The Engineer by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth - Short Sci Fi Story From the 1950s

Published: May 20, 2024, 6:40 p.m.

The Big Wheels of tomorrow will be men who can see the big picture. But blowouts have small beginnings\u2026 The Engineer by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth, that\u2019s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.


Your support of our podcast is amazing. We\u2019ve received a lot of emails recently, this is one of them, \u201cI've recently discovered your podcast and it has been a God send. I have an hour commute to work every day and these stories are the perfect entertainment to keep me alert on the drive. I sometimes listened to full-length audio books but those can get quite expensive. When you related your story of using this platform to help care for your wife after you are gone, it touched me deeply. I recently lost my precious wife and I can understand the love and caring you have for yours. I'd love to buy you a coffee or 3, but for the life of me I can't find the link.\u201d


We gave him the link and were shocked to discover that he bought 40 coffees!! Thank you! If you\u2019d like to buy us a coffee there\u2019s a link in the description.

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Today\u2019s story was written by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth. Pohl has been on the podcast before but this marks Kornbluth\u2019s debut. Born and raised in New York he learned to read by the age of three, wrote his own stories by the time he was seven, graduated from high school at thirteen, received a CCNY scholarship at fourteen, and was "thrown out for leading a student strike" without graduating. As a teenager, he became a member of the Futurians, an influential group of science fiction fans and writers. That\u2019s where he met and became friends with Frederik Pohl, Donald A. Wollheim, Robert Lowndes, and his future wife Mary Byers.


He wrote a handful of stories before the war and then penned 8 novels and more than 80 short stories.


Kornbluth was scheduled to interview for the position of editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He was running late because he had to shovel snow from his driveway and ran to meet his train, he suffered a fatal heart attack on the platform. He was only 34 years old.


Today\u2019s story can be found on page 112 of Infinity Science Fiction in February 1956, The Engineer by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth\u2026


Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, Anybody who wanted to escape death could, by paying a very simple price\u2014denial of life! The Moon is Green by Fritz Leiber.


\u2764\ufe0f Thanks to All Our Listeners Who Bought Us a Coffee

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