Introduction
Autobiography is a form of dissipation that should not be permitted to mortal man. It inflames the ego and wrenches the organs of nostalgia. I love it.
Since this whole book is in a sense an introduction I will be brief here, but I do want to express gratitude to a number of people:
to the cousin (I have forgotten which one) who gave me a copy of Wonder Stories when I was ten, and started the whole thing;
to Dirk Wylie, the first fan I ever met other than myself, who showed me I was not alone;
to George Gordon Clark, Science Fiction League Member No. 1, who started the Brooklyn Science Fiction League chapter and introduced me to organized fandom;
to T. O'Conor Sloane, Ph.D., editor of Amazing Stories, magnificently white-bearded and imposing, who was the buyer for my first sale;
to F. Orline Tremaine, editor of Astounding, who rejected every story I showed him but bought me a lunch for every bounce and tried to tell me what magazine publishing was like;
to John W. Campbell, Jr., his successor, who also rejected (almost) everything, but by example showed me how to be an editor;
to Robert O. Erisman, editor of Marvel and Dynamic Science Fiction, who told me how to get a job as an editor;
to Rogers Terrill, bright, kind man, brilliant editor and long-time friend, who hired me;
to a thousand or more fellow fans and fellow writers, who reinforced my enthusiasm for science fiction and showed me how to write it; and, above all,
to Sharon Jarvis and her masters at Doubleday, for permitting me these unwholesome pleasures.
FREDERIK POHL
Red Bank, New Jersey
January, 1975