History Creator / CyrilMKornbluth

!! Works by C. M. Kornbluth with their own article include:

* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: The protagonist of "The Marching Morons" is a JerkAss con-artist who comes up with a very nasty (but effective) way of dealing with Earth's overpopulation crisis, which is exactly what the mostly well-meaning powers-that-be were hoping. [[spoiler: He is unsurprisingly disposed of by his [[HoistByHisOwnPetard own method]] when no longer needed.]]

* ConvenientlyCoherentThoughts: The murderous emotion-eating mutant of "The Mindworm" can read minds, but can't translate thoughts in other languages, [[spoiler: which ends up getting him killed.]]

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: In "The Advent on Channel Twelve", Mickey M- er... [[MockyMouse Poopy Panda]] [[spoiler: becomes an actual living God when millions of American children are convinced to literally worship him.]]
* GoneHorriblyRight: In "The Advent on Channel Twelve", the embittered and sidelined creator of Poopy Panda makes one last episode of the nauseatingly popular Poopy Panda Pals television program [[spoiler: overtly urging its large youthful audience to worship Poopy.]]
-->[[spoiler: And the days of Poopy Panda were long in the land.]]

* HomeworldEvacuation: In "The Marching Morons", the masses in question are [[spoiler: all tricked into "emigrating" to "Venus".]]

* ReleasedToElsewhere: How the Marching Morons are finally dealt with. And [[spoiler: eventually the guy who came up with the scheme.]]

* TimePolice: In "Time Bum", a con man tries to set up a sting by posing as a Time Policeman from the 25th century, and "accidentally" revealing himself as such to the mark. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for him, the Time Police are real, and his would-be sting earns him the death penalty.]]
* VirginPower: In "Gomez" a young Puerto Rican maths/physics genius described as a 'second Ramanujan' is discovered in New York. He winds up in a super-secret research project that has been going nowhere, and comes up with a physical theory that implies the ability to create a super-weapon so deadly that he's horrified. The narrator, a sympathetic reporter, all but abducts the thoroughly stressed-out Gomez for a forced vacation; out of his sight, Gomez sneaks across a state line and marries his girlfriend. When he returns, his mathematical ability is (he claims) gone: he admits, with an glance at his (literally) blushing bride, that he now can't think about math at all. [[spoiler: It turns out he's lying, but he escapes to live a more normal and less stressful life.]]
* WaterWakeUp: Played with in "Gunner Cade". The entire barracks is a shower, and one soldier who is NotAMorningPerson barely gets his bedding shoved in his locker before the water vents open up.

* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: In "Two Dooms", a Manhattan Project scientist visits a possible future in which Japan and Germany have conquered and divided the US.

His story "The Marching Morons" was clearly a major unacknowledged inspiration for the films ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' and ''Film/RoboCop1987', particularly the latter film's "I'll buy ''that'' for a dollar!" RunningGag.

-->[[spoiler: And the days of Poopy Panda were long upon the land.]]

His story "The Marching Morons" was clearly a major unacknowledged inspiration for the films ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' and ''Film/{{Robocop}}'', particularly the latter film's "I'll buy ''that'' for a dollar!" RunningGag.

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: In "The Advent on Channel Twelve", Mickey M- er... [[CaptainErsatz Poopy Panda]] [[spoiler: becomes an actual living God when millions of American children are convinced to literally worship him.]]

* DividedStatesOfAmerica: "The Luckiest Man in Denv" has a future America devolved into a collection of armored city-states who spend all their time and energy pointlessly lobbing missiles at each other.

* HomeworldEvacuation: In "The Marching Morons", the eponymous overpopulated masses are [[spoiler: all tricked into "emigrating" to "Venus".]]

* PopulationControl: In "Shark Ship", a large chunk of humanity has turned to living eternally on ships in the ocean, and keeps its population under control with a strict two-children-per-couple policy. Meanwhile, back on land, a more... FinalSolution is stumbled into...

* GeniusBreedingAct: "The Marching Morons" depicts a future world where a relative handful of normally-intelligent humans breed with each other as they try to keep society collapsing thanks to the idiocy of the rest of the population.

* PopulationControl: In "Shark Ship", a large chunk of humanity has turned to living eternally on ships in the ocean, and keeps its population under control with a strict two-children-per-couple policy. Meanwhile, back on land, things take a much nastier turn...

'''Cyril M. Kornbluth''' (July 2, 1923 – March 21, 1958) was an American science fiction author who managed to produce a large body of influential work before being abruptly felled by a fatal heart attack at the age of 34. He often collaborated with Creator/JudithMerril and his life-long friend Creator/FrederikPohl, who continued to promote and finish Kornbuth's work in the decades after his death.

His story "The Little Black Bag" was adapted as an episode of ''Series/NightGallery.''

Pohl often commented on his friend's eccentricities, including his [[ThePigPen never brushing his teeth]] and his self-education by reading an entire encyclopedia from A to Z.

* EmotionEater: The protagonist of "The Mindworm" is an emotion-eating vampire.

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: In "The Advent on Channel Twelve", Mickey M- er... Poopy Panda [[spoiler: becomes an actual living God when millions of American children are convinced to literally worship him.]]

* PopulationControl: In "Shark Ship", a large chunk of humanity has turned to living eternally on ships in the ocean, and keeps its population under control with a strict two-child-per-couple policy. Meanwhile, back on land, things take a much nastier turn...

* TakeThat: "The Advent on Channel Twelve" is a vicious commentary on the Creator/{{Disney}} media empire.

* HelpHelpTrappedInTitleFactory: "Ms. Found in a Chinese Fortune Cookie"
* HomeworldEvacuation: In "The Marching Morons", the eponymous masses are [[spoiler: tricked into "emigrating" to "Venus" in this fashion.]]

* [[UsefulNotes/SillySeason Silly Season]]: In the story of the same title, a series of odd events get covered by American newspapers in this tone, but [[spoiler:something far more sinister is at work..]]

* [[UsefulNotes/SillySeason Silly Season]]: In the story of the same title, a series of odd events get covered by American newspapers in this tone, but [[spoiler:something far more sinister is at work..]]

* PenName: Kornbluth used lots of them. Evidently even "M" was added in this fashion as a tribute to his wife, and he didn't officially have a middle name.

* Virgin Power: In "Gomez" a young Puerto Rican maths/physics genius described as a 'second Ramanujan' is discovered in New York. He winds up in a super-secret research project that has been going nowhere, and comes up with a physical theory that implies the ability to create a super-weapon so deadly that he's horrified. The narrator, a sympathetic reporter, all but abducts the thoroughly stressed-out Gomez for a forced vacation; out of his sight, Gomez sneaks across a state line and marries his girlfriend. When he returns, his mathematical ability is (he claims) gone: he admits, with an glance at his (literally) blushing bride, that he now can't think about math at all. [[spoiler: It turns out he's lying, but he escapes to live a more normal and less stressful life.]]

'''Cyril M. Kornbluth''' (July 2, 1923 – March 21, 1958) was an American science fiction author who managed to produce a large body of influential work before being abruptly felled by a fatal heart attack at the age of 34. He often collaborated with Creator/JudithMerril and his life-long friend Creator/FrederickPohl, who continued to promote and finish Kornbuth's work in the decades after his death.