Trivia / Blind Alley

• This story is the first one that earned Dr Asimov money twice, teaching him that getting his published stories in anthologies could effectively increase his income without additional effort.
• Inspiration for the Work: In The Early Asimov, Dr Asimov says this story was inspired by his work for the N.A.E.S. (Naval Aviation Experimental Station).
• Word of God: Despite speculation that "Blind Alley" takes place in the Foundation Series (during The Empire Novels because the memos are dated goes from 977 G.E.), The Early Asimov clearly states that it was the only story outside of his Foundation and Positronic Robot series written between mid-1943 and mid-1945.
  • However, the events of this short story are referenced in Foundation's Triumph, written by David Brin, which is set in the wider Foundation universe.
  “Fully intelligent nonhumans.” Horis nodded. “Creatures who stood upright, and spoke, and thought about their place in the universe, but who were almost nothing like us. They came from a desert planet that was desperately hot and dry. In fact, they were dying when the early imperial institutes found and rescued them, taking them to a ‘better’ world, though one that was still quite intolerable to human beings. It is said that the emperor himself became passionately interested in their welfare. And yet, within a human generation, they were gone.”

---