Pohl, Frederik

Entry updated 13 January 2025. Tagged: Author, Editor.

(1919-2013) US man-of-letters and author, professionally involved in the sf field as an editor, literary agent, fan and author since his teens, his first published piece being a poem, "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna" (October 1937 Amazing) as by Elton V Andrews, and his first story proper – the first of well over 200 in an active career of more than seven decades (see Longevity in Writers) – being "Before the Universe" with C M Kornbluth, writing together as S D Gottesman, for Super Science Stories, July 1940; this and other early work was assembled as one of his memorial collections of collaborations with his main writing partner: Before the Universe, and Other Stories (coll 1980) with C M Kornbluth. His third marriage was to sf writer Judith Merril (1949-1952) and his fourth to Carol Metcalf Ulf Stanton (1953-1983), who collaborated with him (as Carol Pohl) in editing several anthologies, including the Science Fiction: The Great Years sequence [see Checklist]. His fifth wife, Elizabeth Anne Hull (married 1984), was an academic and a leading member of the Science Fiction Research Association who survived him by several years. Pohl was a member of the Futurians, and wrote much of his early work in collaboration with other members of the group, mostly with C M Kornbluth. Names used by these two, sometimes involving third parties – including Robert A W Lowndes and Joseph H Dockweiler (see Dirk Wylie) – were S D Gottesman (see above), Scott Mariner, Dirk Wylie and the House Name Paul Dennis Lavond. On his early solo work Pohl usually used the name James MacCreigh, though he published one story each as Wylie and Warren F Howard. He published much of this work himself while editing Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories Spring 1940-Fall 1941; he was subsequently assistant editor to Alden Norton on these magazines from late 1941 until their demise in 1943.

After military service in World War Two, Pohl became active as an sf literary agent, representing many of the most celebrated writers in the field during the late 1940s. Though his production of new work never fully ceased, he only began writing seriously again around 1950, after abandoning the MacCreigh pseudonym. While working as assistant editor to H L Gold at Galaxy Science Fiction he wrote a great deal for the magazine, usually under his own name, sometimes as Paul Flehr, Ernst Mason or Charles Satterfield, the last name used once for a story written in collaboration with Lester del Rey, in partnership with whom he also wrote Preferred Risk (June-September 1955 Galaxy; 1955) as Edson McCann. Other writers with whom he collaborated at one time or another were Merril, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke, the last on The Last Theorem (2008), a relatively weak completion of a work left unfinished by Clarke at his death. After Kornbluth, Pohl's main partnership was with Jack Williamson, a collaboration extending nearly four decades. Pohl was editor of Galaxy and If from late 1961 to mid-1969. While under his aegis If won three Hugos as Best Magazine 1966-1968. He also founded and edited two shorter-lived magazines, Worlds of Tomorrow (1963-1967) and International Science Fiction (1967-1968). Another significant editorial endeavour was an early series of original Anthologies, Star Science Fiction Stories, beginning with Star Science Fiction Stories (anth 1953) and ending with Star Science Fiction Stories No. 6 (anth 1959) [for details see Checklist]. He also edited numerous reprint anthologies, some of them – like The Expert Dreamers (anth 1962; cut 1966), sf stories by Scientists – moderately innovative.

As a writer Pohl made his first reputation by way of the slickly ironic short stories he produced during the 1950s and 1960s, mostly Satires with a hint of black comedy. Works in this vein include the classics "The Midas Plague" (April 1954 Galaxy; incorporated into Midas World, fixup 1983), a fine example of the Comic Inferno, and The Tunnel Under the World (January 1955 Galaxy; 2010 ebook); almost all these stories of the 1950s are collected in Alternating Currents (coll 1956; with one story dropped and one added, rev 1966), The Case Against Tomorrow (coll 1957), Tomorrow Times Seven (coll 1959), The Man Who Ate the World (coll 1960), Turn Left at Thursday (coll 1961) and The Abominable Earthman (coll 1963). Oddly, the only short-fiction award Pohl won before his 1986 Hugo for "Fermi and Frost" (January 1985 Asimov's) (see Nuclear Winter) was a Hugo for an atypical "posthumous collaboration" with Kornbluth, "The Meeting" (November 1972 F&SF), which appeared in Critical Mass (coll 1977) with Kornbluth; some of their collaborations had already been assembled as The Wonder Effect (coll 1962), and further selections appeared as Before the Universe, and Other Stories (coll 1980) (see above) and Our Best: The Best of Frederik Pohl and C M Kornbluth (coll 1987).

It was in the 1950s also that he cemented his growing reputation with his first novel in collaboration with Kornbluth: the classic Satire, The Space Merchants (July-August 1952 Galaxy as "Gravy Planet"; rev and cut 1953). The savagely gaudy image here painted of a Dystopian future crippled by Overpopulation and Ecological degradation, dominated by Advertising and de facto ruled by private corporations, now seems remarkably prescient (see Media Landscape); in the two final chapters of the tale, which appear only in the magazine version, the advertising executive who has emigrated to Venus discovers a new life form which there, on being fed anything, can Terraform the planet. Pohl's solo sequel, The Merchants' War (1984), which takes off from the unexpectedly successful Space Flight to Venus that climaxes the first volume (but disregards the magazine ending), was unfortunately belated; both novels were assembled as Venus, Inc (omni 1985). The episodic Search the Sky (1954; rev 1985) with Kornbluth is an enjoyable early contribution to the "absurd-society" variety of sf. Gladiator-at-Law (June-August 1954 Galaxy; 1955; rev 1986) with Kornbluth is sillier, but makes some telling comments on housing projects (see Crime and Punishment). The more ambitious and surrealistically complicated Wolfbane (October-November 1957 Galaxy; 1959; rev 1986) with Kornbluth involves invading alien Robots, the kidnapping of the planet Earth, primitive societies engineered to provide human components for living Machines on the aliens' own dirigible planet, and a revolt organized by these.

Pohl's early solo novels were less successful: Slave Ship (March-May 1956 Galaxy; 1957), Drunkard's Walk (June-August 1960 Galaxy; 1960), A Plague of Pythons (October-December 1962 Galaxy; 1965; rev vt Demon in the Skull 1984) and The Age of the Pussyfoot (October 1965-February 1966 Galaxy; 1969) lack the vitality of his collaborations with Kornbluth, though the last has an interesting Prediction of the multi-function, Computer-linked mobile phone. But his collaborations with Williamson were vigorous and competent. They include the Jim Eden/Undersea Children's SF sequence – Undersea Quest (1954), Undersea Fleet (1955) and Undersea City (1958) (see Under the Sea) – and the Starchild novels, assembled as The Starchild Trilogy (omni 1977): The Reefs of Space (July-November 1963 If; 1964) (see Continuous Creation), Starchild (January-March 1965 If; 1965) and Rogue Star (June-August 1968 If; 1969). The latter are intelligent Space Operas combining Williamson's flair for melodrama with Pohl's economy of style. As Pohl's solo work matured, so did his collaborative work with Williamson. The Saga of Cuckoo – Farthest Star (fixup 1975) and Wall Around a Star (1983), assembled as The Saga of Cuckoo (omni 1983) – is action-adventure fiction involving a vast artificial world. Land's End (1988) confronts the human survivors of a cosmic Disaster with a godlike Alien. The Singers of Time (1991) is an excellent fusion of traditional space opera with modern ideas in Physics.

There was a sharp improvement in Pohl's longer works once he was no longer editing full time. Two fine tales, Starburst (March 1972 Analog as "The Gold at the Starbow's End"; exp 1982) and "The Merchants of Venus" (July/August 1972 If), were important transitional works, the latter forming a prelude to the enterprising Heechee series – Gateway (November 1976-March 1977 Galaxy; 1977), Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (1980), Heechee Rendezvous (January-May 1984 Amazing; 1984), The Annals of the Heechee (1987), The Gateway Trip: Tales and Vignettes of the Heechee (coll of linked stories 1990) including the above-cited "The Merchants of Venus" plus fragments couched as future-historical vignettes, and The Boy Who Would Live Forever (fixup 2004) – which tracks humanity's exploration of the Galaxy using Technology abandoned by the Aliens known as the Heechee, who have gone into hiding because of a perceived threat posed to all living species by the enigmatic Assassins (see Alternate Cosmos). The artefacts of the Heechee Forerunners still litter the Galaxy, the most important to humanity being Gateway, an extensive spaceport carved out of an Asteroid (see Space Habitats) and housing many small but advanced Spaceships capable of travel at Faster Than Light speeds to what (because Heechee astrogation conventions are not understood) seem to be random destinations: a lottery offering riches to a few lucky explorers but injury or death to many. The universe depicted is, in the end, not well designed for humans to comprehend (an inference whose modesty, in the face of the inconceivable complexities of a cosmos created by AI-like entities akin to gods, distinguishes the Heechee series from the work of most of Pohl's contemporaries). Gateway itself, innovatively for Pohl, entwines the progress of the naive explorer Robinette Broadhead with ingenious sidebar Infodumps about Gateway and its human community, and the AI-mediated psychoanalysis of an older Broadhead who has gained wealth at cost of vast guilt and insecurity. This, almost certainly Pohl's best novel, won the Hugo, the Nebula and the John W Campbell Memorial Award, thus following up the success of the first volume of the Mars sequence, Man Plus (April-June 1976 F&SF; 1976), an effectively cynical novel about the adaptation of a man for life on Mars which had won a Nebula the year before (see Cyborgs; Pantropy). The rather less impressive sequel is Mars Plus (1994) with Thomas T Thomas.

JEM (November-December 1978 Galaxy; 1979; vt JEM: The Making of a Utopia 1979) is a similarly cynical and compelling account of the Colonization of an alien world – which somewhat resembles the eponymous planet in Medea's World (anth 1985) edited by Harlan Ellison – by competing human power blocs, but the more lightly satirical The Cool War (fixup 1981) is less successful. Syzygy (1982), a mundane novel about the failure of a much-touted Disaster to overwhelm California as a result of a rare alignment of planets, understandably suffers from a lack of melodrama – an absence made good in two later novels, the thriller Terror (1986), in which terrorists acquire a doomsday Weapon, and the non-sf "drama-documentary" Chernobyl (1987). Pohl occasionally complained about the unwillingness of sf writers to be constructive in their dealings with Near-Future scenarios, and he made a sustained attempt to practise what he preached in The Years of the City (fixup 1984), a Future History of the City of New York which won the John W Campbell Memorial Award. The Coming of the Quantum Cats (January-April 1986 Analog; 1986) is an Alternate-History adventure story only lightly seasoned with satire, but a more considerable satirical edge is evident in Black Star Rising (1985), Narabedla Ltd (1988) and the sharply pointed The Day the Martians Came (coll of linked stories 1988). Homegoing (1989) is a more romantic and light-hearted story of confrontation between humans and aliens. The World at the End of Time (1990) recalls the theme of Land's End in presenting a human colony's encounter with a godlike Alien in a tale which traverses aeons to the time and location referred to in the title; while the novella Outnumbering the Dead (1990) focuses on the predicament of a man who is among the very few who age and die in a world of youthful-seeming immortals (see Immortality). The late Eschaton sequence – comprising The Other End of Time (1996), The Siege of Eternity (1997) and The Far Shore of Time (1999), all three assembled as The Eschaton Sequence (omni 1999) – places in a complex Space Opera arena a war between two Alien civilizations, each guilty of attempting to enslave Homo sapiens; a flattening of affect can be detected at points, but the action is densely deployed, and Pohl's demonstration of his comprehensive grasp of the tropes of sf is often masterful. This easy mastery is not always fully engaged in O Pioneer! (October-December 1997 Analog; 1998), set on a colony planet inhabited by (in all) five Alien races, with political Paranoia rife and justified; nor in All the Lives He Led (2011), set in a radically changed Near Future 2079, some time after a volcanic Disaster has destroyed America as a country. The young American protagonist – an indentured servant performing ancillary functions in Pompeii as the two thousandth anniversary of the explosion of Vesuvius nears, and elsewhere in the transformed Middle East – is reminiscent of the street-wise entrepreneur of George Alec Effinger's more engaging Marid Audran: Budayeen sequence, and contemplates international terrorism (see Politics; Religion) from an emotionally distant remove.

Pohl was president of Science Fiction Writers of America 1974-1976 and president of World SF 1980-1982. Much insight into the early days of his career is provided by the commentary in The Early Pohl (coll 1976), much of which was subsequently incorporated into The Way the Future Was: A Memoir (1978). The special September 1973 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction was devoted to his work. In 1993 he was given the SFWA Grand Master Award; in 1998 he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame; in 2009 he received the Eaton Award for life achievement; and in 2010 he won a Hugo for best fan writer, honouring him for his blog, "The Way the Future Blogs" [see links below], which comprises short reminiscences of his own life, separate pieces on writers he had known over his long career, and cultural and political commentary from a left-wing position (moderate by European standards but extreme in the US political context). Gateways: Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl (anth 2010), edited by Elizabeth Anne Hull, assembles tales written in honour of his works. Like Brian Aldiss, and for even longer, he served his chosen field as ambassador to the wider world; for half a century he and Aldiss were the central men-of-letters of sf. [BS/JC/DRL]

Frederik Pohl

born New York: 26 November 1919

died Chicago, Illinois: 2 September 2013

works

series

Space Merchants

The Space Merchants (New York: Ballantine Books, 1953) with C M Kornbluth [first appeared July-August 1952 Galaxy as "Gravy Planet"; Space Merchants: hb/Richard Powers]
- The Space Merchants (New York: St Martin's Press, 1985) with C M Kornbluth [rev of the above: pb/]
  - The Space Merchants (New York: St Martin's/Griffin, 2011) with C M Kornbluth [rev of the above: with new introduction: pb/Tim Gabor]
The Merchants' War (New York: St Martin's Press, 1984) [Space Merchants: hb/Izumi Inoue]
- Venus, Inc (Garden City, New York: Nelson Doubleday, 1985) [omni of the above two: using the 1985 rev of The Space Merchants: Space Merchants: hb/Jack Woolhiser]

Jim Eden/Undersea

Undersea Quest (New York: Gnome Press, 1954) with Jack Williamson [Jim Eden/Undersea: hb/Ed Emshwiller]
Undersea Fleet (New York: Gnome Press, 1955) with Jack Williamson [Jim Eden/Undersea: hb/Ed Emshwiller]
Undersea City (Hicksville, New York: Gnome Press, 1958) with Jack Williamson [Jim Eden/Undersea: hb/Wallace Wood]
- The Undersea Trilogy (New York: Baen Books, 1992) with Jack Williamson [omni of the above three: Jim Eden/Undersea: hb/David Mattingly]

Starchild

The Reefs of Space (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) with Jack Williamson [first appeared July-November 1963 If: Starchild: pb/Jacques Wyrs]
Starchild (New York: Ballantine Books, 1965) with Jack Williamson [first appeared January-March 1965 If: Starchild: pb/Bill Edwards]
Rogue Star (New York: Ballantine Books, 1969) with Jack Williamson [first appeared June-August 1968 If: Starchild: pb/Paul Lehr]
- The Starchild Trilogy (New York: Science Fiction Book Club, 1977) with Jack Williamson [omni of the above three: Starchild: hb/Garvy Viskupic]

Saga of Cuckoo

Farthest Star (New York: Ballantine Books, 1975) with Jack Williamson [fixup: Saga of Cuckoo: pb/Philip Perlman]
Wall Around a Star (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1983) with Jack Williamson [Saga of Cuckoo: pb/David Mattingly]
- The Saga of Cuckoo (Garden City, New York: Nelson Doubleday, 1983) with Jack Williamson [omni of the above two: hb/Kevin Johnson]

Mars

Man Plus (New York: Random House, 1976) [first appeared April-June 1976 F&SF: Mars: hb/Paul Gamarello]
Mars Plus (New York: Baen Books, 1994) with Thomas T Thomas [Mars: hb/Stephen Hickman]

Heechee

Gateway (New York: St Martin's Press, 1977) [first appeared November 1976-March 1977 Galaxy: Heechee: hb/Boris Vallejo]
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1980) [Heechee: hb/Wayne Barlowe]
Heechee Rendezvous (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1984) [first appeared January, March and May 1984 Amazing as "Beyond the Gate", "Where the Heechee Feared to Go" and "Heechee Rendezvous": Heechee: hb/Darrell K Sweet]
The Annals of the Heechee (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1987) [Heechee: hb/Darrell K Sweet]
The Gateway Trip: Tales and Vignettes of the Heechee (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1990) [coll of linked stories and fragments: Heechee: hb/Kelly Freas]
The Boy Who Would Live Forever (New York: Tor, 2004) [fixup: Heechee: hb/John Harris]
The Merchants of Venus (New York: DSC Comics, 1986) [chap: graph: adaptation of prelude story which first appeared in July 1972 If: Heechee: illus/Neal McPheeters and Victoria Petersen: pb/Neal McPheeters]

Eschaton

The Other End of Time (New York: Tor, 1996) [Eschaton: hb/John Harris]
The Siege of Eternity (New York: Tor, 1997) [Eschaton: hb/John Harris]
The Far Shore of Time (New York: Tor, 1999) [Eschaton: hb/John Harris]
- The Eschaton Sequence (New York: Science Fiction Book Club, 1999) [omni of the above three: Eschaton: hb/Bruce Jensen]

individual titles (fantastic)

Search the Sky (New York: Ballantine Books, 1954) with C M Kornbluth [hb/Richard Powers]
- Search the Sky (New York: Baen Books, 1985) with C M Kornbluth [rev of the above: pb/Vincent Di Fate]
Gladiator-at-Law (New York: Ballantine Books, 1955) with C M Kornbluth [first appeared June-August 1954 Galaxy as "Gladiator at Law": hb/Richard Powers]
- Gladiator-at-Law (New York: Baen Books, 1986) with C M Kornbluth [rev of the above: pb/Jael]
Preferred Risk (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955) with Lester del Rey, writing together as Edson McCann [first appeared June-September 1955 Galaxy: hb/Dick Dodge]
Slave Ship (New York: Ballantine Books, 1957) [first appeared March-May 1956 Galaxy: hb/Richard Powers]
Wolfbane (New York: Ballantine Books, 1959) with C M Kornbluth [first appeared October-November 1957 Galaxy: pb/Richard Powers]
Drunkard's Walk (New York: Ballantine Books, 1960) [first appeared June-August 1960 Galaxy: pb/Nik Puspurica]
A Plague of Pythons (New York: Ballantine Books, 1965) [first version appeared October-December 1962 Galaxy as "Plague of Pythons": pb/Richard Powers]
- Demon in the Skull (New York: DAW Books, 1984) [rev vt of the above: pb/Don Maitz]
The Age of the Pussyfoot (New York: Trident Press, 1969) [first appeared October 1965-February 1966 Galaxy: hb/Foster]
- BiPohl: Two Complete Novels (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1987) [omni of the above plus Drunkard's Walk: pb/David Mattingly]
JEM (New York: St Martin's Press, 1979) [first appeared November-December 1978 Galaxy: hb/Irving Freeman]
- JEM: The Making of a Utopia (London: Victor Gollancz, 1979) [vt of the above: hb/nonpictorial]
- Man Plus / Jem (New York: Barnes and Noble, 2002) [omni of the above and the novel Man Plus (1976): pb/]
The Cool War (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1981) [fixup: portions first appeared in Asimov's as "Mars Masked", March 1979; "The Cool War", August 1979; and "Like Unto the Locust", December 1979-January 1980: hb/Murray Tinkelman]
Syzygy (New York: Bantam Books, 1982) [pb/Lou Feck]
Starburst (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1982) [hb/David Mattingly]
Midas World (New York: St Martin's Press, 1983) [fixup: hb/Paul Stinson]
The Years of the City (New York: Timescape, 1984) [coll of linked stories: hb/Howard Koslow]
Black Star Rising (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1985) [hb/Michael Whelan]
The Coming of the Quantum Cats (New York: Bantam Spectra, 1986) [first appeared January-April 1986 Analog: pb/Todd Schorr]
Terror (New York: Berkley Books, 1986) [pb/John Berkey]
Narabedla Ltd (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1988) [hb/Barclay Shaw]
The Day the Martians Came (New York: St Martin's Press, 1988) [coll of linked stories: hb/Yolande Sitjar]
Land's End (New York: Tor, 1988) with Jack Williamson [hb/Ron Miller]
Homegoing (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1989) [hb/Barclay Shaw]
The World at the End of Time (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1990) [hb/Barclay Shaw]
Outnumbering the Dead (London: Legend, 1990) [hb/Steve Crisp]
Stopping at Slowyear (Eugene, Oregon: Pulphouse Publishing/Axolotl, 1991) [hb/Rob Alexander]
The Singers of Time (New York: Doubleday Foundation, 1991) with Jack Williamson [hb/Michael Whelan]
Mining the Oort (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1992) [Comets: hb/Barclay Shaw]
The Voices of Heaven (New York: Tor, 1994) [hb/Ron Walotsky]
O Pioneer! (New York: Tor, 1998) [first appeared October-December 1997 Analog: hb/Jim Burns]
The Last Theorem (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 2008) with Arthur C Clarke [hb/David Stevenson]
All the Lives He Led (New York: Tor, 2011) [hb/Joseph Wright]
The Genius Beasts (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2014) [dos: first appeared January 1951 Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories as by James MacCreigh: pb/Milton Luros]
No More Stars (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2015) with Lester del Rey [dos: first appeared July 1954 Beyond Fantasy Fiction as by Charles Satterfield: pb/]

individual titles (nonfantastic)

A Town is Drowning (New York: Ballantine Books, 1955) with C M Kornbluth [hb/Ed Emshwiller]
Sorority House (New York: Lion, 1956) with C M Kornbluth, writing together as by Jordan Parks [pb/Hulings]
The God of Channel 1 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1955) as by Donald Stacy [hb/]
Presidential Year (New York: Ballantine Books, 1955) with C M Kornbluth [hb/]
Turn the Tigers Loose (New York: Ballantine Books, 1956) as by Colonel Walt Lasly [hb/John T McCoy]
Edge of the City (New York: Ballantine Books, 1957) [tie to the film: pb/]
- A Man is Ten Feet Tall (London: Panther Books, 1957) [vt of the above: pb/]
The Man of Cold Rages (New York: Pyramid Books, 1958) as by Gordon Parks [pb/Harry Schaare]
Chernobyl: A Novel (New York: Bantam Books, 1987) [hb/Brad Holland]

collections and stories

Danger Moon (Sydney, New South Wales: Mailian Press, 1953) as by James McCreigh [story: chap: first appeared in August 1951 in Science Fiction Quarterly as by James McCreigh; vt "Red Moon of Danger" in Planets Three below: pb/Stanley Pitt]
Alternating Currents (New York: Ballantine Books, 1956) [coll: hb/Richard Powers]
- Alternating Currents (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1966) [coll: rev of the above, with one story dropped and one added: pb/photograph by Erich Hartmann]
The Case Against Tomorrow (New York: Ballantine Books, 1957) [coll: pb/Richard Powers]
Tomorrow Times Seven (New York: Ballantine Books, 1959) [coll: hb/Richard Powers]
The Man Who Ate the World (New York: Ballantine Books, 1960) [coll: pb/]
- The Frederik Pohl Omnibus (London: Victor Gollancz, 1966) [coll: exp of the above with 8 more stories from Tomorrow Times Seven above and Turn Left at Thursday below: hb/nonpictorial]
  - The Man Who Ate the World (London: Panther Books, 1979) [coll: 6 stories from the above including the 5 from The Man Who Ate the World above: pb/Colin Hay]
  - Survival Kit (London: Panther Books, 1979) [coll: the remaining 7 stories from the above: pb/Colin Hay]
Turn Left at Thursday (New York: Ballantine Books, 1961) [coll: hb/Richard Powers]
The Abominable Earthman (New York: Ballantine Books, 1961) [coll: pb/Richard Powers]
The Wonder Effect (New York: Ballantine Books, 1962) with C M Kornbluth [coll: pb/Richard Powers]
Digits and Dastards (New York: Ballantine Books, 1966) [coll: pb/Richard Weaver]
Day Million (New York: Ballantine Books, 1970) [coll: pb/Ian Robertson]
The Gold at the Starbow's End (New York: Ballantine Books, 1972) [coll: pb/John Berkey]
The Best of Frederik Pohl (Garden City, New York: Nelson Doubleday, 1975) [coll: hb/John Berkey]
In the Problem Pit and Other Stories (New York: Bantam Books, 1976) [coll: pb/Eddie Jones]
The Early Pohl (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1976) [coll: hb/Peter Rauch]
Critical Mass (New York: Bantam Books, 1977) with C M Kornbluth [coll: pb/Eddie Jones]
Before the Universe, and Other Stories (New York: Bantam Books, 1977) with C M Kornbluth [coll: pb/]
Planets Three (New York: Berkley Books, 1982) [coll: pb/Gregg Hinlicky]
Pohlstars (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1984) [coll: pb/Rick Sternbach]
Our Best: The Best of Frederik Pohl and C M Kornbluth (New York: Baen Books, 1987) with C M Kornbluth [pb/Isidre Mones]
Platinum Pohl: The Collected Best Stories (New York: Tor, 2005) [coll: hb/Digital Art]
The Day of the Boomer Dukes (place not given: Project Gutenberg, 2007) [story: ebook: first appeared August 1956 Future Science Fiction: na/]
Pythias (place not given: Project Gutenberg, 2009) [story: ebook: first appeared August 1956 Future Science Fiction: na/]
The Hated (place not given: Project Gutenberg, 2009) [story: ebook: first appeared February 1955 Galaxy as by Paul Flehr: na/]
The Knights of Arthur (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2009) [story: first appeared January 1958 Galaxy: pb/]
The Tunnel Under the World (place not given: Project Gutenberg, 2010) [story: ebook: first appeared January 1955 Galaxy as by Paul Flehr: na/]
Anthology of Sci-Fi V29: The Pulp Writers: Frederik Pohl (place not given, USA: Spastic Cat Press, 2013) [coll: pb/]
My Lady Greensleeves (Cabin John, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2016) [story: chap: first appeared in February 1957 Galaxy: pb/]
Asteroid of the Damned (place not given: Project Gutenberg, 2020) with Dirk Wylie [ebook: first appeared Summer 1942 Planet Stories: na/]
Highwayman of the Void (place not given: Project Gutenberg, 2020) as by Dirk Wylie [ebook: first appeared Fall 1944 Planet Stories: na/]

nonfiction

The Way the Future Was: A Memoir (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1978) [nonfiction: hb/Joseph Lombardero]
Science Fiction: Studies in Film (New York: Ace Books, 1981) with Frederik Pohl IV [nonfiction: coll: Cinema: pb/]
Our Angry Earth (New York: Tor, 1991) with Isaac Asimov [nonfiction: Climate Change: Ecology: hb/Joe Curcio]
Chasing Science: Science as a Spectator Sport (New York: Tor, 2000) [nonfiction: coll: hb/]

works as editor

Star Science Fiction

Star Science Fiction Stories (New York: Ballantine Books, 1953) [anth: Star Science Fiction: hb/Richard Powers]
- Star Science Fiction Stories No. 1 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1972) [anth: vt of the above: Star Science Fiction: pb/John Berkey]
Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1954) [anth: Star Science Fiction: hb/Richard Powers]
Star Short Novels (New York: Ballantine Books, 1954) [anth: Star Science Fiction: hb/Richard Powers]
Star Science Fiction Stories No. 3 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1954) [anth: book dated 1954 but often listed as published January 1955: held pb issue is owner-dated 1954: hb issue may have been delayed: Star Science Fiction: pb/Richard Powers]
Star Science Fiction Stories No. 4 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1958) [anth: Star Science Fiction: pb/Richard Powers]
Star Science Fiction Stories No. 5 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1959) [anth: Star Science Fiction: pb/]
Star Science Fiction No. 6 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1959) [anth: Star Science Fiction: pb/Richard Powers]
- Star Science Fiction Stories No. 6 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1972) [anth: vt of the above: Star Science Fiction: pb/John Berkey]
Star of Stars (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1960) [anth: Star Science Fiction: hb/Eric Carle]
- Star Fourteen (London: Ronald Whiting and Wheaton, 1966) [anth: vt of the above: Star Science Fiction: hb/]

Galaxy

Time Waits for Winthrop and Four Other Short Novels from Galaxy (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1962) [anth: Galaxy: hb/Roger Zimmerman]
The Seventh Galaxy Reader (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1964) [anth: Galaxy: hb/Roger Zimmerman]
The Eighth Galaxy Reader (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1965) [anth: Galaxy: hb/Tom Chibbaro]
- Final Encounter (New York: Curtis Books, 1970) [anth: vt of the above: Galaxy: pb/]
The Ninth Galaxy Reader (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1966) [anth: Galaxy: hb/Howard Bernstein]
The Tenth Galaxy Reader (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1967) [anth: Galaxy: hb/Alan Pecolick]
- Door to Anywhere (New York: Curtis Books, 1970) [anth: vt of the above: Galaxy: pb/]
The Eleventh Galaxy Reader (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1969) [anth: Galaxy: hb/James Cooper]
Galaxy: Thirty Years of Innovative Science Fiction (New York: Playboy Press, 1980) with Martin H Greenberg and Joseph D Olander [anth: Galaxy: hb/Tommy Soloski]
- Galaxy: Volume 1 (New York: Playboy Paperbacks, 1981) [anth: first half of the above: Galaxy: pb/Paul Alexander]
- Galaxy: Volume 2 (New York: Playboy Paperbacks, 1981) [anth: second half of the above: Galaxy: pb/uncredited]

Best Science Fiction from the Worlds of If Magazine No 1 (New York: Galaxy Publishing Corp, 1964) [anth: no further volumes issued: Worlds of If: pb/nonpictorial]
The If Reader (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1966) [anth: If: hb/Richard Miller]
The Second If Reader (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1967) [anth: If: hb/Richard Miller]
Worlds of If: A Retrospective Anthology (New York: Bluejay Books, 1986) with Martin H Greenberg and Joseph D Olander [anth: Worlds of If: hb/Alan Gutierrez]

Science Fiction: The Great Years

Science Fiction: The Great Years (New York: Ace Books, 1973) with Carol Pohl [anth: Science Fiction: The Great Years: pb/]
Science Fiction: The Great Years: Volume II (New York: Ace Books, 1976) with Carol Pohl [anth: Science Fiction: The Great Years: pb/Don Punchatz]

SFWA Grand Masters

The SFWA Grand Masters, Volume One (New York: Tor, 1999) [anth: SFWA Grand Masters: hb/Jack Coggins]
The SFWA Grand Masters, Volume Two (New York: Tor, 2000) [anth: SFWA Grand Masters: hb/]
The SFWA Grand Masters, Volume Three (New York: Tor, 2001) [anth: SFWA Grand Masters: hb/]

individual titles

Beyond the End of Time (New York: Permabooks, 1952) [anth: pb/]
Shadow of Tomorrow: 17 Great Science Fiction Stories (New York: Permabooks, 1953) [anth: pb/Richard Powers]
Assignment in Tomorrow (Garden City, New York: Hanover House, 1954) [anth: hb/Richard Powers]
The Expert Dreamers (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1962) [anth: hb/Sigrid Spaeth]
- The Expert Dreamers (London: Pan Books, 1966) [anth: cut of the above with 1 story dropped and slight reordering: pb/]
The Best Science Fiction from Worlds of Tomorrow (New York: Galaxy Publishing Corp, 1964) [anth: pb/]
Nightmare Age (New York: Ballantine Books, 1970) [anth: pb/Peter Schaumann]
Best Science Fiction for 1972 (New York: Ace Books, 1972) [anth: pb/David McCall Johnston]
Jupiter (New York: Ballantine Books, 1973) with Carol Pohl [anth: pb/John Berkey]
The Science Fiction Roll of Honor: An Anthology of Fiction and Non-Fiction by Guests of Honor at World Science Fiction Conventions (New York: Random House, 1975) [anth: hb/John Sposata]
Science Fiction Discoveries (New York: Bantam Books, 1976) with Carol Pohl [anth: pb/]
C M Kornbluth. The Best of C.M. Kornbluth (Garden City, New York: Nelson Doubleday, 1976) [coll: hb/Gary Viskupic]
Science Fiction of the Forties (New York: Avon Books, 1978) with Martin H Greenberg and Joseph D Olander [anth: Science Fiction of the Decade: pb/Stanislaw Fernandes and Earle Bergey]
Nebula Winners 14 (New York: Harper and Row, 1980) [anth: Nebula Anthologies: Nebula Awards: hb/Robin Malkin]
The Great Science Fiction Series: Stories from the Best of the Series 1944 to 1980 (New York: Harper and Row, 1980) with Martin H Greenberg and Joseph D Olander [anth: Great Science Fiction Series: hb/Jon Weiman]
Yesterday's Tomorrows: Favorite Stories from Forty Years as a Science Fiction Editor (New York: Berkley Books, 1982) [anth: pb/]
Tales from the Planet Earth (New York: St Martin's Press, 1986) with Elizabeth Anne Hull [anth: World SF: hb/Manny Paul]
Future Quartet: Earth in the Year 2041: A Four-Part Invention (New York: William Morrow/AvoNova, 1994) with Ben Bova, Jerry Pournelle and Charles Sheffield [anth/coll: hb/Vincent Di Fate]

about the author

Frederik Pohl. "Ragged Claws" in Hell's Cartographers: Some Personal Histories of Science Fiction Writers (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1975) edited by Brian W Aldiss and Harry Harrison [anth: hb/Nicholas Sutton]
Gordon Benson Jr and Phil Stephensen-Payne. Frederik Pohl, Merchant of Excellence: A Working Bibliography (Leeds, West Yorkshire: Galactic Central Publications, 1989) [bibliography: chap: in the publisher's Bibliographies for the Avid Reader series: pb/nonpictorial]
Michael R Page. Frederik Pohl (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2015) [nonfiction: in the publisher's Modern Masters of Science Fiction series: pb/Percolator: hb/nonpictorial]

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