Gerald Allan Sohl Sr. (December 2, 1913 – November 4, 2002) was an American television scriptwriter and science fiction author who wrote for The Twilight Zone (as a ghostwriter for Charles Beaumont), Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Outer Limits, Star Trek: The Original Series (once using the pseudonym "Nathan Butler"), and other shows. He wrote more than twenty novels as well as feature film scripts. He also wrote the nonfiction works Underhanded Chess and Underhanded Bridge in 1973.
Novels New York Times reviewer Villiers Gerson described his 1953 novel The Transcendent Man as "contain[ing] enough twists to afford the reader a few hours' entertainment" despite being "oversimplified in motivation.""Spacemen's Realm", The New York Times, May 24, 1953. P. Schuyler Miller found the plot unconvincing."The Reference Library," Astounding Science Fiction, March 1954, pp.153 Gerson later panned Sohl's The Altered Ego, saying "This wordy book lacks characterization, emotion, suspense, and interest.""Spaceman's Realm", The New York Times Book Review, July 18, 1954, p.20.
His 1955 Point Ultimate is a piece of Cold War invasion literature: in 1999, a faraway future history at the time of writing, the US lies under a cruel Soviet occupation, reinforced by a deadly artificial disease which makes conquered Americans dependent on the conquerors for the injections that keep them alive.
In The Time Dissolver (1957), a man and a woman wake one morning to find that they have lost all memory of the past eleven years, including how they met and became married.
Ghostwriting
As Charles Beaumont became increasingly ill from a mysterious brain illness, possibly Pick's disease or very early onset Alzheimer's, and unable to write, Sohl ghostwrote three episodes of The Twilight Zone for him. These were "The New Exhibit", "Queen of the Nile" and "Living Doll". Beaumont insisted on splitting the fees for each episode.
Bibliography
Novels
The Haploids (1952) The Transcendent Man (1953) Costigan's Needle (1953) The Altered Ego (1954) Point Ultimate (1955) The Mars Monopoly (1956) The Time Dissolver (1957) Prelude to Peril (1957) One Against Herculum (1959) The Odious Ones (1959) Night Slaves (1965) The Lemon Eaters (1967) The Anomaly (1971) The Spun Sugar Hole (1971) Dr. Josh (1973; as by Nathan Butler) The Resurrection of Frank Borchard (1973) Mamelle (1974; as by Nathan Butler) SuperManChu, Master of Kung Fu (1974; as by Sean Mei Sullivan) Blow-Dry (1976; as by Nathan Butler) I, Aleppo (1976) Mamelle, The Goddess (1977; as by Nathan Butler) Death Sleep (1983) Kaheesh (1983; as by Nathan Butler) Night Wind (1983; as by Roberta Jean Mountjoy) Black Thunder (1983; as by Roberta Jean Mountjoy)
Non-fiction
Underhanded Chess (1973) Underhanded Bridge (1973)
Filmography
Films Year Film Credit Notes 1960Twelve Hours to KillScreenplay By1965Frankenstein Conquers the WorldMonster of TerrorScreenplay By 1968The Crimson CultStory by 1970Night SlavesStory ByBased on his novel of the same name.
Television Year TV Series Credit Notes 1959M SquadWriter1 Episode 1959–61Alfred Hitchcock PresentsWriter4 Episodes 1960General Electric TheaterWriter1 Episode 1961Route 66Writer1 Episode 1962Target: The Corruptors!Writer1 Episode 1963–64The Twilight ZoneWriter (Uncredited)3 Episodes 1964The Outer LimitsWriter2 Episodes 1966–69Star TrekWriter3 Episodes 1967The InvadersWriter2 Episodes 1977Man from AtlantisWriter1 Episode 1978The Next Step BeyondWriter1 Episode
References
External links Obituary on The Independent website
Jerry Sohl papers at the American Heritage Center