The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov

 The Foundation Trilogy

Asimov's Foundation Trilogy

Isaac Asimov

I mentioned in an earlier book haul post that I found these three books, all at one time, and they were only 50 cents each! You would have snatch them up if you had seen them, right?

So, I finished reading these books and was struck by two big things. 

ONE - The overall idea of the Foundation is still believable, and seems even more obtainable now ,than it was when the book was first written in the 1950s.

TWO - Even though there is absolutely no action (as in space ship shootouts, or laser beam murders), and the book is mostly dialogue and big-thinking ideas...I was still enraptured by the storyline and couldn't put the books down.

Foundation

Let's take a look a my two finding shall we?

A) The big idea in the Foundation books was that a brilliant man, Hari Seldon, uses math and probability to predict the future of the entire galaxy. Back in the 50's they barely had calculators, so it was a futuristic idea that humans would ever be able to crunch 'big data' and use it to tell the future. Now 'big data' is a term everyone knows about. The more data we have, the more accurate we can predict things...well, Foundation is built on that concept. The idea that we colonize space and our population balloons in the the ca-billions, and as humans we all act very similar, there is a logical conclusion that we can predict the future.

Foundation and Empire

B) Nothing called 'action' or 'adventure' happens in these books. Add that with the whole premise of math being the idea behind foundation and you've got yourself a very boring sounding book. But, somehow Asimov makes it interesting. I can't put my finger on why the actionless story kept my attention and consumed my reading hours. It wasn't flowery writing, or anything like that. If I had to take a stab at it, I'd say it was the set up and twist routine that Asimov uses over and over. The stories usually started in the middle of some sort of crisis. Be it political, theoretical, economical, militaristic. They all had what looked like a straight forward ending or answer (usually involving the Foundation being destroyed), but right at the end there would be a twist and all would end up well. Sounds simple, but I'm doing a terrible job at describing it.

Second Foundation

If you haven't read these books you need to. Especially if you call yourself a sci-fi reader. Check out the link below to get your copy today!

Foundation Trilogy Books

The Used Bookstore - That random book

USED BOOKSTORE TRIP

THE DRAGON ON THE BORDER by Gordon R. Dickson is a book I picked up today. It cost me $3.50, which is more than I like to spend on a used book, but it was for a good reason. 

I've been neglecting our local used bookstore!

Going to the bookstore - used bookstore!

Sorry Bookland. I've gotten out of the habit of browsing your shelves of fine new and used books. I'm taking the easy route and blaming COVID. Over the past 2 years I've only noticed the Closed sign in your door. I'm not often in the strip mall where you are located, only the rare evening when I'm picking up a greek salad from the take out place a few units down.

But, we are back.

I made an intentional visit to the store today for two reasons. First, was that Oscar is reading the WINGS OF FIRE series and is onto book twelve. It would be nice to find used copies of the book, possibly save a few bucks. Second, was that I wanted to throw some business Bookland's way and keep it open. Second hand bookshops are important to me.

We had some good luck.

Browsing the used books

The store stocks the Wings of Fire series - so I bought 2 more books for Oscar (since it only takes him a day or two to finish a book). They were new, BUT, we were headed to Chapters to buy new books anyway and the price was the same. So, best to buy local.

I was hunting for a few specific titles, to finish off series' I'd been working on. You know, 90s David Eddings fantasy epics and such. This store is usually the place to find something like that. But, no luck. 

I didn't want to leave with nothing since I'd made a trip here (all 1.5 km from my house) and wanted to show my support. So I went with the timeless trick of judging a book by its cover. I picked a book that was near the cash register that had an interesting (at least to me) cover.

The Dragon on the Border.

The Dragon on the Border

I've read Dickson before. Not a lot, but I think I recall liking his books. Oh well, I feel great about my purchase. All $3.50 worth.

Gordon Dickson book

What is your latest used book purchase?

A MAP - Another Fantasy Tale

 World Building means making a map

Rough Map for AFT

It wasn't long into plotting out the basic story, and writing the first few pages, that I realized I needed to make a map. Not just for readers, but for me!

Creating a new world is fun, but it takes a lot of mental energy to both create it and then keep it straight (where was that mountain range again?)

I had made a general plan on where the story was going and I had three or four different locations where key events would happen - I had them going through a mountain, pulling a jail break at a rogue Castle, meeting the Council of Wizards...all of these things happened in different locations as they travelled across the land. Easy enough to keep track of, I thought. 

We start at the Wizard's manor. We end far south in the hellish land where the evil resides. The Halflings come from the North. The Council is just south of the Manor. The Mountain caves are nearby. Then the Castle and The Capital are near the evil lands. I had a rough vision in my mind...but again, it was like doing mental reps envisioning this made-up land over and over. It would be much easier to sketch out a rough draft as an external reference (save the brain for writing).

Doing this was kind of fun. I've always like maps and making up my own maps, so it wasn't a chore to me. Even though it is very basic it does a great job of showcasing the big picture. Like plotting out the big events in the story. The rough map was like, well, like a real- life map showing me the way from point A to point B. Using it helped me feel a bit more confident that I could get my vision across.

Putting the world on paper was a much needed step that helped me build the world, in all it's nitty-gritty. For instance the Halfling land is fairly close to the Manor, but I had the idea that it would be uncommon for Halflings to be near the Manor. The Manor should be out of the way. To show up there meant the Halflings would have had to overcome a tough journey through mountains or forests...which is why I threw in a mountain range and a forest blocking a direct route to the Manor. I also redirected the main road to angle away from the Manor. These were small details that I had to actually see on paper, before I made a blunder on the page.

Writers, get the ideas down on paper!

The map also pointed out that I hadn't actually named most of my locations. I knew what these places looked like, how the characters were going to get there, what would happen...but I needed some names. The visual of the map might help with writer's block. The name of the Mountain Cave could be a reference to its location - the Neck, or the Squeeze? That's if I can't think of anything else. Again, this map is giving me options. It's helping me move forward.

Do you Draw things out when you write?

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