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.
