Turn Left At Thursday

by Frederik Pohl

An Excellent Copy - - 476K - Mass Market Paperback - Signed By The Author On The Title Page. Signature Only. Book Is In Near Fine Condition. Boards Have The Tiniest Bit Of Shelf Wear. Page Edges Have Been Turned, Very Light Wear. Interior Is Clean And Legible. Not Remaindered.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Collections, Fiction

159 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 12, 1969

About the author

Frederik George Pohl, Jr. was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine IF winning the Hugo for IF three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and multiple Nebula Awards. He became a Nebula Grand Master in 1993.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good collection of Pohl's short fiction that originally appeared in Galaxy Magazine (and one from If) from 1958-1960. Later known primarily as a novelist, Pohl was a master of the shorter forms to satirize as well as to entertain, particularly in the 1950s and 60s. My favorites were Mars by Moonlight, The Richest Man in Levittown, The Martian in the Attic, and I Plinglot, Who You? Curiously, the front cover proclaims the book to contain "3 Novelettes and 3 Stories by Frederik Pohl," yet there are seven works of fiction included. I guess they made too tight of a turn...

[Michael]

7 Stories:

Das dritte Vergehen
Third Offense

Die Verhassten
The Hated

Der reichste Mann in Levittown
The richest Man in Levittown

Die Wunderlampe
The Martian in the Attic

Ich Plinglot, wer du?
I Plinglot, who you?

Die sieben Todsünden
The seven deadly Virtues

Mondschein auf dem Mars
Mars by Moonlight

[Joe Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an odd little collection... the back of the book, in bold, red letters, opines 'Frederik Pohl is a very fine fellow'. Not much about the stories at all. Then there's the fact that on the front cover, back, cover, and inside cover, it says 'original stories - not a reprint' It then references the magazines the stories were first published in. It also calls 3 of the stories 'novelettes'... assuming they mean the longest 3, the 3rd is only 25 pages... I'm not sure how that qualifies as a 'novellette'

Marketing oddities aside, it's a good collection.

Mars by Moonlight - the longest (44 pages) and my least favorite. It's got a great hook, we learn about the life of a convict on Mars, where no one knows what crime they committed, since their memories get erased before they go to the colony. There's an interesting cast of characters, too...unfortunately, it reads like the first 3 chapters of a novel, with no particular ending or resolution, only the tease of further mystery... I hate that!

Richest man in Leavittown(Previously published as 'the Bitterest Pill' - A guy wins the lottery, and among the new 'friends' looking to get him to 'invest' is his wife's ex-husband, who claims to have unlocked the secret to human memory. Awesome ending to this one.. probably my favorite.

Seven Deadly Virtues - Venus is held together by strict protocol and rigorous social conditioning, and to deviate from that is to become Nobody. When an average workers steals the wife of a mean boss, he's in big trouble, unless he can prove the boss is a crook. Not a bad story, but could definitely have benefited from more space and detail. At least it had a definite beginning, middle and end.

Martian in the Attic -- Blackmail is really hard to do.. but if the target has a Martian hostage in his attic as a slave, isn't it worth it? Pohl definitely is far better at these shorter stories (at least in this collection) than the longer ones.

Third Offense -- An interesting look at prison and how it changes you, and just how sneaky punishments can be.

The Hated -- Probably the darkest view of space travel I've read... made me a little sad. Well written and interesting, though.

I, Plinglot, Who You? The Alderanians are trying to get the US and the Soviet Union to blow each other up, by telling each side the other has their high tech weapons... will it work? Or are humans a bit too smart for that?

Lots of interesting social commentary in a very short span of pages... lots of stuff to make you think. That's what sci-fi is all about really. While I didn't love every story, I'd definitely highly recommend the collection just for the subject matter and the writing (which is really good).

[Tbfrank · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of seven stories, all but one appearing in Galaxy, the lone exception in IF. Originally published in 1958, 59, and 60, two I'd read before. The stories include two invasions by extra-terrestrials; a human tempted by alien super-knowledge; a stab at colonizing Venus; the risks connected with a perfect memory; the human cost of exploring space; and a time-travel tale with an interesting twist - sending law-breakers into the past instead of jail, varying the length of time and destination according to the offence and number of past convictions. Representative of the social and political climate of the time, the stories demonstrate the scope of Pohl's writing if not prime examples of his skill.

[Kaiju Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

While none of the stories here had a WOW factor, nor did they have really any biting social commentary or even that sort of weirdness golden age scifi sometimes has, they also weren't boring or hard to read. I'd consider this an almost relaxing book of short stories. Each tale reads quickly and easily, has a strong plot and well-defined characters, and left me mostly satisfied. But in fairness, I likely won't remember a single one of them. That said, this is better than both recent volumes of Asimov stories I read, and slightly better than the last collection of Ellison I read (Nine Tomorrows, The Winds of Change, and A Touch of Infinity, respectively). Ellison though I likely may remember, as there's an edginess there that this volume would have greatly benefited from.

[Nicholas George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inventive, perceptive, artful. Pohl's short stories usually have a surprise twist at the end, but they haven't aged well (people living as they usually do on planets like Venus and Mars?). Still, these do provide some entertainment.

[Sue Seeger · Rating 4 out of 5]

An early read that got me really excited about sci-fi.

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I Plinglot, who you? Interesting and well developed. Old school sci-fi of the sort I enjoy.