Month: June 2022

Stars End S3E13

“The Creation of the Podcast Was Looked Upon as the Prime Example of the Overweening Arrogance of Humanity.”

Well, we’re between books this episode, so we decided to read “The Robot Chronicles” from the Great and Glorious Az’s Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection. It’s an essay in which Asimov discusses his robot stories, their inspirations, and their milestones.

So far, I’ve found Gold enjoyable. It contains the last of Asimov’s science fiction short stories, essays about his stories, and essays about writing Science Fiction. He insists, by the way, that Science Fiction be abbreviated “SF” and not “sci-fi.” You can find out why and read “The Robot Chronicles” and the rest of Gold here.

But, really, the bulk of this episode is an engaging and free-wheeling conversation with our special guest Travis Johnson, whom you may know from Twitter as @travisjohnson and/or @startravcommand. He’s one of the hosts of the Black Alert Podcast and created, with his 11-year-old daughter, a Star Trek Prodigy podcast called Star Trek Podigy. He has also published A Matter of Right: Futures of Justice, a “science fiction comics and prose anthology” about the US criminal justice system. Join us as we discuss Robots, Foundation, all things Asimov, and more! You don’t want to miss this one!

Update: sometimes I forget stuff, and I only remember when I listen to the episode after it’s published. This time it’s the Asimov bust that Travis told us he 3-D printed. It’s an impressive bit of work and here it is for your edification.

Stars End S3E12

“Softly Beaming, A Steady Light of Hope… the Stars End Podcast.”

Are you troubled by premonitions of unsavory equations or non-standard beverages?

Do you experience feelings of dread from your grandfather’s office furniture?

Have you or anyone in your family experienced prestidigitation, clairvoyance, astral projection, or sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia?

If the answer is yes, don’t wait another minute!  The Second Foundation is for YOU!

Our courteous and efficient staff is on call 24 hours a day to serve all your psychohistorical prediction needs!

In this episode, we come to the end of Forward the Foundation with the story of Wanda Seldon where we finally see the inception of the Second Foundation as Hari discovers Wanda’s abilities and Wanda first becomes an important part of the Seldon Project before striking off with Stettin Palver to form the nucleus of the Second Foundation. Meanwhile, we hit the bittersweet part of any biography. Hari’s life winds down as he says goodbye to everyone he’s ever loved and is left only with psychohistory before we finally say goodbye to Hari himself.

And, in case you don’t recognize the reference above…

Stars End S3E11

“No one outside the podcast has the faintest knowledge of how psychohistory works and not everyone inside does either.”

If you’re read our one piece of fan fiction, “Dors,” by our very own Jon Blumenfeld, you’ve read an origin story of sorts for Dors Venábili.  If you like this character like so many others you should check it out; it’s excellent.

In this episode, we finally get to the chapter of Forward the Foundation featuring… well no, they all feature Hari but this one’s named after Dors.  It was called “The Consort” when it ran in Asimov’s Science Fiction in April of 1993 and to be honest, Dors plays a larger role in this story than the so-called “featured” characters in the other eponymous chapters.  If you hadn’t noticed the book has a bit of a pattern.  In each section, Hari says farewell to his friends and loved ones as his life winds down in ten-year increments. In this story, Hari and we get to say goodbye to Dors, nicely bookending with Jon’s story.

Our guest this week is one of Joseph’s oldest friends, Rick Tetrault. Rick is the host of the Starbase 66 Podcast from the Infinite Potato Alliance and also qualifies as an “old friend” of Stars End. Rick gave us a great deal of sage advice when we were just figuring out how to do a podcast. You might recall that Starbase 66 was the site of our first collective guest appearance back in December. You’re more than invited to check that out here: Starbase 66: Foundationally Speaking.

But first, without further ado: Episode 11!

Featured Image: Interior artwork from Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, April 1993.