Odabrane naučno-fantastične priče

by Terry Carr (Editor), Tomislav Ladan (Translator), Damon Knight

Odabrao Terry Carr

Damon Knight: VIDIM VAS - I See You • (1976)
John Varley: FANTOM IZ KANSASA - The Phantom of Kansas • [Eight Worlds] • (1976)
Harlan Ellison: VIĐENJE - Seeing • (1976)
Fritz Leiber: SMRT PRINČEVA - The Death of Princes • (1976)
James Tiptree Jr.: PSIHOLOG KOJI NIJE HTIO ČINITI STRAŠNE STVARI ŠTAKORIMA - The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats • (1976)
Gene Wolfe: ČUDESA OČNOG BLIJESKA - The Eyeflash Miracles • (1976)
Christopher Priest: BESKRAJNO LJETO - An Infinite Summer • (1976)
Jack Williamson: NAJVIŠI SKOK - The Highest Dive • (1976)
George R. R. Martin: ČOVJEK IZ MESARNICE - Meathouse Man • (1976)
Steven Utley i Howard Waldorp: CUSTEROV POSLJEDNJI SKOK - Custer's Last Jump • (1976)
Isaac Asimov: ČOVJEK DVJESTOGODIŠNJAK - The Bicentennial Man • (1976)

Nakladnik: Stvarnost, Zagreb
Godina izdanja: 1980.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction

385 pages, Hardcover

First published June 12, 1977

About the author

Carr 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.

Reviews

[Mbgile · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Jeppe Larsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Compared to Wollheims collection of stories from 1976 this was more of a letdown. Not because the stories or authors here are bad, but clearly Carr has very different taste than I do and Wollheim came closer. Carr has selected more experimental stories that are borderline science fiction.

The best story here is "The Phantom of Kansas" by John Varley which is a really impressive story about a woman who finds herself being restored as a clone from his backup several times because someone keeps killing her. The problem with backing up your memory and then restoring it in a new clone has been explored several times, but I assume this has to be one of the earlier examples of this. There may not be many surprises, but Varleys writing makes the story flow nicely and I thought it explored well the various dilemmas such a scenario would bring with conflicts of identity on ones true self.

Another highlight was "Meathouse Man" by George R. R. Martin. A very disturbing but vividly written story about a world where it is possible to "animate" corpses and make them do things. Here the story follows a young man and his struggles with relationships with woman while he gets his sexual experience from animating corpses.

There is also "The Bicentennial Man" by Isaac Asimov which deserves a mention again, but also covered by Wollheim.

[Richard Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of these stories are of superior quality, including the concluding Asimov.

[Steve Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a strong collection of stories published in 1976. Most are true science fiction, as promised by the title, but a few of them are better described as speculative fiction, approaching horror ("The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats") or magical realism ("The Eyeflash Miracles") due to their mythical monsters and otherworldly interventions.

Whether this is a good thing or not depends on your interests, of course. Your taste likely won't agree with mine, and neither will align with the editor's, so this anthology is as much of a mixed bag as most. For example, there is apparently a substantial audience who can appreciate an alternate-history description of Plains Indians flying airplanes in the Civil War, written in dry, scholarly style. This explains why "Custer's Last Jump" has a number of fans, but I can't count myself among them. I simply can't imagine how anyone enjoys this story, and could barely force myself to finish it. Similarly, I didn't like "The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats", and not just because it made me uncomfortable in the ways it was supposed to. But personal taste aside, these stories are all masterfully written, without exception. Whether not I want to read fictional commentary by Mark Twain about Crazy Horse's aeronautical exploits, I certainly can't imagine it having been written any better.

For every story that didn't resonate with me, there was another that was truly exceptional. Asimov's "The Bicentennial Man", about a robot that aspires to become human, will be familiar to many, if not in this Hugo- and Nebula-winning short form, then in its later incarnations as a novel (The Positronic Man( or movie (Bicentennial Man). It's one of Asimov's best, and carries more punch as a novella than a full-length novel. (Incidentally, I hadn't previously appreciated that both the 200-year age and the struggle for freedom of the eponymous "Bicentennial" robot would have had some additional significance to readers reading the story in the bicentennial year of its original publication.) George R.R. Martin's "Meathouse Man" is another standout: a hope-filled tale of love and humanity in a bleak and dehumanizing future, where the march of progress has not left much room for individual dreams. A powerful story that will stay with me for a quite a while.

Overall, the hits are more frequent than the misses in this collection, and they kept me eager to see what was next. None of these stories has aged poorly in the thirty-five years since they were published, and all can still hold their own with more contemporary science fiction.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost gave up on this collection after the first few stories.

Damon Knight's "I See You" was completely unremarkable, but then "The Phantom of Kansas" by John Varley was good enough to keep me going. "Seeing" by Harlan Ellison had an interesting premise but I just didn't care much for the story. Nor did I like Fritz Leiber's "The Death of Princes." I actually really disliked "The Psychologist who Wouldn't do Awful things to Rats" by James Tiptree Jr. I came very close to dumping the book then. But next up was "The Eyeflash Miracles" by Gene Wolfe. This was by far the best thing I've ever read by Wolfe. This was followed by a bunch of good stories, "An Infinite Summer" by Christopher Priest, "The Highest Dive" by Jack Williamson, "Meathouse Man" by George R. R. Martin, "Custer's Last Jump" by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop, and "The Bicentennial Man" by Isaac Asimov.

This book was published in 1977 and shows its age a bit. The stories seem rather long to me now, and I think it's because of shifts in the modern style. "Custer's Last Jump," for example, would have been my favorite story probably if it had ended about halfway through. As it was, I think "Meathouse Man" was my favorite, followed closely by "the Infinite Summer."

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

11 stories from 1976:

*** I See You • Damon Knight
**** The Phantom of Kansas • John Varley
* Seeing • Harlan Ellison
*** The Death of Princes • Fritz Leiber
*** The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats • James Tiptree, Jr.
***** The Eyeflash Miracles • Gene Wolfe
**** An Infinite Summer • Christopher Priest
*** The Highest Dive • Jack Williamson
** Meathouse Man • George R. R. Martin
** Custer's Last Jump • Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop
*** The Bicentennial Man • Isaac Asimov

[Harold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlights include Seeing (Harlan Ellison), Meathouse Man (George R. R. Martin), and The Phantom of Kansas (John Varley), all of which are incredibly good (the inclusion of these stories warrants my four stars). The other yarns are ho hum, not really bad, just not all that remarkable.

[Ed]

ISFDB 262715. OCLC 3085455.

[Isak · Rating 3 out of 5]

priče dobre, prevodioca zapaliti

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Verhalen over zien/visie/ogen met meer dan een tintje surrealisme. Nogal fatalistisch, dramatisch. En luguber. Je wordt er echt niet vrolijk van.

[bluetyson]

The Best Science Fiction of the Year, No 6 by Terry Carr (1977)

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty run-of-the-mill collection of some of the past year's science fiction.