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Worlds Apart: An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay Science Fiction and Fantasy
Cover art by George Barr. Edited and introduced by Camilla Decarnin, Eric Garber, and Lyn Paleo.
Harper Conan and Singer David by Edgar Pangborn
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree, Jr.
To Keep the Oath by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Do Androids Dream of Electric Love? by Walt Liebscher
Lollipop and the Tar Baby by John Varley
The Mystery of the Young Gentleman by Joanna Russ
The Gods of Reorth by Elizabeth A. Lynn
Find the Lady by Nicholas Fisk
No Day Too Long by Jewelle Gomez
Full Fathom Five My Father Lies by Rand B. Lee
Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones by Samuel R. Delany
Harper Conan and Singer David by Edgar Pangborn
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree, Jr.
To Keep the Oath by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Do Androids Dream of Electric Love? by Walt Liebscher
Lollipop and the Tar Baby by John Varley
The Mystery of the Young Gentleman by Joanna Russ
The Gods of Reorth by Elizabeth A. Lynn
Find the Lady by Nicholas Fisk
No Day Too Long by Jewelle Gomez
Full Fathom Five My Father Lies by Rand B. Lee
Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones by Samuel R. Delany
294 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
About the author
Camilla Decarnin
2 books2 followersPseudonym for the writing of Karen Duff (1948-2010)
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 18, 2020
Pretty solid anthology published on -86, couple of really good queer stories in there.
June 6, 2010
Overall, Worlds Apart is a good anthology, but I liked it more for its raison d’être than the stories it contains.
11 short stories explore the future, society, gender, and sexuality. How do societal norms become the norm? What if sex changes were easily available? Would that change relations? If so, how? These are just a few of the questions brought up in this anthology.
Samuel Delany’s story was written in the sixties when so many things like sex, much less "deviation", were mentioned aloud. Born in 1915, Alice Bradley Sheldon felt the need for a male pen name and so used James Tiptree Jr. Although their short stories weren’t the best of introductions, I look forward to reading more by them.
Considering that way before the Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote gay and lesbian pulp fiction in the fifties and sixties, I’m really not surprised that one of her shorts was used in the anthology. There’s still a ton out there I haven’t yet read, but MZB is a long time favourite.
I’ve read stories by John Varley and Joanna Russ elsewhere and I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Varley’s rub me the wrong way. I’d be more inclined to read more by Russ though.
It's a good collection, especially considering it was published in 1986. I think nowadays there are better GLBT SF anthologies out there.
11 short stories explore the future, society, gender, and sexuality. How do societal norms become the norm? What if sex changes were easily available? Would that change relations? If so, how? These are just a few of the questions brought up in this anthology.
Samuel Delany’s story was written in the sixties when so many things like sex, much less "deviation", were mentioned aloud. Born in 1915, Alice Bradley Sheldon felt the need for a male pen name and so used James Tiptree Jr. Although their short stories weren’t the best of introductions, I look forward to reading more by them.
Considering that way before the Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote gay and lesbian pulp fiction in the fifties and sixties, I’m really not surprised that one of her shorts was used in the anthology. There’s still a ton out there I haven’t yet read, but MZB is a long time favourite.
I’ve read stories by John Varley and Joanna Russ elsewhere and I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Varley’s rub me the wrong way. I’d be more inclined to read more by Russ though.
It's a good collection, especially considering it was published in 1986. I think nowadays there are better GLBT SF anthologies out there.
February 25, 2020
Our local Pride Center closed--funding difficulties, I believe--and their lending library has been donated to the Salt Lake City Public Library. So this ancient paperback came to me practically pristine.
* Introduction. Mentions Theodore Sturgeon's "The World Well Lost", which is not in the anthology but is available online. I don't suppose I'd read it in decades, but I remembered it well. If you think you might never have seen it, go away, Google and read it, and only then bother coming back here!
* Edgar Pangborn, "Harper Conan and Singer David". Far more about being a musician than about being gay--which is a desirable (im)balance. Not quite enough to have me ordering Pangborn's stuff via inter-library loan--neither my city nor my county library currently has a single book of his--but that's only because there's so much other good stuff of the same sort that is easily available to me.
* James Tiptree Jr. (one of the most strategically chosen pen-names ever), "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?". Insightful about beta (i.e., non-alpha) males; I'm one, and probably not solely because I'm gay (and the one in the story, its narrator, is inarguably straight). However, I don't think valid research shows altruism and refusal to contest for social dominance would be the inevitable result of a wholly female human world! And I offer the anecdotal counter-evidence of any Women's Institute ever portrayed by a female mystery writer.
* Marion Zimmer Bradley, "To Keep the Oath". An excellent introduction to her Renunciates Guild of Darkover. Polemical AND a good story.
* Walt Liebscher. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Love?" 3 pages with a punchline that--perhaps fortunately--is no longer punchy, if it ever was.
* John Varley, "Lollipop and the Tar Baby". First appeared in Orbit 19 (1977), whose editors must have thought its theme was fresh and edgy. So it's not fair to judge it otherwise after 4 decades' development of the theme. Well, except that the other central odd idea, , seems pretty juvenile.
* Joanna Russ. "The Mystery of the Young Gentleman". Another one that's not much of a story now that the central conceit, , is old hat.
* Elizabeth A. Lynn, "The Gods of Reorth". Not primarily about being gay, and the main character's dilemma isn't trite. (Done before and since, yes, but not trite.) Another that hasn't quite pushed me into employing ILL.
* Nicholas Fisk, "Find the Lady". Even while reading it, my mental ear relayed complaints about writing stereotypical old queens. To which I counter that there are men who revel in being stereotypical old queens, just as some others revel in being drag queens. I find it odd that the latter get so much more respect for their performances. (No, honey, not me in either case.) Fortunately, the to this otherwise rather ordinary dystopia has nothing whatever to do with that stereotype. Not sure it's worth it, but it's well constructed.
* Jewelle Gomez, "No Day Too Long". I'm not good at judging romances, so all I'll say is that this one isn't annoyingly stupid.
* Rand B. Lee, "Full Fathom Five My Father Lies". This one has convinced me to resort to ILL, for a writer I'm sure I'd remember if I'd ever met before. Helps that The Green Man and Other Stories was published this last decade.
* Samuel R. Delany, "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones". When by far the most inventive thing about a story is its title ... it's not much of a recommendation for an author's immensely inventive novels.
Taken all together, an interesting and representative collection, which is a good enough target to hit. (Obviously, uniform excellence is not my criterion.)
* Introduction. Mentions Theodore Sturgeon's "The World Well Lost", which is not in the anthology but is available online. I don't suppose I'd read it in decades, but I remembered it well. If you think you might never have seen it, go away, Google and read it, and only then bother coming back here!
* Edgar Pangborn, "Harper Conan and Singer David". Far more about being a musician than about being gay--which is a desirable (im)balance. Not quite enough to have me ordering Pangborn's stuff via inter-library loan--neither my city nor my county library currently has a single book of his--but that's only because there's so much other good stuff of the same sort that is easily available to me.
* James Tiptree Jr. (one of the most strategically chosen pen-names ever), "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?". Insightful about beta (i.e., non-alpha) males; I'm one, and probably not solely because I'm gay (and the one in the story, its narrator, is inarguably straight). However, I don't think valid research shows altruism and refusal to contest for social dominance would be the inevitable result of a wholly female human world! And I offer the anecdotal counter-evidence of any Women's Institute ever portrayed by a female mystery writer.
* Marion Zimmer Bradley, "To Keep the Oath". An excellent introduction to her Renunciates Guild of Darkover. Polemical AND a good story.
* Walt Liebscher. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Love?" 3 pages with a punchline that--perhaps fortunately--is no longer punchy, if it ever was.
* John Varley, "Lollipop and the Tar Baby". First appeared in Orbit 19 (1977), whose editors must have thought its theme was fresh and edgy. So it's not fair to judge it otherwise after 4 decades' development of the theme. Well, except that the other central odd idea, , seems pretty juvenile.
* Joanna Russ. "The Mystery of the Young Gentleman". Another one that's not much of a story now that the central conceit, , is old hat.
* Elizabeth A. Lynn, "The Gods of Reorth". Not primarily about being gay, and the main character's dilemma isn't trite. (Done before and since, yes, but not trite.) Another that hasn't quite pushed me into employing ILL.
* Nicholas Fisk, "Find the Lady". Even while reading it, my mental ear relayed complaints about writing stereotypical old queens. To which I counter that there are men who revel in being stereotypical old queens, just as some others revel in being drag queens. I find it odd that the latter get so much more respect for their performances. (No, honey, not me in either case.) Fortunately, the to this otherwise rather ordinary dystopia has nothing whatever to do with that stereotype. Not sure it's worth it, but it's well constructed.
* Jewelle Gomez, "No Day Too Long". I'm not good at judging romances, so all I'll say is that this one isn't annoyingly stupid.
* Rand B. Lee, "Full Fathom Five My Father Lies". This one has convinced me to resort to ILL, for a writer I'm sure I'd remember if I'd ever met before. Helps that The Green Man and Other Stories was published this last decade.
* Samuel R. Delany, "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones". When by far the most inventive thing about a story is its title ... it's not much of a recommendation for an author's immensely inventive novels.
Taken all together, an interesting and representative collection, which is a good enough target to hit. (Obviously, uniform excellence is not my criterion.)
October 19, 2021
It's a little deceptive to call this a gay and lesbian anthology. It's much broader than that and, at times, much weirder. It's more about bigger deviations from hetronormative and cisgender behavior. There are several stories that involve clones, one addressing the moral bizarreness of raising a clone like a child and then utilizing her for sex, while all along planning to kill her. There are several stories about women disguised as men. Not exactly trans men, but just disguises with purposes. The stories are mostly competent and well-written, but are almost all dreary too. And I could have done with less adult woman having sex with fifteen year old girls. That happens more than once.
One of the stories I thought was wonderfully crafted was Rand B. Lee's Full Fathom Five My Father Lies, which was a great example of how a short story should time-release information so that the whole picture doesn't fully form until the end. Unfortunately, Mr. Rand has no major works, just short stories published in periodicals and a tiny, impossible to find anthology. Another standout, if for no other reason than that it wasn't depressing, was Jewelle Gomez's No Day Too Long, a sweet lesbian vampire story. Find The Lady by Nicholas Fisk, featuring an over-the-top couple surviving an alien invasion, is fun in its absurdity.
The two authors I've been most curious about were James Tiptree Jr and Sam Delaney. The Tiptree story, though a big award winner, was so unpleasant I don't think I will check her out further. The Daleny was strange, and though I'm not writing him off, I didn't really care for it.
It's a decent collection, but it's an odd one. I wish I'd known going in that it would go pretty far left of the theme. This publisher had another, similar anthology and—now that I know what the deal is—I might check that one out too.
One of the stories I thought was wonderfully crafted was Rand B. Lee's Full Fathom Five My Father Lies, which was a great example of how a short story should time-release information so that the whole picture doesn't fully form until the end. Unfortunately, Mr. Rand has no major works, just short stories published in periodicals and a tiny, impossible to find anthology. Another standout, if for no other reason than that it wasn't depressing, was Jewelle Gomez's No Day Too Long, a sweet lesbian vampire story. Find The Lady by Nicholas Fisk, featuring an over-the-top couple surviving an alien invasion, is fun in its absurdity.
The two authors I've been most curious about were James Tiptree Jr and Sam Delaney. The Tiptree story, though a big award winner, was so unpleasant I don't think I will check her out further. The Daleny was strange, and though I'm not writing him off, I didn't really care for it.
It's a decent collection, but it's an odd one. I wish I'd known going in that it would go pretty far left of the theme. This publisher had another, similar anthology and—now that I know what the deal is—I might check that one out too.
September 16, 2022
More interesting in a historical how-far-we've-come sense than for the stories themselves.
Quite sad how few of the authors could even imagine another world where queer people could possible be happy.
Quite sad how few of the authors could even imagine another world where queer people could possible be happy.
March 21, 2021
Bif bof, j'ai pas trouvé les histoires géniales. Par contre, l'intro (beaucoup trop courte) m'a été utile sur l'histoire des gays/lesbiennes dans la science-fiction
October 15, 2025
The only reason I bought this collection is because it was edited in part by Eric Garber who, as I only recently learnt, also writes as Andrew Holleran. I have read plenty of short sf/fantasy fiction and though it is not a genre I particularly like it is one that can produce some very interesting writing. Mr. Garber's other anthology 'Swords of the Rainbow' had provided enough stories of interest that I bought this one. The delightful cover art promised much, it was such a time capsule of 1970/80's graphic style and taste, I couldn't help approaching the anthology with a very positive feeling.
Unfortunately the pleasures a time capsule of the visual styles of 1979/80's style may provide is not in itself sufficient, for me anyway, to like or praise this anthology. Ultimately I am interested in the quality of the contributions and the stories in this anthology ,with the exception of Samuel Delaney's, gave me all the discomfort of a tooth extraction without the compensation of knowing that it was a suffering in the aid of future comfort. To many of the SF/ fantasy stories were of the type were way to much time is spent conjuring up strange customs, items, places, as well as invented foreign words while almost all the stories are set in sub Tolkien pseudo medieval/feudal worlds.
The queer/gay themes in these stories contributed nothing to making them more readable if anything boring SF stories combined with boring gay themes/characters just makes for a story twice as unreadable.
Many of the authors in this anthology are regarded as 'classics' but on the evidence here I would not be encouraged to seek out their other works.
Unfortunately the pleasures a time capsule of the visual styles of 1979/80's style may provide is not in itself sufficient, for me anyway, to like or praise this anthology. Ultimately I am interested in the quality of the contributions and the stories in this anthology ,with the exception of Samuel Delaney's, gave me all the discomfort of a tooth extraction without the compensation of knowing that it was a suffering in the aid of future comfort. To many of the SF/ fantasy stories were of the type were way to much time is spent conjuring up strange customs, items, places, as well as invented foreign words while almost all the stories are set in sub Tolkien pseudo medieval/feudal worlds.
The queer/gay themes in these stories contributed nothing to making them more readable if anything boring SF stories combined with boring gay themes/characters just makes for a story twice as unreadable.
Many of the authors in this anthology are regarded as 'classics' but on the evidence here I would not be encouraged to seek out their other works.
October 29, 2021
As with all anthologies, I braced myself for another cavalcade of variety. Stories you just don’t connect to, and those that touch you in some way. Worlds Apart does that and more. A gem I go to for one of my favourite all time love stories, The Tale of the Blind Harper. This gem is tightly written, and beautifully told.
August 26, 2016
Like most anthologies, a very mixed bag.
June 27, 2014
Not a short story fan, left me feeling dreary.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews