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Azazel (Asimov)
Azazel is a character created by Isaac Asimov and featured in a series of fantasy short stories. Azazel is a two-centimeter-tall demon (or extraterrestrial), named after the Biblical demon. Some of these stories were collected in ''Azazel'', first published in 1988. The stories take the form of conversations between an unnamed writer (whom Asimov identifies in the collection introduction as himself) and a shiftless friend named George (named in "The Two-Centimeter Demon" as George Bitternut). At these meetings George tells how he is able to conjure up Azazel and their adventures together. George's greatest goal in life is a free lunch (or dinner, or ride, etc.), but Azazel is constrained so that he cannot directly benefit George. George can only call upon Azazel for favors to various friends, which invariably go awry. The stories' theme about a demon or alien that grants wishes echoes an earlier work by Lester del Rey, titled "No Strings Attached" from 1954. " Getting Even" (1980 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cal (short Story)
"Cal" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in 1991, and was included in the 1995 collection ''Gold''. Plot Cal is a robot whose master is an author. Cal, under the influence of the latter, decides to learn to write. His master outfits his mind with a dictionary and gives him advice and some books to read. Cal tries to write mystery fiction like his master, but is hampered by the Three Laws of Robotics; according to the First Law, a robot cannot harm humans, even fictional ones. Instead, his master programs him to write humor. Cal writes an excellent story, but his master fears Cal's writing will overshadow his own. He orders a technician to dumb Cal down. Cal, hearing this, decides to kill his master, in defiance of the First Law, because his desire takes precedence: "I want to be a writer." The humorous story written by Cal is one of Asimov's Azazel stories. Titled "Perfectly Formal", this story in a story tells the misfortu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction Short Story Collections By Isaac Asimov
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for scientific reasoning is tens of thousands of years old. The earliest written records in the history of science come from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BCE. Their contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine entered and shaped Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity, whereby formal attempts were made to provide explanations of events in the physical world based on natural causes. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, knowledge of Greek conceptions of the world deteriorated in Western Europe during the early centuries (400 to 1000 CE) of the Middle Ages, but was preserved in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age and later by the efforts of Byzantine Greek scholars who brought Greek ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magic (Asimov)
''Magic'' (1996) is a collection of short stories and essays by American writer Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ..., all within (or concerning, in the latter case) the fantasy (genre), fantasy genre, collected and released after his death. The first seven stories are part of his Azazel (Asimov), Azazel series, while the remainder are three more traditional medieval fantasies and one mystery story from Asimov's Black Widowers series. Contents * "Introduction", essay * "Part One: The Final Fantasy Stories", short stories: ** "To Your Health" (1989), ''Azazel (Asimov), Azazel'' series ** "The Critic on the Hearth" (1992), ''Azazel'' series ** "It's a Job" (1991), ''Azazel'' series ** "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (1991), ''Azazel'' series ** "The Time Traveler ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fifty Years Of Isaac Asimov
50 (fifty) is the natural number following 49 and preceding 51. In mathematics Fifty is the smallest number that is the sum of two non-zero square numbers in two distinct ways: 50 = 12 + 72 = 52 + 52. It is also the sum of three squares, 50 = 32 + 42 + 52, and the sum of four squares, 50 = 62 + 32 + 22 + 12. It is a Harshad number. 50 is a Stirling number of the first kind: \leftright= 50 and also a Narayana number: \operatorname(6, 3) = \operatorname(6, 4) = 50 There is no solution to the equation φ(''x'') = 50, making 50 a nontotient. Nor is there a solution to the equation ''x'' − φ(''x'') = 50, making 50 a noncototient. In science *The atomic number of tin *The fifth magic number in nuclear physics In religion *In Kabbalah, there are 50 Gates of Wisdom (or Understanding) and 50 Gates of Impurity *The traditional number of years in a jubilee period.Leviticus 25:10 *The Christian Feast of Pentecost takes place on the 50th day of the Easter Season *The Jewish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction By Asimov
''Science Fiction by Asimov'' is a collection of six short stories and one poem by American author Isaac Asimov. Published by Davis Publications in 1986, it was given away free to subscribers of '' Asimov's SF Magazine''. Content *" More Things In Heaven and Earth" (1986), ''Azazel'' series *" Rejection Slips" (1959), poem *" Death of a Foy" (1980) *" Dashing Through the Snow" (1984), ''Azazel'' series *"Potential" (1983), ''Multivac'' series *" Eyes Do More Than See" (1965) *" The Dim Rumble" (1982), ''Azazel'' series It is the only collection of Asimov's stories to include "Potential", a ''Multivac'' story first published in ''Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine'' in the February 1983 issue. The story also appeared in '' The 1984 Annual World's Best SF'' and ''Tales from Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine'' (1986). References External links''Science Fiction by Asimov''at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Winds Of Change And Other Stories
''The Winds of Change and Other Stories'' is a collection of short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov, published in 1983 by Doubleday. Contents * " About Nothing" (1975) * " A Perfect Fit" (1981) * "Belief" (1953), novelette * "Death of a Foy" (1980) * " Fair Exchange?" (1978) * " For the Birds" (1980) * " Found!" (1978) * "Good Taste" (1976), novelette * "How It Happened" (1979) * "Ideas Die Hard" (1957), novelette * "Ignition Point!" (1981) * " It Is Coming" (1979), ''Multivac'' series * " The Last Answer" (1980) * " The Last Shuttle" (1981) * " Lest We Remember" (1982), novelette * " Nothing for Nothing" (1979) * " One Night of Song" (1982), ''Azazel'' series * " The Smile That Loses" (1982), ''Azazel'' series * " Sure Thing" (1977) * " To Tell at a Glance" (1983; previously published in an edited version in 1977), novelette * " The Winds of Change" (1982) Reception Dave Langford reviewed ''The Winds of Change'' for ''White Dwarf'' #58, and stated that "Thankfully there ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gallery (magazine)
''Gallery'' is an adult sex magazine published by Magna Publishing Group. It is one of the more popular "skin" magazines that arose on the ''Playboy'' magazine pattern in the 1970s. Publication history ''Gallery'' was launched by Ronald L. Fenton and trial attorney F. Lee Bailey in Chicago, Illinois. The first issue appeared on newsstands in November, 1972 bearing an uncanny resemblance to ''Playboy'' magazine, even using the same style font for the cover. Many people therefore assumed ''Gallery'' was also published by Hugh Hefner as a companion publication to ''Playboy''. After Hefner sent a letter to Bailey pointing out the magazine's similarities, the layout of ''Gallery'' was quickly changed. Financial difficulties plagued the magazine from the start, causing Bailey to leave during its inaugural year. Following publication of the January 1974 issue, Fenton was forced to forfeit ownership of the magazine to its distributor. Montcalm Publications, based in New York, event ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Analog Science Fiction And Fact
''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William Clayton, and edited by Harry Bates. Clayton went bankrupt in 1933 and the magazine was sold to Street & Smith. The new editor was F. Orlin Tremaine, who soon made ''Astounding'' the leading magazine in the nascent pulp science fiction field, publishing well-regarded stories such as Jack Williamson's '' Legion of Space'' and John W. Campbell's "Twilight". At the end of 1937, Campbell took over editorial duties under Tremaine's supervision, and the following year Tremaine was let go, giving Campbell more independence. Over the next few years Campbell published many stories that became classics in the field, including Isaac Asimov's ''Foundation'' series, A. E. van Vogt's ''Slan'', and several novels and stories by Robert A. Heinle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas had approached Spivak in the mid-1940s about creating a fantasy companion to Spivak's existing mystery title, ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine''. The first issue was titled ''The Magazine of Fantasy'', but the decision was quickly made to include science fiction as well as fantasy, and the title was changed correspondingly with the second issue. ''F&SF'' was quite different in presentation from the existing science fiction magazines of the day, most of which were in pulp format: it had no interior illustrations, no letter column, and text in a single column format, which in the opinion of science fiction historian Mike Ashley "set ''F&SF'' apart, giving it the air and authority of a superior magazine". ''F&SF'' qu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asimov's Science Fiction
''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication frequency is bimonthly (six issues per year). Circulation in 2012 was 22,593, as reported in the annual ''Locus Magazine survey. History ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' began life as the digest-sized ''Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine'' (or ''IASFM'' for short) in 1977. Joel Davis of Davis Publications approached Asimov to lend his name to a new science fiction magazine, after the fashion of ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' or ''Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine''. Asimov refused to act as editor, but served instead as editorial director, writing editorials and replying to reader mail until his death in 1992. At Asimov's request George Scithers, the first editor, negotiated an acquisitions contract with the Science Fiction Writ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold (Asimov)
''Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection'' is a 1995 collection of stories and essays by American writer Isaac Asimov. The stories, which comprise the volume's first half, are short pieces which had remained uncollected at the time of Asimov's death. " Cal" describes a robot that wishes to write, and the title story "Gold" expresses both Asimov's admiration of ''King Lear'' and his thoughts on cinema adaptations of his own stories. The story "Gold" won a Hugo Award. Contents Part One: The Final Stories Short stories: # " Cal" (1990), novelette, ''Robot'' series # "Left to Right" (1987), ''Probability Zero'' series # "Frustration" (1991) # "Hallucination" (1985), novelette, ''Multivac'' series # " The Instability" (1989) # "Alexander the God" (1989) # "In the Canyon" (1990) # "Good-bye to Earth" (1989) # " Battle-Hymn" (1995) # "Feghoot and the Courts" (1986) # " Fault-Intolerant" (1990) # "Kid Brother" (1990), ''Robot'' series # "The Nations in Space" (1995) # "The Smile of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
