“The Gold at the Starbow’s End” by Frederik Pohl is story #24 of 52 from The World Treasury of Science Fiction edited by David G. Hartwell (1989), an anthology my short story club is group reading. Stories are discussed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” first appeared in Analog (March 1972). It’s currently available in Platinum Pohl: The Collected Best Stories. Right now the Kindle edition is only $3.99. The story is also available as a standalone novella for $2.99 for the Kindle edition, but Kindle Unlimited members can read it for free.

I was surprised to discover that I had never read “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” before, especially since it’s such a great read. I never knew how involved Frederik Pohl was in the history of science fiction until I read his memoir, The Way the Future Was. I haven’t read much of Pohl’s fiction, but whenever the reading group covers one of his stories I’m always impressed. I highly recommend his memoir.

“The Gold at the Starbow’s End” was a finalist for a Hugo and Nebula and came in #1 in the 1973 Locus Poll for best novella. It’s not widely reprinted, probably because it’s so long, but it was included in Wollheinm’s The 1973 World’s Best Annual Best. The World Treasury of Science Fiction from 1989 is the last major anthology that remembers it, which is a shame since the story is so much fun to read.

I’m disappointed there is no audiobook of this story. Before I actually discuss the story, I’d like to talk about that. I love listening to science fiction short stories read by professional narrators. A great reader can make the story come alive in ways my poor internal reading voice can’t. Unfortunately, short stories are the red-headed stepchildren of the literary world. They are lucky if they get reprinted at all.

In the science fiction world, short stories get treated better than other genres — well, it used to be that way. The best stories were often regularly reprinted in retrospective anthologies. Those anthologies don’t get published very often anymore. In times past, there was a huge retrospective anthology about every five years, so over the course of twenty years most of the best science fiction short stories from the past were reprinted. This gave each new generation of readers a chance to read the classics and gain a sense of the evolution of the genre. Unfortunately, those huge retrospective anthologies didn’t stay in print (except for The Science Fiction Hall of Fame volumes 1, 2a, and 2b).

What I would love to see is a ten-volume The Best Science Fiction Short Stories of the 20th Century that would stay in print as printed books, ebooks, and audiobooks. Those volumes should collect these 251 stories. I would buy all ten volumes in all three formats.

Like many classic science fiction stories, “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” is about transcendence, especially the kind readers of Astounding Science-Fiction in the 1940s loved. The story is told through two alternating narratives. First first, are messages sent from the first interstellar mission to Alpha Centauri, crewed by six men and women. The second follows Dieter von Knefhausen, a Dr. Strangelove-like character who advises the president on the mission. Knefhausen designed the mission so the highly intelligent crew wouldn’t have much to do during their ten-year voyage but study. He hoped such isolation and focus would cause them to leap ahead of current scientific knowledge.

While civilization on Earth delines during the ten-year period, civilization on the spaceship Constitution evolves dramatically. “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” reminds me of children in “Mimsy Were the Borogoves,” More Than Human, Childhood’s End, and Valentine Michael Smith of Stranger in a Strange Land. Knefhausen not only reminded me of Dr. Strangelove, but Henry Kissinger. The politics in the Washington side of the story devolve so greatly, that it reminded me of “The Marching Morons” by C. M. Kornbluth.

The Earth side narrative is obvious satire, but what about the spaceship side of the story? It represents the hope of SF fans. Knowing Pohl’s other work, I have to assume it’s also satire, even though it plays up to some of the most treasured ideas in science fiction.

I can’t decide if “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” isn’t Pohl preaching the gospel of science fiction or making fun of it. Science fiction fans have always wanted to be slans. It’s surprising how much Campbell and Heinlein wanted transcendence in the 1940s, and Clarke wanted it in the 1950s and 1960s. Was Pohl continuing the dream in this story, or turning on it?

“The Gold at the Starbow’s End” is so cynical that it’s hard to believe it’s aspirational. And am I being cynical when I wonder if certain science fiction writers like Pohl and Bester are secretly making fun of science fiction by pushing the very emotional buttons in their readers that they themselves are sneering at? Pohl and Bester were way smarter than most of us.

“The Gold at the Starbow’s End” is an outstanding piece of writing on Pohl’s part. Working out how to convey Human 2.0 behavior isn’t easy, and Pohl does an impressive job here. The Washington/Knefhausen side of the story is as equally worked out, revealing the egocentric madness of people in power. I wish Stanley Kubrick could have filmed “The Gold at the Starbow’s End.” It would be a combination of Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey. And I have to wonder if Pohl wasn’t using both as inspiration.

James Wallace Harris, 6/29/23