"Black Friar of the Flame" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov.
Three days later, Asimov got the story back with a rejection slip that said, "You have a basic idea that might be made into an interesting yarn, but as it is, it is not strong enough.
"[1] Asimov was not discouraged; he had succeeded in revising his earlier story "Trends" to Campbell's satisfaction, and decided he could do the same with "Pilgrimage".
Following yet another rewrite, removing the religious dimension, Reiss accepted the story on 7 October 1941, running it in the Spring 1942 issue under the title "Black Friar of the Flame".
The story opens with Russell Tymball, a nationalist Earthman, gaining possession of a Lhasinuic dispatch ordering the evacuation of Earth's human population and the planet's destruction.
This will deal a death-blow to Loarism, and set the stage for the Second Galactic Drive, a planned Lhasinuic offensive against the disunited human worlds of the galaxy.
Tymball uses the dispatch to convince Loara Paul Kane, head of the Loarists, to join in a second Terran rebellion against the Lhasinu.
"Black Friar of the Flame" has a reputation as Asimov's worst story, based partly on what he described as an "awful" title.