Nightfall and Other Stories

First edition, published by Doubleday. Cover art by Amelia S. Edwards.^[1]

Nightfall and Other Stories (1969) is a collection of 20 previously published science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov. Asimov added a brief introduction to each story, explaining some aspect of the story's history and/or how it came to be written.

Background[]

In the introduction for the title story, "Nightfall," Asimov explained that although pleased by the praise it had received, he disliked "being told, over and over again" that a story he had written at the age of 21 was his best. Asimov hoped that the collection would prove that "sheer practice [had] made me more proficient, technically, with each year". He chose successful stories not included before in any anthologies edited by Asimov himself.^[2]

Contents[]

• "Nightfall" (first published in September 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction), novelette
• "Green Patches" (first published in November 1950 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction as "Misbegotten Missionary")
• "Hostess" (first published in May 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction), novelette
• "Breeds There a Man...?" (first published in June 1951 issue of Astounding Science Fiction), novelette
• "C-Chute" (first published in October 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction), novelette
• "In a Good Cause—" (first published in New Tales of Space and Time, 1951), novelette
• "What If—" (first published in Summer 1952 issue of Fantastic)
• "Sally" (first published in May/June 1953 issue of Fantastic), Robots series
• "Flies" (first published in June 1953 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
• "Nobody Here But—" (first published in Star Science Fiction Stories, 1953)
• "It's Such a Beautiful Day" (first published in Star Science Fiction Stories #3, 1955), novelette
• "Strikebreaker" (first published in January 1957 issue of The Original Science Fiction Stories as "Male Strikebreaker")
• "Insert Knob A in Hole B" (first published in December 1957 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
• "The Up-to-Date Sorcerer" (first published in July 1958 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
• "Unto the Fourth Generation" (first published in April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
• "What Is This Thing Called Love?" (first published in March 1961 issue of Amazing Stories as "Playboy and the Slime God")
• "The Machine That Won the War" (first published in October 1961 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction), Multivac series
• "My Son, the Physicist" (first published in February 1962 issue of Scientific American), Multivac series
• "Eyes Do More Than See" (first published in April 1965 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
• "Segregationist" (first published in Book 4 of , 1967), Robots series

References[]

External links[]

• Nightfall and Other Stories title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Nightfall and Other Stories at Open Library