No snark intended

[james_davis_nicoll]

Why are people surprised to learn Fred Pohl is alive? He's not as prolific as he once was but he's had at least five books this decade, one fairly high-profile one in the last year.

By the way, I was looking at isfdb's entry on him to make sure I did not overlook any books and I noticed something interesting:

Used These Alternate Names: Dirk Wylie , Anonymous , Charles Satterfield , Jordan Park , Paul Dennis Lavond , S. D. Gottesman , Walt Lasly , Donald Stacy , Elton Andrews , Ernst Mason , James MacCreigh , Robert A. Heinlein , Edson McCann , Paul Flehr , Elton V. Andrews , Warren F. Howard , Fred Pohl , James McCreigh , The Editor

Does anyone else see the same thing I do? It should leap right out at you.

Comments

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

ha!

[rosefox]

Hahahahaha! That's great.

[twoeleven.livejournal.com]

:)

[will-couvillier.livejournal.com]

Yep, it did.

Wonder if there's a real story behind it being included, other than a typo or mis-information.

[puritybrown.livejournal.com]

...that has to be a hoax. Surely.

And if it's not, I'd love to hear whatever the story is behind it.

[montoya.livejournal.com]

HOLY SHIT, HE WAS EDSON MCCANN?

[xinef.livejournal.com]

Would love to know how that name got into the list!

[wayward-va.livejournal.com]

*laughs* There has GOT to be a backstory to that.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

I believe he and Judith Merril ghost-edited Tomorrow the Stars, an anthology, that had Heinlein's name on it.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow,_the_Stars

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I loved "Betelgeuse Bridge" . . .

[hattifattener]

Yeah, if you scroll down about 1/5 of the way on Pohl's ISFDb entry you'll find

• Tomorrow, the Stars (1952) with Judith Merril [as by Robert A. Heinlein ]

[montoya.livejournal.com]

I expect they're surprised he's alive because all his notable contemporaries are dead -- Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, Van Vogt, Bester, etc.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

The Editor

*dang* he is prolific.

[rosefox]

Not to mention Anonymous!

[fridgepunk.livejournal.com]

It certainly makes his campaign against the church of scientology all that more impressive really.

[caias.livejournal.com]

Well, he's never going to give you up, never going to let you down...

[velochicdunord.livejournal.com]

Rick Roll'd!

[drcuriosity]

No stranger to love, at least.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm kinda keeping track, so I knew he was alive (and most of the generation that followed him is gone!).

"Fred Pohl" as an alternative name is certainly interesting (the Heinlein I already knew about, which is not the same as now remembering all the details).

[fridgepunk.livejournal.com]

It strikes that a writer has to be either very lucky or very unlucky to actually outlive their psuedonyms.

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

*chuckle*

[(Anonymous)]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone seen Pohl and Heinlein together in the same room?

tlönista

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

Just in my case, I was rather out of the loop for fandom information for a number of years, and since I wasn't particularily looking for his books, I guess I put him in the "missing, presumed dead" category.

[affreca.livejournal.com]

I knew he was still alive, but somehow I hadn't remembered how old he was.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have that problem too--I keep thinking of him as belonging to a younger generation of writers, because I'm most familiar with his 1970s work, which was very much of its time. This even though I saw him at the Boston Worldcon some years back.

[prof-brotherton.livejournal.com]

Saw him there, too, and he was unfortunately looking old.

I think the first time I saw him in person was at a Worldcon party in the mid-1990s when he fell down next time (he may have been drunk, or just tired, I don't know), and I got to help him up.

Reminds me of a friend of mine meeting Joe Haldeman at a con party, when Joe, who had been drinking a bit, stumbled and sat down on his lap.

I'm waiting for the day someone is excited to tell that kind of story about me. I'd better get back to drink--I mean--writing!

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

That's funny (actually BOTH of the oddities in that list, although the last one at least made sense).

I think Pohl would have a conniption fit if he were associated with certain of Heinlein's viewpoints. The man who wrote _Black Star Rising_ could not have written _Starship Troopers_.

I am not in the slightest surprised to know that Pohl is alive and definitely compos mentis. I saw him at Denvention this year, and he definitely had all his marbles. I'm sorry that his arm/hand is giving him troubles: those degenerative problems can be the most frustrating.

[redbird]

Ha! indeed. Anyone have editing rights over there?

[hattifattener]

You do. All changes go through a moderator (I'm one, albeit inactive) but anyone can submit changes to the database.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

It explains the disparity of styles and viewpoints between the various subsets of books written under the Heinlein name.