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Twenty of the finest science fiction short stories from one of the genre’s greatest writers, Isaac Asimov. Isaac Asimov was the Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the founder of robot ethics, and one of the world’s most prolific authors of fiction and non-fiction. Asimov’s short fiction has been enjoyed by millions for more than half a century. Many of the stories in this collection are classics of the genre, including ‘Ring Around the Sun’, which follows two self-declared best pilots on their journey from Earth to Venus, passing within twenty-two million miles of the Sun.

The definitive collection of short fiction by Isaac Asimov, supreme master of the science fiction genre continues with Volume Three of the Complete Stories. The Good Doctor was always ahead of his time and his work stands today as the clearest expression of our collective hopes and fears for the future. But the ever-expanding popularity of his stories with young and old fans alike is explained by their wit, zest and human interest.

Isaac Asimov was the Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the founder of robot ethics, and one of the world’s most prolific authors of fiction and non-fiction. Asimov’s short fiction has been enjoyed by millions for more than half a century. Within this collection are stories often voted among the best science fiction stories of all time, including Hugo Award-winning title story ‘Bicentennial Man’, which explores a robot’s journey towards becoming human.

It's bad enough to learn that your historical enemy has developed robots so human-like that it takes an X-ray to detect them. But to learn that a group of the robots is already in the US and planning to detonate a bomb that can annihilate a major piece of a state - that's real motivation! For the man charged with neutralizing them - it's crunch time!

"It all began with my month's layoff between galactic service assignments. I reached Marsport for the ususla three-day stopover. Before landing, I received a spacegram from my wife, Hilda, saying she would stay and wait for me on Earth. So I called Flora and set a date. As I stepped out of the Video Booth, the first whiff of catastrophe nudged itself up to me. Rog Crinton said, 'Red Emergency Alert - come with me. Jack Hawk is dead. The galactic drug menace and his killer is on his way here.'"

Some creatures hunt for food, and some hunt for sport, but what happens when the hunter becomes so effective he kills all of the prey and still lusts for the sport?

Découvrez la genèse tumultueuse de la République romaine à travers le regard visionnaire et la plume érudite d’Isaac Asimov, dans un récit captivant mêlant politique, intrigue et destinée.

Sur la planète Florina, des travailleurs besognent sans relâche afin de produire le précieux kyrt, une variété de coton aux propriétés extraordinaires qui permet à leurs maîtres, les Sarkites, de vivre dans une abondance et un confort inouïs. Toute rébellion semble pourtant impensable : non seulement les Floriniens ont depuis longtemps oublié le concept de liberté, mais toute perturbation dans le commerce du kyrt, désormais vital, pourrait causer un soulèvement sur les autres planètes et résulter en une guerre galactique.

There were ten humanoid robots somewhere in the United States, each one carrying a fragment of a TC bomb. TC! The race for sheer horror in bomb-ery had ended there. TC! Total Conversion! The sun was no longer a synonym one could use. Total conversion made the sun a penny candle.

This short story was written for a syndicated newspaper page for children; but Mr. Asimov, like every good writer of children's stories, is talking not only to the children but to all of us. His characters here are young, but the idea hehind the story is as timeless as it is acute.

Youth is a science fiction novelette by Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the May 1952 issue of Space Science Fiction and was reprinted in the 1955 collection The Martian Way and Other Stories. Youth is one of the rare Asimov stories with alien characters. Slim is a boy whose astronomer father is visiting the country estate of an important industrialist. The industrialist's son, Red, has found two strange animals, and he enlists Slim in a plan to turn the animals into a circus act. The astronomer, meanwhile, tells the industrialist that he has been in contact with space aliens who want to open up their world to interstellar trade.

First published fifteen years ago, shortly after his death, inside this collection are some of the finest short stories of science fiction writing from one of the genre’s greatest writers, Isaac Asimov. Isaac Asimov was the Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the founder of robot ethics, and one of the world's most prolific authors of fiction and non-fiction. The Good Doctor's short fiction has been enjoyed by millions for more than half a century. Now the definitive Asimov collection is underway with Volume One of The Complete Stories.

Clarence Rimbro owns the entire planet Earth. This is no great accomplishment as, thousands of years in our future, anyone can do it. There are an infinite number of possible Earths, each existing in its own parallel universe. If the chance of life arising on any one of them is about 50 percent, then half the time a random choice of a parallel universe will lead to a dead Earth.

The way we feel about another person or about objects is often bound up in associations that have no direct connection with the person or object, at all. Often, what we call a "change of heart" comes about sheerly from a change in the many associations which make up our present viewpoint. Now, suppose that these associations could be altered artificially, at the option of the person who was in charge of the process.

Joseph Schwartz, paisible tailleur retraité, se promène tranquillement dans les rues de Chicago quand un étrange phénomène le propulse des milliers d'années dans le futur. Où la Terre n'est plus qu'une petite planète d'intérêt stratégique secondaire au sein d'un vaste empire galactique. Joseph y est en danger de mort puisque les lois visant à limiter la population frappent d'euthanasie tous les résidents de plus de soixante ans.

L'empire galactique des Tyrannis comprend des dizaines de mondes, dont la Terre, qui n'est qu'un de leurs nombreux vassaux. Or c'est sur Terre, justement, que Biron Farrill, le fils d'un de leurs principaux opposants qu'ils ont assassinés, recherche un document mythique, datant d'un lointain passé, qui pourrait mettre fin au règne des despotes.

Die Anfänge der Foundation. Man schreibt das Jahr 12020. Von der Hauptstadt Trantor aus regiert Cleon I. über sein gigantisches Sternenreich. Doch das Imperium zeigt erste Risse, und der Imperator weiß, dass seine Herrschaft bedroht ist. Dunkel und unheilschwanger liegt eine ungewisse Zukunft vor ihm, denn der Zerfall, so behaupten es alle Prognosen, lässt sich nicht aufhalten. Nicht einmal die neuste Wissenschaft, die Psychohistorik, kann etwas gegen den drohenden Untergang ausrichten. Die Vorgeschichte zur erfolgreichen Apple TV+-Serie "Foundation".

An astronomer visits an industrialist, and they discuss the possibility of interstellar trade. Meanwhile, their two sons have found “strange animals” that they want to turn into a circus act. Going outside, the two men discover a crashed spacecraft and the two “animals” that the youths have locked up in a barn. After having repaired their spacecraft, the aliens depart for their planet, called earth.

Der Grundstein der Foundation. Trantor im Jahr 12020: Das Zentrum der Galaxis wird regiert von Imperator Cleon I. Hari Seldon, ein junger Wissenschaftler, stellt erstmals seine Theorie der Psychohistorik vor, die auf der Basis mathematischer, soziologischer und statistischer Methoden präzise Vorhersagen über das Verhalten großer Gruppen von Menschen – Imperien beispielsweise – möglich macht. Cleon I. wird darauf aufmerksam und will Seldons Hilfe. Insbesondere der erste Minister Cleons, Eto Demerzel, scheint gar nicht begeistert von diesem Vorhaben zu sein.

The Portable Star takes us to an uninhabitable planet. Uninhabitable that is by life as we know it, but in science fiction life exists in many forms. The planet Sigmaringen IV appears to be inhabited by entities that although invisible can influence the mind. A thought control. Our space travelers, two couples, go through some very strange personality changes controlled by "them". As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that the invisible entities are trying to communicate with the humans, causing them to act out of character and experience intense emotions.