Carr, Terry
Entry updated 28 October 2024. Tagged: Author, Editor, Fan.
(1937-1987) US author and editor; married to Carol Carr from 1961 until his death. He became an sf fan in 1949 and, throughout the 1950s (and later), enjoyed a long and prolific career as such; one of his Fanzines, Fanac, co-edited with Ron Ellik, won a Hugo in 1959, and Carr eventually won his second Hugo as Best Fan Writer in 1973. Some of this writing was assembled as The Incompleat Terry Carr, Volume 1 (coll 1972 chap), Fandom Harvest (coll 1986), Between Two Worlds (coll 1986 chap dos) – published back-to-back with similar material by Bob Shaw – and Fandom Harvest II (coll 2019 ebook; exp 2024).
In the early 1960s Carr began to work as an editor and to write fiction, his first story being "Who Sups with the Devil" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for May 1962. Most of his early stories appeared in this magazine; the majority are assembled in The Light at the End of the Universe (coll 1976). He was never prolific as a fiction writer, but the tales in that collection are thoughtful and distinctive. They include "Brown Robert" (July 1962 F&SF), a neat Time-Travel variant, "The Dance of the Changer and the Three" (in The Farthest Reaches, anth 1968, ed Joseph Elder), an ambitious attempt to render an Alien culture by telling one of its myths, and "Ozymandias" (in Again, Dangerous Visions, anth 1972, ed Harlan Ellison), which draws an effective parallel between modern Cryonics techniques and the funeral practices of Ancient Egypt. There were also two minor novels – Invasion from 2500 (1964) with Ted White under the joint pseudonym Norman Edwards, and Warlord of Kor (1963 chap dos) – as well as one ambitious and substantial work, Cirque: A Novel of the Far Future (1977), a Religious allegory, elegiac in mood, set in the Far Future. Because he was not very prolific, Carr's writing has been in general somewhat undervalued.
It was as an editor that he became and remained best known; a reading of his various Anthology series over the two decades from 1964 constitutes a perusal of much of the best short sf published during those important years; for full lists for all series, see Checklist below. In 1964-1971 he worked with Donald A Wollheim at Ace Books, where he was responsible for the highly successful Ace Special series, whose most famous original publications were probably R A Lafferty's Past Master (1968), Ursula K Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and Alexei Panshin's Rite of Passage (July 1963 If as "Down to the Worlds of Men"; exp 1968), and which included further titles of strong merit. He co-edited seven annual best-of-the-year Anthologies with Wollheim, beginning with World's Best Science Fiction: 1965 (anth 1965; vt World's Best Science Fiction: First Series 1970), and initiated the Universe series of original anthologies with Universe 1 (anth 1971). After leaving Ace and becoming a freelance editor, Carr continued to produce a best-of-the-year anthology on his own in competition with Wollheim's, commencing with The Best Science Fiction of the Year (anth 1972) and continuing through 1987; during its run, this series was generally regarded as the best of the annual compilations. Universe continued, although it changed publishers more than once; and with The Year's Finest Fantasy (anth 1978) Carr started a Fantasy annual, which was less successful. Of a wide variety of reprint and original anthologies, the most notable was perhaps The Ides of Tomorrow (anth 1976), with fine stories by Brian W Aldiss, George R R Martin and others.
In the 1980s Carr returned to Ace Books on a freelance basis to edit a second series of Ace Specials, this time restricted to first novels. The impact of this sequence was perhaps even greater in its second iteration, for it included in its first eighteen months at least six first novels whose reputation has lasted: William Gibson's Neuromancer (1984), Kim Stanley Robinson's The Wild Shore (1984), Carter Scholz and Glenn Harcourt's Palimpsests (1984), Lucius Shepard's Green Eyes (1984), Michael Swanwick's In the Drift (1985) and Howard Waldrop's Them Bones (1984). In 1985 and 1986 he won his third and fourth Hugos, both as Best Editor. What perhaps marked Carr most distinctively was his quite extraordinary capacity to commission or purchase work which, once published, seemed inevitable. His authors seemed to speak to the heart of their times. [MJE/JC]
see also: Cities; Energy Beings; Fan Funds; Invasion; Linguistics; Milford Science Fiction Writers' Conference; Mythology; Sci Fi; Startling Mystery Stories.
Terry Gene Carr
born Grant's Pass, Oregon: 19 February 1937
died 7 April 1987
works
- Warlord of Kor (New York: Ace Books, 1963) [chap: dos: pb/Ed Emshwiller]
- Invasion from 2500 (Derby, Connecticut: Monarch Books, 1964) with Ted White under the joint pseudonym Norman Edwards [pb/Ralph Brillhart]
- Cirque: A Novel of the Far Future (Indianapolis, Indiana: Bobbs-Merrill Co, 1977) [hb/Bill Tinker]
collections
- The Light at the End of the Universe (New York: Pyramid Books, 1976) [coll: in the publisher's Harlan Ellison Discovery series: pb/Mike Presley]
nonfiction
- The Incompleat Terry Carr, Volume 1 (New York: The Insurgent Library, 1972) [nonfiction: coll: chap: Fandom: pb/Ross Chamberlain]
- Fandom Harvest (Solna, Sweden: Laissez Faire Produktion, 1986) [nonfiction: coll: Fandom: introduction by Robert Silverberg: hb/Grant Canfield]
- Between Two Worlds (Cambridge, Massachusetts: NESFA Press, 1986) [nonfiction: coll: chap: dos: hb/Bob Eggleton]
- Fandom Harvest II (Reading, Berkshire: Ansible Editions, 2019) [nonfiction: coll: ebook: Fandom: edited and introduced by David Langford: na/Steve Stiles]
- Fandom Harvest II (Reading, Berkshire: Ansible Editions, 2024) [nonfiction: coll: exp of the above: Fandom: edited and introduced by David Langford: pb/Steve Stiles]
works as editor
World's Best Science Fiction
- World's Best Science Fiction: 1965 (New York: Ace Books, 1965) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/]
- Worlds Best Science Fiction: First Series (New York: Ace Books, 1970) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: vt of the above: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/Jack Gaughan]
- World's Best Science Fiction: 1966 (New York: Ace Books, 1966) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/Cosimo Scianna]
- Worlds Best Science Fiction: Second Series (New York: Ace Books, 1970) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: vt of the above: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/Jack Gaughan]
- World's Best Science Fiction: 1967 (New York: Ace Books, 1967) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/Jack Gaughan]
- Worlds Best Science Fiction: Third Series (New York: Ace Books, 1970) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: vt of the above: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/Jack Gaughan]
- World's Best Science Fiction: 1968 (New York: Ace Books, 1968) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/Jack Gaughan]
- Worlds Best SF, No 1 (London: Victor Gollancz, 1969) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: vt of the above: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/]
- Worlds Best Science Fiction: Fourth Series (New York: Ace Books, 1970) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: vt of the above: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/Jack Gaughan]
- World's Best Science Fiction: 1969 (New York: Ace Books, 1969) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/John Schoenherr]
- World's Best Science Fiction: 1970 (New York: Ace Books, 1979) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/John Schoenherr]
- World's Best Science Fiction: 1971 (New York: Ace Books, 1971) with Donald A Wollheim [anth: World's Best Science Fiction: pb/Davis Meltzer]
New Worlds of Fantasy
- New Worlds of Fantasy (New York: Ace Books, 1967) [anth: New Worlds of Fantasy: illus/pb/Kelly Freas]
- Step Outside Your Mind (London: Dennis Dobson, 1969) [anth: vt of the above: New Worlds of Fantasy: hb/Richard Weaver]
- New Worlds of Fantasy #2 (New York: Ace Books, 1970) [anth: New Worlds of Fantasy: pb/Kelly Freas]
- New Worlds of Fantasy #3 (New York: Ace Books, 1971) [anth: New Worlds of Fantasy: illus/Alicia Austin: pb/Kenneth Smith]
Universe
- Universe 1 (New York: Ace Books, 1971) [anth: Universe: illus/Alicia Austin: pb/Davis Meltzer]
- Universe 2: An Original collection of All-New Science Fiction (New York: Ace Books, 1972) [anth: Universe: illus/Alicia Austin: pb/Dean Ellis]
- Universe #3 (New York: Random House, 1973) [anth: Universe: hb/Bob Silverman]
- Universe #4 (New York: Random House, 1974) [anth: Universe: hb/]
- Universe #5 (New York: Random House, 1975) [anth: Universe: hb/Jon Lopez]
- Universe #6 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1976) [anth: Universe: hb/Richard Mantel]
- Universe #7 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1977) [anth: Universe: hb/Roger Zimmerman]
- Universe #8 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1978) [anth: Universe: hb/James Starrett]
- Universe #9 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1979) [anth: Universe: hb/Roger Zimmerman]
- Universe #10 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1980) [anth: Universe: hb/Lawrence Ratzkin]
- Universe #11 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1981) [anth: Universe: hb/Roger Zimmerman]
- Universe #12 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1982) [anth: Universe: hb/Roger Zimmerman]
- Universe #13 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1983) [anth: Universe: hb/nonpictorial]
- Universe #14 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1984) [anth: Universe: hb/nonpictorial]
- The Best from Universe (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1984) [anth: Universe: hb/Julie Linden]
- Universe #15 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1985) [anth: Universe: hb/Peter R Kruzan]
- Universe #16 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1986) [anth: Universe: hb/nonpictorial]
- Universe #17 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1987) [anth: Universe: hb/nonpictorial]
The Best Science Fiction of the Year
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year (New York: Ballantine Books, 1972) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Chris Foss]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #2 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1973) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Chris Foss]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #3 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1974) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Larry Sutton]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #4 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1975) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/nonpictorial]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #5 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1976) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/nonpictorial]
- Best Science Fiction of the Year: 1: Part One (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books/Peacock, 1978) [anth: cut vt of first half of the above: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Peter Goodfellow]
- Best Science Fiction of the Year: 1: Part Two (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books/Peacock, 1978) [anth: cut vt of second half of the above: with new introduction: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Peter Goodfellow]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #6 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: hb/nonpictorial]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #7 (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1978) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/nonpictorial]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #8 (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1979) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Gary Viskupic]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #9 (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1980) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/nonpictorial]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #10 (New York: Pocket Books/, 1981) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Wayne Barlowe]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #11 (New York: Pocket Books/Timescape, 1982) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Wayne Barlowe]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #12 (New York: Pocket Books/Timescape, 1983) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Wayne Barlowe]
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year #13 (New York: Baen Books, 1984) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Janny Wurts]
- Best SF of the Year #13 (London: Victor Gollancz, 1984) [anth: cut vt of the above: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/]
- Terry Carr's Best Science Fiction of the Year (New York: Tor, 1985) [anth: series number not stated, but #14: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Michael Carroll]
- Best SF of the Year #14 (London: Victor Gollancz, 1985) [anth: vt of the above: Best Science Fiction of the Year: hb/]
- Terry Carr's Best Science Fiction of the Year #15 (New York: Tor, 1986) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Ron Walotsky]
- Best SF of the Year #15 (London: Victor Gollancz, 1986) [anth: vt of the above: Best Science Fiction of the Year: hb/David Jackson]
- Terry Carr's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year #16 (New York: Tor, 1987) [anth: Best Science Fiction of the Year: pb/Peter Gudynas]
- Best SF of the Year #16 (London: Victor Gollancz, 1987) [anth: vt of the above: Best Science Fiction of the Year: hb/Jim Burns]
The Year's Finest Fantasy/Fantasy Annual
- Year's Finest Fantasy (New York: Berkley Books, 1978) [anth: Year's Finest Fantasy: hb/Carl Lundgren]
- The Year's Finest Fantasy #2 (New York: Berkley Publishing Corp, 1979) [anth: Year's Finest Fantasy: hb/Carl Lundgren]
- Fantasy Annual III (New York: Pocket Books, 1981) [anth: Year's Finest Fantasy/Fantasy Annual: pb/Lisa Falkenstern]
- Fantasy Annual IV (New York: Pocket Books, 1981) [anth: Year's Finest Fantasy/Fantasy Annual: pb/Lisa Falkenstern]
- Fantasy Annual V (New York: Pocket Books, 1982) [anth: Year's Finest Fantasy/Fantasy Annual: pb/Lisa Falkenstern]
Best SF Novellas
- The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year #1 (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1979) [anth: Best Science Fiction Novellas: pb/]
- The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year #2 (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1980) [anth: Best Science Fiction Novellas: pb/]
individual titles
- The Stormy Petrel: A Collection of Articles about Francis Towner Laney (San Francisco, California: for FAPA, 1959) [nonfiction: anth: chap: Francis T Laney: contributors include Robert Bloch and Harry Warner Jr: pb/William Rotsler]
- Science Fiction for People Who Hate Science Fiction (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1966) [anth: hb/]
- The Others (Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Gold Medal, 1969) [anth: pb/]
- On Our Way to the Future (New York: Ace Books, 1970) [anth: pb/Charles Gross]
- This Side of Infinity (New York: Ace Books, 1972) [anth: pb/Kelly Freas]
- An Exaltation of Stars: Transcendental Adventures in Science Fiction (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973) [anth: hb/Adelson and Eichinger]
- Into the Unknown: Eleven Tales of Imagination (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1973) [anth: hb/]
- Worlds Near and Far: Nine Stories of Science-Fiction and Fantasy (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1974) [anth: hb/Frank Alois]
- The Fellowship of the Stars: Nine Science Fiction Stories (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974) [anth: hb/Joel Avirom]
- Creatures from Beyond: Nine Stories of Science Fiction and Fantasy (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1975) [anth: hb/James E Berry]
- Planets of Wonder: A Treasury of Space Opera (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1976) [anth: hb/Frank Alois]
- The Ides of Tomorrow: Original Science Fiction Tales of Horror (Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown and Co, 1976) [anth: hb/Chesley Bonestell]
- The Infinite Arena: Seven Science Fiction Stories About Sports (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1977) [anth: hb/Frank Alois]
- To Follow a Star: Nine Science Fiction Stories about Christmas (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1977) [anth: hb/Robert Chronister]
- Classic Science Fiction: The First Golden Age (New York: Harper and Row, 1978) [anth: hb/Irving Freeman]
- Beyond Reality: 8 Stories of Science Fiction (New York: Elsevier/Nelson, 1979) [anth: hb/Mike Eagle]
- Dream's Edge: Science Fiction Stories About the Future of the Planet Earth (San Francisco, California: Sierra Club Books, 1980) [anth: hb/Don Shields]
- A Treasury of Modern Fantasy (New York: Avon Books, 1981) with Martin H Greenberg [anth: pb/Paul Tankersley]
- Masters of Fantasy (New York: Galahad Books, 1992) with Martin H Greenberg [anth: cut vt of the above: hb/from Henri Rousseau]
- 100 Great Fantasy Short Short Stories (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1984) with Isaac Asimov and Martin H Greenberg [anth: pb/One Plus One Studio]
- The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume IV: Nebula Winners, 1970-1974 (New York: Avon Books, 1986) [anth: Science Fiction Hall of Fame: pb/Tony Roberts]
links
previous versions of this entry