Hugo Award Winner 1946
By date of publication The Mule by Isaac Asimov is the first Hugo Award winning novel. This was awarded the prize in 1996 though the book was published fifty years before in 1946. This book is odd as a Hugo winner because it is the second half of the second book in the Foundation series. This means that if you want to read it you really should read Foundation first and then pick up Foundation and Empire and you'll get to this is Section II.
This is Isaac Asimov's favorite part of the Foundation series. I agree with him on this point. While starting here is not advisable it is a high point in one of the best series of science fiction books ever written.
One of the reasons this is so important is because it points out that the story is not predestined to happen. Things really can go wrong and the characters are going to have to fix them. This eliminates one of the greatest weaknesses of a brilliant story idea, because psychohistory is an idea I love, but also can give the impression there is no real danger in the story.
The Foundation series is a masterpiece and one of the reasons that it is so brilliant is that it does not use the typical story telling structure. Many of the events of this store, and all of the foundation series, happen off the pages. You hear about them but do not see them directly. This is against the most basic rule of writing, show don't tell, but it works perfectly.
As a singular story this is as much a mystery as science fiction. The major mystery is who the mule is and how he is winning battles. This is summed up in the first quote in this section of Foundation and Empire which reads "The Mule: Less is known of "The Mule" than of any character of comparable significance to Galactic history. Even the period of his greatest renown is known to us chiefly through the eyes of his antagonists and, principally though those of a young bride.
Often considered the greatest science fiction series of all time The Foundation is a book that is still great to read 65 years later because the ideas in this story are timeless.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 5:39PM A fan made movie trailer for the foundation series, many of the images don't really feel like they have all that much to do with Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, but I appricate the attempt and there are a few interesting images here.
foundation, issac Asimov, movie trailer 