Forgotten Authors: T.L. Sherred
Thomas L. Sherred was born on August 27, 1915 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He wrote as T.L. Sherred.
Sherred had a limited career as a science fiction author, publishing his first short story in 1947 with additional stories appearing in 1953, 1954, and 1972, for a total of six stories, four of which were collected in the 1972 collection First Person, Peculiar. His debut story, “E for Effort,” was published in the May 1947 issue of Astounding. It was frequently reprinted, including in the anthology Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
When he wasn’t writing science fiction, Sherred worked in Detroit in the automotive field, beginning in tool rooms and eventually moving on to technical writing and public relations.
Cover by Hubert Rogers
Looking at the titles of Sherred’s fiction, the reader notes that he had a formula for titles (and a penchant for letter puns). After “E for Effort,” he published “Cue for Quiet,” “Eye for Iniquity,” and “See for Yourself.” He may also have written an unpublished story called “X for Breakfast.” Given enough time, he may have filled out an abecedary of short fiction.
Shortly after his only novel, Alien Island was published in 1970, Sherred suffered a stroke which effectively ended his writing career. He had started a sequel to the novel which was ultimately finished by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. after Sherred’s death and published in 1985 as Alien Main. According to Rich Horton, Sherred originally asked Laurence M. Janifer to help him finish the novel, but the version they submitted to Ballantine was rejected with editorial comments.
Sherred was married to fan Mary Lu Sherred, who was active in Michigan fandom in the 1970s and 80s. She volunteered to help with the Science Fiction Oral History Association (SFOHA), which was founded by Biggle in 1975 and existed until 2021, when their library was taken over by FANAC, which has begun digitizing their holdings.
Sherred died on April 16, 1985.
Steven H Silver is a twenty-two-time Hugo Award nominee and was the publisher of the Hugo-nominated fanzine Argentus as well as the editor and publisher of ISFiC Press for eight years. He has also edited books for DAW, NESFA Press, and ZNB. His most recent anthology is Alternate Peace and his novel After Hastings was published in 2020. Steven has chaired the first Midwest Construction, Windycon three times, and the SFWA Nebula Conference numerous times. He was programming chair for Chicon 2000 and Vice Chair of Chicon 7.
I always wonder how much of “E for Effort” was taken by Dr. Asimov for his similar tale of chronoscopy, “The Dead Past.” Mr. Sherred’s career may be a bit sparse on publications, but he did make it into Mr. Ellison’s 2nd “dangerous” anthology with “Bounty” (1972). Reminds me a bit of Ross Rocklynne, who started in Astounding Stories and also appeared in Again, Dangerous Visions.
Sherred was much better than Rocklynne, though! (That said, neither Rocklynne nor Sherred’s contribution to A,DV is particularly strong.)
It seems that Sherred had retired from his day job and was ready to begin writing more, including “Bounty” and Alien Island, but then had his stroke, and coulnd’t write. Very sad.
Sherred’s non-SF story “See for Yourself”, from Escapade in 1961, is quite good. Hard to find, mind you — but a striking piece.
It seems like there was a whole class of professional men in the 50’s and 60’s who were part-time sf writers – think of the Ken Cosgrove character in Mad Men, who wrote a few stories for the magazines. It says something about both the professions and the sf of that era. Might make a good anthology.