Frederik George Pohl (1919–2013) was an American science-fiction writer. He is best known for using the genre as a mode of social criticism and exploring the long-term consequences of technology in an ailing society.
Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Pohl was a high-school dropout, but by the time he was 20 years old, he edited the science-fiction magazines Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories. In 1938, he became a founder of a group of left-wing science-fiction writers called the Futurists, which included Isaac Asimov and C. M. Kornbluth.
Pohl served in the U.S. Air Force in World War II, worked as a literary agent, and edited various science-fiction magazines (1953–69.)
Of Pohl’s vast output of novels, stories, and anthologies, The Space Merchants (1953; the first modern satire of American consumerism) and Gladiator-at-law (1955,) both written with C. M. Kornbluth, exemplify his social concern and strength as a storyteller. Later novels include Man Plus (1976,) Jem (1979,) and Far Shore of Time (1999.)
Pohl’s memoir is The Way the Future Was (1978.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Frederik Pohl
Nothing is so good that somebody, somewhere will not hate it.
—Frederik Pohl
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