Got this from the writer David Brin's Google PLus posting: David Brin <https://plus.google.com/u/0/116665417191671711571> Shared publiclyYesterday 8:45 PM<https://plus.google.com/u/0/116665417191671711571/posts/bo4hV6nBFum>
Science Fiction Grand Master Fred Pohl passed away today September 2, 2013. Even expected, it rocks me back in sorrowful reflection. (especially after the recent departures of Iain Banks and Bruce Murray.) Beyond a personal sense of loss of a friend and colleague, I must note how tremendous was Fred's influence on our field. Fred was always the one I called the "essential" science fiction author. In much the same way that the other "pole" of science fiction -- Poul Anderson -- was the greatest natural storyteller I ever knew, Fred Pohl was the SF writer who cared most about the gedankenexperiment or what-if thought experiment. Fred would start with a question: "what if *__*?" and fill in some fascinating possibility. Only then the magic would ensue as he fleshed out a vivid world of possible consequences from that one whatif -- consequences that might be good, bad, and weird, but always strikingly plausible. This was especially notable in one of his most obscure works, a novel called "Age of the Pussyfoot," in which he explored the implications of Cryonics, the freezing of people for possible later tech resurrection. As a side element, his future folk carried "joymakers" which we would now recognize as highly plausible near-future descendants of our fast-improving cell-phone-plus-personal-(Siri-style)assistant - a leap of accurate prescience that I think may be unique. Fred won the Hugo Award six times including the 1978 Hugo for Best Novel - "Gateway" - (the first Hugo I ever voted for). He tied for 1973 Best Short Story Hugo for "The Meeting;" and the 1986 Best Short Story Hugo for "Fermi and Frost." http://www.frederikpohl.com/ I had the honor of helping to get an asteroid named for Fred. I hope someday his asteroid will be melted down and turned into wonderful things by a civilization that he helped to inspire. -- Larry C. Lyons web: http://www.lyonsmorris.com/lyons LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryclyons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:366850 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
