It is no exaggeration to say that Frederik Pohl was one of the giants of science fiction. With a career spanning 75 years, he was a creative force second to none. A writer, editor and a source of inspiration. He is probably best known for his 1977 Novel Gateway. I’m currently listening to the Audiobook version of Gateway as I write this and highly recommend it. The Tunnel Under the World is the first Frederik Pohl short story to feature in Incredible Science Fiction Amazing Tales from the ’50s and Beyond but it certainly won’t be the last. My brother is currently in the process of narrating one of Pohl’s many collaborations with C. M. Kornbluth for Volume 3.
The Tunnel Under the World by Frederik Pohl
The virtualisation of human consciousness, whole brain emulation, robots that don’t know they are robots, Groundhog Day-style eternal recurrence. This story is quite literally stuffed with tropes and ideas way before their time, that are still being thrashed out on TV Shows like Westworld at the end of the second decade of the twentieth century. Nice twist ending to this story as well.
Here is a five-minute clip from my Audible Narration of The Tunnel Under the World by Frederik Pohl. This is available on the Audible Edition of Incredible Science Fiction: Amazing Tales from the ’50s and Beyond Volume Two.