RIP Frederik Pohl

[xg4bx]

One of the leading lights of the science fiction world, editor and author Frederik Pohl, passed away this weekend after a career that defined the genre for decades.

His granddaughter Emily Pohl Weary confirmed the news.

Pohl was known for his mind-bending, often satirical novels (many co-authored with longtime collaborator C.M. Kornbluth), his editing acumen, his science fiction criticism, and his witty, fascinating blog, which he was updating right up until his death.

http://io9.com/rip-frederik-pohl-the...ict-1241405614

[gbm]

bernie

[arjaybe]

He's the one that brought it to my attention that asparagus makes your urine smell funny.

I always enjoyed his books.

rjb

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by gbm

bernie

[cromag]

Very sad.

I first got to "know" him as the editor of Galaxy and its sister magazines, back in the 60s.

He was enormously influential -- and will be, for many years to come, I'm sure.

[Apache]

I will miss him. He was a very influential and I loved his books.
Apache

[Istvan diVega]

Another literary hero gone. They seem to be falling like dominoes this year.

[crich70]

One of his stories that was made into an episode of X-1 is a favorite of mine. "The Mapmakers."

[kennyc]

From my latecomer thread:

Another true master has left us. Go read some of his work. Gateway, the Heechee saga books. I loved The Reefs of Space (collaboration with Jack Williamson)

Frederik Pohl, grandmaster of science fiction, dies aged 93
Prolific writer whom Kingsley Amis dubbed 'the most consistently able writer science fiction, in its modern form, has yet produced'

Frederik Pohl, one of the few writers who was truly deserving of the overused epithet "grandmaster of science fiction", has died aged 93.

His granddaughter Emily Pohl-Weary broke the news last night when she tweeted, "Rest in peace to my beloved grandfather Frederik Pohl, who showed me by example how to be an author. 1919-2013."

From his first published work in 1937, a poem entitled "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna", printed in Amazing Stories magazine under the pseudonymous byline Elton Andrews, Pohl turned out an astonishingly huge body of work.

He will perhaps be best remembered for his 1977 novel Gateway, which won the Hugo Award the following year. A multilayered novel describing a space-station in a hollowed-out asteroid, built by a long-gone alien race who had left behind hundreds of space ships which humanity was learning to operate through trial and error, the novel also scooped the Locus, Nebula and John W Campbell awards and is considered a major milestone in SF writing today.

In his book on science fiction, New Maps of Hell, Kingsley Amis called Pohl "the most consistently able writer science fiction, in its modern form, has yet produced".

Even in his advanced years, Pohl embraced the internet and was an inveterate blogger, posting his latest missive just days ago – a piece on poverty in which he wrote, "Everyone knows that the principal thing lacking in the poor is the same all over the world. Its name is Money."
....

http://www.theguardian.com/books/201...cience-fiction

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09..._dies_aged_93/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederik_Pohl

[frahse]

Who will replace these giants we are losing?

I don't see much in the way of heirs.

[BenG]

Pohl maintained a blog called The Way the Future Blogs.

Here's a post about his editing Samuel Delany's Dahlgren. It's part two of a the second of two post's on Delany.

http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/...e-of-dhalgren/

Delany himself joins in on the comments.

[pdurrant]

A sad loss.

[twowheels]

I learned of Pohl, a little-known giant of the science fiction world, through a rather backwards route, and only somewhat recently (~2.5 years). A friend/coworker was telling me how great his biography was and loaned me a copy to read. It's a bit strange to read an author's autobiography before reading any of his work, but that's how I was introduced to him. It was a rather fascinating read and gave me a lot of insight into the world of science fiction.

I've since read four of his books, one of which I completed just two weeks ago, with a fifth and sixth waiting on m TBR list, which I was intending to read next.

Sad news indeed.

[Greg Anos]

It's been a real hard year for speculative fiction greats...

Harry Harrison - Aug 15th, 2012

Jack Vance - May 26th, 2013

And now Fred Pohl...

The Reaper takes us all...

[BenG]

Yes, I would highly recommend his autobiography, The Way the Future Was if you are at all interested in the early days of SF.