Pohl, Frederik (Frederik George Pohl, Jr.) [key], 1919–2013, American science-fiction writer, b. New York City. Early in his career he often collaborated with other writers, particularly Cyril M. Kornbluth, with whom he wrote The Space Merchants (1953), a satiric and prophetic tale of a future world dominated by advertising. From 1969 on, he concentrated on his own works, and became one of the genre's most successful and influential practitioners. Altogether, he wrote more than 65 novels, about 30 short-story collections, and several nonfiction works. Among his best-known works are the four novels chronicling the missions of the Heechee spacecraft, particularly the first, Gateway (1977). His JEM (1979) won a National Book Award, the only time the prize included a science-fiction category. Later books include Platinum Pohl: The Collected Best Stories (2005), The Last Theorem (2008), and All the Lives He Led (2011). Pohl also worked as a literary agent for science-fiction writers and as a science-fiction magazine and book editor.
See his memoir (1978); study by T. D. Clareson (1987).
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