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{{Short description|American science fiction writer and editor (1919–2013)}}
{{About|the writer and editor|the writer on exploration|Frederick J. Pohl}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name        = Frederik Pohl
| image       = Frederik Pohl Eaton 2008-05-17.png
| imagesize   = 200px
| caption     = Pohl in 2008 at the [[Eaton Award|J. Lloyd Eaton Science Fiction Conference]]
| pseudonym   = Edson McCann, Jordan Park, Elton V. Andrews, Paul Fleur, Lee Gregor, Warren F. Howard, Scott Mariner, Ernst Mason, James MacCreigh, James McCreigh, Dirk Wilson, Donald Stacy
| birth_name  = Frederik George Pohl Jr.
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1919|11|26}}
| birth_place = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|2013|09|02|1919|11|26}}
| death_place = [[Palatine, Illinois]], U.S.
| occupation  = {{flatlist|
* [[Novelist]]
* short story author
* essayist
* publisher
* editor
* literary agent
}}
| genre       = [[Science fiction]]
| period      = 1937–2011<!-- one poem publ. 1937-->
| awards      = {{Awards|[[Campbell Memorial Award]] |1978, 1985}}
{{Awards|[[Hugo Award]] (novel) |1978}}
{{Awards|[[National Book Award]] |1980}}
{{Awards|[[Nebula Award]] (novel) |1976, 1977}}
| influences   =
| influenced   =
| website      = {{URL|http://www.frederikpohl.com/}}
}}

'''Frederik George Pohl Jr.''' ({{IPAc-en|p|oʊ|l}}; November 26, 1919&nbsp;– September 2, 2013) was an American [[list of science fiction authors|science-fiction writer]], [[editor]], and [[science fiction fandom|fan]], with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna", to the 2011 novel ''All the Lives He Led''.<ref name=ISFDB/>

From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction|Galaxy]]'' and its sister magazine ''[[If (magazine)|If]]''; the latter won three successive annual [[Hugo Award]]s as the year's best professional magazine.<ref name="SFawards-pohl"/> His 1977 novel ''[[Gateway (novel)|Gateway]]'' won four "year's best novel" awards: the Hugo voted by convention participants, the Locus voted by magazine subscribers, the Nebula voted by American science-fiction writers, and the juried academic [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel|John W. Campbell Memorial Award]].<ref name="SFawards-pohl"/> He won the Campbell Memorial Award again for the 1984 collection of novellas<!-- description by another editor, below--> ''[[The Years of the City]]'', one of two repeat winners during the first 40 years.<!--1973–2012; Joan Slonczewski won in 1987 and 2012(tie) --> For his 1979 novel ''Jem'', Pohl won a U.S. [[National Book Award]] in the [[list of winners of the National Book Award#Miscellaneous 1980 to 1985|one-year category Science Fiction]],<ref name=nba1980>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1980/ |title=1980 National Book Awards Winners and Finalists, The National Book Foundation |publisher=Nationalbook.org |access-date=August 10, 2014}}</ref> and it was a finalist for three other year's best novel awards.<ref name="SFawards-pohl"/> He won four Hugo and three Nebula Awards,<ref name="SFawards-pohl"/> including receiving both for the 1977 novel ''[[Gateway (novel)|Gateway]]''. He won the inaugural [[Locus Award for Best Non-fiction]] in 1979 for his autobiography ''The Way the Future Was''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_1979|title=Locus Awards 1979|accessdate=June 23, 2025}}</ref> 

The [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]] named Pohl its 12th recipient of the [[Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award]] in 1993<!--presented 1994--><ref name=SFWA/> and he was inducted by the [[EMP Museum#Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame|Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame]] in 1998, its third class of two dead and two living writers.<ref name="sfhof-old"/>{{efn|Among the living, [[Hal Clement]] and Pohl were preceded in the Hall of Fame by [[A. E. van Vogt]] and [[Jack Williamson]], [[Arthur C. Clarke]], and [[Andre Norton]].<ref name="sfhof-old"/>}}

Pohl won the [[Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer]] in 2010, for his blog, "The Way the Future Blogs".<ref name="SFawards-pohl"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://thewaythefutureblogs.com/ |title=The Way the Future Blogs, an online memoir by science fiction writer Frederik Pohl |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118100902/http://thewaythefutureblogs.com/ |archive-date=November 18, 2018}}</ref><ref name=hugo2010>{{cite web |url=http://www.aussiecon4.org.au/hugoawards/final_ballot.php |title=Final Ballot for the 2010 Hugo Awards and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer |website=Aussiecon 4 |date=2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616124559/http://www.aussiecon4.org.au/hugoawards/final_ballot.php |archive-date=June 16, 2010}}</ref>

{{TOC limit}}

==Early life and family==
Pohl was the son of Frederik (originally Friedrich) George Pohl (a salesman of German descent) and Anna Jane Mason.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L25ycEzuXxIC&q=Anna+Frederik+George+Pohl&pg=PA1035 |title=Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature - R. Reginald |date=September 2010 |access-date=April 29, 2013 |isbn=9780941028776 |last1=Reginald |first1=R.|publisher=Wildside Press LLC }}</ref> Pohl Sr. held various jobs, and the Pohls lived in such far-flung locations as [[Texas]], [[California]], [[New Mexico]], and the [[Panama Canal Zone]]. The family settled in [[Brooklyn]] when Pohl was around seven.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2009/10/let-there-be-fandom-brooklyn-boyhood/ |title=Let There Be Fandom, Part 3: A Brooklyn Boyhood |website=Thewaythefutureblogs.com |date=October 2, 2009 |access-date=September 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903040227/http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2009/10/let-there-be-fandom-brooklyn-boyhood/ |archive-date=September 3, 2012}}</ref>

He attended [[Brooklyn Technical High School]], and dropped out at 17.<ref name="popsci">{{cite web |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2011/07/my-life-as-book-editor-for-popular-science |title=The Way the Future Blogs, an online memoir by science fiction writer Frederik Pohl - Blog Archive - My Life as Book Editor for Popular Science |website=Thewaythefutureblogs.com |date=July 28, 2011 |access-date=September 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723233946/http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2011/07/my-life-as-book-editor-for-popular-science/ |archive-date=July 23, 2012}}</ref> In 2009, he was awarded an honorary diploma from Brooklyn Tech.<ref>{{cite news |first=Susan |last=Dominus |title=Big City - At 89, Frederik Pohl, Sci-Fi Author, Gets Brooklyn Tech Diploma |date=August 24, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/nyregion/22bigcity.html |work=New York Times |access-date=August 24, 2009}}</ref>

While a teenager, he co-founded the New York–based [[Futurians]] [[science fiction fandom|fan group]], and began lifelong friendships with [[Donald Wollheim]], [[Isaac Asimov]], and others who would become important writers and editors.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2009/05/the-quadrumvirate |title=The Way the Future Blogs, an online memoir by science fiction writer Frederik Pohl - Blog Archive - The Quadrumvirate |website=Thewaythefutureblogs.com |date=May 8, 2009 |access-date=August 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2010/01/isaac/ |title=Isaac |publisher=The Way the Future Blogs |date=January 25, 2010 |access-date=March 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728090550/http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2010/01/isaac/ |archive-date=July 28, 2010}}</ref> Pohl later said that other "friends came and went and were gone, [but] many of the ones I met through fandom were friends all their lives – Isaac, [[Damon Knight]], [[Cyril Kornbluth]], [[Dirk Wylie]], [and] [[Richard Wilson (author)|Dick Wilson]]. In fact, there are one or two – [[Jack Robins]], [[David A. Kyle|Dave Kyle]] – whom I still count as friends, seventy-odd years later...." He published a science-fiction fanzine called ''Mind of Man.''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2009/06/the-poetry-corner-2/ |title=Poetry Corner |website=Thewaythefutureblogs.com |date=June 11, 2009 |access-date=September 8, 2012}}</ref>

In 1936, Pohl joined the [[Young Communist League]] because of its positions for [[labour unions|unions]] and against [[racial prejudice]], [[Adolf Hitler]], and [[Benito Mussolini]]. He became president of the local [[Flatbush, New York|Flatbush]] III Branch of the YCL in Brooklyn. Pohl has said that after the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] of 1939, the party line changed and he could no longer support it, at which point he left.<ref>''The Way the Future Was'', Frederik Pohl (Ballantine Books, 1978), pp. 93, 113.</ref>

During [[World War II]], Pohl served in the [[United States Army]] from April 1943 until November 1945, rising to [[sergeant]] as an elite [[United States Army Air Corps|Air Corps]] weatherman. After training in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Colorado, he was mainly stationed in Italy with the [[456th Bombardment Group]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2011/03/hal-clement-major-harry-stubbs/ |title=Hal Clement: Major Harry Stubbs |website=The Way the Future Blogs |date=March 1, 2011 |access-date=September 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723234730/http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2011/03/hal-clement-major-harry-stubbs/ |archive-date=July 23, 2012}}</ref>

Pohl was married five times. His first wife, [[Leslie Perri]], was another Futurian; they were married in August 1940, and divorced in 1944. He then married Dorothy Les Tina in Paris in August 1945 while both were serving in the military in Europe; the marriage ended in 1947. During 1948, he married [[Judith Merril]]; they had a daughter, Ann. Pohl and Merril divorced in 1952. In 1953, he married Carol M. Ulf Stanton, with whom he had three children and collaborated on several books; they separated in 1977 and were divorced in 1983. From 1984 until his death, Pohl was married to science-fiction expert and academic [[Elizabeth Anne Hull]].

He fathered four children&nbsp;– Ann (m. Walter Weary), Frederik III (born and died in 1954, aged one month<ref>{{cite book |last=Page |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OfCVCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22frederik+pohl+iii%22&pg=PA58 |title=Frederik Pohl |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2015 |pages=58 |isbn=9780252097744}}</ref>), Frederik IV (a Los Angeles-based actor, writer, and producer),<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2533454/ Frederik Pohl IV], IMDB.com</ref> and Kathy.<ref>[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. Document Number: H1000078817]</ref> Grandchildren include Canadian writer [[Emily Pohl-Weary]] and [[chef]] Tobias Pohl-Weary.<ref>[http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2010/05/eat-at-red-canoe-bistro/ Eat at Red Canoe Bistro], ''The Way the Future Blogs'', May 5, 2010: "The proprietor and head chef is the talented Tobias Pohl Weary, who has not only been winning awards for his cuisine but is also my grandson, of whom I am really proud."</ref>

From 1984 on, he lived in [[Palatine, Illinois]], a suburb of [[Chicago]]. He was previously a longtime resident of [[Middletown, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite news |author=[ Displaying Abstract ] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/05/15/archives/a-correction.html |title=A Correction - Article - NYTimes.com |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 15, 1966 |access-date=August 10, 2014}}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Wollheim Pohl & Michel c. 1938.jpg|thumb|alt=Black-and-white photograph of three men standing together|Frederik Pohl (center) with fellow scifi authors [[Donald A. Wollheim]] and [[John B. Michel|John Michel]] in 1938]]

===Early writing===
Pohl began writing in the late 1930s, using pseudonyms for most of his early works. His first publication was the poem "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna" under the name of Elton Andrews, in the October 1937 issue of ''[[Amazing Stories]]'', edited by [[T. O'Conor Sloane]].<ref name=ISFDB/><ref name="pennames">{{cite web |title=Fred's Pen Names |website=Thewaythefutureblogs.com |date=May 14, 2010 |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2010/05/freds-pen-names/ |access-date=September 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516151019/http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2010/05/freds-pen-names/ |archive-date=May 16, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2009/01/the-poetry-corner/ |title=Elegy to a Dead Planet: Luna (The Poetry Corner) |website=Thewaythefutureblogs.com |date=January 30, 2009 |access-date=September 8, 2012}}</ref> (Pohl asked readers 30 years later, "we would take it as a personal favor if no one ever looked it up".<ref name="pohl196710">{{cite magazine
|last=Pohl
|first=Frederik
|date=October 1967
|title=Thirty Long Years
|url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v26n01_1967-10_modified#page/n3/mode/2up
|magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
|pages=4
}}</ref>) His first story, the collaboration with C.M. Kornbluth "Before the Universe", appeared in 1940 under the pseudonym S.D. Gottesman.<ref name="SFWA"/>

===Editor and agent===
Pohl started a career as a literary agent in 1937, but it was a sideline for him until after World War II, when he began doing it full-time. Pohl stopped being Asimov's agent—the only one the latter ever had<ref name="earlyyears142_145">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/earlyasimovorele00asim#page/142/mode/2up |title=The early Asimov; or, Eleven years of trying |last=Asimov |first=Isaac |publisher=Doubleday |year=1972 |location=Garden City NY |pages=142–145}}</ref>—when he became editor from 1939 to 1943 of two [[pulp magazine]]s, ''[[Astonishing Stories]]'' and ''[[Super Science Stories]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.locusmag.com/2000/Issues/10/Pohl.html |title=Frederik Pohl: Chasing Science |magazine=Locus Online |date=October 2000}}</ref> In his autobiography, Pohl said that he stopped editing the two magazines at roughly the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

Stories by Pohl often appeared in these magazines, but never under his own name.  Work written in collaboration with [[Cyril M. Kornbluth]] was credited to S.&nbsp;D. Gottesman or Scott Mariner; other collaborative work (with any combination of Kornbluth, Dirk Wylie, or Robert A.&nbsp;W. Lownes) was credited to Paul Dennis Lavond.  For Pohl's solo work, stories were credited to James MacCreigh (or for one story only, Warren F. Howard.)<ref name="pennames"/> Works by "Gottesman", "Lavond", and "MacCreigh" continued to appear in various science-fiction pulp magazines throughout the 1940s.

He also worked as an advertising [[copywriting|copywriter]] and then as a copywriter and book editor for ''[[Popular Science]]''.<ref name="popsci"/>

Pohl co-founded the [[Hydra Club]], a loose collection of science-fiction professionals and fans who met during the late 1940s and 1950s.<ref>{{cite web
|title=The Legendary Hydra Club
|author=David A. Kyle
|url=http://www.jophan.org/mimosa/m25/kyle.htm
|work=Mimosa 25
|publisher=Rich and Nikki Lynch
|access-date=August 7, 2014
}}
</ref>

From the early 1960s until 1969, Pohl served as editor of ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'' and ''[[If (magazine)|Worlds of If]]'' magazines, taking over after the ailing [[H. L. Gold]] could no longer continue working "around the end of 1960".<ref>Pohl, Frederik. ''The Way the Future Was'' (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), pp. 221-2</ref> Under his leadership, ''If'' won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Magazine for 1966, 1967 and 1968.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldcon.org/hc.html#pm |publisher=worldcon |title=The Hugo Awards by Category}}</ref> Pohl hired [[Judy-Lynn del Rey]] as his assistant editor at ''Galaxy'' and ''If''.  He also served as editor of ''[[Worlds of Tomorrow (magazine)|Worlds of Tomorrow]]'' from its first issue in 1963 until it was merged into ''If'' in 1967.<ref name="TM">Ashley, Mike, ''Transformations: The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970'', Liverpool University Press (2005), {{ISBN|0-85323-779-4}}, p.&nbsp;207.</ref>

In the mid-1970s, Pohl acquired and edited novels for [[Bantam Books]], published as "A Frederik Pohl Selection"; these included [[Samuel R. Delany]]'s ''[[Dhalgren]]'' and [[Joanna Russ]]'s ''[[The Female Man]]''. He also edited a number of science-fiction [[anthology|anthologies]].

===Novelist===
Though he retired his pen names "Gottesman", "Lavond", and "MacCreigh" by the early 1950s, Pohl still occasionally used pseudonyms, even after he began to publish work under his real name. These occasional pseudonyms, all of which date from the early 1950s to the early 1960s, included Charles Satterfield, Paul Flehr, Ernst Mason, Jordan Park (two collaborative novels with Kornbluth), and Edson McCann (one collaborative novel with [[Lester del Rey]]).

In the 1970s, Pohl re-emerged as a novel writer in his own right, with books such as ''[[Man Plus]]'' and the ''[[Heechee Saga]]'' series. He won back-to-back Nebula Awards with ''Man Plus'' in 1976 and ''[[Gateway (novel)|Gateway]]'', the first ''Heechee'' novel, in 1977. In 1978, ''Gateway'' swept the other two major novel honors, also winning the [[Hugo Award for Best Novel]] and [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel|John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science-fiction novel]]. Two of his stories have also earned him Hugo Awards: "The Meeting" (with Kornbluth) tied in 1973 and "[[Fermi and Frost]]" won in 1986. Another award-winning novel is ''Jem'' (1979), winner of the [[National Book Award]].

His works include not only science fiction, but also articles for ''[[Playboy]]'' and ''[[Family Circle]]'' magazines and nonfiction books. For a time, he was the official authority for ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' on the subject of [[Tiberius|Emperor Tiberius]]. (He wrote a book on the subject of Tiberius, as "Ernst Mason".)<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 8, 2010 |title=Congratulations to Britannica Contributor and 2010 Hugo Award Winner Frederik Pohl {{!}} Britannica Blog |url=http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/09/congratulations-to-britannica-contributor-and-2010-hugo-award-winner-frederik-pohl/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911110756/http://www.britannica.com:80/blogs/2010/09/congratulations-to-britannica-contributor-and-2010-hugo-award-winner-frederik-pohl/ |archive-date=September 11, 2010 |access-date=November 18, 2024 |website=Britannica Blog}}</ref>

Some of his short stories take a satirical look at [[consumerism]] and advertising in the 1950s and 1960s: "The Wizards of Pung's Corners", where flashy, over-complex military hardware proved useless against farmers with shotguns, and "[[The Tunnel under the World]]", where an entire community of seeming-humans is held captive by advertising researchers. ("The Wizards of Pung's Corners" was freely translated into Chinese and then freely translated back into English as "The Wizard-Masters of Peng-Shi Angle" in the first edition of ''[[Pohlstars]]'' [1984]).

In his 1969 novel, "[[The Age of the Pussyfoot]]", Pohl speculated about a society where everyone could access knowledge and the means to communicate with others through a small handheld device similar to a smartphone.  Although he set the novel 500 years in the future, he noted in an afterword that it might be as few as fifty years away.  A short story "[[Day Million]]" suggested that society in the year 2737 might be as alien to us as contemporary society would be to someone from ancient times.

Pohl's Law is "Nothing is so good that somebody, somewhere will not hate it".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.searchquotes.com/search/Pohls_Law/ |title=Pohls Law Quotes |publisher=Searchquotes.com |date=August 9, 2012 |access-date=September 8, 2012}}</ref>

He was a frequent guest on [[Long John Nebel]]'s radio show from the 1950s to the early 1970s, and an international lecturer.<ref>Pohl, Frederik. ''The Way the Future Was'' (New York: Ballantine Books, 1978), pp. 238-39, 269-70, 280.</ref>

Starting in 1995, when the [[Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award]] became a juried award, Pohl served first with [[James Gunn (author)|James Gunn]] and [[Judith Merril]], and since then with several others until retiring in 2013.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sturgeon Award |url=http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/sturgeon.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001134242/http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/sturgeon.htm |archive-date=October 1, 2012 |access-date=May 29, 2023 }}</ref> Pohl was associated with Gunn since the 1940s, becoming involved in 1975 with what later became Gunn's Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. There, he presented many talks, recorded a discussion about "The Ideas in Science Fiction" in 1973<ref>{{cite book |title=Literature of Science Fiction lecture |publisher=Literature of Science Fiction series |year=1973 |oclc=11611519}}</ref> for the Literature of Science Fiction Lecture Series,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/lecture-series.htm |title=Literature of Science Fiction lecture |access-date=September 3, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731204918/http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/lecture-series.htm |archive-date=July 31, 2020}}</ref> and served the Intensive Institute on Science Fiction and Science Fiction Writing Workshop.<ref>{{cite web |title=Science Fiction Writers Workshop |url=https://adastra-sf.com/Workshop-stuff/Spec-Fic-Workshop.htm |website=Speculative Fiction Writing Workshop}}</ref>

Pohl received the second annual J.&nbsp;W. Eaton Lifetime Achievement Award in Science Fiction from the [[University of California, Riverside]] Libraries at the 2009 [[Eaton Award|Eaton Science Fiction Conference]], "Extraordinary Voyages: [[Jules Verne]] and Beyond".<ref>{{cite press release |title=Press Release |publisher=The 2009 Eaton Science Fiction Conference |location=University of California, Riverside |date=September 19, 2008}}</ref><ref name=eaton/>

Pohl's work has been an influence on a wide variety of other science fiction writers, some of whom appear in the 2010 anthology, ''[[Gateways: Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl]]'', edited by Elizabeth Anne Hull.<ref name="Gateways">{{cite web |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2010/06/more-about-gateways/ |title=Table of contents for 'Gateways'", "More About 'Gateways' |website=Thewaythefutureblogs.com |date=June 14, 2010 |access-date=September 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171126081854/http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2010/06/more-about-gateways/ |archive-date=November 26, 2017}}</ref>

Pohl's last novel, ''All the Lives He Led'', was released on April 12, 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://us.macmillan.com/allthelivesheled |title=All the Lives He Led |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |date=July 9, 2012 |access-date=September 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910141506/http://us.macmillan.com/allthelivesheled |archive-date=September 10, 2011}}</ref>

At the time of his death, he was working to finish a second volume of his autobiography ''The Way the Future Was'' (1979), along with an expanded version of the latter.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2013/09/frederik-pohl-nov-26-1919sept-2-2013/ |title=Frederik Pohl, Nov. 26, 1919-Sept. 2, 2013 |website=Thewaythefutureblogs.com |date=September 4, 2013 |access-date=September 7, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130907223148/http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2013/09/frederik-pohl-nov-26-1919sept-2-2013/ |archive-date=September 7, 2013}}</ref>

In July 2020, an academic description reported on the nature and rise of the "[[robot prosumer]]", derived from [[technology#Medieval and modern history (300 CE – present)|modern-day technology]] and related [[participatory culture]], that, in turn, was substantially predicted earlier by [[list of science fiction authors|science fiction writers]], most notably by Pohl.<ref name="EA-20200724">{{cite news |author=Lancaster University |author-link=Lancaster University |title=Sci-fi foretold social media, Uber and Augmented Reality, offers insights into the future - Science fiction authors can help predict future consumer patterns. |url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/lu-sfs072420.php |date=24 July 2020 |work=[[EurekAlert!]] |access-date=26 July 2020}}</ref><ref name="JCC-20200723">{{cite journal |last=Ryder |first=M.J. |title=Lessons from science fiction: Frederik Pohl and the robot prosumer |date=23 July 2020 |journal=[[Journal of Consumer Culture]] |volume=22 |pages=246–263 |doi=10.1177/1469540520944228 |url=https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/138821/1/FINAL_Frederik_Pohl_and_the_robot_prosumer.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200913071352/https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/138821/1/FINAL_Frederik_Pohl_and_the_robot_prosumer.pdf |archive-date=2020-09-13 |url-status=live |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="LU-20200726">{{cite thesis |last=Ryder |first=Mike |title=Citizen robots:biopolitics, the computer, and the Vietnam period |url=https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/141870/ |date=26 July 2020 |journal=[[Lancaster University]] |access-date=26 July 2020 |type=phd}}</ref>

===Collaborative work===
In addition to his solo writings, Pohl was also well known for his collaborations, beginning with his first published story.  Before and following the war, Pohl did a series of collaborations with his friend Cyril Kornbluth, including a large number of short stories and several novels, among them ''[[The Space Merchants]],'' a [[dystopia]]n [[satire]] of a world ruled by the advertising agencies.<ref name="Merchant's War">A belated sequel, ''[[The Merchants' War (Pohl novel)|The Merchants' War]]'' (1984) was written by Pohl alone, after Kornbluth's death. Pohl's ''[[The Merchants of Venus]]'' was an unconnected 1972 novella that includes biting satire on runaway [[free-market capitalism]] and first introduced the [[Heechee]].</ref>

In the mid-1950s, he began a long-running collaboration with Jack Williamson, eventually resulting in 10 collaborative novels over five decades.

Other collaborations included a novel with Lester Del Rey, ''Preferred Risk'' (1955).  This novel was solicited for a contest by Galaxy–Simon & Schuster when the judges did not think any of the contest submissions was good enough to win their contest. It was published under the joint pseudonym Edson McCann.<ref>Frederik Pohl, ''The Way the Future Was,'' Ballantine Books (1978),</ref> He also collaborated with [[Thomas T. Thomas]] on a sequel to his award-winning novel ''Man Plus.'' He wrote two short stories with Isaac Asimov in the 1940s, both published in 1950.<ref>Asimov, Isaac (1974). ''The Early Asimov Volume 2'', Panther Books, pp. 134 and 197-198. {{ISBN|0-586-03936-8}}</ref>

He finished a novel begun by [[Arthur C. Clarke]], ''[[The Last Theorem]]'', which was published on August 5, 2008.

==Death==
Pohl went to the hospital in respiratory distress on the morning of September 2, 2013, and died that afternoon<ref name="Farewell">{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Dick |last2=Zeldes |first2=Leah |title="Farewell...." ''The Way the Future Blogs'' |url=http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2013/09/farewell/ |website=Thewaythefutureblogs.com |date=September 2, 2013 |access-date=September 2, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905081857/http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2013/09/farewell/ |archive-date=September 5, 2013}}</ref><ref name="NYT-20130903">{{cite news |last=Jonas |first=Gerald |title=Frederik Pohl, Worldly-Wise Master of Science Fiction, Dies at 93 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/books/frederik-pohl-worldly-wise-master-of-science-fiction-dies-at-93.html |url-access=limited |date=September 3, 2013 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=September 3, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/books/frederik-pohl-worldly-wise-master-of-science-fiction-dies-at-93.html |archive-date=2022-01-02}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="SFWA-20130903">{{cite web |author=Staff |title=In Memoriam Frederik Pohl |url=http://www.sfwa.org/2013/09/memoriam-frederik-pohl/ |date=September 3, 2013 |work=SFWA |access-date=September 3, 2013}}</ref><ref name="Twit-20130902">{{cite web |last=Pohl-Weary |first=Emily |title=Twitter / emilypohlweary: Rest in peace to my beloved grandfather, Frederik Pohl |url=https://twitter.com/emilypohlweary/status/374628088791175168 |publisher=[[Twitter]] |date=September 2, 2013 |access-date=September 3, 2013}}</ref> at the age of 93.<ref>{{cite web |last=Barnett |first=David |title=Frederik Pohl, grandmaster of science fiction, dies aged 93 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/03/frederick-pohl-dies-science-fiction |date=September 3, 2013 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=September 3, 2013}}</ref>

==Works==
*[[Frederik Pohl bibliography]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=ISFDB>{{ISFDB name|820}} (ISFDB). Retrieved April 4, 2013.</ref>

<!-- awards refs -->
<ref name="SFawards-pohl">[http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit104.html#4179 "Pohl, Frederick"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225111414/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit104.html |date=February 25, 2015}}. ''The Locus Index to SF Awards: Index to Literary Nominees''. [[Locus Publications]]. Retrieved April 25, 2012.</ref>
<ref name=SFWA>[http://www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/nebula-weekend/events-program/grandmaster/ "Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110701114233/http://www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/nebula-weekend/events-program/grandmaster/ |date=July 1, 2011}}. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Retrieved March 26, 2013.</ref>
<ref name="sfhof-old">[http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ "Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521070009/http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ |date=May 21, 2013}}. Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions, Inc. Retrieved March 26, 2013. This was the official website of the hall of fame to 2004.</ref>
<ref name=eaton><!-- past winners are not linked to past notices -->[http://eatonconference.ucr.edu/awards.html "The Eaton Awards"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503151902/http://eatonconference.ucr.edu/awards.html |date=May 3, 2013 }}. Eaton Science Fiction Conference. [[University of California, Riverside]] (''ucr.edu''). Retrieved 2013-04-06.</ref>
}}

==Further reading==

===Critical studies, reviews, and biography===
* {{cite journal |author=Williams, Sheila |date=Feb 2014 |title=Remembering Frederik Pohl |journal=Asimov's Science Fiction |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=4–5 |url=http://www.asimovs.com/more-stuff/archives/all-archives/#ArchivedEditorials |access-date=May 1, 2019 |archive-date=July 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727125107/https://www.asimovs.com/more-stuff/archives/all-archives/#ArchivedEditorials |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite journal |author=Anon. |date=April 2014 |title=Remembering Frederik Pohl, 1919-2013 |journal=Analog Science Fiction and Fact |volume=134 |issue=4 |pages=31}}
* ''Frederik Pohl'' by Michael R. Page (2015). University of Illinois Press
* {{cite journal |last1=Ryder |first1=Mike |title=Lessons from science fiction: Frederik Pohl and the robot prosumer |journal=Journal of Consumer Culture |date=2022 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=246–263 |doi=10.1177/1469540520944228|s2cid=210540732 |doi-access=free }}

===Derivative works===
* ''Gateways: Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl'' (2010), edited by [[Elizabeth Anne Hull]]. {{ISBN|978-0765326621}}
** Elizabeth Anne Hull, Introduction
** [[David Brin]], "Shoresteading"
** [[Phyllis Eisenstein|Phyllis]] and Alex Eisenstein, "Von Neumann's Bug"
** [[Isaac Asimov]], Appreciation
** [[Joe Haldeman]], "Sleeping Dogs"
** [[Larry Niven]], "Gates (Variations)"
** [[Gardner Dozois]], Appreciation
** [[James Gunn (author)|James Gunn]], "Tales from the Spaceship Geoffrey"
** [[Gregory Benford]] and Elisabeth Malartre, "Shadows of the Lost"
** [[Connie Willis]], Appreciation
** [[Vernor Vinge]], "A Preliminary Assessment of the Drake Equation, Being an Excerpt from the Memories of Star Captain Y.T. Lee"
** [[Greg Bear]], "Warm Sea"
** [[Robert J. Sawyer]], Appreciation
** [[Frank M. Robinson]], "The Errand Boy"
** [[Gene Wolfe]], "King Rat"
** [[Robert Silverberg]], Appreciation
** [[Harry Harrison (writer)|Harry Harrison]], "The Stainless Steel Rat and the Pernicious Porcuswine"
** [[Jody Lynn Nye]], "Virtually, A Cat"
** [[David Marusek]], Appreciation
** [[Brian W. Aldiss]], "The First-Born"
** [[Ben Bova]], "Scheherezade and the Storytellers"
** [[Joan Slonczewski]], Appreciation
** [[Sheri S. Tepper]], "The Flight of the Denartesestel Radichan"
** [[Neil Gaiman]], "The [Backspace] Merchants"
** [[Emily Pohl-Weary]], Appreciation
** [[Mike Resnick]], "On Safari"
** [[Cory Doctorow]], "Chicken Little"
** [[James Frenkel]], Afterword

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website|http://www.frederikpohl.com/}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181118100902/http://thewaythefutureblogs.com/ The Way the Future Blogs] – by Pohl, January 2009 to September 2013; by his widow Elizabeth Anne Hull
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/frederik-pohl}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=25413|name=Frederik Pohl}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Frederik Pohl}}
* {{Librivox author|id=51}}
* {{Sfhof|949}}

{{Frederik Pohl}}
{{Hugo Award Best Short Story 1961–1980}}
{{Hugo Award Best Short Story 1981–2000}}
{{Locus Award Best Novel}}
{{Locus Award Best Novella}}
{{Nebula Award Best Novel}}
{{Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Awards}}
{{Portal bar|Science fiction|}}

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