STARS, Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian

Janis Ian, an American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author, has chosen to publish STARS, Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian, with Lucky Bat Books! STARS was first published in 2003 and is edited by Janis Ian and Mike Resnick —two stars themselves in music and science fiction.

Featuring original short stories by 30 of Science Fiction’s top writers, STARS is a huge anthology in both volume and talent. Each story is based on a Janis Ian song and written expressly for STARS, creating a meld of jazz, prose and science fiction found nowhere else — a treasure trove for fans of both SF and Janis Ian!

STARS was compiled and edited by Mike Resnick and Janis Ian and includes stories by Nebula winners and science fiction greats such as Joe Haldeman, Jane Yolen, Gregory Benford, Orson Scott Card, and more. Included, too, a story by Janis Ian.

The stories “have heart. They have life. They have truth. They move me,” says Janis Ian. “As an artist I can ask for nothing more.”

About Janis Ian

Janis Ian began her career singing in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1975, she won a Grammy Award for her song, “At Seventeen” and has continued to wow the world with her music ever since. Her books include science fiction, poetry, magazine articles and opinion columns, and her top-selling autobiography, Society’s Child. Read more about Janis here.

Reviews

“The undercurrent here is mutual admiration. Stars are supposed to entertain; here they live up to expectations.” —Booklist

“This dazzling, highly original anthology, ignited by the meeting of songwriter Ian and a host of SF writers affected by her music at the 2001 Worldcon, showcases 30 mostly superior stories, each based on one of her songs. Some contributors take Ian at her word that science fiction is “the jazz of prose,” responding to many of society’s sharpest wounds with bittersweet improvisatory descants, like Terry Bisson in “‘Come Dance with Me,” David Gerrold in “Riding Janis” and Orson Scott Card in “Inventing Lovers on the Phone,” tales that probe the angst of adolescence… The entire anthology seems to vibrate with the death throes of one world passing away, while far stranger ones struggle to be born. Their commonality, Ian tells us in her introduction, is that “‘They have heart. They have life. They have truth.” No artist – nor any reader – could ask for more.” — Publisher’s Weekly

STARS Includes Original Stories By

Terry Bisson

Tad Williams

Joe Haldeman

Jane Yolen

John Varley

Kage Baker

Gregory Benford

Tanith Lee

Robert J. Sawyer

Robert Sheckley

Susan R. Matthews

Barry N. Malzberg

Mike Resnick

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Stephen Baxter

Alexis Gilliland

Susan Casper

Nancy kress

Spider Robinson

David Gerrold

Judith Tarr

Diane Duane

Kay Kenyon

Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

Howard Waldrop

Dean Wesley Smith

Joe Haldeman

Orson Scott Card

Janis Ian