The Next Day is a mystery short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part of the Black Widowers series, it was first published in the May 1978 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. It was later collected in 1980's Casebook of the Black Widowers.
Summary[]
James Drake hosts the Black Widowers banquet, and his guest is Stephen Bentham, a young British editor newly employed by Southby Publications. Bentham is editing Drake's book on recombinant DNA. During the grilling, Bentham reveals he is in danger of being fired. He was assigned to edit a promising first novel by an unknown author, Joshua Fairfield. After Bentham spent six weeks meticulously editing the manuscript, Fairfield saw the changes, became enraged, and stormed out with the only copy.
Bentham eventually reached Fairfield by phone. After an hour of negotiation, Fairfield seemingly agreed to deliver the manuscript "tomorrow." However, he never did and later told Bentham's boss that he would never submit it due to Bentham's "sarcasm." Bentham is convinced he was not sarcastic and is perplexed as to why Fairfield would first agree and then renege, jeopardizing his own book's publication.
The Black Widowers debate whether Fairfield is vindictive or was secretly negotiating with another publisher. The waiter Henry intervenes, focusing on the exact wording of the phone conversation. He points out that Bentham, in his account, paraphrased Fairfield's promise as "the next day." Henry suggests that in direct speech, Fairfield likely said he would deliver the manuscript "to Morrow," meaning he was taking it to the well-known publishing house William Morrow & Company. This explains both his initial agreement and his subsequent failure to deliver it to Southby. Bentham can now report this finding to his employer.
Characters[]
Black Widowers[]
- James Drake (the host)
- Emmanuel Rubin
- Mario Gonzalo
- Geoffrey Avalon
- Roger Halsted
- Thomas Trumbull
- Henry (the waiter)
Others[]
- Stephen Bentham (the guest)
- Joshua Fairfield
- Mr. Southby