SUTTON, Jeff(erson Howard)

(1913-1979)

   US writer who began publishing sf with "The Third Empire" for Spaceway in 1955, and whose background - he had been a journalist, served time in the Marines and done research in high-altitude survival - was reflected in several of his novels, from First on the Moon (1958), his debut, to Spacehive (1960) and Whisper from the Stars (1970). JS wrote with a somewhat dilute clarity, his tales occasionally rising above the routine when he dealt in NEAR FUTURE subject matter; but even these stories soon became fatally dated. When he attempted more far-flung adventures his inspiration tended to flag and his plots to become strained. His juvenile sf novels (see listing below) with his wife, Jean SUTTON, were somewhat smoother.

   JC

   Other works: Bombs in Orbit (1959); The Missile Lords (1963); The Atom Conspiracy (1963); Apollo at Go (1963); Beyond Apollo (1966); H-Bomb over America (1967); The Man who Saw Tomorrow (1968 dos); Alton's Unguessable (1970 dos); The Mindblocked Man (1972); Cassady (1979).With Jean Sutton: The River (1966); The Programmed Man (1968); The Beyond (1968); Lord of the Stars (1969); Alien from the Stars (1970); The Boy who had the Power (1971).

   See also: CHILDREN'S SF.