Day of the Hunters

Last updated
"Day of the Hunters"
Short story by Isaac Asimov
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s) Science fiction
Publication
Published in Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories
Publisher Columbia Publications Ltd.
Media typeMagazine
Publication dateNovember 1950

"Day of the Hunters" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was published in the November 1950 issue of Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories , edited by Robert W. Lowndes, and reprinted in the 1975 collection Buy Jupiter and Other Stories . "Day of the Hunters" is based on "Big Game", a story written many years earlier that was unpublished and assumed to have been lost until discovered in the author's collected papers at Boston University.

Plot summary

A group of technicians in a bar meet someone whom they assume to be a drunken down-and-out. It slowly emerges that he is an ex-university professor who has not only built a time machine but also traveled back to the Mesozoic era to see for himself what happened to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs. He becomes more belligerent as he is teased and pressed, and he eventually reveals that by the time of his arrival, all of the large dinosaurs had already been killed by small intelligent lizards armed with guns that were systematically wiping out their own kind until none was left to kill.



Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caveman</span> Stock character representative of primitive humans

The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as "simian" or "ape-like" by Marcellin Boule and Arthur Keith.

"A Sound of Thunder" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published in Collier's magazine in the June 28, 1952, issue, and later in Bradbury's collection The Golden Apples of the Sun in 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time travel in fiction</span> Concept and accompanying genre in fiction

Time travel is a common theme in fiction, mainly since the late 19th century, and has been depicted in a variety of media, such as literature, television, film, and advertisements.

The Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy is a series of novels written by Canadian science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer. The books depict an Earth-like world on a moon which orbits a gas giant, inhabited by a species of highly evolved, sentient Tyrannosaurs, among various other creatures from the late Cretaceous period, imported to this moon by aliens 65 million years prior to the story. The series consists of three books: Far-Seer, Fossil Hunter, and Foreigner.

<i>The Day of the Dinosaur</i> Book by Lyon Sprague de Camp

The Day of the Dinosaur is a science book by L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, illustrated with plates. It was first published in hardcover by Doubleday in 1968, and in paperback by Curtis Books in 1970 or 1971. A second hardcover edition was issued by Bonanza Books in 1985. The first chapter was reprinted as "One Day in the Cretaceous" in the de Camps's collection Footprints on Sand.

<i>The Best of L. Sprague de Camp</i> 1978 collection of writings by L. Sprague de Camp

The Best of L. Sprague de Camp is a collection of writings by American science fiction and fantasy author L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardback by Nelson Doubleday in February 1978 and in paperback by Ballantine Books in May of the same year as a volume in its Classic Library of Science Fiction. The book was reprinted by Ballantine in May 1986. It was reissued in trade paperback and ebook editions by Phoenix Pick in December 2014. It has also been translated into German.

<i>A Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imaginative Tales</i> 1963 short story collection by L. Sprague de Camp

A Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imaginative Tales is a short story collection by American science fiction and fantasy author L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardback by Doubleday in 1963, and in paperback by Curtis Books in 1969. The first British edition was issued by Remploy in 1974. It has also been translated into German.

<i>Aristotle and the Gun and Other Stories</i> 2002 collection of short stories by L. Sprague de Camp

Aristotle and the Gun and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by American science fiction and fantasy author L. Sprague de Camp. It was published in hardcover in August 2002 by the Gale Group as part of its Five Star Speculative Fiction Series.

<i>Rivers of Time</i> Science fiction short stories by Sprague de Camp

Rivers of Time is a 1993 collection of science fiction short stories by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, first published in paperback by Baen Books. All but one of the pieces were originally published between 1956 and 1993 in the magazines Galaxy, Expanse, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Analog, and Asimov's Science Fiction, and the Robert Silverberg-edited anthology The Ultimate Dinosaur. The remaining story was first published in the present work.

<i>Years in the Making: The Time-Travel Stories of L. Sprague de Camp</i> 2005 collection of short stories

Years in the Making: the Time-Travel Stories of L. Sprague de Camp is a collection of science fiction stories by American author L. Sprague de Camp, edited by Mark L. Olson and illustrated by Bob Eggleton. It was first published in hardcover by NESFA Press in February 2005, with a NESFA/Science Fiction Book Club edition following in September of the same year.

<i>Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards</i> 2005 graphic novel by Jim Ottaviani

Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards: A Tale of Edward Drinker Cope, Othniel Charles Marsh, and the Gilded Age of Paleontology is a 2005 graphic novel written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by the company Big Time Attic. The book tells a fictionalized account of the Bone Wars, a period of intense excavation, speculation, and rivalry in the late 19th century that led to a greater understanding of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life. Bone Sharps follows the two scientists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Marsh as they engage in an intense competition for prestige and discoveries in the western United States. Along the way, the scientists interact with historical figures of the Gilded Age, including P. T. Barnum and Ulysses S. Grant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Gun for Dinosaur</span> Short story by L. Sprague de Camp

"A Gun for Dinosaur" is a classic time travel science fiction story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp as part of his Rivers of Time series. It tells the story of four men who travel into the past to hunt dinosaurs.

<i>Hunters Run</i>

Hunter's Run is a 2007 science fiction novel written by Daniel Abraham, Gardner Dozois and George R. R. Martin. It is a heavily rewritten and expanded version of an earlier novella called Shadow Twin.

<i>Counting Up, Counting Down</i> 2002 short story collection by Harry Turtledove

Counting Up, Counting Down is a collection of short stories by Harry Turtledove, most of which were first published in various fiction magazines in the 1990s. It is named after two of the stories appearing in the book, one called "Forty, Counting Down" and the other named "Twenty-One, Counting Up", which are united by the character of Justin Kloster. The story genres represented include alternate history, time travel, fantasy, straight historical fiction, and more. Two stories, "The Decoy Duck" and "The Seventh Chapter," are set in the Videssos Universe, with the former story being set before any of the other stories and books in that universe. The book was originally published by Del Rey as a trade paperback in January 2002. In the same month, it was brought out as a leatherbound limited edition by Easton Press.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bone Wars</span> 19th century period of competitive fossil hunting

The Bone Wars, also known as the Great Dinosaur Rush, was a period of intense and ruthlessly competitive fossil hunting and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. Each of the two paleontologists used underhanded methods to try to outdo the other in the field, resorting to bribery, theft, and the destruction of bones. Each scientist also sought to ruin his rival's reputation and cut off his funding, using attacks in scientific publications.

Big Game is a short story by the American science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. He wrote it in November 1941 when he was 21, failed to sell it to any magazine, and eventually lost the manuscript. In 1972 when Asimov compiled a collection of his earliest stories, The Early Asimov, he listed "Big Game" as the last of eleven stories which he had failed to publish anywhere and which he thought were lost forever. However a fan of his, Matthew B. Tepper, discovered the missing manuscript in a collection of Asimov's old papers which were archived in the library of Boston University and sent it to him. Asimov included it in an anthology he was editing at the time, Before the Golden Age (1974), although he pointed out that he had re-used the plot of the rejected story to write "Day of the Hunters" in 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Employment (short story)</span> Short story by Lyon Sprague de Camp

"Employment" is a science fiction story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, pioneering the concept of de-extinction. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction for May, 1939. The story appeared under the pseudonym Lyman R. Lyon as the magazine's policy did not allow the name of any author to be repeated on the same contents page, and de Camp had another piece in the same issue under his actual name. It first appeared in book form in the anthology Imagination Unlimited. It later appeared in the anthologies Men of Space and Time, and Science Fiction Inventions, as well as the de Camp collection The Best of L. Sprague de Camp. It was credited to de Camp's real name in all publications subsequent to its first appearance. The story has been translated into German.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Let's Have Fun</span> Short story by L. Sprague de Camp

"Let's Have Fun" is a science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Science Fiction Quarterly for May, 1957. It first appeared in book form in the collection A Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imaginative Tales, and afterwards appeared in the anthology Rare Science Fiction. The story has been translated into German.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">In-Group</span> 1952 science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp

"In-Group" is a science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Marvel Science Fiction for May, 1952. and later reprinted in the magazine Skyworlds for February 1978. It first appeared in book form in the collection A Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imaginative Tales. The story has been translated into Italian and German.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornzan the Mighty</span> 1955 short story by L. Sprague de Camp

"Cornzan the Mighty" is a classic science fiction story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published under the variant title "Cornzan, the Mighty" in the magazine Future Science Fiction for December, 1955. All later appearances omit the comma. It first appeared in book form in the collection A Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imaginative Tales. The story has been translated into German.