William Carroll

Born in San Francisco on August 26, 1915, and dying in McKinleyville, California, on January 27, 2014, William J. Carroll lived an unusually wide-ranging life. Sources connected with his obituary describe him not only as an author, but also as a chef, aircraft inspector, inventor, and professional photographer.

That mix of practical work and creative curiosity helps explain the appeal of his writing. Carroll is associated with Solomon's Orbit, a science-fiction story that continues to be listed by major book and public-domain catalogs, suggesting a small but durable place in mid-century genre reading.

Some details about his full bibliography are inconsistent across online listings, so it is safest to keep the picture simple: Carroll appears to have been an American writer with a long life, a hands-on career outside literature, and at least one memorable science-fiction work that has outlasted its original era.