Shah Guido G.
{{Short description|1951 short story by Isaac Asimov}}
{{notability|date=March 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
"Shah Guido G." is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov.{{Cite web |title=Shah Guido G. |url=https://www.asimovreviews.net/Stories/Story241.html |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=www.asimovreviews.net}} It was first published in the November 1951{{Cite web |title=Fundación, de Isaac Asimov |url=https://librosdelnorte.com/inicio/7687-fundacion-9788401496516.html?srsltid=AfmBOorcl-YNnaFQvZJ2l2Z3wAtmg6385CtNNHBxAgj5xrRR3IwSAm41 |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=Libros del norte |language=es}} issue of Marvel Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1975 collection Buy Jupiter and Other Stories, where Asimov explains his love of puns. It is an example of a shaggy dog story, as indicated by the title ("ShahGui doG").
Plot summary
Shah Guido G. is the nickname of Guido Garshthavastra, the hereditary Secretary-General of the United Nations ("Sekjen"), a tyrant who rules the Earth from a levitating island called Atlantis.
Philo Plat is an aristocrat who secretly plots Shah Guido G.'s downfall. When he learns that the stations that power the Sky-Island's anti-gravitational beams are close to critical, Plat convinces Shah Guido G. to order in a division of Waves (female shock-troops whose name derives from the WAVES of the United States Navy) to put down a supposed rebellion by the technicians.
As Plat suspected, the weight of the Waves' cruisers is sufficient to overload the Sky-Island's power generators, causing it to plummet to the ground, thereby liberating the people from tyranny. The story ends with the punning punchline: "Why, once more in history, Atlantis sank beneath the Waves."
Editions
- Asimov, Isaac, Buy Jupiter and Other Stories, Fawcett Crest, New York, 1975, pp. 33–44. In his background notes on page 42, Asimov himself defines the tale as a shaggy dog story, and lets the reader in on the "Shahgui (shaggy) Dog" pun in the title.
==See also==
External links
- {{ISFDB title|68269}}
References
Category:Short stories by Isaac Asimov
Category:Works originally published in American magazines
Category:Works originally published in science fiction magazines
Category:American short stories
Category:Works originally published in fantasy fiction magazines
Category:Works originally published in pulp magazines