''Songs from the Stars'' is a novel by

Norman Spinrad Norman Richard Spinrad (born September 15, 1940) is an American science fiction author, essayist, and critic. His fiction has won the Prix Apollo and been nominated for numerous awards, including the Hugo Award and multiple Nebula Awards. Pe ...

published in 1980.

Plot summary

''Songs from the Stars'' is a novel in which Clear Blue Lou and Sunshine Sue help manage the society of Aquaria, the only human civilization that survived a nuclear war.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' states "Debates on communications and karma ensue. Gassy."

Tom Easton Thomas A. Easton (born 17 July 1944) is a teacher and well-known science fiction critic and author. He retired as a professor from Thomas College of Maine in 2014 and now teaches part-time at Mount Ida College in Newton, MA. Easton holds a Bachelo ...

reviewed ''Songs from the Stars'' for '' Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact'', and commented that "I enjoyed ''Songs'', and I believe it should be read widely. Spinrad has split human life into technophilia and technophia, and effectively dramatized the necessity of reconciling the two if anyone is to have a life of freedom and comfort."

Greg Costikyan Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959, in New York City), sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X", is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wa ...

reviewed ''Songs from the Stars'' in '' Ares Magazine'' #8 and commented that "Whatever dialectical disagreements one may have with Spinrad's themes, ''Songs from the Stars'' shows once again that he is an extremely powerful writer – among the best science fiction has to offer."

Reviews

*Review by Algis Budrys (1981) in

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...

, January 1981 *Review by Tom Staicar (1981) in

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...

, January 1981 *Review by Theodore Sturgeon (1981) in

Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine ''Twilight Zone'' literature is an umbrella term for the many books and comic books which concern or adapt ''The Twilight Zone'' television series. Comics Gold Key Comics published a long-running ''Twilight Zone'' comic that featured the likene ...

, June 1981 *Review by Paul Kincaid (1981) in

Vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

103

References

{{reflist 1980 American novels American science fiction novels Simon & Schuster books