Subject: UNIVERSE 2 edited by Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber

From: [email-masked] (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070)
Date: 2 Jul 92 22:35:26 GMT

UNIVERSE 2 edited by Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper

     As Silverberg says in his introduction, "This is the second of a new
series of anthologies of previously unpublished science fiction stories,
carrying on the name and spirit of the distinguished UNIVERSE series that
the late Terry Carr produced between 1971 and 1987."  (Of course, he then
goes on to explain how that's not entirely accurate, but you get the idea.)

     UNIVERSE 2 contains twenty-two stories, ranging from the memorable to
the unremarkable to the incoherent.  The best is "The Passing of the
Eclipse" by Donna Farley, about a future society in which people all wear
masks and, by extension, about the (figurative) masks we all wear in our
society.  It's a moving story, and a thought-provoking one, worthy of
consideration come Hugo time next year.

     Almost as good is Kathe Koja's "By the Mirror of My Youth," about the
consequences to one family when cloning humans becomes a real possibility.
It  did remind me a lot of Faye Weldon's "The Cloning of Joanna May" (I hope
I have the title right there), though I suspect coincidence rather than
influence.  (For reasons surpassing MY understanding, Silverberg and Haber
follow this story with a protagonist named Rachel with another story with a
protagonist named Rachel.  This is as bad as FULL SPECTRUM 2's placement of
David Brin's "The Giving Plague" immediately following Karen Haber's "A
Plague of Strangers"--and there's an irony that one of the "victims" of the
latter is one of the "perpetrators" here.  Part of editing is sequencing,
and alas, this sometimes seems random.)

     Sean McMullen's "Souls in the Great Machine" is a must-read for people
interested in the history of technology, alternate technologies, and what it
really means to become "cogs in the machine."  (If this story seems
unlikely, I suggest you read Kevin Anderson and Doug Beason's TRINITY
PARADOX for a demonstration of how the idea here was actually applied in our
world.)  Other stories worth reading include "Bruning Bush" by Carolyn
Gilman and "Lost in Transmission" by Tony Daniel.

     I found this anthology spotty, but with five very-good-to-excellent
stories (including one of Hugo caliber), I feel I can recommend it.

%B      Universe 2
%E      Robert Silverberg
%E      Karen Haber
%C      New York
%D      April 1992
%I      Bantam
%O      hardback, US$21.50
%G      ISBN 0-553-08038-5
%P      397pp
%S      Universe
%V      2

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 908 957 2070   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or [email-masked]