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The Alternate Asimovs
Essef - The original unpublished versions of 'Pebble in the Sky', 'The End of Eternity' and 'Belief'. A rare and delightful treat of watching a master of imagination in his workshop.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
185 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,340 books27.8k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 19, 2016
And so on to the second part of the Asimov revival (well okay two books). Now this was a bit of a find that I didn't realise at the time.
The basic premise is that here you have the original stories (original versions, inspirational short story or general seed) that gave rise to some of Asimov's most famous books. I think for me the two that really caught my eye were the alternatives to Pebble in the sky and End of Eternity (which to this day has one of favourite quotes in it "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be", thank you Mr Browning)
Now it is tricky to talk about these stories when I refuse to give spoilers, which is compounded by the fact that these are alternatives to other books (so does that make spoilers squared?) - so I would say looks elsewhere for comments about the contents of this book apart from the fact if you enjoyed the originals then this is fascinating look at how the stories could have been.
The basic premise is that here you have the original stories (original versions, inspirational short story or general seed) that gave rise to some of Asimov's most famous books. I think for me the two that really caught my eye were the alternatives to Pebble in the sky and End of Eternity (which to this day has one of favourite quotes in it "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be", thank you Mr Browning)
Now it is tricky to talk about these stories when I refuse to give spoilers, which is compounded by the fact that these are alternatives to other books (so does that make spoilers squared?) - so I would say looks elsewhere for comments about the contents of this book apart from the fact if you enjoyed the originals then this is fascinating look at how the stories could have been.
February 6, 2019
Asimov, Isaac. The Alternate Asimovs. Doubleday, 1986.
The Alternate Asimovs presents unpublished shorter drafts of two of his most admired novels, Pebble in the Sky and The End of Eternity, and a long short story, “Belief.” The original version of Pebble is less focused on the protagonist, whom the revision turns into a truly memorable character. The rewrite of Eternity was much more thorough. Asimov says that the first version did not live up to the promise in the title. I found both versions quite readable. When editors rejected “Belief” because of its downbeat ending, Asimov rewrote the ending (both of which are included here) to make the protagonist a more traditional Asimovian hero. Asimov says he prefers the original ending, but I think his editor was right. Caveat: Asimov is writing for fans, not new readers. He assumes you have read Pebble and Eternity.
The Alternate Asimovs presents unpublished shorter drafts of two of his most admired novels, Pebble in the Sky and The End of Eternity, and a long short story, “Belief.” The original version of Pebble is less focused on the protagonist, whom the revision turns into a truly memorable character. The rewrite of Eternity was much more thorough. Asimov says that the first version did not live up to the promise in the title. I found both versions quite readable. When editors rejected “Belief” because of its downbeat ending, Asimov rewrote the ending (both of which are included here) to make the protagonist a more traditional Asimovian hero. Asimov says he prefers the original ending, but I think his editor was right. Caveat: Asimov is writing for fans, not new readers. He assumes you have read Pebble and Eternity.
May 18, 2018
Original versions of stories that were drasstically reworked before publication. Mostly of historical interest to Science Fiction scholars
January 8, 2024
Asimov gives us the behind the scenes look at the writing and publishing process for a few of his short stories. There was a time when his first drafts were rejected or required major revisions.
March 6, 2024
A fascinating collection, with the rare reward of Asimov at his most cynical in the concluding story.
May 25, 2016
I've long been a fan os Asimov's works, having read most of his fiction and thoroughly enjoyed it all (I'm about to re-embark upon his Foundation series again soon).
Browsing my Dad's burgeoning bookshelves, I spotted this one which I'd not heard of before. Now, normally I'm not a fan of collections of stories which were not good enough to be published, but I was intrigued enough to want to read the original unpublished story which became Pebble In The sky, and I'd recently read I Asimov which included much interesting insight into the great man's writing process and his development, so with only the tiniest of encouragement from Dad, I dived in.
Wow, a very good book! Contains 3 stories in their unpublished form (as well as, for the last story Belief, the published alternate ending), it makes for interesting reading.
The first story, "Grow old along with me" is substantially different from Pebble In The Sky in terms of the way the story is told (the actual plot remains close to the final book), the structure, and the prologue, epilogue and whatever-you-call-one-in-the-middle-logue. I can see why it was originally rejected, and even Dr Asimov's notes after the story suggest he feels the same way. That said, it is still a great story in its own right, and you can clearly see the massive potential it contains. Great to compare and contrast this version with the final version.
Next story is End of Eternity. I'd not actually read the published novella before, so this was completely new to me. Harder to see why this one was originally rejected, it's a very compelling time-travel story (and, given Asimov wrote it, you can bet it's not time-travel as you were expecting, but so much bigger! Heck, he creates an entire universe just crying out for countless stories told within it, although I fear few current writers would be able to do it justice). Some very clever turns, twists and situations, it's a great read. Dr Asimov notes that there were more substantive changes between this and the final published story, including the elimination of one of the main characters and transformation of others, which now makes me want to seek out the final version to read it and see what he did.
The final story, "Belief", concerns levitation. Both the original unpublished, and the altered published, versions are here (the first 2/3 of the story was unchanged, just the last third changed, so this is in effect a story with alternate endings, just like you get on some DVDs). It was fun to read the two extremely different endings and pick which one was your favourite. Asimov then reveals his favourite and his reasons for it - I completely get his reasons, although I disagree with his choice of favourite, but both are very good in their own way ;-)
All in all, a very interesting read for the dedicated Asimov fan, but also the stories stand up well enough to be read by the more casual fan.
Browsing my Dad's burgeoning bookshelves, I spotted this one which I'd not heard of before. Now, normally I'm not a fan of collections of stories which were not good enough to be published, but I was intrigued enough to want to read the original unpublished story which became Pebble In The sky, and I'd recently read I Asimov which included much interesting insight into the great man's writing process and his development, so with only the tiniest of encouragement from Dad, I dived in.
Wow, a very good book! Contains 3 stories in their unpublished form (as well as, for the last story Belief, the published alternate ending), it makes for interesting reading.
The first story, "Grow old along with me" is substantially different from Pebble In The Sky in terms of the way the story is told (the actual plot remains close to the final book), the structure, and the prologue, epilogue and whatever-you-call-one-in-the-middle-logue. I can see why it was originally rejected, and even Dr Asimov's notes after the story suggest he feels the same way. That said, it is still a great story in its own right, and you can clearly see the massive potential it contains. Great to compare and contrast this version with the final version.
Next story is End of Eternity. I'd not actually read the published novella before, so this was completely new to me. Harder to see why this one was originally rejected, it's a very compelling time-travel story (and, given Asimov wrote it, you can bet it's not time-travel as you were expecting, but so much bigger! Heck, he creates an entire universe just crying out for countless stories told within it, although I fear few current writers would be able to do it justice). Some very clever turns, twists and situations, it's a great read. Dr Asimov notes that there were more substantive changes between this and the final published story, including the elimination of one of the main characters and transformation of others, which now makes me want to seek out the final version to read it and see what he did.
The final story, "Belief", concerns levitation. Both the original unpublished, and the altered published, versions are here (the first 2/3 of the story was unchanged, just the last third changed, so this is in effect a story with alternate endings, just like you get on some DVDs). It was fun to read the two extremely different endings and pick which one was your favourite. Asimov then reveals his favourite and his reasons for it - I completely get his reasons, although I disagree with his choice of favourite, but both are very good in their own way ;-)
All in all, a very interesting read for the dedicated Asimov fan, but also the stories stand up well enough to be read by the more casual fan.
December 9, 2013
It took me years to find a copy of this book. I'm a huge fan of The End of Eternity and was very keen to read the original version. It was interesting to see how the story evolved. It was also good to see a version where Eternity actually survived, although as Asimov points out, having Eternity survive doesn't really do justice to the title. The original of Pebble in the Sky was also great. I have the full novel, but didn't remember it very well, so that was one I read for pure enjoyment rather than to compare it with the published version. Asimov's comments on his own works are also interesting, as they are in other collections. In all, a very enjoyable read and well worth the wait.
May 5, 2011
Questo libro contiene la prima versione di tre romanzi di Asimov: paria dei cieli, La fine dell'eternità e Roger, o della gravità. Avendo già letto solo la fine dell'eternità ho deciso di concentrarmi su quello per non rovinarmi la sorpresa degli altri due (si sa che i romanzi di Asimov sono tutti concatenati, e leggerli nell'ordine sbagliato è possibile ma secondo me da evitare). Le due versioni, quella presentata in questo volume e quella poi pubblicata, sono molto diverse, e mi sa che preferisco la prima. Da leggere se si è apprezzato il romanzo.
October 3, 2024
The book includes a set of Asimov stories. The first fiction is "Grow Old With Me", which is the orginal version of "Pebble in the Sky", and it is never published. The second is an unpublished version of "End of Eternity". An the unpublished version of "End of Eternity" is a third of the published version. And two versions of "Belief"
The book gives a good view to show development of a talented Sci-Fi writer. Especially Asimov's fan will love the book to show alternative story path of some Asimov stories. And they will have a chance to see how Asimov develope his fictions and writings.
The book gives a good view to show development of a talented Sci-Fi writer. Especially Asimov's fan will love the book to show alternative story path of some Asimov stories. And they will have a chance to see how Asimov develope his fictions and writings.
November 12, 2009
wish I could add a 6th star!
April 15, 2013
Paperback, own
April 3, 2013
Cool short stories
November 2, 2015
Interessante per i veri fanatici di Asimov, di non rilevantissimo valore letterario i racconti/romanzi presi singolarmente
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May 31, 2018A 1986 publication of the first drafts of two of Asimov's early novels and one of his novellas. 'Grow Old Along with Me' was later revised as 'Pebble in the Sky', 'The End of Eternity' was also revised, but kept its title, as did the 40pp. novella 'Belief'. Both versions of the final entry are included in this volume. Not remembered, but a possibility for rereading - along with their later incarnations.
December 27, 2018
The premise of this book is pretty simple. Asimov presents here early versions of works that were later published in quite different forms. He offers up two novellas, "Grow Old Along with Me" (an early version of "Pebble in the Sky") and "The End of Eternity." The book concludes with the short story "Belief" in its original form, followed by the drastically revised ending with which it actually appeared in print.
Granted that I haven't read the novel in a long time, but "Grow Old Along with Me" doesn't appear to be much different than "Pebble in the Sky." In his introduction, Asimov explains that the story/novella was rejected by many magazine editors before finally being accepted for publication by Doubleday, who were trying to get a hardcover publishing house off the ground. So it reads very much like a stripped down version of the novel, with no fundamental changes to plot, characters or themes.
The same can not be said for "The End of Eternity," which was obviously reworked drastically before being published. In this early version, the protagonist, love interest and ending are all quite a bit different. And Asimov was not trying to tie this story to anything else he had written . . . yet.
"Belief" offers the clearest case study of a re-write, as the original and second draft come one after the other in the book. It is nice to see that the new ending actually does improve up on the original. It gives some credence to the power of a good editor (Joseph Campbell demanded the new ending of Asimov), despite the fact that Asimov, in his notes, still prefers the original, pessimistic denouement.
This is an entertaining book, but it's probably only going to be really interesting to hard-core Asimov fans, science-fiction scholars or those who are intrigued by the art of editing and revision. For most people, I would simply encourage them to read the original published versions of these stories - especially "The End of Eternity," which is one of Asimov's best, and move underrated, novels.
Granted that I haven't read the novel in a long time, but "Grow Old Along with Me" doesn't appear to be much different than "Pebble in the Sky." In his introduction, Asimov explains that the story/novella was rejected by many magazine editors before finally being accepted for publication by Doubleday, who were trying to get a hardcover publishing house off the ground. So it reads very much like a stripped down version of the novel, with no fundamental changes to plot, characters or themes.
The same can not be said for "The End of Eternity," which was obviously reworked drastically before being published. In this early version, the protagonist, love interest and ending are all quite a bit different. And Asimov was not trying to tie this story to anything else he had written . . . yet.
"Belief" offers the clearest case study of a re-write, as the original and second draft come one after the other in the book. It is nice to see that the new ending actually does improve up on the original. It gives some credence to the power of a good editor (Joseph Campbell demanded the new ending of Asimov), despite the fact that Asimov, in his notes, still prefers the original, pessimistic denouement.
This is an entertaining book, but it's probably only going to be really interesting to hard-core Asimov fans, science-fiction scholars or those who are intrigued by the art of editing and revision. For most people, I would simply encourage them to read the original published versions of these stories - especially "The End of Eternity," which is one of Asimov's best, and move underrated, novels.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews