 "The Imaginary" was the twenty-first story written by Asimov, and the twenty-ninth to be published.Due to the peculiar workings of the science fiction magazine publishing industry, "The Imaginary" appeared a month after the third story in the Homo Sol Trilogy, "The Hazing".In the "Homo Sol" stories, the Galactic Federation has developed psychology into a hard science, with quantitative equations and solutions for behavior.