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Worlds apart: An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay Science Fiction and Fantasy
Worlds apart An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay Science Fiction and Fantasy Author:Camilla Decarnin (Editor), Lyn Paleo (Editor) Eleven tales. Not the first such anthology (e.g., Kindred Spirits, 1984) but easily the best. — James Tiptree, Jr.'s razor-sharp "Houston, Houston, Do You Read" features some male astronauts precipitated into a future where only women survive. — Joanna Russ' devastating "The Mystery of the Young Gentleman" concerns a member of a secret telepathic ... more »sisterhood, obliged to masquerade as a man.
Both these tales are brilliant feminist pieces; the homosexual elements are merely consequences, not prime movers.
"Lollipop and the Tar Baby" is a typically unpredictable, inventive, unclassifiable John Varley effort, about contending mother/daughter clones and a talking black-hole; again, the homosexual element is incidental.
And the sexual references in Samuel R. Delany's famous "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-precious Stones" are wholly ambiguous.
Two stories do explore homosexuality in some detail: a typically sensitive work from Edgar Pangborn, and a clever "lost colony" variant from Rand B. Lee.
Elsewhere, there's a Darkover yam from Marian Zimmer Bradley, plus vampires, androids, alien invaders, and god-players. Fine work nearly all round, and probably destined for a wider audience, given sf fans' omnivorous tendencies, than the editors ("as lesbian and gay readers") seem to think.« less