Today, November 26, is the birthday of Frederik Pohl (1919-2013). Pohl was many things in science fiction. Futurian. Writer. Editor. Collaborator (with other writers, not out countires enemies), Agent.
Keeping with the theme from yesterday, Pohl, like Anderson, was once one of the biggest names in science fiction. While not as prolific as Anderson (who AFAIK, was never an editor or agent), Pohl had a consistent work ethic and wrote pretty much up unitl his death.
Anderson wrote in the hard sciences, while Pohl tended to write more in the social sciences and satire. He could do rigor when he wanted to, though.
I did manage to read one of his stories today. “The Martian in the Attic” originally appeared in the July 1960 issue of IF, and it has onlhy been reprinted twice in english. First in the collection Turn Left at Thursday and in The Best of Frederik Pohl, which is where I read it.
I first read “The Martian in the Attic” the summer before I started high school. Today was thefirst reread. I remember I liked the story, that it had the dark twist Pohl frequently used in his work, and not much else.
I can understand how the story hasn’t been reprinted but twice. It is something of a product of its time. It was first published in 1960, so it was probably written a year or two prior. Martians were still a staple of science fiction, although the sun was setting on that trope even then. The probes over the next few decades would pretty much kill the idea of a Martian race.
The story concerns an unpleasant man who has figured out that the wealthiest man on the planet didn’t really invent all the marvelous things he has made his fortune from. Rather, he has a Martian comiing up with them.
Doesn’t Elon Muck want to go to Mars?
Never mind.
It’s an entertaining story, and well-done even if it is a little predictable near the end.
Pohl was another writer who was innovative, consistent, and among the best writers of the field. It’s a shame he’s been forgotten, or nearly so.
Like Poul Anderson, Fred Pohl wrote some of the best science fiction of second half of the Twentieth Century. The Space Merchants (with C. M. Kornbluth), Gateway and its sequels. The Eschaton Sequence.
And a multitude of short fiction throughout his career.
Platinum Pohl, a retrospective pusblished a few years before his death is still in print electronically. It’s worth seeking out. So are his other colelctions and novels.
I’ve read a lot of Pohl’s short stories and I have “The Best Of…” but I hadn’t read “The Martian In the Attic.” Thanks for clueing me in on it! There have been at least two collections of the stories he wrote with Kornbluth and they are worth the reader’s time. Pohl said that he wrote four pages a day for much of his creative life. That’s a high standard I’m not sure I could emulate! He also kept up a blog until right before he died.
I’ve read his collaborations with Kornbluth, including some of the novels. I also love Kornbluth’s solo work.
Four pages a day is about a thousand words, which comes out to be about three or four novels a year.
I read his blog regularly until he died. Great memories there. A lot of what he blogged about was in his memoir, The Way the Future Was. It was publilshed in the late 70s, I think and long out of print when he was blogging.