Page "The Early Asimov" Paragraph 39

* " Big Game ", Asimov's thirty-ninth story, was written on 17 November 1941.

Campbell wanted to create a category of short-short science fiction tall tales called " Probability Zero " that would serve as a market for beginning writers, and he asked Asimov to write one for him.

The 1000-word " Big Game " was Asimov's first effort, and Campbell rejected it.

Asimov subsequently submitted " Big Game " to Collier's Weekly in 1944, resulting in another rejection.

After expanding the story to 3000 words and retitling it " The Hunted ", Asimov submitted it to Thrilling Wonder Stories on 30 October 1946, resulting in yet another rejection ; submission of the expanded version to Astounding resulted in still another rejection.

After that, both versions of the story disappeared, and Asimov recorded " Big Game " as lost.

However, after publication of The Early Asimov, a fan named Matthew Bruce Tepper found a copy of the original version among Asimov's papers at Boston University, and Asimov finally published the story in the anthology Before the Golden Age.