Universe 5

by Terry Carr (editor)

Very good in very good dust jacket (previous owner's name, minor edgewear to dj) Hardcover - New Random House,, (1974). Hardcover -. Very good in very good dust jacket (previous owner's name, minor edgewear to dj). Book club edition. An anthology containing 12 original short stories, by Hilary Bailey, George Alec Effinger, Stephen Goldin, Kris Neville, Ursula Le Guin, Gene Wolfe and more. 181 pp.

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fiction, Collections

211 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

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

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fifth volume of Carr's original anthology series contains a dozen stories that are mostly shorter and lighter in tone that the previous couple of volumes. The stories tend to be more of the thought-variant style than to the dystopian variety. I enjoyed the stories by Edgar Pangborn, Ursula K. LeGuin, and George Alec Effinger in particular, as well as some from less well-known writers such as Hilary Bailey, Stephen Goldin, and Kris Neville. It's a collection of thought-provoking and diverting entertainments, and the Universe series as a whole was a high-point of Carr's editorial career.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I continue to dip into my collection of unread 1970s science fiction before passing it on. This 1974 collection of science-fiction short stories has a number of mind-tickling entries. These are thought-experiments, not the space exploration sci-fi of the 1950s and '60s that came before. The first story, by F. M. Busby, "If This Is Winnetka, You Must Be Judy," is an early version of what has now become an "unmoored in time" trope. It is a good one and may have influenced later time-dislocation novels such as "The Time Traveler's Wife." Ursula K. Le Guin is the most familiar author in the book; her entry "Schroedinger's Cat" is a bit of a spoof on the fluctuations of reality in quantum physics theory. There are a couple of other light spoofs (including a take-off on Sherlock Holmes and his robot sidekick), a number of dystopian visions, a creepily clever shape-shifter story by J. Michael Reaves, and a sad story by Edgar Pangborn of prejudice against post-apocalypse mutants.

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a spotty collection containing both established and unestablished writers, its quality being on a par with an average issue of a pulp science fiction magazine of the period. Carr contributed very little in terms of critical apparatus, just short intoductions. The best of the lot, in my opinion, is Pangborn's "The Night Wind", a sympathetic portrayal of homosexuality in a post-holocaust Christian society.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terry Carr shows impeccable taste in this short anthology of stories published in 1974. Among my favorites:

"If this is Winnetka, You must be Judy" by FM Busby treads romantic ground later developed more fully in books like The Time Traveler's Wife.

"The Night is Cold, the Stars are Far Away" by Mildred Broxon takes us to a world with a single-planet system which never develops astronomy.

"M is for the Many" by Jon J Ross prefigures the internet in a future of detachment and self-indulgence.

"The Rubber Bend" by Gene Wolfe features a crossover between robotic parodies of a pair of famous consulting detectives.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly dark science fiction short stories, I enjoyed Le Guin's Schrödinger's Cat the most.

[Jeremy Sovereign · Rating 3 out of 5]

some good stories, some just ok

[Patrick]

2/2/14: "Passion Play" by J. Michael Reaves.