Good stuff, interesting ideas as usual and a peak into the world of scifi in the 1940s. ( )

4/6/22

I ordered some cheap used Asimov paperbacks to relive treasured books of my youth. Truth is that between 1939-41 The Master wasn't yet The Master. Indeed, he wasn't much of a writer at all. But it's I enjoyed encountering some future Asimov themes (psychologists/psychohistorians, anyone?) in their earliest iterations.

The biographical recollections that appear between each story are, frankly, the best part of this book. They afford readers a nice sense of the pulp magazine era from which Asimov and many other SF greats emerged. And, writing back in 1972, Asimov recounts frankly the racism and other troublesome beliefs held by the great editor John W. Campbell, Jr., beliefs that most recently sparked the successful effort to rename the SF Best New Writer Award.

Great fun. Look forward to volume 2! ( )

Reviewed May 1998
This is Asimov’s third Black Widowers collection mainly made up of published mysteries dealing with the same male members. Mysteries brought to them by a monthly guest. These characters are pure Asimov, they are friends he has known, Asimov himself was a member of several groups one called the “Trapdoor Spiders.” The mysteries are almost impossible for me to solve as they deal with areas I have know knowledge of...presidential elections, word play, code creaking and eclipses. The first story, “the cross of Lorraine” was a story I had read in 1976 in one of the few Ellery Queen magazines I own. From time to time I would remember how clever the mystery was, but never knew who wrote it until in 1997 when I read Asimov’s autobiography and he told me. ( )

Reviewed Nov 1999 ~ purchased book from book fair for 25 cents

This is volume TWO Another anthology fro Asimov also including his bio between each story. This book features new stories (to me)... "Christmas on Ganymede," "The Little Man on the Subway," "Time Pussy," and "Legal Rites." Most stories were mildly interesting the only standout is, "No Connection" and only because the though of American bears evolving into civilized, cultured creatures really caught me off guard. On the last page, Asimov writes..."the real excitement of those first eleven Campbell years...when every submission meant unbearable suspense, every rejection meant misery...and every 50 dollar check was the wealth of Croesus."

45-1999 ( )