Judy-Lynn del Rey became editor at Ballantine Books following its acquisition by Random House in 1973 and the departure of Ian and Betty Ballantine. Her taste for straightforward, traditional SF is reflected in the Stellar series of original anthologies, which implicitly evoked Frederik Pohl's Star anthologies from the same publisher 20 years before. (Both series included a volume of short novels.) The introduction to the first volume contrasts "good old-fashioned stories that are fun to read" with "stories designed to be meaningful, relevant and even significant," and her call to writers and agents stresses stories with "beginnings, middles, and--most important--ends" that solve the problems they postulate.

The most important and popular story published by the series was Isaac Asimov's Hugo and Nebula winner "The Bicentennial Man" in volume 2. Also Hugo nominated were Robert Silverberg's "Schwartz Between the Galaxies" (ironically not the type of story del Rey was looking for, but she had asked Silverberg for a story and that's what she got) and James White's "Custom Fitting."

Most published authors: James P. Hogan (5), Clifford D. Simak (4), then Larry Niven and L. Neil Smith (3 each).