Today, November 26, marks the birth of Frederik Pohl (1919-2013). Pohl was one of the first writers I read when I began reading adult science fiction. The Best of Frederik Pohl was one of the first books I bought when I joined the Science Fiction Book Club, maybe the very first. Pohl had a dark and cynical veiwpoint, it was nothing compared to his friend and sometime collaborator, C. M. Kornbluth.

Today I read “The Day the Icicle Works Closed”. First published in the February 1960 issue of Galaxy, this is one of Pohl’s best stories. It was included in both The Best of Frederik Pohl and Platinum Pohl The Collected Best Stories, which is where I reread it for this post.

Pohl’s work often dealt with the politics and economics. “The Day the Icicle Works Closed” deals with both. The titular icicle works are the only industry on this particular planet. What the company really is, is a process plant that harvests the antibiotic microbes that give this frozen planet its colorful snows. Only a competitor has finally managed to manufacture the antibiotics they produce synthetically. The bottom has fallen out of the market, resulting in widespread unemployment. The only place where employment comes easy is renting  your body to tourists to hunt airfish, fish whose are natural zeppelins because their bodies are filled with hydrogen.

Milo Pulcher is an attorney who gets assigned to a case in which five young men and one young woman. They had tried to kidnap the mayor’s son. It was an open and shut case. Or it should be until Milo discovers the young woman is an old flame.

There’s a quite a bit going on behind the scenes, as Milo finds out when he takes a huge risk to get his former lover off the hook and rents his body out. I won’t spoil the ending for you if you are interested in reading the story. Pohl’s work isn’t action oriented, but he is more than capable of holding my interest with more thoughtful settings. This story was published in Galaxy in the February 1960 issue, meaning the story was probably written in 1959. Galaxy was still a strong magazine then, although its best day were arguably behind it. Those days being the early to middle 50’s, in my opinion.

Much of Pohl’s best work was written in the 1950s and published in Galaxy. This story is a fine example of the socially oriented sf being published in the 1950s.

I’ve got his Eschaton Sequence, and I’m hoping to read it, or at least get started on it over the holidays.