Gateways: Tribute to Fred Pohl with stories by Bear, Benford, Brin, Bova, Gaiman, Harrison, Haldeman and me!

I just got my contributors' copies of the Frederik Pohl tribute anthology Gateways, and I find myself in danger of losing the afternoon's work to re-reading it. Gateways is a collection of short stories written in appreciation of Pohl, one of science fiction's masters and living legends. It includes fiction by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Neil Gaiman, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison (A new Stainless Steel Rat story in Pohl style, no less!), Larry Niven, Vernor Vinge, Gene Wolfe -- and me.

My story, Chicken Little, is the closing novella, and it's my take on The Space Merchants: a darkly comic story about a man whose job is to come up with products to sell to immortal quadrillionaires who've speciated from the human race proper and now live as sovereign states in vats that supply their life-support.

Additionally, Gateways features essays about Pohl and his work by Isaac Asimov, Gardner Dozois, Connie Willis, Robert J Sawyer, Robert Silverberg, Joan Slonczewski, Emily Pohl-Weary (Fred's granddaughter and the Hugo-winning co-author of Judith Merril's wonderful memoir, Better to Have Loved) and editor James Frenkel.

This is truly a smashing volume, a testament to the impact that Pohl has had on several generations of sf writers and readers (he continues to write, of course, and his blog, The Way the Future Blogs is up for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writing!). It was edited by Fred's wife, Elizabeth Anne Hull, who did yeoman duty on it while nursing Fred through several serious health crises in the past two years.

I'm so proud to be in this book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Gateways

• [jmcgarry]

  Nice. Adding this to my ever growing “to read” list.

• [straponego]

  That is an amazing lineup. Absolutely a must have.

• [Anonymous]

  Hmmm …. So forward thinking that there is no Kindle version? Shame!

• [S2]

  Been waiting for this since Cory mentioned it here over a year ago. My first Pohl book (co-authored with Williamson) was Reefs of Space, ca. ’64 or so, and what a lucky break that was — combined with early work from Brunner and Herbert I was effectively innoculated against the insiduous catalog of Space Opera schlock…. Congrats to every author in this volume! I’ll p’bly never get to be a NeoGeshel radical homorph, or cast a bobble, or elude the Plan of Man aboard a reactionless-drive flying Shmoo, but at least I can read about it ;-)

• [Anonymous]

  It would be great if you could get enough control that the Kindle edition doesn’t end up being significantly more expensive that the paperback version. It’s annoying, and makes me not want to buy the book. If the electronic version is priced reasonably (that is, LESS than the paperback which clearly costs something for printing and handling a shipping, so I know I’m paying a reasonable amount rather than getting gouged for using the Kindle), then I’m going to be much more enthusiastic about buying it.

• [PBryden]

  Very much looking forward to reading this.

  Congratulations Cory, it’s nice to see the little Canadian kid who worked so hard at his craft to be recognized as a contemporary with this great group of sf writers.

• [scifijazznik]

  This looks awesome. Funny enough, I’m on a short story collection bender. I’m making my way through “Wastelands” currently and just read “Sysadmins” for the first time last night.

  When I first read “Gateway” it had the same effect on me that reading “Rendezvous With Rama” had on me nearly a decade earlier. It just seemed so completely plausible.

  Suffice it to say, I’m looking forward to this. Congrats, Cory.

• [Anonymous]

  Mr. Pohl lives about 10 minutes away from me. After reading Gateway for the first time and turning to the back in the “About the Author” section I was stunned to see my small town listed. Sure enough, he’s well known in town. I’ve been sorely tempted to bring my battered Gateway copy over and tell him thank you for writing a great book and ask for an autograph, but it seemed a bit too stalker-y.

  Looking forward to picking up a copy of this book. I’ve heard lots of good things about it for a bit.

• [farrellmcgovern]

  Frederik Pohl is a GOD.

  I remember reading Gateway back in grade 9 reading it…a friend of mine at the time, Jeff, used a model of a Bell Cobra gunship to make a fairly good replica of one of the ships on the cover. Another wonderful books is Pohl’s “The Way the Future Was”, which is a must read for anyone interested in the History of Science Fiction Fandom. I also loved “The Space Merchants”.

  I *MUST* get this book, since it has works by some of my favourite SF writers, writing in tribute to one of my favourite SF writers!

  ttyl
  Farrell

• [jeligula]

  I must have a copy.

• [Laurel L. Russwurm]

  What heady company you’re in… you’ve made the pantheon. Congrats Cory!

  And of course regards to Fred. :D

• [ZDepthCharge]

  F R E D P O H L ! ! ! !

• [yclept]

  Just received my first copy of the Space Merchants. I bought and Love Gateways based on the BB post, and started making some purchases, with TSM as the first one. I am an avid SF fan, have read lots of Pohl, but somehow I may have not yet read this one. W00t. I’m not done with Gateways, but so far, great collection. I feel like I’m at a long-running dinner honoring the man. Cheers!