I first read The Space Merchants as a serial in Galaxy around 1961. The Space Merchants is a 1952 science fiction novel by American Science Fiction writers Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. Originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine as a serial entitled Gavy Planet, the novel was first published as a single volume in 1953, and has sold heavily ever since.
The Space Merchants was the first Science Fiction novel I had ever read that mixed business and sociological elements into a plot about the Future. I was astounded by the world C. M. Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl created where marketing ruled (even more than today!).
The Space Merchants deals satirically with a hyper-developed consumerism, seen through the eyes of an advertising executive. In 1984, Frederik Pohl published a sequel, The Merchants’ War. In 2012, The Space Merchants was included in the Library of America omnibus American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1953–1956 (you can read my review here). Pohl revised the original novel in 2011 with added material and more contemporary references.
In 1955, Kornbluth and Pohl published another SF sociological novel, Gladiator-At-Law, that gave new meaning to “court battle.” I plan on rereading Gladiator-At-Law for a FFB in 2024. Sadly, the early death of Kornbluth brought an end to this fabulous SF team that produced so many great short stories and ground-breaking SF novels. If you haven’t read this SF classic, ask Santa to bring you a copy! GRADE: A
One of my favourite!
I first read the novel in German in the late 50s, there were fans who worked as translators, nice people,
Fun Fact:
Later I found an earlier edition in a pulp series, very cheap paper. Now these pulps had only 64 pages (in a larger format, so around two book pages corresponded to one pulp page. But still the novel was too long – so they just reduced, left out much of the story’s ending!
Wolf, ACE Books sometimes cut novels to fit their format for the ACE Doubles series. And changed the titles of some of the books, too!
I read this in a later Ballantine printing, sometime in the 1967-68 range. I believe I read GLADIATOR-AT-LAW around then, too, but memory is vague. I didn’t know that Pohl revised the book in 2011. Did he really need to?
Fred, I have read the “updated” 2011 edition of THE SPACE MERCHANTS but I intend to just to see what Pohl changed/added.
“If you haven’t read this SF classic, ask Santa to bring you a copy”
But I already asked Santa for a pony!
Dan, is the pony called “Tennessee”? As you might have guessed, I’m on a reviewing “Streak” right now. Check the blog posts next week!
Yes, a classic, but hardly forgotten.
True…but A Whole Lot of F”F”Bs are not close to being forgotten over the years.
Todd, sometimes I’m not stressing “forgotten” but jogging memories of great books that don’t get enough notice today.
Jeff, I haven’t read a Pohl/Kornbuth novel in decades. I’m hoping to fix that in 2024.
Finger-slip?–or you read GRAVY PLANET in GALAXY back issues in ’62?
Todd, I was trying to assemble a complete set of GALAXY in the early 1960s (and, I did! The complete set now resides at SUNY AT BUFFALO’s Special Collections). And, of course, I read the serial version–GRAVY PLANET in GALAXY–before I read THE SPACE MERCHANTS in paperback.
Ever read Pohl’s PRACTICAL POLITICS? I’ve been meaning to. (And Kornbluth’s THE MAN OF COLD RAGES.)
Todd, I think I have both of those books around here someplace. I’m hoping to get more organized in 2024!
Todd, I’ve read both. I found Pohl’s book far more approachable than Heinlein’s TAKE BACK YOUR GOVERNMENT. The Kornbluth was an interesting read and deserving of reprint.
I would expect no other contrast, Jerry, between the Pohl and the Heinlein…more sensible, as well…and the Kornbluth has always sounded promising. Thanks, gents…hope your copies aren’t too hard to find, George.
Enjoyed the Pohl/Kornbluth novels when I read them in the sixties. Remember very little about them.
Steve, I was bowled over when I read the Pohl/Kornbluth SF novels as a kid. Rereading THE SPACE MERCHANTS now motivates me to reread GLADIATOR-AT-LAW.