posted
The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov, is one of the seminal classics of science fiction literature. In the eighties, Asimov wrote two sequel novels to the trilogy, "Foundation's Edge" and "Foundation and Earth". "Earth" ended without significant resolution of many plot lines. Asimov then wrote two more novels, "Prelude to Foundation" and "Forward the Foundation", both prequels to the original trilogy. After Asimov's death, his wife commissioned Benford, Bear and Brin to write the Second Trilogy, which were also prequels. It has been 23 years since "Foundation and Earth" was published, and there has yet to be any resolution to the story.
Several years ago, I decided to try my hand at writing a sequel to "Foundation and Earth" that would advance or wrap up existing plot threads, both those from Asimov's work and from the Second Trilogy. I reread through the series, making notes of things that were worthy of further exploration. I decided to try to simplify things, instead of making them more complex. I have added no significant characters that did not previously exist in the series, and all events grow directly out of events in previous books. I believe I have developed a story that holds true to many Asimov themes, provides resolution to several threads, advances several others, and generally sets a clearer way forward for the series as a whole.
I've been working on this book off and on for about five years now, and it is finally nearing completion. The book as it stands is approximately 55,000 words long; this is, by most estimates about 220 pages in paperback. I've edited most of the book for style and consistency, and am pretty happy with the result. I need to rewrite the prologue and the end of one chapter, and I'll be ready to distribute the book to a small group of readers for feedback.
After the closed beta stage, I will incorporate the best suggestions, and then submit my book to agents and publishers. I realize there will likely be complications with the fact that this is a sequel to an established series. Normally that kind of thing goes to someone who's, y'know, had something published before. ("A Memory of Light" and "And Another Thing..." come to mind.) Legal issues may arise. But under any circumstances, whether by Tor or by Lulu, I will see to it that I have this book, bound in hardback, on my shelf, and I want it to be as good as it can be when that happens.
I'm looking for two things. First, is anyone interested in reading this book and giving me feedback? I'm looking for a range of people. Those who are deeply familiar with Foundation, those who are passingly familiar, unfamiliar genre fans, genre virgins, anyone interested will do. So long as you agree not to distribute the book without my permission, I'll consider including you. The audience will be limited, though, so if you're interested, speak now.
Second, does anyone have any feedback on the potential difficulty of getting a book like this published? I haven't any clue.
posted
Well, you'll definitely have to go through the copyright holders- the same people that published that trilogy to do exactly what you propose (I think).
I only know that David Brin wrote one and Greg Bear another....no idea who wrote the third.
You could easily write a good novel placed during the aftermath of the Mule's eventual death- and whatever legacy the Mule might have laid plans for (as he could not have a dynasty through lineage).
I always thought that was a big gap in the narrative.
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posted
The Second Trilogy was written by Benford, Bear and Brin. Benford's was eminently skippable, so you future readers, just disregard "Foundation's Fear", but the other two are worth reading.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
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WizArtist II
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posted
I actually found Brin's to be the "George Harrison" of the group. IIRC he introduced the 'pans' and from that point I had a difficult time disassociating the Uplift novels from the back of my mind.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
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You could easily write a good novel placed during the aftermath of the Mule's eventual death- and whatever legacy the Mule might have laid plans for (as he could not have a dynasty through lineage).
I always thought that was a big gap in the narrative.
IIRC, the Mule did have a successor. There was this one guy who tried to assasinate the Mule, but was thwarted and brainwashed by him. I believe in the third book of the trilogy, they mention him as the ruler of the Mule's crumbling empire after the Mule's death.
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posted
I for one was pretty satisfied with the ending we got so far, with the main character looking hopefully ahead at the future living Milky Way galaxy organism (Galactium, was it?), but showing distrust towards the hermaphrodite orphan and fearing it would be the vanguard of the future Enemy.
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posted
Galaxia it was called, though there's was always a hint that even that wasn't the ultimate answer for humanity.
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posted
That ending always struck me a somewhat wishy-washy. Better that humanity re-invent itself than to simeply accept a role as part of some eventual "Galaxia".
Also, Galaxia was a video game and so anything with that name might as well be called "Dig-Dug".
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Asimov did intend to continue the story, so he definitely considered it unresolved. He just had no idea how to. It's only the Second Trilogy, written and published after his death, that makes the direction I take things clear.
I've gotten a couple partial reviews thus far from people who seem to like my style, if nothing else. The general consensus is that the Asimov estate will almost certainly not give a damn about my book. If I can be reasonably certain that that is the case, I will post it online, get one printed for my bookshelf, and call it a day.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I'm up for reading it - I likely read the original books before you were born!
I did discover somewhere another fan-made sequel, published on a blog, which seemed to be an ongoing thing. It seemed to basically be a stand-alone adventure featuring Golan Trevize on Comporellon, with little reference to the Galaxia proposal as it was left at the end of F&E.
posted
I've seen that, I think it's also posted at fanfiction.net, though it may be another story entirely. It's easily the longest fanfic I've seen, at 20,000 words, but the style made it hard for me to stick with it. Maybe I should try again some time, just for comparison purposes.
Thanks for your offer to read my book, I've sent a copy to your gmail account.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Got it! Just so long as you don't expect too much from my limited skills of literary criticism.
I was thinking about this last night, I seem to remember reading that Asimov had no idea where to go next after F&E. Because really his resolution to that novel does render a lot of the preceding Foundation series irrelevant. Those passages from the Encyclopaedia Galactica that are often quoted at the start of indivdual stories, dated after the thousand-year Interregnum, will probably never be written.
posted
The Second Trilogy addresses that to some degree. There's a cute little scene towards the end where Hari Seldon and Daneel Olivaw are discussing Daneel's plans. Hari makes a bet that humanity will still be using books in a thousand years, because Galaxia won't be dominant like Daneel expects. Very thinly veiled reference to those encyclopedia entries.
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