''Asimov's Mysteries'', published in 1968, is a collection of 14
short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...
by American writer
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...
, almost all of them
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
mysteries (although, as Asimov admits in the introduction, some are only borderline). The stories were all originally published in magazines between 1954 and 1967, except for "
Marooned off Vesta", Asimov's first published story, which first appeared in 1939.
Four stories in the collection feature the character of Wendell Urth, who is a leading extra-terrologist (an expert on alien worlds and life originating on them). Urth is eccentric in that he has a
phobia
A phobia is an anxiety disorder, defined by an irrational, unrealistic, persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected ...
of all mechanical forms of transport (an exaggeration of Asimov's own aversion to flying). Physically Urth resembles
Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 – March 18, 1964) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and philosopher. He became a professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT). A child prodigy, Wiener late ...
.
Urth appears in the stories when he is consulted by an agent of the Terrestrial Bureau of Investigation, H. Seton Davenport, in cases which have him baffled – a parallel with the way in which Inspector Lestrade consults
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
. In a fifth story in the collection, "The Dust of Death", Asimov shows Davenport a generosity that
Conan Doyle never extended to Lestrade in demonstrating the former's ability to solve a case for himself without Urth's assistance.
Contents
* "
The Singing Bell" (1955), a Wendell Urth story
* "
The Talking Stone" (1955), a Wendell Urth story
* "
What's in a Name?" (1956)
* "
The Dying Night
"The Dying Night" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the July 1956 issue of ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'', and was reprinted in the collections ''Nine Tomorrows'' (1959), ...
" (1956), novelette, a Wendell Urth story
* "
Pâté de Foie Gras" (1956)
* "
The Dust of Death" (1957)
* "
A Loint of Paw" (1957)
* "
I'm in Marsport Without Hilda
I Am or I'm may refer to:
Language and literature
* "I Am that I Am", a common English translation of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name
** I am (biblical term), a Christian term used in the Bible
* "I Am" ( ...
" (1957), a
bowdlerized
An expurgation of a work, also known as a bowdlerization, is a form of censorship that involves purging anything deemed noxious or offensive from an artistic work or other type of writing or media.
The term ''bowdlerization'' is often used in th ...
version of this story appeared in the collection ''
Nine Tomorrows''
* "
Marooned off Vesta" (1939)
* "
Anniversary
An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded.
Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...
" (1959), a
Multivac story and a sequel to "Marooned off Vesta"
* "
Obituary
An obituary (wikt:obit#Etymology 2, obit for short) is an Article (publishing), article about a recently death, deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as Article (publishing), news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on p ...
" (1959)
* "
Star Light" (1962)
* "
The Key" (1966), novelette, a Wendell Urth story
* "
The Billiard Ball" (1967), novelette
Reception
Criticizing the Urth stories as "rather contrived and not particularly entertaining",
Algis Budrys
Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, copy editing, editor and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome in collaboration with Jerome ...
said that the collection was "a poor book because it is a book about clevernesses, and clevernesses are not Isaac's long suit".
wrote a pastiche story featuring Urth, "Murder in the Urth Degree," that was included in the 1989 volume ''
Foundation's Friends''.
References
Sources
*
External links
*
*
1968 short story collections
Science fiction short story collections by Isaac Asimov
Speculative crime and thriller fiction
Mystery short story collections by Isaac Asimov
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