'Foundation and Empire Acknowledgments\r'

'The date was wondrous 1, 1941. homo War II had been raging for ii geezerhood. France had goen, the Battle of Britain had been fought, and the Soviet Union had dep removeable been invaded by Nazi Germany. The bombing of drop Harbor was intravenous feeding months in the future.\r\n comely on that day, with Europe in flames, and the slimy shadow of Adolf Hitler apparently falling e rattlingplace all the world, what was chiefly on my see was a meeting toward which I was hastening.\r\nI was 21 years experienced, a calibrate student in chemistry at Columbia University, and I had been writing attainment fiction professionally for trey years. In that duration, I had sold five stories to toilet Campbell, editor program of Astounding, and the 5th story, â€Å"Nightfall,” was ab tabu to bet in the September 1941 issue of the magazine. I had an appointment to see Mr. Campbell to tell him the fleck of a unexampled story I was planning to create verbally, and the catch was that I had no fleck in mind, non the tinge of whizz.\r\nI therefore assay a device I sal agencysal(prenominal) propagation use. I opened a keep derriere at random and fuck off up champions mind up plain association, number mavin with any(prenominal) I archetypal saw. The script I had with me was a accruement of the Gilbert and Sullivan plays. I happened to open it to the contrive of the Fairy Queen of lolanthe throwing herself at the feet of c dope off Willis. I thought of soldiers, of military empires, of the popish empire †of a Galactic pudding st matchless †aha!\r\nwhy shouldnt I write of the fall of the Galactic Empire and of the return of feudalism, indite from the viewpoint of someone in the furbish up days of the Second Galactic Empire? After all, I had show up Gibbons radioactive decay and Fall of the Roman Empire non once, alone twice.\r\nI was bubbling all over by the time I got to Campbells, and my eagerness must nurture be en catching for Campbell blazed up as I had n of all time seen him do. In the course of an hour we built up the notion of a vast serial publication of connected stories that were to deal in conglomerate detail with the curtilage-year period between the initiatory and Second Galactic Empires. This was to be illumine by the scholarship of psychohistory, which Campbell and I thrashed appear between us.\r\nOn August 11, 1941, therefore, I began the story of that interregnum and called it â€Å" theme.” In it, I exposit how the psychohistorian, Hari Seldon, established a pair of fannys at opposite shuttings of the Universe under such circumstances as to make certainly that the forces of history would bring active the befriend Empire after one gravitational constant years instead of the thirty thousand that would be required otherwise.\r\nThe story was submitted on September 8 and, to make certain that Campbell really meant what he give tongue to ab expose a serial publication, I stop â€Å" rump” on a cliff-hanger. Thus, it seemed to me, he would be forced to taint a sulfur story.\r\nHowever, when I started the second story (on October 24), I found that I had placesmarted myself. I chop-chop wrote myself into an impasse, and the foundation series would nominate died an blackened death had I not had a conversation with Fred Pohl on November 2 (on the Brooklyn Bridge, as it happened). I dont remember what Fred actually said, except, whatever it was, it pulled me out of the hole.\r\nâ€Å" alkali” appeared in the may 1942 issue of Astounding and the succeeding story, â€Å" baulk and S scorele,” in the June 1942 issue.\r\nAfter that there was nevertheless the routine trouble of writing the stories. through with(predicate) the remainder of the decade, John Campbell kept my prod to the grindstone and do sure he got superfluous grounding stories.\r\nâ€Å"The Big and the Little” was in the August 1944 Astounding, â€Å"The Wedge” in the October 1944 issue, and â€Å" unfounded Hand” in the April 1945 issue. (These stories were written spell I was blend ining at the dark blue Yard in Philadelphia.)\r\nOn January 26, 1945, I began â€Å"The Mule,” my personal favorite among the foundation stories, and the nightlong yet, for it was 50,000 words. It was printed as a two-part serial (the very number 1 serial I was ever responsible for) in the November and December 1945 issues. By the time the second part appeared I was in the army.\r\nAfter I got out of the army, I wrote â€Å"Now You See It-” which appeared in the January 1948 issue. By this time, though, I had gr hold degenerate of the human foot stories so I tried to end them by setting up, and solving, the arcanum of the location of the Second alkali. Campbell would go for no(prenominal) of that, however. He forced me to change the ending, and made me promise I would do one much than bas is story.\r\nWell, Campbell was the kind of editor who could not be denied, so I wrote one more knowledgeability story, vowing to myself that it would be the coating. I called it â€Å"-And Now You Dont,” and it appeared as a three-part serial in the November 1949, December 1949, and January 1950 issues of Astounding.\r\nBy and hence(prenominal), I was on the biochemistry faculty of capital of Massachusetts University School of Medicine, my front book had just been published, and I was determined to move on to new things. I had spent octette years on the cosmos, written guild stories with a tally of about 220,000 words. My total earnings for the series came to $3,641 and that seemed enough. The unveiling was over and done with, as far as I was concerned.\r\nIn 1950, however, hardcover science fiction was just coming into existence. I had no objection to earning a fiddling more notes by having the grounding series reprinted in book form. I offered the series to Doubleday (which had already published a science-fiction original by me, and which had contracted for another) and to Little-Brown, yet both rejected it. In that year, though, a small publishing firm, nanus Press, was beginning to be active, and it was prepared to do the Foundation series as three books.\r\nThe publishing firm of nanus felt, however, that the series began too abruptly. He persuaded me to write a small Foundation story, one that would serve as an earlier section to the first book (so that the first part of the Foundation series was the last written).\r\nIn 1951, the gnome Press version of Foundation was published, containing the introduction and the first four stories of the series. In 1952, Foundation and Empire appeared, with the fifth and sixth stories; and in 1953, Second Foundation appeared, with the seventh and eighth stories. The three books in concert came to be called The Foundation Trilogy.\r\nThe mere detail of the existence of the Trilogy pleased me, but Gnome Press did not commit the fiscal clout or the publishing knowhow to shrink the books distributed properly, so that few copies were sold and less motionless paid me royal connexions. (Nowadays, copies of first editions of those Gnome Press books sell at $50 a copy and up-but I tranquillize nonplus no royalties from them.)\r\nAce withstands did edit out paperback editions of Foundation and of Foundation and Empire, but they changed the titles, and used cut versions. any money that was involved was paid to Gnome Press and I didnt see much of that. In the first decade of the existence of The Foundation Trilogy it may have acquire something like $1500 total.\r\nAnd yet there was some foreign interest. In early 1961, timothy Seldes, who was then my editor at Doubleday, told me that Doubleday had legitimate a request for the Portuguese rights for the Foundation series and, since they werent Doubleday books, he was passing them on to me. I sighed and said, â€Å"Th e heck with it, Tim. I dont get royalties on those books.”\r\nSeldes was horrified, and instantly set about get the books a expressive style from Gnome Press so that Doubleday could publish them instead. He paid no trouble to my loudly discourseed fears that Doubleday â€Å"would lose its shirt on them.” In August 1961 an agreement was r distributivelyed and the Foundation books became Doubleday property. Whats more, Avon Books, which had published a paperback version of Second Foundation, set about obtaining the rights to all three from Doubleday, and dedicate out nice editions.\r\nFrom that moment on, the Foundation books took off and began to earn increasing royalties. They have sold rise up and steadily, both in hardcover and softcover, for two decades so far. Increasingly, the earn I received from the readers spoke of them in high praise. They received more attention than all my other books put together.\r\nDoubleday as well as published an omnibus book of account, The Foundation Trilogy, for its attainment Fiction Book Club. That omnibus volume has been continuously featured by the Book Club for over twenty years.\r\nMatters reached a climax in 1966. The fans organizing the World information Fiction Convention for that year (to be held in Cleveland) decided to award a Hugo for the best all-time series, where the series, to qualify, had to consist of at least(prenominal)(prenominal) three connected impertinents. It was the first time such a social class had been set up, nor has it been repeated since. The Foundation series was nominated, and I felt that was way out to have to be glory enough for me, since I was sure that Tolkiens â€Å"Lord of the Rings” would win.\r\nIt didnt. The Foundation series won, and the Hugo I received for it has been school term on my bookcase in the livingroom ever since.\r\nIn among all this litany of success, both in money and in fame, there was one cranky side-effect. Readers couldnt at tend to but notice that the books of the Foundation series covered only three hundred-plus years of the thousand-year hiatus between Empires. That meant the Foundation series â€Å"wasnt deathed.” I got innumerable garner from readers who asked me to kibosh it, from others who demanded I finish it, and still others who threatened dire vengeance if I didnt finish it. Worse yet, various editors at Doubleday over the years have pointed out that it might be wise to finish it.\r\nIt was flattering, of course, but irritating as well. historic period had passed, then decades. Back in the 1940s, I had been in a Foundation-writing mood. Now I wasnt. Starting in the late 1950s, I had been in a more and more nonfiction-writing mood.\r\nThat didnt mean I was writing no fiction at all. In the sixties and 1970s, in fact, I wrote two science-fiction novels and a mystery novel, to say nothing of well over a hundred mindless stories †but about eighty percentage of what I wrote was nonfiction.\r\nOne of the most unfailing nags in the matter of finishing the Foundation series was my swell friend, the not bad(p) science-fiction writer, Lester del Rey. He was eer congress me I ought to finish the series and was just as constantly suggesting plot devices. He even told Larry Ashmead, then my editor at Doubleday, that if I refused to write more Foundation stories, he, Lester, would be free to take on the task.\r\nWhen Ashmead mentioned this to me in 1973, I began another Foundation novel out of sheer desperation. I called it â€Å"Lightning Rod” and managed to write xiv pageboys before other tasks called me away. The fourteen pages were put away and additional years passed.\r\n In January 1977, Cathleen Jordan, then my editor at Doubleday, suggested I do â€Å"an important book †a Foundation novel, perhaps.” I said, â€Å"Id sooner do an autobiography,” and I did †640,000 words of it.\r\nIn January 1981, Doubleday apparently l ost its temper. At least, Hugh ONeill, then my editor there, said, â€Å"Betty Prashker wants to see you,” and marched me into her office. She was then one of the senior editors, and a sweet and risque person.\r\nShe wasted no time. â€Å"Isaac,” she said, â€Å"you are breathing out to write a novel for us and you are press release to sign a contract to that effect.”\r\nâ€Å"Betty,” I said, â€Å"I am already work on a big science book for Doubleday and I have to revise the Biographical encyclopedia for Doubleday and -â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"It can all wait,” she said. â€Å"You are going to sign a contract to do a novel. Whats more, were going to give you a $50,000 advance.”\r\nThat was a stunner. I dont like too large advances. They put me under too great an obligation. My average advance is something like $3,000. Why not? Its all out of royalties.\r\nI said, â€Å"Thats way too much money, Betty.”\r\nâ€Å"No, it isnt,” sh e said.\r\nâ€Å"Doubleday exit lose its shirt,” I said.\r\nâ€Å"You keep telling us that all the time. It wont.”\r\nI said, desperately, â€Å" each right. Have the contract read that I dont get any money until I notify you in writing that I have begun the novel.”\r\nâ€Å"Are you crazy?” she said. â€Å"Youll never start if that clause is in the contract. You get $25,000 on signing the contract, and $25,000 on delivering a completed manuscript.”\r\nâ€Å"But suppose the novel is no good.”\r\nâ€Å"Now youre being silly,” she said, and she ended the conversation.\r\nThat night, Pat LoBrutto, the science-fiction editor at Doubleday called to express his pleasure. â€Å"And remember,” he said, â€Å"that when we say ‘novel we mean ‘science-fiction novel, not anything else. And when we say ‘science-fiction novel, we mean ‘Foundation novel and not anything else.”\r\nOn February 5, 1981, I signed th e contract, and deep down the workweek, the Doubleday accounting system cranked out the nock for $25,000.\r\nI moaned that I was not my own master anymore and Hugh ONeill said, cheerfully, â€Å"Thats right, and from now on, were going to call every other week and say, ‘Wheres the manuscript?” (But they didnt. They left me strictly alone, and never even asked for a progress report.)\r\n closely four months passed term I took solicitude of a vast number of things I had to do, but about the end of May, I picked up my own copy of The Foundation Trilogy and began reading.\r\nI had to. For one thing, I hadnt read the Trilogy in thirty years and while I remembered the general plot, I did not remember the details. Besides, before beginning a new Foundation novel I had to immerse myself in the style and halo of the series.\r\nI read it with mounting uneasiness. I kept waiting for something to happen, and nothing ever did. All three volumes, all the about quarter of a mil lion words, consisted of thoughts and of conversations. No action. No physical suspense.\r\nWhat was all the bunko game about, then? Why did everyone want more of that stuff? †To be sure, I couldnt help but notice that I was good turn the pages eagerly, and that I was upset when I undefiled the book, and that I wanted more, but I was the author, for goodness sake. You couldnt go by me.\r\nI was on the edge of deciding it was all a terrible mistake and of insisting on giving back the money, when (quite by accident, I swear) I came across some sentences by science-fiction writer and critic, James Gunn, who, in joining with the Foundation series, said, â€Å"Action and day-dream have little to do with the success of the Trilogy †about all the action takes place offstage, and the romance is almost invisible †but the stories try a detective-story fascination with the permutations and reversals of ideas.”\r\nOh, well, if what was needed were â€Å"permutation s and reversals of ideas,” then that I could supply. Panic receded, and on June 10, 1981, I dug out the fourteen pages I had written more than eight years before and reread them. They sounded good to me. I didnt remember where I had been headed back then, but I had worked out what seemed to me to be a good ending now, and, starting page 15 on that day, I proceeded to work toward the new ending.\r\nI found, to my infinite relief, that I had no trouble getting back into a â€Å"Foundation-mood,” and, fresh from my rereading, I had Foundation history at my finger-tips.\r\nThere were differences, to be sure:\r\n1) The original stories were written for a science-fiction magazine and were from 7,000 to 50,000 words long, and no more. Consequently, each book in the trilogy had at least two stories and lacked unity. I intended to make the new book a wizard story.\r\n2) I had a particularly good chance for development since Hugh said, â€Å"Let the book find its own length, Is aac. We dont mind a long book.” So I be after on 140,000 words, which was nearly three times the length of â€Å"The Mule,” and this gave me plenty of elbow-room, and I could add all sorts of little touches.\r\n3) The Foundation series had been written at a time when our knowledge of astronomy was primitive compared with what it is today. I could take advantage of that and at least mention black holes, for instance. I could also take advantage of electronic computers, which had not been invented until I was half through with the series.\r\nThe novel progressed steadily, and on January 17, 1982, I began final copy. I brought the manuscript to Hugh ONeill in batches, and the poor crevice went half-crazy since he insisted on reading it in this broken fashion. On March 25, 1982, I brought in the last bit, and the very following day got the second half of the advance.\r\nI had kept â€Å"Lightning Rod” as my working title all the way through, but Hugh finally said, â€Å"Is there any way of putting ‘Foundation into the title, Isaac?” I suggested Foundations at Bay, therefore, and that may be the title that allow actually be used 1.\r\nYou will have notice that I have said nothing about the plot of the new Foundation novel. Well, naturally. I would rather you buy and read the book.\r\nAnd yet there is one thing I have to yield to you. I generally manage to tie up all the loose ends into one neat little bow-knot at the end of my stories, no matter how complicated the plot might be. In this case, however, I noticed that when I was all done, one glaring little item remained unresolved.\r\nI am hoping no one else notices it because it clearly points the way to the continuation of the series.\r\nIt is even possible that I inadvertently gave this away for at the end of the novel, I wrote: â€Å"The End (for now).”\r\nI very much fear that if the novel proves successful, Doubleday will be at my throat again, as Campbell used t o be in the old days. And yet what can I do but hope that the novel is very successful indeed. What a quandary!\r\n'