Talk:Isaac Asimov short stories bibliography

Nightfall and Early Asimov Collections
Nightfall and Other Stories and The Early Asimov were originally published as single volumes, and I've revised their entries to reflect this. I've also put the stories from Nightfall in their original order. Johnny Pez 07:54, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

Missing items

 * "Think!" (and the whole "The Complete Robot" story collection) (Robert K S 14:37, 10 September 2006 (UTC))
 * "Robot Dreams" (both story and collection)
 * "Potential" (1983) included in "Science Fiction by Asimov" (1986) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.126.93.226 (talk) 18:12, 10 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Now included. Richard75 (talk) 17:52, 5 March 2013 (UTC)


 * However there are still some omissions. I have found lists of more stories here, here and here, and these will need to be added. Also there are some poems here, and we should either include them or, if poems do not belong on this article, then to be consistent we should remove the poems which are on this article already. Richard75 (talk) 18:01, 5 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I have added some of the stories, will do the rest at the weekend. Richard75 (talk) 19:13, 7 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Finished. Richard75 (talk) 16:55, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

A Boy's Best Friend and Point of View from The Complete Robot are missing. Also, several titles included in The Complete Robot aren't listed as such. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Boy%27s_Best_Friend http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_View_%28short_story%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Complete_Robot 68.97.202.205 (talk) 18:49, 24 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Fixed. Richard75 (talk) 22:53, 30 July 2013 (UTC)

Format of list
The problem with grouping these stories into sections according to which books they were collected in is that it leads to repetition, since many stories were collected two, three or four times. Why don't we list each story once, in order of publication, and we can indicate which books they were collected in in a second column? Richard75 (talk) 15:41, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

Couldn't agree more but it will be quite a task. The list doesn't include all of Asimov's collections either, so there are more short stories to add to the list. Deagol2 (talk) 18:18, 12 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Done. Richard75 (talk) 17:52, 5 March 2013 (UTC)

Essays
This is a list of stories, not essays, so I have removed the essays from the Magic section. Richard75 (talk) 00:20, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

I'm in Marsport Without Hilda
According to this list, the uncensored version is included in Nine Tomorrows, while the censored version is included in Asimov's Mysteries. If you go to the actual page for that story, it shows that Nine Tomorrows contains a censored version, and the page for Asimov's Mysteries also says the version in Nine Tomorrows is slightly 'bowdlerized'.

I would also suggest that the word 'censored' should be changed, as that implies a governmental agency or other controlling force seeking to suppress the language in the story. Edited or bowdlerized (as above) might be more appropriate. 68.97.202.205 (talk) 20:10, 10 July 2013 (UTC)


 * Good points. I fixed both. Darkday (talk) 20:59, 10 July 2013 (UTC)

Place of original publication
Ideally we should replace the Year column with entries showing the magazine and issue in which each story first appeared (which would include the year). A mammoth task, but many hands make light work. Richard75 (talk) 12:33, 1 August 2013 (UTC)
 * On second thoughts, that would make it impossible to reorder the list chronologically. Would it be worth replacing the Alternative Title column? Richard75 (talk) 16:10, 1 August 2013 (UTC)
 * I've done it by keeping the Year column and moving alternative titles to the main titles column. Some corrections along the way as some stories from Gold were attributed to the wrong years. Still have to do the Union Club stories and Black Widowers stories, which I'll get round to soon, but all SF stories are now up. Richard75 (talk) 15:33, 30 December 2013 (UTC)
 * All done. They just need putting in the right order. Richard75 (talk) 14:32, 31 December 2013 (UTC)
 * Finished, and some errors corrected. Richard75 (talk) 17:22, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

Waterclap, Marching In, Birth of a Notion and Founding Father
Thanks for the corrections. However, I have queries about four stories:
 * 1) Waterclap: Isaac Asimov says (The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories, page 29 of the VGSF 1990 edition) that this story was in the May 1970 Galaxy (although all the internet sources cited on this article do say April 1970 If ). Asimov may have made a mistake, but he also names the editor who bought the story, so I don't think we should necessarily rule out the possibility that he may be right. What do you think?
 * 2) Marching In: Asimov says this was published in the April 1976 High Fidelity, not May (page 173 of the same book). ISFD says "April 1976". Asimov online says "April (May?) 1976". Storypilot says "(April 1976)...or possibly May or April/May." I suggest that while some of the sources are a little ambiguous, the weight of the evidence leans towards April.
 * 3) Birth of a Notion: Asimov attributes this to April 1976 of Amazing, not June (pages 205-206 of the same book). This is supported by the entry at storypilot (although Asimovonline and ISFD disagree). However I think that April 1976 must be right, because Asimov explains that the story was specially written for, and published in, the 50 years anniversary issue. The first issue was April 1926 and the 50 years issue was April 1976. Two of these four sources must be wrong, and due to the circumstances in which the story was written I suggest Asimov and Storypilot are right.
 * 4) Founding Father: Asimov in Buy Jupiter (page 135, VGSF 1988 edition) says this was in the August 1965 Galaxy, not October 1965. As with Waterclap however, the internet sources all say October. Richard75 (talk) 18:18, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Update: I have just thought to consult Asimov's autobiography In Joy Still Felt, and he says May 1970 of If for Waterclap (page 516), so now that all sources agree with each other that must be right. He says May 1976 for Marching In (page 721), June 1976 for Birth of a Notion (page 726) and October 1965 for Founding Father (p. 361), so these three are probably right after all, since he checked his diaries before he wrote the autobiography. Richard75 (talk) 18:35, 5 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Re. Waterclap: Galaxy and If were sister magazines, and Ejler Jakobsson was editing both at that time, hence the confusion. The correct month is April, as can be seen on the cover.
 * Re. Marching In: I looked into this before I made the change, and found a copy of the May 1976 issue on ebay. It has a scan of the table of contents which lists Marchin' In (sic!)
 * Re. Birth of a Notion: June 1976 is indeed correct, and this was the anniversary issue (see the cover), so Asimov was not wrong.
 * Re. Founding Father: Again the cover confirms the month (October).
 * In general, the ISFDB is an excellent source. When a publication listing has a primary verification, this means that someone who owns the actual magazine has carefully checked that all the listed information corresponds to the magazine, so the ISFDB is very reliable.
 * By the way, there are about a dozen short stories still missing from this article, I'll add them when I find the time. Darkday (talk) 00:01, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
From 1979 The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction dropped the "and" and used "&", according to its Wikipedia article #Titles. Richard75 (talk) 18:51, 5 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks, well spotted. Darkday (talk) 00:01, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

The Covenant
Moved The Covenant into the main list because it was in someone else's book Actually The Most Thrilling Science Fiction Ever Told is a magazine, not a book. So this story was reprinted in a magazine, but never in a book. I'm not sure if that makes the story anthologized or not. Darkday (talk) 01:22, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Either view would be valid, but I'm inclined to think we should stick to books. Richard75 (talk) 13:44, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
 * I've listed it as unanthologised, with a note mentioning the magazine reprint. Richard75 (talk) 14:26, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

Structure
The stories in this bibliography are divided into three sections: Collected stories, uncollected stories and unpublished stories. I don't see the need to list collected and uncollected stories separately. The uncollected stories could be added to the main list with a dash in the "Collected in" column. This way we'd have a complete chronological list of all published stories, and it would also be possible to get a complete alphabetical list by sorting by the "Story" column. And it would still be possible to get an overview of all uncollected stories by sorting by the "Collected in" column.

The section "Unpublished short stories" is a bit cumbersome in my opinion. First eleven allegedly unpublished short stories are listed, and then it is explained in great detail that two of those were actually published after all. I'd rather only list the 9 stories that are really unpublished. Darkday (talk) 02:19, 12 January 2014 (UTC)


 * I agree. There will need to be a note to the effect that Star Empire is not a prose story but a comic strip, and I think there should at least be a footnote about the nine / eleven lost stories or else people who have read The Early Asimov will keep putting the two stories back in. Richard75 (talk) 13:41, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Done. Richard75 (talk) 14:16, 13 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Great, thanks! Darkday (talk) 19:34, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

Strike!
I just realised that The Best of Omni Science Fiction No. 4 is a magazine, not a book, so I have moved "Strike!" to the section for unanthologised stories, following the decision about "The Covenant." Richard75 (talk) 13:52, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

Forward the Foundation
Sometimes, science fiction magazines publish whole novels. Because of their lengths, these novels are then usually split into several parts which are published in consecutive issues ("serialization"). This happened for several of Asimov's novels. For example, The Stars, Like Dust was published (under the title Tyrann) in three parts in Galaxy magazine (January 1951, February 1951 and March 1951). Other examples are The Currents of Space, The Caves of Steel or The Gods Themselves, which were all published in three parts. These installments are not short stories, but parts of a novel.

In my opinion, the same applies to Forward the Foundation, which was serialized in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. The only specialty is that this novel wasn't serialized in its entirety. Still, I consider the five parts of Forward the Foundation as parts of a novel, and not as short stories.

It was different for the original Foundation stories: These were conceived and published as individual short stories, and only years later it was decided to group them into three novels. Forward the Foundation on the other hand was planned as a novel from the very beginning. Darkday (talk) 13:59, 5 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Very well, I'll undo it. Richard75 (talk) 14:07, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

The Portable Star
ISFDb says that the publications "The Portable Star" was reprinted in were magazines, not books, so as with "Strike!" and "The Covenant" I have moved it to the Stories Never Anthologised section. Richard75 (talk) 13:19, 6 July 2014 (UTC)

The Turning Point
I added this story, which I found at Asimovonline. Richard75 (talk) 12:33, 22 November 2014 (UTC)

Poems
The list of short stories contains five items which are poems or lyrics (The Foundation of S.F. Success, The Author's Ordeal, I Just Make Them Up See!, Rejection Slips and The Prime of Life). I think they don't belong there, poems are not short stories. I suggest to move the poems to a separate section, or remove them completely. Darkday (talk) 18:48, 16 December 2014 (UTC)
 * I tend to agree, although it could be argued that The Prime of Life is a story as well. Richard75 (talk) 20:45, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Are the spoof scientific articles stories?
Are they? 82.36.70.45 (talk) 13:48, 9 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Well they're science fiction, and there's more than one way to tell a story. The fact that these stories are told in the format of a spoof article doesn't necessarily mean they don't qualify. Also, the thiotimoline article has three sequels which were regular stories, so it might be more helpful to a reader to list them all in the same place. Richard75 (talk) 14:07, 9 January 2024 (UTC)