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EUROPE'S MOST VISITED SF/F WEB SITE |
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The Space Merchants by Frederick Pohl
and Cyril M. Kornbluth check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
I was wondering when Gollancz would be adding this one to their Masterworks list. Long over due.
The fact that both Pohl and Kornbluth are also both superb storytellers enables this book to be taken at any level you want, be it SF, satire or both. The fact that you can still spot things done in this book that still applies today is probably a testament that things haven't changed much in the 51 years since it was written. Copyrighter Mitch Courtenay is told by his company to build a campaign to sell volunteers to colonise and terraform Venus. A tough task considering that it is also the biggest hottest hellhole in the Solar System. It isn't helped that he is suddenly the target of an opposing advertising company and the Consies who want to conserve Venus rather than export back to Earth. If you ever wanted a textbook example of how to write an SF story then this one is really there. T he level of depth will have you savouring every word. Granted the ending ties up the threads rather too conveniently, the action is intensified again in the sequel, 'The Merchants War'. Hopefully, Gollancz will consider reprinting it as well. GF Willmetts
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OTHER REVIEWS - August 2003
Books Cities edited by Peter Crowther Language In Thought And Action by SI Hayakawa The Space Merchants by Frederick Pohl The Longest Way Home by Robert Silverberg The Light Ages by Ian R. Macleod Latro In The Mist by Gene Wolfe Righteous Blood by Cliff Burns The Other Side Of The Sky by Arthur C Clarke Looking For Mr Nobody by Sue Rann The Wood Wife by Terri Windling Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey Hidden Empire by Kevin J Anderson Infinity Plus Two edited by Keith Brooke and Keith Gevers T2 Book 3: The Future War by SM Stirling Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar And Grille by Steven Brust Videos and DVDs Crime Traveller Volume 1 and 2
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If
ever a book deserves to be called a classic then 'The Space Merchants'
has to be considered high on that list.
To
top it all, the title has little to do with outer space but advertising
space. It doesn't necessarily follow that this story is totally
SF cos both authors deemed it more as a satire on the advertising
industry where they were making their living at the time and getting
thoroughly, for the want of a better word, pissed off by it. 
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