SOURCE: “Back to the Future, Part 2,” in New Scientist, Vol. 127, No. 1724, July 7, 1990, pp. 55-6.

In the following review, Stewart compares Asimov and Silverberg's rewrite of Nightfall with Asimov's original short story of the same name, focusing on the former's flaws and cultural influences.

The essence of science fiction is suspension of disbelief. Readers are not supposed to notice that the Ringworld is unstable, that the sandworms of Dune are a biological impossibility, or that there is no evolutionary advantage for Thread in laying waste to every living thing on Pern; certainly not until long after the story has been read and enjoyed.

The original Nightfall, written by Isaac Asimov and published in Astounding in 1941, has suspended its readers' disbelief so effectively that it has topped more than one poll as the best SF short story of all time. Now Asimov and Robert Silverberg have expanded it into a...