intention of actually possessing it. Convinced,
Maitland goes to Marco’s home but finds the man
murdered, his throat torn out apparently by his
own guard dog. Maitland takes the skull and hur-
ries away to avoid involvement, pleased with his
new acquisition.
Later that same evening he realizes that there
was no blood on the dog’s mouth, which puzzles
him, but he dismisses the thought and goes to bed.
During the night the skull rolls across the floor and
bounces up onto the bed, and Maitland dies in the
same fashion, to be found in the morning with the
skull, now grinning conventionally, sitting on his
chest. This is an example of the strong strain of
morality in modern horror fiction. Evil acts will
eventually be rewarded appropriately.
Sleator, William(1945– )
William Sleator began writing novels for young
readers in 1972 and concentrated on science fic-
tion, fantasy, and horror for most of those titles.
His first book, Blackbriar(1972), is a surprisingly
intense novel about two teenagers who investigate
a mysterious, possibly haunted house. The some-
what similar Into the Dream(1979) also balances
two teenaged protagonists, this time a pair who
discover that they are sharing the same dream, or
perhaps nightmare. Fingers(1983) is also complex
enough to entertain adult readers. Another
teenager convinces his brother, a musician, that his
talent has become enhanced by the spirit of a long-
dead musical artist. The hoax slowly becomes less
amusing when there is mounting evidence that the
ghost of the dead man is, in fact, influencing the
teenager.
The Boy Who Reversed Himself(1986) takes its
young protagonist through a mirror into the
bizarre world that exists on the opposite side. The
Spirit House (1991) and its sequel, Dangerous
Wishes(1996), are much lighter in tone. In the
first an exchange student from Thailand brings
along some unusual baggage, playful Thai spirits.
In the second another teenager searches for a
missing talisman whose recovery might end a pro-
longed spate of bad luck experienced by his family.
He is aided by a Thai student with a magically en-
hanced computer. Boltzmon!(1990) also invokes a
magical creature for some light-hearted adven-
ture, but less successfully.
Rewind(1999) is entertaining but less original
than Sleator’s other novels. A teenager dies in an
accident and is given the opportunity to relive his
life and correct his mistakes. The Boxes(2000), a
new take on Pandora’s Box, seems to demand a se-
quel because of its unresolved ending. The story
concerns a young girl who opens a mysterious box
despite orders to the contrary, releasing a horde of
crablike creatures who may or may not be evil. The
ensuing chaos is very entertaining, but the story is
not tied up well in the final chapter. A boy finds a
gateway to a magical world in Marco’s Millions
(2001), and another finds immortality in The Boy
Who Couldn’t Die (2004), although there is a
catch. There is always a catch.
Sleator is a very reliable source of slightly dark
fantasy novels for young adults. He avoids patron-
izing his readers and writes with sufficient sophisti-
cation and detail to entertain mature tastes as well
as his target audience. At his least interesting he
produces competent renditions of familiar stories.
At his best he creates unique characters and un-
usual situations and explores the possibilities in-
herent in these combinations.“Slime”Joseph Payne Brennan(1953)
The monster story has fallen into disrepute in writ-
ten science fiction, although moviemakers are still
fond of the device. Stories of alien life forms, even
from other planets, are now generally lumped with
horror fiction even if they are completely rational-
ized in some manner, and while science fiction is
outside the scope of this book, there are some sto-
ries that make such a cursory effort at explaining
the creature’s origins that they are appropriately
considered here. One of the best of these is this
tale of an eons-old creature thrown up from the
bottom of the ocean by an undersea earthquake.
The monster is a blob, a shapeless mass that con-
sumes every animal it encounters, in much the
same manner as the similar creature in the motion
picture The Blob(1958), likewise immune to bul-
lets and the only one of its kind.
Since BRENNAN’s slime monster originated in
the depths of the ocean, it is physically repelled by326 Sleator, William