30 pages • 1 hour read
Someday
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Background
Authorial Context: Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was born in 1920 in Petrovichi, a rural village in what was at the time the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR). His parents were Jewish millers. In 1921, Asimov and 16 other children in the village grew ill with pneumonia; he was the only one to survive. The family emigrated to the United States in 1923 when Asimov was three years old.
In Brooklyn, New York, the Asimovs owned candy stores that also sold newspapers and magazines. Young Asimov thus enjoyed access to a plethora of reading material, including science fiction pulp magazines, that he would’ve otherwise been unable to afford. This period of time shaped Asimov’s interests and writing style. After graduating from high school, Asimov attended university first as a zoology major, but switched to chemistry after disapproving of dissecting an alley cat.
Asimov achieved numerous degrees in chemistry and worked for years as a biochemistry instructor at Boston University, but by 1952, he was making more money writing than teaching. Though he gradually stopped conducting research, focusing instead on lecturing, he remained involved with the university for years. This time spent in academia, and time spent working as a civilian chemist for the Navy, demonstrate Asimov’s immersion in the world of science—his expertise, in turn, brings an element of realism and grounding to his science fiction.
Asimov was an eccentric character. He was a claustrophile, preferring small, closed-in spaces. He had a fear of flying, only traveling by plane twice, and thus rarely traveled far from home except by boat. Publicly, he was friendly and open, frequently attending conventions, answering tens of thousands of questions and writing an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards to fans. He is credited with coining the term “robotics” itself, though he was unaware that it was an original word, believing it to be similar to “mechanics” for machines.
Asimov’s writing reflects a time haunted by the horrors of two world wars and racing toward a digitized future. While some of Asimov’s works exhibit caution for and criticism of the future, others cast technology as an opportunity to solve and move on from the troubles of the past. This trademark mix of optimism and pessimism, grounded in a scientific context, is present in “Someday.”
Literary Context: Science Fiction Pulp Magazines
Many of Asimov’s short stories, including “Someday,” were published in pulp magazines. In the first half of the 1900s, fiction magazines came in two forms: the “slicks,” with their glossy, high-quality paper, or the “pulps,” with their cheaper, wood pulp paper. Slicks often contained brightly colored art and advertising and cultivated a sense of professionalism. Pulps, in contrast, had only black and white art, less advertising, and a more casual, entertainment-focused tone.
Pulp fiction magazines enjoyed booming success in the 1930s and 1940s, solidifying the genres of science fiction and American horror through sheer numbers. In its heyday, pulp fiction boasted hundreds of different magazines, with prolific authors like Asimov providing a considerable amount of content. These magazines set many genre standards and conventions that are still familiar today, even if the stories that originated from them have been forgotten.
Often, pulps were seen as second-rate, occasionally criticized as juvenile and simplistic. There may be some truth to this claim, as the writers were often paid little, driving some to value quantity over quality. However, many of the most prominent authors in American history started out in this realm, including not only Isaac Asimov but also famed horror author H. P. Lovecraft.
The magazine that published “Someday,” Infinity Science Fiction, marketed itself as speculative fiction, a genre that examines humans (and other life forms) in different settings and with supernatural or futuristic elements. The editor, Larry T. Shaw, was well acquainted with the science fiction world; his network helped the magazine acquire stories from high-profile writers like Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Sheckley, and Isaac Asimov. Despite being an important part of science fiction history and hosting the early work of many key figures, Infinity Science Fiction was shut down only three years into its run. In its time, it received diverse critiques, some seeing it as largely juvenile and middling, others considering it to be an important voice in the world of science fiction.
The publication of “Someday” in Infinity Science Fiction demonstrates its purpose as a story meant to amuse and entertain—nonetheless, like many stories in the science fiction pulp world, it simultaneously aims to grapple with complex topics. Science fiction pulp was a unique intersection of academic rigor, philosophical speculation, and entertaining storytelling, a combination still observable in science fiction today.
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