A Song for Lya is the first collection of stories by science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 and fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 writer George R. R. Martin

George R. R. Martin

George Raymond Richard Martin , sometimes referred to as GRRM, is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, his bestselling series of epic fantasy novels that HBO adapted for their dramatic pay-cable series Game of...

, published as a paperback

Paperback

Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...

 original by Avon Books in 1976. It was reprinted by different publishers in 1978 and in 2001. The title is sometimes rendered A Song for Lya and Other Stories. A Song for Lya won the 1977 Locus Poll

Locus (magazine)

Locus, subtitled "The Magazine Of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field", is published monthly in Oakland, California. It reports on the science fiction and fantasy publishing field, including comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genre. It is considered the news organ and trade...

 as the year's best story collection.

Contents

• "With Morning Comes Mistfall
  With Morning Comes Mistfall
  With Morning Comes Mistfall is a science fiction story written by George R. R. Martin and published by Analog magazine in May 1973. It was the first story by George R. R. Martin to be nominated for Hugo Award and Nebula Award...
  
  " (Analog 1973)
• "The Second Kind of Loneliness" (Analog 1972)
• "Override" (Analog 1973)
• "Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels" (Vertex 1973)
• "The Hero" (Galaxy
  Galaxy Science Fiction
  Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
  
   1971)
• "FTA" (Analog 1974)
• "Run to Starlight" (Amazing
  Amazing Stories
  Amazing Stories was 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...
  
   1974)
• "The Exit to San Breta" (Fantastic
  Fantastic Stories
  Fantastic Stories is a collection of six short stories written by Soviet author Andrei Sinyavsky under the pseudonym Abram Tertz between 1955 and 1961. The stories are titled: At the Circus, The Graphomaniacs, The Tenants, You and I, The Icicle and Phkents...
  
   1972)
• "Slide Show" (Omega 1973)
• "A Song for Lya" (Analog 1974)

Reception

Spider Robinson

Spider Robinson

Spider Robinson is an American-born Canadian Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction author.- Biography :Born in the Bronx, New York City, Robinson attended Catholic high school, spending his junior year in a seminary, followed by two years in a Catholic college, and five years at the State...

reviewed the collection favorably, declaring that while a few stories were "duds," that "the good stuff in Song for Lya is so dazzingly good that it would cover a much greater multitude of sins."