Category: Next Time on Stars End

Next Time on Stars End

Last Sunday we recorded our latest episode as we continued to bask in The Naked Sun.

In this episode, we talk about the middle section of Asimov’s novel as published in the November 1956 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

That corresponds to chapters 7 through 12 in the book.

There’s less hype this time except for the presence of part one in the October issue; Part two was not mentioned in Campbell’s Things to Come and wasn’t on the issue’s cover. Who is James H. Schmitz by the way? I don’t know!

But that doesn’t mean that nothing happened in this installment!

We see the aftermath of the assassination attempt of Hannis Gruer and learn what constitutes “sociology” on Solaria. We meet Gruer’s stand-in as Head of Security and watch as Baley gets to go walkabout across the planet. We also learn an uncomfortable amount about Solarian childrearing and witness a second, seemingly impossible assassination attempt on this world so filled with three-laws robots!

Here’s John W. Campbell’s blurb that precedes this installment!

Second of Three Parts. Lije Baley was investigating a murder. Usually, an alibi proves physical impossibility; on robot-dominated Solaria, a different question arose. Is a robot’s conditioning “physical” or “psychological” impossibility? And is there any such thing as “psychological impossibility”? And if it exists for robots, does it for humans…?

Astounding Science Fiction November 1956

The illustrations this time are again by H. R. Van Dongen.

The available scans were not great, but I cleaned up the images as much as possible. If I keep this up, I may need to learn a lot more about that process.

Season 3, Episode 19: coming soon to anywhere the finest podcasts are sold!

Resources

  • Asimov, Isaac. “The Naked Sun, part 2” Astounding Science Fiction, November 1956, pp. 96-151.
  • Asimov, Isaac. The Naked Sun, ©1956, 1957, 1983, Bantum Spectra

Next Time on Stars End

In our last episode, we reached the end of The Caves of Steel. In our next episode, now in post-production, we continue our trip through the Robot Novels with The Naked Sun. We’re joined as our latest special guest by Joseph’s old friend Andy who has no discernable social media presence.

Asimov serialized The Caves of Steel in Galaxy Science Fiction because the editor, Horace Gold, suggested the idea of a human detective with a robot partner.

But three years later Asimov was increasingly interested in writing popular science and hadn’t published anything with John W. Campbell in a while. He decided to return to his roots and The Naked Sun was serialized in Astounding.

And Campbell did his best to capitalize on the famous author’s return. The month before its first segment ran The Naked Sun dominated Campbell’s “In Times to Come” column which highlighted coming attractions. Here’s what he had to say.

On the cover of next month’s issue, you’ll see Mr. Lije Baley, Earthman detective, coming out from underground into the light of The Naked Sun. Isaac Asimov’s new serial is bringing Elijah Baley and his robot partner, Daneel, on another detecting mission. But while the surface activity is that of determining who killed a man when it was self-evidently impossible, the real and important problem Baley has to solve is far more complex. Essentially, it is… “Which Way Is UP? Which way is forward?”


And this time, the problem lies on one of the Outer Planets; agoraphobic Elijah Baley has to solve a problem under the conditions least endurable to him — out under The Naked Sun

Astounding Science Fiction September 1956

For this episode, we read the same portion of the book published in the October 1956 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. That corresponds to chapters 1 through 6.

In this section, Baley is assigned to a murder case on Solaria, the newest of the Spacer worlds. He’s reunited with R. Daneel and we see him struggling with his agoraphobia in planes, spaceships, automobiles, and also in a big fancy house built just for him. We also learn about the murder and meet Gladia (pronounced gla-DEE-ah) Delmarre who is destined to become a major character and helps put the naked in The Naked Sun.

Here are the opening pages and the remaining illustrations by H. R. Van Dongen.

Season 3, Episode 17: coming soon to the aether near you!

Resources

  • Asimov, Isaac. “The Naked Sun, part 1” Astounding Science Fiction, October 1956, pp. 8-62.
  • Asimov, Isaac. The Naked Sun, ©1956, 1957, 1983, Bantum Spectra
  • Campbell, John W. “In Times to Come” Astounding Science Fiction, September 1956, pg. 42.

Next Time on Stars End

Episode 15 of Season 3 dropped this morning and episode 16 is already in post-production. in it, we’ll be finishing up The Caves of Steel, reading and discussing the third and final installment that ran in Galaxy Science Fiction in December 1953.

Our novel is not featured on the cover again, this time passed over for a nice holiday-themed illustration. Galaxy, evidently had a series of those.

In this concluding installment, Jessie confesses to conspiracy, Lije and Daneel play bad cop, uncomfortably robotic cop with a suspect and Baley cracks the case!

Here’s the promotion for this installment of The Caves of Steel from Galaxy’s November Issue.

Ed Emshwiller provides the artwork and we once again open with a two-page spread.

And here’s the rest of the synopsis if you want to refresh your memory about what’s already happened before you read the last installment or listen to our next episode.

And here are the remaining illustrations from the story. Below we see Daneel closing on Clousarr during the interrogation (left), and R. Sammy as a murder vic… uh… property damage (right). We should keep our legal terms straight.

The final image shows Baley projecting the crime scene for Daneel and the commissioner.

Season 3, Episode 16 will be available soon!

Next Time on Stars End

We’re not recording our next episode until Saturday, but if you’re reading ahead, we’ll be discussing chapters 8-13 of The Caves of Steel, corresponding to the second installment that was published in Galaxy Science Fiction in November 1953.

Galaxy SF, 11/1953

It’s an interesting issue. Asimov didn’t score the cover this time. The cover references the non-fiction piece about the famous experiment that saw complex amino acids generating spontaneously when the conditions on primordial Earth were recreated in a laboratory.

Also of interest is “Galaxy’s 5-Star Shelf.” which reviews a compilation of Olaf Stapledon’s work, the non-fiction Man in Space by Heinz Haber, Second Stage Lensman by E. E. (Doc) Smith, Against the Fall of Night by Arthur C. Clarke and Second Foundation. In that last review, Groff Conklin calls the now-completed Foundation Trilogy “Our first great sociological space opera.” He compares it favorably with Smith’s Lensman series saying, “…Asimov’s work, based as it is on fairly sound social principles and the activities of fairly normal human beings, has a pressing sense of reality that Smith’s fairy tales lack…” He concludes “it is a thoroughly satisfying and adult play of the scientific imagination.”

But back to The Caves of Steel. Here’s the promotion for this installment in Galaxy’s October Issue.

And here are some pages from the story.

i

I’m particularly liking the opening two-page spread, with artwork once again by Ed Emshwiller. It depicts the encounter in Chapter 8. The synopsis is nicely done as well and continues for the entire next page. Here’s the remainder in case you want to remind yourself of the last installment before continuing to read this one.

Finally, here are the rest of the illustrations from the story. We have Lije and Daneel leaving Space Town (top right), traveling through a power plant (left), and Daneel being examined by Dr. Gerrigel, a roboticist.

Season 3, Episode 15 will be available soon!

Next Time on Stars End

Galaxy SF, 10/1953

We just recorded our latest episode last night and we’re back to reading the works of the Great and Glorious Az.

We’re thrilled to announce that, by popular demand, we’ll be reading the Robot Novels beginning at the beginning with The Caves of Steel. That’s my go-to novel if I want to introduce someone to Asimov’s work.

This novel was written at a time when Asimov was trying to get away from being a “one-editor-writer” and so he was working with, among others, Horace Gold of Galaxy Science Fiction. Gold had serialized The Stars, Like Dust in Galaxy under the title Tyrann and he was anxious to serialize another. He suggested a novel about robots, but Asimov declined. Robots, thought Asimov, were for short stories; the ideas wouldn’t carry an entire novel.

So Gold suggested that Asimov write a detective story where the detective had a robot partner and Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw were born. John W. Campbell had always claimed that a science fiction mystery story was a contradiction-in-terms and Asimov wanted to prove him wrong. The Caves of Steel became Asimov’s most successful book up to that point.

But first, it was serialized in Galaxy Science Fiction in October, November, and December of 1953. For this episode, we’re reading the first installment which corresponds to chapters 1-7 in the book. If you’re interested in reading The Caves of Steel as it first appeared, you can find that issue of Galaxy here courtesy of Archive.org but either way, you can enjoy the original artwork by Ed Emshwiller right here. Our episode will be out in a few days!

Next Time on Stars End

We just recorded our fifth episode last night. Five isn’t a big, round number, it isn’t even a round number. But it is half of a round number. Also it is prime. Prime numbers are cool. Let’s call it a minor milestone.

Five episodes is almost as many as Manimal, which was quality programming. It was a philosophical examination of the human state and its relationship to the environment in the postindustrial age. Probably. I never watched it but I’m sure that’s what it was about. That or a werewolf detective or something but probably the first thing. Anyway, almost as many as Manimal and we did it without being notoriously terrible or infamously offensive! Mostly.

https://i0.wp.com/www.philsp.com/visco/Magazines/ASF/ASF_0165.jpg

Unlike “the Wedge” (aka The Traders), which was published with little to no fanfare, John W. Campbell was a lot more enthusiastic about “The Big and the Little” (aka The Merchant Princes). It takes up the lion’s share of July’s coming attractions (above) and, like “Bridle and Saddle” it was Astounding’s cover when it ran in August of 1944.

So, next time we discuss “The Merchant Princes” and foreshadow a bit of Foundation and Empire. We’ll also have another Apple TV+ minute for you, which will inspire a tangent into the DC Comics Extended Universe of all things.

A quick bit of Trivia: I just learned that “The Traders” and “The Merchant Princes” were both nominated for Retro Hugo’s in 2020, 75 years after they first would have been eligible had there been a World Science Fiction Convention in 1945. Neither won its category.

And speaking of trivia we’ll also have another installment of Asimov Trivia for you! Is there drama in the game this time? You’ll have to listen to see!

Coming soon to a platform near you. Join us!

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