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Best SF Stories from New Worlds #6
Best SF Stories from New Worlds, Vol. 6
Book by Moorcock, Michael
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
35 people want to read
About the author
Michael Moorcock
1,214 books3,771 followersMichael John Moorcock is an English writer primarily of science fiction and fantasy who has also published a number of literary novels.
Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edward Lester Arnold as the first three books which captured his imagination. He became editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1956, at the age of sixteen, and later moved on to edit Sexton Blake Library. As editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States. His serialization of Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron was notorious for causing British MPs to condemn in Parliament the Arts Council's funding of the magazine.
During this time, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of "James Colvin," a "house pseudonym" used by other critics on New Worlds. A spoof obituary of Colvin appeared in New Worlds #197 (January 1970), written by "William Barclay" (another Moorcock pseudonym). Moorcock, indeed, makes much use of the initials "JC", and not entirely coincidentally these are also the initials of Jesus Christ, the subject of his 1967 Nebula award-winning novella Behold the Man, which tells the story of Karl Glogauer, a time-traveller who takes on the role of Christ. They are also the initials of various "Eternal Champion" Moorcock characters such as Jerry Cornelius, Jerry Cornell and Jherek Carnelian. In more recent years, Moorcock has taken to using "Warwick Colvin, Jr." as yet another pseudonym, particularly in his Second Ether fiction.
Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edward Lester Arnold as the first three books which captured his imagination. He became editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1956, at the age of sixteen, and later moved on to edit Sexton Blake Library. As editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States. His serialization of Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron was notorious for causing British MPs to condemn in Parliament the Arts Council's funding of the magazine.
During this time, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of "James Colvin," a "house pseudonym" used by other critics on New Worlds. A spoof obituary of Colvin appeared in New Worlds #197 (January 1970), written by "William Barclay" (another Moorcock pseudonym). Moorcock, indeed, makes much use of the initials "JC", and not entirely coincidentally these are also the initials of Jesus Christ, the subject of his 1967 Nebula award-winning novella Behold the Man, which tells the story of Karl Glogauer, a time-traveller who takes on the role of Christ. They are also the initials of various "Eternal Champion" Moorcock characters such as Jerry Cornelius, Jerry Cornell and Jherek Carnelian. In more recent years, Moorcock has taken to using "Warwick Colvin, Jr." as yet another pseudonym, particularly in his Second Ether fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 8, 2025
Number 6 in the US editions of New Worlds, led by the usual suspects of the UK scene in the latter half of the 1960s. Existential role plays, domestic disturbances, war fugues and enough entropic discourse that plays the long thin line between experimental and science fiction, failing as much as it succeeds.
The Killing Ground • (1969) • short story by J. G. Ballard - finally we get a full Ballard story and not his celluloid-obsessed and desolate cut-ups that eventually found their way into his 'Atrocity Exhibition'. Here, the UK is under attack by US forces. A revolutionary unit imprisons three American troops at the JFK memorial. Mood and atmosphere with the usual bleak global discourse that Ballard does so well.
Gravity • (1969) • short story by Harvey Jacobs - American humorist returns to Vol. 6 with more of his comedic and sex-heavy situational comedic set ups. A clerk for NASA is bedding the wives of astronauts, only while in the act, both clerk and astronaut's wife watch the news and find out that the husband has abandoned his current mission mid-flight. Perhaps more fitting for the pages of Playboy than New Worlds, but a solid tale that evokes the insane astronauts of Barry Malzberg's NASA work.
The Eye of the Lens • (1968) • novelette by Langdon Jones - the first part, 'Hall of Machines', is a masterpiece of horror. Basically a detailed survey of death machines from the basement engines upwards, Jones turns this tryptych into a long lesson in perspective. Once out of the death machine's sub-basements, the tale shifts to momentary glimpses of Englanders in various stages of everyday turmoil, only to climax in a nonsensical collage of images on some fabricated film set. Perhaps he wrote this after watching an Antonioni film festival. Portentous, and yes, pretentious as well.
A Man Must Die • (1966) • short story by John Clute - Clute is one of the finest critics of SF, but surprisingly here, he turns in one of the more memorable tales in the collection. This is one of the wildest generational ship stories out there, even though it doesn't entirely succeed in its scope. Picasso is a young man aboard the Starlounge. Accompanied by A.I. humanoid shadows, Oxen, he tries to converse with the avatar of his dead father in order to reach the final destination - wherever that may be. Very good.
In Reason's Ear • (1965) • novelette by Hilary Bailey - perhaps the best tale in New Worlds 6. A social worker returns to England after serving six years in West Africa. He finds that his country has radically changed. All foreigners are being removed from England, no questions asked. Only to complicate matters more, his friend is on the run from both the Russians and the Americans. Why you may ask? He was an astronaut who crashed landed on the African plains and needs a place to hide. Has he truly figured out the deeper meaning of space travel? A gem really, a 50+ year old story that nails the same political and racial hatred that we see unbridled today. A nice companion piece with Christopher Priest's 'Fugue of a Darkening Island.'
The Ersatz Wine • (1967) • short story by Christopher Priest - Priest tries Ballard. Segmented prose shows glimpses of certain people toiling away in modern life. Not much here despite some nice imagery, this short tales teases more than it satisfies. Perhaps we're all so automated we don't even deserve names anymore.
Lib • (1968) • short story by Carol Emshwiller - young woman roams the city looking for nothing. That's pretty much it, folks.
Baa Baa Blocksheep • (1968) • short story by M. John Harrison - an uneasy entry much like the world envisioned in Langdon Jones' The Eye of the Lens. Stage sets, hollow stairwells, store window cutouts, mysterious men in black, and a secret plan to vivisect all 'the sheep', who may or may not be actual politicians.
The Luger Is a 9mm Automatic Handgun with a Parabellum Action • (1969) • short story by Jerrold Mundis [as by J. J. Mundis] - kind of an exercise in empathy, this lesson tale is merely a walk in the park. A man talks to his dog. His dog talks back to him. The man has a gun. And then it ends. A sledgehammer entry, really.
The Delhi Division • [Jerry Cornelius • 5] • (1968) • short story by Michael Moorcock - it's so good to hang out with Jerry C. again. I missed that wealthy emo transgressive and his sad forays into time and place, apocalypse and atrophy. A solid entry into what I think was Moorcock's finest universe. Sadly, no Una in this one, but Jerry's needle gun returns and so does Jimi Hendrix.
Essential to me, but not the most powerful of the series, which after this volume, switched over to a quarterly format from Berkley.
The Killing Ground • (1969) • short story by J. G. Ballard - finally we get a full Ballard story and not his celluloid-obsessed and desolate cut-ups that eventually found their way into his 'Atrocity Exhibition'. Here, the UK is under attack by US forces. A revolutionary unit imprisons three American troops at the JFK memorial. Mood and atmosphere with the usual bleak global discourse that Ballard does so well.
Gravity • (1969) • short story by Harvey Jacobs - American humorist returns to Vol. 6 with more of his comedic and sex-heavy situational comedic set ups. A clerk for NASA is bedding the wives of astronauts, only while in the act, both clerk and astronaut's wife watch the news and find out that the husband has abandoned his current mission mid-flight. Perhaps more fitting for the pages of Playboy than New Worlds, but a solid tale that evokes the insane astronauts of Barry Malzberg's NASA work.
The Eye of the Lens • (1968) • novelette by Langdon Jones - the first part, 'Hall of Machines', is a masterpiece of horror. Basically a detailed survey of death machines from the basement engines upwards, Jones turns this tryptych into a long lesson in perspective. Once out of the death machine's sub-basements, the tale shifts to momentary glimpses of Englanders in various stages of everyday turmoil, only to climax in a nonsensical collage of images on some fabricated film set. Perhaps he wrote this after watching an Antonioni film festival. Portentous, and yes, pretentious as well.
A Man Must Die • (1966) • short story by John Clute - Clute is one of the finest critics of SF, but surprisingly here, he turns in one of the more memorable tales in the collection. This is one of the wildest generational ship stories out there, even though it doesn't entirely succeed in its scope. Picasso is a young man aboard the Starlounge. Accompanied by A.I. humanoid shadows, Oxen, he tries to converse with the avatar of his dead father in order to reach the final destination - wherever that may be. Very good.
In Reason's Ear • (1965) • novelette by Hilary Bailey - perhaps the best tale in New Worlds 6. A social worker returns to England after serving six years in West Africa. He finds that his country has radically changed. All foreigners are being removed from England, no questions asked. Only to complicate matters more, his friend is on the run from both the Russians and the Americans. Why you may ask? He was an astronaut who crashed landed on the African plains and needs a place to hide. Has he truly figured out the deeper meaning of space travel? A gem really, a 50+ year old story that nails the same political and racial hatred that we see unbridled today. A nice companion piece with Christopher Priest's 'Fugue of a Darkening Island.'
The Ersatz Wine • (1967) • short story by Christopher Priest - Priest tries Ballard. Segmented prose shows glimpses of certain people toiling away in modern life. Not much here despite some nice imagery, this short tales teases more than it satisfies. Perhaps we're all so automated we don't even deserve names anymore.
Lib • (1968) • short story by Carol Emshwiller - young woman roams the city looking for nothing. That's pretty much it, folks.
Baa Baa Blocksheep • (1968) • short story by M. John Harrison - an uneasy entry much like the world envisioned in Langdon Jones' The Eye of the Lens. Stage sets, hollow stairwells, store window cutouts, mysterious men in black, and a secret plan to vivisect all 'the sheep', who may or may not be actual politicians.
The Luger Is a 9mm Automatic Handgun with a Parabellum Action • (1969) • short story by Jerrold Mundis [as by J. J. Mundis] - kind of an exercise in empathy, this lesson tale is merely a walk in the park. A man talks to his dog. His dog talks back to him. The man has a gun. And then it ends. A sledgehammer entry, really.
The Delhi Division • [Jerry Cornelius • 5] • (1968) • short story by Michael Moorcock - it's so good to hang out with Jerry C. again. I missed that wealthy emo transgressive and his sad forays into time and place, apocalypse and atrophy. A solid entry into what I think was Moorcock's finest universe. Sadly, no Una in this one, but Jerry's needle gun returns and so does Jimi Hendrix.
Essential to me, but not the most powerful of the series, which after this volume, switched over to a quarterly format from Berkley.
August 17, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"Welcome to a postmodern museum of disordered landscapes. J. G. Ballard paints a cratered England as a new Vietnam. Langdon Jones reduces the operation of the world to a series of sculptural machines. Hilary Bailey weaves a dystopic England changed beyond recognition in mere years. M. John Harrison’s characters interact with cardboard cutouts on an imaginary set. And Michael Moorcock’s Jerry Cornelius flits [...]"
"Welcome to a postmodern museum of disordered landscapes. J. G. Ballard paints a cratered England as a new Vietnam. Langdon Jones reduces the operation of the world to a series of sculptural machines. Hilary Bailey weaves a dystopic England changed beyond recognition in mere years. M. John Harrison’s characters interact with cardboard cutouts on an imaginary set. And Michael Moorcock’s Jerry Cornelius flits [...]"
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June 2, 2024Sadly much too post-modern for me... DNF about three stories in, the very long and abstract LANGDON JONES story.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews