Asimov plagiarism?

[Ian Heel]

Can anyone help solve a mystery please? I have received a 750 word text as a submission for a short story writing competition. The style is very Asimov and sounds familiar however despite various attempts I have not been able to identify if the text has been plagiarised. The story is set in outerspace and involves the potential imminent destruction of a planet. An extract from the text reads
"pressed a jelly bean between his finger and thumb, crushing it into
apaste. “Let me see if I understand you correctly Mr....."
Does anyone recognise this?
I may be being unfair to the writer, however I just have this feeling that it is not original.
Many thanks in advance for any ideas.
Ian

 

[Bick]

For one reason and another, over the past year I've read 12 Asimov novels, and about 60-70 short stories. And I'm afraid that doesn't ring any bells. Perhaps this helps in a strange way - it seems unlikely to be him, based on my wide recent reading of the author.

 

[Ian Heel]

Hi Bick, Many thanks for your comments, they are very helpful. There is just something about the style and phrases used by this writer.

I dont suppose I could test your memory banks with 2 more phrases / extracts to see if they ring any bells?

They are:

"Surrounding him were advisors, secretaries, scientists, architects - plus a coterie of nondescript underlings"

and

"Finally, he had his chance to unleash the fantasy of complete devastation that had drivenhis entire career."

Any thoughts / ideas or moments of Henry Jackson inspriration gratefully received!

Ian

 

[J-Sun]

Are you asking if these last two are also Asimov? Because I'd be astonished if "coterie of nondescript underlings" and "unleash the fantasy of complete devastation" were and I have no recollection of them.

 

[Ian Heel]

Hi J-Sun, Yes I am asking if those 2 phrases are also potentially Asimov (or maybe another famous author?). However it is very helpful that you think the style does not fit Asimov. Many thanks for your post.

Ian

 

[Garashta]

"coterie of nondescript underlings" is exactly the kind of words asimov would never use. His writing style is clear, complettelly devoid of any such verborragic m***********.

 

[Danny McG]

verborragic m***********.

Dunno what it means but it's gone right into my "use this" file

 

[tinkerdan]

This is a common way to connect those words
between his thumb and forefinger
So maybe the reversal he used triggered an image of those words.


did the author really us apaste or is that your error.

You will be happy to know that if you do a search for those now they point back to this article right here.

 

[sunspoke]

It's difficult to gauge given that the excerpts you've provided aren't explicitly SciFi. Asimov was a very influential force and the author of the submission may simply be one of the many people heavily inspired by his work.

 

[tinkerdan]

Just had a thought:

Which famous authors do you write like?

Apply automated text analysis to a sample of your writing to learn which famous authors from Project Gutenberg share your style.

markallenthornton.com

There are several sites like the one above.
Maybe next time you could enter some of the text and see what comes out.