# Fred Pohl (1919-2013) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832 "2013-09-02T21:18:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/1 "2013-09-02T21:18:54Z")
Via a tweet from his grand-daughter [https://mobile.twitter.com/emilypohlweary](https://mobile.twitter.com/emilypohlweary) Pohl was a giant in the field of science fiction, a fan, a writer, an editor, and an agent. He will be missed. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/2 "2013-09-02T21:21:53Z")
I’m sorry to hear this. In his long life, he gave pleasure to many. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/3 "2013-09-02T21:32:01Z")
Bummer. I only met him once, and saw him about three times in person, and helped return a left-behind manuscript once, but he always impressed me as the embodiment of the whole era of modern sf. There are certainly few who spanned so much of it. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/4 "2013-09-02T21:44:25Z")
That’s too bad. I enjoyed many of his books. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/5 "2013-09-02T21:49:14Z")
Pohl was one of the greats in the genre; his Heechee novels were fantastic SF. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/6 "2013-09-02T21:57:47Z")
Damn. I liked a lot of his stuff, and got to meet him at a small con many years ago, where he autographed my copy of _the Space Merchants_. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/7 "2013-09-02T21:59:57Z")
First Vance, now Pohl? Not a good year. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/8 "2013-09-02T22:06:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Damn. I liked a lot of his stuff, and got to meet him at a small con many years ago, where he autographed my copy of _the Space Merchants_. I’m envious. I’d forgotten my treasured paperback copy of _Space Merchants_ but my wife remembered her hardcover of _Gateway_, which now lives on the “signed” shelf. I did get three presentation copies of another book signed; they each have about forty signatures by sf/f notables on the rear fly. The one I regret missing, through minor logistical confusion, is Jeanne Robinson. (Two copies will come up for auction, someday.) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/9 "2013-09-02T22:14:52Z")
I liked his stuff. Sternutator. \<\\> Who’s left from the Golden Age now? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/10 "2013-09-02T22:21:51Z")
My favorite of his was “The Midas Plague,” a witty examination of a world that had too much wealth. The “Yin and Yang” poem near the end is a treasure. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/11 "2013-09-02T22:22:20Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Who’s left from the Golden Age now? Unless I’m overlooking someone, he was the last of the Futurians. Everyone I can think of from that era who wasn’t part of that group or their circle, or predated them, has gone beyond the blue event horizon. Damn. Is ANYONE with a prewar sf publication still alive? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/12 "2013-09-02T23:08:00Z")
I’ve done some searching and queried a few very knowledgeable colleagues. It appears that Pohl may indeed have been the last pre-war sf author of any stature, if not of all. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/13 "2013-09-02T23:08:50Z")
Closest I can think of is Robert Silverberg, first published something in 1955. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/14 "2013-09-02T23:14:53Z")
☹ I think _Gateway_ is my favorite of his books…hell, it’s one of my all-time favorites, period. RIP, Mr. Pohl. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/15 "2013-09-02T23:38:07Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > First Vance, now Pohl? Not a good year. And Richard Matheson, who died in June. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/16 "2013-09-02T23:53:21Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Closest I can think of is Robert Silverberg, first published something in 1955. I think James Gunn is the current “Dean of Science Fiction”. He’s still alive at 90 and his publication was in 1949. Brian Aldiss also predates Silverberg by publishing his first story in 1954 . Neal Barrett, Jr, D.G. Compton, Harlan Ellison, Daniel Keyes, and Ursula K. Le Guin are also still alive. Pohl, whose first publication was in 1937, seems to have been the last living author whose career predates WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/17 "2013-09-03T00:03:55Z")
Update: I mentioned Harlan Ellison in my previous post but I hadn’t checked to see how far back his career ran. Like Gunn, his first publication was in 1949. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/18 "2013-09-03T00:04:50Z")
I think that the only things I’ve read of his have been in Hugo winners’ collections… But the fact that, even given that, I’ve read so many of his works speaks pretty loudly. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/19 "2013-09-03T00:44:13Z")
First things I read by him was the short story collection The Man Who Ate the World, which included a couple of particularly charming “Space Merchantish” tales in _The Wizard of Pung’s Corners_ and _The Waging of the Peace_. Wry, tongue-in-cheek SF - I instantly loved them. Gateway and The Space Merchants just solidified that ( though I was never that into the Gateway sequels for some reason ). Sad loss, but like Vance I’m glad he had a great run - 90+ years is excellent by anyone’s standards. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/20 "2013-09-03T00:45:07Z")
I was a huge fan of Pohl’s. I was lucky enough many years ago to attend an SFRA conference with him, where we shared a ride to the airport and had a long talk. I told him that he was probably the only author to have not only major, but original and up-to-date stories in each decade from the 40s on and he glowed at that. I meant it, too. Not to mention his great work as an editor. Probably the least old fartiest of all the old farts in the field. The Internet Science Fiction DataBase has a page on [Oldest Living Authors](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/oldest.cgi), i.e. oldest living authors that appear in the database. There are dozens older than Pohl, but I’m 99% sure that some are there just because their deaths haven’t been reported. I recognize virtually none of the names, and I’m not going through them one by one, but just as a data point [Charles Roy Cox](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?17936) born in 1899, has a 1931 credit. More realistically, [David A. Kyle](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?2916) has one from 1941 and his death would be big news in the field so I’m sure he’s still around. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832.md?page=2)