The Early Asimov
First edition
|
|
| Author | Isaac Asimov |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
|
Publication date
|
November 1972 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 540 |
| ISBN | |
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. (The book was followed by Before the Golden Age in 1974 and Buy Jupiter and Other Stories in 1975, which also included autobiographical material.)
The book is dedicated to John W. Campbell, the editor who bought many of the stories collected in this book.
In an appendix to The Early Asimov, the author lists the first sixty stories he wrote in the late 1930s and 1940s. In the commentary throughout the book, he notes that eleven of those stories were never sold and were eventually lost. However two of the "lost" stories were found and published decades later (after The Early Asimov had been published).
Lester del Rey recommended the collection, noting that, by design and necessity, it contained "stories the author knows are not his best." He described Asimov's commentary as "so marvelously consistent -- and consistently entertaining."
...
Wikipedia