The Best of Isaac Asimov 1939-1 - Isaac Asimov, ebook, Temp
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Copyright ©, 1979, by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg.
All Rights Reserved.
Cover design by Jack Gaughan.
Complete list of copyright acknowledgments for the contents will be found on the following pages.
FIRST PRINTING, MARCH 1979
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DAW
PRINTED IN CANADA COVER PRINTED IN U.S.A.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
BLACK DESTROYER by A.E. van Vogt. Copyright 1939 by Street & Smith, Inc., 1967 © by Conde
Nast Publications, Inc. By permission of the author's agent, Forrest J. Acker-man.
HEAVY PLANET by Milton A. Rothman. First published under the by-line of Lee Gregor. Copyright
1939 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. By permission of the author.
THE STRANGE FLIGHT OF RICHARD CLAYTON by Robert Bloch. Copyright 1939 by Robert
Bloch. By permis-sion of the author and the author's agent, Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc.
TROUBLE WITH WATER by H.L. Gold. Copyright 1939 by Street & Smith, Inc., 1967 © by Conde
Nast Publications, Inc. By permission of the author's agent, Forrest J. Acker-man.
THE FOUR-SIDED TRIANGLE by William F. Temple. Copyright 1939 by Ziff-Davis Publications,
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 1967 by Ulti-mate Publishing Co., Inc. By permission of the author's agent, Forrest J. Ackerman.
THE CLOAK OF AESIR by Don A. Stuart (John W. Campbell, Jr.). Copyright 1939 by Street &
Smith, Inc., © 1967 by Conde Nast Publications, Inc. By permission of the Scott Meredith Literary
Agency, Inc.
PILGRIMAGE by Nelson Bond. Copyright 1939, 1945, 1949 by Nelson Bond. By permission of the
author.
GREATER THAN GODS by C.L. Moore. Copyright 1939 by Street & Smith, Inc., © 1975 by C.L.
Moore. By permission of Harold Matson Company, Inc., agents for the author.
THE GNARLY MAN by L. Sprague de Camp. Copyright 1939 by Street & Smith, Inc., © 1966 by
L. Sprague de Camp. By permission of the author.
THE BLUE GIRAFFE by L. Sprague de Camp. Copyright 1939 by Street & Smith, Inc., © 1967 by
L. Sprague de Camp. By permission of the author.
I, ROBOT by Eando Binder. Copyright 1938 by the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. By permission of
the author's agent.
RUST by Joseph E. Kelleam. Copyright 19.39 by Street & Smith, Inc., © 1967 by Conde Nast
Publications, Inc.
THE ULTIMATE CATALYST by John Taine (Eric Temple Bell). Copyright 1939 and 1949 by Better
Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of John Taine.
LIFE-LINE by Robert A. Heinlein; MISFIT by Robert A. Heinlein. Copyright 1939 by Street & Smith,
Inc.; renewed © 1967 by Robert A. Heinlein. Reprinted by permission of Lurton Blassingame, author's
agent.
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 ETHER BREATHER` by Theodore Sturgeon. Copyright 1939 by Street & Smith, Inc., © 1967 by
Theodore Sturgeon. Reprinted by permission of the author's agent, Kirby Mc-Cauley.
THE MISGUIDED HALO by Henry Kuttner. Copyright 1939 by Street & Smith, Inc., renewed ©
1975 by Catherine Moore Kuttner, Executrix for the Estate of Henry Kuttner. Reprinted by permission
of the Harold Matson Company, Inc.
TRENDS by Isaac Asimov. Copyright 1939 by Street & Smith, Inc., © 1966 by Isaac Asimov. By
permission of the author.
STAR BRIGHT by Jack Williamson. Copyright 1939 by Popular Publications, Inc. Reprinted by
permission of the author's agents, Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc.
THE DAY IS DONE by Lester Del Rey. Copyright by Street & Smith, Inc., © 1967 by Conde Nast
Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
I, ROBOT Eando Binder
THE STRANGE FLIGHT OF RICHARD CLAYTON Robert Bloch
TROUBLE WITH WATER H. L. Gold
CLOAK OF AESIR Don A. Stuart
THE DAY IS DONE Lester Del Rey
THE ULTIMATE CATALYST John Taine
THE GNARLY MAN L. Sprague De Camp
BLACK DESTROYER A. E. Van Vogt
GREATER THAN GODS C. L. Moore
TRENDS Isaac Asimov
THE BLUE GIRAFFE L. Sprague De Camp
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 THE MISGUIDED HALO Henry Kuttner
HEAVY PLANET Milton A. Rothman
LIFE-LINE Robert A. Heinlein
ETHER BREATHER Theodore Sturgeon
PILGRIMAGE Nelson Bond
RUST Joseph E. Kelleam
THE FOUR-SIDED TRIANGLE William F. Temple
STAR BRIGHT Jack Williamson
MISFIT Robert A. Heinlein
Introduction
In the world outside reality, it was a very bad year indeed. On March 28 Madrid fell to the forces of
Francisco Franco, ending the Spanish Civil War. On April 15, President Roose-velt sought assurances
from Hitler and Mussolini that they would not attack a long list of nation states (they said they would
consider the request). On May 4 Vyacheslav Molotov (not yet named for the cocktail) replaced Maxim
Litvinov as Soviet Foreign Minister, paving the way for the Hitler-Stalin Pact a few months later. On May
22 Hitler and Mussolini signed the "Pact of Steel."
On September 1 Germany grew tired of conquering without war and invaded Poland. On the 3rd Britain
and France reluctantly declared war on the Third Reich. On September 17 the U.S.S.R. invaded Poland
from the East—by Septem-ber 30 Germany and the Soviet Union had agreed on the partition of Poland
between them, and Hitler's master plan had passed another hurdle triumphantly.
On October 10 the deportation of Polish Jews to "reserves" began, and the Soviet Union invaded
Finland on November 30, while Great Britain and France maintained a firm inactiv-ity and the United
States pretended it was on another planet.
During 1939 D.D.T. was invented. Pan American began "Clipper" flights between the United States and
Europe. John Dewey's CULTURE AND FREEDOM was published. Texas A. & M. was the National
Collegiate Football Champion. Pi-casso painted "Night Fishing at Antibes." The record for the mile run
was still the 4:06.4 set in 1937 by Sydney Wooder-son of Great Britain. "Grandma" Moses became
famous. Bobby Riggs became the USTA Champion by defeating S. Welby Van Horn (Billy Jean King
was not yet born). Jacob Epstein created "Adam" out of marble. Alice Marble was the National
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 Women's Singles Champion. William Walton wrote his Violin Concerto. Byron Nelson won the U. S.
Open. Robert Graves published THE LONG WEEKEND. Ralph Guldahi won the Masters
Tournament. John Steinbeck pubIished THE GRAPES OF WRATH. Johnstown won the Ken-tucky
Derby. THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart made it big on
Broadway, as did William Saroyan's THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE. Oregon won the NCAA Basketball
Championship. GONE WITH THE WIND and GOODBYE MR. CHIPS were the movies of the year.
Joe DiMaggio led the majors with a .381 average before he turned to selling coffee-makers. "Roll Out
the Barrel," the prophetic "The Last Time I Saw Paris," and "Hang Out the Washing on the Siegfreid
Line" were hit songs. New York defeated Cincinnati four games to none to take the World Series. Joe
Louis beat a bunch of turkeys to retain his heavyweight boxing championship.
And the distant knell of doom went unheard as in Ger-many Hahn and Strasseman discovered uranium
fission, Lise Meitner in Sweden let the cat out of the bag, and Niels Bohr carried the news to the United
States.
Death took Zane Grey, William Butler Yeats, Ford Mad-dox Ford, and the recently exiled Sigmund
Freud.
Mel Brooks was still Melvin Kaminsky.
But in the real world it was a very good and important year.
In the real world the very first World Science Fiction Con-vention was held in New York as Sam
Moskowitz and Don Wollheim fought for control of The Movement. In the real world UNKNOWN was
published as a fantasy companion to ASTOUNDING: STARTLING STORIES; SCIENCE
FIC-TION; FANTASTIC ADVENTURES; FUTURE FIC-TION; FAMOUS FANTASIC
MYSTERIES; and PLANET STORIES all saw the light of day for the first time.
In the real world, John Campbell spent his first full year as editor of ASTOUNDING and the "Golden
Age" was born with a flurry of writers Campbell was either to conceive or develop. Important people
made their maiden flights into re-ality: in March—Isaac Asimov with MAROONED OFF VESTA; in
April—Alfred Bester with THE BROKEN AXIOM; in July—A. E. van Vogt with BLACK
DESTROYER in August—Robert A. Heinlein with LIFE LINE and Fritz Leiber with TWO SOUGHT
ADVENTURE; and in Septem-ber—Theodore Sturgeon with ETHER BREATHER.
More wondrous things occurred in the real world: SINISTER BARRIER by Eric Frank Russell and
LEST DARKNESS FALL by L. Sprague de Camp were published in UNKNOWN. ONE AGAINST
THE LEGION by Jack Williamson and GREY LENSMAN by Doc Smith were seri-alized in
ASTOUNDING (the last installment of the latter appearing in 1940). WAR WITH THE NEWTS by
Karel Capek and THE OUTSIDER AND OTHERS by H. P. Lovecraft appeared in hard covers, as did
the late Stanley Weinbaum's THE NEW ADAM.
The New York World's Fair influenced a generation of New York (and a few others) sf fans, editors,
and writers--to-be. HARPER'S published an attack on science fiction—"Doom Beyond Jupiter" by one
Bernard De Voto—no one cared.
And distant wings were beating as Barry N. Malzberg, Michael Moorcock, and Peter Nicholls were
born (the last to a critical reception).
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