Asimov Book Review - The Naked Sun

by Lacey Kat
(Copyright 2016 by Author)

By the mid-1950’s Isaac Asimov was steadily moving away from science fiction, and devoting more time to non-fiction work. This trend had been steady through most of the decade beginning, if you will, with the publication of his book “Biochemistry and Human Metabolism.”

Asimov enjoyed writing and found that he enjoyed non-fiction more than fiction writing. In fiction, every story had to be different. In non-fiction, however, that was not the case. Asimov found he could write a technical paper for a science journal, popularize it for a broad appeal magazine, and even shorten and simplify it for a publication geared for a younger audience. The same article could serve many masters.

Asimov did not totally abandon non-fiction however and one of his better efforts during this time is the sequel to “Caves of Steel,” which he called, “The Naked Sun.”

“The Naked Sun” is the further exploits of New York detective Elijah Baley. Baley’s world is a thousand years from the time of the “Robot” stories Asimov wrote in the 1940s. Earth, as we found out in “Caves of Steel,” is over populated and mankind is forced to live in vast underground cities. Robots, once banned on earth, are slowly making their way into the everyday lives of the people in these cities.

However, earth is not the only planet humans call home. On fifty worlds out in space, humans have colonized and established various societies that are now more advanced than the lowly home of humanity. On these worlds robots are the norm. In fact, on Solaria, the population is held steady at twenty thousand people, but there are over two hundred million working positronic robots. That is a ratio of ten thousand to one.

[One cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a robot or finding the robot programmed to swing the dead cat]

The story opens with Detective Baley summoned to Washington. There has been a murder on Solaria and they have requested the help of the detective who solved another murder involving a “spacer.”

Washington has two reasons for assigning Elijah Baley to the case. The first is that the “spacers” requested him and earth is in no position to turn down such a request. The second reason is that little is known on earth about the “Spacer” worlds. Space travel is forbidden to any Earthman and the planet lives in isolation from the rest of the galaxy. Baley’s superiors see this as an opportunity to gather information on another planet.

Baley takes the assignment and is taken to the planet Solaria where he meets his former partner, R. Daneel Olivaw. This is a surprise to Baley because Daneel is not from Solaria, but from another spacer world called Aurora, and Daneel is not a human, but a humaniform robot. A fact that Baley alone seems to know about.

Solaria is a world of isolation. In many ways Asimov made it the direct opposite of the earth he created. Earth is overcrowded, as we learned in intimate detail in the previous novel. There is almost no time that a person is alone. Also, because the people of earth live in underground cities, they suffer from agoraphobia, the fear of open spaces. On Solaria each person has their own estate, and usually live alone. Robots tend to their every want, and advanced three- dimensional viewing is the only contact they have with other people. In fact “viewing” is such an accepted for of personal interaction that it takes a special effort to “see” someone in the flesh. Some Solarians can only take personal contact from a distance, and others become violently ill at the thought of a person actually being within their sight.

In this setting then comes the mystery. A prominent scientist is brutally murdered in his home, surrounded by robots that must not allow any harm to come to him. The only witness to the murder is a robot that can no longer function and has been destroyed. The only other human on the estate; his wife. A woman he can barely stand to be with.

This is a more mature novel than “Caves of Steel” in that it shows a development in Asimov’s novel style. In “Caves,” Asimov spent a large amount of time establishing the society of earth. In “Naked Sun,” Solaria’s society, knowledge of which is important to the mystery, is developed with the story. Baley, like the reader, is unfamiliar with this brave new world and must learn about it as he goes along. In this way, the reader, like the detective, must search through the information to see what is an important clue, and what is an abstract piece of information. In some cases, R. Daneel Olivaw is a source of information, but in reality, he plays a minor role in the overall story. It is the Plainclothesman Elijah Baley, with his policeman instincts that must solve the mystery and catch the killer.

Asimov has also sharpened his mystery writing skill a bit more for this novel. The solution is not as obvious and is not revealed as early as in “Caves of Steel.” There is a larger collection of suspects and they must all be examined in different ways. A fact that is itself a clue to the mystery (no, I am not giving anything away).

In the end, even though this story is set over a thousand years into the future, and over a hundred light years from earth, in the final chapter the intelligent detective must gather all of the suspects into “the library” to explain how the crime was committed, how the case was solved, and who the murderer is. Why Asimov resorted to this well-established cliché is unknown to me. He may have felt that it was obligatory for a murder mystery, but by this time in his career, he was more than able to challenge established propriety. It was well done and did not detract from the overall story, but it did reduce it a notch on the originality meter.

In the end “Naked Sun” is an excellent example of what Asimov thought science fiction should be. Not spaceships and laser guns, but a look at how technology affects society. Asimov successfully creates a planet where robots are so prevalent and human contact is so absent. A world where the basic needs of humans are bread out, but the basic needs of humans are the deciding factors in the case.

This was the second, and for the most part, last of the Elijah Baley mysteries. As stated above, Asimov was moving away from science fiction and more toward non-fiction. He would return to the Baley/ Daneel partnership thirty years later, but by that time he was using them to connect his “Robot” and “Foundation” stories and Asimov’s reason for the original pairing was lost. For this author it was a great loss indeed.

“The Naked Sun,” is a very good murder mystery and a very good science fiction novel. Isaac Asimov once again demonstrated how seamlessly these two genres’ could be fused together. He explores some pressing sociological issues without being heavy-handed

or preachy, and he provides a good story to boot.

How he does it so successfully is another mystery to be unraveled.

Asimov Book Review - Nightfall & Other Stories

by Lacey Kat
(Copyright 2016 by Author)


"If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore: and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God . . .."

Ralph Waldo Emerson 'Nature'

On March 17, 1941, John W. Campbell, Jr., then editor of "Astounding Science Fiction" met with a young Isaac Asimov, one of his stable of young writers. Asimov, who had just turned 21, had an idea for a story. Campbell, being the boss, had a better one. Campbell asked (so the story goes), "What do you think would happen if men were to see the stars for the first time in a thousand years?" Asimov, then quite naive on the ways of man, said, "I don't know." Campbell the said, "I think they would go mad." The two men talked a bit about the how & why of a world without stars, then Campbell sent the young, and only recently published, author out off his office with the orders, "Go home and write the story." And the rest, as they say, is history.

The story that evolved out of that meeting over sixty years ago is known as "Nightfall." It is considered by many to be the best science fiction short story of the twentieth century. It has won the Hugo Award and the Nebula, and readers" polls consistently place it in First place. By 1969 it had appeared in ten anthologies and was translated into Dutch, German, Italian, and even Russian (I say "even" because in 1969 the Cold War was still in full swing and neither Russia nor the U.S. printed much of the other's literary works).

As popular as it was, Asimov never included "Nightfall" in any of his collections until 1969. He also never considered it to be one of his best works. And therein lies a rub. At the "young" age of twenty-one, Asimov wrote a story so powerful that John W. Campbell Jr. actually gave him a bonus. It elevated Asimov to the level of "serious writer," it got him his first "cover," and from that point on he sold everything he wrote. The question was, where do you go from up?

Asimov himself once wrote that he was a little irritated at being told, over and over again, that "Nightfall" was his best story. He felt that time and practice should have made him a more polished writer in the passing years, and surely something else that he wrote should have surpassed this "dated" classic. The price of stardom at a young age.

To capitalize on his point Asimov put together this collection of twenty short stories. They cover the period of 1941 to 1968 and include stories that had not, at that time, appeared in any of his other collections. The stories vary in length and source. Some were published in leading Science Fiction Magazines of the time such as "Galaxy," "Astounding Science Fiction,"" New Tales of Space and Time," and "Fantastic." Others were first published in other sources such as "Scientific American" and the Netherlands medical magazine "Abbottempo." As he grew in fame periodicals of all kinds hoped to broaden their readership by including an "Asimov" story.

The first story, "Nightfall," deals with a planet, in a system of six suns that only sees a night sky once in two thousand and forty-nine years. And today is the day. In the span of thirty-two pages Asimov, using largely a conversation style introduces an alien civilization, gives you a history lesson, a quick look at the problems of astrophysics, examines the role of religion in society, and speculates on what you might do if you knew the world were coming to an end. For most writers, this would take a trilogy. [Note: In 1990 Robert Silverberg did expand the short story into novel length with the aid and approval of Asimov]

Each of the next stories, presented in the order they were published, takes a deferent look at a wide host of subjects. Asimov was never dull. What is particularly interesting in this collection is that Asimov has stories that include "alien" characters. This is unusual for the good Doctor as he usually populated his universes with humans only. However, in this collection, we see various attempts to present alien life with decidedly alien psychologies. In "Green Patches," for example, the alien life is a collective and sees man as too individual to do any good. In "C-Chute," a story that first appeared in "Galaxy" magazine and then was presented on radio, Asimov presents a war with an alien race that breaths chlorine and has a "hive" mentality. In "Hostess" the alien ambassador comes to dinner, much to the chagrin of the Hostess' husband. In "What is this thing called Love?" an alien that reproduces through budding must explain the concept of "sex" to his superior. So he grabs two earthlings off a train platform and asks for a visual aid. After reading these examples you may wonder why aliens are so scarce in Asimov's universe.

There is one robot story in the collection. It is called "Sally" and does not deal with the usual three laws conflicts.

One other story, that I found particularly interesting deals with the idea alternate universes. What would you do if you could see both outcomes of an important decision, and you did not like either one. Current Sci-Fi superstar Larry Niven wrote a host of stories dealing with contact with alternate realities, but that was over a decade after Asimov explored the idea. This story is also interesting as it has "romance" as a driving force. Asimov seldom had female characters in his stories, let alone romantic undertones.

"Nightfall and Other Stories" is a classic example of why Isaac Asimov was considered one of the great authors of the last century. Each story in the book starts with a brief biographical note explaining the history of the story. I have always enjoyed these glimpses into the life of the author and wish more would follow Asimov's example. What the book also shows is that Asimov was wrong. He did not get better with experience. He was a genius from the early stages of his writing. "Nightfall" shows how well developed his talent was at an early age. If you have not read "Nightfall and Other Stories," you have not read Asimov.

WARNING: In an effort to make more profit, I can only suppose, Grafton Books released "Nightfall One" and "Nightfall Two" in 1986. These are simply the original "Nightfall and Other Stories" split into two volumes. There is no new material, in either volume, and they were marketed primarily in England, New Zealand, and Australia. If you have "Nightfall and Other Stories", there is no reason to buy these.

Asimov Book Review - Earth Is Room Enough

By Lacey Kat

(Copyright 2014 by Author)

Isaac Asimov is best known for his science fiction writing, specifically his Foundation novels and his robot stories. While this would be enough for most of today’s writers, it should be remembered that this was just a smidgeon of Asimov’s literary output. Most of his work was non-fiction, a good amount was not science, and a good amount remains published today.

Even among his science fiction the robots and the Foundation were a distinctive minority. Asimov populated his work with massive computers that ran the world, fantasy creatures that granted wishes, for a price, and aliens who were just looking at what makes man tick. Interspaced with these tales were bad jokes, clever rhymes, and a pull at your heartstrings from time to time.

If you would like to get to know Isaac Asimov, or you would like to introduce a friend to his worlds, I would strongly suggest holding off on “Foundation” and “I Robot,” and instead buy them a copy of “Earth is Room Enough.”

The title comes from a criticism that all of Asimov’s stories took place across the galaxy and that he never brought stories home. To prove these less than educated observers wrong in November of 1956 Asimov took a collection of stories that took place on Earth to Doubleday Publishers who not only agreed to print them but made the book a “Selection of the Month” for the Science Fiction Book Club.

The collection is an entertaining cross section of Asimov’s works including some robot tales, the first Multivac story, some of his poetry, and a pun or two. It is a fine example of why Isaac Asimov is considered one of the giants of the last century.

Here is a brief synopsis of the stories in this volume.

Dead Past - Andrew Potterly, a Professor of Ancient History, is desperate to prove, via "time-viewing," that the object of his research, the ancient Carthaginians, did not practice human sacrifice. In his world, however, intellectual disciplines are not supposed to mingle. He is a history professor and has no reason to contact the advanced physics departments. He cannot get special government permission, and no established physicist will help him, so he pressures a young physicist, Jonas Foster, into making a time-viewing device illegally.

This is the first story in the book and at fifty pages is a little daunting. Other than that, there is very little to criticize about this story. The characters are sharply drawn, and the conflict is vivid. In fact, until the end, you think you know what the conflict is and who the good and bad guys are. Asimov does a very good job of challenging these preconceptions in the end without making the reader feel foolish or used. Asimov also makes the story more complex than many of his novelettes by skillfully bringing in threads from all over the place. Items like the pain of losing a child, frustration over what seems to be an over burdensome system, and even a careless cigarette are all utilized to paint a rich background for what is essentially a simple story.

The Foundation of S F Success – This is a short piece of comic verse that is a mild parody of a poem by William S. Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame). In it, Asimov “answers” the question of how to become a successful Sci-Fi author. It is a whimsical look at Asimov and the Foundation series, and the debt owed to Roman History. It was the first bit of comic verse Asimov ever sold, and he was paid $15 for it.

Franchise – was the first of the “Multivac” stories that Asimov ever wrote and was originally printed in the August 1955 edition of IF magazine. Asimov wrote it after the introduction of the Univac computer in the 1952 Presidential election. In that election, Univac was used to predict the outcome using a small, representative, sample of the voting public. But how small of a sample do you need to make an accurate prediction? That is what “Franchise” is all about.  Seems even more relavant today. 

Gimmicks Three – In this amazing little bit of fantasy (odd for the early Asimov) Isidore Welby sells the soul to the devil. When the devil appears to collect, Welby is given a test to pass. If he passes, he’ll become a demon and have a comparatively comfortable life in hell; if he fails, he’ll just be damned. This contains all of the usual “gimmicks of a pact with the devil,” a locked room mystery, and time travel. Asimov blends all three into an interesting twist that Faust should have thought of.

Kid Stuff – By 1953, Asimov was becoming more interested in writing non-fiction. Science Fiction, no matter the success, was still looked at as less than adult fare. In this story, Jan Prentiss earns his living writing fantasies. This is a source of embarrassment to himself and his family. Then Prentiss meets an elf. An elf from Avalon. An elf that wants to take Prentiss back home. You see the fantasy world is stuck in a rut and this elf is a mutant. He can turn his psychic gifts into practical electronics. He wants Prentiss to help him turn Avalon into a modern industrial civilization, or he will do harm to Prentiss’ family.

The Watery Place - Ambassadors from the planet Venus are mistaken for pesky tourists from Venice and humanity’s future is ruined.

Asimov loved humor and particularly loved puns. As a result, he wrote a number of stories of unequal success to utilize this love. This short-short story appeared in “Satellite Science Fiction” in the fall of 1956. It was the magazine’s first issue and having a big name like Asimov was a plus. The story is cute, but not that cute, and the name was more important than the content at this point.

Living Space – One of Asimov’s talents was to take an overused Science Fiction situation, and look at it in a different light. In “Living Space,” Asimov looks at the concept of “alternate Earths.” The idea that there are an infinite number of parallel dimensions with an infinite number of earths in them. All you have to do is figure out how to go from universe to universe. Most of these stories are used to look at alternate histories. Worlds where Rome never fell or the Germans won WW II. They relieve the author of creating completely new worlds; just change the one you know to fit your story.

In Asimov’s story, Earth is overpopulated so they find alternate Earths which never developed life. There you can put one family in one house and have a world all to yourself. However, what happens if you meet someone from an alternate earth who wants your planet for themselves? Moreover, if they are a colony of Nazis from yet another alternate-Earth, they may have more than one world conquest in mind.

The Message – This is one of the few Asimov stories that have suffered from the passage of time. In it, we find out who “Kilroy,” of “Kilroy was here” really was. It is a cute story that almost falls into the Forest Gump look at history. However, most of today’s reading public does not know about Kilroy or his role in WW II. It would be like writing a science fiction story featuring the Brady Bunch. Today’s youth may know the name but have lost the connection.

Satisfaction Guaranteed – This is one of only two robot stories (not counting the Multivac story) in this collection, and it is one of the better “Susan Calvin” stories. She plays only a minor, but important, role in the story. The major player is a “frumpy” housewife named Claire Belmont, who is asked, by her husband, to “field test” the latest model of the home robot. A robot that looks like a man and is designed to help around the house. Clair is repulsed by the situation, but slowly comes around as the robot, “Tony,” helps her become the wife and hostess she has always wanted to be. In the end, Tony does one more thing to elevate Clair’s social status. Something not meant to be in his personal programming.

Hell-Fire - First published in Fantastic Universe, May 1956, this is an another short-short story reflecting Asimov’s depression on the use of atomic power. He wrote several such stories as he saw the promise of “atomics” turned into the cold war. This one is odd for two reasons. The first is the lack of sedulity in connecting the bomb with the devil. The second interesting footnote is that after the September 11^th attack on the World Trade Center pictures circulated showing Satan’s visage in the smoke emanating from the tower wreckage. It is also worth noting that this story does not seem to appear in his autobiography, “In Joy Still Felt.” Perhaps it was something he would rather forget.

The Last Trump - First published in Fantastic Universe, June 1955, it is a “fantasy story” about the end of the world. An end that is in a more old-testament fashion. The Old Testament’s Sheol. A gray nothingness where everyone walks around without desire, without fulfillment, without death. It is an interesting look at what might happen if we woke to find that the end is as the Bible predicted it. Sort of a “left behind” from a Jewish point of view. None of the characters are of interest, but the story is well written and raises some interesting questions. Not being a total religious zealot, Asimov injects a little reality to solve the mess humanity finds themselves in.

The Fun They Had – This is a quaint little story more along the lines of Ray Bradbury than Isaac Asimov. In it, Margie Jones longs for the “good old days” of education instead of the dull computerized education she is forced to sit through today. The grass, she feels, was greener then.

This was written for a children’s newspaper in 1951 and the technology is a bit off. However, the idea of computerized education is more on the mark and helped establish Asimov as a “futurist.”

Jokester - Noel Meyerhof, the Grand Master of the Multivac “priesthood” asks the giant computer brain why jokes exist. The only logical answer is that humans are being experimented on and that humor is a technique to test our psyches. Once that little fact is discovered, of what use will the experiment be? This is a fun story that raises a few questions on the origins of thought. It was turned into a radio play, quite effectively, in the Science Fiction Anthology series “X Minus One.”

The Immortal Bard - What if you brought William Shakespeare to the present and he took a course in Shakespeare? Gotthard Guenther at the Cambridge Center inspired this story when Asimov attended his lecture on Science Fiction for the Arts. During the lecture, Gotthard explained to the audience the ideas behind “Nightfall,” not knowing that Asimov was a few yards away. After the talk, Asimov proudly went up to the lecturer and declared that his analysis was wrong. Gotthard asked Asimov, “What makes you think, just because you are the author of ‘Nightfall,’ that you have the slightest inkling of what is in it?” A lesser author would have stormed off insulted. Asimov used the incident to write a story of a better author finding himself in a similar situation. I believe this idea was also explored in a “Twilight Zone” episode ten years later.

Someday - Niccolo Mazetti is unhappy with his “Bard,” his story-telling computer. His friend Paul Loeb, who has the latest model of electronic Bard, tries to upgrade Niccolo’s and tells him of all the clever things the new models can do. The upgrade is too little and Paul and Niccolo leave the obsolete machine to play with the newer one at Paul’s house. The Bard manages to overhear this and, after they leave, tells a story to itself of its own pain. The interesting thing about this story is that it is one of the few non-law stories that Asimov wrote, and it deals with a robot’s feelings, not logic.

The Author’s Ordeal – This is another bit of comic verse that Asimov wrote in the style of W. S. Gilbert. In this verse, he laments the distractions a writer must face while working on the plot for a new story. Anyone who is an author, or is trying to be one, will find pathos in this funny tale.

Dreaming is a Private Thing - What if you could record dreams and then play them back for other’s entertainment? Jesse Weill runs a company that does just that. He manufactures "dreamies"—prerecorded dream sequences. Then you can pick and choose your mental fantasies. As with any other industry there are problems and we follow Jesse through the course of the day as he deals with acquiring new talent, fending off the government censors who want to crack down on pornography, and keeping his best talent happy. This idea has been explored several times since in movies such as “Brainstorm” in 1983 and the original “Total Recall” entitled “We can remember it for you wholesale.” It is an interesting look at “new” technology and its effects on society. Which, as Asimov has pointed out, is what science fiction is supposed to be about.

Earth is Room Enough is readily available from Amazon.com (0449241254) in both the paperback and hardback edition. It is a fine addition to any bookshelf and a very good introduction to a very good author. It is seldom that I find a book that is so completely enjoyable.