Forgotten Authors: Edwin K. Sloat
Edwin K. Sloat was born on March 1, 1895 in Denmark, Iowa.
The attended State Normal College in Edmond, Oklahoma (now University of Central Oklahoma), graduating in 1916. Following his graduation, he worked as a newspaperman, an employee of the post office, and as a band leader during World War I, in which he was a Musician 1st Class Petty Officer.
After the war, he married Corinne Evelyn Lake in 1922 and they had two sons, Jerry and Donald.
Cover by Frank R. Paul
He published his first science fiction story, “Flight to Venus” in the December 1928 issue of Amazing Stories, which also included Jack Williamson’s debut story, “The Metal Man.” Needless to say, Williamson is not eligible to be included in this series of articles and Sloat is not as well remembered as Williamson. This is in part because while Williamson had a long (and illustrious) career, Sloat’s career as a science fiction author lasted a dozen years and saw the publication of only eleven stories. There was a six year gap in his science fiction output, from 1933 through 1939. His final sf story, “The Deadly Swarm,” was published in the August 1940 issue of Astonishing Stories, edited by Williamson’s friend and some-time collaborator, Frederik Pohl.
Everett Bleiler generally considered Sloat’s stories to be “routine” and uneven, although he notes that “Flight to Venus” is “intelligent with amusing touches,” while “Loot of the Void” is “skimpy and unconvincing.”
In addition to his eleven science fiction stories, Sloat also wrote westerns for Top-Notch, Cowboy Stories, and Western Story. His first western, “Gift Guns,” appeared in the March 1936 issue of Cowboy Stories, during his break from science fiction. He was much more prolific as a western author, writing about fifty westerns as well as at least one detective story.
Sloat died on August 9, 1986 and is buried in Gethsemane Cemetery in Fort Madison, Iowa.
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.