Conference noted::sf

     
    I may be a bit out of it, but I just got a flier from the SF book
    club (asking me to subscribe again) that had an Asimov book that
    supposedly tied together the Robots series and the Foundation series.
    I'm skeptical, myself. Has anyone heard of this?
    
    Roy

    Yes, I believe the title is "Robots and Empire," and the gist of
    it is that Daneel Olivaw and similar late-model robots organize
    a political movement to start humanity colonizing the galaxy instead
    of just sitting comfortably on the few Spacer worlds.  But that's
    just my impression from a friend to who read it.  And did not like
    it much.
    
    Earl Wajenberg

re 1:   
	>  supposedly tied together the Robots series and the Foundation series.

	That would be the latest Robots novel "Robots & Empire". 
	It *very* loosly ties them together; rather it explains why
	the earth became uninhabitable and was eventually "lost".
	Again very loosly.

	Mike

    Once again, yes, that was ROBOTS AND EMPIRE. On the other hand,
    to answer the original question, yes there is a new Asimov novel
    called FOUNDATION AND EARTH that should be out sometime within
    the next month.
    
    --- jerry

    	There is a chapter of FOUNDATION AND EARTH written up in the
    September issue of Penthouse magazine.
    
    	Mind you, I only read that mag for the SF.
    
    	Larry
                        

    Try turning it sideways....

    	Turning.......
    
    	My, that's interesting...literature.....
    
    	I guess ol' Isaac IS putting more sex into his novels these
    days!
    
    	Larry
    

    
      I read the foundation foursome and loved it. Is this newest one
    (Robots + Empire) or vice versa  worth reading???
    
                             Pete

    If you liked the original books with Lyje Bailey and Robots of
    Dawn you should like the newst one. The places where r. Daniel and
    r. Giskind are working out the solution to the mystery and what
    will eventually be the foundations of psychohistory are a little
    slow but then so were the parts when Lyje Bailey was figuring out
    the solution to a mystery. It is very much in character with the
    earlier books.

    Lije (diminuitive of Elijah)
    
    R. Daneel
    
    R. Giskard
    
    len (whose own name gets mangled to the likes of Fishcans)
    

    Re: .1, .3
    
    > ...tied together the Robots series and the Foundation series.
    
    > It *very* loosly ties them together;....
    
    It seems to me that "Robots & Empire" does more than just hint at
    tieing the two 'universes' together.....with the direct references
    to psyhcohistory, and the fact that the second wave of colonists from
    Earth (the Spacers were the first ones...) had a society with some
    *very* familiar facets as those found in the Foundation trilogy
    (eg: they called themselves Traders,etc.) tends to make a pretty
    good "case" for tying them together.
    
    Then there is "Foundations Edge", which does fit the catagory of
    some vague ties of the two together.....
    
    			-Jeff

Re .11:

   > It seems to me that "Robots & Empire" does more than just hint at
     tieing the two 'universes' together....


	Well Jeff, I just re-read Foundations Edge. You are entirely
	right. Boy did I forget alot. Asimov is a master craftsman
	in continuing the Foundation story in true fashion and tieing 
	it to the Robot novels without making it seem out of line in 
	doing so. 
	Reading it again also made me recall some more details about 
	Robots & Empire that also slipped my mind. I'm more anxious 
	now than ever for the new book.  

	BTW, my local bookstore says they should have it by mid-to-late
	September !!!

	Mike

    While we're [not really] on the topic, I'm planning on going to see the
    Good Doctor speak at M.I.T. on Wednesday.  A friend of mine (a student
    there) arranged it, so I don't know anything else about it. 
    
    Does anybody know anything about it -- i.e., what he's going to be
    speaking about?  "SDI: Battlefield Sky," "I Have Written More Books
    Than You'll Probably Ever Read," or "Foundation, Robots, Empire, Lije
    Bailey, and Lucky Starr: the Missing Links," for examples? 
    
    Matt
    

    "Foundation and Earth" does tie the Foundation series and the Robot
    novels series together.  This story is a continuation of "Foundation's
    Edge," but the First and Second Foundations are mostly out of the
    picture.  Instead, Golan Trevize goes on a quest for Earth, in the
    aftermath of having chosen Galaxia over Seldon's Plan at the close
    of "Foundation's Edge."  In the course of that quest, he and his
    companions visit all three planets (excluding Earth) where the Robot 
    series novels were set.
    
    The harmonization between the two series comes in the last chapter,
    pretty much along the lines that I thought Asimov would follow.
    However, the ending is a bit of a surprise and leaves the way open
    for another sequel.  If the plot line continues along the path
    indicated by the ending, the next novel shouldn't be about the
    Foundation (either one) or Seldon's Plan at all, but that's by no
    means a given.  Asimov can change his mind, even if his protagonist
    doesn't.  All depends on whether a "Foundation" novel sells better.
    
    It's also not clear whether there will be another "Robot" novel
    featuring R. Daneel Olivaw.  I can't decide whether the harmonization
    is a teaser, or a way to tie up loose ends so that Asimov doesn't
    have to write any more "Robot" novels.  He has kept his options
    open, I think.
    
    Overall, a good book for Asimov fans.  If you liked his last three
    (Foundation's Edge, Robots of Dawn, Robots and Empire) you should
    enjoy this one.  I still think he's padding it with too much dialogue,
    but that's typical Asimov, I guess.
    
  --Simon

    P.S. re .5-.7:  There's just enough sex in the book for Penthouse.
    

	I agree Simon, Asimov did do a little too much padding with
	dialogue (especially the 1st third of the book) about whether 
	Trevize should or shouldn't have chosen Galaxia over the 2nd 
	Foundation/Seldon plan. It got old, real fast.
	
	I don't think there are too many surprises for anyone whos read
	both (F/R) series.  It culminates in a fairly ya-thats-what-I-
	thought-would-happen kinda way.  But as always, Isaac tells a 
	decent story.  
	
	The very ending was somewhat intriguing and left me with a rather 
	unsettled feeling about any future direction.  I think it does lend 
	itself well to a new "Galaxia" series.  With a good imagination,
	like Asimov's, there are always possibilities.

	On its own, I don't think the book would stand up all that well. 
	But if you've read both series, ya just have to find out what 
	happens, right?!
		
	Personally, I thought both Foundations Edge, and Robots & Empire 
	were more exciting/interesting than this one.  My opinion.

	Mike

    I also liked Foundation's Edge better.  Between Robots of Dawn and
    Robots and Empire, I liked the first better.
    
  --Simon
    

    Having just reread the lot of them (the three original Foundation
    novels, Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Empire, as well as
    the Robot novels and Robots of Dawn; Robots and Empire was out on
    loan) back to back, I still found the disclosure
    
    oops  **SPOILER COMING***
    
    that the robots had engineered a new reality in which mankind was
    "safe" from alien life forms because they didn't exist, i.e., man
    was the only intelligent life form in the galaxy (or was it more
    generally that Earth was the only planet in the galaxy to have
    spawned *any* life?), a startling deus ex machina.  Surely the
    thousands of years the robots spent after the exodus from Earth
    offer Asimov an opportunity for a whole 'nother series of novels,
    never mind filling in the remaining 600 years of Seldon's plan,
    now seriously gone awry with the intervention of both the Second
    Foundation and Gaia, or fleshing out the Exodus post Pebble in the
    Sky.
    
    I agree that the writing in the recent additions is not as compelling
    as the earlier stuff (even with the sex, which somehow seems out
    of place; it wasn't necessary before, why is it necessary now, and
    I'm not being prudish), but I have to admire Asimov for the way
    he's managed to tie all these things together in a way that's
    interesting in itself.

    Hmm... is there a "Robots and Earth" in the works?
    
    len.

    Oops, that should be Foundation and *Earth*, not Foundation and
    Empire.
    
    len.
    

I just  finished  reading  "Foundation and Earth".  It is, of course, a very
good  book,  but I still feel there is something missing when you compare it
to the three first books.

I think  (and  this  goes for "Foundation's Edge" as well) that maybe Asimov
puts  a  little  too much emphasis on the characters.  The plot is more like
that of a detective story than a Foundation novel.  The original three books
managed  to  convey an incredible feeling of immensity of scale - the 'sense
of wonder' was much more apparent than in the two latest books.

Asimov's way  of  gradually  letting  the  reader  know  that the connection
between  the Foundation universe and the Robot universe will be revealed any
time  is  pure  Asimov,  though.   However,  the  end  is  something  of  an
anti-climax.  Somehow the great potential available is not used at all - the
story  falls  almost  flat  on  its face when all they find is a radioactive
Earth and an old robot. I'm sure a lot more could have been made out of it.

Any more comments on the book?

    I've taken some time in re-reading Asimov's various Robot and
    Foundation novels, and put together the following timeline in an
    attempt to correlate the major events containedin his stories.
    
    I've included the timeline here for everyone's/anyone's enjoyment.
    
    
    						-Jeff
    
    --------------------------------------------------------
    
	       ^
	       |
	1700ad +  city of New York "founded"
	       |
	       |
        2000ad |  era of Susan Calvin
        2035ad |  hyperspace drive perfected
	       |
	       |
  circa 3700ad |  first Cities formed
	       |
	4400ad |  City of New York formed, Solaria settled (last of Spacer Worlds)
        4700ad |  City of New York is 3000 years old
	       |                   -------\            |
	       |			   \----> 4700 | The Caves of Steel
	       |				  4701 | The Naked Sun
        4900ad |  Robots & Empire		       |
	       |				  4703 | The Robots of Dawn
	       |
	     -_-_
       12132ad |  start of Galactic Era
	       |
         827ge |  "Pebble in the Sky" (12959ad)
         -79fe |  Hari Seldon born (11,988 Galactic Era)
	       |
 +-->      0fe |  Start of the Foundation (12,068 Galactic Era, 24200ad)
 |         1fe |  Hari Seldon dies
 F	       |
 o  circa 50fe |  The Encyclopedists
 u        50fe |  The Mayors, Slavor Hardin becomes mayor of Foundation
 n        80fe |  Hardin "defeats" Anacreon
 d  circa 80fe |  start of era of "The Merchant Princes"
 a             |
 t             |
 i       160fe |  Hober Mallow is Mayor, Korell attacks Foundation and loses
 o             |  ..end of era of the Merchant Princes
 n             |
 |             |
 +-->          |       
 +-->          |       
 |       200fe |  Bel Riose attempts to conqueor Foundation
 F             |
 o &           |
 u             |
 n E           |
 d m           |
 a p     260fe |  Trantor sacked
 t i           |
 i r           |
 o e           |
 n             |
 |             |
 +-->    300fe |  The Mule, defeats the Foundation
               |
 +-->    305fe |  end of the Mules era of expansion
 |             |
 | F     310fe |  the Mule dies
 | o           |
 S u           |
 e n           |
 c d           |
 o a           |
 n t           |
 d i           |
 | o           |
 | n     376fe |  The search for the Second Foundation
 |             |  Arcadia (Arkady) Darell (362-443)
 +-->          |
               |
               |
               |
               |
               |
         498fe |  "Foundation's Edge"
         500fe |  "Foundation & Earth" (24700ad)
    

    Re .21:
    
    Outside of your timeline, but worth mentioning is _The End of
    Eternity_, in which the Eternals (or two in particular) make _sure_
    that the stage is set for the Foundation/Robot universe to happen.
                    
    [If you don't believe me, check the latter pages of the novel.]
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

	 Any one  know when the new novel, ``Prelude to Foundation'' will be
	 released? From the title I gather it will fill, or partly fill, the
	 gap   between   the   Robot/Spacer/Baley  universe  and  the  first
	 Foundation novel. Should be interesting...

    There is already an Asimov series that fills the gap between the
    Lije Baley series and Foundation.  It's the Galactic Empire series,
    and consists of three independent novels; Like Stars, Like Dust,
    The Currents of Space, and Pebbles in the Sky.  These novels talk
    about the decline of  Earth, the formation of independent
    interplanetary empires, and the rise to power of Trantor.  While
    I wouldn't exactly call them classic Asimov, they're still good
    reading.
    
    ... Bob
    

	RE 23:

	 >Any one  know when the new novel, ``Prelude to Foundation'' will be
	 >released? 

	It has been released !!!  My brother just found a copy of it in 
	a bookstore in Amherst MA. 

	Mike

    Does the 'prelude' mean I have to read THAT, then go read the others
    again ?
    
    Scott.

    After reading the dust jacket; its the story of Hari Seldon and
    the development of Psychohistory.
                                                   
                  /
                 (  ___
                  ) ///
                 /
    

    _Prelude to Foundation_ is now in all the bookstores.
    
    Judging from my bookshelf, it's apparent that I'm predisposed to
    like Asimov's new book -- I've now got five hard-cover novels by
    Asimov starting with _Foundation's Edge_ and _Robots of Dawn_.
    I will not give you a synopsis but I will tell you that I like this
    novel as I did the other four.
    
    The story is about Hari Seldon on Trantor, but it's not about the
    development of Psychohistory per se.  Rather, it's how Seldon was
    persuaded (shall we say) to develop Psychohistory from his theory.
    Asimov weaves in a thread from the Robot series and then ends up
    with a sort of surprise ending.  (Well, actually I shouldn't have
    been surprised, having read all the other Foundation and Robots
    novels.  'Nuf said.)
    
    I was somewhat disappointed in how Hari Seldon was portrayed, young
    man though he was supposed to be in the novel.  I think what bothered
    me was that I sort of recognized this character from other Asimov
    stories -- the typical Asimov hero, perhaps?  In any case, as I
    said already, I like it well enough.  But it's just not the same
    as reading the Foundation trilogy the first time.  On the whole,
    there is less story per book in the last few of his novels than
    the original Foundation novels.

  --Simon
    

    Here are some excerpts from the Author's Note in the beginning of my
    edition of _Prelude to Foundation_.  I found them interesting and
    thought others would also. 
    
    "When I wrote 'Foundation'...I had no idea that I had begun a series of
    stories that would eventually grow into six volumes and a total of
    650,000 words (so far).  Nor did I have any idea that it would be
    unified with my series of short stories and novels involving robots and
    my novels involving the Galactic Empire..." 
    
    "That I returned to the (Foundation) series in 1982 was not my own
    notion but was the result of a combination of pressures from readers
    and publishers that eventually became overwhelming." 
    
    "The fourteen books...offer a kind of history of the future, which is,
    perhaps, not completely consistent, since I did not plan consistency to
    begin with." 
    
    "Will I add additional books to the series?  I might.  There is room
    for a book between 'Robots and Empire' and 'Currents of Space' and
    between 'Prelude to Foundation' and 'Foundation' and of course between
    others as well.  And then I can follow Foundation and Earth with
    additional volumes - as many as I like." 
    
    "Naturally, there's got to be some limit, for I don't expect to live
    forever, but I do intend to hang on as long as possible." 

    Here is the order in which Asimov's Robot, Galactic Empire, and
    Foundation books fit together.  The date of publication is in
    parentheses.
    
    1.  THE COMPLETE ROBOT (1982).  This is a collection of robot stories
    published between 1940 and 1976 and includes every story in the earlier
    collection 'I, Robot' (1950).  Only one robot short story has been
    written since this collection appeared.  That is 'Robot Dreams' which
    has not yet appeared in any Doubleday collection. 
    
    2.  THE CAVES OF STEEL (1954).  This is the first robot novel.
    
    3.  THE NAKED SUN (1957).  Second robot novel.
    
    4.  THE ROBOTS OF DAWN (1983).  Third robot novel.
    
    5.  ROBOTS AND EMPIRE (1985).  Fourth robot novel.
    
    6.  THE CURRENTS OF SPACE (1952).  First Empire novel.
    
    7.  THE STARS, LIKE DUST- (1951).  Second Empire novel.
    
    8.  PEBBLE IN THE SKY (1950).  Third Empire novel.
    
    9.  PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION (1988).  First Foundation novel.
    
    10.  FOUNDATION (1951).  Second Foundation novel.  Actually, it is a
    collection of four stories, originally published between 1942 and 1944,
    plus an introductory section written for the book in 1949. 
    
    11.  FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE (1952).  Third Foundation novel, made up of
    two stories, originally published in 1945. 
    
    12.  SECOND FOUNDATION (1953).  Fourth Foundation novel, made up of two
    stories, originally published in 1948 and 1949. 
    
    13.  FOUNDATION'S EDGE (1982).  Fifth Foundation novel.
    
    14.  FOUNDATION AND EARTH (1983).  Sixth Foundation novel.

    Can anybody tell me what the "other" R. Daneel Olivaw/Elijah Baley
    story is?  It apparently involves a mathemetician and takes place
    on a space ship.  It is alluded to by one sentence in "Robots and
    Empire", and I think I have seen a reference/allusion to it elsewhere.
    
    "Robot Dreams" is included in a trade paperback by the same name;
    I don't recall the publisher.
    
    len.
    

    re:.31
    
    The story you're thinking of is "Mirror Image", which first appeared
    in ANALOG in 1972, and is included in THE COMPLETE ROBOT.
    
    ROBOT DREAMS was published by Berkley/Putnam.
    
    re:.30
    
    It seems to me that when I first bought THE COMPLETE ROBOT, I noted
    that it *wasn't* complete, but i'll be damned if I can think of
    what wasn't in it. I'll have to check.
    
    --- jerry

	re .32
   	> ROBOT DREAMS was published by Berkley/Putnam.
	    
	Jerry, when was this published?  Is it still in print in hardbound
	or paperback?
	
	----------------------------------

	As far as "Prelude" goes, I liked it but was a little dissapointed.
	I agree with some of what Simon mentioned.  I thought it was not nearly 
	as clever in the usual Asimov sense.  It lacks the intricate twisting
	and turning and depth to the plot that is more prevalent in many
	of the other Robot/Foundation novels.  In other words, "wheres' the
	beef"?  Don't get me wrong though, it is enjoyable reading.  It does 
	fill in some backround nicely.  I may just be overly critical because
	I thought it to be too predictable.  	

	Mike

    ROBOT DREAMS came out sometime around 1985. It was the fifth
    book in Berkley's "Masterworks of Science Fiction" series,
    put together by Byron Preiss (the previous collections were...
    let's see if I can remember them all... Clarke's THE SENTINEL,
    Leiber's THE GHOST LIGHT, Farmer's THE GRAND ADVENTURE, and
    Herbert's EYAS). All were trade paperbacks (though there were
    signed/numbered/slipcased limited hardcover editions as well).
    I don't think ROBOT DREAMS (or any of the others, for that
    matter) is still in print.
    
    At any rate, I found out what story was missing from THE COMPLETE
    ROBOT -- "The Life and Times of Multivac", which was published
    in the New York Times Magazine back in 1975, and included one of
    Asimov's other collections, either BUY JUPITER or THE BICENTENNIAL
    MAN (I think it's the former, though).
    	It isn't strictly a *robot* story, but the Multivac stories
    are part of that Universe, and there are other stories in THE
    COMPLETE ROBOT that are "just" about Multivac, rather than a
    robot.
    
    --- jerry

    
    	I was wondering if one of you Asimov buffs could update .30 as to
    where the current (current as of 2-june-1988) novels fit in. I would
    like to re-read the entire collection and it would be nice to do so in
    a way that all the novels fit together.
    
    					Thanks,
    
    					    Jim

     I don't have anything to add to .30; I believe it's the latest
     list - it was taken directly from Asimov's latestt
     Robots/Empi{re/Foundation book "Prelude" anyway.  The only
     problem I found with it is I think he got the order of the
     Galactic Empire novels wrong.  In "The Stars, Like Dust",
     Trantor is not yet established, and in "The Currents of Space",
     it rules half the galaxy, so I maintain that "Stars" should
     come first...  But what do I know?

     - Bob

    
    	When you're right, you're right.
    
    	I've thought this at least once. According to a few stray sentences
    in _Pebble in the Sky_, one of the theories as to how the Empire got
    together involves the establishment of Kingdoms. These Kingdoms, I
    believe, are what we hear about in the Stars Like Dust (although I
    don't think they REALLY fit in perfectly). Anyway, according to Pebble,
    Trantor started out as one of these Kingdoms, and, by military conquest
    or whatever, became more powerful.
    
    	These Kingdoms evolved into Sectors, and became much more civilised
    about everything; Trantor had to use political/diplomatic nouse to gain
    power, ala _The Currents of Space_. Eventually, the sectors were
    unified under Trantor to become the Empire. Voila!
    
    	A VERY interesting aside : Pebble mentions the theory of another
    set of planetary colonies which had a ROBOT-BASED society. These were
    shunned by the rest of humanity, and eventually were "absorbed" through
    military intimidation into one of the Kingdoms.
    
    	This is mentioned VERY briefly. But it's there. Methinks it could
    be refering to the Spacer worlds. Maybe. The most recent novels suggest
    that the Spacer worlds die out, due to "not being able to compete with
    the Settler worlds". But the recent novels give no indication as to the
    details. Maybe the answer lies in _Pebble_.
    
    	If this is the case, it is unbelievable; Asimov wrote Pebble in
    1950 - SEVEN YEARS before _The Caves of Steel_ was written. Either he
    had incredible foresight, or he believed in keeping his options open.
    
    	But I agree that _The Stars Like Dust_ should, strictly speaking,
    be the first Empire novel.
    
    	Peter.
    

    Hi,
    
    I recently finished reading 4 of the Foundation books: the original
    trilogy written in the 40's, and "Foundation's Edge", in 1981.
    
    I read all 4 books last week; found them fascinating (to say the
    least).  The first 3 books are all excellent; in particular I
    thought the first book was a masterpiece, and parts of
    the other two (on the Mule) almost as good.
    
    The fourth one was a drastic disappointment, although I had
    been prepared for a change after the interval of 4 decades.  It's
    unnecessarily wordy, lacks the elegance and subtlety of the
    trilogy, drags quite a bit - I found I had to resort
    to racing through the pages without reading them in detail.
    By the time I finished the book, I was convinced that Asimov must have
    gotten somebody else to write the book for him..
    
    Then I read "The Story Behind the Foundation", written by
    Asimov around the same time as the "Edge", and thought
    I understood..
    
    Anyone else notice the difference in the books??  Is "Foundation
    and Earth" any better?
    
    Anil

    All three of The Big Three (Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke) really slid
    downhill in their later years.  I feel like I shouldn't say such
    things, as I grew up on their works, but old age certainly had an
    effect.
    
    Willie

    I've probably written this already, but:
    
    I thought that the 4th book must have been written in the fifties.
    Asimov cranked those out in consecutive years, like maybe '51, '52,
    '53. The 4th book was so bad and had almost NO sign of the intervening
    forty years of science and technology (OK, *one* reference to black
    holes). I figured Asimov probably wrote it in '54 and his editor said
    "Isaac, you've beaten this dead horse into burger. Let's let it rest."
    I say this because apparently no one ever edited it. Yuck. I regret
    that this series is the epitome of SF for many new-comers. What a
    shame.

  In _Foundation_and_Earth_, in his foreword titled "The Story Behind the
  Foundation," Asimov said this of _Foundation's_Edge_:
    
    "Increasingly, fans kept asking me to continue the series.  I was
    polite but I kept refusing. ...
    "Doubleday, however, took the demands far more seriously... 
    In 1981, they told me I simply had to write another Foundation novel
    and, in order to sugar-coat the demand, offered me a contract at ten
    times my usual advance.
    "Nervously, I agreed.  It had been thirty-two years since I had written
    a Foundation story...  I re-read _The_Foundation_Trilogy_ and, taking a
    deep breath, dived into the task."

    
    	Has anyone heard of a new (presumably the last) Foundation novel,
    	called "Forward the Foundation" thru Doubleday ???
    
    	It was on the shelves in January 1992, but was taken off the
    	shelves and is now not available.   What happened ?
    
    	Chris, who should have bought it when he first saw it...
    

Re .42
    
>    	Has anyone heard of a new (presumably the last) Foundation novel,
>    	called "Forward the Foundation" thru Doubleday ???
>    
>    	It was on the shelves in January 1992, but was taken off the
>    	shelves and is now not available.   What happened ?
>    
>    	Chris, who should have bought it when he first saw it...
    
Chris, I think you saw an optical illusion.  The book is still in
production, and will be released in spring 1993.  Asimov had just
finished work on it before he died.  FORWARD THE FOUNDATION could
not have existed last January in book form.

-- Andrew

Chris, could it have been Foundation's Friends you saw earlier this year?
This is a collection of short stories by renowned authors giving tribute
to Asimov for his 50 years of service to the field.

	Peter.

	Reproduced without permission ...


Path: nntpd.lkg.dec.com!news.crl.dec.com!deccrl!caen!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!bu.edu!buphy.bu.edu!mab
From: [email protected] (Michael Burstein)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Asimov, Forward the Foundation
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 06:51:27 GMT-)1:44
References: <[email protected]> <farrell.721966243@coral> <[email protected]>
Sender: [email protected]
Organization: Boston University Physics Department
Lines: 30

Thought this would be of interest:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>From ASIMOV-L%[email protected]  Tue Nov 17 15:41:37 1992
Sender: Discussion of Isaac Asimov's works <ASIMOV-L%[email protected]>
From: ardai%[email protected]
Subject:      News
X-To:         [email protected]
To: Multiple recipients of list ASIMOV-L <[email protected]>

I have finally gotten my hands on a complete copy of FORWARD THE FOUNDATION
(the galleys).  Even though Isaac projected at 5-chapter book, he was only
able to finish 4 chapters; the book therefore only contains 4 chapters.
(It's still a pretty hefty book at 500+ pages.)  It is not clear whether
Isaac actually wrote the last chapter or only sketched it out; and if the
latter, who did the final polish.  Doubleday ain't talking.

Chapter 3 will be published in ASIMOV'S in 1993.  Chapter 4 will remain
unpublished until the book comes out.

More as I find it out.

--Charles
-----------------------------------------------------------------------


-- 
Michael A. Burstein
Physics Department, Boston University         [email protected]
590 Commonwealth Ave.                         (617) 353-9437 (o)
Boston, MA 02215                              (617) 735-9433 (h)

    So now that Asimov's Forward the Foundation is out, has
    anyone given it a read and can make a comment?
    
                         
    
    -EG

    Hi,
    
    I just finished it -- and enjoyed it very much.  However, there are no
    surprizes ... just a good story told as only Asimov can.  I read a review 
    in one of the Sunday papers that I agree with, and that is you learn a lot 
    about Asimov in this book.
    
    Carel 

    I'd like to second that. I just finished it and liked it quite a lot. 
    
    Saddened me at the end to think that I had just read the last words of
    the good doctor. 
    
    Good book. 
    
    - Russ

It's preperation-for-the-beach time again, Asimov-style this year...


Where do these fit into the "master list"?
 Robot Dreams
 Robot Visions
 Forward the Foundation 

I'd expect that FtF comes after F&Earth, of course. Interestingly enough,
it has a short list inside the cover but dosn't mention F&Earth:
	Prelude to F	
	F
	f & empire
	2nd F
	F's Edge
	FtF

    re .49.
    
    I don't have the answer to your exact question ... but I do have a list
    from the Master himself for most of the books.  It is an Author's Note,
    from the hardcover Prelude to Foundation.  The text:
    
    "The fourteen books, all published by Doubleday, offer a kind of
    history of the future, which is perhaps not completely consistent,
    since I did not plan consistency to begin with.  The chronological
    order of the books, in terms of future history (and *not* of
    publication date), is as follows:"
    
    (most descriptive text deleted)
    1. The Complte Robot (1982). 31 short robot short stores published
    between 1940 and 1976 and includes every story in ealier collection I,
    Robot (1950).  Only one robot short story has been written since this
    collection appreared. That is "Robot Dreams."
    2. The Caves of Steel (1954)
    3. The Naked Sun (1957)
    4. The Robots of Dawn (1983)
    5. Robots and Empire (1985)
    6. The Currents of Space (1952)
    7. The Stars, Like Dust (1951)
    8. Pebble in the Sky (1950)
    9. Prelude to Foundation (1988)
    10. Foundation (1951)
    11. Foundation and Empire (1952)
    12. Second Foundation (1953)
    13. Foundation's Edge (1982)
    14. Foundation and Earth (1983)
    
    He goes on to say:
    "Will I add additional books to the series? I might. There is room for
    a book between Robots and Empire (5) and The Currents of Space (6) and
    between Prelude to Foundation (9) and Foundation (10) and of course
    between others as well.  And then I can follow Foundation and Earth
    (14) with additional volumes--as many as I like.
    Naturally, there's got to be some limit, for I don't expect to live
    forever, but I do intend to hang on as long as possible."  
    
    I found this list helpful. 
    
    Can anyone else add the missing pieces?
    
    Carel
    

Well, I'll answer part of my own question, having just finished all the
Foundataion books.  Forward the Foundation was written after all the
others and fits, time-line-wise, between Prelude and Foundation.  I would
personally recommend reading it last; kindof a "reprise" - there are
references to things you'd (or at least *I'd*) rather learn about in the
"right" sequence.

	Prelude to Foundation
	Foundation
	Foundation and Empire
	Second Foundation
	Foundation's Edge
	Foundation and Earth
	Forward the Foundation

Now... to back up & read the Robots and the Empire books.