Musing on Isaac Asimov

         Thought of this at work the other day and decided to type it out for my blog and in directly for Google+.  With a few modifications since then. 

Isaac Asimov seems to be  a strange bird.  When he was alive he was thee top SF writer. I don’t think anyone was even close. He made it as adviser to a TV show--it didn’t last long but I liked it and his Three Robotic Laws were used on a different TV show and his descendant was a Captain of a Starship--he didn’t do much but he was there. I know I love his writing. Now though--since he died--everyone seems to be ignoring him. I hear long time Pros mention their top writers and he’s never on the list or they talk about the Masters and again he isn’t listed. I should say about that last; usually the Masters are before Asimov’s time so that may not be a good comparison.  

I still believe he was a master storyteller.  Since I thought though this I decided it’s time to reread his stories. I love his fusion of SF and Mystery. 

Back to my Musing of Asimov. In a discussion of him online, one person didn’t like him because he used just one plot. I couldn’t recall enough of Asimov’s stories so wasn’t sure if that person was correct but I didn’t care. Asimov did an excellent job on that one plot. One other person thought the same. One thing that is ironic though is his Foundation series. I think it is his most popular series but it’s about the only one of his SF books I haven’t read. It just doesn’t excite me for some reason. 

I still would be like him in writing--not in other areas. He wrote in different genres: SF Mystery and a couple of others I think. Seems like there was a bunch but I can only think of two--three counting his Bible Commentary--Oh, four he wrote science books too. 

He didn’t do Fantasy-which disappoints me he would have been good there too--no Westerns and I don’t recall any gen fic. 

He did a couple of short short story series, two I really like and wished he did a bunch more in both. One involved a Professor who was afraid to travel, he lived on the grounds of the University he taught at. He didn’t want to travel via Matter Transportation either. Yeah, in one story he was involved in its invention.

Even though I haven’t watched it for I know the ending, I rejoiced when his “Bicentennial Man” was made into a movie.  His “Nightfall” has been made into a movie also--I saw it once in a video store but it’s very old evidently and not being made anymore.  There is “I, Robot” too but as far as I can recall it’s doesn’t keep to the book. I need to reread it though to make sure. 

One more thing I got what may be the last anthology of his works--new works anyway--”Gold”, not only for his stories but the essays on writing that was(were?) included. But they were not about writing in general, instead they were on his writing. A couple, like how he got ideas, could be of use for new writers but I was hoping for more how-tos. Still they were interesting.

Not sure when I will get to rereading his stories and maybe some time. I can probably buy them on my Nook. Therefore I will have them without having to search for them in hard paper. 

A PS  here is a link to the Isaac Asimov web page. It lists more mysteries than I knew about. And I learned a couple of things either I forgot or didn't about him. 

http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html