The Monkey's Finger is a humorous science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the February 1953 issue of Startling Stories and reprinted in the 1975 collection Buy Jupiter and Other Stories. The story is based on a disagreement between Asimov and editor H.L. Gold over the story "C-Chute". The title is a reference to W.W. Jacobs' story "The Monkey's Paw". Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Dr. Isaac Asimov (c. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Against the Fall of Night by Arthur C. Clarke in Startling Stories Cover by Earle Bergey Startling Stories was a pulp science fiction magazine which also published a lot of science fantasy. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Buy Jupiter and Other Stories is a 1954 collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov. ... Horace Leonard Gold (April 26, 1914 - February 21, 1996) was a science fiction writer and editor. ... C-Chute was a 1951 short story by Isaac Asimov, originally collected in The Best of Isaac Asimov. ... William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) was an English author of macabre short stories. ... Spoiler warning: The Monkeys Paw is a short story by W. W. Jacobs, written in 1902. ...

Marmie Tallinn, a fantasy writer and his editor Lemuel Hoskins are locked in a heated dispute over a story that Tallinn is writing for the magazine Hoskins edits. To prove his point, Tallinn introduces Hoskins to a university Professor who has experimented on a monkey to enable it to write stories based on a given style and flavour. The monkey is given Tallinn's unfinished story to consider; the monkey finishes the story as the editor requested. Tallinn declares this as proof of his point: if he writes his story as Hoskins requests, then Hoskins is no better than a monkey. Tallinn finishes his story his way.