Tag Archives: Issac Asimov

Trump Administration Declassifies Isaac Asimov Autopsy Files

In a stunning move that surprised almost everyone, earlier today the Trump administration declassified all files relating to the autopsy of Isaac Asimov.

Asimov, whom  most of the world believed died in 1992, was a prominent writer of science and science fiction in the Twentieth Century.

Shock waves rippled through the scientific and science fiction communities as interested parties combed thtough the documents. Autopsy photos clearly show that Asimov wasn’t human.

He was a type of robot built to resemble a human known as a humaniforom robot. Video footage shows the removal of his positronic brain, which was transported to a government controlled laboratory in the basement of one of the buildings at Coumbia University under the direction of a Dr. S. Calvin.

Dr. Calvin could not be reached for comment. Her assistant, R. D. Olivaw released the following statement:

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I can say that examinatnion of Dr. Asimov’s positronic brain has allowed us to make great strides forward in robotics, cybernetics, and computer science. Facebook, Tik-Tok, and Angry Birds all owe their development to our study of Asimov’s positronic brain. The advances in artificial intelligence alone have allowed us to leap forwards decades sooner than we would have otherwise. We here at the lab are working on developing an AI known as Seldon, which will aid humanity in expanding out into the galaxy.

Certain details in the documents indicated that while Dr. Asimov’s humaniform body may have failed, his positronic brain is still alive. Skeptics claimed that if this were really the case, then it would probably still be writing books. No such books have been published, at least not under Asimov’s name. Unfortunately, these hints refer to other files which have not been declassified.

This is a developing story. Further details will be provided as they become available.

Retro Hugos: Final Thoughts on the Short Stories

So just to recap, here is the shortlist in the short story category for the Retro Hugos:

  • The Wedge”, Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction 10/44)
  • I, Rocket”, Ray Bradbury (Amazing Stories 5/44)
  • And the Gods Laughed”, Fredric Brown (Planet Stories Spring ’44)
  • Desertion”, Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction 11/44)
  • Huddling Place”, Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction 7/44)
  • Far Centaurus”, A.E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction 1/44)

Links are to the posts of the individual stories. While I enjoyed all of these stories and will probably reread them at some future date, I didn’t find them all equally good. This is simply my not so humble opinion; your mileage may vary.

“The Wedge” was the weakest of the stories here. In part, I think, that’s because it’s part of a bigger story arc. I suspect it’s on the final ballot in part due to the reputation of the Foundation series and the author. Ditto for the Bradbury minus the series angle. I could say the same about the two Simak stories as the Asimov except that these are in my mind the two strongest tales on the list.

As for the Brown and Van Vogt entries, they are both examples of their author’s best work at this length. I tend to favor the Brown a bit over the Van Vogt, but that might be because it was one of only two stories (the other being “I, Rocket”) that I hadn’t read before and was therefore fresher.

As for which which of the Simak I think was the strongest, that’s a tough call. I would probably go with “Huddling Place”, although I can easily convince myself that “Desertion” is the better of the two. Some I’m going to compromise and declare a tie.

And just a sidenote of possible interest.  DAW books began publishing a series of anthologies in somewhere around 1980 (I’m too lazy to look it up) entitled Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories. Each volume collected what Asimov , with the assistance of Martin H. Greenberg, considered the best stories of the year.  The first volume covered 1939, and the series ran for 24 volumes, with a 25th published by NESFA Press and edited by Robert Silverberg after Asimov’s death. The sixth volume covers 1944, the year of the current Retro Hugos.

That volume contains 13 stories, Eight of them are on the Retro Hugo ballot. One which isn’t is Leigh Brackett’s “The Veil of Astellar”, which should be on the novelette ballot. Don’t get me started. After the Retro Hugos have been awarded, I will probably reread the rest of the stories. I read this book in high school, and I don’t remember some of the stories.

I’ll start on the novellas I haven’t already covered in the next post. The story will be “Killdozer!” by Theodore Sturgeon. That story was revised for book publication, so I’m reading it in, you guessed it, The Great SF Stories 6,