On February 13, 1945, William Warner Sleator III was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, to William Warner, Jr., a college professor in physiology, and Esther Kaplan Sleator, a pediatrician. Sleator says that he began writing when very young and that even then he was interested in the stranger aspects of life. Though raised among a family of scientists, the young author was interested in the arts, becoming a pianist, composer, and writer. Perhaps his combination of interests in art and science led to his interest in science fiction, which he read avidly.

By high school, he was composing music that reflected his preoccupation with the macabre, giving his works titles such as "Guillotines in Springtime." He entered Harvard as a music major, though he later admitted that he was miserable at Harvard, with his unhappiness reflected in unhappy compositions. He seems to have been very...