Stars: The Anthology

by Janis Ian (Editor), Mike Resnick (Editor)

Overview

Janis Ian and 30 top science fiction writers team up to create an astonishing book of original short fiction. STARS is a huge anthology in both volume and talent. Each story, available only here, is based on a Janis Ian song that meant something special to the author, who then wrote the story 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! Also, this edition of STARS features an original new story by Michael Swanwick, "For I Have Lain Me Down on The Stone of Loneliness and I'll Not Be Back Again" based on "Mary's Eyes", a Janis Ian song that has always moved him to tears. 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. It also includes Ian's first original story, "Prayerville." As Janis herself says, "The stories have heart. They have life. They have truth. They move me. As an artist, I can ask for nothing more."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781939051226
Publisher:	Lucky Bat Books with Rude Girl Press
Publication date:	01/23/2014
Pages:	392
Sales rank:	934,393
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

Janis Ian began her career as a singer-songwriter in the 1960s with "Society's Child." In 1975, she won her first Grammy Award for the self-penned song, "At Seventeen" . Since then she has had #1 hits all over the world, sold more than 10 million albums, and had her songs recorded by such diverse artists as Bette Midler, Roberta Flack, and John Mellencamp. She shows no signs of slowing down, recently beginning yet another career as an audio book narrator (which earned her a ninth nomination and second Grammy in 2013 for Society's Child: My Autobiography). Among her current projects are The Tiny Mouse, her first children's book; a series of master classes with the Stella Adler School; tours of Europe, the United Kingdom, and Japan, a young adult novel, and a series of new recordings.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
	Come Dance with me	9
	The Scent of Trumpets, the Voices of Smoke	28
	Finding my Shadow	48
	Ride me Like a Wave	66
	In Fading Suns and Dying Moons	72
	On the Other Side	93
	Nightmare Mountain	109
	On the Edge	146
	Two Faces of Love	165
	Immortality	189
	Hunger	199
	Society's Stepchild	219
	Murdering Stravinsky or Two Sit-Downs in Paris	247
	Society's Goy	257
	Second Person Unmasked	268
	Play Like a Girl	279
	All in a Blaze	292
	Cartoons	302
	Old Photographs	305
	Ej-Es	319
	You Don't Know my Heart	342
	Riding Janis	363
	East of the Sun, West of Acousticville	377
	Hopper Painting	403
	An Indeterminate State	423
	This House	437
	Calling your Name	455
	Shadow in the City	471
	Joe Steele	489
	Inventing Lovers on the Phone	505

Editorial Reviews

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. Spider Robinson, in "You Don't Know My Heart," like Gerrold in "Riding Janis," deals with the societal rejection gays and lesbians often face; "Immortality," by Robert J. Sawyer, and "Society's Stepchild," by Susan R. Matthews, respond to Ian's poignant "Society's Child," a plea for genuine racial tolerance; Stephen Baxter's "All in a Blaze" and Nancy Kress's brilliant "EJ-ES" confront the pain of aging; and several alternative-world tales, especially Harry Turtledove's powerful "Joe Steele" and Howard Waldrop's "Calling Your Name," explore the entrapment of the individual by sociopolitical forces engendered by materialism. 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. (Aug. 1) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

A Herald of Valdemar and her former lover risk their lives to save others in Mercedes Lackey's "On the Other Side," while in Tanith Lee's "Two Faces of Love," that greatest of emotions receives a surprising examination. These tales, together with 28 others (all original), pay tribute to one of contemporary music's most thoughtful songwriters. Based on songs by Janice Ian, these stories by the genre's elite encompass a range of styles, from dark fantasy to cyberfiction, with stops along the way for space adventure, high fantasy, and vampire tales. Contributors include Nancy Kress, Spider Robinson, Harry Turtledove, and others united in their admiration for Ian's lyrics. Most libraries will want to add this to their short story collections. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Ten performers read the 30 short stories in this science fiction anthology. The stories, written by big names in sci-fi, take their themes from songwriter Janis Ian’s music. A few lines from the corresponding Ian song, sung by Ian herself, introduce each story. The narrators are paired perfectly with the stories. All are emotionally involved in these tales of outer space, the supernatural, and other sci-fi topics. Accents, emotions, intonation, and tension hold the listener’s attention. Alien words are interspersed smoothly with standard English. This anthology takes the listener to new worlds and old and is perfect for hours of discovery. M.B.K. 2015 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2015 - AudioFile