Terry's Universe: Science fiction's finest writers join in honoring the memory of Terry Carr

by Beth Meacham (Editor)

This collection of all new short fiction by thirteen of today's top science fiction writers represents a memorial to the late Terry Carr and includes contributions by Ursulia K. Le Guin, Roger Zelazny, and Robert Silverberg, among others

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

234 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This rather fabulous book was published as a tribute to Terry Carr on the occasion of his untimely death, with all proceeds going to his widow, Carol Carr. It has a wonderful cover painting by Mike Presley, which was going to illustrate Harlan Ellison's contribution, but he didn't finish it on time, and instead donated a three-page "Last Words about Terry", which is, of course, as much (if not more) about Ellison as Carr. (In fact, he appears never to have finished, or at least published, it under that title; it is not found to be on the ISFDB bibliiography.

I slightly knew Terry Carr. My beloved spousal overunit knew him rather better, from encounters at the Other Change of Hobbit, back in the day. She had the advantage of not having a clue who he was when they met. He was a genuinly nice human being, of which there are and always have been far too few.

Anyway, the stories.

Robert Silverberg, "House of Bones". A man trapped in the most recent Ice Age by a time-travel experiment gone at least partly wrong has been accepted (more or less) by a tribe of Cro-Magnon (i.e., modern humans). He is sent on a test: to kill the "stranger" who has lately been seen on the tribe's territory. Solid, but not spectacular.

Ursula K. Le Guin, "Kore 87". A take on a myth from the title character's PoV. Good, as one expects from Le Guin, but not as good as I would have liked.

Fritz Leiber, "Slack Lankhmar Afternoon Featuring Hisvet". The Grey Mouser finds himself in a difficult position, involving women. But doesn't he always? Very minor.

Kate Wilhelm, "Isoceles". About a love triangle, with no detectable sff content. It has a nice twist.

Carter Scholz, "Transients". Very confusing. I'm not sure I understood it in the end. I mean, I eventually figured out what was happening, but could not for the life of me figure out why.

Michael Swanwick, "The Dragon Line". Another myth-based story, from a very unexpected angle. Very nice indeed.

R.A. Lafferty, "Le Hot Sport". The second-best story in the anthology, concerns Gypsy (the term used in this story) foreknowledge and the inevitability or otherwise of fated events.

Kim Stanley Robinson, "The Lunatics". Slave miners and revenge, in the Moon. Fascinating stuff.

Roger Zelazny, "Deadboy Donner and the Filstone Cup". Classic Zelazny, a stfnal pastiche of Damon Runyan, and quite a good one.

Gene Wolfe, "Lukora". Looking for the Little People in all the rignt places, on a distant planet. Decidedly minor Wolfe, which means still pretty good.

Gregory Benford, "At the Double Solstice", a postapocalyptic story of neoprimitve humans trying to survive in a world controlled by the machines their g'g'g'g'great grancestors created. This is not a "Terminator'ish future with robots out to destory humans; it is more of a "humans are irrelevant to their purposes" situation. Fascinating, but I can't decide whether I _liked_ it or not.

And finally...

Terry Carr, "The Dance of the Changer and the Three." I had read this once before, about fifty years ago, in Vertex magazine. I pretty much failed to comprehend about half of it back then, but I remembered it as being probably the weirdest "weird aliens" story I had ever read. I don't know now if that's still the case, but it's up there. And, of course, it's the best story in the book, to the point of unfair competition.

I'm rather sorry I didn't read this in 1987 when it came out; it stayed on Mount Tsundoku far too long, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. It's rather distressing to think that, not even counting Terry, more than half of the writers in this book are no longer with us.

Damn, I feel old.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this when it was new, bur at this point I only recall two stories:

* "The Dragon Line" by Michael Swanwick. In modern America, Merlin is rescued from the ground by a Mordred who has lived through the years between Arthur's time and ours. 3.5+ stars

* "The Dance of the Changer and the Three", by Terry Carr. 5-star story, in memory anyway.

[Purviben K. Trivedi-Ziemba · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a mixed bag of book.

There are some good ones and some total duds.

I will pass it.

[Nemo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag, and a lot of dated content, but still worth the read.