Month: February 2023

Stars End S3E29

“Humanity Whether in the form of Earth People or Spacers Must Podcast”

Join us as we continue to wind our way through Robots and Empire, the final book in Asimov’s Robot series, even if you count collections of short stories.

In this episode, we discuss chapters 3 through 6.  “The Crisis,” “Another Descendent,” “The Abandoned World,” and “The Crew.”  

In these chapters, the Great and Glorious Az establishes Robots and Empire as an important bridge between the Robot Stories, the Galactic Empire Novels, and the Foundation Saga; it’s both a prelude and a coda.  

Elijah Baley isn’t in this novel except in flashbacks, but his presence looms large.  Daneel and Giskard try to deduce what Elijah’s nemesis, Amadiro might try in the aftermath of Fastolfe’s death.  As they do, they’re forced to ponder the Three Laws of Robotics, which seem to be impeding their efforts.  Together, these discussions wrap up the Robot Stories.

Meanwhile, these two robots are pondering Elijah’s ability to predict, in broad brushstrokes, the future that has unfolded over the past two centuries, including an oncoming crisis.  Giskard, in particular, is trying to deduce the “Laws of Humanics” that Elijah must have understood to see so clearly.  In this, of course, we see the seeds of the Foundation.

How do the Galactic Empire Novels figure into all of this? For that, you’ll have to stay tuned.

Robots and Empire

A funny thing happened on the way to the podcast.

When I went to the Apple Books store, Robots and Empire had disappeared.

I own it, but I can’t download it to my iPad because it’s not in the store. The Kindle edition seems to be missing too. I’m hoping that means Doubleday is preparing a new edition.

But what about in the meantime? Well, there are used bookstores and hard copies.

But if you want to read along with an e-book, what are your options?

Multiple versions can be checked out at archive.org.

And this one: Robots and Empire appears to be downloadable.

Should it be there? I don’t know. But it’s an option until Doubleday has a new edition out.

On a similar note, there isn’t an official audiobook available. I don’t think there’s ever been one. But there was a version with limited distribution for the print-disabled.

At least, I think that’s where this version comes from. It floats around the interwebs and most copies have terrible audio quality. It’s like it was recorded from a thirty-year-old audio cassette and the other side of the tape is bleeding through. This is by far the better copy on YouTube.

And here is the second part.

This should hold us until there’s a new edition and an audiobook from Doubleday. I’m looking forward to getting those when they come out.

Best of luck! When you’re caught up with the reading or even if you haven’t, our discussion starts here:

Stars End S3E28

Our second episode on Robots and Empire, on chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 will be out tomorrow! Enjoy the read! And the episode!

Stars End S3E28

“I Do Not Ask You to Like the Podcast – I Ask You to Trust It”

If you’re a fan of Issac Asimov, you probably like robots, the Three Laws of Robotics, and characters having long, expository conversations about interesting ideas.

If that’s true, then Robots and Empire is the book for you!  It features, except for when the plot forces its way in, our two favorite robots, Daneel and Giskard, having long, expository conversations about the Three Laws of Robotics.  Jon is quite outspoken about how those are his favorite bits.  Dan and I are more apt to keep that revelation to ourselves.

Robots and Empire lives in between the three Elijah Baley novels and the Foundation books.  As a consequence, it never seems to get the attention of Asimov’s other major novels; it’s never, for example, been made into an official mass-market audiobook.

But if you love the three Elijah Baley novels and the Foundation books and if you’ve bought into Asimov’s project to link most of his work into a tremendous future history, Robots and Empire isn’t just essential, it might even be the most important piece.

And we’re finally talking about it, starting, in this episode, with the first two chapters, “The Descendent” and  “The Ancestor.” You don’t want to miss this one!