Today, Frederik Pohl completes his 90th trip around the Sun.
His wife and 18 of the best sf writers alive planned to celebrate by presenting him with a festschrift book containing stories and personal reminiscences on his birthday, but health problems interfered (not so much his as Betty Anne’s, the editor’s, who fell and cracked a caudal vertebra, requiring surgery, and then needed more surgery for an unrelated complaint, with longish recovery times for each), and pub date has been delayed till June 2010.
But Happy Birthday, anyway!
the blog team says:
Dear Fred,
We wish you a marvelous natal day and many happy returns.
We’re counting on you to be the first supercentenarian science fiction writer … unless Jack Vance gets there first.
Dick and Leah
November 26, 2009, 12:45 amseanfish says:
Happy Birthday Fred!
November 26, 2009, 12:56 amBeth says:
A very happy birthday, and thank you so much for this blog!
November 26, 2009, 4:35 amsteve davidson says:
Best wishes all around!
November 26, 2009, 5:47 amNeil Rest says:
Happy Birthday!
November 26, 2009, 6:58 amBill Goodwin says:
Don’t get cocky, now. When I was one year old, the ratio between our years was 1/42. Now I’m well over half your age–so, obviously, I’m aging faster than you, and am going to pass you eventually. I’m looking forward to it.
A Birthday Poem
1919 is a prime,
And sounds like someone stuttering,
Ninety more, and folk pass time
Today by tater-buttering
I’m no kid myself, and my
Insides not brave as in the past
…After turk, I’ll pass on pie,
And read more ’bout that Theorum, Last!
Many thanks for all you’ve imagined and shared. And thanks to your good lady, Betty Anne, for all she does (take care and mend quickly!), and to Ms. Naidan–and of course to Milly, who is obviously the star of the show.
Happy Birthday, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Bill Goodwin
November 26, 2009, 7:06 amMorey Altman says:
Dear Mr. Pohl,
Wishing you all the best on this celebration of your life. May you be blessed with many more years of happiness and good health. I have no doubt that through your works, which have influenced and brought pleasure to millions, you will be the boy who WILL live forever. Happy Birthday!
November 26, 2009, 7:08 amMarc says:
Happy 90th Birthday Fred. Hope you have a lovely day and a big cake for all those candles!
November 26, 2009, 7:43 amJonathan K. Stephens says:
Happy Birthday Fred!
I’m also really appreciative of your work on this blog!
One of the greatest pleasures I’ve ever had in my life was to meet you at Torcon III and have you sign my copy of The Space Merchants. That you actually read a bit from my copy was the cherry on top of my sundae and a memory I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.
With many, many thanks and warmest regards,
Jonathan
November 26, 2009, 8:23 amJeff G says:
Happy birthday, Fred! Or as we say around this end of the swamp, “Hippo, birdies, two ewes.”
(works better with pictures)
November 26, 2009, 8:32 amMike says:
Best wishes for future solar revolutions!
I just reached back to my shelf to locate my copy of your 1978 memoir - can’t believe it’s been so long.
November 26, 2009, 8:39 amBill Higgins-- Beam Jockey says:
Happy ninetieth birthday, Fred. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Thanks for all the books and stories; thanks for your part in building the now-sprawling edifice we call science fiction.
Keep telling stories!
November 26, 2009, 8:43 amAl Bogdan says:
Happy birthday, Fred! Hope Betty Anne recovers quickly and well.
November 26, 2009, 8:53 amDavid Dyer-Bennet says:
A very happy birthday to you! And may you have many more.
Thanks for all the stories and anecdotes over the years, and I hope you keep doing that, too.
November 26, 2009, 8:58 amDavid H. says:
Best wishes for a very happy birthday!
November 26, 2009, 9:07 amsm says:
Do you know I have never thought of a birthday as marking a trip around the sun? All that SF reading at an impressionable age, wasted!
Happy birthday anyway, and Happy Thanksgiving!
November 26, 2009, 9:19 amJo Walton says:
Happy birthday!
November 26, 2009, 9:31 amMike Weasner says:
Happy B-Day! If Ben Bova is right, you\’ll have at least 90 more trips around Sol!!! Here\’s hoping he\’s right!
November 26, 2009, 10:04 amE. J. Garcia says:
Congratulations on completing 90 orbits around the Sun, dearest Frederik Pohl. However, the big question still remains on this last Thursday of November: Turkey or Cake?Happy Birthday, Fred, and may their be happiness in all of your days to come!
November 26, 2009, 10:36 amSteve says:
Many thanks, Fred, for all those great books. I hope we get plenty more.
November 26, 2009, 11:01 amMary Peed says:
Happy Birthday, Mr. Pohl, thank you for the stories.
November 26, 2009, 11:27 amron brinkmann says:
Happy Birthday (& Thanksgiving) Mr. Pohl! Loving your blog, keep it coming!
November 26, 2009, 11:41 amDavid Ratnasabapathy says:
Happy Birthday!
November 26, 2009, 12:27 pmMarkHB says:
Happy Birthday, sir!
November 26, 2009, 1:20 pmLars says:
Happy Birthday, and thanks for many years’ worth of reading pleasure.
November 26, 2009, 1:58 pmBrian Eisley says:
Happy birthday and congratulations! Hope you have both a marvelous birthday and a marvelous Thanksgiving!
b.
November 26, 2009, 2:09 pmSeth says:
Happy birthday, Fred!
Thanks for sharing your stories with us (not least on this blog), and may there be many more to come!
November 26, 2009, 2:32 pmPeggy says:
Very happy birthday to you!
That sounds like a fantastic B-day gift, even if it’s delayed a few months!
November 26, 2009, 2:42 pmUri Goldstein says:
Happy Birthday Mr. Paul!
Thank you for all the books, for making me feel and think and for giving me so much joy when reading you way back when I was a teenager and now as an adult.
Best Wishes,
November 26, 2009, 3:09 pmUri Goldstein
Tel Aviv, Israel
Craig says:
Here’s to many, many more…
November 26, 2009, 4:42 pmA. Shelton says:
Happy birthday, Frederik! I hope you see many more.
November 26, 2009, 5:48 pmKen Houghton says:
Bonne anniversaire! Feliz cumpleanos! Happy Round Number! And Many More, please! (And a happy and full-mobility recovery to your lovely wife.)
November 26, 2009, 7:29 pmJerry says:
Thanks for so many wonderful stories. Wishing you a very happy birthday.
November 26, 2009, 9:09 pmScott Hauger says:
Happy birthday!
November 26, 2009, 9:55 pmChris Watkins says:
Happy Birthday!
Thanks for all the stories - I\’ll be picking up a favorite to read today.
Best wishes.
November 26, 2009, 9:57 pmjbt says:
Happy birthday, Mr. Pohl.
Žarko Radulović
November 27, 2009, 12:03 amVaraždin, Croatia
Chookie says:
Dear Fred, Best wishes for your 90th birthday! Wishing you many more years of health and happiness. I hope Betty Anne was able to enjoy your birthday cake by your side and am wishing her a speedy recovery.
November 27, 2009, 4:45 amMartin Wisse says:
A belated happy birthday from me as well. I never would’ve guessed back in the mid-eighties reading Gateway and the Space Merchants and Wolfsbane for the first time I would be able to wish their author a happy birthday thirty years onwards…
November 27, 2009, 5:27 amBill Crider says:
Happy birthday, and thanks for many years of wonderful reading!
November 27, 2009, 11:14 amEllen Asher says:
Happy Birthday, Fred! And may you have lots of cake and happiness for many years to come.
My best, also, to Betty Anne, with hopes that she recovers quickly.
November 27, 2009, 1:04 pmLee Gold says:
Congratulations and best wishes for a speedy and uneventful recovery to both Fred and Betty Anne.
–Lee Gold
November 27, 2009, 1:23 pmLaurie Mann says:
Happy birthday, Fred! You were the first pro I ever met, nearly 35 years ago, and I’ve always loved your work, especially The Space Merchants.
November 27, 2009, 2:01 pmJean Cain says:
Best wishes as you commence Year 91! I heard you speak at a WindyCon several years ago and was so impressed by you that I decided I’d better read your work. When I started that pleasant task, I realized I had already read some of it years ago, before I was connecting authors’ names to their books’ titles! Thank you for providing great writing and interesting ideas, both in your published stories and the posts to this blog. I love your eyewitness accounts of the early years of fandom!
November 27, 2009, 9:47 pmChris McKitterick says:
Happy Birthday, Fred! Thank you for all the great stories and novels, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all the time you’ve spent here in Kansas. It’s been an honor getting to know you over the years. I wish you and Betty all the best.
Many more happy and healthy birthdays to you, Fred!
Chris
November 27, 2009, 10:31 pmSoumen says:
Here’s hoping you had a lovely Birthday, and sending you good wishes for the year. I also would like to send get well wishes to your wife, and your editor.
Your books have influenced me very much. Thank you.
If it’s of any interest, I’m based in Bangalore, India.
November 27, 2009, 11:23 pmStefan Jones says:
Happy Birthday, and a speedy recovery to the both of you.
I look forward to reading more posts and for the eventual new edition of the autobio.
November 27, 2009, 11:56 pmJulia Jones says:
A belated happy birthday, and thank you for the gifts you’ve given us over the years.
November 29, 2009, 3:59 amjw says:
Happy Birthday! It’s amazing to be able to actually write to you, a writer who’s inspired and entertained me since I was a kid. Thank you for all the great stories.
November 30, 2009, 3:46 amPatricia says:
Happy belated birthday Mr. Pohl!
November 30, 2009, 5:20 pmSteve Gillett says:
Happy Birthday, Fred!
I mentioned very much liking _The Way the Future Was_ at Norwescon, ca. 1985, and I’m _really_ looking forward to the sequel!
November 30, 2009, 7:23 pmDavid G. Hartwell says:
Fred,
Happy Birthday! I hope to have the good luck to buy you another dinner this coming year.
David
November 30, 2009, 8:22 pmAlan Rodgers says:
Happy birthday, Fred. And that\’s a very cool dog!
November 30, 2009, 9:06 pmAlan Dean Foster says:
Hi Fred;
December 1, 2009, 8:49 amIf I know you at all you’ve probably computed that based on the progressive slowing of the Earth’s orbit you’re actually only 89.9889 years old, all this is premature, aliens are responsible, and you’re working on a story about it. I look forward to the result.
Just as I look forward to another happy and entertaining year for you and Betty.
Your caregiver is lovely. Ask her to tell you a bedtime story about Baron Ungern-Sternberg.
Best through eternity,
Alan
Michael J. Walsh says:
Happy Birthday!
And keep on writing!
December 1, 2009, 9:44 amDavid Eversole says:
Happy Birthday, Mister Pohl, and thanks for the many hours (days! years!) of reading pleasure.
December 3, 2009, 7:14 pmJohn Armstrong says:
I missed the proper date but the sentiment is appropriate any time. Thank you so much for all these books and stories, Fred. I’ve been reading you since I found a box of my dad’s SF book club editions in a box in the attic. I was nine - I’m 53 now.
December 14, 2009, 1:26 amMany, many more and may your birthday wishes come true.