The Hazing

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The Hazing
Author Isaac Asimov
Country Flag of United States USA
Language English
Series Homo Sol Trilogy
Genre(s) science fiction short story
Released in Thrilling Wonder Stories
Publisher Better Publications
Media Type Magazine
Released October 1942
Preceded by The Imaginary

The Hazing is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the October 1942 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov. Discussing the story in The Early Asimov, the author noted that it is set in the same fictional universe as his earlier stories "Homo Sol" and "The Imaginary", but featured different characters. "The Hazing" was the thirtieth story written by Asimov, and the twenty-eighth to be published. Due to the peculiar workings of the science fiction magazine publishing industry, the story appeared a month before "The Imaginary".

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A few years after the people of Homo Sol have joined the Galactic Federation, a group of students from Earth arrive to study at Arcturus University. Shortly thereafter, they are kidnapped as part of a student prank (hazing) and transported by spaceship to a planet inhabited only by primitive people who do not belong to the Federation and are quarantined until they develop hyperspace travel. The Earth people are captured, but by the use of "primitive" psychology, they persuade the natives that they are in fact gods from beyond the stars. When the kidnappers return, they are also captured by the natives, but are rescued by the Earth people.


The Early Asimov
The Callistan Menace | Ring Around the Sun | The Magnificent Possession | Trends | The Weapon Too Dreadful to Use | Black Friar of the Flame | Half-Breed | The Secret Sense | Homo Sol | Half-Breeds on Venus | The Imaginary | Heredity | History | Christmas on Ganymede | The Little Man on the Subway | The Hazing | Super-Neutron | Not Final | Legal Rites | Time Pussy | Author! Author! | Death Sentence | Blind Alley | No Connection | The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline | The Red Queen's Race | Mother Earth