Old-fashioned | |
---|---|
by Isaac Asimov | |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre(s) | Science fiction |
Published in | Bell Telephone Magazine |
Publisher | American Telephone and Telegraph Company |
Media type | Magazine |
Publication date | February 1976 |
"Old-fashioned" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story was written at the request of Kim Armstrong, editor of Bell Telephone Magazine, with the stipulation that it be 3,000 words and center on a problem in communications. [1] The author claimed that he had thought up a plot line before lunch with the editor was over. [1] The story was duly written and published in February 1976. It was illustrated by Gerald McConnell in comic book style.
Two astro-miners in the asteroid belt, Estes and Funarelli, are badly injured when their spaceship is damaged by the tidal effects of an uncharted black hole. Their drive and communications systems are beyond repair and they have a finite supply of food and air.
In desperation, Estes hits on the idea of going outside the ship and throwing small rocks at the black hole. This will generate bursts of x-rays which, he hopes, will be detected by radio-astronomers on Earth.
He does this several times, attempting to time the bursts so that they spell out S-O-S in Morse code. The attempt works and within days, an unmanned drone ship with supplies arrives from Earth.
Isaac Asimov was an 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. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as much nonfiction.
The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov. The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although they had been foreshadowed in some earlier stories. The Three Laws, quoted from the "Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D.", are:
Gardner Raymond Dozois was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the founding editor of The Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies (1984–2018) and was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine (1986–2004), garnering multiple Hugo and Locus Awards for those works almost every year. He also won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story twice. He was inducted to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on June 25, 2011.
Drexel Jerome Lewis Bixby was an American short-story writer and scriptwriter. He wrote the 1953 story "It's a Good Life", which was the basis of a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone and was included in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). He also wrote four episodes for the Star Trek series: "Mirror, Mirror", "Day of the Dove", "Requiem for Methuselah", and "By Any Other Name". With Otto Klement, he co-wrote the story upon which the science fiction movie Fantastic Voyage (1966), the related television series, and the related Isaac Asimov novel were based. Bixby's final produced or published work so far was the screenplay for the 2007 science-fiction film The Man from Earth.
"Blind Alley" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the March 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, and later included in the collection The Early Asimov (1972).
This is a bibliography of the books written or edited by Isaac Asimov, arranged alphabetically. Asimov was a prolific author, and he engaged in many collaborations with other authors. This list may not yet be complete. The total number of books listed here is over 500. Asimov died in 1992 at age 72; a small number of his books were published posthumously.
"The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the November 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and was anthologized in the collections Nine Tomorrows (1959), The Best of Isaac Asimov (1973), Robot Dreams (1986), The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov (1986), the retrospective Opus 100 (1969), and in Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories, Vol. 1 (1990). While he also considered it one of his best works, “The Last Question” was Asimov's favorite short story of his own authorship, and is one of a loosely connected series of stories concerning a fictional computer called Multivac. Through successive generations, humanity questions Multivac on the subject of entropy. The story overlaps science fiction, theology, and philosophy.
George H. Scithers was an American science fiction fan, author and editor.
"Marooned off Vesta" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was the third story he wrote, and the first to be published. Written in July 1938 when Asimov was 18, it was rejected by Astounding Science Fiction in August, then accepted in October by Amazing Stories, appearing in the March 1939 issue. Asimov first included it in his 1968 story collection Asimov's Mysteries, and subsequently in the 1973 collection The Best of Isaac Asimov.
"C-Chute" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the October 1951 issue of Galaxy Magazine and later appeared in Asimov's collections Nightfall and Other Stories (1969) and The Best of Isaac Asimov (1973).
The Early Asimov or, Eleven Years of Trying is a 1972 collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov. Each story is accompanied by commentary by the author, who gives details about his life and his literary achievements in the period in which he wrote the story, effectively amounting to a sort of autobiography for the years 1938 to 1949.
"Not Final!" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov, originally published in the October 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, and included in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov. Its sequel, "Victory Unintentional", is a robot story. These are two of the few stories by Asimov to postulate non-human intelligences in the Solar system.
"Black Friar of the Flame" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the Spring 1942 issue of Planet Stories and reprinted in the collection The Early Asimov (1972). "Black Friar of the Flame" was the thirteenth story written by Asimov, and was among his least favorite, though this was due more to the multiple rewrites and rejections the story suffered than to its admittedly modest intrinsic merits.
"Ring Around the Sun" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the March 1940 issue of Future Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov. "Ring Around the Sun" was the fifth story Asimov wrote, and also the fifth to be published.
"Insert Knob A in Hole B" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story was first published in the December 1957 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1969 collection Nightfall and Other Stories.
"The Borderland of Sol" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Larry Niven. It is the fifth in the Known Space series of stories about crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer.
"Half-Breed" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the February 1940 issue of Astonishing Stories and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov. It was the fifteenth story written by Asimov, and the fourth to be published. At 9000 words, it was his longest published story to date.
"The Ultimate Crime" is a short story by Isaac Asimov, dealing with a minor aspect of one of the Sherlock Holmes stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the 24th of Asimov's Black Widowers mystery stories, and it appeared in his anthology More Tales of the Black Widowers, which collects the second dozen stories of the series. It was written specially for that book. It subsequently appeared again in Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space, an anthology of stories written by different authors and co-edited by Asimov, and Another Round at the Spaceport Bar.
In a writing career spanning 53 years (1939–1992), science fiction and popular science author Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) wrote and published 40 novels, 383 short stories, over 280 non-fiction books, and edited about 147 others.
Depending on the counting convention used, and including all titles, charts, and edited collections, there may be currently over 500 books in Isaac Asimov's bibliography—as well as his individual short stories, individual essays, and criticism. For his 100th, 200th, and 300th books, Asimov published Opus 100 (1969), Opus 200 (1979), and Opus 300 (1984), celebrating his writing.