Black Widowers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Black Widowers is a fictional men-only dining club created by Isaac Asimov for a series of mystery stories he wrote starting in 1971. Most of the stories were first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, though a few first appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and the various book collections into which the stories were eventually gathered.
The stories always follow the same convention: the six club members and a guest sit down to dinner, served by the incomparable waiter, Henry. During the meal it always comes out that the guest has a problem which varies from the personal to actual crimes. The club members try to solve the problem, raising various issues in the course of the conversation but are unable to come to an actual conclusion. In the end, it is Henry, who is highly-regarded by the club members, who provides the correct, and usually very simple, answer, obtained from aspects of the conversation. Asimov intended them to always follow that pattern.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Origins
The Black Widowers were based on a literary dining club Asimov belonged to known as the Trap Door Spiders.[2] Members of the Widowers were based on real-life Spiders, some of them famous writers in their own right:[2]
- Geoffrey Avalon (based on L. Sprague de Camp)
- Emmanuel Rubin (based on Lester del Rey)
- James Drake (based on Dr. John D. Clark)
- Thomas Trumbull (based on Gilbert Cant)
- Mario Gonzalo (based on Lin Carter)
- Roger Halsted (based on Don Bensen)
The deceased founder of the club, Ralph Ottur, on whom the plot of the story "To the Barest" turned, was based on the real-life founder of the Trap Door Spiders, Fletcher Pratt[citation needed]. The stage magician The Amazing Larri, from the story "The Cross of Lorraine", was based on James Randi[3]. The arrogant science fiction writer Mortimer Stellar, from the story "When No Man Pursueth", was based on Asimov himself:[2].
Asimov was a P. G. Wodehouse fan and a member of the Wodehouse Society.[4] He explained that Henry was not based on a real person, but might have been inspired in large part by Wodehouse's immortal character Jeeves.[2]
[edit] Books
The books each contained twelve stories. In most cases, nine stories were first published in various magazines while three were first published in the book. As was usual with Asimov's collections, many stories had chatty forewords or afterwords.
- 1974 - Tales of the Black Widowers
- 1976 - More Tales of the Black Widowers
- 1980 - Casebook of the Black Widowers
- 1984 - Banquets of the Black Widowers
- 1990 - Puzzles of the Black Widowers
- 2003 - The Return of the Black Widowers – published posthumously, with additional material by Charles Ardai and Harlan Ellison
A few Black Widowers tales have been written by other authors as tributes to Asimov. One is "The Overheard Conversation" by Edward D. Hoch, which appears in the festschrift anthology Foundation's Friends (1989); another is "The Last Story," the Charles Ardai piece in Return of the Black Widowers (2003).
[edit] References
- Sources consulted
- Asimov, Isaac (1994). I. Asimov: A Memoir. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-41701-2.
- Seiler, Edward (maintainer) (2007-05-26 update). "Isaac Asimov FAQ". Asimov Online.com for Alt.Books.Isaac-Asimov. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
- Endnotes
- ^ Asimov 1994, I. Asimov, op. cit., chapter "119. Mystery stories".
- ^ a b c d Asimov 1994, I. Asimov, op. cit., chapter "120. The Trap Door Spiders".
- ^ Asimov 1980, In Joy Still Felt, chapter 41, section 19.
- ^ Seiler 2007, "Isaac Asimov FAQ", section "2.10. Did Asimov do anything other than write all day and all night?".
[edit] External links
- List and index of the Black Widowers stories at Asimov Online.com
|
|||||||||||
