Talk:Isaac's Universe

This page was proposed for deletion by Piotrus (talk · contribs) on 14 August 2021.

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Notability[edit]

I have major trouble establishing notability for this concept, which seems cool but I think failed to gain traction comparable to Man-Kzin Wars or such. [1] has only a short mention: "Even more recently (1990) Asimov has created a new megatext ("Isaac's Universe") specifically for the use of other writers in which he apparently does not intend to write any stories (Asimov, "Inventing a Universe", ix); only one volume, The Diplomacy Guild , edited by Martin Greenberg, has so far appeared. All five contributors are, however, established writers rather than beginners". [2] has only a passing mention of no consequence. Something may be in here (I can't access the pages, however). Can anyone help? Ping User:Daranios, User:ReaderofthePack. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 05:25, 28 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Piotrus: I think Science Fiction Literature through History, p. 564 is short enough that I can quote: "Responding to criticisms that he had rarely dealt with aliens, Asimov crafted a galaxy with five alien races, termed "Isaac's Universe," which became the setting of two novel - one, Fossil (1993), by Hal Clement - and stories in three anthologies by writers including Poul Anderson, Clement, Robert Sheckley (1928-2005), Silverberg, and Allen Steele (1958-)." This is fronted a paragraph up by "Still, the term "shared world" is sometimes reserved for the deliberate creation of a hitherto-unknown setting for writers to employ in original stories." Following is "Paul Preuss's (1942-) Venus Prime Series...", I assume that's a different shared universe. I cannot see p. 138 myself. Daranios (talk) 15:14, 29 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Piotrus: Addendum: I could now get a view of p. 138. I think I have added what is relevant there. Daranios (talk) 10:58, 6 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This seems quite interesting, rating this specific shared universe as an especially important one, but I don't exactly see what kind of publication it is. One section Google translates as: "the cyclical fictional world [=shared universe!?], in the same way that it is not linked to a novel or to a finite set of novels, is not to an author either.

Asimov still provides the best examples of this phenomenon, since he himself organized the "emancipation" of his fictional world. In the article "Inventing a universe ", he details the different ways in which he has put his" notoriety (...) at the service of of the genre ": besides the sponsorship (" Isaac Asimov presents ") and the experience of "shared universe" of the series "Isaac's Universe" 27, Asimov thus "authorized the resumption of some of the themes (...) developed in [his] own books ...". Daranios (talk) 16:15, 29 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This sadly only gives a very limited preview, but the bottom of p. 201 already translates as "But an attempt like "Isaac's Universe", although crowned with more mixed success, at least demonstrates the potential of a...". Daranios (talk) 15:19, 31 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It's possible that if all else fails this could probably be a page that is a mixture of a page about the universe and about the book/story series, although part of the issue here is that we'd have to find coverage showing that it's a shared universe. ReaderofthePack(formerly Tokyogirl79) (｡◕‿◕｡) 15:27, 2 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@ReaderofthePack: I think both Science Fiction Literature through History, p. 564, and La Fiction cyclique, au-delà des frontières du roman: Asimov, King, Tolkien, p. 6 of the pdf, clearly say that it is a shared world/shared universe. Daranios (talk) 18:48, 2 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Piotrus: Allright, I did what I'd planned to do here. I personally am satisfied with what we have so far, and would consider notability established by the five or three or two-and-a-half secondary sources, however you want to count them. So I would remove the notability tag, except if you put in your veto. Daranios (talk) 18:15, 29 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Daranios I removed it myself, thank you fo rescuing this everyone! _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 07:52, 30 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]