Nightfall

I heard somewhere–probably on the “Binge Mode” podcast–that Isaac Asimov’s “Nightfall” is one of the best sci-fi stories ever written. So, I read it. And it’s good.

The story considers how a society would react if it never was exposed to night and it never had seen all the stars in the sky. (Spoiler: Poorly.)

The issue I have with Asimov’s stuff is that it always feels a bit detached. This is why I didn’t get into the “Foundation” books. The ideas are very interesting, but the execution is cold.

I guess I want my sci-fi to have great characters that experience amazing things rather than amazing things unto themselves.

What I found interesting about “Nightfall” is that it kind of reminded me of the “Three-Body Problem” (though, given that “Nightfall” was written in the 1940s, any relationship is surely the other way around). I’m not sure why I got the same vibe–perhaps it was because in “Nightfall” the planet has six suns and in the “Three-Body Problem” there are three suns that orbit the alien world. Thinking about the instability and variability created by more suns is fascinating.