Nehaveigur

Gateway by Frederik Pohl came out almost 50 years ago, in 1977. It won both the Nebula award and the Hugo, which, I believe, was a bigger deal back then. It has alien artifacts, space travel, heavy drinking, sex and interesting characters. Those are all suitable ingredients for a science fiction novel, and Pohl cooked them up expertly. Gateway also has something that I haven’t seen anywhere else: Every few pages, there’s a box that contains a snippet loosely related to the story. There are interviews with scientists studying the alien artifacts, extracts from the “Wanted” section of the large eponymous space station, mission reports, and so on. This isn’t just amusing but also helps the world building. Unlike sci fi novels like The Three Body Problem, there are no big ideas. Also unlike The Three Body Problem, Project Hail Mary, or Sea of Tranquility, the writing is feels like it’s for me and not a pitch for a Hollywood producer.