Janet Opal Asimov (née Jeppson; 6 August 1926 – 25 February 2019) was an American science fiction writer, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. She was the second wife of Isaac Asimov, married in 1973.
Her literary, science fiction work was focused on children and incorporated psychiatry-related ideas.
She was the actual author of the Norby series, her husband just polished her manuscripts and was put on the cover for marketing. She wrote the eleventh book, Norby and the Terrified Taxi (1997), alone.
She also co-wrote with Isaac the humorous fiction anthology book Laughing Space (1982) and the non-fiction books How to Enjoy Writing: A Book of Aid and Comfort (1987) and Frontiers II (1993).
After Isaac's death, she represented the Asimov estate and authorized or even asked for the second Foundation trilogy, a trilogy of robot mysteries by Mark W. Tiedemann, another mystery by Alexander C. Irvine and the I, Robot prequel trilogy by Mickey Zucker Reichert.
She edited the book It's Been a Good Life (2002), which is a collection of Isaac Asimov's diaries, personal letters and condensated three earlier autobiographies.
Notes for a Memoir: On Isaac Asimov, Life, and Writing (2006) is her own memoir, capturing besides other things her memories on the husband.
Her novels beyond the Norby series are:
- The Second Experiment (1974)
- The Last Immortal (1980)
- Mind Transfer (1988)
- The Package in Hyperspace (1988)
- Murder at the Galactic Writers' Society (1994)
- The House Where Isadora Danced (2009)