Gateway
By Frederik Pohl
Reviewed by Ted Gioia
Science fiction is often accused of stealing the basic plots of
cowboy stories and other pulp fiction genres, then simply
transferring them to outer space. What is Dune, according to this
perspective, but a story of uprooted settlers finding a new home
in the untamed and inhospitable open spaces where few other
cowpokes dare to go? The protagonist Michael Valentine Smith,
in Stranger in a Strange Land is quaint and provocative with his
different ways . . . just like Owen Wister’s The Virginian, huh?
And who hasn’t seen the similarity between the final chapters of
Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, and that great John Wayne
movie The Alamo?
Well, maybe not. . . .
But Frederik Pohl makes no bones
about what he is up to in Gateway.
His characters are all prospectors
searching for hidden riches in remote
and dangerous locales – just like The
Treasure of Sierra Madre, but
expanded to galactic proportions.
Gateway, a pear-shaped rock in space,
is the last safe outpost before heading
off into the unknown. Some prospectors
come back rich, but many never come
back at all.
But Pohl has created an interesting twist to give new flavor to this
old tale. The prospectors in his novel rely on nearly one
thousand small spaceships left behind by the vanished Heechee
civilization. They don’t know much about the Heechees, but their
spaceships still seem to work . . . more or less. No one knows how
to steer one of these contraptions, but if you fiddle around with
the controls it will take you to one of the Heechee’s “pre-set
destinations” and back home again. (Think of these destinations
as akin to the stations you program into your car radio – push a
button and you’re off!) The pre-sets were created eons ago, and
sometimes they just take you into a black hole or some other ugly
cosmic disaster zone, from which you will never return. But
occasionally they bring the prospectors to a place where there is
cool Heechee technology that can be brought home and
commercialized.
With this elegant and clever concept serving as a foundation, Pohl
tells the tale of Robinette ‘Rob’ Broadhead, an aspiring prospector
who is sometimes cowardly, sometimes greedy, often evasive and
defensive, but never dull. We follow Broadhead on a series of
adventures, all in search of that big gold vein that will make him
fabulously wealthy.
Some of the trappings of this story – especially the recurring
parodies of Freudian psychoanalysis played out by Broadhead
and a ‘virtual reality’ shrink – have not aged well. But in other
ways, Pohl is quite daring. The use of flashbacks and unexpected
shifts in the chronology are very deftly handled. Pohl takes a
huge risk in letting us know toward the beginning of his story how
it will end, but still keeps us on tenterhooks by leaving us guessing
the reasons and specifics, which only are revealed toward the
close of his narrative. Pohl’s use of sidebar exhibits throughout
the course of the novel is also effective and amusing.
Just a space western? Perhaps. But this is one of the better
examples of the genre. Gateway is smartly paced and written
with just the right touch of parody and light humor. Just as movie
lovers still cherish The Treasure of Sierra Madre, sci-fi fans will
continue to enjoy this space-age prospecting tale for decades to
come. Certainly the sci-fi establishment gave it the thumbs up.
Gateway sweeped the major honors, winning the Hugo in 1978,
the Nebula in 1977, and the John W. Campbell Award in 1978.
By Frederik Pohl
Reviewed by Ted Gioia
Science fiction is often accused of stealing the basic plots of
cowboy stories and other pulp fiction genres, then simply
transferring them to outer space. What is Dune, according to this
perspective, but a story of uprooted settlers finding a new home
in the untamed and inhospitable open spaces where few other
cowpokes dare to go? The protagonist Michael Valentine Smith,
in Stranger in a Strange Land is quaint and provocative with his
different ways . . . just like Owen Wister’s The Virginian, huh?
And who hasn’t seen the similarity between the final chapters of
Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, and that great John Wayne
movie The Alamo?
Well, maybe not. . . .
But Frederik Pohl makes no bones
about what he is up to in Gateway.
His characters are all prospectors
searching for hidden riches in remote
and dangerous locales – just like The
Treasure of Sierra Madre, but
expanded to galactic proportions.
Gateway, a pear-shaped rock in space,
is the last safe outpost before heading
off into the unknown. Some prospectors
come back rich, but many never come
back at all.
But Pohl has created an interesting twist to give new flavor to this
old tale. The prospectors in his novel rely on nearly one
thousand small spaceships left behind by the vanished Heechee
civilization. They don’t know much about the Heechees, but their
spaceships still seem to work . . . more or less. No one knows how
to steer one of these contraptions, but if you fiddle around with
the controls it will take you to one of the Heechee’s “pre-set
destinations” and back home again. (Think of these destinations
as akin to the stations you program into your car radio – push a
button and you’re off!) The pre-sets were created eons ago, and
sometimes they just take you into a black hole or some other ugly
cosmic disaster zone, from which you will never return. But
occasionally they bring the prospectors to a place where there is
cool Heechee technology that can be brought home and
commercialized.
With this elegant and clever concept serving as a foundation, Pohl
tells the tale of Robinette ‘Rob’ Broadhead, an aspiring prospector
who is sometimes cowardly, sometimes greedy, often evasive and
defensive, but never dull. We follow Broadhead on a series of
adventures, all in search of that big gold vein that will make him
fabulously wealthy.
Some of the trappings of this story – especially the recurring
parodies of Freudian psychoanalysis played out by Broadhead
and a ‘virtual reality’ shrink – have not aged well. But in other
ways, Pohl is quite daring. The use of flashbacks and unexpected
shifts in the chronology are very deftly handled. Pohl takes a
huge risk in letting us know toward the beginning of his story how
it will end, but still keeps us on tenterhooks by leaving us guessing
the reasons and specifics, which only are revealed toward the
close of his narrative. Pohl’s use of sidebar exhibits throughout
the course of the novel is also effective and amusing.
Just a space western? Perhaps. But this is one of the better
examples of the genre. Gateway is smartly paced and written
with just the right touch of parody and light humor. Just as movie
lovers still cherish The Treasure of Sierra Madre, sci-fi fans will
continue to enjoy this space-age prospecting tale for decades to
come. Certainly the sci-fi establishment gave it the thumbs up.
Gateway sweeped the major honors, winning the Hugo in 1978,
the Nebula in 1977, and the John W. Campbell Award in 1978.
| conceptual fiction |
Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to reviews)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way
Comes
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's
Stone
Saramago, José
Blindness
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Verne, Jules:
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules:
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Ted Gioia's personal web site
SF Site
Jospeh Peschel
The Misread City
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction and
its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials
from publishers, authors,
publicists or other parties.
A Reading List
(with links to reviews)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way
Comes
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's
Stone
Saramago, José
Blindness
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Verne, Jules:
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules:
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Ted Gioia's personal web site
SF Site
Jospeh Peschel
The Misread City
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction and
its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials
from publishers, authors,
publicists or other parties.