William Warner Sleator III says that he began writing when very young and that even then he was interested in the weird aspects of life. He was raised among a family of scientists, but he 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. He was born to William Warner Sleator, Jr., a college professor in physiology, and Esther Kaplan Sleator, a pediatrician, in Havre de Grace, Maryland, on February 13, 1945.

By high school, Sleator 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, but he says that he was miserable at Harvard and his unhappiness was reflected in unhappy compositions. Still, he seems to have...