# What Is The Name Of This SciFi Story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-scifi-story/278402 "2004-12-06T19:28:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-scifi-story/278402/21 "2004-12-07T16:10:29Z")
Many people don’t know that _The Road Not Taken_ was a sequel (or a prequel to be exact). The original was a story called _Herbig-Haro_ set several decades later when humans were using the new FTL drive. Turtledove then decided to go bakc and write a story about how they got it. The original was never anthologized and the second story has become much better known than the first. > [@](#): > > How about Isaac Asimov’s tale about two feuding planets? I can’t remember the title or even the names of the planets, so… Are you sure it was an Asimov story? The description you gave sounds like _Superiority_ which was written by Arthur Clarke. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-scifi-story/278402/22 "2004-12-07T16:36:35Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Are you sure it was an Asimov story? The description you gave sounds like _Superiority_ which was written by Arthur Clarke. The original description doesn’t sound like any Asimov story I’ve ever heard of, but it doesn’t sound like _Superiority_, either: In _Superiority_, the two sides start out more or less evenly matched technologically, but then one side starts chasing ultra-tech advances. The results are impressive, but buggy, and the end result is that the other side (which kept building tried-and-true ships and weapons) wins the war after a truly horrendous bug causes all the ships on the first side to lose all contact with one another. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-scifi-story/278402/23 "2004-12-07T16:52:07Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Many people don’t know that _The Road Not Taken_ was a sequel (or a prequel to be exact). The original was a story called _Herbig-Haro_ set several decades later when humans were using the new FTL drive. Turtledove then decided to go bakc and write a story about how they got it. The original was never anthologized and the second story has become much better known than the first. > Are you sure it was an Asimov story? The description you gave sounds like _Superiority_ which was written by Arthur Clarke. I’m pretty sure it was an Asimov story - and a short story at that. I’ll check around the web. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-scifi-story/278402/24 "2004-12-07T17:37:21Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > If you get a chance, pick up his new anthology 3XT. It includes his books “Noninterference”, “Kaleidoscope” (which has that story), and “Earthgrip”. That just got ordered. I’ve been looking for this story for quite a while. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-scifi-story/278402.md?page=1)