Born of Scandinavian parents in the US state of Pensylvannia, Poul and his family spent a number of years prior to WW2 in Denmark. After the war, Poul gained a physics degree from the University of Minnesota. He joined the Minneapolis Fantasy Society where he would interact with other luminaries as Clifford Simak and Gordon Dickson who shared his attachment to semi rural settings.
Although of an unusually high quality, he started slowly, publishing his first story with FN Waldrop in 1947, but he was not a frequent publisher until the early fifties. In 1953, he managed to publish 19 short stories and three serialised novels. Unlike many SF authors, Poul has not been ashamed to write either Fantasy or Science Fiction, handling both with his usual brilliance. The fantasy works were informed by his knowledge of the Scandinavian Sagas, using themes and characteristics from these works even if not directly reworking the source materials.
As benefits his roots in the sciences, his Science Fiction has tended to the Hard SF end of the spectrum, though he never let this distract him from a good story, being particularly known for his Technic Space/Terran Empire novels involving hyper space and interstellar wars, and a number of stories involving time travel. He was also father-in-law to Greg Bear.
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