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Pythias
PYTHIAS appeared in the February 1955 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.
Sure, Larry Connaught saved my life—but it was how he did it that forced me to murder him!
Frederik George Pohl, Jr. (born November 26, 1919) is 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.
Pohl's writing career began in the late 1930s. For the first fifteen years of his writing career, he used Pohl's first published piece was a poem in the October, 1937 issue of Amazing Stories credited to "Elton Andrews."
From 1939 to 1943, Pohl was the editor of two pulp magazines - Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories.[3] Stories by Pohl often appeared in these magazines, but never under his own name. Work written in collaboration with Cyril M. Kornbluth was credited to S.D. Gottesman or Scott Mariner; other collaborative work (with any combination of Kornbluth, Dirk Wylie or Robert A.W. Lownes) was credited to Paul Dennis Lavond. For Pohl's solo work, stories were credited to James MacCreigh (or, for one story only, Warren F. Howard.)
In his autobiography, Pohl says that he stopped editing the two magazines at roughly the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Regardless, works by "Gottesman," "Lavond," and "MacCreigh" continued to appear in various SF pulp magazines throughout the 1940s.
During World War II, Pohl served in the U.S. Army from April 1943 until November 1945, rising to sergeant as an air corps weatherman. After training in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Colorado, he primarily was stationed in Italy.
Pohl started his career as a literary agent in 1937, but it was a sideline for him until after WWII, when he began doing it full time. He ended up "representing more than half the successful writers in science fiction"--for a short time, he was the only agent Isaac Asimov ever had—though, in the end it was a failure for him as his agenting business went bankrupt in the early 1950s.
Pohl began publishing material under his own name in the early 1950s. He collaborated with friend and fellow Futurian Cyril M. Kornbluth, co-authoring a number of short stories and several novels, including a dystopian satire of a world ruled by the advertising agencies, The Space Merchants (a belated sequel, The Merchants' War [1984] was written by Pohl alone, after Kornbluth's death). This should not to be confused with Pohl's The Merchants of Venus, an unconnected 1972 novella which includes biting satire on runaway free market capitalism and first introduced the Heechee.
Though the pen-names of "Gottesman", "Lavond" and "MacCreigh" were retired by the early 1950s, Pohl still occasionally used pseudonyms even after he began to publish work under his real name. These occasional pseudonyms, all of which date from the early 1950s to the early 1960s, included Charles Satterfield, Paul Flehr, Ernst Mason, Jordan Park (two collaborative novels with Kornbluth) and Edson McCann (one collaborative novel with Lester del Rey). ---From Wikipedia
Sure, Larry Connaught saved my life—but it was how he did it that forced me to murder him!
Frederik George Pohl, Jr. (born November 26, 1919) is 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.
Pohl's writing career began in the late 1930s. For the first fifteen years of his writing career, he used Pohl's first published piece was a poem in the October, 1937 issue of Amazing Stories credited to "Elton Andrews."
From 1939 to 1943, Pohl was the editor of two pulp magazines - Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories.[3] Stories by Pohl often appeared in these magazines, but never under his own name. Work written in collaboration with Cyril M. Kornbluth was credited to S.D. Gottesman or Scott Mariner; other collaborative work (with any combination of Kornbluth, Dirk Wylie or Robert A.W. Lownes) was credited to Paul Dennis Lavond. For Pohl's solo work, stories were credited to James MacCreigh (or, for one story only, Warren F. Howard.)
In his autobiography, Pohl says that he stopped editing the two magazines at roughly the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Regardless, works by "Gottesman," "Lavond," and "MacCreigh" continued to appear in various SF pulp magazines throughout the 1940s.
During World War II, Pohl served in the U.S. Army from April 1943 until November 1945, rising to sergeant as an air corps weatherman. After training in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Colorado, he primarily was stationed in Italy.
Pohl started his career as a literary agent in 1937, but it was a sideline for him until after WWII, when he began doing it full time. He ended up "representing more than half the successful writers in science fiction"--for a short time, he was the only agent Isaac Asimov ever had—though, in the end it was a failure for him as his agenting business went bankrupt in the early 1950s.
Pohl began publishing material under his own name in the early 1950s. He collaborated with friend and fellow Futurian Cyril M. Kornbluth, co-authoring a number of short stories and several novels, including a dystopian satire of a world ruled by the advertising agencies, The Space Merchants (a belated sequel, The Merchants' War [1984] was written by Pohl alone, after Kornbluth's death). This should not to be confused with Pohl's The Merchants of Venus, an unconnected 1972 novella which includes biting satire on runaway free market capitalism and first introduced the Heechee.
Though the pen-names of "Gottesman", "Lavond" and "MacCreigh" were retired by the early 1950s, Pohl still occasionally used pseudonyms even after he began to publish work under his real name. These occasional pseudonyms, all of which date from the early 1950s to the early 1960s, included Charles Satterfield, Paul Flehr, Ernst Mason, Jordan Park (two collaborative novels with Kornbluth) and Edson McCann (one collaborative novel with Lester del Rey). ---From Wikipedia
42 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 14, 2010
7 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Frederik Pohl
1,151 books1,060 followersFrederik 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.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 1, 2016
Finding a lot of older sci-fi shorts out there. Pohl is of the Asimov generation and I have to say he surprised me. I did not see the plot going where it did. He had me wondering and wandering my own mind trying to grasp what it was he was playing at and those damn 23 words...
Fantastic read!
Fantastic read!
January 19, 2022
* This is not a review. Just something I found that made me laugh*
Came across this story when I was researching on the phrase - "absolute power corrupts absolutely." After reading the story, I did some research on why Pohl had chosen Pythias as his title. The highlight of this entire experience was reading the wikipedia story of damon and pythias.
Pythias returns on the execution day of Damon ( in the nick of time, i mean where do you get friends like this, only in myths i guess) and Dionysus the tyrant - "So astonished by and pleased with their friendship, pardoned both men."
"It was also said that the tyrant then sought to become their third friend, but was denied."
I dont know how accurate this information is as it's cited on Wikipedia, but that sentence was hilarious as fuck.
Pythias and Damon basically pulled a 'you can't sit with us' on Dionysus.
Came across this story when I was researching on the phrase - "absolute power corrupts absolutely." After reading the story, I did some research on why Pohl had chosen Pythias as his title. The highlight of this entire experience was reading the wikipedia story of damon and pythias.
Pythias returns on the execution day of Damon ( in the nick of time, i mean where do you get friends like this, only in myths i guess) and Dionysus the tyrant - "So astonished by and pleased with their friendship, pardoned both men."
"It was also said that the tyrant then sought to become their third friend, but was denied."
I dont know how accurate this information is as it's cited on Wikipedia, but that sentence was hilarious as fuck.
Pythias and Damon basically pulled a 'you can't sit with us' on Dionysus.
August 14, 2021
Quick listening
A will written thriller murder mystery novella with two interesting will developed characters. The story line is set in jail where one of the characters is on his way to trial for killing the other character. I would recommend this novella to anyone looking for a quick read. Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening 🔰 2021 😮
A will written thriller murder mystery novella with two interesting will developed characters. The story line is set in jail where one of the characters is on his way to trial for killing the other character. I would recommend this novella to anyone looking for a quick read. Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening 🔰 2021 😮
June 13, 2023
Audiobook.
July 30, 2025
An interesting moral dilemma from Pohl.
May 10, 2021
An extra star for using "depreciating" instead of the vulgar deprecating.
January 6, 2014
Absolute power corrupts absolutely......or so the old adage goes. Is there any truth in it? If there is, who must decide and set the perimeters? What are the accepted rules of engagement? When 23 words can make you king of the world, do you have the right to utter them? Or prevent someone else from uttering them? This short story by Frederik Pohl explores these questions and supplies the reader with food for thought. If you think you’ll only get a snack, think again.
April 5, 2020
A witty short story which updates the Damon and Pythias myth for the science fiction age.
Once again friendship is given the ultimate test, this time with a different twist in the tale. Pohl topped it off with a pleasing punchline.
First published in Galaxy magazine, February 1955.
Once again friendship is given the ultimate test, this time with a different twist in the tale. Pohl topped it off with a pleasing punchline.
First published in Galaxy magazine, February 1955.
August 18, 2011
Who can be trusted with great power? Who decides? A short (short) story that grapples with these questions.
March 16, 2014
An anti-climax of a story !!! Hated it !!!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews