Hugo Award for Best Novel, 1983
Once upon a time there was an entity known as the Science Fiction Book Club. I discovered it while in high school, much to the horror of my parents, who were already alarmed at the way I turned whatever money I earned into a growing collection of books. (They wanted me to grow up as a responsible, practical man. Which, by their definition of such things, I never did.) In those far-off days (the 1970s), the SFBC advertised itself on the back of magazines such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact, a publication I picked up at the drugstore newsstand every chance I had. That advertisement offered a selection of books for a small fee: a dollar would give you your choice of any four. I took the bait, made my choices, and sent them the dollar.
Those four Book Club editions still sit in one of our bookcases to this day: The Hugo Winners, Vol. 1 & 2 edited by Isaac Asimov, Dune by Frank Herbert, The Dragon Riders of Pern by Anne MacCaffrey, and The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov. Hardcover sci-fi. I was thrilled, and found myself far more motivated to earn money than ever before. (For some reason, this motive to be enterprising did not satisfy parental concerns. Go figure.)
All four of these books proved to be wonderful reading experiences; I’ve read and reread them all, in the many years since then. The Foundation Trilogy left such a strong impression that when the author extended the series beyond the original, I was more than willing to read along. As a result, Foundation’s Edge came into my hands (via the SFBC) the same year it was nominated for, and then won, the Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Unlike the original trilogy – which I read as a single Book Club edition – Foundation’s Edge is not a fix up. That is to say, it’s not a collection of shorter works, written over a number of years, then stitched together to form a single narrative. I knew nothing about that concept, during that first reading of the trilogy in the ‘70s, and when I later understood it, I simply shrugged it off as of no consequence. The trilogy was a good read in any case. However, a recent reread of the original tales, followed immediately by rereading the sequel for this essay, brought home the difference between the two. The flow and pacing were both smoother in Foundation’s Edge, and there was less of a bare-bones quality to the exposition. The difference speaks to me of a book written as a single narrative, from start to finish, and not a collection assembled after a number of years.
Mention of pacing reminds me of some of the criticism the book has received, as being slow, “talky,” and, for some, boring. Nothing of the sort will be said by this reader. I have enough experience with Asimov’s fiction to know better than to expect a slam-bang action-adventure story. So pages of characters working their way through the plot, puzzling out its twists and turns with a lot of dialogue, created the sort of pace I would have expected for this writer and have always enjoyed.
Another sign that this was not a fix-up was the use of multiple subplots to carry the story. My impression of the original trilogy was that, while subplots existed, they felt like afterthoughts. In Foundation’s Edge, however, there are several subplots that were clearly developed together as the book was written. These subplots all come together neatly at the end and do so in a way that points to the inevitable sequel, Foundation and Earth: another book worth reading for the way it brings together Asimov’s most well-known creations, the Foundation, Galactic Empire, and Robot universes.
I’ve seen some unkind criticism of this merging of these previously separate story lines. Somewhere out there is a review that refers to this merging, near the end of Asimov’s long and productive career, as little more than narcissism. (Reads like a knee-high person trying to cut someone down to their size, quite frankly.) But for me as a reader and a fan, it was very entertaining to see all these stories braided together. It felt appropriate to me, a fitting wrap up to a career that entertained so many of us, for so long.
This would be the last Hugo Award (for a novel) in Asimov’s career, an award he actually only received twice for the Best Novel category. After suffering a heart attack a few years before, Asimov had bypass surgery the same year he won this second award. Unfortunately, the blood used in transfusion was contaminated with the HIV virus. He survived almost a full decade after being infected, but ultimately died in 1992, barely a decade after this win.
Under Desert Stars 