Showing results by author "Frederik Pohl" in All Categories

Roger Torraway watched in horror as the monster lurched, toppled over and died. Project Man Plus had gone suddenly and drastically wrong. The race to colonize Mars was too important, too costly, and America was already too committed, for plans to be scrapped. They would have to make a new Martian. And Roger Torraway was it, candidate for the endless surgery, operation after painful operation, that would enable him to survive on that faraway planet.

Frederik Pohl was on a streak when this Hugo Award-finalist novel was published in 1980. Now back in print after an absence of nearly a decade, this unique science fiction novel is as fresh and entertaining as ever. The story begins when the hero of Gateway finances an expedition to a distant alien spaceship that may end famine forever. On the ship, the explorers find a human boy, and evidence that reveals a powerful alien civilization is thriving on a transport ship headed right for Earth....

After millennia had passed, Mankind discovered the Heechee legacy (an alien culture that fled to the relative safety of a black hole) - in particular an asteroid stocked with autonavigating spacecraft. Robinette Broadhead, who had led the expedition that unlocked the many secrets of Heechee technology, is now forced once more to make a perilous voyage into space - where the Heechee are waiting. And this time the future of Man is at stake....

In a vastly overpopulated near-future world, businesses have taken the place of governments and now hold all political power. States exist merely to ensure the survival of huge transnational corporations. Advertising has become hugely aggressive and boasts some of the world's most powerful...

The biggest collection yet of favorite sci-fi stories - 16 full hours!

Two of science fiction’s most renowned writers join forces for a storytelling sensation. The historic collaboration between Frederik Pohl and his fellow founding father of the genre, Arthur C. Clarke, is both a momentous literary event and a fittingly grand farewell from the late, great...

Advanced Heechee technology had enabled Robinette Broadhead to live after death as a machine-stored personality, enjoying his life by flitting along the wires from party to party with a host of other machine-people. But suddenly his decadent existence ends when an all-powerful alien race intent on the utter destruction of all intelligent life reappears after eons of silence, and threatens the lives of all heechee and humans.

The Boy Who Would Live Forever has a sense of wonder and excitement that will satisfy those who loved Gateway and will delight new listeners as well. In Gateway, long after the alien Heechee abandoned their space-station, Gateway (as humans dubbed it) allowed humans to explore new worlds. The Heechee, alarmed by the alien Kugel whose goal was to destroy all organic lifeforms, had already retreated to the galactic core, where they now lived in peace.

A walk around the block, a quick drive, before shutting down your PC ? these short story collections are perfect for when you only have a few minutes to listen."

Wan-To was the oldest and must powerful intelligence in the universe, a being who played with star systems as a child plays with marbles. Matter occupied so tiny a part of his vast awareness that humans were utterly beneath his notice.

When prospector Bob Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Robinette Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he is...in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!

Search the Sky is a satirical science fiction novel set in the far future, at a time when humanity has long since colonized the stars. It begins on a planet called Halsey's, which is in a state of decline. When a Longliner generation ship arrives, having failed to make contact with at least six other colonised planets, Ross (the main protagonist in the story) is sent to investigate what is going on at the other colonies. He is given access to a faster than light spacecraft that can make each journey almost instantly.

A science fiction fantasy of a small town in America that has been taken over by robots. The book included annotations comparing the story to the current climate over AI in society.

"The Tunnel Under the World" is a science fiction short story by Frederik Pohl. It was first published in 1955. Guy and Mary Burckhardt wake up in their house in Tylerton on June 15, having both had terrible nightmares, but they can't recall the events of their dreams. Guy dismisses the dream and goes to work as usual, the downtown offices of Contro Chemicals, which operates a highly automated and robot-staffed petrochemicals plant. But something isn't right at all.

The Earth has been ripped from the solar system by a runaway alien planet, whose inhabitants have their own sinister plans for Earth's resources. Humankind is dying out, but there are those who defy convention and refuse to give in. Feared by ordinary citizens, these wolves are preparing to fight back against the aliens. Wolfbane is widely regarded as one of the very best science fiction stories from the 1950s.

Incredible Science Fiction: Amazing Tales from the 50's and Beyond, Volume Two collates a collection of some of the very best science-fiction stories published in the '50s together. All these stories (with the exception of The Anatomy of Fear) are now in the public domain and were original published in various science-fiction magazines that were very popular in the 1950s. This is a lovingly curated collection of some of the very best stories published during this time. This collection includes a further story from the Hugo Award-nominated Rog Phillips.

Auf dem Asteroiden "Gateway" nahe der Sonne werden knapp eintausend außerirdische Raumschiffe einer verschollenen Rasse gefunden, den "Hidschi". Niemand weiß, wie diese Raumschiffe funktionieren und wohin ihr Kurs führt. Es finden sich aber genügend wagemutige Piloten, sogenannte Prospektoren, die sie zu ihren unbekannten Zielen fliegen, um dort nach Hitschi-Technologie zu suchen. Obwohl die Verlustrate extrem hoch ist, verstehen die Menschen die Hitschi-Schiffe als Chance, dem Elend auf der ausgeplünderten Erde zu entkommen.

Dive into this gripping tale by Frederik Pohl that delves into the realms of cybernetic robots and implanted personalities, challenging our perceptions of reality. What if that wall you see is not quite what it seems? Who are we beneath the surface? Meet Guy Burckhardt, who awakens from a nightmarish vision filled with explosions, fire, and choking gas. Was it merely a dream, or is there something more sinister at play? Unravel the mystery in this inventive and chilling narrative that will keep you on the edge of your seat. (summary by Phil Chenevert)

Twenty-four of the greatest science fiction stories of all time in this fourth sci-fi short story collection, including works by Jerry Dunham, Emmett Dowell, James Causey, Gordon Randall Garrett, James A. Cox, Phyllis Sterling Smith, Richard A. Sternbach, Robert Sheckley, E. G. Von Wald, Keith Laumer, Jerome Bixby, Frederik Pohl, Roger Dee, Arnold Marmore, James H. Schmitz, Lester del Rey, Cordwainer Smith, Ray Bradbury, and Philip K. Dick.

Die Erde wird von terroristischen Organisationen in Angst und Schrecken versetzt. Außerdem treten die Hitschi erstmals in Erscheinung. Aufgeschreckt durch Berichte ihrer Außenposten verlassen sie ihr Schwarzes Loch, um nach dem Rechten zu sehen. Broadheads lange verschollene Geliebte Klara wird von Wan, der in verschiedenen schwarzen Löchern nach seinem verschollenen Vater sucht, kaum gealtert aus dem schwarzen Loch geholt, findet Broadhead aber nur noch als KI vor.