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Date: Sat, 5-Jan-85 22:50:40 EST
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Posted: Sat Jan  5 22:50:40 1985
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>From daemon Sat Jan  5 22:35:07 1985 remote from lznv
>From psc Sat Jan  5 22:33:13 1985 remote from lzpa
o+ _U_n_i_v_e_r_s_e _1_3: anthology of original science fiction, edited by Terry Carr,
1983.
     So it becomes almost farcical to say that Terry Carr's _U_n_i_v_e_r_s_e _1_3
(Doubleday) was the best annual original SF anthology of the year [1983],
since it was very nearly the _o_n_l_y annual original SF anthology of the year.
Nevertheless, it would have been a good anthology in any year, featuring
excellent novellas by Bruce Sterling and Michael Bishop, and interesting
stuff by Ian Watson, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Leanne Frahm.
                             Gardner Dozois, _T_h_e _Y_e_a_r_'_s _B_e_s_t _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n

o+ _U_n_i_v_e_r_s_e _1_4: anthology of original science fiction, edited by Terry Carr,
1984.
     This anthology isn't quite as good as its predecessor; which is to say,
it's pretty damn good.  I can't say it doesn't have a single bad story, but
it doesn't have any terrible stuff, and the best is very good indeed.  If
you read SF for ideas, or for characterization, this probably contains what,
for you, may be the best stories of the year.  Along with the new Ace
Specials line, I think Terry Carr has sewed up the 1985 Hugo for best editor
of 1984.  Contents:

o+ "The Lucky Strikes": novella, Kim Stanley Robinson
     This is an alternate history story.  This is a story about an American
bombadier in WWII, older and a little wiser than his companions, unhappy
with strategic bombing.  This is a story about the glory of war, as seen by
its young participants, and about how that glory can ferment more wars when
the young soldiers become statesmen, policy makers, and voters.  One of the
above, some of the above, all of the above.
     This is a character story, not a plot-and-action story.  This is an
idea story.  This is a _g_o_o_d story.  All of the above.

o+ "Gate of Horn, Gate of Ivory", short story by Robert Silverberg
     What if the future holds Hell in store for us, if we shall never know a
world better than our own, here and now?  Or what if the future holds
paradise, so grand that the present is intolerable in comparison?
     Neither is likely.  Some things get better, some worse.  But simplicity
and purity are tools of good writers.  Silverberg, more than a good writer,
builds a pretty little piece with those tools, and a few more.

o+ "Passing as a Flower in the City of the Dead", novelette (?) by Sharon N.  Farber
     Some babies are born without immune systems.  Some of them are put into
space suits, and in general, germ-free environments.  They can never leave.
     Some adults lose their immune systems, by disease, ore more likely, by
trying to cure diseases like leukemia.  It isn't considered practical to put
them in space suits.
     Would a space habitat be more practical?  Could an artist find
inspiration in a hospital for the terminally cured?  And wasn't there
something about one-eyed men in the country of the blind. . . .

o+ "O", short story by Damon Knight
     "One day, everybody in the world whose name began with the letter _o
disappeared." Cute, short, but tries to make a point too heavy for this
story to support.

o+ "Art in the War Zone", story by Pat Murphy
     If you declare war on artists, will they fight, or paint?  The phrase,
"the art of war", may never be the same again.

o+ "Interlocking Pieces", short story by Molly Gloss
     A story about medicine, and moral ambiguity, and forgiveness.  Or the
lack of any of those.  Short, somewhat disturbing, and based upon a new (and
scary) idea.

o+ "The Menagerie of Babel", novelette by Carter Scholz
     *sigh* With a strong enough delusion, you don't need reality.  Life is
meaningless, its variety a violation of order.  Darwin was right, Lamark was
right.
     There are people who like this type of story.  With a few exceptions, I
don't like _t_h_e_m, either.

o+ "Deadtime", short story by Joel Richards
     Time travel would be as useful to policemen as it would be disturbing
to philosophers.  This story has a new twist: time travel primarily as a
tool of law and order.  Of course, not everyone _l_i_k_e_s order.
     This one's a bit hard to follow, but worth it.  The characters are, by
and large, vivid.  The only exception is the killer.  He's motivated by some
obscure Buddhist logic . . .  and the writer's desire to tell a twisted, but
good, story.

o+ "Me/Days": short story by Gregory Benford
     What can I say about this story?  I can give away the whole point, and
say it didn't make it very well.  I can compare it to Greg Bear's "Blood
Music", another story I didn't much care for.  I can say that I wrote a
pretty bad story years ago, consisting entirely of BMDP dumps and
unattributed dialog, that I think was a better attempt at telling a story
from an inanimate point of view.
     I can tell you I didn't like "Me/Days" much, but I guess you've figured
that out by now.

o+ "Black Coral", novelette by Lucius Shepard
     Shepard's novel, _G_r_e_e_n _E_y_e_s, has been criticized for being confusing.
If you didn't like that, you won't like this.  I haven't made up my mind
yet, but it's by no means my favorite story of the anthology.
-- 
	-Paul S. R. Chisholm
	...!hogpd!pegasus!lzmi!psc         The above opinions are my own,
	...!cbosg!lzmi!psc                 and do not necessarily represent
	...!ucbvax!ihnp4!lznv!psc          those of anyone else.