author
Lee Sutton
1916–1978
Best known for the young-adult science fiction novel Venus Boy, this American professor and librarian brought a warm, imaginative touch to stories of other worlds. His small body of fiction mixed adventure with a clear affection for learning and discovery.
1 Audiobook
Venus Boy
by Lee Sutton
About the author
Born Homer Lee Sutton in Redondo Beach, California, on September 24, 1916, he worked in academia as a librarian, professor, and university administrator as well as writing fiction. He later taught Humanities at John F. Kennedy College after earlier work at Parsons College, and he died in San Diego County, California, on September 21, 1978.
As a writer, he is chiefly remembered for Venus Boy (1955), a science-fiction novel for younger readers. The book imagines a child born on Venus who forms a bond with a native creature, blending space-age adventure with an unusually gentle, sympathetic view of life on another world.
Sutton appears to have published only a small amount of fiction, including a few science-fiction stories in the 1950s. That makes his work feel a bit like a hidden corner of mid-century speculative fiction: modest in scale, but full of curiosity, optimism, and a teacher's sense of wonder.