Asteroid of the Damned by Frederik Pohl Episode #45
Frederik Pohl | November 22, 2022-
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Asteroid of the Damned by Frederik Pohl Episode #45
Frederik Pohl
ASTEROID OF THE DAMNED
Episode #45 · Written by Frederik Pohl · Narrated by Scott Miller
Pallas is an asteroid built on loopholes. Its laws are thin, its justice negotiable, and its economy brutally simple: pay, or disappear. When MacCauley arrives on official business, he expects danger. What he doesn’t expect is to lose the one thing that keeps visitors alive on Pallas—money.
Stripped of resources and trapped in a system that protects criminals better than victims, MacCauley is forced to navigate alien customs, corrupt officials, and human predators who understand the asteroid far better than he does. Authority carries no weight here. Intelligence does, but only if it’s paired with speed and nerve.
As the situation tightens, Mac realizes that brute force and legal standing are useless on a world designed to exploit them. To survive, he must understand what Pallas values—and how to turn that value against those who think they control it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Frederik Pohl published science fiction across more than seven decades, with stories appearing in Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy, and other defining magazines of the field. He also served as editor of Galaxy and If, shaping the direction of science fiction during its most formative years. His fiction frequently combines sharp economic insight with suspense-driven plots, and Asteroid of the Damned is a clear example of his ability to turn systems of power, corruption, and trade into gripping narrative engines.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to Asteroid of the Damned by Frederik Pohl — as a stranded agent faces outlaw justice on Pallas in this classic science fiction thriller from the vintage sci-fi era.
FREDERIK POHL SHORT STORIES
Frederik Pohl was one of the sharpest and most influential voices in vintage science fiction. Beginning his career in the 1940s, Pohl worked not only as a writer but also as an editor and literary agent, helping shape the direction of the genre during its most creative decades. His fiction often mixes big speculative ideas with a sly understanding of human behavior, revealing how people react when technology or society shifts in unexpected ways.
Many of Pohl’s stories begin in ordinary settings before introducing a single disruptive concept. A man wakes to discover his hometown exists for a disturbing hidden purpose. A desperate scientific experiment sends a volunteer back through time to prevent a catastrophe. A routine engineering assignment on a lonely asteroid turns into a test of nerve and ingenuity. Pohl excelled at taking one unsettling idea and following it to its logical, often surprising conclusion.
His work frequently carries an undercurrent of irony. Characters believe they understand the system they live in—only to learn that someone else has been pulling the strings all along. Corporations manipulate reality. Governments experiment with dangerous technology. Ordinary people stumble into situations far larger than they expected and must think quickly if they hope to escape them.
The stories below highlight Frederik Pohl’s range, from eerie psychological puzzles to dangerous experiments and clever technological mysteries that reveal how fragile reality can become when the rules suddenly change.
ABOUT THE LOST SCI-FI PODCAST
The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is the most listened-to vintage science fiction podcast in the world. Ranked the #1 Science Fiction Podcast in 34 countries and heard in more than 190 countries, the show has surpassed 3.8 million listens.
Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.
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