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Paths to the Stars: Twenty-Two Fantastical Tales of Imagination
From Edward Willett, Aurora Award-winning author of Marseguro, The Cityborn, and Worldshaper (DAW Books), among many others, comes twenty-two tales of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, drawn from a long career of telling fantastic tales. A young musician dreams of playing his songs among the stars...A Broadway performer on the lam is forced to direct aliens in The Sound of Music...Strange vegetables with dangerous properties crop up in small-town Saskatchewan...A man with a dark secret gets his comeuppance on a windy night on the prairie...An elderly caretaker on the Moon preserves the memory of the millions who died on Earth's darkest day...A woman and a bat-like alien must overcome their own prejudices to prevent an interstellar war... From the far future and the farthest reaches of space to the Canadian prairie, from our world to worlds that have never existed to world's that might some day, rich realms of imagination and the fascinating characters and creatures that populate them await within these stories, some previously published, some seeing print for the first time. Time to go exploring...
320 pages, Paperback
First published July 10, 2018
About the author
Edward Willett
175 books119 followersEdward Willett is an award-winning author of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction for both children and adults.
Born in Silver City, New Mexico, Willett lived in Bayard, New Mexico and Lubbock and Tulia, Texas, before moving to Weyburn, Saskatchewan with his family when he was eight years old.
He studied journalism at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, then returned to Weyburn as a reporter/photographer for the weekly Weyburn Review, eventually becoming news editor. In 1988 he moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, as communications officer for the Saskatchewan Science Centre, and in 1993 he became a fulltime freelance writer. He still resides in Regina.
Willett is now the author or co-author of more than 60 books, ranging from computer books and other nonfiction titles for both children and adults, to science fiction and fantasy for all ages.
His science fiction novel Marseguro (DAW Books) won the 2009 Aurora Award for best English-language science fiction or fantasy book by a Canadian author. He has also won a Saskatchewan Book Award for his YA fantasy Spirit Singer. He has been shortlisted for the Aurora Award and Saskatchewan Book Awards multiple times.
His most recent novels include Worldshaper and Master of the World, the first two books in his new series Worldshapers, and The Cityborn, a stand-alone science fiction novel from DAW Books; the Masks of Aygrima trilogy, YA/adult crossover novels published by DAW and written as E.C. Blake; the five-book YA fantasy series The Shards of Excalibur, published by Coteau Books; and the stand-alone YA fantasy Flames of Nevyana (Rebelight Publishing). He's also the author of the Peregrine Rising duology for Bundoran Press (Right to Know and Falcon's Egg).
Other novels include SF novel Lost in Translation (DAW Books), Terra Insegura (sequel to Marseguro, DAW Books), Magebane (DAW Books, written as Lee Arthur Chane), YA SF novels Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star, Andy Nebula: Double Trouble, and The Chosen; and YA ghost story The Haunted Horn.
Shadowpaw Press recently released his short story collection Paths to the Stars and re-released Spirit Singer, a YA fantasy that won a Saskatchewan Book Award and other awards.
His non-fiction titles run the gamut from science books for children on topics as diverse as Ebola Virus and the Milky Way to local history books like Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw for Red Deer Press, awarded a Municipal Heritage Award by the City of Regina in the education category and A Safe and Prosperous Future: 100 years of engineering and geoscience achievements in Saskatchewan, published by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS). He's also written biographies for children of Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Andy Warhol, Orson Scott Card, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Ayatollah Khomeini.
You can find Ed online at www.edwardwillett.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter @ewillett.
His is represented by literary agent Ethan Ellenberg (www.ethanellenberg.com).
Besides being a writer, Willett is a professional actor and singer who has performed in dozens of plays, musicals and operas in and around Saskatchewan, hosted local television programs, and emceed numerous public events.
He's married to a telecommunications engineer and has one daughter.
Born in Silver City, New Mexico, Willett lived in Bayard, New Mexico and Lubbock and Tulia, Texas, before moving to Weyburn, Saskatchewan with his family when he was eight years old.
He studied journalism at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, then returned to Weyburn as a reporter/photographer for the weekly Weyburn Review, eventually becoming news editor. In 1988 he moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, as communications officer for the Saskatchewan Science Centre, and in 1993 he became a fulltime freelance writer. He still resides in Regina.
Willett is now the author or co-author of more than 60 books, ranging from computer books and other nonfiction titles for both children and adults, to science fiction and fantasy for all ages.
His science fiction novel Marseguro (DAW Books) won the 2009 Aurora Award for best English-language science fiction or fantasy book by a Canadian author. He has also won a Saskatchewan Book Award for his YA fantasy Spirit Singer. He has been shortlisted for the Aurora Award and Saskatchewan Book Awards multiple times.
His most recent novels include Worldshaper and Master of the World, the first two books in his new series Worldshapers, and The Cityborn, a stand-alone science fiction novel from DAW Books; the Masks of Aygrima trilogy, YA/adult crossover novels published by DAW and written as E.C. Blake; the five-book YA fantasy series The Shards of Excalibur, published by Coteau Books; and the stand-alone YA fantasy Flames of Nevyana (Rebelight Publishing). He's also the author of the Peregrine Rising duology for Bundoran Press (Right to Know and Falcon's Egg).
Other novels include SF novel Lost in Translation (DAW Books), Terra Insegura (sequel to Marseguro, DAW Books), Magebane (DAW Books, written as Lee Arthur Chane), YA SF novels Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star, Andy Nebula: Double Trouble, and The Chosen; and YA ghost story The Haunted Horn.
Shadowpaw Press recently released his short story collection Paths to the Stars and re-released Spirit Singer, a YA fantasy that won a Saskatchewan Book Award and other awards.
His non-fiction titles run the gamut from science books for children on topics as diverse as Ebola Virus and the Milky Way to local history books like Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw for Red Deer Press, awarded a Municipal Heritage Award by the City of Regina in the education category and A Safe and Prosperous Future: 100 years of engineering and geoscience achievements in Saskatchewan, published by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS). He's also written biographies for children of Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Andy Warhol, Orson Scott Card, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Ayatollah Khomeini.
You can find Ed online at www.edwardwillett.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter @ewillett.
His is represented by literary agent Ethan Ellenberg (www.ethanellenberg.com).
Besides being a writer, Willett is a professional actor and singer who has performed in dozens of plays, musicals and operas in and around Saskatchewan, hosted local television programs, and emceed numerous public events.
He's married to a telecommunications engineer and has one daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 17, 2018
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve read Willett’s work before. I’ve enjoyed every novel of his that I’ve consumed and hoped that his latest work would reach the same high bar. It didn’t - it hurdled right over that bar and left it hanging.
This collection of twenty-two short stories spans Regina-based Willett’s career. Some of the stories were written as far back as the 1980s while others are from this century. I assumed I’d be able to detect which tales are his earlier works but I was wrong; all of the stories are expertly written. The only indicator of when Willett penned the stories was the blurb at the start of each one.
It’s a requirement of mine for science fiction works to push the boundaries of imagination. And Willett didn’t disappoint. Who else would’ve thought to create a slug that sings (A Little Space Music) or a hibernation induction trigger that can put a human to sleep for seventy-two hours (The Strange One)? The readers are the ones who benefit from Willett’s willingness to push the already stretched boundaries of this genre.
My favourite short story in the collection is The Wind. This tale is the only one that featured a ghost and Willett handled the situation with his usual panache. A close second is Devil’s Advocate, which deals with the subject of a programmable afterlife. The concept of designing what you will experience after you die is a fascinating one.
Willett’s powerful writing style shines in this story collection. He has mastered the art of showing and not telling, a skill not enough writers can claim to have these days. For example, when talking about the view of the three-quarter Earth, it “hung in the sky like it did in the famous Apollo 8 photograph that decorated one full wall of the dining room.” He describes lanterns as “...not made of eggshell. Nor are they glass. They’re of a substance woven by tiny worms that feed on vines from the hot, sunny hillsides above this city.” Genius!
Lovers of sci-fi will find Paths to the Stars hard to put down until they finish Je Me Souviens, the last tale in the collection (and Willett’s personal favourite). This book hits all the checkmarks for what I feel are the hallmarks of a science fiction work: imaginative, fantastical, and mind-bending. If this work was a meal instead of a book, it would deserve a Michelin star.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
This collection of twenty-two short stories spans Regina-based Willett’s career. Some of the stories were written as far back as the 1980s while others are from this century. I assumed I’d be able to detect which tales are his earlier works but I was wrong; all of the stories are expertly written. The only indicator of when Willett penned the stories was the blurb at the start of each one.
It’s a requirement of mine for science fiction works to push the boundaries of imagination. And Willett didn’t disappoint. Who else would’ve thought to create a slug that sings (A Little Space Music) or a hibernation induction trigger that can put a human to sleep for seventy-two hours (The Strange One)? The readers are the ones who benefit from Willett’s willingness to push the already stretched boundaries of this genre.
My favourite short story in the collection is The Wind. This tale is the only one that featured a ghost and Willett handled the situation with his usual panache. A close second is Devil’s Advocate, which deals with the subject of a programmable afterlife. The concept of designing what you will experience after you die is a fascinating one.
Willett’s powerful writing style shines in this story collection. He has mastered the art of showing and not telling, a skill not enough writers can claim to have these days. For example, when talking about the view of the three-quarter Earth, it “hung in the sky like it did in the famous Apollo 8 photograph that decorated one full wall of the dining room.” He describes lanterns as “...not made of eggshell. Nor are they glass. They’re of a substance woven by tiny worms that feed on vines from the hot, sunny hillsides above this city.” Genius!
Lovers of sci-fi will find Paths to the Stars hard to put down until they finish Je Me Souviens, the last tale in the collection (and Willett’s personal favourite). This book hits all the checkmarks for what I feel are the hallmarks of a science fiction work: imaginative, fantastical, and mind-bending. If this work was a meal instead of a book, it would deserve a Michelin star.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
August 7, 2018
Paths to the Stars is a collection of short stories by Edward Willett. The stories take place in the future, in space. They are fantastical stories about worlds beyond our own. This collection consists of multiple short stories of science fiction and adventure. Read as Edward Willett masterfully crafts short tales of adventure and exploration.
Opinion:
I was happily surprised by Paths to the Stars. I don’t normally read short stories and was very wary of trying this book. However, I’m glad I gave it a chance.
I loved how pretty much every story in Paths to the Stars was intriguing, quick, and rarely boring. I loved how the plot moved so elegantly fast and how the characters were so different from those in a regular story. I think it helped that it was science fiction, so the author could really go as far as he wanted into the fictional realm.
I don’t normally like stories with aliens in them. I’m not sure why, but it seems to always make me roll my eyes. However, Paths to the Stars didn’t make me annoyed a single time, even though aliens were present multiple times throughout the stories. I think it’s the way the author, Edward Willett, carefully wrote them out. He didn’t make them sound outlandish or weird, like your average Martian. They were very well-thought-out and had purpose.
The author’s writing is absolutely beautiful. I must commend him for how beautifully all of his stories were written. The words just flowed off the page. It was an absolute delight to read.
Overall, Paths to the Stars is an elegant, beautiful collection of short stories. I recommend it for anyone ages 12+.
Reviewed by a LitPick student book reviewer Age 19
Opinion:
I was happily surprised by Paths to the Stars. I don’t normally read short stories and was very wary of trying this book. However, I’m glad I gave it a chance.
I loved how pretty much every story in Paths to the Stars was intriguing, quick, and rarely boring. I loved how the plot moved so elegantly fast and how the characters were so different from those in a regular story. I think it helped that it was science fiction, so the author could really go as far as he wanted into the fictional realm.
I don’t normally like stories with aliens in them. I’m not sure why, but it seems to always make me roll my eyes. However, Paths to the Stars didn’t make me annoyed a single time, even though aliens were present multiple times throughout the stories. I think it’s the way the author, Edward Willett, carefully wrote them out. He didn’t make them sound outlandish or weird, like your average Martian. They were very well-thought-out and had purpose.
The author’s writing is absolutely beautiful. I must commend him for how beautifully all of his stories were written. The words just flowed off the page. It was an absolute delight to read.
Overall, Paths to the Stars is an elegant, beautiful collection of short stories. I recommend it for anyone ages 12+.
Reviewed by a LitPick student book reviewer Age 19
May 21, 2019
Paths to the Stars by Edward Willett is a collection is science fiction. These stories are well written with rich imagination. They can stimulate readers’ interests in space and other planets.
August 20, 2020
epub 9781999382704 259 pages
A fine collection, stories dating back to early writing and some previously unpublished - with brief authorial introductions. A range of topics - some sf, some fantasy, one ghost story - not a duff one among them.
A Canadian writer (though not born here) I've not previously come across, something to be remedied.
Rereading - the ISBN in the ebook is for the paperback.
As soon as I started I ealised I'd read this book before - but the stries are good enough to bear rereading and in some cases they improve with it!
(I really must get round to reading more of his work!)
A fine collection, stories dating back to early writing and some previously unpublished - with brief authorial introductions. A range of topics - some sf, some fantasy, one ghost story - not a duff one among them.
A Canadian writer (though not born here) I've not previously come across, something to be remedied.
Rereading - the ISBN in the ebook is for the paperback.
As soon as I started I ealised I'd read this book before - but the stries are good enough to bear rereading and in some cases they improve with it!
(I really must get round to reading more of his work!)
July 11, 2018
From exploding fruits and vegetables to a shrine on the moon, dedicated to the memory of a devastated Earth, these stories will not disappoint. If you’re a Fantasy and Science Fiction fan like I am, you’re sure to enjoy this rollercoaster of stories every bit as much as I did. I can sum my thoughts up in two words: “READ THEM!”
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews