"The Portable Star" is a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...

 that appeared in the Winter 1955 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. "The Portable Star" was Asimov's least favorite story.

Writing and publication

The story was written in March 1954, and Asimov first submitted it to Frederik Pohl

Frederik Pohl

Frederik George Pohl, Jr. is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years — from his first published work, "Elegy to a Dead Planet: Luna" , to his most recent novel, All the Lives He Led .He won the National Book Award in 1980 for his novel Jem...

, who was then an editor at Ballantine Books, for inclusion in an anthology of original stories. Pohl rejected "The Portable Star," telling Asimov in no uncertain terms how bad the story was. It was also rejected by John W. Campbell

John W. Campbell

John Wood Campbell, Jr. was an influential figure in American science fiction. As editor of Astounding Science Fiction , from late 1937 until his death, he is generally credited with shaping the so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction.Isaac Asimov called Campbell "the most powerful force in...

 for Astounding Science Fiction and H. L. Gold

H. L. Gold

Horace Leonard Gold was a science fiction writer and editor. Born in Canada, Gold moved to the United States at the age of two...

 for Galaxy Science Fiction

Galaxy Science Fiction

Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...

. Asimov finally sold it on May 25 to Sam Mines of Thrilling Wonder. Asimov reread the story when it was published, and decided that Pohl, Campbell, and Gold had been right: it was a bad story. In In Memory Yet Green

In Memory Yet Green

In Memory Yet Green, In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954, is the first volume of Isaac Asimov's two-volume autobiography. It was published in 1979. This first volume covers the years 1920 to 1954, which lead up to the point just prior to Asimov becoming a full time...

, Asimov states that "The Portable Star" was his least favorite story of all time. "I wasn't aware of what I was doing when I wrote it, but on reading it after it was published it seemed to me that I was deliberately trying to put sex into it to try to keep up with a new trend." Asimov never allowed the story to be reprinted, or put it in one of his collections. The only other time it appeared in Asimov's lifetime was when the publishers of Thrilling Wonder exercised their right to reprint the story, placing it in a one-shot magazine called A Treasury of Great Science Fiction Stories without Asimov's permission. It was also reprinted (with the permission of the Asimov estate) in 2007, when Winston Engle revived Thrilling Wonder Stories with an anthology of mixed reprint and new stories.

Plot summary

The story concerns two couples, the Brookses and the Van Hornes, who go on a six month space tour in a "flivver" owned by Holden Brooks. When the flivvers suffers a malfunction, they land on an uninhabited planet with a nitrogen-argon atmosphere to make repairs. The planet, it turns out, is not uninhabited after all. A race of energy beings lives there, and a group of them take over the humans' bodies and begin manipulating their emotions, leading to a sexually charged encounter between Holden Brooks and Celestine Van Horne, and an attempt by Holden to murder Celestine's husband. Holden realizes that the energy beings are actually children, and he manages to use an open flame (which they have never seen before, and which is the "portable star" of the title) to frighten them away long enough to regain control of himself and flee the planet.

Foundation timeline

"The Portable Star" was accompanied in the Winter 1955 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories with a timeline of the Foundation series which included the story, along with a number of others. A notable detail of the timeline is that it does not include any of the stories from I, Robot

I, Robot

I, Robot is a collection of nine science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov, first published by Gnome Press in 1950 in an edition of 5,000 copies. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction between 1940 and 1950. The stories are...

or The Caves of Steel

The Caves of Steel

The Caves of Steel is a novel by Isaac Asimov. It is essentially a detective story, and illustrates an idea Asimov advocated, that science fiction is a flavor that can be applied to any literary genre, rather than a limited genre itself. Specifically, in the book Asimov's Mysteries, he states that...

, since at this time Asimov considered the Robot Series

Isaac Asimov's Robot Series

Isaac Asimov's Robot Series is a series of short stories and novels by Isaac Asimov featuring positronic robots.- Short stories :Most of Asimov's robot short stories are set in the first age of positronic robotics and space exploration...

 separate from the Foundation Series.

Asimov's Thrilling Wonder Timeline

Year	Story	Events
		A. Exploration of the Solar System
1975	Trends Trends (Asimov) Trends is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the July 1939 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and was reprinted in The Early Asimov...	First man-carrying flight to the Moon Moon The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more... , against social resistance.
1985	The Singing Bell The Singing Bell The Singing Bell is a science fiction mystery short story by Isaac Asimov that first appeared in the January 1955 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and was reprinted in the 1968 collection Asimov's Mysteries...	Settlement of the Moon proceeds; mining operations set up.
2000	The Martian Way The Martian Way The Martian Way is a science fiction novella by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1952 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction and reprinted in the collections The Martian Way and Other Stories , The Best of Isaac Asimov , and Robot Dreams...	Mars Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...  settled. Much of humanity still rebels against settlement of other planets. This is finally overcome.
2020	Ring Around the Sun Ring Around the Sun "Ring Around the Sun" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the March 1940 issue of Future Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov...	Venus Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...  settled. Mail service between planets established.
2050	Marooned Off Vesta Marooned Off Vesta Marooned Off Vesta is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was the third story written by Asimov, and the first to be published. Written in July 1938 when Asimov was 18, it was rejected by Astounding Science Fiction in August, then accepted in October by Amazing Stories, appearing in...	Passage across asteroid belt Asteroid belt The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...  no longer a matter of exploration. Commercial flights across the belt begin.
2100	Heredity, The Callistan Menace The Callistan Menace The Callistan Menace is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the April 1940 issue of Astonishing Stories and was reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov... , Christmas on Ganymede Christmas on Ganymede "Christmas on Ganymede" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was written in December 1940, first published in the January 1942 issue of Startling Stories, and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov and the anthology Christmas on Ganymede and Other Stories, edited by...	The moons of Jupiter Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...  are settled. Human eyes turn toward intergalactic space.
		B. Exploration of the Galaxy
5000		The hyperspatial drive is discovered.
5500	The Portable Star	Flights to other stars become feasible in small space cruisers. Very little of the Galaxy explored.
6500	Misbegotten Missionary	Organized space exploitation begins. Mankind begins spreading outward.
8500	Sucker Bait Sucker Bait Sucker Bait is a science fiction novella by Isaac Asimov. It was first serialized in the February and March 1954 issues of Astounding Science Fiction, and reprinted in the 1955 collection The Martian Way and Other Stories...	Population has increased to the point where the inner regions of the Galaxy are overcrowded. Government-sponsored emigration to the outer reaches are begun. Most of the Galaxy now mapped and well-known. The old political structure is now incapable of handling the vast number of worlds.
10000		Earth’s last atomic wars render its crust largely radioactive and that is the last straw. The Galaxy breaks up into numerous political organizations.
		C. Galactic Empire
30000	The Stars, Like Dust The Stars, Like Dust The Stars, Like Dust is a 1951 science fiction book by writer Isaac Asimov.The book is part of Asimov's Galactic Empire series. It takes place before the actual founding of the Galactic Empire, and even before Trantor has become important. It starts with a young man attending the University of...	The star-regions begin to agglomerate into larger groupings. The empire of Tyrann grows and declines. Trantor Trantor Trantor is a fictional planet in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series and Empire Series of science fiction novels.Trantor was first described in a short story by Asimov appearing in Early Asimov Volume 1. Later Trantor gained prominence when the 1940s Foundation Series first appeared in print . Asimov...  grows less spectacularly, but more solidly.
34500	The Currents of Space The Currents of Space The Currents of Space is a science fiction novel by the American writer Isaac Asimov. It is the second of three books labeled the Galactic Empire series, though it was the last of the three he wrote...	Trantor has grown until half the Galaxy is under its sway. The Squires of Sark Sark Sark is a small island in the Channel Islands in southwestern English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. It is a royal fief, geographically located in the Channel Islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population... , with their control of the kyrt-rich Florina Florina Florina is a town and municipality in mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. It is also the Metropolitan seat for the region. It lies in the central part of Florina peripheral unit, of which it is the capital. Florina belongs to the periphery of West... , are the last independent group to seriously contest Trantor’s hegemony.
35000		Trantor becomes the Galactic Empire Galactic Empire (Asimov) In Isaac Asimov's Robot/Empire/Foundation series of novels, the Galactic Empire is an empire consisting of millions of planets settled by humans across the whole Milky Way Galaxy. Its symbol is the Spaceship and Sun logo.-Author's creation of the empire:...  officially. Earth is all but forgotten.
36500	Pebble in the Sky Pebble in the Sky Pebble in the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, published in 1950. This work is his first novel — parts of the Foundation series had appeared from 1942 onwards, in magazines, but Foundation was not published in book form until 1951...	Galactic Empire is at its height. Earth completely forgotten as origin of humanity. Slowly the Empire grows static and decadent. Hari Seldon Hari Seldon Hari Seldon, a fictional character, is the intellectual hero of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series. In his capacity as mathematics professor at Streeling University on Trantor, he developed psychohistory, allowing him to predict the future in probabilistic terms...  is born about 47,000.
47000 to 47500	The Foundation Trilogy	The Galactic Empire settles into final decay. Its last battle with the rising Foundation dates at 47,200. The Mule Mule (Foundation) The Mule is a fictional character from Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. One of the greatest conquerors the galaxy has ever seen, he is a mentalic who has the ability to reach into the minds of others and "adjust" their emotions, individually or en masse, using this capability to forcibly enlist...  rises and falls somewhere around 47,300. The Second Galactic Empire is established at 48,000.

Later stories by Asimov could also be placed in this timeline, such as the other Wendell Urth stories, "I'm in Marsport Without Hilda

I'm in Marsport Without Hilda

"I'm in Marsport Without Hilda" is a short story by Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the November 1957 issue of Venture Science Fiction Magazine, and was reprinted in the collection Nine Tomorrows in 1959, in a slightly censored form. The complete original version appeared in Asimov's...

", "Anniversary

Anniversary (Asimov)

Anniversary is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the March 1959 issue of Amazing Stories and subsequently appeared in the collections Asimov's Mysteries and The Best of Isaac Asimov...

", "Exile to Hell

Exile to Hell

Exile to Hell is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It appeared in the May 1968 issue of Analog and was included in the 1975 collection Buy Jupiter and Other Stories....

", and "Take a Match

Take a Match

"Take a Match" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in Robert Silverberg's 1972 anthology New Dimensions II and reprinted in the 1975 Asimov collection Buy Jupiter and Other Stories.-Plot summary:...

". One could, in fact, construct an entire alternate Foundation Series timeline, including these stories, but excluding the Robot stories and the last four Foundation books.

External links

A review of "The Portable Star" by John H. Jenkins.

A review on io9.