Chapter 3 author's words

When I wrote the "Foundation" story (it appeared in the May 1942 issue of Shocking Science Fiction), it never occurred to me that it would be the beginning of a series of stories.So far, it has expanded into six novels totaling 650,000 words.At the time, I had no idea that it would be unified with the short and long series about robots I wrote, as well as the Galactic Empire novels. So far, it has accumulated a total of 14 volumes, with a total of 1.45 million words. If you research the publication dates of these books, you will find a 25-year hiatus between 1957 and 1982, during which no additions were made to the series.Not because I stopped writing at that time, in fact, for a quarter of a century, I have been writing at full speed, but I am writing something else.I would pick up the series in 1982, not by myself, but by the combined pressure of readers and publishers, which finally became irresistible.

Anyway, things are complicated enough now that I think readers would welcome an introduction to the series, as they are not written in the order they should be read. These fourteen books are all published by Doubleday, which can be said to show a history of the future.It might not be completely consistent because I didn't think about consistency initially.The books are in the following order according to the chronology of Future History (not publication date): 1. "The Complete Works of Robot Short Stories" (1982): This is composed of 31 short stories about robots published between 1940 and 1976, including the earlier (1950) each story.Since this complete anthology came out, I have written only one more robot short story, and that is "Dreams of Robots," which has not yet been included in any Doubleday edition anthology.

2. (1954): This is my first novel on robots. 3. (1957): The second robot novel. 4. (1983): The third robot novel. V. (1985): The fourth robot novel. 6. (1951): This is my first Empire novel. 7. (1951): The second imperial novel. 8. (1950): No. =!Ben Empire Novel. 9. (1988): This is the first novel of the base (but it is also the last one completed so far). Ten. (1951): The second volume of the base novel.In fact, it is a collection of five stories, four of which were published between 1942 and 1944, plus an introduction to the book written in 1949. Eleven, (1952): The third volume of the base novel.Consisting of two stories, originally published in 1945.

12. (1953): The fourth volume of the Base novel, consisting of two stories, originally published in 1948 and 1949. Thirteen, (1982): The fifth volume of the base novel. 14. (1986): The sixth volume of the base novel. Will I be adding a few more books to this series?Maybe I will.Between (5) and (6), and between (9) and (10), another one can be inserted, and of course there is space between other volumes.In addition, I can continue to write after (fourteen)-write as many books as I like. Naturally, there must always be some limit, because I don't expect to live forever, but I intend to continue as long as possible.

Annotation 1: In fact, the order of (6) and (7) should be exchanged. This must be a temporary clerical error by Asimov. Note 2: "Towards the Base" published in 1993 should be inserted between (9) and (10).