This is the first installment of The Second Foundation Trilogy, based on Isaac Asimov's famous Foundation series. Acclaimed hard science fiction writers Gregory Benford, David Brin, and Greg Bear will each produce a work for the trilogy. Benford kicks off exploring the beginnings of the Foundation itself and its creator, Hari Seldon. Seldon is working on a project to ease the inevitable collapse of the universe-spanning Empire and the Dark Ages that will ensue. But the current emperor has other plans, like appointing Seldon first minister and thus thrusting him into a world of political intrigues and assassination attempts that ultimately will bring him up against future history's greatest threat.


From Library Journal
Hari Seldon, now a candidate for first minister, finds himself embroiled in a psychohistorical conundrum?he must deal with the re-created personalities of Joan of Arc and Voltaire, who surface as computer simulations. Gifted storyteller Benford (Far Futures, LJ 12/95) makes the characters come alive. Isaac Asimov's estate authorized this extension of Asimov's "Foundation" series; expect additional volumes from Greg Bear and David Brin. Highly recommended.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Here begins the Second Foundation Trilogy. Isaac Asimov wrote the first trilogy all by himself, but the second is a project that Benford begins and David Brin and Greg Bear will carry on. The overall intent is to cover Hari Seldon's career before the original trilogy's events. As Benford's contribution commences, Seldon is the leading candidate for first minister of the empire and naturally attracts rivals, opponents, and outright enemies, both on account of his political prominence and out of suspicion of his theories, which approximate early versions of psychohistory. Eventually, in this book's most absorbing part, he and his humaniform robot wife must flee to a primitive planet where they narrowly escape murder while their minds occupy humbler primate bodies. With some luck and the aid of the venerable R. Daneel Olivaw, an elder statesman of the humaniform robot community, they finally return to Trantor. The book continues, more successfully, Asimov's late efforts to reconcile the Foundation stories with his robot novels and also profits from the fact that Benford is a more visual writer than Asimov. His rendition of Asimov's concepts is distinctively his; the many readers who probably would fall rapaciously upon any continuation of one of the most durably popular sf conceptions should appreciate it. Roland Green


From Kirkus Reviews
Benford's previous output includes a sequel to a story written by Arthur C. Clarke (Beyond the Fall of Night, 1990). Here, he inaugurates a trilogy (subsequent authors will be Greg Bear and David Brin) that will form a quasi-sequel to the late Isaac Asimov's famous Foundation series (Forward the Foundation, 1993, etc.) about ``psycho-history,'' the mathematical modeling of human behavior, and the fall of a far-future galactic empire. The mathematician Hari Seldon is first in line to be appointed First Minister by Emperor Cleon, even though his psychohistorical theories remain incomplete; Hari's meager political skills will be boosted by the secret efforts of the immortal robot, Daneel Olivaw, and Hari's wife, Dors Vanabili--another robot! The slippery and ruthless Betan Lamurk, however, a rival candidate for the office, will stop at nothing to oust Hari. Additional complications arise when a couple of electronically reconstituted personalities, Voltaire and Joan of Arc, escape into planet Trantor's computer network; the ``tiktoks'' or subintelligent machines stage a revolt; and some ancient disembodied computer-entities, blaming robots for the destruction of their machine-civilization, seek revenge. Sometimes needlessly and annoyingly meddlesome, but yet another curious blend of reinventions and retrospective criticism, intriguing and engrossing when Benford extends and embellishes Asimov's vision. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


-- Denver Post
"[Benford] brings out the complexities of a galactic empire that Asimov never filled out..the first book stands well on its own."



"[Benford] took on the huge task of answering questions [raised in the original], and difficult as it may sound, he pulled it off with style...Rest assured, Asimov's work is in good hands."


Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A richly rewarding delight... writes up to his usual high standard... bringing Asimovian concepts.to vivid, visually compelling life."


Kirkus Reviews
"Intriguing and engrossing.[a] curious blend of reinventions and retrospective criticism.")



"Intriguing and engrossing.[a] curious blend of reinventions and retrospective criticism."


Book Description

Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy is one of the high-water marks of science fiction. It is the monumental story of a Galactic Empire in decline, and the secret society of scientists who seek to shorten the inevitable Dark Age with the science of psychohistory. Now, with the permission -- and blessing -- of the Asimov estate, the epic saga continues.Fate -- and a cruel Emperor's arbitrary power -- have thrust Hari Seldon into the First Ministership of the Empire against his will. As the story opens, Hari is about to leave his quiet professorship and take on the all but impossible task of administering 25 million inhabited worlds from the all-steel planet of Trantor. With the help of his beautiful bio-engineered "wife" Dors and his alien companion Yugo, Seldon is still developing the science that will transform history, never dreaming that it will ultimately pit him against future history's most awesome threat.


Download Description
" Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy is one of the high-water marks of science fiction. It is the monumental story of a Galactic Empire in decline, and the secret society of scientists who seek to shorten the inevitable Dark Age with the science of psychohistory. Now with the permission -- and blessing -- of the Asimov estate the epic saga continues. Thrust into the First Ministership of the Empire, Hari Seldon must administer twenty-five million inhabited worlds from the all-steel planet of Trantor. He's also developing the science that will transform history, and ultimately pit him against future history's most awesome threat.

Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy is one of the high-water marks of science fiction. It is the monumental story of a Galactic Empire in decline, and the secret society of scientists who seek to shorten the inevitable Dark Age with the science of psychohistory. Now, with the permission -- and blessing -- of the Asimov estate, the epic saga continues.Fate -- and a cruel Emperor's arbitrary power -- have thrust Hari Seldon into the First Ministership of the Empire against his will. As the story opens, Hari is about to leave his quiet professorship and take on the all but impossible task of administering 25 million inhabited worlds from the all-steel planet of Trantor. With the help of his beautiful bio-engineered ""wife"" Dors and his alien companion Yugo, Seldon is still developing the science that will transform history, never dreaming that it will ultimately pit him against future history's most awesome threat."


About the Author
Gregory Benford is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine. He is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and was Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University. and in 1995 received the Lord Prize for contributions to sciences. His research encompasses both theory and experiments in the fields of astrophysics and plasma physics. His fiction has won many awards, including the Nebula Award for his novel Timescape. Dr. Benford makes his home in Laguna Beach, California.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

With the permission - and blessing - of the Asimov estate, three of today's bestselling SF writers, Gregory Benford, Greg Bear, and David Brin, have conspired (like the original Foundation!) to complete the epic saga the beloved Grand Master left unfinished. The Second Foundation Trilogy begins with Gregory Benford's Foundation's Fear, a voyage to the very beginnings of the enterprise itself and of its mysterious founder. Hari Seldon wanted nothing more than to be a mathist, absorbed in the cool precision of numbers. But fate - and a cruel Emperor's arbitrary power - thrust him into the First Ministership of the Empire against his will. As the story opens, Hari is about to leave his quiet professorship and take on the all but impossible task of governing twenty-five million inhabited worlds from the all-steel planet of Trantor. With the help of his beautiful bio-engineered "wife" Dors and his protege Yugo, Seldon is still developing the science that will transform history, never dreaming that it will ultimately put him against future history's most awesome threat.

FROM THE CRITICS

Denver Post

[Benford] brings out the complexities of a galactic empire that Asimov never filled out..the first book stands well on its own.

Craig E. Engler

[Benford] took on the huge task of answering questions [raised in the original], and difficult as it may sound, he pulled it off with style...Rest assured, Asimov's work is in good hands.

Denver Post