Galactic Empire series

## Genre Information

Science Fiction
Colonization

Paranormal Romance
xxxxx

 (Series Content Ratings Click on Explicit Ratings for details.)

## About the Series

* **Genres:** Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Cozy
* **Theme:**
* **Narrative style:**

## Series Description

The Galactic Empire series (also called the Empire novels or trilogy) is a science fiction sequence of three of Isaac Asimov's earliest novels, and extended by one short story. They are connected by their early place in his published works and chronological placement within his overarching Foundation Universe, set around the rise of Asimov's Galactic Empire, between the Robot and Foundation series to which they were linked in Asimov's later novels.

## Books in order

In order of internal chronology the *Empire* series consists of:

* The Stars, Like Dust (Galactic Empire Book 1) (1951)
* The Currents of Space (Galactic Empire Book 2) (1952)
* Pebble in the Sky (Galactic Empire Book 3) (1950), his first novel

### Shorts

* "Blind Alley" (1945), a short story also set between the *Robot* and *Foundation* series

(However, Asimov erroneously stated in 1988 in the "Author's Note" to *Prelude to Foundation* that book #6 was "The Currents of Space" (1952), and that this was "the first of my Empire novels," and that book #7 was "The Stars, Like Dust" (1951), which was "[the] second Empire novel.")

### Publication history

The three *Empire* books, first published between 1950 and 1952, are Asimov's three earliest novels published in his own name (*David Starr, Space Ranger* was published before *The Currents of Space*, but had been published under his pen name "Paul French", and the *Foundation* books were collections of linked short stories rather than continuous novels).

## World Building

### World

These stories are set in the same future as the Foundation series, which had appeared in magazines starting in 1942. The tie is not close, and they are only loosely connected to each other, each being a complete tale in its own right. Their main common points are Asimov's idea of a future Galactic Empire, certain aspects of technology — hyperdrive, blaster pistols, "neuronic whips", the possible invention of the "Visi-Sonor" — and particular locations, such as the planet Trantor. Another connection was later established with *Robots and Empire,* where Asimov revealed how Earth became radioactive, as mentioned in all three novels. Some sources further this argument by asserting that *The Stars, Like Dust* takes place about one thousand years following the events of *Robots and Empire*. Also, the calendar used on spaceships in *The Stars, Like Dust* is the same that the Spacers introduce Lije Baley to in *The Robots of Dawn*.

The short story "Blind Alley" is the only story set in the Foundation universe to feature intelligence not of human origin; *Foundation and Earth* features non-human intelligences (of Solaria and Gaia), but they are descended from or created by humans.

Asimov later integrated them into his all-engulfing Foundation series. Some contortion was required to explain how the robots of the Robot series are almost completely absent from the Galactic Empire novels. In reality, this is because Asimov wrote the original Robot and Foundation short stories as separate series.

## Book Descriptions

The Stars, Like Dust (Galactic Empire Book 1) (1951)
His name was Biron Farrill and he was a student at the University of Earth. A native of one of the helpless Nebular Kingdoms, he saw his home world conquered and controlled by the planet Tyrann—a ruthless, barbaric Empire that was building a dynasty of cruelty and domination among the stars.
Farrill’s own father had been executed for trying to resist the Tyrann dictatorship and now someone was trying to kill Biron. But why?
His only hope for survival lay in fleeing Earth and joining the rebellion that was rumored to be forming somewhere in the Kingdoms. But once he cast his lot with the freedom fighters, he would find himself guarding against treachery on every side and facing the most difficult choice of all: to betray either the woman he loved or the revolution that was the last hope for the future.
The Currents of Space (Galactic Empire Book 2) (1952)
Trantor had extended its rule over half the Galaxy, but the other half defied its authority, defending their corrupt fiefdoms with violence and repression. On the planet Florina, the natives labored as slaves for their arrogant masters on nearby Sark. But now both worlds were hurtling toward a cataclysmic doom, and only one man knew the truth--a slave unaware of the secret knowledge locked inside his own brain.
Rik had once been a prominent scientist until a psychic probe erased all memories of his past. Now he was a humble laborer in the kyrt mills of Florina. Then the memories began to return, bringing with them the terrible truth about the future--a truth that his masters on Sark would kill to keep secret . . . even at the cost of their own survival.
Pebble in the Sky (Galactic Empire Book 3) (1950)
After years of bitter struggle, Trantor had at last completed its work—its Galactic Empire ruled all 200 million planets of the Galaxy . . . all but one. On a backward planet called Earth were those who nurtured bitter dreams of a mythical, half-remembered past when the planet was humanity’s only home. The other worlds despised it or merely patronized it—until a man from the past miraculously stepped through a time fault that spanned a millennium, living proof of Earth’s most preposterous claims.
Joseph Schwartz was a happily retired Chicago tailor circa 1949. Trapped in an incredible future he could barely comprehend, the unlikely time traveler would soon become a pawn in a desperate conspiracy to bring down the Empire in a twist of agony and death—a mad plan to restore Earth’s tarnished glory by ending human life on every other world.
## References

1. ↑ [[wikipedia:Galactic\_Empire\_(series)|Galactic\_Empire\_ series Wikipedia]