# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**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 3, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/21 "2013-09-03T01:11:12Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [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. Hey, I read one of his “lensman” books. I still have a copy. Can’t say I was real impressed. I notice his middle name is Ackerman… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/22 "2013-09-03T01:27:40Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > 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? ☹ This really feels like the end of an era. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/23 "2013-09-03T02:03:56Z")
With any luck, he’s on a Singleship heading for one hell of a payday… ---
**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, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/24 "2013-09-03T02:16:31Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Hey, I read one of his “lensman” books. I still have a copy. Can’t say I was real impressed. > > I notice his middle name is Ackerman… Kyle is far better known as a fan than as a writer. But he was a member of the Futurians, and that’s as seminal as sf gets. He also helped found Gnome Press and wrote some pop histories of the field. I’m sure Pohl is the last major writer from that era. I’m sorry to have killed him. By which I mean that literally yesterday I remarked to my wife that he was the last big name still alive. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/25 "2013-09-03T03:00:54Z")
> [@Werekoala](#): > > With any luck, he’s on a Singleship heading for one hell of a payday… I thought “singleship” was a Niven thing. Pohl would be in a One. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/26 "2013-09-03T03:14:34Z")
Wow. Didn’t know he was still alive… ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/27 "2013-09-03T04:10:02Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I thought “singleship” was a Niven thing. Pohl would be in a One. Gah, you are of course correct - I thought it sounded wrong when I typed it but it’s been awhile since I read **Gateway**. Here _hands over SF Geek Card_ ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/28 "2013-09-03T04:27:23Z")
_The World at the End of Time_ was astoundingly inventive. I can only hope that a nearly-finished manuscript for the sequel will be found among his papers. Godspeed, sir. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/29 "2013-09-03T04:27:56Z")
Noooo! ☹☹☹ He’s one of the rare authors where I could pick up any of his books and be confident that it would be a good read. My favorite of his is O Pioneer. I don’t think it’s one of his more popular books, but I love it. Miss Brownbenttalon and Miss Whitenose just crack me up. The whole thing is just very silly. [Did you guys read his blog?](http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/) Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/30 "2013-09-03T04:35:54Z")
His [**blog**](http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/) has this at the top: > [@](#): > > We’re saddened to tell his friends and readers that Fred went to the hospital in respiratory distress this morning and died this afternoon. > > Please stay tuned. We’re teary and shell-shocked right now, but we’ll have more news soon. And Fred left a thick file of things he wanted to tell you, so we’ll likely keep posting for a while. So still more to come. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/31 "2013-09-03T04:41:09Z")
I loved his SF, and I loved his non-fiction, too. I’ll miss him. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/32 "2013-09-03T05:17:16Z")
He was a neighbor of mine, in a sense. I grew up in the Palatine/Arlington Heights/etc area of Illinois, and I was delighted to learn a few years ago that he lived there, for apparently the last couple of decades of his life until he passed now. Happy trails, Fred! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/33 "2013-09-03T06:15:01Z")
The first real sf book I got was an old Ballantine copy of “Alternating Currents” which I liberated from my parents’ bookshelf. Still have it - it is a lot older now. I scored a copy of “Turn Left at Thursday” just a month ago. He was a great editor as well as a great writer. He practically invented the original anthology with the Star Science Fiction series, the first of which is from 1953. I’m not aware of an older original anthologies. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/34 "2013-09-03T06:37:57Z")
What a loss! I have such fond memories of reading the original Heechee novels in the very early 90s, and in fact just read the last one, The Boy Who Would Live Forever, earlier this year. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/35 "2013-09-03T11:22:46Z")
☹ ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/36 "2013-09-03T13:54:14Z")
☹ One of my favorite authors. ---
**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 3, 2013, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/37 "2013-09-03T14:04:26Z")
Pohl was also a very important editor. He published both **Dhalgren** and **The Female Man** , both of which were somewhat risky choices, but both of which are acknowledged classics. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/38 "2013-09-03T15:27:28Z")
One of the great ones. Time to re-read some of his work that I read decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832/39 "2013-09-04T03:17:26Z")
I’ve read the Heechee series and a few of his other books and liked them enough that I bought a big box of random Pohl books on ebay. The shipping cost more than the books did (about $40 I think). I’m still going through it. He was a great writer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-pohl-1919-2013/667832.md?page=1)