The Case Against Tomorrow

by Frederik Pohl

Ballantine #U2175, 1965. Second Printing in Fine condition. Cover by Richard Powers.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Speculative Fiction

150 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1956

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

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed Pohl's Gateway and so picked up this cool old copy from my work's library sale. Honestly I just don't see these are worth reading. A few of the books had a haha moment or an interesting idea. However, overall weak prose, only a few interesting ideas. Gateway was written several decades after these were published in magazines so it appears his style improved.

[Scott Holstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this little collection of short stories by Frederik Pohl. It's hard to believe it was published in 1957, because it has a much newer feeling to it. Indeed, it seemed to me like Pohl had been reading some Philip K Dick, because there were some plot twists that reminded me of Dick in his own short stories. I loved Pohl's anticipation of a worl in the not too distant future, much like Dick, and of the robots that were so important in his work and their interactions with our world. I'm only giving it a four of out five stars because it didn't exactly blow my mind. It was a very enjoyable read though....

[Mindex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book out of a box that had been packed for quite a while. I had never read it but at this point it sounded interesting. The stories, though written long ago, still hold up. They are a unique look at what the world could be headed toward.

The consuming nature of the people in the first story was particularly intriguing, where you get to work only when your status rises.

Definitely recommend it if you can find it.

[SciFi Pinay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may be unpopular to say, but I enjoy the #scifishortstories by a classic scifi writer more than the writer's novels. A perfect example IMO is Frederik Pohl -- while the "Heechee Saga" has his most popular work "Gateway" but with arguably subpar sequels, I've come across this and "Day Million", as well as entries in other anthologies, and his ideas unforgettably stand out in my mind. He's like a more literarily rebellious Asimov with endings that are jawdropping/shocking to me, or at least for #classicsciencefiction standards. The world building and writing style can be antiquated (just a little more tolerable than Cordwainer Smith's), but I've never come across anything politically incorrect so far, and the sociopolitical commentaries and/or premises are profound and on par with other great writers. Not every story is a mindblowing winner, but they're all fairly decent:

The Midas Plague: Orwellian take on overconsumption thanks to overproduction by robots, where poverty is wealth and wealth is poverty

The Census Takers: every citizen, legal/illegal immigrant etc is accounted for in the books, except for this one guy who claims he's "from the middle earth"

The Candle Lighter: an Earthman ambassador must make sure that every sickly Martian that needs to die goes through death; Pohl is aware of the anthropomorphic/anthropocentric aliens of his contemporaries so his version of Martians is significantly more sophisticated IMO

The Celebrated No-Hit Inning: time travel + robots + baseball

Wapshot's Demon: a pragmatic, business minded but murderous take on the principle of the "Maxwell's Demon"

My Lady Green Sleeves: surprisingly complex debate on the pros and cons of rehabilitating convicted inmates; "...men are equal; but we can't admit that all men are the *same*."

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mobius strip cover... which seems apt to me.

1. Midas Plague - novelette, skipped, been anthologized & read before
2. Census Taker - ditto, even more bleak
3. The Candle-Lighter - interesting Martians, told from the view of an idealistic diplomat
4. The Celebrated No-Hit Inning - funny, with time travel
5. Wapshot's Demon - ask the oracle only yes/no questions and you're still in trouble
6. My Lady Green Sleeves - novelette, longer examination of Pohl's common theme of equality vs. classes, set during a prison riot.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonable collection of some of Pohl's early works (although have to cope with the fact that he doesn't write women well). The best story is The Midas Plague which is a great satire on consumerist culture.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

More excellent vintage sci fi. This was a great collection of short stories.

[SciFiOne · Rating 3 out of 5]

1982 grade C