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June 23, 2003 - Stars © 2003 by John Varley; all rights reserved |
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Not long ago Janis Ian wrote me an email. Imagine my surprise. She introduced herself as "a semi-famous folk singer" that I may or may not have heard of. How anyone who was conscious during the 1960s could have failed to have heard of the 15-year-old prodigy who wrote and performed "Society's Child" I don’t know, but I wrote back and said of course I’d heard of her, and was a big fan. Turned out she is a fan of my work, a fan of science fiction in general, and she and Mike Resnick had come up with the idea of an anthology of new stories based on lyrics from her many, many songs. I cringed, because I usually can’t write stories to order, but I went through her stuff and found something – "In Fading Suns and Dying Moons" – that fit perfectly with a half-finished story that had been lying around for a few years. I finished it quickly, and she bought it, and soon the book was out, with some of the best work by many of the best writers in the field. Spider Robinson has called it "The 2003 Hugo Ballot." My personal favorites: the Orson Scott Card, the Howard Waldrop, and the Kage Baker stories. If you like short SF, you must have this collection.
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