Category: Guests!

Stars End S5E13

In which we talk about “Cal” and “The Fun They Had” with special guest Rachel from the Menuscript Podcast.

“The Podcasts They Had”

“Cal” has been called “the last great Asimov short story” and it looks like it’s his very last robot story. Cal is a robot who learns how to write fiction and develops into an odd sort of Asimov avatar throughout the story.

“The Fun They Had,” is one of the Great and Glorious Az’s most reprinted works featuring a student thinking back to how great school must have been back in the long, long ago of the 20th century.

We’re joined by special guest Rachel Schwartzbard who has just started her own podcast, the Menuscript, which is excellent. She’ll talk about it in this episode. You don’t want to miss that; afterward, you’ll want to check out her podcast!

The stories and Rachel’s podcast can be found right here.

Let’s GO!

Image Credits:

  • Featured Image: The Featured Image was “Designed by Freepik” at <www.freepik.com>.

Stars End S4E10

“Podcasts End Gracefully – Everything Else Ends in Shock and Horror Falsely Certain of Tomorrow.” Hoo, boy do we go on about Foundation, S2E09, “Long Ago, Not Far Away” in this one! We’re joined by Special Guest, Morgan, aka @AsimovPosting on the Dead Bird App.

The Stars End Podcast! This time, 42% longer and with 10% real fruit juice!

Jon had the right idea, the only way to summarize this one is to watch the entire thing! So go watch it! Now! Otherwise, you know, spoiler alert and all that!

But, let’s at least whet your appetite!

We get a big chunk of back story for Danee… er… Demerzel that’s only a small percentage of the whole picture!

You’ll never guess who gets the upper hand in the epic battle between Gaal and Tellem!

And Brother Day (no this one over here) tries to become “The Cleon Who Chose Peace.” How do you suppose that went?

Plus the sickest burn in over eight decades of Foundation stories!

You DO NOT want to miss this one… or the next! This is just the prelude to the season finale!

Let’s GO!

Stars End S4E08

“It’s a Bloodless Podcasting Coup” in which we’re joined by friend of the show, Travis Johnson, as we talk about Foundation, S2E07, “A Necessary Death.”

That title sure sounds dreary so it’s hard to believe that it’s attached to an episode that’s just so compulsively watchable! This episode is so compulsively watchable that no fewer than three characters IN the show are themselves watching the show. And that’s last week’s episode! It’s so compulsively watchable that next week’s episode is rumored to consist of nothing but characters watching this week’s episode! It’s so compulsively watchable that one of our hosts has watched the episode so many times that he’s lost count of just how many! Want to know who watched so many times? You’ll have to listen to our episode (and then make an educated guess) to find out!

And meanwhile the pile of bodies at Tellum Bonds’s feet just… keeps… getting… larger…

You want to hear about this episode! Travis and we want to tell you about this episode! You don’t want to miss that and neither do we!

Let’s GO!

Stars End S4E06

“The Whole Point of the Podcast is that the Future Isn’t Set in Stone” in which we discuss Foundation, S2E05 “The Sighted and the Seen” This week media analyst, Fordham professor, and Renaissance human Paul Levinson joins the conversation! That Beatles reference below, Paul? That’s for you.

Here’s the usual spoiler warning. If you haven’t, go watch the episode. We’ll be here.

Foundation, Season 2 seems to be leaning even harder on comic relief and sexy time than it had been. Still, the plot wanders forward.

After a fairly dark opening, we get the comic relief from Gaal, Salvor, and Hari. The beggar crashes into a forest on Ignus reminiscent of Star Trek: Generations. Where’s Jordi LaForge when you need him? Salvor yells “I’m flying dead stick!” Hari replies, “Is that bad?” That’s pretty funny but it’s not the best line. They encounter an old friend and then a crowd of mysterious mentalics. Could they be the nucleus of the Second Foundation?

Meanwhile, Sereth and Rue drive their arc forward with the sexy time while the theme of memory is writ large. We learn who was behind the murder of Sareth’s Family while Day is becoming more unstable and Demerzel just keeps getting creepier. Rue manages to send Dawn and Dusk on a journey to see the Wizard, which is to say the vending machine version of Cleon the First. Imagine two Junior High School Elvis impersonators meeting the One True Elvis and you have the idea. Later they’re impressed by the size of C-1’s… uh… data.

It’s a lot to digest and we talk about it. You should join us! We can’t promise it will help, but a splendid time is guaranteed for all!

Stars End S4E05

“The Podcast Itself is Inconsequential When Measured Against the Scale of the Galaxy” in which we discuss Foundation, S2E04 “Where the Stars are Scattered Thinly” We’re joined this week by Joel McKinnon, host of ⁠Seldon Crisis,⁠ another excellent Foundation Podcast!

As the season slows down a bit to focus on some of the significant plotlines we get the closest thing to a special Valentine’s Day episode that this show could possibly do.

from cryptogram.com/

Meanwhile, Gaal, as the narrator, tells us repeatedly that “Psychohistory does not give a damn about how you monkeys hook up.” I’m paraphrasing.

The narration notwithstanding the situation on Terminus is framed by Hober and Constant’s sexual tension. Will they or won’t they? Watch the episode!

We learn a lot about the situation with Queen Sereth. Sereth flirts with Brother Dawn! Rue flirts with Brother Dusk! It’s all about what Brother Day may or may not have done. Will anybody flirt with Markley? Only time will tell!

And we see Bel Riose’s story unfolding through the lens of his relationship with Glawin. “By the time you recognize an atrocity,” says Glawin “you may have already been complicit in one!” What does that mean? I don’t know, but it seems ominous!

At least we don’t see Day and Demerzel in this context; I don’t need to hear my skin crawl this week.

It all seems important! I’m pretty sure Gaal is an unreliable narrator here.

Also, enough is going on about wine to make for a reasonable freshman comp essay or at least a session or two with a good therapist.

We’ve got a lot to talk about! Don’t miss this one!

Stars End S4E04

“Even He Said That Kind of Podcast Can Drive Someone Mad” in which we discuss Foundation, S2E03 “King and Commoner”

It’s an episode for old friends!

Remember Bel Riose from Foundation and Empire? We finally get to meet him in the AppleTV+ universe and he’s refreshingly like his counterpart from the source material, steadfast and impressive.

We also meet Hober Mallow who maybe has a sprinkling of his namesake from the book but appears to be a mashup of several other characters including a big dollop of ⁠the Outrageous Okona⁠ from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The good news is that he’s hilarious!

Also, Gaal is mystified by what’s going on with Hari’s “old friend” Kalle.

As our special guest, we welcome back Rick Tetrault of ⁠That Star Trek Podcast⁠ and the ⁠Infinite Potato Network! Rick has been a friend of Stars End since before our very first episode!

And speaking of old friends, what the hell just happened to Hari?

You don’t want to miss this one! Let’s go!

Stars End S3E37

“Asimovs Foundation Podcast and Philosophy”

I podcast, therefore I am. Or is it, “I podcast, therefore I philosophize?”

If you’ve listened to some of our recent episodes, you might think it’s the latter as recently we’re delved into topics like free will and pondered whether there’s an objective morality beyond things that we might be programmed with, like societal norms or the Three Laws of Robotics.

Well, if you like that stuff, you’ll love this episode! There’s a new book out called ⁠Asimov’s Foundation and Philosophy⁠ (AF&P), a collection of essays about… well, you’ve figured that out, right?

Remember books, by the way? They’re weird. You can read them, but they don’t have batteries and they’re made of wood, of all things!

We discuss this book with three of its authors, who are simultaneously two-and-a-half special guests!

Josef Simpson is one of the editors of AF&P and helped bring the book to life. He also wrote “A Foundation-al Lesson on Free Will and Determinism” for the project.

Our second guest is a long-time friend of the show, ⁠Cora Buhlert⁠! Cora was our first guest way back in Season 1 Episode 7. She is now our first returning guest and the first Hugo Winner to appear on our show as she was chosen the Best Fan Writer for 2022! Congratulations, Cora! Cora contributed “Between Cynicism and Faith” to AF&P.

The book also contains a chapter by our own Dan Fried, “The Dao of Psychohistory!” Thus, Dan is our one-half of a special guest as he splits his duties between interviewer and interviewee!

So if our excursions into philosophy have whetted your appetite for such things, pick up a copy of Asimov’s Foundation and Philosophy⁠. You’re sure to enjoy it! And if you want to read the book without harming a tree or through inaction allowing a tree to come to harm, here’s ⁠one option⁠.

Images used under the fair use doctrine.

Stars End S3E36

“Never Hoard Your Silver Podcast”

Sometimes we bury the lede in the title so let’s rectify that straightaway: featuring special guest ⁠Melinda Snodgrass⁠!

We’ve never been shy about our obligatory Star Trek references. As we’ve undertaken our long, strange trip through Asimov’s Robot Novels and some related short stories, those references skewed sharply in the direction of The Measure of a Man, which is in my opinion “the moment when The Next Generation earned the right to call itself Star Trek.” It’s great TV and great SF and a monument to themes and ideas that Asimov championed throughout his career.

So for this episode, we going to treat you to an episode-long Star Trek reference as we’re joined by the author of The Measure of a Man, the aforementioned Melinda Snodgrass!

Please excuse us, we’re all a bit starstruck.

In addition to writing the quintessential Data episode for TNG, Melinda Is a ⁠lifelong Science Fiction fan⁠ who has written many novels including the Circuit series, co-created the ⁠Wild Cards⁠ series of books, and has extensive screenwriting credits including L. A. Law, Sliders, and The Outer Limits. Within the realm of Star Trek, Melinda has written Tears of the Singers, a TOS novel, and five episodes of TNG, which also include a excellent second Data-Centric episode, The Ensigns of Command.

She was the Story Editor on Next Generation while the show transformed from a program struggling to find its voice into the science fiction juggernaut we all know and love.

As Jon puts it, this episode “slaps!” You do not want to miss this one! Let’s go!

Images used under the fair use doctrine.

Stars End S3E20

“A Small Podcast Yet to the Humans Involved Astonishingly Large”

We didn’t set out to do it, but we did it.

What, you might ask?  We’ve created an episode that’s an excellent jumping-on point for anyone who’s been itching to try the podcast but doesn’t know where to start.

How?  Well to start with, we’re talking about a short story.  You don’t need to read the books or watch the shows we talk about to enjoy the podcast, but we certainly understand if want to!  We’re talking about “Mirror Image” from Robot Visions, in which Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw help to solve a dispute between two mathematicians.  It’s about 19 pages long, a comfortable, digestible chunk.

And?  And we have guests!  Episodes are better with guests and we’re joined by two charming mathematicians, Coleen and Charlie Jacobson, long-time science fiction readers and friends of Joseph from Elmira College.  They’ll help us decide if the off-screen mathematicians are true to life!  On a personal note, if you remember Joseph from EC you might enjoy hearing from half of what he calls, the “Mathematics Faculty Classic” that existed from 2012 to 2014.

So, if you’re a regular listener, settle in for another excellent episode.  If you’re new to the podcast, buckle up!  You’re in for a fun ride!  Let’s go!

Two notes on the Featured Image: The background is some board work from 2016 when Joseph taught Geometry from Charlie’s notes. In the foreground are two images of Paul Erdös, one at age 20 and one much later in his life, drawn by LeUyen Pham from The Boy Who Loved Math. Erdös is famous for being one of the most prolific mathematicians of all time and for having a multitude of collaborators.

Stars End S3E17

“A Podcast in a Frenzy Can Do Surprising Things”

The Doubleday cover

Some things can’t be seen.  If you’ve listened to our podcast, you know that we’ve bemoaned the fact that although there was a BBC adaptation of The Caves of Steel, we cannot see it because all known copies of the original tapes have been destroyed.

Did you know that there was also a BBC adaptation of The Naked Sun?  It came out in the third season of Out Of The Unknown and starred Paul Maxwell as Elijah Baley and David Collings as R. Daneel.  We can’t see that either.  You’d think that the BBC would have learned its lesson by 1969, but no such luck.  All known copies of those tapes have been destroyed as well.

And then there’s Joseph’s friend Andy, our special guest in this episode.  He has studiously avoided having a social media presence and so he’s something else that can’t be seen, online anyway.

Paul Maxwell as Elijah Baley

In The Naked Sun, we learn all about things that can’t be seen.  Lije wants to see the crime scene and he wants to see the outside and he especially wants to see Gladia but the Solarians are determined that he only view these things.  Seeing is not the same as viewing.

But sometimes we can hear even if we can’t see.  That episode of Out Of The Unknown?  There’s a reconstruction, so the soundtrack must still exist.  You can hear that if you can find a copy.

“Andy” artist’s rendition.

You can hear Andy here on the podcast, in his World Wide Web premier.

And you can hear about chapters 1 through 6 of The Naked Sun because that’s what we’re talking about this time.  We’ll get to that viewing vs. seeing thing and much more!

So join us! You’ve got to hear this!