Stories and essays from 1978,79,81-85,91-95. The book is divided into three sections. Part one is “The Final Stories” and contains fifteen of them. Part two is “On Science Fiction” with eighteen essays and part three is “On Writing Science Fiction” with twenty essays. Favorite stories:
“Cal” (1990) – Cal is a robot owned by a writer. He decided that he also wants to be a writer. Cal is upgraded and turns out two awful stories. Then he’s upgraded again and out comes “Perfectly Formal.”
“The Instability” (1989) – A scientist puts the universe in stasis so he and a friend can travel far into the future. The experiment works,. Now they have to come back.
“Alexander The God” (1995) – A teenager wants to own the world and become Alexander The God. He builds a supercomputer. He gives himself twelve years to accomplish his goal.
“Feghoot And The Courts” (1995) – a short short that ends with one of Asimov’s outrageous puns.
“Fault-Intolerant” (1990) – A writer finally gives up his typewriter for a word processor. It’s not an easy transition.
Vintage45's Blog 