The Complete Stories (Asimov)

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First edition (volume I)
Cover art by Barclay Shaw TheCompleteStoriesAsimov.jpg
First edition (volume I)
Cover art by Barclay Shaw

The Complete Stories can refer to two different series:

Contents

  1. The original series that intended to form a definitive collection of Isaac Asimov's short stories and novels. Originally published in 1990 (Volume 1) and 1992 (Volume 2) by Doubleday, it was discontinued after the second book of the planned series. Altogether 88 of Asimov's 383 published short stories are collected in these two volumes.
  2. The extended series by HarperVoyager that began by republishing the original series and continued with additional volumes.

Volume 1

The first volume consists of the stories previously collected in Earth Is Room Enough , Nine Tomorrows , and Nightfall and Other Stories (but not the commentary from Nightfall and Other Stories). In 2001, Broadway Books published a new edition of the first volume (hardback: ISBN   0-385-41606-7, paperback: ISBN   0-385-41627-X). In 2024, it was republished by HarperVoyager as two parts: "Living Space and Other Stories" (having the first 25 stories) and "Nightfall and Other Stories" (having the last 23 stories).

Volume One contains the following short stories:

  1. The Dead Past
  2. The Foundation of S. F. Success
  3. Franchise
  4. Gimmicks Three
  5. Kid Stuff
  6. The Watery Place
  7. Living Space
  8. The Message
  9. Satisfaction Guaranteed
  10. Hell-Fire
  11. The Last Trump
  12. The Fun They Had
  13. Jokester
  14. The Immortal Bard
  15. Someday
  16. The Author's Ordeal
  17. Dreaming Is a Private Thing
  18. Profession
  19. The Feeling of Power
  20. The Dying Night
  21. I'm in Marsport Without Hilda
  22. The Gentle Vultures
  23. All the Troubles of the World
  24. Spell My Name with an S
  25. The Last Question
  26. The Ugly Little Boy
  27. Nightfall
  28. Green Patches
  29. Hostess
  30. Breeds There a Man…?
  31. C-Chute
  32. In a Good Cause—
  33. What If—
  34. Sally
  35. Flies
  36. Nobody Here But—
  37. It's Such a Beautiful Day
  38. Strikebreaker
  39. Insert Knob A in Hole B
  40. The Up-to-Date Sorcerer
  41. Unto the Fourth Generation
  42. What Is This Thing Called Love?
  43. The Machine That Won the War
  44. My Son, the Physicist
  45. Eyes Do More Than See
  46. Segregationist
  47. I Just Make Them Up, See!
  48. Rejection Slips

Volume 2

Volume Two contains short stories previously published in several other anthologies. In 2024, it was republished by HarperVoyager as two parts: "The Martian Way and Other Stories" (having the first 19 stories and Obituary) and "The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories" (having Anniversary and the last 19 stories).

Volume 2 contains the following short stories:

  1. Not Final!
  2. The Hazing
  3. Death Sentence
  4. Blind Alley
  5. Evidence
  6. The Red Queen's Race
  7. Day of the Hunters
  8. The Deep
  9. The Martian Way
  10. The Monkey's Finger
  11. The Singing Bell
  12. The Talking Stone
  13. Each an Explorer
  14. Let's Get Together
  15. Pâté de Foie Gras
  16. Galley Slave
  17. Lenny
  18. A Loint of Paw
  19. A Statue for Father
  20. Anniversary
  21. Obituary
  22. Rain, Rain, Go Away
  23. Star Light
  24. Founding Father
  25. The Key
  26. The Billiard Ball
  27. Exile to Hell
  28. Key Item
  29. Feminine Intuition
  30. The Greatest Asset
  31. Mirror Image
  32. Take a Match
  33. Light Verse
  34. Stranger In Paradise
  35. . . . That Thou Art Mindful of Him
  36. The Life and Times of Multivac
  37. The Bicentennial Man
  38. Marching In
  39. Old-fashioned
  40. The Tercentenary Incident

The extended series series by HarperVoyager

The Complete Series was extended by two books by HarperVoyager in 2024: Ring Around the Sun and Other Stories and Mother Earth and Other Stories. In 2025 Gold and Magic were republished as part of the series. [1]

Ring Around the Sun and Other Stories contains the following stories:

  1. Marooned off Vesta
  2. The Callistan Menace
  3. Ring Around the Sun
  4. The Magnificent Possession
  5. Trends
  6. The Weapon Too Dreadful to Use
  7. Black Friar of the Flame
  8. Half-Breed
  9. The Secret Sense
  10. Homo Sol
  11. Half-Breeds on Venus
  12. The Imaginary
  13. Heredity
  14. History
  15. Christmas on Ganymede
  16. The Little Man on the Subway
  17. Super-Neutron
  18. Legal Rites
  19. Time Pussy
  20. No Connection

Mother Earth and Other Stories contains the following stories:

  1. The Prime of Life (poem)
  2. Mother Earth
  3. Darwinian Pool Room
  4. Shah Guido G.
  5. Button, Button
  6. Everest
  7. The Pause
  8. Let's Not
  9. Youth
  10. Sucker Bait
  11. What's in a Name?
  12. The Dust of Death
  13. Blank!
  14. Silly Asses
  15. Buy Jupiter
  16. Author! Author!
  17. The Proper Study
  18. Waterclap
  19. 2430 A.D.
  20. Thiotimoline to the Stars
  21. The Winnowing
  22. Birth of a Notion

See also

References

  1. "Books in series The Complete Stories". HarperCollins Publishers UK. Retrieved November 29, 2025.