Frank Pournelle
EVERYTHING YOU WERE AFRAID TO KNOW ABOUT JERRY POURNELLE AND WERE AFRAID TO ASK
ROBERT BLOCH
When the Convention Committee approached me, I was incredulous.
“You mean you want me to write something about Jerry Pournelle?” I said.
“Why not?” they told me. “After all, you wrote about Norman Bates, didn’t you?”
I bow to their logic, but it’s not going to be easy. If you searched the wide world over you’d be hard-put to find two more dissimilar people than Jerry Pournelle and myself.
About the ·only way I can describe this uniquelygifted writer is in terms of our differences.
Professionally, Pournelle has all the qualifications which I lack. To begin with, I never attended college, and he did. As a result I’ve won no honors. But Pournelle has more degrees than a rectal thermometer.
He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1933, and just celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago. After a long and varied career during the most exciting years of the aerospace program, and a stint as a university professor, he began writing science fiction comparatively late in life as a mature adult. I started my professional writing at the age of seventeen, and haven’t matured yet.
Together with Pournelle’s colleagues, Arthur Clarke, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov, he subscribes to the Cartesian paradigm of “hard science” and believes that the scientific discipline will inevitably be the key to our future salvation. My own belief is in the opposite extreme; I keep waiting for Great Cthulhu to rise again and end it all.
Both Pournelle and I have had personal experience in politics. He was a professor of Political Science and also put theory into practice as executive assistant to a former mayor of Los Angeles. In contrast, my political activity is confined to supporting Norman Thomas for President. It’s true Thomas passed away a number of years ago, but I continue to vote for him because I believe the only good politician is a dead one.
Pournelle is inclined to be conservative in his leanings. Some people claim it’s a damned good thing he never got into aircraft construction, because if he designed a plane it would only have a right wing. But Jerry’s political views clearly demonstrate a dedication to mankind rather than Mammon. Youthful science fiction fans are frequently among the have-nots of our society and often espouse philosophies ranging from the liberal to the outright radical. In such a climate of opinion Jerry has taken a lot of heat from the left. It’s to his credit that he refuses to melt; instead he sweats out allegiance to his intellectual and moral convictions. And while a number of fans, steeped in their teen-age wisdom, assail him on philosophic grounds, it’s significant that most of the pros recognize and respect his right to his opinions, both as a writer and as a man.
His writing achievement speaks for itself. Entering science fiction under his own name just a little over a dozen years ago, he promptly won the John Campbell Award as Best New Writer of 1972. Since then he has rocketed–often in the company of copilot collaborator Larry Niven–to stratospheric levels of success, and made frequent landings on the national best-seller lists. If you want to know why, I suggest you hurry to the huckster room and purchase a few Pournelle titles.
But it is as a man that I find Jerry Pournelle most admirable. True, he has his faults, as we all do (with the possible exception of myself). He stands up for his beliefs and does not suffer fools gladly. But many who find him a bit on the loud side in expressing those beliefs aren’t aware that his decibel output is the natural result of partial hearing loss. And if he tends to come on strong, the strength is a measure of his sincerity.
That strength finds its greatest expression in his deeds. Actions speak louder than words, and in his case they are eloquent. There again is a marked discrepancy between his way of life and my own. Jerry is an outdoorsman, a back-packer, a Scout-leader, a sailing buff, a staunch believer in physical fitness. As for me, I haven’t been outdoors since we installed plumbing in the house.
While I am a born-again heathen, Jerry not only espouses but practices the best tenets of religion. Doing unto others, he has been a pillar of strength to those in need–a writer who helps other writers, a fan who has spent countless hours in the service of the LASFS. His term as President of the Science Fiction Writers of America was distinguished not only because of the honor it conferred 011 him but for the endless hard work he poured into his· able leadership. During his fifteen years in the aerospace industry he made important contributions to planning and research, and today he continues to devote his energies and efforts in support of the Space Program.
Jerry is a doer, not a dreamer. On one occasion the two of us were together when a rotten kid fell into a hot-tub. Jerry was already on the phone calling the paramedics while I was still looking around for a soupspoon.
He is a good father to four fine sons, and in an era when a “meaningful relationship” refers to anyone you pick up at a singles bar on Friday night and don’t kick out until Sunday, he has remained happily married for twenty-five years. In this last instance alone we do reach agreement; I happen to love and admire Roberta Pournelle just as much as he–and my own wife–let me.
But above all I cherish Jerry Pournelle as that rare specimen of humanity, an honest man. An honest man, a truly talented man, a caring, decent, responsible man. Science fiction is the richer for his presence. And I am enriched to know him as a friend.
I agree.
Thank you, Robert Bloch.
regards,
Neil Frandsen
aka Bigfoot (the Seismic Crew looked at my size 14, width EEEE footprints in the snow)
I “met” Jerry when I read A Spaceship for the King (or “. . . for King David”; I forget which) in Analog. Later I eagerly bought every issue of Byte, starting sometime in 1982, I believe, principally so that I could read Chaos Manor, not knowing that he was the author of A Spaceship. Since then I have read many, though not all of his books. But my chief pride is that I wangled him an invitation to the World Media Conference in Moscow, in 1990 or 1991 (again, I forget which). I met him and Roberta there and had occasion to call him to iron out scheduling details before the trip. Later, while reading Beowulf’s Children, I discovered what I thought to be a narration inconsistency and emailed that to his AOL account. He put me on the phone with Steven Barnes to ‘splain it. I’m not sure anything came of it and it is certainly possible that I just misperceived the text. He gave me copies of a couple of his books, which I still keep.
I much enjoyed reading this piece by Bloch, which was written, evidently, about 1984. I corresponded with Dr. Pournelle only a little bit, by e-mail. I think I have read just about all of his novels and short stories. Bloch, I feel certain captures Dr. Pournelle very well indeed.
Good to see a new post to the site. I’m glad you’re keeping Dr. Pournelle’s site active.
Pournelle Is a fascist. You gonna praise Hitler next?
Noel Ignatiev, is that you?
The “rare specimen of humanity, an honest man,” is why Pournelle’s stories resonate so well with me. I am very thankful to have discovered his stories. The “caring, decent, responsible man” Bloch describes translates so well in his characters. John Christian Falkenberg is my favorite. Thank you for posting this.