First Galactic Empire

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Lore & Background

These stories share a setting defined by the future Galactic Empire, featuring technology like hyperdrive, blaster pistols, "neuronic whips," and the potential invention of the "Visi-Sonor." A recurring location is the planet Trantor. The short story "Blind Alley" holds a unique place as the only Foundation-universe tale to feature non-human intelligence; other stories like Foundation and Earth include non-humans descended from or created by humanity, such as those on Solaria or Gaia. Later works like Robots and Empire established how Earth became radioactive, a detail referenced in all three novels. Some sources suggest The Stars, Like Dust occurs roughly one thousand years after Robots and Empire, utilizing the same calendar introduced to Lije Baley in The Robots of Dawn.

In Their Own Story

"Blind Alley" was written in 1944, accepted by John W. Campbell, and published in Astounding Science Fiction in March 1945. It was reprinted first in Groff Conklin's The Best of Science Fiction, then included in The Early Asimov (1972), The Asimov Chronicles (1989), and volume 2 of The Complete Stories (1992). The novel Pebble in the Sky began as a forty-thousand-word short story titled "Grow Old with Me," written in summer 1947 for Startling Stories. It was rejected by editor Sam Merwin, Jr. and John W. Campbell for being too science-heavy rather than adventurous. In 1949, Walter I. Bradbury of Doubleday accepted it on the condition it be expanded to seventy thousand words and retitled after Robert Browning's Rabbi ben Ezra lines: "Grow old along with me! / The best is yet to be..." It was published in January 1950.

Reader's Guide

The three novels were first published between 1950 and 1952, marking Asimov's earliest works under his own name. David Starr, Space Ranger preceded them but used the pen name "Paul French," while Foundation books were short story collections. The Stars, Like Dust was serialized as Tyrann in Galaxy Science Fiction (Jan–Mar 1951) and published by Doubleday later that year. Its first paperback edition by Ace Books retitled it The Rebellious Stars without Asimov's consent. The Currents of Space was serialized in Astounding Science Fiction (Oct–Dec 1952). Post-1952, the novels appeared in an omnibus called Triangle and later as The Empire Novels in 2002 by the Science Fiction Book Club. In 1986, Ballantine Books released them as "Galactic Empire Novel[s]," followed by a 1992 Spectra edition titled "The Empire Novels." A 2010 Orb Books edition paired them with The End of Eternity.

Did You Know?

• Asimov stated in 1988 that The Currents of Space (1952) was his first Empire novel, despite it being published after Pebble in the Sky.
• The title 'Pebble in the Sky' was adapted from Robert Browning's poem Rabbi ben Ezra, with the original draft titled 'Grow Old with Me'.
• The short story 'Blind Alley' is the only story in the Foundation universe to feature intelligence not of human origin.
• Ace Books retitled The Stars, Like Dust as 'The Rebellious Stars' for a paperback edition without Asimov's consent.