(1926- ) US psychoanalyst and writer, married to Isaac Asimov from 1973 until his death in 1992; she signed her early books J O Jeppson. Most of her sf is written for children, though her first venture, The Second Experiment (1974) as Jeppson, is an expansive tale whose main protagonist – a Robot – traces and deeply impacts upon the long story of the race that created him (> Cosmology). Later books as Jeppson included The Last Immortal (1980) and The Mysterious Cure, and Other Stories of Pshrinks Anonymous (coll 1985), the latter comprising comical tales of psychiatry. As Janet Asimov, and in collaboration with Isaac Asimov, she wrote the Norby Chronicles, a sequence of tales for younger readers about a Robot and the scrapes it gets into beginning with Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot (1983) and ending with Norby and the Court Jester (1991); a final volume, Norby and the Terrified Taxi (1997) was by Janet Asimov alone. Of greater general interest is her third solo novel, Mind Transfer (1988) as Janet Jeppson Asimov, which carries over her interest in robots into an adult tale involving the proposal to gift them with brain structures so sophisticated that human minds can be transferred into the matrix provided. Sex, aliens and interstellar travel supervene, and the nature of human identity is explored with some panache.
Her partnership with Isaac Asimov was close and continuous, as witness the co-authored Norby Chronicles and other work; the most moving manifestation of this may be It's Been a Good Life: Isaac Asimov (coll 2002), a selection of his letters which she edited. [JC]
Janet Opal Jeppson Asimov
born Ashland, Pennsylvania: 6 August 1926
died
works
Norby Chronicles
- Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot (New York: Walker and Co, 1983) with Isaac Asimov [chap: Norby Chronicles: hb/Anthony Accardo]
- Norby's Other Secret (New York: Walker and Co, 1984) with Isaac Asimov [Norby Chronicles: hb/]
- Norby and the Lost Princess (New York: Walker and Co, 1985) with Isaac Asimov [Norby Chronicles: hb/]
- Norby and the Invaders (New York: Walker and Co, 1985) with Isaac Asimov [Norby Chronicles: hb/]
- Norby and the Queen's Necklace (New York: Walker and Co, 1986) with Isaac Asimov [Norby Chronicles: hb/Richard Rehbein]
- Norby Finds a Villain (New York: Walker and Co, 1987) with Isaac Asimov [Norby Chronicles: hb/]
- Norby Down to Earth (New York: Walker and Co, 1988) with Isaac Asimov [Norby Chronicles: hb/Robert Grace]
- Norby and Yobo's Great Adventure (New York: Walker and Co, 1989) with Isaac Asimov [Norby Chronicles: hb/]
- Norby and the Oldest Dragon (New York: Walker and Co, 1990) with Isaac Asimov [Norby Chronicles: hb/Richard Rehbein]
- Norby and the Court Jester (New York: Walker and Co, 1991) with Isaac Asimov [Norby Chronicles: hb/Richard Rehbein]
- Norby and the Terrified Taxi (New York: Walker and Co, 1997) solo [Norby Chronicles: hb/Dan Picasso]
other fiction
- The Second Experiment (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, 1974) as J O Jeppson [hb/Charles Sovek]
- The Last Immortal (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, 1980) as J O Jeppson [hb/]
- The Mysterious Cure, and Other Stories of Pshrinks Anonymous (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1985) as J O Jeppson [coll: hb/]
- Mind Transfer (New York: Walker and Co, 1988) by Janet Jeppson Asimov [hb/]
- A Package in Hyperspace (New York: Walker and Co, 1988) by Janet Jeppson Asimov [chap: hb/]
- Isaac's Universe #2: Murder at the Galactic Writers' Society (New York: DAW Books, 1994) [Isaac's Universe: pb/Romas Kukalis]
works as editor
nonfiction
links
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