HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jafoust@cco.caltech.edu (Jeffrey Alan Foust)
Subject: Re: _Postman_ Movie!
Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written
Organization: Not as much as I'd like...
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 23:15:06 GMT

In article <1992Apr13.092637.1@skcla.monsanto.com> jjfink@skcla.monsanto.com writes:
>
>What I want to know is why haven't we seen ANYTHING from him [Brin] since
>Postman except for the short story "Dr. Pak's Preschool"?
>

Are you forgetting about _Earth_, which came out about two years ago?

Followups to rec.arts.sf.written

-- 
Jeff Foust                        Junior, Geophysics/Planetary Science, Caltech
jafoust@cco.caltech.edu   	        	    jeff@seismo.gps.caltech.edu
"..any DEA agent or drug dealer can tell you that 1 pound equals 2.2 kilograms."
                       L.A. Times, page E1, 8 April 1992                  
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.written:5728 rec.arts.sf.movies:3249
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: _Postman_ Movie!
From: jjfink@skcla.monsanto.com
Date: 13 Apr 92 09:26:37 GMT
Organization: Searle, Skokie, IL
Nntp-Posting-User: jjfink

> What I found depressing was that none of Brin's other books ranked 
> anywhere near The Postman in terms of quality. JIMHOOC

FLAME ON:
What?  You didn't like _Practice Effect_?  Best silly SF in quite a while.
You didn't like _Startide Rising_ or _Uplift War_?
FLAME OFF:

What I want to know is why haven't we seen ANYTHING from him since Postman
except for the short story "Dr. Pak's Preschool"?
From: jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Jonathan M Lennox)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: CHILDREN OF THE ATOM--thanks to all who answered
Date: 8 Apr 92 02:35:10 GMT
Organization: Columbia University


  Thanks to everyone who responded to my question about CHILDREN OF
THE ATOM.  The book is by Wilmar Shiras; it was originally serialized
in _Astounding_ in the 1940s, published in 1953 by either Avon
Publications or Gnome Press (I got messages claiming both) and was
reprinted in 1978 by Pennyfarthing Press, a small press operating out
of either San Francisco or Berkeley, now out of business.  It was also
at one point a selection of the Science Fiction Book Club.

  The ISBN's are apparently 093080001X for the hardback, and
0930800023 for the paperback.

  The lead novella in it, "In Hiding," has been anthologized in a
number of places, including the SFWA's collection of the best
pre-Nebula stories, edited by Robert Silverberg, and one of the
volumes of THE WORLD'S GREATEST SCIENCE FICTION STORIES.  (These last
two may be the same thing, I'm not sure.)

  According to cozzlab@garnet.berkeley.edu (Dorothy J. Heydt), the
author was actually a woman, Wilma Shiras, but the editor "corrected"
the name because he "couldn't believe that a woman had written the
thing."

There was apparently also a German translation, "Kinder des Atoms."

Thanks again to all who replied so quickly!

Jonathan Lennox
jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.written:5780 rec.arts.sf.movies:3299
From: ghost@ra.nrl.navy.mil (G. Host)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: _Postman_ Movie!
Date: 14 Apr 92 18:39:59 GMT
Reply-To: ghost@ra.nrl.navy.mil (G. Host)
Organization: Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC


> Article <1992Apr14.152745.9398@noose.ecn.purdue.edu> From: cromwell@betelgeuse.ecn.purdue.edu (Bob Cromwell)

> Actually, I heard that John Ratzenberger had the lead role....
> 
> 				Bob Cromwell

Thats good news.

Can someone give a brief summary of the book for this uninformed?
-- 
Glenn Host - Senior Systems Analyst (ghost@ra.nrl.navy.mil)
NRL Code 5800, 4555 Overlook Ave.; Washington, DC 20375   (202) 767-2046
12307 Tigers Eye Court ; Reston, VA 22091                 (703) 620-1141
From: dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: SF about doing science ?
Date: 14 Apr 92 18:04:35 GMT
Reply-To: dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann)
Organization: University of Arizona

In article <18@pine.ukc.ac.uk>, arc1@ukc (A.R.Curtis) writes:
>[...]but as the characters and events in a novel are fictional why not
>the science too?

Gad! Fictional science in science fiction?!  Heretic!

>If you want to really know you can go and get a textbook.
>In fact, the book may even inspire you to take up physics or
>some other discipline - which would be no bad claim for any
>book.

Wait a minute -- you mean a full education might include reading beyond SF?
Jeeze...

-- 
You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and
sound but of mind. A journey into a wonderous land whose boundaries are that of
imagination.  That's a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone!
From: jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Jonathan M Lennox)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: CHILDREN OF THE ATOM--50's SF Juvenile--author wanted
Date: 7 Apr 92 03:11:05 GMT
Reply-To: jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Jonathan M Lennox)
Organization: Columbia University

My mother tells me that when she was a kid, in the 50's, one of her
favorite books was a juvenile called CHILDREN OF THE ATOM, which she
got out of her local library.  She would like to try to find it again,
but she can't remember the author, and I believe it is out of print.
Does anyone know any info about this book?

Please e-mail, I will post a summary to the net.

Jonathan Lennox
jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: c9e-al@danube.Berkeley.EDU (Chua Hak Lien)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Forthcoming Books
Date: 9 Apr 92 22:12:56 GMT
Article-I.D.: pasteur.1992Apr9.221256.26283
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <9204092039.AA04989@rutgers.edu> ECZ5TAN@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Morgan 54871) writes:
>I just got the list of mass market paperbacks due this summer. Here's an
>abbreviated list of June released for those who are interested:

>Letters From Atlantis. Richard Silverberg (Warner/Questar, $4.99)
>                       ^^^^^^^
Any relation to Robert Silverberg? =)

Chua
====
>
>Morgan
>ecz5tan@mvs.oac.ucla.edu
>ecz5tan@uclamvs.bitnet
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: csmith@onetouch.COM (Craig Smith)
Subject: Re: Steven Brust
Organization: MCS/OneTouch, Inc.
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 92 20:11:29 GMT
Keywords: Steven Brust

sdrumm@mcs213j.cs.umr.edu (Scott Drumm) writes:

>>>Excuse me, people.  If I wanted to find someone who wanted to discuss
>>>the Vlad Taltos novels by Steven Brust, where would I post the message?
>>
>>I do believe that this is the right place!  Well, at least it seems so.

>Aye!  Pass the dead Teckla and speak on!

Shut up, Loiosh!

Anyone have any idea what Aliera meant that only those of certain genes could
control chaos? Vlad, with easterner genes was able to produce it. Could she
have meant soul "genes" and if so, what would those be?
-- 
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::Craig Smith                                             csmith@onetouch.COM::
::Columbus, OH                                      ...!uunet!onetouch!csmith::
::"Life is a fulltime occupation."--Gene Kalman                              ::
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: consp04@bingsunm.cc.binghamton.edu (Dan Boyd)
Subject: Re: SF about doing science ?
Summary: shevek is no physicist
Keywords: disposessed leguin simultaneity hogwash
Organization: State University of New York at Binghamton
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 00:47:56 GMT


The most egregious example of bad made-up science in SF that I've seen
has to be the silly 'Theory of Simultaneity' in Ursula K. LeGuin's
"The Disposessed".  Yes, it's hogwash; but my problem with it is that
it's also poorly presented hogwash.  

At one point, the physicist Shevek is at a cocktail party with rich
society people, explaining the Theory of Simultaneity (which is also
thematically important to the book).  He says the basic idea of the
theory is that time can be seen as cyclic as well as linear, and
someone says, "You can't have two contradicting ideas about the same
thing."

Shevek replies with a poor refutation of this guy based on
philosophical grounds.  No physicist I know would say anything other
than, "Oh, yeah?  Then is light a wave or a particle?"


-- 
Daniel F. Boyd -- consp04@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu
====
It's not a system called 'X-Windows', it's a window system named 'X',
after the owl on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood".
From: diebold@ASLAN.STG.TRW.COM (Robert Diebold)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: SF-LOVERS Digest   V17 #171
Date: 15 Apr 92 20:11:32 GMT

Elizabeth Willey wrote:

>His first novel was _In the Drift_.
>Double Sheesh.

She may want to retract that.  _In the Drift_ is actually a collection of short
stories that take place in and around an area called The Drift. _Mummer's Kiss_,
for example, is also included in Swanwick's short story collection, the title of
which escapes me at this moment.  This collection also features a story entitled
_The Feast of Saint Janis_ which feels like it could have been included in _In
the Drift_.

I think of _Stations of the Tide_ as a cyberpunk version of Steppenwolf.  In any
case, it is Swanwick's best work to date, and, along with _Brain Child_, was one
the best SF novels I read last year.

Robert Diebold
diebold@aslan.stg.trw.com 
it as a cyberpunk version of Steppenwolf.
From: gsarff@meph.UUCP (Gary Sarff)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: humorous science fiction
Date: 14 Apr 92 07:04:30 GMT
Article-I.D.: meph.00351
Reply-To: gsarff@meph.UUCP
Organization: WICAT Systems Inc., Orem Utah

In article <3pmjgt_@lynx.unm.edu>, ee5391aa@triton.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) writes:
>Hmmmm . . . I entered this thread rather late, but has no one mentioned Arthur
>Clarke's delightful "Tales from the White Hart"?
>
>P.S.: It's not exactly SF . . . let me rephrase that; it's NOT SF, but Trevan-
>ian's "Shibumi" is one of the most chuckle-filled action-adventure books I've
>_ever_ read.

chuckle-filled?  Shibumi?  We must have amazingly different senses of humor.
It seemed rather dark to me.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We want to offer a more standard product; smaller, slower, less reliable, and
more profitable, but standard.  
Using yesterday's technology to solve tomorrow's problems.
  --Computer company X
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: bkoike@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Bryce Koike)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Saberhagen's Book of Swords
Date: 6 Apr 92 15:07:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: sdcc12.31376
Organization: University of California, San Diego


	Hm!  I'm certainly shocked to find other people who also
disliked Saberhagen's Book of Swords (heck, all my friends thought
it was the best thing since cheeze whiz...)
	I think it started off with a bad premise, really.  The very
idea behind the series was very...impersonal.  In fact, the only
point to the first book was the swords themselves.  Saberhagen spent
too much energy around the swords....until the characters themselves
were flat and lifeless.  Personally, I didn't care for any of them
in the first book (never got around to the rest) and probably would
have preferred it if they all had died...
	The swords were a good idea, but they're really only a prop.
Reminds me of what Niven and Pournelle threaten to do in some of
their books (thankfully they don't!).  They could have gone off the
deep end in, say, Oath of Fealty, and spent all their time showing
off their arcology and totally ignoring the characters in the
process.  Oh well...
From: fscem1@acad3.alaska.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: More Eddings...
Date: 17 Apr 92 21:03:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: acad3.1992Apr17.120349.1
Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks

You gotta give the guy some credit, y'know...his stories aren't
too original, no, but his characters are likeable and he's made
a killing by writing essentially the same story three different
times. 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: coatem@rs6109.ecs.rpi.edu (Malik Paul Coates)
Subject: Re: _Wizard's Bane_ riddle
Reply-To: coatem@rpi.edu
Organization: Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 00:47:44 GMT

In article <1992Apr13.083029.15889@kithrup.COM>, sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) writes:
|> In _Wizard's Bane_, by Rick Cook, there is the following riddle:
|> 
|> 	Black as night, white as snow
|> 	Red as blood from the death-wound flow
|> 	Precious as gold
|> 	Worthless as dross
|> 	Cold beyond cold
|> 	Gained without loss
|> 	Higher and deeper and wider than all
|> 	At fingertips always, gone beyond call
|> 	What am I?
|> 
|> Any ideas?


	Sounds like love to me.  Black is what you'll do for it, white
is it's purity. Red is the jelousy that you feel from it.   I'm not sure about the
Higher and deeper and wider than all, but the rest of them are pretty obvious.

Malik
From: shiva@pro-smof.cts.COM (System Smof)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Diane Duane's "Doors" series - Need Information.
Date: 16 Apr 92 20:06:19 GMT
Organization: The SMOF-BBS: Science Fiction Online Since 1985 [512-467-7317]

I don't know, but that's sure to be one of the questions I ask her at
Galaxy Fair '92 (July 3-5, 1992, Dallas TX)
 ____________________________________________________________________
/                                |                            |      \
|SMOF-BBS 512-467-7317 PCP=TXAUS |UUCP: crash!pro-smof!shiva  | __|__ |
|Proline:  shiva@pro-smof        |"The World's First Online   | \_|_/ |
|Internet: shiva@pro-smof.cts.com| Science Fiction Convention"|   |   |
\________________________________|____________________________|______/
From: mab@buphyk.bu.edu (Michael Burstein)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: "Forward the Foudation" *IS* finished ?
Date: 10 Apr 92 18:07:25 GMT
Organization: Boston University Physics Department


 jdeitch@umiami.ir.miami.edu writes:
>According to the Miami Herald article reporting Asimov's death, "Forward the
>Foundation" is reported as being finished and due out this fall.
>
>Can anyone confirm/deny this ?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From my friend Charles:

The first two installments have been published.

The third is completed, and will probably appear in ASIMOV'S, possibly in
OMNI. 

The last time I spoke to Isaac, he told me that the fourth installment was
complete in its "rough draft" form.  For Isaac, that was very close to
"final draft" form, so it's probably publishable as is.  (And he may have
done some minor revision before he died.)

He also said at the time that he had not even begun the fifth installment
and couldn't because he could no longer sit at the typewriter.  He could
only write by hand (and that very shakily) or by dictating to Janet (which
is how he composed his last editorials).  I assumed that this meant that
the fifth installment was not started at the time of his death, or if
started certainly not completed.  However, several of the obituaries
mentioned that the book was finished and would be published by Doubleday
later this year.

There are three possibilities:

	1) Doubleday has only 4 chapters and will publish these as the
           whole book.  (They would be long enough -- about 400 pages.)
	2) Doubleday has 4 chapters plus a rough draft of the 5th and will
           either hire a ghost to finish the 5th or will publish it in its
           rough state.
	3) Isaac did manage to write the 5th book in the last month of his
           life and the book really is complete.

I don't know which it is.  But that Doubleday will publish the book I am
certain.  It is so close to being done even if it's not actually done that
it would be a shame not to.

You can post any of the above (or the entire message, if you want).

--Charles

-- 
Michael A. Burstein
Physics Department, Boston University         mab@buphy.bu.edu
590 Commonwealth Ave.                         (617) 353-9437 (o)
Boston, MA 02215                              (617) 735-9433 (h)
From: eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Uncritical thought (was: Unintelligentsia (was: Re: Spider...))
Date: 6 Apr 92 15:53:21 GMT
Distribution: world

In <1992Apr5.084456.27784@u.washington.edu> Tom Maddox wrote:
> 	One other thing :  Surrealism was not Marxist.  Though some 
> Surrealists were, others held a wide variety of political views (think of
> Dali, for instance).

I base my characterization on the writings of Andre Breton, commonly regarded
as Surrealism's spokesman and major ideologue (have you read "The Surrealist
Manifesto? --- great stuff!).

As for your more general statement --- look, I realize the Left has done a
pretty good job of running for cover in the wake of the Communist collapse.
But has everyone's perception of 20th-century literary history already warped
enough to forget the tendency that runs straight from Jack London and Sinclair
Lewis to the Che-Guevara-worshiping "radical chic" crowd of the Sixties and
early Seventies --- and to much of the academic establishment today?

There's a *reason* Podhoretz and Novak and the neoconservative intellectuals
of the late Seventies were considered "revolutionary" back then, before the
Reaganistas.  They had something to revolt against; the leftist orthodoxy
of most of their peers.  That battle is still going on; only the labels
have changed, see any of today's debates about "political correctness"
(no accident that PC was originally a term of art in Leninist revolutionary
theory).

(Disclaimer: I loathe the Left and Right impartially -- they're all statist
thugs to me.)
--
		Eric S. Raymond (eric@snark.thyrsus.com)
From: kra@sdd.hp.com (Katherine Albitz)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: C. Hinz - Ash-Ock & Paratwa
Date: 6 Apr 92 21:07:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: sdd.1992Apr6.140746
Reply-To: kra@sdd.hp.com (Katherine Albitz)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, San Diego Division


For those of us in the US:

C. Hinz's books, Ash-Ock and Paratwa can be ordered from the UK via 
the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver Colorado. They predicted a 2-6 
month wait, since the books are coming from the UK, and they said that 
the books are paperback.

Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver is at 800-833-9327, they are great to
work with. Ask for the SF section.

K. Albitz
kra@sdd.hp.com
From: ECZ5TAN@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Morgan 54871)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: New Releases
Date: 14 Apr 92 20:01:00 GMT

Here is a list of the new mass market paperback releases for July and August.
Please keep in mind that this list is not necessarily complete, it just
comes from a publisher listing of expected releases.  If there are any of you
who are looking for specific titles or author releases, and they do not
appear on this list, please send a note to my address and I will see if some
of my other sources list your title.

July:
CoDominium: Revolt of the war World. Jerry Pournelle (Baen Books, $5.99)
Castle of Deception. Mercedes Lackey and Josepha Sherman (Baen Books, $5.99)
The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story. Stephen R. Donaldson (Bantam, $4.99)
Quarantine World. Murray Leinster (Carroll & Graf, $3.95)
Winds of Fate. Mercedes Lackey (Daw, $4.99)
The Bushido Incident. Betty Anne Crawford (Daw, $4.99)
Lightwing. Tara Harper (Del Rey, $4.99)
Demon Drums: Book One of Island Warrior. Carol Severance (Del Rey, $3.99)
Reaper Man. Terry Pratchett (Roc, $4.99)
Psychomech. Brian Lumley (Tor, $5.99)
Playgrounds of the Mind. Larry Niven (Tor, $5.99)
Mairelon the Magician. Patricia C. Wrede (Tor, $4.99)
Timediver's Dawn. L.E. Modesitt (Tor, $3.99)
Alternate Kennedys. Mike Resnik, ed. (Tor, $4.99)
Batman Returns. Craig Shaw (Warner, $4.99)
Dragon Tome. Richard A. Knaak (Warner/Questar, $4.99)


August:
Mercycle. Piers Anthony (Ace, $4.99)
The Ship Who Searched. Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey (Baen Books, $5.99)
The Orc Wars. John Dalmas (Baen Books, $4.99)
The Forbidden Knowledge. Stephen R. Donaldson (Bantam, $4.99)
Ring Around the Sun. Clifford D. Simak (Carrol & Graf, $3.95)
The Western Wizard. Mickey Zucker Reichert (Daw, $5.99)
The Watcher's Mask. Laurie J. Marks (Daw, $4.99)
The Reaver Road. Dave Duncan (Del Rey, $4.99)
The Sails of Tau Ceti. Michael McCollum (Del Rey, $4.99)
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Reunion. Michael Jan Friedman (Pocket,
   $5.50)
Bazil Broketail. Christopher Rowley (Roc, $5.99)
Xenocide. Orson Scott Card (Tor, $5.99)
Tales of Riverworld. Philip Jose Farmer (Warner/Questar, $4.99)


I also note some hardcover releases:

Star Wars, Volume 2: Dark Force Rising. Timothy Zahn. June (Bantam, $18.50)
Snow Crash. Neal Stephenson. June (Bantam, $22.50)
Doomsday Book. Connie Willis. July (Bantam, $22.00)
Blood Trillium. Julian May. August (Bantam, $20.00)
Slaves/Masters of Sleep. L. Ron Hubbard. July (Bridge, $18.95)
Chanur's Legacy. C.J. Cherryh. August (DAW, $20.00)
Mining the Oort. Frederik Pohl. August (Del Rey, $19.00)
Timemaster. Robert L. Foreward. June (Tor, $19.95)
Cold As Ice. Charles Sheffield. June (Tor, $19.95)
The Turing Option. Harry Harrison and Marvin Minsky. August (Warner, $21.95)

Let me know if this is helpful to you.
I will post the fall selections as soon as I get lists from the publishers.

Morgan
ecz5tan@mvs.oac.ucla.edu
ecz5tan@uclamvs.bitnet
From: ECZ5TAN@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Morgan 54871)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Forthcoming Books
Date: 9 Apr 92 20:37:00 GMT

I just got the list of mass market paperbacks due this summer. Here's an
abbreviated list of June released for those who are interested:

The Adept: The Lodge of the Lynx. Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris
   (Ace, $4.99)
Codgerspace. Alan Dean Foster (Ace, $4.99)
Ray Bradbury Presents: Dinosaur World. Stephen Leigh (Avon, $4.99)
Starliner. David Drake (Baen Books, $5.99)
Summoned to Tourney. Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon (Baen Books, $4.99)
Heir to the Empire: Star Wars Volume 1. Timothy Zahn (Bantam, $5.99)
Believe. William Shatner and Michael Tobias (Berkeley, $5.50)
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume VIII. Dave Wolverton, ed.
   (Bridge, $5.95)
Wildfire. Jo Clayton (Daw, $4.99)
Vortex. Allan Cole and Chris Bunch (Del Rey, $4.99)
Children of the Blood: Second Book of the Sunderers (Del Rey, $4.99)
The Phoenix Guards. Steven Brust (Tor, $4.99)
Mirabile. Janet Kagen (Tor, $3.99)
Masters of Everon. Gordon R. Dickson (Tor, $3.99)
Alien 3. Alan Dean Foster (Warner, $4.99)
Letters From Atlantis. Richard Silverberg (Warner/Questar, $4.99)

I will post July and August releases if there is any interest.

One note: Someone queried about the paperpack of Scott Card's Xenocide.
  It is due for an August release from Tor for $5.99.

Morgan
ecz5tan@mvs.oac.ucla.edu
ecz5tan@uclamvs.bitnet
Organization: Doctoral student, History, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Date: Tue,  7 Apr 1992 12:55:24 -0400 
From: John Thomas <jt29+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Asimov's Production


I too will mourn the passing of Issac Asimov.  The hurt will continue
for some time, I'm afraid.  The original three books of his "Foundation
Trilogy"  were among the most influential readings of my childhood.  He
is, in some large part, why I became a social historian.    

On his renowned ability to produce, what percentage of his approximately
500 books were original monographs or novels and not edited collections
of other people's writing?   His career spanned 54 years, which averages
out to almost 11 books per year---truly an amazing figure!  How did he
do this? Thanks.





---john     
J.B. Thomas           
jt29+@andrew.cmu.edu