Today, February 19, is the birthday of Terry Carr (1937-1987). While Carr wrote a decent amoung of short fiction and a smattering of novels, he is best remembered as an editor.

He edited The Best Science Fiction of the Year for Ballantine and later Tor from the early seventies to the mid-eighties along with two companion valumes, The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year. (I wish someone would pout out such a volume these days.) Before  that there was the World’s Best Science Fiction with Don Wolheim from 1965 to 1971. There as also teh five volume fantasy reprint series, Fantasy Annual (1978-1982).

Those were all reprint anthologies. Carr edited three volumes of New Worlds of Fantasy (1967,1970, 1971). But his greatest achievement in original anthologies was the Universe series, which ran to seventeen volumes from 1971 to 1987, with a new volume every year except 1974, which saw the publication of volumes 4 and 5. Continue reading →