Stars End: A Foundation Podcast

We conclude our coverage of The Stars Like Dust ―, with chapters 15 through 22. That corresponds to part 3 of Tyrann as published in The March 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.

"We the People… Do Ordain and Establish this Podcast."

As we rejoin our heroes The USS Enterprise, trailer firmly attached by tractor beam, is approaching planet Omega 4. There they find the derelict USS Exeter in orbit. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and...

And now we settle in for the second part of the Good Doctor's second novel! Join us as we dust The Stars, Like Dust— with commentary like powdered sugar on a doughnut! Let's chat about chapters nine through fourteen!

"The Podcast Was Located in a Little Niche Just Outside the Cabin"

If this novel had been feeling a little non-Asenion for your tastes, this installment might be for you! If you love Golan Treveze or the version of Har...

d novel! Join us for The Stars, Like Dust—! In this episode, we sift through chapters one through eight.

The Stars, Like Dust is book #003 in the Asimov canon. That's a little misleading. Book #002 I, Robot is a fix-up; most of it had been written years before. This was the second time the Good Doctor sat down to write a book and he intended to write a Novel with a capital "N." He wasn't having a good time of it. ...

We encounter the back cover of the Good Doctor's first actual book as we wrap up The Pebble in the Sky with chapters 14 through 22.

If you've been around for a while you probably remember our discussions of the "Great Man Theory of History" vs the "Bottom-Up" paradigm. In other words, do remarkable individuals with unique characteristics write history or is it driven by powerful historical forces that g...

Here's your chance to join the discussion about Pebble in the Sky, Chapters 7 through 13! Also, we'll open up the Stars End Mailbag and talk about Star Trek: Discovery!

A lot of us who are past the point where we would be culled by the 60 take supplements to, theoretically, help improve our memory. Just the other day I couldn't remember the title of the Star Trek episode "Return to Tomorrow." That was no ...

We begin our conversation about Pebble in the Sky with Chapters 1 through 6.

Isaac Asimov is famously prolific; if you know one thing about the Great and Glorious Az it might be that he wrote more than 500 books. Asimov-Reviews.net puts the number at 514 counting the Good Doctor's dissertation. Asimov.Fandom.com puts the number at a much more modest 506.

Why is this relevant? Well, Pebble in the Sky is Asimov Book #00...

In which we talk about "Cal" and "The Fun They Had" with special guest Rachel from the Menuscript Podcast.

"Cal" has been called "the last great Asimov short story" and it looks like it's his very last robot story. Cal is a robot who learns how to write ficton and over the course of the story becomes an odd sort of Asimov avatar.

"The Fun They Had," is one of the Great...

We finish our discussion of Foundation and Earth with Part VII: Earth. That includes chapters 19 — "Radioactive?" 20 — "The Nearby World," and 21 — "The Search Ends."

I haven't bothered with spoiler alerts for a while. This time, though, if you haven't finished the novel and don't want to be spoilered, seriously, don't look even at the link below.

And speaking of things we do...

Here we go again! Let's talk about Foundation and Earth, Part VI: Alpha!

If you like...

complex calculations in a cross between archeology and astronavigation, agrarian societies that nonetheless have advanced weather control and bioengineering, and telekinetic performances on woodwind instruments then chapters 16, 17, and 18 are bananas!

Also, Trevize gets lucky and is it just me or is he getting too much stuff ...

We're back and we're diving back into Foundation and Earth! This time we're discussing chapters 13, 14, and 15 or, if you prefer, Part V: Melpomenia. This is all of Part V and nothing but Part V.

In this section, we bid a not-so-fond farewell to Solaria as our little trio becomes a quartet with the addition of Fallom. We travel to the third and final Spacer world for which we have coordinates. What do we learn on...

Join the conversation as we discuss Foundation and Earth chapters 10, 11, and 12 which is to say, the entirety of Part IV: Solaria.

I began our description of S3E18, with "You know what? Solaria is weird."

And here we are again on Solaria. It's been twelve millennia and in the meantime, they've really leaned into the weirdness. The Solarians have been busy genetically engineering themselves into the quintessentia...

In this episode, we talk about Chapters 7, 8, and 9 of Foundation and Earth, "Leaving Comporellon," "Forbidden World," and "Facing the Pack."

I've largely stopped bothering with the spoiler warnings, but I'm going to spoiler enough in this episode description to warrant one. If you want to discover things as you read and you haven't read these chapters yet, you know what to do.

Tau Ceti is ...

We talk about chapters 4 to 6 of Foundation and Earth.

There's almost a framing sequence for this part of Foundation and Earth, "On Comporellon," "Struggle for the Ship," and "The Nature of Earth." At the outset, Trevize had bulldozed his way onto Comporellon by implying that Bliss and Pelorat are involved in illicit activities that can't be allowed to get back to the wife Pelorat does not hav...

We're diving into Foundation and Earth with Chapters 1 through 3.

The story so far:

When last we checked in, Golan Trevize had deduced that the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of Life, The Interregnum, and Everything was "Galaxia" and not "The Seldon Plan" or "42" as we had previously been led to believe.

But still, he has his doubts. Like a proper mathematics student, he's uncom...

It's our final podcast on Foundation's Edge as we discuss chapters 17 to 20!

My Mom, an unabashed fan of Joseph Campbell, frequently counseled me to "find my bliss." I think I've done pretty well.

Collectively, though, we may have found our Bliss as we reach the closing chapters of our novel, "Gaia," "Collision," "Decision," and "Conclusion." Our heroes have ...

We talk about chapters 13 through 16 of Foundation's Edge.

We're finally up to the episode where we reveal that Apple TV's Foundation has been renewed for season 3! Not exactly ripped from the headlines.

Also, the Great and Glorious Az wants us to know that, like spaceships, other planets have their own distinctive odors.

⁠It's true!⁠ Captain Kirk could have faced the Gorn on the Moon as astronauts tell us that moon...

Dateline – Terminus:

It's sweet that you guys noticed that we hadn't commented on the news about Apple TV's Foundation being renewed for Season 3!

But that isn't exactly what happened; we did, in fact, talk about it on S5E04. Unfortunately, we've all been super busy and the post-production train has a metaphorical Bishop's Claw on the tracks. Believe me, you don't want to mess with one of those. That ep...

In which we discuss chapters 9 through 12 of Foundation's Edge.

Thanks to Avengers: Endgame lots of people know what the end of a chess game is called. This section of Foundation's Edge which includes the chapters "Hyperspace," "Table," "Sayshell," and "Agent" is much more like the beginning of a chess game, which is called the "opening." That's not nearly as evocative a...

In S5E02 we talk about chapters 5 through 8 of Foundation's Edge.

We're about 40% of the way into the book now and we're still introducing characters!

This section introduces us to the Second Foundation including Stor Gendibal, Delora Delarmi, and First Speaker Quindor Shandass, and shows us that the Speakers' Table is a raucous affair. We also meet Sura Novi, a Trantorian farm woman who becomes important to Gendiba...