The Best of Frederik Pohl
![]() Cover of first edition | |
Author | Frederik Pohl |
---|---|
Cover artist | John Berkey |
Language | English |
Series | Ballantine's Classic Library of Science Fiction |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date | 1975 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 306 |
Preceded by | The Best of Henry Kuttner |
Followed by | The Best of Cordwainer Smith |
The Best of Frederik Pohl is a collection of science fiction short stories by American author Frederik Pohl, edited by Lester del Rey. It was first published in hardcover by Nelson Doubleday in March 1975 as a selection of its Science Fiction Book Club, and in paperback by Ballantine Books in June of the same year as a volume in its Classic Library of Science Fiction, and reprinted in April 1976. The book was reissued in hardcover by Taplinger in 1977. The first British edition was issued in Hardcover in January 1977 by Sidgwick & Jackson, which later gathered it together with The Best of Harry Harrison (1976) into the omnibus volume Science Fiction Special 29 (1978). It has also been translated into Italian and German.[1]
Summary
The book contains nineteen short works of fiction and an afterword by the author, together with an introduction by editor Lester Del Rey.[1]
Contents
- "A Variety of Excellence" [introduction] (Lester del Rey)
- "The Tunnel Under the World" (from Galaxy Science Fiction, Jan. 1955)
- "Punch" (from Playboy, Jun. 1961)
- "Three Portraits and a Prayer" (from Galaxy Magazine, Aug. 1962)
- "Day Million" (from Rogue, Feb./Mar. 1966)
- "Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus" (from Alternating Currents, Feb. 1956)
- "We Never Mention Aunt Nora" (from Galaxy Science Fiction, Jul. 1958)
- "Father of the Stars" (from If, Nov. 1964)
- "The Day the Martians Came" (from Dangerous Visions, Oct. 1967)
- "The Midas Plague" (from Galaxy Science Fiction, Apr. 1954)
- "The Snowmen" (from Galaxy Magazine, Dec. 1959)
- "How to Count on Your Fingers" (from Science Fiction Stories, Sep. 1956)
- "Grandy Devil" (from Galaxy Science Fiction, Jun. 1955)
- "Speed Trap" (from Playboy, Nov. 1967)
- "The Richest Man in Levittown" (from Galaxy Magazine, Apr. 1959)
- "The Day the Icicle Works Closed" (from Galaxy Magazine, Feb. 1960)
- "The Hated" (from Galaxy Science Fiction, Jan. 1958)
- "The Martian in the Attic" (from If, Jul. 1960)
- "The Census Takers" (from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Feb. 1956)
- "The Children of Night" (from Galaxy Magazine, Oct. 1964)
- "What the Author Has to Say About All This" [afterword]
Reception
The book was reviewed by James K. Burk in Delap's F & SF Review, August 1975, L. J. Knapp in The Science Fiction Review, August 1975, Philip Stephensen-Payne in Paperback Parlour, February 1977, and anonymously in Reclams Science Fiction Führer, 1982.[1]
Awards
The book placed fourteenth in the 1976 Locus Poll Award for Best Single Author Collection.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d The Best of Frederik Pohl title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- v
- t
- e
(with Jack Williamson)
- Undersea Quest (1954)
- Undersea Fleet (1956)
- Undersea City (1958)
- Gateway (1977)
- Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (1980)
- Heechee Rendezvous (1984)
- The Annals of the Heechee (1987)
- The Gateway Trip (1990)
- The Boy Who Would Live Forever: A Novel of Gateway (2004)
- The Other End of Time (1996)
- The Siege of Eternity (1997)
- The Far Shore of Time (1999)
- Man Plus (1976)
- Mars Plus (1994) (with Thomas T. Thomas)
(with Jack Williamson)
- Farthest Star (1975)
- Wall Around a Star (1983)
(with Jack Williamson)
- The Reefs of Space (1964)
- Starchild (1965)
- Rogue Star (1969)
- The Space Merchants (1953) (with Cyril M. Kornbluth)
- The Merchants' War (1984)
- Venus, Inc. (1985 Omnibus) (this is a two-in-one volume containing The Space Merchants and The Merchants' War)
- Search the Sky (1954) (with Cyril M. Kornbluth)
- Gladiator-At-Law (1955) (with Cyril M. Kornbluth)
- Preferred Risk (1955) (with Lester del Rey)
- Slave Ship (1956)
- Presidential Year (1958) (with Cyril M. Kornbluth)
- Wolfbane (1959) (with Cyril M. Kornbluth)
- Drunkard's Walk (1960)
- A Plague of Pythons (1964)
- The Age of the Pussyfoot (1965)
- Day Million (1970)
- The Best of Frederik Pohl (1975)
- Jem (1979)
- The Cool War (1981)
- Syzygy (1981)
- Starburst (1982)
- The Years of the City (1984)
- Black Star Rising (1985)
- The Coming of the Quantum Cats (1986)
- Terror (1986)
- Chernobyl (1987)
- Land's End (1988) (with Jack Williamson)
- The Day the Martians Came (1988)
- Narabedla Ltd. (1988)
- Homegoing (1989)
- The World at the End of Time (1990)
- Outnumbering the Dead (1990)
- Stopping at Slowyear (1991)
- The Singers of Time (1991) (with Jack Williamson)
- Mining the Oort (1992)
- The Voices of Heaven (1994)
- O Pioneer! (1998)
- The Last Theorem (2008) (with Arthur C. Clarke)
- All the Lives He Led (2011)