Platinum Pohl is the first collection to collect all of the essential works of Frederik Pohl. First and foremost, Pohl is a master of the science fiction short story. For more than fifty years he has been writing incisive, entertaining SF stories, several hundred in all. Even while writing his bestselling triple-crown (Hugo, Nebula, Campbell Award) novel" Gateway" and the other Heechee Saga novels, he has always written short fiction.
Now, for the first time, he has gathered together the best of his many stories. Spanning the decades, these tales are in their way a living history of science fiction. Because Frederik Pohl has been on the frontlines of the field since the halcyon days of the late 1930s, and has written short stories in every decade since. And because he has always been a keen observer of the human condition and the world that is shaped by it, his stories reflect the currents of political movements, social trends, major events that have shaken the world . . .
Yet at their core, all his stories are most acutely concerned with people. All sorts of people. Some are people you'll love, some you'll hate. But you will need to find out what happens to the people who inhabit these stories. Because Frederik Pohl imbues his characters with a depth and individuality that makes them as real as people you see every day. Of course, he also employs a mind-boggling variety of scientific ideas and science fictional tropes with which his characters must interact. And he does it all with seemingly no effort at all. That's some trick. Not everyone can do that . . . but that's why he was named a Grand Master of Science Fiction by his peers in the Science Fiction Writers of America.
Here are his two Hugo Award winning stories, "Fermi and Frost" and "The Meeting" (with C. M. Kornbluth), along with such classic novellas as the powerful "The Gold at the Starbow's End" and "The Greening of Bed-Stuy," and stories such as "Servant of the People," "Shaffery Among the Immortals," and "Growing Up in Edge City," all finalists for major awards. And dozens of other tales, like the wonderful "The Mayor of Mare Tranq" and the provocative "The Day the Martians Landed" and many others.
Altogether, a grand collection of thought-provoking, entertaining science fiction by one of the all-time greats
Frederick Pohl lives in Palatine, Illinois.
Frederik Pohl has won numerous Hugo and Nebula Awards in his long and prolific career. He has written over thirty novels, including such classics as "Gateway," "Beyond the Blue Event Horizon," and "Man Plus." He has served as an award winning editor for SF magazines and book anthologies and is a former president of the Science Fiction Writers or America. "Platinum Pohl" is the first collection of all the essential short stories of Frederik Pohl. Here are his two Hugo Award winning stories, "Fermi and Frost" and "The Meeting" (with C. M. Kornbluth), along with such classic novellas as the powerful "The Gold at the Starbow's End" and "The Greening of Bed-Stuy," and stories such as "Servant of the People," "Shaffery Among the Immortals," and "Growing Up in Edge City," all finalists for major awards. And dozens of other tales, like the wonderful "The Mayor of Mare Tranq" and the provocative "The Day the Martians Landed" and many others.
"A thrilling collection of stories spanning Pohl's 50-year career. Featuring memorable characters and deft writing, these tales are must-reads for any serious fan. "The Merchants of Venus" features a vagabond pilot desperate for money for a new liver. "The Gold at the Starbow's End" tells a wonderfully layered story through communiques between a doomed exploratory spaceship and its unenthusiastic funders on Earth. In the poignant "To See Another Mountain," ailing nonagenarian genius Noah Sidorenko discovers that even an old, damaged mind can accomplish incredible feats. The collection ends with the Hugo Award-winning "Fermi and Frost," written near the end of the Cold War, which with horrifying realism demonstrates the effects of a nuclear war on Earth through the experiences of two survivors: an orphaned boy and a SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) scientist. A fine sampler."--"Kirkus Reviews"
"Since beginning his writing career as a teenager in the early 1930s, Pohl has produced so steadily and well that corralling his finest short fiction into one volume is a daunting proposition. "Platinum Pohl" solves this dilemma by concentrating on award winners and nominees as well as stories out of which his most popular novels were born. The first and longest entry, "The Merchants of Venus," introduces the mysterious, artifact-producing aliens called the Heechee, who became the focus of Pohl's Hugo and Nebula Award--winning novel "Gateway" (1977). Other particular standouts include "My Lady Green Sleeves," an account of a bizarre prison rebellion on a world of strictly divided social classes; "The Middle of Nowhere," a quaint Bradbury-like tale penned in 1955 that describes humanity's first encounter with Martians; and the 1986 Hugo winner, "Fermi and Frost," a chilling vision of Earth's final hours during a nuclear war. An essential treasury for every Pohl fan and every sf collection."--"Carl Hays, Booklist"
"Spanning the five decades of SFWA Grand Master Pohl's career, these 30 stories stand out for their gritty, straightforward style and for their insightful ideas about our political, social and ecological future. The opener, "The Merchants of Venus," is an old-fashioned SF adventure yarn, but most of the rest are cautionary tales of environmental and ideological catastrophes. Stories such as "My Lady Green Sleeves" and "Spending a Day at the Lottery Fair" take social attitudes to the extreme and explore what horrible places we might end up and find normal. "The Greening of Bed-Stuy," in which New York City has crumbled to all but dust, shows how a child could still call it home and love it. Not every se
