Subtitled "Stories in Honor of Isaac Asimov," this pleasant anthology of new stories celebrates Asimov's 50 years of writing SF. Seventeen authors explore the people, places and ideas Asimov has made famous, albeit in their own styles. Robots circumvent, enhance or expound upon the Three Laws of Robotics, a la Robert Sheckley, Harry Harrison (in a Stainless Steel Rat adventure) and Connie Willis, who puts Asimov himself into a "Dilemma." Mike Resnick reveals an introspective Susan Calvin; George Alec Effinger sends a Jewish American Princess to see "Nightfall," Edward D. Hoch visits the Black Widowers, and Orson Scott Card looks at Hari Seldon and the start of the Second Fundation. Frederik Pohl's "The Reunion at the Mile-High" is a charming and unexpected tale of the 50th reunion of the Futurians, Asimov and Pohl included, in an alternate-world 1989.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The secret beginning of the Second Foundation as chronicled in Orson Scott Card's "The Originist" highlights this collection of 17 stories set in the universes created by sf veteran Asimov, now in his 50th year of professional writing. Contributors include Robert Silverberg, Hal Clement, Connie Willis, Pamela Sargent, and Harry Turtledove, as well as other veteran sf writers. A few uneven stories fail to mar the general strength of this commemorative volume, which is recommended for most sf collections.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.