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词条 The Magnificent Possession
释义

  1. Plot summary

  2. References

  3. External links

{{Infobox short story
|name = The Magnificent Possession
|title_orig =
|image =
|author = Isaac Asimov
|country = United States
|language = English
|series =
|genre = Science fiction
|publication_type = Periodical
|published_in = Future Fiction
|publisher = Double Action Magazines
|media_type = Print (Magazine, Hardback & Paperback)
|pub_date = July 1940
|english_pub_date =
|preceded_by =
|followed_by =
}}

"The Magnificent Possession" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the July 1940 issue of Future Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov. It was the ninth story written by Asimov, and the seventh to be published. The author recalls that the story, an attempt at humour, was embarrassing to read later, and that he was glad that his long-time editor, John W. Campbell, never saw it, as he would certainly have rejected it.

Asimov was majoring in chemistry at the time he wrote the story in late November 1938. After the story, originally titled Ammonium, was rejected by Thrilling Wonder Stories, Asimov became discouraged and retired it. When Future Fiction accepted his story Ring Around the Sun, he dug out Ammonium and submitted it as well. The title was changed by Future Fiction's editor, Charles D. Hornig.

Plot summary

Walter Sills, a struggling New York consulting chemist, is developing a method of plating metal with pure ammonium, which would be cheaper than using traditional plating metals such as nickel or chromium. Despite not having properly tested the plating process, he obtains some publicity for his discovery, which leads him into all sorts of problems with gangsters who want to steal his formula and crooked politicians who seek to exploit him.

He hopes to sell the process to a steel magnate, but discovers at the last moment that the process generates an extremely foul smell which lasts almost indefinitely, making it commercially unviable.

References

  • Asimov, Isaac, "The Magnificent Possession" in The Early Asimov {{ISBN|0-385-03979-4}}.

External links

  • {{isfdb title|id=62898}}
{{The Early Asimov}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnificent Possession, The}}

3 : Short stories by Isaac Asimov|1940 short stories|Works originally published in Future Science Fiction

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