What do you think?
Rate this book
Cosmic Critiques: How & Why Ten Science Fiction Stories Work
Gathers ten science fiction stories and explains why each story is successful
197 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1990
2 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,339 books27.7k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 30, 2019
Cosmic Critiques is the first "how to write" book I had real, recognizable problems with. Go no further, I do not repeat do not recommend this book to people wanting to learn the craft of writing.
However, this book is a gem if you're a literary historian; the included stories were all written when science fiction was undergoing a major transition from authors schooled in literature to authors schooled in technology.
My first problem was that none of the stories worked (my opinion). They were all droll, trite, rather meaningless, uneventful, unengaging, and blow-offs. Some, if I remember correctly, were praised in their day.
That brings us to problem 2; these stories are very much of their time (1950s-1980s). Wells, Verne, Burroughs, and Baum’s stories endure because the stories are about people doing things and the human condition endures. Stories written in the 1950s-1980s tended to be about people dealing with technology doing things and any story with technology as its focus can’t t endure (except, as noted, with historians, anthropologists, any and all folk interested in time periods, not literature).
Specific to Cosmic Critiques, the earlier included stories signaled the move from interesting character driven stories to temporally interesting gadget stories. The United States had become the technology giant of the world and popular culture - which science fiction is a part of - followed suit.
The most interesting part of the book (to me) Is contained in a paragraph of Isaac Asimov's introduction.
I've written more on my blog.
However, this book is a gem if you're a literary historian; the included stories were all written when science fiction was undergoing a major transition from authors schooled in literature to authors schooled in technology.
My first problem was that none of the stories worked (my opinion). They were all droll, trite, rather meaningless, uneventful, unengaging, and blow-offs. Some, if I remember correctly, were praised in their day.
That brings us to problem 2; these stories are very much of their time (1950s-1980s). Wells, Verne, Burroughs, and Baum’s stories endure because the stories are about people doing things and the human condition endures. Stories written in the 1950s-1980s tended to be about people dealing with technology doing things and any story with technology as its focus can’t t endure (except, as noted, with historians, anthropologists, any and all folk interested in time periods, not literature).
Specific to Cosmic Critiques, the earlier included stories signaled the move from interesting character driven stories to temporally interesting gadget stories. The United States had become the technology giant of the world and popular culture - which science fiction is a part of - followed suit.
The most interesting part of the book (to me) Is contained in a paragraph of Isaac Asimov's introduction.
I've written more on my blog.
November 2, 2018
This book could be useful to an aspiring Science Fiction writer. It starts out with Asimov's essay "Advice" where he advises writers to read the best works in the genre, critically, and see how their authors work their craft to deliver solid stories. That is the premise of this collection.
The critiques are short, but illuminating. Unfortunately, they all to frequently show how to achieve effects that are not interesting to the modern reader.
Only four stories in this collection that have stood the test of time. Larry Niven's "Neutron Star," Pat Cadigan's "Rock On," Asimov's own "The Last Question," and Norman Spinrad's "Carcinoma Angels." The other stories are painful to read. They are not bad stories, not very bad anyway, but they were mostly written in the 1950's and the field has moved on.
The critique of "The Silk and the Song" explains how the elements of the story are combined to appeal to adolescent boys, the largest demographic of SF readers in 1956, when the story was first published.
In the critique of "Neutron Star," the commentary reads, "This is a hard-science story, but wonderfully humanized." That, I think, is the difference between the four stories I commend and the others in this collection. Back in the '50s a clever idea, well-executed, could be well-received. Today readers--this reader, anyway--are looking for three-dimensional characters that the reader can relate to.
Note that even though Asimov gets top billing, Martin Greenberg was a co-author.
The critiques are short, but illuminating. Unfortunately, they all to frequently show how to achieve effects that are not interesting to the modern reader.
Only four stories in this collection that have stood the test of time. Larry Niven's "Neutron Star," Pat Cadigan's "Rock On," Asimov's own "The Last Question," and Norman Spinrad's "Carcinoma Angels." The other stories are painful to read. They are not bad stories, not very bad anyway, but they were mostly written in the 1950's and the field has moved on.
The critique of "The Silk and the Song" explains how the elements of the story are combined to appeal to adolescent boys, the largest demographic of SF readers in 1956, when the story was first published.
In the critique of "Neutron Star," the commentary reads, "This is a hard-science story, but wonderfully humanized." That, I think, is the difference between the four stories I commend and the others in this collection. Back in the '50s a clever idea, well-executed, could be well-received. Today readers--this reader, anyway--are looking for three-dimensional characters that the reader can relate to.
Note that even though Asimov gets top billing, Martin Greenberg was a co-author.
June 27, 2007
Imagine, a Writer’s Digest book that doesn’t suck! No wonder it’s out of print. Asimov and Greenberg present ten short science fiction tales, each of which is followed by Ansen Dibell’s explicit examples of what makes each succeed as fiction. While not every story included is a classic, all are memorable, excellent illustrations of Dibell’s points. Stand-outs are “Transstar” by Raymond E. Banks, “Billenium,” by J.G. Ballard, “The Last Question,” by Isaac Asimov, “Dial F for Frankenstein,” by Arthur C. Clarke, and “Carcinoma Angels,” by Norman Spinrad.
April 2, 2019
This made such an impact on me when I was first learning how to write SF - great stuff! Some of the work feels a little dated now, and I'd write some of the analysis differently today, but beginning writers can't go wrong giving it a read.
March 12, 2012
Interesting stuff. Not always applicable though. Great selection of stories.
January 18, 2013
Asimov's comments were excellent, but most of the stories were not at all to my taste.
June 7, 2016
The stories are a bit dated but Asimov's detailed analysis of why the story works was wonderful
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews