THE SPACE MERCHANTS was not only one of the best-reviewed
science-fiction novels in 1953, it was one of the most widely reviewed.
Favorable notices appeared in journals ranging from _Printer’s Ink_ to
science-fiction magazines, from _Tide_ magazine to the great national
dailies. That novel firmly established Messrs. Pohl and Kornbluth as a
team, although they had collaborated before under pen names and had
established reputations singly. Their new novel, SEARCH THE SKY, has the
same wit, the same passages of genuinely beautiful writing and—what is
most important and most characteristic—the same underlying concern for
human beings, whether they are on future Madison Avenues or in the outer
galaxies.
This is Mr. Kornbluth’s seventh published novel. Two were written in
collaboration with Judith Merril under the pen name “Cyril Judd”; one
was the notable TAKEOFF (Doubleday, 1952); one was not science fiction;
one was his last collaborative effort with Mr. Pohl; and his most recent
was THE SYNDIC (Doubleday, 1953). Mr. Kornbluth, still under thirty, now
lives in an upstate New York farmhouse with his wife and child where he
devotes himself to writing.
This is Mr. Pohl’s sixth published book. Two of them were reprint
collections which he edited and two others were the now-celebrated first
and second volumes of STAR SCIENCE FICTION STORIES, collections of new
stories published by Ballantine Books. At 34, Mr. Pohl lives in a large
old house on the Jersey shore—“five rooms for me, four for my wife and
two apiece for the children.” He has three more books forthcoming in
1953: two anthologies and his first solo novel.
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