Carmen Miranda's Ghost is Haunting Space Station Three

The inspiration for this anthology of 19 tongue-in-cheek science fiction stories is a song penned by one of the contributors, Leslie Fish, that imagines intergalactic extracorporeal shenanigans by Carmen Miranda and teasingly asks ``what it means for the Human race / That ghosts of generations past are taking off for space.'' Answering this question are well-knowns, less-experienced writers and a couple of novices. The results are a mixed bag of whimsy, farce and melodrama--few entries are memorable but most furnish several laughs. The standouts are ``If Madam Likes You . . . ,'' a sweetly romantic story by Anne McCaffrey; ``Confessional Booths,'' a tale of spiritual hunger by Susan Shwartz; ``In the Can,'' a daffy murder melodrama by Esther Friesner; and ``The Entertainer,'' by Eric Blackburn, about a Scottish con man who finds a meal ticket in Carmen Miranda. Sakers wrote The Leaves of October. (Mar.)