabre. New York, N.Y.: Avon, 1986. (paperback;
  ISBN 0-380-89975-2
  )
• Death on Television: The Best of Henry Slesar's Alfred Hitchcock Stories. Edited by
  ISBN 0-809-31500-9
  )

Stories[14]

• "A Cry from the Penthouse" (1959) – Originally published in Playboy, November, 1959. Anthologized in: Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories for Late at Night, 1961 and AHP: More Stories for Late at Night, 1962.
• "A God Named Smith" (1957) – Originally published in
  ISBN 978-1-61287-078-6
  .
• "Abe Lincoln – Android" (1957) – As by O. H. Leslie. Originally published in Fantastic, April, 1957. Anthologized in: Great Science Fiction, No. 6, 1967.
• "Bats" (1989) – The Further Adventures of
  ISBN 0-553-28270-0
  .
• "Before the Talent Dies" (1957) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-451-13201-7
  .
• "Behind the Screen" (1993) – The Further Adventures of
  ISBN 0-553-28624-2
  .
• "Brother Robot" (1958) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-451-15926-8
  .
• "Chief" (1960) – The 6th Annual of the Year's Best S-F, 1961, ed.
  ISBN 0-380-50773-0
  ; and others.
• "Cop for a Day" (1957) – Originally published in Manhunt, January 1957. Anthologized in: The Young Oxford Book of Nasty Endings, 1997, ed. Dennis Pepper,
  ISBN 0-19-278151-0
  .
• Slesar, Henry (January 1957). "Dream Town". Project Gutenberg EBook. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
• "Ersatz" (1967) – Dangerous Visions, 1967, ed. Harlan Ellison.
• "Examination Day" (1958) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-06-623842-0
  .
• "40 Detectives Later" – in 100 Menacing Little Murder Stories, 1998, ed.
  ISBN 0-7607-0854-1
  .
• Slesar, Henry (January 1957). "Heart". Project Gutenberg EBook. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
• "I Now Pronounce You
  ISBN 0-553-28568-8
  .
• "Job Offer" (1959) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-517-60669-0
  .
• "Legacy of Terror" (1958) – Originally published in Amazing Science Fiction Stories, November, 1958. Anthologized in: Satan's Pets, 1972, ed. Vic Ghidalia.
• "Lost Dog" (1958) – Originally published in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, February, 1958. Anthologized in: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories My Mother Never Told Me, 1963, ed. Alfred Hitchcock.
• "Murder Delayed" (1962) – Games Killers Play, 1968, ed. Alfred Hitchcock.
• "My Father, The Cat" (1957) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-451-45061-2
  ); and others.
• "My Mother the Ghost" (1965) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-385-11416-8
  .
• "Personal Interview" (1957) – Originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Including Black Mask Magazine, December 1957.
• "Prez" (1982) – Terrors, 1982, ed.
  ISBN 0-86721-138-5
  .
• "Speak" (1965) – First published in
  ISBN 0-7607-0118-0
  .
• "The Candidate" (1961) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-19-278151-0
  ; and others.
• "The Fifty-third Card" (1990) – The Further Adventures of The Joker, 1990, ed. Martin H. Greenberg,
  ISBN 0-553-28531-9
  .
• "The Girl Who Found Things" (1973) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-87975-506-7
  .
• "The Goddess of World 21" (1957) – Originally published in Fantastic, March, 1957. Later in The Most Thrilling Science Fiction Ever Told No. 11, Winter 1968.
• "The Haunted Man" (1974) – Twisters, (981, ed. Steve Bowles,
  ISBN 0-00-671798-5
  .
• "The Invisible Man Murder Case" (1958) – Originally published in Fantastic, May 1958. Anthologized in: Invisible Men, 1960, ed. Basil Davenport; and in The Seven Deadly Sins of Science Fiction, 1981, ed. Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh.
• "The Jam" (1958) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-688-10963-2
  ; and others.
• "The Knocking in the Castle" (1964) – Originally published in Fantastic Stories of Imagination, November, 1964. Anthologized in: The Hell of Mirrors, 1965, ed. Peter Haining.
• "The Mad Killer" (1957) – Originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Including Black Mask Magazine, June 1957.
• "The Movie-Makers" (1956) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-8008-3197-7
  .
• "The Moving Finger Types" (1968) – Originally published in
  ISBN 1-56865-524-X
  .
• "The Old Man" (1962) – Microcosmic Tales, 1980, ed. Joseph D. Olander, Martin H. Greenberg, Isaac Asimov,
  ISBN 1-56731-065-6
  .
• "The Phantom of the Soap Opera" (1989) – Phantoms, 1989, ed. Rosalind M. Greenberg, Martin H. Greenberg, (DAW Collectors #778),
  ISBN 0-88677-348-2
  .
• "The Return of the Moresbys" (1964) – Haunted America: Star-Spangled Supernatural Stories, 1991, ed. Marvin Kaye.
• "The Right Kind of House" (1957) – Originally published in Haunted Houses: The Greatest Stories, 1997, ed. Martin H. Greenberg,
  ISBN 0-7607-0854-1
  .
• "The Secret Formula" (1957) – Originally published in Playboy, October, 1957.
• "The Secret of Marracott Deep" (1957) – Originally published in
  ISBN 978-1-61287-008-3
  .
• "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" (1961) – Originally published in
  ISBN 1-56731-065-6
  .
• "The Show Must Go On" (1957) – Originally published in
  ISBN 978-1-61287-028-1
  .
• "The Stuff" (1961) — Originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1961.
• "The Success Machine" (1957) – Originally published in Amazing Stories, September, 1957. Later appeared in Science Fiction Greats, Winter 1969, and in Fantastic, July, 1979.
• "Victory Parade" (1957) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-688-41723-X
  .
• "Who Am I?" (1956) – Originally published in
  ISBN 978-1-893887-48-0
  .
• "Blackmailer" (1952) – Originally published in The Saint Mystery Magazine August 1952.
• "The Percent of Murder" (1958) - Originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine September 1958.
• "Not The Running Type" (1959) – Originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine January 1959.
• "The Horse That Was Not For Sale" (1964) – Originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine May 1964
• "The Haunted Man" (1974) – Originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine April 1974
• "The Memory Expert" (1974) – Originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine August 1974
• "The Bottle" (1986) – Originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine August 1986
• "Death in the First Edition" (1992) – Originally published by Waddington Games for the Clue Mystery Jigsaw Puzzle series
• "Whosit's Disease" (1962) – Originally published in
  ISBN 0-450-01297-2
  .