Welcome to Asimov Online. Here you'll find a comprehensive collection of resources pertaining to Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), the quintessential author, who in his lifetime wrote over 500 books that enlightened, entertained, and spanned the realm of human knowledge.
For a German translation of the FAQ, see Bálint Krizsán's site.
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The long-awaited adaptation of the Foundation Series will appear on Apple TV+ in 2021. View the trailer
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January 2, 2020 is the one hundredth anniversary of Isaac Asimov's birth. In this centennial year, I hope to update and modernize Asimov Online, which has been neglected for far too long. You can expect new content, including information about all of the editions of his books, a greatly expanded bibliography, with details about all of his fiction and nonfiction essays, and much, much more. Sheila Williams, editor of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, wishes Isaac a happy hundredth birthday in an editorial in the January/February issue. |
"Whereas the second week in April each year is designated as 'National Robotics Week', recognizing the accomplishments of Isaac Asimov, who immigrated to America, taught science, wrote science books for children and adults, first used the term robotics, developed the Three Laws of Robotics, and died in April, 1992: Now, therefore, be it resolved..."The tribute to Asimov is due to the efforts of Paula Brooks, a robotics researcher and long-time fan of his who assisted the committee that wrote the resolution.
![[The Return of the Black Widowers]](images/trotbw.jpg) |
A new collection of Isaac Asimov's Black Widower mystery stories was published by Carroll & Graf in November 2003. The Return of the Black Widowers features six stories that never appeared in a Black Widowers's collection, plus ten of the best previously collected Black Widower stories. It also includes an introduction by Asimov's close friend, author Harlan Ellison; a pastiche about the Black Widowers; and an essay by Asimov about how he came to write the Black Widowers stories. Also appearing in the collection is a new Black Widowers story, "The Last Story", written by Charles Ardai, the editor of the collection, for the December 2002 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Asimov's death and the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of the first Black Widowers story. The Return of the Black Widowers can be purchased from amazon.com. |
![[It's Been a Good Life]](images/ibagl.jpg) |
In late March, 2002, Prometheus Books published It's Been a Good Life, an autobiography edited by Janet Jeppson Asimov. The book was compiled from selections made from the three previous autobiographical volumes In Memory Yet Green (1979), In Joy Still Felt (1980), and I. Asimov: A Memoir (1994). The book also features "A Way of Thinking", Asimov's 400th essay for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, which Janet put together from conversations they had and letters they had exchanged during many years of correspondence. In addition, there are excerpts from those letters sprinkled throughout the book. The result is a portrait of the life of Isaac Asimov, the writer, humanist, thinker, wit, and bon vivant, which lovingly illustrates why he was able to truthfully say "It's been a good life". The book also includes an epilogue in which Janet Jeppson Asimov reveals for the first time that Isaac's 1992 death from heart and kidney failure was a consequence of AIDS contracted from a transfusion of tainted blood during his December 1983 triple-bypass operation. She explains how and when he learned he had the disease, and why his doctors convinced him to keep it a secret from the public. The epilogue includes a description of Asimov's final days, together with some poignant passages that describe his views of life and death. [There were some erroneous published reports stating that it was Janet Asimov who convinced her husband to keep the fact that he had contracted AIDS a secret. This is absolutely untrue. In fact it was Asimov's doctors who urged that the matter be kept a secret. See Janet's April 4, 2002 letter to Locus magazine.] The book can be purchased online from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. |
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The publishing history of the Positronic Robot and Foundation stories:
The publishing history of the Positronic Robot and Empire novels, 1947-1958
The Rise and Fall of the Spacers
Articles from the Encyclopedia Galactica:
Edward Seiler