Tumithak of the Corridors

Edited by John Koblas and A. M. Decker.

"Human Characters and an Exciting Plot!" – Isaac Asimov.

Tumithak of the Corridors is a keystone science fiction classic from the pages of the 1931 Amazing Stories. It made a big impression on the youthful Isaac Asimov, who later described it as "far and away the best and most exciting story I had ever read up to that time. I found the characters human and the hero all the more admirable because he could feel fear. I found the plot exciting and a deep humanity in the sentence 'Tumithak had to learn that in no matter what nation or age one finds oneself, he will find gentleness, if he looks, as well as savagery.'" Asimov also credited Tumithak of the Corridors for inspiring his own description of the underground city of the future in Caves of Steel. Although the science fiction has become far more sophisticated since the era in which Tanner and others were first consciously exploring its limitless possibilities, it still remains a masterpiece of pace, culture-building, and, dare we say it, sense of wonder.