The Best of Frederik Pohl - Frederik Pohl, ebook, Temp
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COPYRIGHT (c) 1975 flY FREDERIK POHLIntroduction: A Variety of ExcellenceCopyright (c) 1975 by Lester del Rey Printed in the United States of AmericaPublished by arrangement with Ballantine BooksA Division of Random House, Inc.201 East 50th StreetNew York, New York 10022ACKNOWLEDGMENTS"The Tunnel Under the World," copyright (c) 1954 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. for Galaxy Magazine, January 1954."Punch," copyright (c) 1961 by H.M.H. Publishing Co., Inc., for Playboy Magazine."Three Portraits and a Prayer," copyright (c) 1962 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. for Galaxy Magazine, August 162."Day Million," copyright (c) 1966 by Rogue Magazine for Rogue Magazine."Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus," copyright (c) 1956 Ballantine Books, Inc., for Alternating Currents."We Never Mention Aunt Nora," copyright (c) 1958 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. for Galaxy Magazine, July 1958."Father of the Stars," copyright (c) 1964 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. for if Magazine, November 1964."The Day the Martians Came" copyright (c) 1967 by Harlan Ellison for Dangerous Visions."The Midas Plague" copyright (c) 1954 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. for Galaxy Magazine, April 1954."The Snowmen," copyright (c) 1959 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. for Galaxy Magazine, December 1959."How to Count on Your Fingers" copyright (c) 1956 by Columbia Publications for Science Fiction Stories, September 1956."Grandy Devil," copyright (c) 1955 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. for Galaxy Magazine, June 1955."Speed Trap," copyright (c) 1967 by H.M.H. Publishing Corp. for Playboy Magazine."The Richest Man in Levittown" (orig. published as "The Bitterest Pill"), copyright (c) 1959 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. for Galaxy Magazine, April 1959."The Day the Icicle Works Closed," copyright (c) 1959 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. for Galaxy Magazine, February 1960."The Hated," copyright (c) 1961 by Ballantine Books, Inc., for Turn Left at Thursday."The Martian in the Attic," copyright (c) 1960 by Digest Productions Corp. for if Magazine, July 1960."The Census Takers," copyright (c) 1955 by Fantasy House, Inc., for Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1956."The Children of Night," copyright (c) 1964 by Galaxy Publishing Corp. for Galaxy Magazine, October 1964.CONTENTSintroductionA Variety of Excellence, by Lester del Rey 1The Tunnel Under the World 8Punch 36Three Portraits and a Prayer 40Day Million 53Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus 58We Never Mention Aunt Nora 78Father of the Stars 88The Day the Martians Came 106The Midas Plague 112The Snowmen 162How to Count on Your Fingers 169Grandy Devil 183Speed Trap 188The Richest Man in Levittown 199The Day the Icicle Works Closed 209The Hated 240The Martian in the Attic 250The Census Takers 262The Children of Night 268Afterword: WHAT THE AUTHOR HAS TO SAY ABOUT ALL THISby Frederik Pohl 301AVariety of ExcellenceNOTHING IS EASY to categorize about the life and works of Frederik Pohi. His stories vary more in length, attitude, type and treatment than those of any other writer I know. About the only point of similarity is the high level of excellence to be found in everything from his short-shorts to his novels. To make things more difficult for a biographer, he has been one of the leaders in almost every activity that in any way relates to the broad field of science fiction.Even his career as a writer falls into two widely separated periods which seem totally unrelated to each other.He began writing professionally in the very early forties, when he was just out of his teens. A large number of his stories, under a host of pen names, were written in collaboration with one or more other authors, and nobody seems entirely sure of exactly how many people or stories were involved. There were also twelve stories under the name of James McCreigh. The work produced during this period was generally quite competent-good enough to win him welcome from a number of markets-but there was nothing about it to distinguish him from many other young writers of the period.The second phase of his writing career began eleven years later, after a long hiatus; and his reputation was established from the first story, a serial by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth-called Gravy Planet in the magazine version, but retitled The Space Merchants for book publication. This was unquestionably the most important novel published in 1952. It was favorably reviewed by publications that ranged from The Wall Street Journal to organs of the extreme political left, none of which normally gave any space to science fiction.PohI and Kornbluth brought the art of satire back to science fiction and were soon being widely imitated by other writers; in fact, the influence of this work reshaped much of the field during the next two decades.This novel was soon followed by two other collaborations withKombluth. Some of the self-proclaimed critics in the field, who remembered Poll's earlier stories and esteemed the independent work of Kornbluth, immediately decided that Pohi was largely dependent on Kornbluth for the high quality of their novels. They proceeded to pick the works apart, deciding who had done what-and the parts they admired were always ascribed to Kornbluth.Kornbluth agreed with Pohi that these critics were amazingly consistent in being wrong about it, so far as could be remembered. But this didn't quiet the part-pickers. Even the publication of Pohl's first independent novel, Slave Ship, wasn't enough to convince them, though it certainly should have done so. However, as other works by Pohi appeared, even the most severe critics were forced to concede that he was one of the major novelists of the field.Meantime, among the readers, he was developing a high reputation as a writer of shorter fiction, in which he had no collaborator. His novelette, "The Midas Plague," was the first of his independent stories to appear in Galaxy Magazine, in April, 1954. This is a brilliant example of satirical writing, with the shocking bite of its main assumption muted nicely by an element of humor. It is also an extrapolation of one trend, carried just a bit further than any other writer would dare to go with it, and then justified by the other welldeveloped details of such a society.I recently had an excellent chance to discover just how good Pohl is as a writer of shorter fiction. In making the selections that appear in this book, I read through every word of eight collections of Pohl's shorter works. That comes to about half a million words!Generally I've found that reading all of any one collection of shorts and novelettes by a single writer is not to be done at a single stretch. After all, shorter works are never meant to be read together, but rather to be separated by many months in magazine publication. Most writers tend to stick to certain themes, or do certain types of stories much better than others. When read at one sitting, these become too obvious, too repetitive-boring, in fact, in such an unfair way of reading them.For that reason, I approached the task rather reluctantly. I planned to read one book at a time, then wait a week, and try another.It didn't work that way. I read all eight books in less than a week- and found that I thoroughly enjoyed them. I not only didn't find that the reading grew monotonous, but I began to look forward to each new volume with anticipation.The works in this collection all appeared between 1954 and 1967;there have been outstanding stories since, but I agree with Frederik Poll that we need more time to determine which of those should endure as his best. Meantime, these are the ones I consider his best, chosen from a rich production that can often ~'be honestly termed memorable. Probably other readers would have made other choices-there are too many good stories to make selection simple. But I have chosen these after a great deal of consideration.As I read, I kept a list of the stories I felt mandatory for inclusion, planning to fill the remainder with "next-best" stories. Again, it didn't work out that way. My list of "must" stories was twice as long as the limits of the book permitted. So I had to go back and weed out stories, hating to eliminate even one, to reach a manageable length.There seems to be no limit to the variety to be found in the shorter works of Frederik Pohi, in fact. They vary in length from 1,500 to 21,000 words, and that is the smallest element of their variety. Some of them, like "The Midas Plague," might be called satirical-but not with the cold sardonic contrivance so common to this much-abused form of literature. Pohl is involved in the cultures he shows; he may be sardonic or amused, but he feels himself a part of that which he holds up to the distorting mirror of reality.Some stories depend on a twist at the end; usually this occurs in the shorter pieces, as should be the case. However, the twist is not to surprise the reader, but to bring the idea to a quick and pointed conclusion that is completely satisfactory. And there is always more than the twist. "Grandy Devil" is based on a marvelous character in a family that is strangely immortal; "Punch" tells us more about ourselves and all intelligent life than is conveyed in many novels, short as the story is."Tunnel Under the World" is a story of terror and of pathos-an odd blend of emotions, indeed. It is also a fine suspense-action story. "The Hated" could have been a simple action story, but the heroes it presents to us are engaging in a different kind of conflict with their environment.There are stories that would simply be sentimental in the hands of a lesser writer. "Father of the Stars" tells of a man who felt he had to go to the ends of explored space, and ...
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