Last Update: 1999-07-26

Foundation's Future

Introduction

This is a story set in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Universe. It takes place after the events in Foundation and Earth, but I won't tell you exactly when here; you'll have to read it for yourself. Asimov once said himself that he wanted to write something about the last 500 years before the Second Galactic Empire, but he got stuck and decided to write prequels.

How this came to be

Recently three new books in a trilogy have been published, written by Bear, Benford, and Brin. When I first heard of it, I thought they would naturally continue the Foundation story -- but instead I was rather surprised that they were around the prequels, instead of solving Asimov's difficulty in resolving the future. I had the privilege of an e-mail discourse with fellow alumni Dr. David Brin, the author of the last book, who mentioned that he was still leaving it to future writers.

In fact, it was while reviewing Brin's novel before publication that I suddenly thought of an idea which might be able to explain the paradox at the end of the Foundation novels. Unfortunately, ideas are cheap; one still has to do the hard work of writing.

Around mid-to-late July 1999 I was finally spurred to putting words out, seeing as now another person (Johnny Pez) was writing a story in the Foundation Universe and posting it on alt.books.isaac-asimov. I'll do the same thing as sections of the story come out.

Asimov's writing style

I'm following what I thought Asimov's writing style was -- lots of dialogue, although in retrospect he actually did have more than just talking heads. The format is one that Asimov used a lot for his later novels -- short numbered but unnamed sections, several sections in a chapter, and occasionally several chapters in a part.

He tended to get a rough idea of what the plot might be, and then he would write out a first draft straight, just getting stuff from his head. That's what is here. The first draft, which I am writing straight from a rough idea of the plot. Therefore, after it is done, there will undoubtedly be revisions, but I think I shall finish the whole story first, even though there are already changes I want to make!

Spoilers

I'm pulling no punches here. If you read this story, I'm pretty sure that not only will you spoil your enjoyment of the original Trilogy, but also almost all other books with "Foundation" in the title that have been published. The first few sections are rather tame and don't spoil anything beyond the original trilogy, but I'm not sure how long I can keep it up.

The Story

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