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Universe 14
This collection of original science fiction stories includes works by Robert Silverberg, Damon Knight, Gregory Benford, Kim Stanley Robinson, and others
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
52 people want to read
About the author
Terry Carr
217 books30 followersCarr was born in Grants Pass, Oregon. He attended the City College of San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley from 1954 to 1959.
Carr discovered science fiction fandom in 1949, where he became an enthusiastic publisher of fanzines, which later helped open his way into the commercial publishing world. (He was one of the two fans responsible for the hoax fan 'Carl Brandon' after whom the Carl Brandon Society takes its name.) Despite a long career as a science fiction professional, he continued to participate as a fan until his death. He was nominated five times for Hugos for Best Fanzine (1959–1961, 1967–1968), winning in 1959, was nominated three times for Best Fan Writer (1971–1973), winning in 1973, and was Fan Guest of Honor at ConFederation in 1986.
Though he published some fiction in the early 1960s, Carr concentrated on editing. He first worked at Ace Books, establishing the Ace Science Fiction Specials series which published, among other novels, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin and Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin.
After conflicts with Ace head Donald A. Wollheim, he worked as a freelancer. He edited an original story anthology series called Universe, and a popular series of The Best Science Fiction of the Year anthologies that ran from 1972 until his death in 1987. He also edited numerous one-off anthologies over the same time span. He was nominated for the Hugo for Best Editor thirteen times (1973–1975, 1977–1979, 1981–1987), winning twice (1985 and 1987). His win in 1985 was the first time a freelance editor had won.
Carr taught at the Clarion Workshop at Michigan State University in 1978, where his students included Richard Kadrey and Pat Murphy.
Carr discovered science fiction fandom in 1949, where he became an enthusiastic publisher of fanzines, which later helped open his way into the commercial publishing world. (He was one of the two fans responsible for the hoax fan 'Carl Brandon' after whom the Carl Brandon Society takes its name.) Despite a long career as a science fiction professional, he continued to participate as a fan until his death. He was nominated five times for Hugos for Best Fanzine (1959–1961, 1967–1968), winning in 1959, was nominated three times for Best Fan Writer (1971–1973), winning in 1973, and was Fan Guest of Honor at ConFederation in 1986.
Though he published some fiction in the early 1960s, Carr concentrated on editing. He first worked at Ace Books, establishing the Ace Science Fiction Specials series which published, among other novels, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin and Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin.
After conflicts with Ace head Donald A. Wollheim, he worked as a freelancer. He edited an original story anthology series called Universe, and a popular series of The Best Science Fiction of the Year anthologies that ran from 1972 until his death in 1987. He also edited numerous one-off anthologies over the same time span. He was nominated for the Hugo for Best Editor thirteen times (1973–1975, 1977–1979, 1981–1987), winning twice (1985 and 1987). His win in 1985 was the first time a freelance editor had won.
Carr taught at the Clarion Workshop at Michigan State University in 1978, where his students included Richard Kadrey and Pat Murphy.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 1, 2018
Terry Carr's Universe series of original anthologies of science fiction was generally the best of its kind. There was never a dud story. This collection came out in 1984 at a time that science fiction was undergoing some amount of change. In particular, in literary science fiction the movement was toward more small space fiction than large space fiction. There is not a single outer space story in this collection, and only one near space story. All the rest are Earth-bound, contemporary or near-future in setting. Indeed, two stories could hardly be called science fiction at all. The collection begins with Kim Stanley Robinson's "The Lucky Strike," an alternate history story about what happens if one bomber decides not to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Next is Robert Silverberg's "Gate of Horn, Gate of Ivory," a think-piece more than a story, a meditation on what the future might actually signify to the person who visits the future. Sharon N. Farber's "Passing as a Flower in the City of the Dead," is the closest to traditional science fiction. It takes place in an orbiting space station near Earth that houses people with fatal immunodeficiency diseases. In essence, the station becomes an alien society that even the loved ones of the dying cannot truly enter. Damon Knight's "O" is another think-piece, this time a humorous one about the gradual disappearance of the letter "O." Pat Murphy's "Art in the War Zone" is probably my favorite story, both funny and tragic. In a near-future balkanized California, the artists and social-justice warriors of San Francisco try to wage a bloodless war against the invaders from Sacramento. "Interlocking Pieces" by Molly Gloss might just qualify as science fiction, taking place in the near future. In this story, an important politician who is receiving a life-saving transplant slips her observers so she can meet the donor of her new organ. "The Menagerie of Babel" by Carter Scholz really isn't science fiction at all, though Scholz and Carr try to justify its inclusion by arguing that since it contains some speculations about the epistemology of Darwinian Evolution it qualifies as science fiction. The story is really a straightforward account of a biology Ph.D. dropout trying to find meaning for his life in a kind of arts commune in Berkeley. Joel Richards "Deadtime" tells of the future when the police have time-travel technology, and so can prevent major crimes. Rather than treat this as a dystopian nightmare, Richards writes about the practical problems for police officers who are just trying to do their jobs. Gregory Benford writes a story about a computer/robot that gains self-awareness in "Me/Days." The last story, Lucius Shepard's "Black Coral," is another mainstream story, pretty much, with a cheeky ending that suggests it might have been science fiction all along, maybe, if you think about it in a particular way. The story relates the tale of a deeply unpleasant man living on a Caribbean island, who gets a dose of the local hallucinogenic drug, suffers a bad trip, and comes out of it with diminished mental capacity, maybe. Or maybe it was just mindless alien parasites in the drug. Maybe. And there it is, the collection as whole, certainly representative of the state of American science fiction at the time, if we discount all the Star Wars clones.
August 4, 2023
Itend to like Terry Carr's anthologies. This one wasn't one of my favorites, but there are some undeniable gems here, especially the lead story, "The Lucky Strike," an alternate history tale by Kim Stanley Robinson. "O" by Damon Knight was clever, if slight. Pat Murphy's "Art in the War Zone," about a battle fought against invaders by the artists who had taken over San Francisco in a Balkanized future, and ended up being one of the most affecting tales in the book. "Interlocking Pieces" by Molly Gloss concerns an unexpected side-effect side of organ transplants. Gregory Bedford's "Me/Days" is the story of an intelligent computer trying to hide its awareness from humans. But there were a couple of stories among the others that didn't hold me: "The Menagerie if Babel" by Carter Scholz lost me along the way, and "Black Coral" by Lucius Shepard... well, I just didn't;t get the point of it. There's also a slight Silverberg tale herein.
So. Not the best Carr, but still worth a read, at least for the Benford, Gloss, Robinson and Murphy stories.
So. Not the best Carr, but still worth a read, at least for the Benford, Gloss, Robinson and Murphy stories.
July 26, 2016
The opening story, Kim Stanley Robinson's The Lucky Strike, is one of the best I've read ever, and I've read a lot of SF. (It is alternate history, and one might not consider that SF, but so what.) The other stories are still pretty good, but tail off in quality at the end.
Don't be put off by the low rating of 3.60. (Not many ratings yet, I just bumped it up.) People who think mass murder is wonderful, at least when it is done by their government, certainly object to Lucky Strike.
Don't be put off by the low rating of 3.60. (Not many ratings yet, I just bumped it up.) People who think mass murder is wonderful, at least when it is done by their government, certainly object to Lucky Strike.
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August 22, 2008Universe 14 (1986)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews