Books with author William Sleator

When three unusually attractive young adults rent the summer cottage next door, Barney's boring vacation at the beach seemingly takes a turn for the better. However, after the neighbors unwittingly reveal their extraterrestrial identities, the board game they have taught him becomes a real-life battle, and Barney must outsmart the aliens to save Earth from destruction. The fantastical tale contains some of Sleator's most inventive characters.

This chilling, suspenseful indictment of mind control is a classic of science fiction and will haunt readers long after the last page is turned.One by one, five sixteen-year-old orphans are brought to a strange building. It is not a prison, not a hospital; it has no walls, no ceiling, no floor. Nothing but endless flights of stairs leading nowhere--except back to a strange red machine. The five must learn to love the machine and let it rule their lives. But will they let it kill their souls? "An intensely suspenseful page-turner." --School Library Journal"A riveting suspense novel with an anti-behaviorist message that works . . . because it emerges only slowly from the chilling events." --Kirkus Reviews

The author of such reliably offbeat sf thrillers as Strange Attractors (1990) radically changes pace for ten hilarious, semi- autobiographical stories. With affection and a splendid sense of comic timing, Sleator drags forth incidents from his family closet's darkest recesses--the time young Tycho was hypnotized and then made to drink from the toilet; an indignant skit that laid bare the failings of certain parents, to their vast amusement; rough-and-tumble car games; and deliciously horrifying pranks played on unsuspecting passersby. Vivid characterizations (sister Vicky ``had always enjoyed making dolls fight with each other; when the dolls wore out, she ripped off their arms and legs. Now she is a nurse'') always balance foibles with saving graces; embarrassment is eased by laughter, while painful circumstances always come right in the end. Sleator shows how, in a loosely run household presided over by indulgent working parents, he and his three siblings developed confident, independent spirits. Though he admits to making up a few things, his dedication is telling – ``To my family: Please forgive me!''– Kirkus Reviews

Barney's stuck at a boring after-school job, earning money to repay his parents after their beach house is destroyed in a battle with aliens. Of course, they don't believe that aliens did the damage. No one, in fact, realizes that sixteen-year-old Barney saved the world by outsmarting the visitors at their violent game, saved the world by outsmarting the visitors at their violent game, Interstellar Pig. No one but the aliens-and for them the game is far from over. Barney is about to become the unwilling partner of a chatty intestinal parasite; the potential snack of giant, man-eating crabs; and the competitor of a stinger-happy seven-foot wasp woman. Life just got a lot more interesting...

Paul has a recurring nightmare, about a small boy in awful danger. When he learns that his classmate Francine has it, too, the two of them join forces to solve the mystery and save the boy--before their bad dream becomes a terrifying reality."Tightly woven suspense and an ingenious, totally involving plotline make this a thriller of top-notch quality." --Booklist

When three unusually attractive young adults rent the summer cottage next door, Barney's boring vacation at the beach seemingly takes a turn for the better. However, after the neighbors unwittingly reveal their extraterrestrial identities, the board game they have taught him becomes a real-life battle, and Barney must outsmart the aliens to save Earth from destruction. The fantastical tale contains some of Sleator's most inventive characters.

Danny can feel something sinister about his new home, Blackbriar, an old, abandoned cottage in the English countryside. The residents of a nearby town refuse to speak of the house and can barely look Danny in the eyes. Then Danny begins to have strange dreams of fire and witches, and awakes to shrieks of laughter that seem to come from another time and place. With help from his friend, Lark, Danny begins to unravel the mysteries of Blackbriar and its frightening past, through the discovery of an ancient doll and a chilling list of names and dates carved on the cellar door. But what might be most terrifying of all is the mystery that does not lie in the past but in the here and now ...

Identical twins Barry and Harry Krasner are house-sitting at their great-uncle's Midwest farm. It's peaceful at first, but soon they realize there's something about the farmhouse that makes locals stay far away. The twins are sure that the locked shed out back is their reason why – but what they find there is more shocking than anything they could have imagined.

One by one, five sixteen-year-old orphans are brought to a strange building. It is not a prison, not a hospital; it has no walls, no ceiling, no floor. Nothing but endless flights of stairs leading nowhere--except back to a strange red machine. The five must learn to love the machine and let it rule their lives. But will they let it kill their souls?

After Jared accidentally plunges into a polluted swamp, he gains the ability to read minds . . . and discovers dangerous secrets about his family The first thing Jared does every summer when he and his family arrive at their cottage is hop on his bike and cruise along the back roads. Only this year he’s grown too big for the bike. When the brakes suddenly give out at the bottom of the hill where the road makes a sharp turn, Jared plunges into an industrial swamp oozing with toxic waste. After the accident, Jared feels OK—except for a headache. But then he starts hearing strange things: people’s private thoughts, which are the total opposite of what they actually say. Next, Jared’s journal is stolen. Luckily, he can just read the mind of the person who stole it. He can also use his new power to track down the culprit in a recent series of ATM robberies and neighborhood break-ins. But along with solving mysteries, Jared uncovers shocking family secrets, the identity of someone else who has the same paranormal gift as him, and the truth about the girl he loves.