"Asimov, Isaac - The Early Asimov - Volume 01" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

Smith for a year and had taken over sole command of
Astounding Stories (which he had promptly renamed Astound-
ing Science Fiction) a couple of months earlier. He was only
twenty-eight years old then. Under his own name and under
his pen name, Don A. Stuart, he was one of the most famous
and highly regarded authors of science fiction, but he was
about to bury his writing reputation forever under the far
greater renown he was to gain as editor.

He was to remain editor of Astounding Science Fiction and
of its successor, Analog Science Fact—Science Fiction, for a
third of a century. During all that time, he and I were to
remain friends, but however old I grew and however venerable
and respected a star of our mutual field I was to become, I
never approached him with anything but that awe he inspired
in me on the occasion of our first meeting.

He was a large man, an opinionated man, who smoked and
talked constantly, and who enjoyed, above anything else, the
production of outrageous ideas, which he bounced off his
listener and dared him to refute. It was difficult to refute
Campbell even when his ideas were absolutely and madly
illogical.

We talked for over an hour that first time. He showed me
forthcoming issues of the magazine (actual future issues in
the cellulose-flesh). I found he had printed a 'fan letter of
mine in the issue about to be published, and another in the
next—so he knew the genuineness of my interest.

He told me about himself, about his pen name and about
his opinions. He told me that his father had sent in one of
his manuscripts to Amazing Stories when he was seventeen
and that it would have been published but the magazine lost
it and he had no carbon. (I was ahead of him there. I had
brought in the story myself and I had a carbon.) He also
promised to read my story that night and to send a letter,
whether acceptance or rejection, the next day. He promised
also that in case of rejection he would tell me what was wrong
with it so I could improve.

He lived up to every promise. Two days later, on June 23,

I heard from him. It was a rejection. (Since this book deals
with real events and is not a fantasy—you can't be surprised
that my first story was instantly rejected.)

Here is what I said in my diary about the rejection:

"At 9:30 I received back 'Cosmic Corkscrew' with a polite