Frederik Pohl, 1919 - 2013

[StefanJ]

Science fiction legend Frederik Pohl died this weekend.

He started writing in the late 1930s, landed a job editing a Sci-Fi magazine at age 19, and had a novel published just last year.

Pohl rubbed elbows with SF's legends, like Asimov, Heinlein, and Bradbuy; as an editor and publisher helped "discover" many young talents.

https://io9.com/rip-frederik-pohl-the-man-who-transformed-science-fict-1241405614

Two novels come to mind:

The Space Merchants, which Pohl co-authored with Cyril Kornbluth, was about a world dominated by advertising and conspicuous consumption.

The award-winning Gateway was a masterpiece; it is about adventurers who risk their lives flying alien spacecraft found abandoned at a space station / asteroid.

 

[Marc_G]

I'm saddened at his passing even though it was expected soon. I thank him, posthumously, for all of the enjoyment he provided to me through his work.

Marc

 

[RocketT.Coyote]

I may have one of his books, about an alien abducting a medieval shire IIRC.

 

[SSenesy]

Such a loss

I got introduced to his books through the Heechee saga many, many years ago. It's a shame that it takes something like this for me to put someone's works on my re-read list.

 

[StefanJ]

I may have one of his books, about an alien abducting a medieval shire IIRC.

That was the excellent The High Crusade by Poul Anderson.

(Pohl, Poul . . . that confused me a lot once.)

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I loved Gateway --- easily one of my favorite SF books of all time. The other heechee books were good but not as good as Gateway. I thought the Cool War was pretty good, and Man Plus has an interesting twist. He was a good writer, and had an interesting sense of humor.

 

[terryg]

Apparently he wrote a screenplay for Gateway. I have always thought it would make an excellent movie.

 

[Marc_G]

+1 for The Cool War.

And of course Gateway and the rest...

 

[dpower]

Thanks for the post, though news like this is always sad. I read Gateway earlier this year, and really enjoyed it. I just checked out The Space Merchants.

 

[StefanJ]

The New York Times ran a very in-depth obituary of Pohl:

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/...ce-fiction-dies-at-93.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

I