Frederik Pohl (and yes, there is no “c” in Froderik) is a personal favorite among the ranks of classic SF authors.
But he’s not just one of my favorite authors (and a guy who I got to talk to a fair amount back in the day – even sent him a pic of the Fred Pohl section of my library at one point which he apparently appreciated), he is also a legendary Fan, editor, agent and instigator. He spent 70 years in the SF community.
Fred was a member of the Futurians, and was caught up in the infamous Great Exclusion Act at the very first Worldcon. His first SF publication was a poem in the October 1937 Amazing Stories; he would go on to write many acclaimed short stories and novels, as well performing editing duties for an astonishing (lol) number of magazines and anthology series – Astonishing Stories, Best Science Fiction From (Worlds of If/Worlds of Tomorrow), Galaxy, If, International Science Fiction, Perry Rhodan, Super Science Stories, Worlds of Tomorrow, the subject of this post, (SF) The Great Years, If Reader, Galaxy Reader, Nebula Awards, (others) and, of course, write both award-winning novels and blogs (The Way the Future Was, Heechee series, Man Plus, The Space Merchants (and a series of similar novels with C.M. Kornbluth), and more, far more.
I consider Fred to be one of the founding fathers of the science fiction community as we know it today, someone instrumental in both helping to establish Fandom and the SF literary genre.
Which brings us to the somewhat short-lived Star Science Fiction magazine –
and yes, that is a Richard Powers cover.
Star Science Fiction was an ill-fated attempt to turn a regular paperback anthology series (Star Science Fiction Stories, Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2 through Star Science Fiction Stories No. 6, Star Short Novels and a compilation anthology, Star of Stars).
The first three original anthologies were very well-received, the magazine’s contents, not so much and the following three paperback anthologies (4-6) are considered competent but not as impactful as the first three.
I think Fred had a thing for the name, considering the length and breadth of its use. It’s a shame that the magazine didn’t catch on, as Fred’s editorial acumen probably could have turned it into a leading publication. (On the other hand, had it done so, would that have negatively affected his writing career?)
