Death of a Foy.
newdadmarc, The Complete Robot contains all the stories from I, Robot plus any other random robot stories he wrote.
“In a good cause-” was pretty good. I happen to have a copy of “Nightfall and other stories” right here and you should run right out and get one for yourself.
(this has been a public service announcement brought to you by me)
Just wanted to say that the full-length novelizations of “Nightfall” and “The Bicentennial Man” absolutely sucked. Anyone else feel the same way?
I’ll do that, since this book isn’t due back until May 27th. Finished reading “A Boy’s Best Friend” which appears to be the shortest story in the book. I also read “Liar!” and “Lenny”. I’m currently in the middle of reading “Galley Slave”.
On my next trip to the public library I’ll check out “Nightfall” and “The Ugly Little Boy”.
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone.
Asimov was my favorite author in my teen years (1980s). I read just about every book of his in my high school library. I especially liked his robot stories and science nonfiction. I even wrote him a letter and got a personal response.
Anyway, my vote goes with “The Last Question” for best Asimov short story. “The Bicentenial Man” gets my vote for best Asimov novelette.
Robot makers have a worry about people accepting the robotic aid in human form.
Two non public-released robots, George 9 and George 10 are asked to perform a logical tour-de-force to solve the problem,
…with strange and eerie results.
How about Asimov’s ultra-short story Silly Asses?
I’ve always kind of liked Spell my Name with an “S”.
Yup. But I feel the same way about all of Asimov’s full-length novels.
He just couldn’t do realistic characterisation. Consequently shallow, cliched characters who all sounded much alike. He also apparently thought that because he had more pages to fill he could afford to spell things out to the reader in labourious fashion, then repeat just in case they didn’t catch it the first time. Consequently really boring and verbose conversations where smart character A explained everything twice to really dim, slow on the uptake character B.
But you can’t take away what he achieved in short stories.
Boy, so many people here sharing their recommendation on Asimov stories that NO ONE has read the OP, apparently:
jeanster is looking for recommendations for stories in The Complete Robot, not in general. Not that the mentioned stories aren’t good, they just aren’t in the book s/he borrowed from the library. Sheesh…
I think he got better in his later novels, but I agree for the most part. Still, nobody reads Asimov for the banter and wordplay.
Quoth MusicJunkie:
Only the first time? I cry every single time I read it. To my taste, it’s the best SF novellete by any author, not just Asimov.
Does The Complete Robot also contain the first two Lije Bailey mysteries? Because they’re good, too (though not short stories: Each is a full novel).
From looking at the table of contents, it doesn’t look like it contains any Lije Bailey mysteries; only short stories. But I’ll keep Lije Bailey in mind for future reading. Thanks.
Thanks again to everyone in this thread who recommended stories (both short stories and novels). I appreciate you taking the time to do this.
I plan to read all of ‘The Complete Robot’ in time to return it to the library by May 27th. That’s when I’ll check out the other books with the stories you recommended.
The Complete Robot has “Mirror Image”, a Baley/Daneel short story that takes place between The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn
No, no no!
You’re all thinking of Asimov as a Science Fiction author. He also wrote some of the wittiest mysteries ever.
“Asimov’s Mysteries” collects a number of them, but one stands out in my mind for having an exteremly clever “outwitting the perfect criminal” ending:
“The Singing Bell”
Just to add on to what digs said, I’ve always quite liked the *black Widow stories.