"Rule 18" is a 1938

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novelette by American writer Clifford D. Simak, credited as launching Simak's career and helping inspire the writing style of

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

. It won a Retrospective

Hugo Award for Best Novelette The Hugo Award for Best Novelette is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novelette award is available for works of fiction of ...

in 2014.

Plot summary

Because Earthmen in the year 2479 have been made soft by widespread automation and easy living, the coach of Earth's football team uses

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

to build an all-star roster for the annual

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

match against the normally dominant team from

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. Rule 18 of this Earth vs Mars contest specifies that players for a team must be natives of the planet for which they play and that his 9 preceding generations must also be natives of that planet.

Publication history

"Rule 18" was originally published in the July 1938 issue of ''

Astounding Science Fiction ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...

'', and is credited as "the true beginning of his career". The story has been reprinted only once, in a February 1990 British anthology of Simak works titled ''The Autumn Land and Other Stories'' from Mandarin Publishing.

Cultural impact

An 18-year-old

wrote a letter to ''Astounding'' criticizing the story as "incoherent". Simak wrote back to Asimov for details on how he thought the story might be improved and, on second reading, Asimov discovered that the story was "not in the least incoherent". Asimov wrote a letter of apology to Simak and began using a similar scene transition method in his own stories, later writing that "among the major influences on my style was Cliff Simak." He named the narrator in "

Trends A fad, trend, or craze is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation, or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short time period. Fads are objects or behaviors that ...

" after Simak.

Awards and honors

In 2014, members of

Loncon 3 The 72nd World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Loncon 3, was held on 14–18 August 2014 at the ExCeL London in London, United Kingdom. The convention committee was co-chaired by Alice Lawson and Steve Cooper and organize ...

, the 72nd

World Science Fiction Convention Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...

, awarded "Rule 18" a Retro Hugo Award for Best Novelette. The novelette would have been eligible for a Hugo Award at the 1939 Worldcon, had the awards existed at the time, and this Retrospective Hugo was presented on the 75th anniversary of that convention.

References

External links

* {{Hugo Award Best Novelette Science fiction short stories Hugo Award for Best Novelette–winning works 1938 short stories Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact