Frederik Pohl

Frederik George Pohl was born November 26, 1919, in New York City. While a teenager he co-founded the Futurians fan group and published a science fiction fanzine called Mind of Man. His work appeared in the October 1937 issue of Amazing Stories under a pen name. From 1939 to 1943, Pohl was editor of Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories. His work often appeared in these magazines, but always under a pseudonym. He began a career as a literary agent in 1937, representing more than half of the successful writers in science fiction including Isaac Asimov. His agency was never financially viable and he closed it down in the 1950s. He went on to serve as editor of Galaxy Science Fiction and Worlds of If magazines, winning three Hugo awards for his work at If. Through the 1970s he acquired and edited novels for Bantam Books, published as Frederik Pohl Selections.

Pohl had retired most of his pen names in the 1950s and had began publishing with his own name. In the 1970s he emerged as a novelist in his own right, and his own name, with works such as Man Plus and the Heechee series. He won Nebula Awards for Man Plus in 1976 and Gateway in 1977 and 1978.

In 1993, Pohl was the Science Fiction Writers of America’s 12th recipient of the Damon Knight Grand Master Award and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1998. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2010 for his blog, “The Way the Future Blogs.” He died September 2, 2013 at the age of 93.

The Reefs of Space "The team of Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson combines two of the top writed in the field of science fiction. In The Reefs of Space, this has produced a tale brimming with the ingenuity, inventiveness and satiric commentary characteristic of the great classic adventure tales of science fiction. To science fiction fans, this is like a joyous coming home, to new readers, the book will br a fresh and exciting discovery" Original Publication: Ballantine, September 1964 This Edition: Ballantine, September 1964 Cover Art: Jacques Wyrs Format: Paperback Notes: Collaboration with Jack Williamson Review:

A Plague of Pythons "At somewhere in his forties, Fred Pohl should hardly qualify for grand old man of anything. But he could. For at least thirty of those forty-odd years he has been writing, reading, agenting, editing, collaborating, commenting and generally holding the field of science fiction together with an enthusiasm that remains unabated. Which is all very well but it does mean that full-length, original novels from Fred Pohl have become a relatively rare thing. (A Plague of Pythons is much expanded from the magazine version). It is a book about a future development which, hopefully, will never, ever come to pass. But with Fred Pohl, you never know. Look what happened to The Space Merchants (we understand advertisers still read it to pick up tips on far out slogans). Or Slave Ship (all kinds of developments in ethology indicate we'll soon be talking to the animals). And so on. Watch out." Original Publication: Ballantine, September 1965 This Edition: Ballantine, September 1965 Cover Art: Unknown Format: Paperback Notes: Review:

Final Encounter "This is the door to the world of tomorrow: Here is the world of tomorrow as seen by twelve of the most imaginative and talented writers of today…Visit mars in Wallace West’s Dawningsburgh, where a singing robot devises a bizarre scheme for punishing unwanted tourists. Return to Earth with Brian W. Aldiss in Comic Inferno to hear the word that changed the world…and to see what advertising did to “the American way of death” in C.C. Macapp’s And All the Earth a Grave. Enter the door to the world of tomorrow…" Original Publication: Curtis Books, April 1970 This Edition: Curtis Books, April 1970 Cover Art: Unknown Format: Paperback Notes: Varient title of The Eighth Galaxy Reader. Contents: The Varieties of the Science Fiction Experience by Frederik Pohl; Comic Inferno by Brian W. Aldiss; The Big Engine by Fritz Leiber; A Day on Death Highway by H. Chandler Elliott; The Lonely Man by Theodore L. Thomas; A Bad Day for Vermin by Keith Laumer; Dawningsburgh by Wallace West; And All the Earth a Grave by C.C. MacApp; Hot Planet by Hal Clement; Final Encounter by Harry Harrison; If There Were No Benny Cemoli by Philip K. Dick; Critical Mass by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth Review:

Search the Sky Original Publication: Ballantine, February 1954 This Edition: Ballantine, July 1969 Cover Art: Unknown Format: Paperback Notes: Collaboration with C.M. Review:

Undersea City "Jim Eden was assigned to the Krakatoa Dome, one of the newest of the undersea cities, three miles down in the Sundra Strait. This was an area subject to frequent seaquakes - but worse, someone, or something, was deliberately starting the termors…" Original Publication: Gnome Press, 1958 This Edition: Ballantine, April 1971 Cover Art: Gino D'Achille Format: Paperback Notes: Collaboration with Jack Williamson Review: Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson came together in 1954 and began publishing The Undersea Trilogy. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that I was reading the third part of a trilogy when I started Undersea City and as a result was initially offput by the way the story assumed I had already met these characters and should be familiar with the environment and technology. I soon found out that the problem was on my end. Undersea City is the story of Krakatoan Dome and its ability to withstand earthquakes. Jim Eden is a naval officer completing his training when he is assigned to a super secret project deep under Krakatoan Dome. While there, a series of earthquakes hit the dome causing widespread panic and worry that the dome may not withstand a major quake. The project is to develop proper seismology to detect and predict earthquakes so as to protect the citizens of the dome. Some of the project's equipment turns up missing and Jim is set on a mission to investigate. This is a simple novel. There is not much in the way of mystery or surprise, but it does flow at a good rate and holds the attention. I am sure it is better when read with its companion books.

The Age of the Pussyfoot "Man Alive Charles Forrester was out of the deepfreeze. It had taken several centuries to bring him back to life. But what a life it was! The 26th Century offered pleasure at the flip of a button - everything from gourmet food to stupendous sex right there for the asking. And for a rich man like Forrester, the possibilities of delight were endless. Of course, everything else was endless too. But by the time Forrester realized that he had had enough of a good thing - even too much! - he realized that he would somehow have to kill himself if he were ever to survive! It was The Age of the Pussyfoot!" Original Publication: Trident, 1969 This Edition: Del Rey/Ballantine, November 1977 Cover Art: Paul Alexander Format: Paperback Notes: Review: The Age of the Pussyfoot was originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction in three parts, starting in October 1966. The novel follows the life of Charles Forrester after he comes out of cryostasis in the year 2527. Charles has a difficult time adjusting to his new reality and makes mistake after mistake. He believes he is rich because he did not understand how much more expensive the items he wants are in the 26th century. He offends friends and acquaintances, finds himself destitute, aids a Sirian in escaping the planet and almost ends humanity's reliance on computerization by inadvertently aiding the Luddites. The treasures in this novel are the details given in the descriptions of life of the 26th century, rather than depth of plot or characters. Pohl gives us the joymaker in this work. The joymaker is a portable assistant. It provides anything a citizen needs or wants, automatically debiting their account for the purchase price, offers advice, produces pharmaceuticals on demand, helps obtain employment, delivers messages etc. It is a one size fits all electronic device relied upon by all people in the 26th century. Forrester’s refusal to utilize the joymaker’s functions lands him in confusing predicament after confusing predicament. Pohl describes many other societal changes as well. Employment is provided to nearly everyone based on a suitability test (given by the joymaker of course). Everyone uses pharmaceuticals constantly to alter their mood at will. Since any fiscally sound citizen has access to cryostasis and death reversal, bonds and guarantees can be purchased for the legal murder of anyone else, for any reason. This is a fun novel. It feels like the future. It has a simple story and the characters are rather flat, but I believe that the aim of the novel was to describe a future that was predictable based on the science available at the time. Pohl’s predictions haven’t all come true, but it is clear that in the intervening 30+ years humanity has come closer and closer to what Pohl describes.

The Starchild Trilogy "The Reefs of Space - Far beyond the orbit of Pluto, half-mystical bodies circle the Solar System - the Reefs of Space, unknown, shrouded in mystery, the goal of human conquest, the obsession of the Plan of Man, tyrannical ruler of Earth. Starchild - A mysterious being of awesome powers, the Starchild has sent an ultimatum to Earth, demanding that the Plan of Man abdicate his control of humanity. If not, the Starchild will extinguish the Sun and the Plan of Man's realm will become a frozen, lifeless waste. Rogue Star - A passionate human love sets in motion forces of cosmic power and unleashes the Starchild, a creation that knows neither love nor hate and understands only "life." But even "life" is not necessarily life has humans have it." Original Publication: Nelson Doubleday/Science Fiction Book Club, October 1977 This Edition: Pocket, December 1977 Cover Art: Unknown Format: Paperback Notes: Collaboration with Jack Williamson. Contents: The Reefs of Space, Starchild and Rogue Star Review:

The Way the Future Was: A Memoir "Award winning writer, whiz-kid editor, wide-eyed fan, pioneering anthologist and demon literary agent - Fredrik Pohl's been all over the science fiction field, including a stretch as President of the Science Fiction Writers of America. Here is his story of how he got to all those places and what it was like getting there. In it you will find...What Isaac Asimov was like at 19. The truth behind the great World SF Convention War of 1939. How a teenager became a mover and shaker in the bizarre world of the pulp magazines. The strange mating rites of the sf community. How to represent most of the best sf writers and go broke. The dreams of new worlds and universes behind a body of completely original writing that has enlarged the horizons of three generations of readers...and netted the writers 1/2 to 3 cents a word. Its been a long road from the scruffy Ivory Tower where the Futurians denned to a time when much that was science fiction is now reality - and Fred Pohl retraces it all with candor, wit and abiding love." Original Publication: Del Rey/Ballantine, August 1978 This Edition: Del Rey/Ballatine, November 1978 Cover Art: Joseph Lombardero Format: Paperback Notes: Reveiw:

ManPlus "Take a Man. Make him more than a man. To save the world…or risk destroying it. Man Plus. The new science fiction classic by Frederik Pohl winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards." Original Publication: Random House, August 1976 This Edition: Bantam, April 1980 Cover Art: Unknown Format: Paperback Notes: Review:

Gateway "Rich Man, Dead Man…Those were the choices Gateway offered - the same for woman, too, of course. Gateway opened on all the wealth of the Universe…and on reaches of unimaginable horror. The humans who rode the alien Heechee spacecraft stores on the planetoid couldn't know whether the trip would make them millionaires or corpses. When Bob Broadhead came out to gateway, he thought his problem was simple - wait till the mission felt right, then ship out. But watching returned prospectors scraped from the insides of their ships, falling in love, feeling his nerves dwindle - all these things changed him. Then, years later, Robinette Broadhead, a three-mission vetran, famous and permanently rich, has to face just what happened to him and what he is...in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void he finally drove himself to take!" Original Publication: St. Martin's Press, April 1977 This Edition: Dell Rey/Ballantine, June 1982 Cover Art: Boris Vallejo Format: Paperback Notes: Review:

Farthest Star: The Saga of the Cuckoo "Cuckoo was coming. No one knew what it was - but everyone knew it was trouble. Designated Object Lambda when it first appeared on the fringes of the galaxy, 20,000 light-years away, it was traveling at one-sixth the speed of light. The astrophysicists said it was vast...light...and had the potential for utter destruction. So an existing space probe was reoriented to intercept; it was staffed with replicates of both humans and aliens. Then the space probe began to leak radiation..." Original Publication: Ballantine, February 1975 This Edition: Del Rey/Ballantine, February 1983 Cover Art: David Mattingly Format: Paperback Notes: Collaboration with Jack Williamson Review:

Beyond the Blue Event Horizon "Robinette Broadhead, made rich by the Gateway mission that had cost him the woman he loves, joined in bankrolling an expedition to the Food Factory - a Heechee spaceship found beyond the orbit of Pluto and designed to graze the cometary cloud and transform the basic elements of the universe into untold quantities of food. Broadhead thought his motives were simple enough: a gamble on a breakthrough that could end famine forever and would make him the wealthiest man in history. But his understanding tough-minded wife knew something else drove her husband: a vision of his lost love, poised forever at the "event horizon" of a black hole...where Robin had abandoned her. Every scrap of Heechee lore that could be brought back and interpreted increased the chance that he would someday, somehow be able to reach and perhaps even rescue his beloved Gelle-Klara Moynlin. After three and a half years, messages came back from the expedition that electrified the world: the Food Factory was still working...they had found a human aboard...they had discovered the key to the use of a whole new level of technology...And, it appeared, they had found the Heechee!" Original Publication: Del Rey/Ballantine, February 1980 This Edition: Del Rey/Ballantine, April 1985 Cover Art: Unknown Format: Paperback Notes: Review:

Black Star Rising "When a mysterious alien spacecraft approaches the Earth and demands to speak with the President of the United States, then destroys a large Pacific island to demonstrate its strength and its seriousness, you'd expect the President to talk. Problem is, in the late twenty-first century, there is no President - not even a United States. China rules the Americas, and to most people "US" and "USSR" are just quaint abbreviations in historical dictionarys. But the aliens prove unreasonable about accepting substitutes...so one Anglo rice-cultivator from the Heavenly Grain Collective farm - near Biloxi, Missisiippi - is forced to begin an adventure that will take him from peasant to President, from Pettyman to Spaceman." Original Publication: Del Rey/Ballantine, May 1985 This Edition: Del Rey/Ballantine/Science Fiction Book Club, November 1985 Cover Art: Michael Whelan Format: Hardback Notes: Review:

Heechee Rendezvous "When a mysterious alien spacecraft approaches the Earth and demands to speak with the President of the United States, then destroys a large Pacific island to demonstrate its strength and its seriousness, you'd expect the President to talk. Problem is, in the late twenty-first century, there is no President - not even a United States. China rules the Americas, and to most people "US" and "USSR" are just quaint abbreviations in historical dictionarys. But the aliens prove unreasonable about accepting substitutes...so one Anglo rice-cultivator from the Heavenly Grain Collective farm - near Biloxi, Missisiippi - is forced to begin an adventure that will take him from peasant to President, from Pettyman to Spaceman." Original Publication: Del Rey/Ballantine, March 1984 This Edition: Del Rey/Ballantine, April 1985 Cover Art: Darrell K. Sweet Format: Paperback Notes: Review:

The Years of the City "When a mysterious alien spacecraft approaches the Earth and demands to speak with the President of the United States, then destroys a large Pacific island to demonstrate its strength and its seriousness, you'd expect the President to talk. Problem is, in the late twenty-first century, there is no President - not even a United States. China rules the Americas, and to most people "US" and "USSR" are just quaint abbreviations in historical dictionarys. But the aliens prove unreasonable about accepting substitutes...so one Anglo rice-cultivator from the Heavenly Grain Collective farm - near Biloxi, Missisiippi - is forced to begin an adventure that will take him from peasant to President, from Pettyman to Spaceman." Original Publication: Timescape Books, October 1984 This Edition: Pocket, August 1985 Cover Art: Paul Lehr Format: Paperback Notes: Contents: Introduction, When New York Hit the Fan, The Greening of Bed-Stuy, The Blister, Second-Hand Sky, Gwenanda and the Supremes and About the Author Review: The Years of the City by Frederik Pohl was published in 1984. It is presented as five linked novellas, each dealing with a particular aspect of the transition of New York into a domed city run via a pseudodemarchy. A demarchy is a form of government where the state is governed by randomly selected decision makers who have been selected from a broadly inclusive pool of eligible citizens. In the first novella, When New York Hit the Fan, Pohl shows us a city with out of control violence and population. We are introduced to the concept of a Universal Town Meeting, where citizens are chosen randomly and given a chance to sound off on a variety of important topics concerning the city as a whole, like public utilities, the pay scales of public employees and large building projects. This piece of social engineering is enacted at the same time that New York begins its journey to become a self-sustaining domed city. The second installment, The Greening of Bed-Stuy, follows characters from the first novella through their lives. We are introduced to the good and the bad in people. In short, men break out of Nathanial Greene, an underground prison which is supposed to be escape proof and attempt to take over a nuclear facility located near the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of New York. By this time, the doming of the city is beginning and all of the self-sustaining mechanisms needed to support the population are underway. We follow the character of Mr. Feigerman, the engineer of the dome, as he wishes and dreams to see its completion, but it is clear this project is generational. The Blister, the third novella, is really about changes in the power of unions under a self-contained city run by Universal Town Meeting. Their usual powers of collective bargaining have been removed as wages are voted on, not negotiated, and they have resorted to thug-like behavior. The characters in this story are caught in a scheme to keep the unions functioning and able to retain what power they currently hold. There is much double crossing, underhanded dealing and legal drama as the story unfolds. Fourth is Second-hand Sky. This novella is framed in a love story. Jimper is new to New York and is there to hang glide the interesting currents that exist in a domed city. Of course this is illegal and when caught he is subject to the unique punishment system that has arisen. Mainly the system relegates criminals to various forms of community service to work off their debt to society. While doing this he becomes involved with a doctor who has an extremely jealous ex-husband. Through the course of the story readers experience the trials that criminals in this new society are subject to and come to understand the new system's detriments and benefits. Finally, Gwenanda and the Supremes takes us through what has become the justice system in the future. Citizens are selected at random from a set of criteria and then serve terms on the Supreme Court. Lower courts are unheard of as the laws are minimal and people generally behave themselves. Anyone arrested is brought in front of the court for summary judgment and sentencing. Cryostasis is common place in this society and is often the result of abhorrent crimes. This is a fun story. Seeing the court’s simple functioning is a breath of fresh air compared to the complicated legal entanglements that exist in our world. I had a hard time getting into this book. At first I didn’t enjoy it. It actually took me most of the first novella to get involved and then I wanted to know more of what happened to the characters in the first novella. It wasn’t until I hit the third installment that I really began to see the pattern Pohl was creating. I would not say the society he has presented here is an ideal one, but some of the social engineering projects he proposes are potentially better than the ones we currently practice. At the end of the book, I was left wanting to know more of this domed city – its citizens and its structure. I say that while it only presents a reader with bits and pieces of a potential future, it is a look worth having.

The Coming of the Quantum Cats "A breakthrough in quantum physics has shattered the boundaries between alternate worlds. History is in chaos as billions of possible futures collide. As a conquering army mounts an invasion of neighboring realities, a handful of men and women from a dozen different time lines risk their lives to safeguard an infinity of worlds. Blending thrilling suspense with brilliant scientific speculation, Frederik Pohl's The Coming of the Quantum Cats is a triumph of the imagination by a Hugo and Nebula winning master of science fiction." Year of Publication: Bantam Spectra, May 1986 This Edition: Bantam Spectra, May 1986 Cover Art: Todd Schorr Format: Paperback Notes: Review:

The Annals of the Heechee "Deep inside a nearly solid ball of energy called the kugelblitz, just outside the halo of the Milky Way, lurked the would-be destroyers of the universe. Humans called them the Foe. Heechee called them the Assassins. No creature that had ever seen them had lived to tell the tale. But ancient ruins scattered about the galaxy, and the shattered remnants of races such as the Sluggards and the Voodoo Pigs, were evidence of the Foe's devastating power - and their cold-blooded determination to destroy all intelligent life. For eons now, the Foe had been strangely silent, but the galactic history made clear that they could strike again at any time. So Heechee and human had joined in a constant vigil at the edge of kygelblitz. Advanced Heechee technology had enabled Robinette Broadhead to live after death as a machine-stored personality. But even he, virtually immortal and with unlimited access to millennia of accumulated data, could not discover what the Foe were - or how to stop them. Now it looked as if the Foe had ventured out again. As humans and Heechee rallied their forces to defend against an alien race that had never met defeat, Robin Broadhead found himself the only one able to deal with the Foe face to face - a meeting which would determine the future of the entire universe..." Original Publication: Del Rey/Ballantine, March 1987 This Edition: Del Rey/Ballantine, September 1987 Cover Art: Darrell K. Sweet Format: Hardback Notes: Review:

Homecoming "Sandy Washington was a pretty normal guy. He was a good friend, sensitive and caring. He respected his elders and obeyed his teachers. He loved basketball, old movies, and writing poetry. And he worshiped the photograph of his long-dead mother. The only real difference between Sandy and any other young man his age was that Sandy had been raised by aliens on their spaceship. The Hakh'hli had done everything they could to give Sandy an Earth-type boyhood. They had even altered some of their own young people to be a bit more humanoid to make for better playmates for the young man. Now, finally, the Hakh'hil were beinging Sandy home to Earth. And while they were at it, they intended to give humanity some extraordinary gifts that would improve the quality of life on Earth and perhaps even to get human space travel off the ground. The Hakh'hil seemed to have Sandy's - and humanity's - best interests at heart. But the people of Earth were not quite so sure." Original Publication: Del Rey/Ballantine, April 1989 This Edition: Del Rey/Ballantine, February 1990 Cover Art: Barclay Shaw Format: Paperback Notes: Review:

The World at the End of Time "Wan-To was the oldest and most powerful intelligence in the universe, a being who played with star systems as a child plays with marbles. Matter occupied so tiny a part of his vast awareness that humans were utterly beneath his notice. The colonists of Newmanhome first suffered the effects of Wan-to’s games when their planet’s stars began to shift, the climate began to cool down, and the colony was forced into a desperate struggle to survive. Viktor Sorricaine was determined to discover what force had suddenly sent his world hurtling toward the ends of the universe. And the answer was something beyond the scope of his imagination – even if he lived for 4,000 years…" Original Publication: Del Rey/Ballantine, June 1990 This Edition: Del Rey/Ballantine, June 1991 Cover Art: Barclay Shaw Format: Paperback Notes: Review:

Stopping at Slowyear "Most of the galaxy has outgrown the need for the antiquated trading ship Nordvik, lumbering through space with its stock of equally outdated applianced, data, genetic material, and crafts made by the crew to keep from going crazy between stops. But Slowyear - a rarely visited planet at the edge of colonized space, with a population that must live underground during bitter winters lasting five Earth-time years - holds promise. Particularly for crew member Mercy MacDonald, who is restless. Having lived and worked on the Nordvik for most of her life, she now wants a real home. When she lands on Slowyear at the height of its passionate springtime, then meets and falls in love with celebrated entertainer and rising politician Irakaho Blundy Spenotex, Mercy is convinced she's found that home. But then she learns Slowyear's secret...and her life and the lives of all the Nordvik's crew changed suddenly and forever." Original Publication: Axolotl Press/Pulphouse Publishing, January 1992 This Edition: Bantam Spectra, June 1992 Cover Art: Don Dixon Format: Paperback Notes: Review:

The Gateway Trip: Tales and Vignettes of the HeeChee "The Heechee were perhaps the greatest and most tantalizing mystery the human race had ever known. The first Heechee artifacts were uncovered on Venus, and in the beginning they were treated as nothing more than costly souvenirs and curiosities for tourists from Earth to Mars. But when an asteroid stocked with auto-navigating spacecraft was discovered, suddenly the Heechee universe was thrown wide open, giving birth to the Gateway Corporation and bringing untold riches to the adventurers who risked the unknown to see where those Heechee spacecraft would take them. Many of those brave souls never returned. The ones who did brought back technological wonders that transformed life on Earth – but of the Heechee themselves there was no sign…The Gateway Trip, lavishly illustrated by artist Frank Kelly Freas, presents the tales of those perilous journeys and marvelous discoveries, as those intrepid pioneers followed the trail of the elusive Heechee and changed the course of history forever!" Original Publication: Del Rey/Ballantine, November 1990 This Edition: Del Rey/Ballantine, January 1992 Cover Art: Frank Kelly Freas Format: Paperback Notes: Interior artwork also by Frank Kelly Freas. Contents: The Visit, The Merchants of Venus, The Gateway Astroid, The Starseekers, The Home Planet, Other Worlds, Heechee Treasures, Looking for Company, The Age of Gold and In the Core Review:

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