Walter Tevis was an English literature professor at the University of Ohio and is best known for three of his novels, which were turned into blockbuster films: The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Hustler, and The Color of Money. His other books include Mockingbird and The Steps of the Sun, which appeared shortly before his death in 1984.

“Beautiful science fiction ... The story of an extraterrestrial visitor from another planet is designed mainly to say something about life on this one.”
—The New York Times

“An utterly realistic novel about an alien human on Earth ... Realistic enough to become a metaphor for something inside us all, some existential loneliness.”
—Norman Spinrad

“Those who know The Man Who Fell to Earth only from the film version are missing something. This is one of the finest science fiction novels of its period.”
—J.R. Dunn, author of Full Tide of Night

“Tevis writes ... with power and poetry and tension.”
—The Washington Post Book World

“Terrific ... At its best moments The Man Who Fell to Earth has the cool, no-nonsense clarity and direction of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s also funny in a way that refuses to pander to conventional expectations.... The Man Who Fell to Earth can be seen as the story of a very hip, space-age Passion—about a savior who comes to Earth not to save us but his own people, and who is, in effect, crucified dead and buried.”
—Vincent Canby