The Del Rey Internet Newsletter N 30-37The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is a monthy electronic publication for science-fiction and fantasy readers. It includes publication data on Del Rey books, hype-less descriptions of books new in the stores, selected Del Rey bibliographies, special publishing announcements, a Q & A section, an intermittent behind-the-scenes editorial about some aspect of sf/f publishing, and an "In Depth" section written by authors, cover artists, designers, and other people in different parts of the publishing industry, who talk about their jobs in an entertaining, interesting, and/or witty way. The DRIN is _not_ a promotional tool devised by marketing and publicity departments, but an editorial project designed to make contact with readers, share information, and provide a forum for two-way dialogue. As such, it doesn't list prices, avoids hype and marketing language, and tells the truth. It is posted at the beginning of every month on the rec.arts.sf.written newsgroup, and is also available on CompuServe, GEnie, BIX, various local BBSs, the Del Rey file server (delrey@tachyon.com), and the Panix gopher. There is also an e-mail subscriber list, to which you can add yourself by e-mailing ekh@panix.com. Thanks for your interest. |DEL| Ellen Key Harris ekh@panix.com E.Harris1@GEnie.geis.com |REY| Editor, Del Rey Books 201 East 50th Street, NY NY 10022 USA ====================================================================== +-1 |DEL| SECOND ANNIVERSARY ISSUE |REY| The DEL REY BOOKS Internet Newsletter Number 25 (February 1995) WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES=========================================== WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove. Hardcover. (OL) Book Two of the alternate-history _Worldwar_ series. As the lizardlike male warriors of the Race attempt to consolidate the various beachheads they have seized on the Earth of World War II, Americans, Germans, Russians, and the Japanese each attempt to develop atomic weapons. Told in thriller style, the same way LUCIFER'S HAMMER was--lots of major characters, all experiencing the alternate WWII from vastly varying positions and viewpoints. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- IN THE EMPIRE OF SHADOW by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Trade. (SWS) This second installment of the _Three Worlds Trilogy_ follows the trail of Pel Brown, an average guy from here and now, caught up--much against his will--in battling evil in other worlds: one a realm of magic, the other a technologically advanced empire. Neither science nor magic seems able to stop the evil known as Shadow. And Pel soon finds that a life of adventure might sound wonderful, but in practice it's something much less pleasant. He learns--forgive the expression--that there's no place like home...and now his home is lost to him forever. Real life, real risks, and real consequences. -------------------------------------------------------------- DIAMOND MASK by Julian May. Paperback. (SS) The latest installment in the _Galactic Milieu_ trilogy, in which Fury tries to get rid of Jack and to coopt the incredible powers of the girl who will come to be known as Diamond Mask; Dorothea MacDonald tries to cope with her emerging metapsychic talents while hiding them from everyone; old Uncle Rogi continues to help the meddling Family Ghost...and the reader continues to try to figure out just who Fury is! The good news: the answer is here! The bad news (well, not exactly "bad"): can you trust it, knowing how wonderfully twisty and devious Julian May's mind is... >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- THE HIGH QUEEN by Nancy McKenzie. Paperback. (VC) Picking up where THE CHILD QUEEN left off, THE HIGH QUEEN follows the path of Guinevere's life as Arthur's queen. Faced with her own barrenness, she tries another way to give her husband the heir he requires, summoning and adopting into the family his son from the wrong side of the sheets...Mordred! Not a good idea, you might say--but, after all, Guinevere hadn't had a chance to read the Arthurian legends at the time she was struggling to be the wife and queen King Arthur needed by his side. THE HIGH QUEEN gives an interesting twist to the legendary relationships involved, thus adding to--and not just retelling--the body of literature surrounding King Arthur. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- CODE OF THE LIFEMAKER by James P. Hogan. Repackage. (EKH) Hard sf with wry humor by the author of the _Giants_ series (INHERIT THE STARS, etc.). In the 21st century, a colony ship destined for Mars ends up on Titan. Its crew--including linguists, psychologists, parapsychology researchers, and a whole passel of soldiers--encounters a strange race of beings: accidentally-evolved "robots," the offspring of an alien factory ship whose computers were addled by radiation a million years before. The sentient robots and their multipurpose factories present a tempting target for Earth's industrial complex, but making them into slaves for Earth doesn't seem quite fair to Karl Zambendorf, Earth's best-known and best- loved paranormal talent. _Newsday_ said, and I quote them because this is exactly what I like about Hogan's books, "Hogan skillfully draws the reader into a fascinating philosophical and theological debate, without ever forgetting he's supposed to entertain and tell a good story." (Don't ask me the difference between "entertain" and "tell a good story"; I'm not _their_ editor! I thought journalists were supposed to not mince words...) >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE DEL REY DATA======================================================= February 1995: THE IMMORTALITY OPTION by James P. Hogan (SF) Sequel to CODE OF THE LIFEMAKER; 345-37915-2 Hardcover, 320 pp; cover art by John Berkey; EKH, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER ONLINE WORLDWAR: IN THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) First volume of the _Worldwar_ series; 345-38852-6 Paperback, 576 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; OL, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER ONLINE THE KING BEYOND THE GATE by David Gemmell (F) 345-37905-5 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Royo; DH, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER ONLINE THE DREAMWRIGHT by Geary Gravel (SF) MIGHT AND MAGIC: THE DREAMWRIGHT by Geary Gravel (SF) First of three novels based on the Might & Magic computer game; 345-38292-7 Paperback, 256 pp; cover art by Kevin Murphy; SS, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- March 1995: WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) Second volume of the _Worldwar_ series; 345-38997-2 Hardcover, 496 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; OL, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER ONLINE IN THE EMPIRE OF SHADOW by Lawrence Watt-Evans (SF/F) Book Two of _The Three Worlds Trilogy_; 345-37246-8 Trade; 368 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; SWS, editor DIAMOND MASK by Julian May (SF) Volume II of the _Galactic Milieu Trilogy_; mass-market edition of Knopf 5/94 hardcover edition; 345-36248-9 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by Mark Harrison; SS, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER ONLINE THE HIGH QUEEN by Nancy McKenzie (F) Sequel to THE CHILD QUEEN; 345-38245-5 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Romas; VC, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER ONLINE CODE OF THE LIFEMAKER by James P. Hogan (SF) Prequel to THE IMMORTALITY OPTION; 345-30549-3 Repackage, 405 pp; cover art by John Berkey; EKH, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- April 1995: WITCHES' BREW by Terry Brooks (F) A _Magic Kingdom of Landover_ novel; 345-38701-5 Hardcover, 320 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; OL, editor THE TANGLE BOX by Terry Brooks (F) A _Magic Kingdom of Landover_ novel; mass-market edition of our 5/94 hardcover; 345-38775-9 Paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; OL, editor THE MASTERS' GAMBIT by Jack McKinney (SF) The latest book in the 20-volume Robotech series; 345-38775-9 Paperback, 288 pp; cover art from Robotech archives; EKH, editor THE HUNTER'S HAUNT by Dave Duncan (F) 345-38459-8 Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Romas; VC, editor CLASSIC STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, RETURN OF THE JEDI (SF) The three movie novelizations in one trade omnibus; 345-34806-0 Trade paperback reissue, 640 pp; cover art by John Berkey; EKH, editor CLASSIC STAR WARS: THE HAN SOLO ADVENTURES (SF) Trade edition of our three-in-one volume; 345-39442-9 Trade paperback, 576 pp; cover art by William Schmidt; EKH, editor CLASSIC STAR WARS: THE LANDO CALRISSIAN ADVENTURES (SF) Trade edition of our three-in-one volume; 345-39443-7 Trade paperback, 416 pp; cover art by William Schmidt; EKH, editor ROBOTECH: SOUTHERN CROSS, METAL FIRE, THE FINAL NIGHTMARE (SF 3-in-1) Three-in-one of books 7-9 of the 20-volume Robotech series; 345-39184-5 Paperback, 480 pp; cover art from Robotech archives; EKH, editor -------------------------------------------------------------- MAY 1995: THE CURSED by Dave Duncan (F) 345-38951-4 Hardcover, 448 pp; cover art by David Cherry; VC, editor GODS OF THE WELL OF SOULS by Jack L. Chalker (SF) Book Three of _The Watchers at the Well_; mass-market edition of our 10/94 trade paperback edition; 345-38850-X Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Paul Youll; SHS, editor THE LOST PRINCE by Bridget Wood (F) Sequel to WOLFKING; mass-market edition of our 7/93 trade paperback edition; 345-38853-4 Paperback, 480 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; VC, editor HOUSE OF MOONS by K.D. Wentworth (SF) Sequel to MOONSPEAKER; 345-39461-5 Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Nicholas Jainschigg; EKH, editor THE MISTS OF AVALON by Marion Zimmer Bradley (F) 11th-anniversary reissue; 34535049-9 Trade paperback reissue; 896 pp; cover art by Braldt Bralds -------------------------------------------------------------- JUNE 1995: KINGDOMS OF THE NIGHT by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch (F) Third Volume of _The Anteros_; 345-38731-7 Hardcover, 528 pp; cover art by Gnemo; SS, editor THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: THE NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO DRAMATIZATION by Brian Daley (based on characters and situations created by George Lucas) (SF) The original scripts from the 10-episode NPR series; 345-39605-7 Trade paperback, 352 pp; cover art from LucasFilm archives; EKH, editor THE WARRIOR'S TALE by Allan Cole & Chris Bunch (F) Second volume of _The Anteros_, after THE FAR KINGDOMS; mass-market edition of our 11/94 hardcover; 345-38734-1 Paperback, 480 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; SS, editor FLATLANDER by Larry Niven (SF) Short-story collection; 345-39480-1 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Chris Moore; SS, editor REDMAGIC by Crawford Kilian Sequel to GREENMAGIC; 345-38370-2 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Mark Harrison; VC, editor GREENMAGIC by Crawford Kilian (F) Reissue; 345-36140-7 Paperback, 311 pp; cover art by Romas; VC, editor -------------------------------------------------------------- DRIN AVAILABILITY (Lots of ways to get the DRIN online) 1. read it the first few days of the month on rec.arts.sf.written, GEnie's Del Rey topic on the SFRT, Delphi's Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG (Upcoming Books and Magazines topic), America Online's SF Library or OmniPurpose Library,* or CompuServe's SF Library 5*; 2. send your e-mail address to ekh@panix.com to be added to the subscriber list and have the DRIN delivered to your mailbox the first or second working day of the month; 3. get a copy from the Del Rey fileserver* (delrey@tachyon.com) by sending e-mail with "SENDME newsletter.current" as the body of the message (or send "HELP" for full instructions); 4. read it on the Panix gopher* (gopher.panix.com; choose the Del Rey Books directory); 5. read it at the Internet Book Information Center (WWW address: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html);* 6. read the current issue in the science-fiction area on BIX; 7. retrieve the current issue from the SF archives at gandalf.rutgers.edu *Back issues also available -------------------------------------------------------------- WORKS IN PROGRESS: Changes, Additions, Updates (The DRIN lists only the changes to the Works in Progress report. The entire current report can be found on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books subdirectory, under Publishing Information.) ALLAN COLE and CHRIS BUNCH are splitting up after more than 25 years of collaboration! Allan is currently working on the fourth _Anteros_ novel, THE WARRIOR RETURNS, and Chris will be writing the three books of the _Shadow Warrior_ trilogy, an sf thriller. DAVE DUNCAN has two books coming soon from Del Rey: the first, expected this April, will be THE HUNTERS' HAUNT, another installment in the saga of Omar, the Trader of Tales. Omar's tall tales give new meaning to that expression about what a tangled web we weave... And right after that comes Duncan's big new stand-alone fantasy epic, THE CURSED, the saga of an empire reborn in a world where magic is a curse. THE CURSED will be published in hardcover next May--when Duncan will be Guest of Honor at CanCon. DAVID EDDINGS' THE HIDDEN CITY, the conclusion to his current fantasy series, _The Tamuli,_ is now a Del Rey bestseller, and Eddings is hard at work with his wife Leigh on BELGARATH THE SORCERER, the long-awaited epic prequel to his _Belgariad_ and _Malloreon_ series. He hopes to finish writing it shortly and then get started on the seguel, POLGARA. BELGARATH is tentatively scheduled for 8/95 publication. (Plus, Del Rey will be publishing the first three books of _The Belgariad_ in a single, gigantic, deluxe hardcover volume this fall--first time in hardcover in this country.) DAVID GEMMELL is completing a six-book contract with our sister company in England, Random House UK. He's turned in a third Jon Shannow book, BLOODSTONE. (Del Rey will be publishing Gemmell's earlier Shannow books in the future.) In the meantime, three more Gemmell fantasies are scheduled for release from Del Rey in 1995. A thriller of Gemmell's is currently being sold for British television, and he'll be working on the script for it during the second half of this year. BARBARA HAMBLY--now president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America--will have a _Star Wars_ book coming out this summer: CHILDREN OF THE JEDI. October will bring her new Del Rey hardcover vampire book, the sequel to THOSE WHO HUNT THE NIGHT. Set in London, Vienna, Paris, and Constantinople, TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD promises to be wildly exotic as well as wonderfully entertaining. And this November she'll be giving a workshop at the National Council of Teachers of English convention in San Diego. TARA K. HARPER has turned in her latest manuscript, CATARACT, and is contemplating a third Cat book, as well as further Wolfwalker tales. -------------------------------------------------------------- SIGNINGS, READINGS, CONVENTION ATTENDANCE BY DEL REY AUTHORS PATRICIA McKILLIP will be Guest of Honor at Life, the Universe, and Everything XIII, BYU, Provo, Utah, February 1-4. ROBERT L. FORWARD, hard-sf author and scientist, will be one of the featured speakers at the Mid Continent Space Development Conference in Ames, Iowa, February 17-18. JAMES P. HOGAN will be signing at the Books-A-Million store at 6235 N. Davis Highway in Pensacola, Florida on February 25, from 11am to 3pm. DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS===================================== NEW DEL REY ACQUISITION OF A DIFFERENT SORT (or, THE WORLD'S LONGEST AUDITION) A word from our newest Del Rey editor, Steve Saffel: I joined Del Rey on Tuesday, January 17. My science fiction connection stretches back about twenty years, having begun in high school (Morgantown, WV) and continued into college (West Virginia University, 1975-79), where I worked with a number of fellow students to help organize small regional conventions (MonCon). In the meantime, I earned a News/Editorial degree from the WVU School of Journalism, with a minor in English. I moved to Huntington, WV, and took a publicity/print position with the American Red Cross Tri-State Regional Blood Services. I continued with regional cons (MunchCon, 1980-83) and there met folks from Marvel. I pursued--and caught--a position with their promotions department in November 1983, concentrating on specialty media and conventions, then moved over to Editorial in 1991. As an editor, I spearheaded a revamp of the behind-the-scenes magazine _Marvel Age_, then launched a series of tight- focus, slightly upscale _Collectors' Preview_ specials, two of which are still to be released (in March). While at Marvel I looked into a possible job at Random House, thus meeting Owen Lock, Shelly Shapiro, and the other folks at Del Rey, and even did a bit of freelance editing (some of which I'm going to have the opportunity to complete on staff). We developed a working relationship, kept in touch, and--after this long audition--they asked me if I would like to make this a full-time gig, as an editor. I'm ecstatic to have taken them up on the offer and, now that I'm here, I expect to find my position constantly evolving, presenting me with new challenges at a rapid-fire rate. (Note: We'll be using the initials SWS to mark Steve's books in the DRIN) -------------------------------------------------------------- CLASSIC DEL REY TITLES BACK IN PRINT Del Rey is repackaging some of our classic Del Rey titles this month so that they can be featured in the Barnes & Noble Classic Del Rey titles promotion. The titles are THE FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE by Arthur C. Clarke, THE WANDERER by Fritz Leiber, THE LONG TOMORROW by Leigh Brackett, ERIDAHN by Robert Young, THE BREAKING OF NORTHWALL by Paul O. Williams, WELL OF THE UNICORN by Fletcher Pratt, STARBURST by Frederik Pohl, HIERO'S JOURNEY by Sterling Lanier, THE BEST OF HENRY KUTTNER by Henry Kuttner, DRAGONSLAYER by Wayland Drew, and MISSION OF GRAVITY by Hal Clement. The way we picked out these "classics" from our deep out-of-print backlist is kind of interesting. Stephen Pagel from Barnes & Noble (now, alas, on his way out as sf/fantasy buyer) and another B&N buyer came over to our office, and they, we editors, and our Del Rey sales manager browsed our archival bookshelves, pulling out yellowed editions of this and that and offering pithy critiques like, "Hey, isn't this a classic? I read it when I was twelve!" We made a huge pile of possible books that we all agreed were classics, then later researched the publication-rights status of each one (in other words, did we still have the right to publish it?). Finally we ended up with the list above. It was a fun way to do business. -------------------------------------------------------------- TIPTREE INFORMATION ONLINE Nicola Griffith's AMMONITE, a Del Rey Discovery close to my heart, won the Tiptree Award for 1993, so I feel warm feelings toward things Tiptree. Which impel me to mention that there's now a Tiptree Award web site, part of the Wiscon web site: http://www.cs.wisc.edu/wiscon/ is the main address. Therein you'll find information on the Tiptree Award, the past winners and shortlists, comments from the judges on the various titles (these are culled from the judges' correspondence and I find them really interesting), and some extra things--biographical information about Nicola (by Nicola herself), the text of the _Ms._ article on sf and the Tiptree Award, and some other essay-type stuff. The Tiptree is given for the work of sf/fantasy that best explores and expands gender roles. It's a neat award. -------------------------------------------------------------- BOOKWIRE BookWire is a new online service/site for book readers and people who work in all facets of publishing. It's a BBS with Internet access to book- related resources of all sorts, so if you're primarily online to talk about/learn about books, you might want to check out its access packages. It uses NovaTerm BBS software and is clearly organized, with a good newsreader. More interestingly for all of us online already is the fact that BookWire is trying to become the publishing information clearinghouse, planning to feature reviews from _Publisher's Weekly,_ a literary event calendar, bestseller-list databases, publication schedules, and so on and so forth. If it takes off, it will be a gateway into all the publisher information online, which will come in quite handy. It's still new, still under development, but worth a look. The BookWire WWW address is http://bookwire.com/. -------------------------------------------------------------- FOR DELPHI-BASED READERS The Del Rey gopherspace is now available from the Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG on Delphi: it's on the Internet Navigator menu, under Publisher's Sites. You can get at our sample chapters this way. LATEST EXCERPTS ONLINE============================================= Sample chapters of some of our upcoming and recent (and some of our favorite, neither upcoming nor recent) books are now available online (for free, of course). This month's books are WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove; DIAMOND MASK by Julian May; THE HIGH QUEEN by Nancy McKenzie; and CODE OF THE LIFEMAKER by James P. Hogan. Descriptions are above, in the "What's New in the Stores" section. You can get the sample chapters a few different ways: they're on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books directory; you can request them via e-mail from the Del Rey fileserver (delrey@tachyon.com; SENDME sample.tilting_the_balance, sample.diamond_mask, sample.high_queen, or sample.code_lifemaker) and they'll be available in CompuServe's SF Library 4, GEnie's SFRT fiction library, and AOL's sf and fantasy libraries, too. (For a list of all sample chapters available via the fileserver, send a message to delrey@tachyon.com with "LIST sample" as the body of the message.) BIBLIOGRAPHY: Tara K. Harper======================================= We still think of Tara K. Harper as one of our "new" writers, although she's been publishing books with us for almost five years now. Her style is a mix: her character-driven set-ups are reminiscent of McCaffrey in their attention to relationships and real personalities, and the action- filled, sometimes graphically described adventures to which she subjects her characters can really make you wince. How could she _do_ that to those likeable people? But, as her editor says, it keeps her off the streets. And keeping Tara "off the streets" means, in no particular order, off mountains, off water skis, out of patrolling police cars, out of hang- gliders, off rock faces, et cetera, et cetera, we could go on. This list covers only her Del Rey/Ballantine titles. All are marked either SF or F, and series titles are abbreviated as follows: _Tales of the Wolves_ (Wolves). WOLFWALKER paperback (SF, Wolves, 5/90; 345-36539-9) SHADOW LEADER paperback (SF, Wolves, 5/91; 345-37163-1) LIGHTWING paperback (SF, 7/92; 345-37161-5) STORM RUNNER paperback (SF, Wolves, 8/93; 345-37162-3) CAT SCRATCH FEVER paperback (SF, 5/94; 345-38051-7) _About the Author_ Friends of Tara K. Harper say that she is opinionated, blunt, far too efficient, unexpectedly patient, and kind. About half her friends think she is a thrill-seeker. The rest seem to think she alternates between thinking, dreaming, and working in a passionate frenzy; but they like her cooking and even enjoy the music when she stops playing the same piece three days in a row. Her husband agrees with her friends--on all those points--but he married her, so he has to be more politic about it. Ms. Harper graduated from the University of Oregon, then went into high- tech, where she has worked for R&D, test-and-measurement companies ever since. Active in community service, she teaches creative writing for alternative schools, trains youth groups in wilderness skills, speaks at libraries and school classes, and serves on the board of directors for a youth treatment center. Ms. Harper is a member of the Author's Guild. A martial artist and musician, Ms. Harper also hikes, kayaks, sails, and is active in other outdoor sports. She admits to being caught in undertows, tidal waves, bogs, quicksand, and river bottom runs. She has slept with bees in her ears and deer at her feet; she has been bear-bashed too many times to count. She paints in watercolors and oils, sculpts in stone, plays violin and piano, and composes music. She says that, someday, she wants to perform Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D. IN DEPTH=========================================================== I've been trying to get an "In Depth" on the topic of subsidiary rights-- one of the busiest and murkiest areas of publishing--for over a year now, and I'm happy to finally have one, thanks to Camilla Sanderson, the Ballantine Group's ever-efficient sub-rights associate. Here she explains what she does all day, and why: "Subsidiary rights--what's that?" is a question I'm often asked. As a Subsidiary Rights Associate I endeavor to get Ballantine books published in foreign languages, in book club editions, in large-print editions, as audio tapes, as magazine excerpts, and in a fun new area that is opening up for sf/fantasy books--electronic rights, primarily CD-ROM games based on our books. Since I'm an Australian citizen and speak Japanese, I enjoy the global element of my job. It gives me a thrill to know that I'm helping Katherine Kurtz reach a Japanese audience, but its also fun convincing an American audio publisher to buy audio rights from us and make tapes of Terry Brooks' _Magic Kingdom of Landover_ series. We hope David Eddings and Stephen Donaldson will appear on audio, too. There are two and a half people in our department--the director (my boss) is one, I'm another, and the half is another woman who works with us two and a half days a week. We try to sell all the rights we control, to all the books the Ballantine Group publishes. This is more than enough to keep us crazed. Besides foreign, book club, large print, audio, magazine, and electronic rights, some other rights include: abridgment/condensation, usually sold to Reader's Digest Condensed Books; direct-mail licensing; paperback reprint (though we usually publish the paperback ourselves); hardcover reprint; film/TV rights (though the publisher rarely controls these); computer software (e.g., for CD-ROM games and electronic reference works); character licensing (the right to license characters in our books to toy manufacturers), and merchandise rights (e.g., calendars, greeting cards), to name a few. The publisher doesn't always control all of the rights to a book (thank god!). When the decision is made to acquire a book, the editor in charge tries to negotiate a contract that gives Ballantine control of most of the subsidiary rights; however, the agents often keep some rights to sell themselves. Agents tend to retain TV/film rights and merchandise rights rather than let the publisher control them. If the editor is acquiring the book from an author or an agent, we are the initial publishers, and we call the book an _original_. If the book is bought from an American hardcover publisher, for us to publish in paperback, we call our edition a _reprint_, and we won't get any subsidiary rights to sell--just the right to publish the reprint edition. So if we receive an offer for a particular right to a certain book--say, for example, that someone wants to publish David Edding's _Tamuli_ series in audio format--if we do control the right we would sell it to them for an acceptable price; otherwise, we refer the interested party to the agent or to the original publisher (whichever controls that particular subsidiary right). In addition to licensing (selling rights), we provide a full spectrum of support: we supply production materials, reviews, and cover art to the licensee for the production of their particular type of edition. We are also a department of record, which means that we maintain extensive records on the licenses we make and we must notify many different people, in and outside Ballantine, about the deals. Furthermore, we have to keep track of which books we have submitted to book clubs, foreign publishers, and magazines for their consideration. All of this information must be quickly and easily accessible to ourselves and to the editors, so we keep a lot in databases. However, we also have ever-expanding files that house the actual contracts we make for each deal. Thus a typical day may consist of submitting books for consideration to different types of publishers for the sale of various rights; supplying production support (for example, sending a reproduction of the jacket art for our edition of a book to a French publisher who will add the title of the book in French); researching which rights we control to a book we published in 1976; creating a seasonal Rights Guide that we distribute to about a thousand foreign and domestic companies, which tells them what books we will be publishing each season, which rights we control, and who controls the rest; referring thirty movie calls to the hardcover publishers or the agents since we don't control the dramatic rights; conducting an auction between two large-print publishers who want the same book and are bidding against each other to license it from us (I love doing these auctions!); talking to scouts, who are paid by foreign publishers to check out all the books that are being published by the New York publishers...and so it goes on, every day. It's certainly enough to keep us amused. --copyright 1995 by Camilla Sanderson Q & A============================================================== Q: A question about P. C. Hodgell. Why is it that an author with such a rabid following, who also happens to be a good author, can't be picked up by a major publishing house? A: A rabid following, or a vocal fan population online, doesn't necessarily translate into a large enough readership nation (or world-) wide to support an author's books. Every publisher has different standards for how many copies have to sell of an author's books in order to keep publishing them, and these standards aren't set in stone, but flexible; however, if three or four books (or even, in some cases, two books) are published to minimal and diminishing sales/attention, chances are good that the publisher won't take a risk on further books. At Del Rey, we'll break that rule-of-thumb if we're very enthusiastic about a submitted book, and if we can figure out how to convince bookstores to give the author a new chance. Otherwise, we have to give the spot on our list to a new author (or a guaranteed seller). Q: Last night I purchased a paperback copy of WORLDWAR: IN THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove. I had seen the book in hardcover, and I was disappointed that the softcover edition did not have the same cover art. I believe that the cover art on the paperback (showing Churchill, Hitler, and two uniformed types looking at some kind of futuristic weapon) is vastly inferior to the hardcover illustration (two lizards on the back cover; on the front, a human hand protruding from rubble, witha swastika flag in the background). What made you go with the new cover design? A: Although all of us at Del Rey also really preferred the original art by Bob Eggleton, we realized (with the advice of our sales reps) that to use that art on the mass-market edition of the novel would actually prevent many potential readers--readers who find strange the extreme lack of conventions in sf art--from picking up, buying, and reading a book they might otherwise have enjoyed very much. Since it's alternate history, and since Harry's previous alternate history, GUNS OF THE SOUTH, sold to Civil War and history buffs as well as sf readers, we figured there are two markets for WORLDWAR. Both covers are true to the spirit of the book, but the one on the mass-market edition will appeal to both audiences, not just the sf audience. At least that's the hope. Q: Is Michael McCollum still writing science fiction? I believe his last work was THE SAILS OF TAU CETI, which came out over two years ago. He is among my favorite authors (I think I have read everything he has written) and hoped he would write another book in the Antares series. A: We don't have any further books under contract from Mr. McCollum at Del Rey; I haven't heard of him publishing with another publisher since SAILS, either. Q: Can I expect to see WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE in stores in February? How many books will be in this series? A: TILTING THE BALANCE should show up in stores during the last 10 days of February. Harry Turtledove plans at least four books in the series. Q: Does Charles Sheffield plan anymore books in _The Heritage Universe_ than the three he has already written? A: We don't have a fourth _Heritage Universe_ book under contract, nor have I heard of another publisher planning to bring one out. Ellen Key Harris Editor, Del Rey Books Director of Online Projects, Ballantine Books ekh@panix.com/delrey@randomhouse.com |DEL| ===================================================================|REY| [The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is copyright 1995 by Del Rey Books, except for the IN DEPTH section, which is copyright by the author. The DRIN may be reproduced only in its entirety, and not for profit.] |DEL| |REY| The DEL REY BOOKS Internet Newsletter Number 28 (May 1995) WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES=========================================== KINGDOMS OF THE NIGHT by Allan Cole & Chris Bunch. Hardcover. (SS) Amalric Antero is a sad old man, mourning the loss of his wife and his youth and despairing over his bad-seed, no-good, one-and-only son. Then a gorgeous young woman comes along and drops two bombs on him: 1) She's the granddaughter of his old friend/enemy Janos Greycloak (he never even knew that Janos had ever fathered a child!); and 2) What they thought was the Far Kingdoms--the kingdom of Irayas that he and Janos had discovered in their youth--wasn't the Far Kingdoms at all! And she knows where the REAL Far Kingdoms REALLY is! AND she wants him to go with her to find that legendary land! Well, Amalric can hardly resist, can he? And so he sets off with the beautiful Janela Greycloak on an adventure that will bring him new love, new discoveries, and even return his youth to him--not to mention set off the greatest battle with demonic forces he world has ever known... If Mary Renault had written a novel of the adventures of legendary explorer Richard Burton, this is the kind of book that would have resulted. If Scheherezade had had another thousand nights to kill, this is the story she might have told. KINGDOMS OF THE NIGHT continues the tale begun in THE FAR KINGDOMS and THE WARRIOR'S TALE, but you need not have read those books to enjoy this one. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE BY 5/5 ------------------------------------------------------------- THE WARRIOR'S TALE by Allan Cole & Chris Bunch. Paperback. (SS) This is the story of adventurer Amalric Antero's older sister, the warrior Rali. Unfortunately for her, when her brother went off and discovered the Far Kingdoms, he stepped on some pretty powerful sorcerous toes along the way--and now those powers would be happy to destroy any Antero they can get their hands on. And thanks to the jealous machinations of a male general, Rali and her warrior women are put smack in the middle of a situation that practically hands them to the evil ones on a silver platter. Luckily, Rali has some magical ability herself, much as she'd like to deny it, and as she chases an evil sorcerer across unexplored seas practically to the end of the world, she learns more and more to rely on her magic along with her sword... And there's lots and lots of magic and danger in Rali's path. As is the case with all the Antero books, this can be read as a standalone. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- FLATLANDER by Larry Niven. Paperback. (SS) At last, all the Gil Hamilton stories collected under one roof--or in one book, at any rate. Remember Gil Hamilton? He's the cop with the phantom arm, the one that can do all kinds of things to help him solve mysteries on Earth and on the Moon. The book includes one brand-new Gil Hamilton story by Larry Niven, as well as a revised and updated afterword. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER PLUS AFTERWORD AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- REDMAGIC by Crawford Kilian. Paperback. (VC) Crawford Kilian returns to the world of his earlier Native-American- inspired fantasy GREENMAGIC, where his hero, Calindor, learned many types of magic, and used them to defeat the oppressors of his people. Now a powerful tribe from the south, the Exteca, is marching against his homeland, determined to take his magic for themselves. Kilian is a persistently intelligent writer, and in this series he's found the setting, characters, and magic to give his work a rich resonance. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- GREENMAGIC by Crawford Kilian. Reissue. (VC) Native-American themes, characters, and locales inspire this richly textured fantasy novel by veteran author Crawford Kilian. The hero's mother is a slave, his father is a king, and his own destiny lies in the realm of magic, danger, and revolution. All of Kilian's characters-- including gods, dragons, and the dearly departed!--are well rounded and convincing; the action is fast-paced, and the magic is awesome. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: THE NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO DRAMATIZATION by Brian Daley, based on characters and situations created by George Lucas. Trade paperback. (EKH) The never-before-published scripts of the National Public Radio dramatization of "The Empire Strikes Back" in ten episodes. There's not as much original material here as there is in the Star Wars NPR scripts, but there's still plenty, illustrated throughout with storyboard and production-sketch art (including some really early Berkey sketches). An introduction by Brian Daley explains the complicated production process. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER (INTRODUCTION) AVAILABLE ONLINE DEL REY DATA======================================================= May 1995: THE CURSED by Dave Duncan (F) 345-38951-4 Hardcover, 448 pp; cover art by David Cherry; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE GODS OF THE WELL OF SOULS by Jack L. Chalker (SF) Book Three of _The Watchers at the Well_; mass-market edition of our 10/94 trade paperback; 345-38850-X Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Paul Youll; SHS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE LOST PRINCE by Bridget Wood (F) Sequel to WOLFKING; mass-market edition of our 7/93 trade paperback; 345- 38853-4 Paperback, 480 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE HOUSE OF MOONS by K.D. Wentworth (SF) Sequel to MOONSPEAKER; 345-39461-5 Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Nicholas Jainschigg; EKH, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE MISTS OF AVALON by Marion Zimmer Bradley (F) 11th-anniversary reissue; 34535049-9 Trade paperback reissue; 896 pp; cover art by Braldt Bralds -------------------------------------------------------------- June 1995: KINGDOMS OF THE NIGHT by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch (F) Third Volume of _The Anteros_; 345-38731-7 Hardcover, 528 pp; cover art by Gnemo; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE BY 5/5 THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: THE NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO DRAMATIZATION by Brian Daley (based on characters and situations created by George Lucas) (SF) The original scripts from the 10-episode NPR series; 345-39605-7 Trade paperback, 352 pp; cover art from Lucasfilm archives; EKH, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE WARRIOR'S TALE by Allan Cole & Chris Bunch (F) Second volume of _The Anteros_, after THE FAR KINGDOMS; mass-market edition of our 11/94 hardcover; 345-38734-1 Paperback, 480 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE FLATLANDER by Larry Niven (SF) Short-story collection; 345-39480-1 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Chris Moore; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE REDMAGIC by Crawford Kilian Sequel to GREENMAGIC; 345-38370-2 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Mark Harrison; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE GREENMAGIC by Crawford Kilian (F) Reissue; 345-36140-7 Paperback, 311 pp; cover art by Romas; VC, editor -------------------------------------------------------------- July 1995: POWER PLAY by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (SF) Book Three in the _Power_ book series; 345-38826-7 Hardcover, 304 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor POWER LINES by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (SF) Sequel to POWERS THAT BE; mass-market edition of our 8/94 hardcover; 345-38780-5 Paperback, 336 pp, cover art by Rowena; SS, editor QUEST FOR LOST HEROES by David Gemmell (F) Third volume in the _Drenai_ series; 345-37904-7 Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Royo; SWS, editor THE STOLEN THRONE by Harry Turtledove (F) Book I of _The Time of Troubles_; 345-38047-9 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Steve Youll; VC, editor ---------------------------------------------------------------- August 1995: BELGARATH THE SORCERER by David & Leigh Eddings (F) Prequel to the Belgariad series; 345-37324-3 Hardcover, 704 pp; cover art by Laurence Schwinger; VC, editor SLOW RIVER by Nicola Griffith (SF) 345-3915-9 Hardcover, 352 pp; cover art by David Stevenson; EKH, editor THE BASTARD PRINCE by Katherine Kurtz (F) Book Three of _The Heirs of Saint Camber_, mass-market edition of our 6/94 hardcover; 345-39177-2 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by Edwin Herder; VC, editor THE GAMESTER WARS: THE ALEXANDRIAN RING, THE ASSASSIN'S GAMBIT, THE NAPOLEON WAGER by William Forstchen (SF) Three-in-one volume of _The Gamester Wars_ trilogy; 345-40049-6 Paperback, 792 pp; cover art by Don Dixon and David Mattingly; SHS, editor DEL REY DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR-> GENELLAN: PLANETFALL by Scott G. Gier (SF) 345-39509-3 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SS, editor AMMONITE by Nicola Griffith (SF) 345-37891-1 Repackage, 368 pp; cover art by David Stevenson; EKH, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE SENTINELS: THE DEVIL'S HAND, DARK POWERS, DEATH DANCE (SF 3-in-1) Three-in-one of books 1-3 of the Sentinel series; 345-38901-8 Paperback, 480 pp; cover art from Robotech archives; EKH, editor ----------------------------------------------------------------- September 1995: THE SHAMAN by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book One of _The Star Stone_; 345-39242-6 Hardcover, 368 pp; cover art by Stephen Youll; VC, editor CLASSIC STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE by George Lucas (SF) CLASSIC STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK by Donald F. Glut (SF) CLASSIC STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI by James Kahn (SF) Repackages of the _Star Wars_ trilogy novelizations; 345-40077-1, 345- 40078-X, 345-40079-8 Hardcovers, 272, 224, and 240 pp; cover art by Ralph McCurry THE HIDDEN CITY by David Eddings (F) Book Three of _The Tamuli_; mass-market edition of our 9/94 hardcover; 345-39040-7 Paperback, 517 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; VC, editor CATARACT by Tara K. Harper (SF) 345-38052-5 Paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor IN THE EMPIRE OF SHADOW by Lawrence Watt-Evans (F/SF) Book Two of _The Three Worlds Trilogy_; mass-market edition of our 3/95 trade paperback; 345-3978-X Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; SWS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------ DRIN AVAILABILITY (Lots of ways to get the DRIN online) 1. read it the first few days of the month on rec.arts.sf.written, GEnie's Del Rey topic on the SFRT, Delphi's Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG (Upcoming Books and Magazines topic), America Online's SF Library or OmniPurpose Library,* or CompuServe's SF Library 5*; 2. send your e-mail address to ekh@panix.com to be added to the subscriber list and have the DRIN delivered to your mailbox the first or second working day of the month; 3. get a copy from the Del Rey fileserver* (delrey@tachyon.com) by sending e-mail with "SENDME newsletter.current" as the body of the message (or send "HELP" for full instructions); 4. read it and more on our World Wide Web site*, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ 5. read it on the Panix gopher* (gopher.panix.com; choose the Del Rey Books directory); 6. read it at the Internet Book Information Center (WWW address: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html);* 7. read the current issue in the science-fiction area on BIX; 8. retrieve the current issue from the SF archives at gandalf.rutgers.edu *Back issues also available -------------------------------------------------------------- WORKS IN PROGRESS: Changes, Additions, Updates (The DRIN lists only the changes to the Works in Progress report. The entire current report can be found on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books subdirectory, under Publishing Information.) Following this year's DAVID GEMMELL offerings, Del Rey is launching his _Stones of Power_ adventures, set to begin in 1996, beginning with GHOST KING in February, continuing with LAST SWORD OF POWER, then WOLF IN SHADOW, and finally (in 1997) THE LAST GUARDIAN (featuring Gemmell's famous Jon Shannow). Unlike the British editions, these US editions are being released in chronological order, according to the sequence in which the stories take place. His most recent UK novel, BLOODSTONE, also features Shannow and is the fifth in the _Stones_ series. H. P. LOVECRAFT is still dead. Despite this, NEIL GAIMAN has turned in the introduction for THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: DREAMS OF TERROR AND DEATH, the trade-paperback companion volume to THE BEST OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: BLOODCURDLING TALES OF HORROR AND MADNESS. And in 1996, Del Rey will release a third trade paperback edition, THE TRANSITION OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: THE ROAD TO MADNESS (starring Hope, Crosby, and Lamour). The three volumes will provide a complete library of Lovecraft's prose works as they appeared in the classic pulp magazines. JACK McKINNEY is hard at work on the next Robotech novel. This as-yet untitled flashback adventure will feature the return of Col. John Wolf (from _The Sentinels_) and Dana Sterling (from the _Southern Cross_ books), as well as Rick Hunter and the rest of the Sentinels themselves. For the cover we've snagged artist KEN STEACY, whose work on ROBOTECH and ASTRO BOY comics has gained him a strong and avid following. In addition to turning in WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE, the third installment of the WorldWar tetralogy, HARRY TURTLEDOVE has completed HAMMER AND ANVIL, the second book in the _Time of Troubles_ series that follows hot on the heels of the _Videssos Cycle._ THE REIGN OF THE BROWN MAGICIAN by LAWRENCE WATT-EVANS is slated for release as a trade paperback the beginning of 1996. This is the third book in the _Three Worlds_ trilogy, and the combination of science fiction, fantasy, and reality features some unusual twists. In addition to performing his duties as president of the Horror Writers Association, Lawrence is currently focusing on his next book, titled TOUCHED BY THE GODS. ------------------------------------------------------------- SIGNINGS, READINGS, CONVENTION ATTENDANCE BY DEL REY AUTHORS BARBARA HAMBLY will be signing BRIDE OF THE RAT GOD at the following stores this month: May 3: Book Carnival, Torrance, California. May 4: Future Fantasy, San Jose, California. May 5: Dark Carnival, Berkeley, California. May 6: Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, California. Call the stores for exact times. DAVE DUNCAN will be Guest of Honor at CanCon 14 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 12-14. ALAN DEAN FOSTER will be Guest of Honor at Oasis 8 in Orlando, Florida, May 19-21. HARRY TURTLEDOVE will be Guest of Honor at RocKon 19 in Little Rock, Arkansas, May 19-21. CHARLES SHEFFIELD and BOB EGGLETON will be at Disclave '95 in Washington, D.C., May 26-29. LARRY NIVEN will be Guest of Honor at MisCon 10 in Missoula, Montana, May 26-28. NICOLA GRIFFITH (Guest of Honor) and BARBARA HAMBLY will be at WisCon in Madison, Wisconsin, May 26-29. Nicola will be there in her role as Tiptree Award winner for 1994 as the 1995 award is presented. DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS===================================== Take a DRINK--quench your thirst for knowledge with Del Rey INK! Look for the DRIN's sister publication, the DRINK, hitting bookstores nationwide beginning in May. This new Del Rey paper newsletter includes selections from the best of the DRIN, along with art, photos, and new material--all free (of course). Del Rey data for the computer-impaired! The headliners for the first DRINK include Nicola Griffith, Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, and David Gemmell. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- YET ANOTHER SHAMELESS REMINDER OF THE NEW DEL REY WEB SITE http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ We could say more, but we'll let what we've developed so far speak for itself. Please send us e-mail telling us what you like, don't like, and want to see as part of the site. Our searchable catalog is coming next month. Oh, here's some real news: visitors to our web site increased by about 400 during the week after the last DRIN came out (announcing the site). Restores one's faith in the power of the (digital) presses. And one more web item: we have a basic "other sf links" page on the site now, but we want to expand it. So please send us the URLs for sf-related sites you'd like to see us link to--especially those that deal with our authors or books. (We've got Star Wars covered, but anything else is welcome.) Thanks! LATEST EXCERPTS ONLINE============================================= Sample chapters of some of our upcoming and recent (and some of our favorite, neither upcoming nor recent) books are now available online (for free, of course). This month's books are KINGDOMS OF THE NIGHT by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch; THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: THE NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO DRAMATIZATION by Brian Daley; FLATLANDER by Larry Niven; and GREENMAGIC by Crawford Kilian. Descriptions start off this DRIN. You can get the sample chapters a few different ways: they're on the Del Rey Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/) and on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books directory; you can request them via e-mail from the Del Rey fileserver (delrey@tachyon.com; SENDME sample.kingdoms_of_night, sample.npr_empire_strikes_back, sample.flatlander, or sample.greenmagic) and they'll be available in CompuServe's SF Library 4 and GEnie's SFRT fiction library, too. (For a list of all sample chapters available via the fileserver, send a message to delrey@tachyon.com with "LIST sample" as the body of the message.) IN DEPTH=========================================================== Steve Palmer is one of the quiet, retiring types who hold up the entire edifice of the Ballantine Group but don't let anybody know it. Until now, when Steve, who is our production manager for mass-market paperbacks, reveals all: without him, our books might never make it past the manuscript stage and onto the presses, into the boxes, onto the trucks, and onto the shelves. And even if they did sometimes make it without him, apparently they'd be coated with multicolored goo instead of a cover. Read on to find out why: I supervise the production of the mass-market paperbacks for the Ballantine Group, of which Del Rey is an imprint. Paperbacks are what we call the "rack-sized" books, or, originally "pocket books," as opposed to hardcover (case-bound) and "trade" paperbacks, which have a larger trim size. You can find these paperbacks at magazine stands, airports, drugstores, supermarkets, etc., as well as in your traditional bookstores, and that's why they're called "mass-market" books. We ship new titles every month on a rigid schedule much like magazines--in fact, in many ways, paperbacks are produced and sold more like magazines than their cousins, hardcover and trade books. Book production is one of those invisible professions that your high- school guidance counselor never mentioned. I didn't, for instance, pull on my Daddy's coattail one day and ask,"Can I be a book production director when I grow up?" ("Yes, you can be anything you want, son. Honey, what have you been feeding this kid?") What exactly is book production? After the editorial staff have their copy- edited manuscript ready, and the art department has provided artwork and design for the cover, production is what happens to make the physical object--the book itself--that you buy and read. At the Ballantine Group we produce 90-100 million of these books per year. Our work can be divided into two parts: first, making sure editorial and art have given us everything we need to manufacture the books; second, purchasing the services of vendors--compositors, color separators, printers and binders--who actually make the components and books themselves. These vendors are located mostly in the midwest. We use printers in the Chicago area and Tennessee, and our main printing and binding operations are based in Tennessee, as is our warehousing facility (centrally located for shipping all over the U.S.). A paperback book is actually two elements--the text and the cover--that are made separately and wedded together in the last few seconds of the binding operation. We divide the work on each of these into two areas: plant and edition. Plant (sometimes called pre-press work) is all the materials we need to make in order to begin the manufacturing process: films, text composition, printing plates, etc. Plant materials are one- time investments, and can be re-used only if we are lucky enough to reprint the title. Edition is the manufacturing process itself: press makereadies, running time on the presses, and of course the paper on which the books and covers are printed. Edition operations must be performed anew each time the book is reprinted. (Am I keeping you awake?) Most of my day-to-day efforts focus on the book covers. Covers are important to a paperback book publisher because they are the package in which the book is sold as well as a protective covering. Also, it is the author who creates the book you read, but it is the publisher who creates the cover, and much energy is focused on creating a cover that will capture the interest of you, the reader. Paperback book covers, since they play such an important role in life of the books, are always pushing the technology of printing and decorating paper board to its limits. In addition to color printing, we also emboss, foil stamp, print multiple passes on top of foil, use various defraction foils, die-cut, and make step-backs..all to make our covers stand out in the store. All of these things are sometimes even done successively to a single cover. We also must put a top coating on top of everything to protect it and give a high gloss. There are physical and chemical limitations that we must constantly be aware of. For instance, we like the look of deep sculpted embossing, but we must not actually tear the cover board during the embossing process. Chemical components of inks, varnishes, foil coatings, and UV coatings must be compatible, or we end up with a layer of sticky goo instead of a slick design. I spend much of my time troubleshooting. In a perfect world everything goes according to plan; I am constantly amazed that some things actually do work out this way. Usually they don't. Plus, circumstances are always in flux. We may have wanted 5,000 books printed for a title yesterday, but today we want 15,000...humid conditions in Chicago caused printed sheets to dry too slowly...a coating supplier decided to "improve" formulations without telling us...stamping dies were accidently "crushed"...Oprah flashed our title and we need 25,000 books instantly...a color separator gave us beautiful proofs for our September titles, but forgot one...we think a job looks unacceptable and make our supplier run it over, but it had to be at the binder yesterday...and so on. If you are not born slightly paranoid, this work will quickly teach you. Murphy's Law casts a long shadow over this business. My job is to forsee every possible disaster and make sure it can't happen. But the job is invisible and you, the reader, should never be aware that anything else might have arrived on the shelves but a shiny new perfect book. --copyright 1995 by Steve Palmer Q & A============================================================== Q, also A: Turtledove, Turtledove, always you keep e-mailing us about Turtledove. Well, there will be four books in the WORLDWAR series; Book Two, WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE, is out in hardcover now and will be a January '96 paperback; and we apologize profusely for not indicating on the cover that WORLDWAR: IN THE BALANCE was the first book of a cliffhanger- ending series. Q: I have just finished reading "Diamond Mask" by Julian May, and was wondering if (or when)"Magnificat" would be available. A: MAGNIFICAT is currently late; Julian May expects to turn it in to her editor in the next few weeks. It will be a Knopf hardcover sometime early next year, then a Del Rey paperback eight months to a year later. Q: Does anyone know of any plans to further David Gemmell's Drenai sequence? This seems to be hinted at at the end of QUEST FOR LOST HEROES, but is yet to be forthcoming. A: At the moment, the answer would have to be no. As far as we know, there are no current plans to further the Drenai series; at any rate, we don't have any more coming from Del Rey. Q: On _somebody's_ web page, I read that Larry Niven was working on a third Ringworld novel. Could this be? New, real Known Space?! I wish I could remember the address of that page. Has anyone else got further info on this? A: Yes, Larry is finishing up THE RINGWORLD THRONE, third in the Ringworld series. Could that have been the Del Rey Books web site, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/, where you can always find the full Del Rey Works in Progress Report (the up-to-date status of sequels and so on)? If there's a Niven page out there, someone please let me know...we'd love to link to it from our site. Ellen Key Harris Editor, Del Rey Books Director of Online Projects, Ballantine Books delrey@randomhouse.com |DEL| ==================================================================|REY| [The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is copyright 1995 by Del Rey Books, except for the IN DEPTH section, which is copyright by the author. The DRIN may be reproduced only in its entirety, and not for profit.] Received: from jux by palantiri.spb.su (UUPC/extended 1.12b) with UUCP; Tue, 06 Jun 1995 01:16:03 EDT Received: from mail1.its.rpi.edu (root@mail1.its.rpi.edu [128.113.100.7]) by bar.palantiri.spb.su (8.6.8/8.6.12) with ESMTP id AAA14425 for Received: from www.randomhouse.com.randomhouse.com (www.randomhouse.com [199.222.49.3]) by mail1.its.rpi.edu (8.6.9/8.6.4) with SMTP id QAA11558; Mon, 5 Jun 1995 16:52:58 -0400 Received: by www.randomhouse.com.randomhouse.com (5.x/SMI-SVR4) id AA00574; Mon, 5 Jun 1995 16:00:29 -0400 Received: by www.randomhouse.com.randomhouse.com (5.x/SMI-SVR4) id AA00568; Mon, 5 Jun 1995 16:00:27 -0400 Date: Mon, 5 Jun 1995 16:00:27 -0400 Message-Id: <9506052000.AA00568@www.randomhouse.com.randomhouse.com> From: Del.Rey.Books@www.randomhouse.com Subject: DRIN June Edition (29) Content-Type: text Apparently-To: drin-dist@rpi.edu Sender: owner-drin-dist@www.randomhouse.com Precedence: bulk |DEL| |REY| The DEL REY BOOKS Internet Newsletter Number 29 (June 1995) WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES=========================================== POWER PLAY by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. Hardcover. (SS) This is the third book of the _Power_ series, in which Yana Maddock and her Petaybean friends finally convince the Intergal Corporation _and_ the intergalactic government that Petaybee is actually sentient and should be worked _with_, not ruthlessly exploited. This one has a bit more humor than the previous volumes (the members of the new "religion" worshiping the planet are Sister Igneous Rock, Brother Granite, etc.), but it's also got all the adventure one expects of a true McCaffrey novel. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- POWER LINES by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. Hardcover. (SS) More developments on the world of Petaybee, as the colonists try to save their living planet from destruction by proving it is sentient, and the planet's "self" continues to grow. This is a sequel to POWERS THAT BE, which first introduced Petaybee and its unusual inhabitants. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- QUEST FOR LOST HEROES by David Gemmell. Paperback. (SWS) The Drenai military fantasies began with David Gemmell's critically-acclaimed LEGEND, and QUEST FOR LOST HEROES takes place two centuries later--the third of four installments we will offer for American audiences. Gemmell is known for taking a hero who seems past his prime, then placing him in a situation that demands that he face his greatest challenge. In this adventure, a peasant boy named Kiall sets out on a dangerous quest against the Nadir hordes. He is joined by the heroes of Bel-Azar, and one of his companions is secretly their greatest hope--the Earl of Bronze. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- THE STOLEN THRONE by Harry Turtledove. Paperback. (VC) Harry Turtledove first fantasy novel was THE MISPLACED LEGION, the chronicle of a Roman legion transported into a dangerous world of magic. That launched _The Videssos Cycle_, a four-book series filled with historical detail and military strategy. These qualities have informed Turtledove's later work (including short stories, THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH, and his _Worldwar_ books) but even as he has struck off in these new directions, he's continued to explore Videssos and its history. _The Tale of Krispos_ told the story of a provincial farm boy who (just barely) grew up to be emperor. Now, in THE STOLEN THRONE, Book I of _The Time of Troubles,_ Turtledove takes us into pre-_Tale_ Makuran--the evil empire of its day--a world of harems and armies, scheming bureaucrats and visions that foretell an uncertain future. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE DEL REY DATA======================================================= June 1995: KINGDOMS OF THE NIGHT by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch (F) Third Volume of _The Anteros_; 345-38731-7 Hardcover, 528 pp; cover art by Gnemo; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: THE NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO DRAMATIZATION by Brian Daley (based on characters and situations created by George Lucas) (SF) The original scripts from the 10-episode NPR series; 345-39605-7 Trade paperback, 352 pp; cover art from LucasFilm archives; EKH, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE WARRIOR'S TALE by Allan Cole & Chris Bunch (F) Second volume of _The Anteros_, after THE FAR KINGDOMS; mass-market edition of our 11/94 hardcover; 345-38734-1 Paperback, 480 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE FLATLANDER by Larry Niven (SF) Short-story collection; 345-39480-1 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Chris Moore; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE REDMAGIC by Crawford Kilian Sequel to GREENMAGIC; 345-38370-2 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Mark Harrison; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE GREENMAGIC by Crawford Kilian (F) Reissue; 345-36140-7 Paperback, 311 pp; cover art by Romas; VC, editor -------------------------------------------------------------- July 1995: POWER PLAY by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (SF) Book Three in the _Power_ book series; 345-38826-7 Hardcover, 304 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE POWER LINES by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (SF) Sequel to POWER THAT BE; mass-market edition of our 8/94 hardcover; 345-38780-5 Paperback, 336 pp, cover art by Rowena; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE QUEST FOR LOST HEROES by David Gemmell (F) 345-37904-7 Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Royo; SWS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE STOLEN THRONE by Harry Turtledove (F) Book I of _The Time of Troubles_; 345-38047-9 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Stephen Youll; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ---------------------------------------------------------------- August 1995: BELGARATH THE SORCERER by David & Leigh Eddings (F) Prequel to the Belgariad series; 345-37324-3 Hardcover, 704 pp; cover art by Laurence Schwinger; VC, editor SLOW RIVER by Nicola Griffith (SF) 345-3915-9 Hardcover, 352 pp; cover art by David Stevenson; EKH, editor THE BASTARD PRINCE by Katherine Kurtz (F) Book Three of _The Heirs of Saint Camber_, mass-market edition of our 6/94 hardcover; 345-39177-2 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by Edwin Herder; VC, editor THE GAMESTER WARS: THE ALEXANDRIAN RING, THE ASSASSIN'S GAMBIT, THE NAPOLEON WAGER by William Forstchen (SF) Three-in-one volume of _The Gamester Wars_ trilogy; 345-40049-6 Paperback, 792 pp; cover art by Don Dixon and David Mattingly; SHS, editor DEL REY DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR --> GENELLAN: PLANETFALL by Scott G. Gier (SF) 345-39509-3 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SS, editor AMMONITE by Nicola Griffith (SF) 345-37891-1 Repackage, 368 pp; cover art by David Stevenson; EKH, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE SENTINELS: THE DEVIL'S HAND, DARK POWERS, DEATH DANCE (SF 3-in-1) Three-in-one of books 1-3 of the Sentinel series; 345-38901-8 Paperback, 480 pp; cover art from Robotech archives; EKH, editor ----------------------------------------------------------------- September 1995: THE SHAMAN by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book One of _The Star Stone_; 345-39242-6 Hardcover, 368 pp; cover art by Stephen Youll; VC, editor CLASSIC STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE by George Lucas (SF) Repackage of the _Star Wars_ movie novelization; 345-40077-1 (This is the same as our previous book STAR WARS; we've retitled it to match LucasFilm's current title. This is not a new novelization.) Hardcover, 272 pp; new cover art CLASSIC STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK by Donald F. Glut (SF) Repackage of the _Empire Strikes Back_ movie novelization; 345-40078-X Hardcover, 224 pp; new cover art CLASSIC STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI by James Kahn (SF) Repackage of the _Return of the Jedi_ movie novelization; 345-40079-8 Hardcover, 240 pp; new cover art THE HIDDEN CITY by David Eddings (F) Book Three of _The Tamuli_; mass-market edition of our 9/94 hardcover; 345-39040-7 Paperback, 517 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; VC, editor CATARACT by Tara K. Harper (SF) 345-38052-5 Paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor IN THE EMPIRE OF SHADOW by Lawrence Watt-Evans (F/SF) Book Two of _The Three Worlds Trilogy_; mass-market edition of our 3/95 trade paperback; 345-3978-X Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; SWS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------ October 1995: TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD by Barbara Hambly (F) 345-38102-5 Hardcover, 400 pp; cover art by Wictor Sadowski; VC, editor THE BELGARIAD: Part One by David Eddings (F 3-in-1) PAWN OF PROPHECY, QUEEN OF SORCERY, MAGICIANS GAMBIT; 345-40004-6 Hardcover, 656 pp; cover art by Laurence Schwinger; VC, editor STAR WARS TECHNICAL JOURNAL by Shane Johnson (SF) 345-40182-4, Hardcover, 144 pp; cover art by Sylvan; SWS, editor THE SECULAR WIZARD by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book Four of _A Wizard in Rhyme_; mass-market edition of our 1/95 hardcover; 345-38854-2 Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Darrell K. Sweet; SWS, editor WITCH by Donald E. McQuinn (SF) Sequel to WARRIOR and WANDERER; mass-market edition of our 11/95 trade paperback; 345-39737-1 Paperback, 640 pp; cover art by Michael Herring; SHS, editor HIGH HUNT by David Eddings (F) 345-32887-6 Repackage, 340 pp; cover art by Mark Garro; VC, editor THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: Dreams of Terror and Death by H. P. Lovecraft 345-38421-0 Trade paperback, 416 pp; cover by John Jude Palencar; SWS, editor STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS by Andy Mangels (SF) 345-39535-2 Trade paperback, 224 pp; cover art by Sylvan; SWS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------------ DRIN AVAILABILITY (Lots of ways to get the DRIN online) 1. read it the first few days of the month on rec.arts.sf.written, GEnie's Del Rey topic on the SFRT, Delphi's Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG (Upcoming Books and Magazines topic), America Online's SF Library or OmniPurpose Library,* or CompuServe's SF Library 5*; 2. send your e-mail address to ekh@panix.com to be added to the subscriber list and have the DRIN delivered to your mailbox the first or second working day of the month; 3. read it and more on our World Wide Web site*, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ 4. get a copy from the Del Rey fileserver* (delrey@tachyon.com) by sending e-mail with "SENDME newsletter.current" as the body of the message (or send "HELP" for full instructions); 5. read it on the Panix gopher* (gopher.panix.com; choose the Del Rey Books directory); 6. read it at the Internet Book Information Center (WWW address: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html);* 7. read the current issue in the science-fiction area on BIX; 8. retrieve the current issue from the SF archives at gandalf.rutgers.edu *Back issues also available -------------------------------------------------------------- WORKS IN PROGRESS: Changes, Additions, Updates (The DRIN lists only the changes to the Works in Progress report. The entire current report can be found on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books subdirectory, under Publishing Information.) JACK L. CHALKER has turned in Book Two in the _Wonderland Gambit_ series. The series debuts in November with Book One: THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS in trade paperback. Chalker's other new Del Rey title is HORRORS OF THE DANCING GODS, due out in mass-market paperback in December. DAVID GEMMELL's _Stones of Power_ adventures, set to begin with GHOST KING in January, will continue with LAST SWORD OF POWER, then WOLF IN SHADOW, and finally (in 1997) THE LAST GUARDIAN (a Jon Shannow adventure). Since they feature the legendary Sipstrassi stones, the hard-to-get British editions originally appeared under the umbrella title _The Sipstrassi Tales._ The Del Rey US editions are being released (for the first time) in order according to the sequence in which the stories take place. Gemmell's most recent UK novel, BLOODSTONE, also features Shannow and is the fifth in the _Stones_ series. H. P. LOVECRAFT has not revived, but his new book--THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: DREAMS OF TERROR AND DEATH--is a trade paperback slated for Halloween release. This companion to THE BEST OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: BLOODCURDLING TALES OF HORROR AND MADNESS was designed to include (for the first time) the entire Dream Cycle in one volume. (In order to do so, it will repeat a couple of stories from BLOODCURDLING TALES.) The cover for DREAMS OF TERROR AND DEATH features a great wraparound painting by John Jude Palencar. ANDY MANGELS has completed STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS. With 100 comprehensive entries and lots of illustrations, this trade paperback edition will offer essential data and a basic history of each of the key players in the Star Wars saga. It is slated for fall 1995. JACK McKINNEY's next Robotech novel (#21) will receive a title any day now. It flashes back to the final months of the Second Robotech War and the early days of the Third, featuring the return of Col. John Wolf (from THE SENTINELS) and Dana Sterling, with appearances by Rick Hunter and the rest of the Sentinels. KEN STEACY--whose work has graced _Robotech_ and _Astro Boy_ comics, as well as the THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE graphic novel--will be the cover illustrator. In addition to turning in WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE, the third installment of the _Worldwar_ alternate history series, HARRY TURTLEDOVE has completed THE STOLEN THRONE and HAMMER AND ANVIL, the first two books in the _Time of Troubles_ series that takes place long before, but in the same world as, the _Videssos Cycle._ THE REIGN OF THE BROWN MAGICIAN has been completed by LAWRENCE WATT-EVANS. Slated for early 1996, it concludes the _Three Worlds_ trilogy, and features an unusual and sometimes unsettling combination of science fiction, fantasy, and reality. The second book in the trilogy, IN THE EMPIRE OF SHADOW, is set for September 1995 release in mass-market paperback. -------------------------------------------------------------- SIGNINGS, READINGS, CONVENTION ATTENDANCE BY DEL REY AUTHORS ROGER ZELAZNY will be Guest of Honor at AD ASTRA 15, Yorkdale, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 16-18. JOHN BRUNNER will be Guest of Honor at the Science Fiction Research Association Conference, University of North Dakota, June 22-25. CHRIS BUNCH, NICOLA GRIFFITH, DONALD McQUINN, MARY ROSENBLUM, K. D. WENTWORTH, ELLEN KEY HARRIS (Editor), and KUO-YU LIANG (Del Rey Sales Manager) will be at WesterCon 48, Portland, Oregon, June 30-July 3. DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS===================================== PRICE INFORMATION: WHAT DO YOU THINK? We are considering adding price information to the publication-schedule section of Del Rey Data in the DRIN. We originally didn't use prices because it felt too sales- rather than information-oriented, and have received few requests to add them over the years. However, including them would help some readers (particularly bookstore workers and reviewers), and so if it doesn't offend anyone at this point, we will put them in. Cast your vote or speak your piece by e-mailing Del Rey at delrey@randomhouse.com before June 30. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LOVECRAFT DREAM CYCLE CONTEST In anticipation of the fall release for THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: DREAMS OF TERROR AND DEATH, the DRIN is going to send one lucky (and skilled) reader a rare pre-publication galley, signed by writer Neil Gaiman (who wrote the introduction) and editor Steve Saffel (who chose the stories). To receive this prize, all you have to do is tell us _which_ of HPL's stories you think the collection will include. The first person to post the correct list will receive the galley, and to help you along the way, here are couple of hints: these are all classic stories that have seen print before, all of them have some connection with Lovecraft's dream universe that is exemplified by "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" and other such tales, and there are a total of 25 tales in the collection. Send your entries to delrey@randomhouse.com before August 1. Include your snail-mail address so we can send you your galley if you win! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SF/F WEB SITES OFF THE BEATEN TRACK H. P. Lovecraft: http://www.primenet.com/dloucks/hplpage.html A chock-full Lovecraft site with lots of links to other Lovecraft resources. Works best with Netscape 1.1. Jack Chalker's Well World: http://www.netnet.net/users/gbuntin/dawell.html Covers and descriptions for Chalker's popular Well World series. Robotech: http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/r/rkswamy/www/robotech.html A large compendium of Robotech information, covering various media, and including links to other Robotech sites in case you want more. SF/F award information (Hugos, Nebulas, etc.): http://www.lm.com:80/lmann/awards/awardweb.html SF-LOVERS Archive info maintained on the Web by Laurie Mann. Lists awards by year and decade. Also lists nominees for '95 awards. Basement Full of Books: http://worcester.lm.com/basement/basement.html The Web version of Vonda McIntyre's direct authors-to-readers bookstore (featuring signed/inscribed copies if you want 'em). E-mail links to the authors. Another Laurie Mann production. Internet Directory of Published Writers: http://www.binc.net/writers/ So far, a smallish list of mostly lesser-known writers; arranged by category, so you can list the sf and fantasy ones. E-mail links, too. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ROBOTECH NEWS Robotech fans have probably noted that the toys have been rereleased as part of the _Exo-Squad_ line, and the _Robotech_ comic book series is now being published by Academy Comics--with four different titles per month picking up where the Eternity Comics left off. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CORRECTION Oops: Harry Turtledove's current series, _The Time of Troubles_, does not "follow on the heels of" _The Videssos Cycle_, as stated in last month's DRIN. In fact, it's set about 650 years before the time of _The Videssos Cycle_, about 150 years before THE TALE OF KRISPOS. Sorry, Harry. LATEST EXCERPTS ONLINE============================================= Sample chapters of some of our upcoming and recent (and some of our favorite, neither upcoming nor recent) books are now available online (for free, of course). This month's books are POWER PLAY and POWER LINES by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Anne Scarborough; QUEST FOR LOST HEROES by David Gemmell; and THE STOLEN THRONE by Harry Turtledove. Descriptions above in "What's New in the Stores." You can get the sample chapters a few different ways: they're on the Del Rey Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/) and on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books directory; you can request them via e-mail from the Del Rey fileserver (delrey@tachyon.com; SENDME sample.power_play, sample.power_lines, sample.quest_for_lost_heroes, or sample.stolen_throne) and they'll be available in CompuServe's SF Library 4, AOL's SF and Fantasy libraries, and GEnie's SFRT fiction library, too. (For a list of all sample chapters available via the fileserver, send a message to delrey@tachyon.com with "LIST sample" as the body of the message.) IN DEPTH=========================================================== David A. Gemmell was born in London, England, in the summer of 1948. Expelled from school at sixteen for organizing a gambling syndicate, he became a laborer by day, working on building sites, digging trenches and foundations. At night his six-foot four-inch, 230-pound frame allowed him to earn extra money as a bouncer working nightclubs in Soho. Born with a silver tongue, Gemmell rarely needed to "bounce" customers, relying on the what the Irish term "the gift of the gab" to talk his way out of trouble. At eighteen this gift led to a job as a trainee journalist, and he eventually worked as a freelancer for the London _Daily Mail_, _Daily Mirror_, and _Daily Express. His first novel, LEGEND, was published in 1984, and has remained in print in the U.K. ever since. He became a full time writer in 1986. He, his wife Valerie, and their two children live in Hastings, England. Del Rey editor Steve W. Saffel interviewed Gemmell recently for the DRIN: SWS: What have been your major influences over the years? GEMMELL: There have been three basic influences which have shaped the work. As a child I read _The Lord of the Rings_, and wrote to Tolkien. He sent me a letter which I treasured for years. Secondly, I became hooked on the works of Louis L'Amour. I found his storytelling to be compulsive and his characterizations--especially in the earlier novels-- wholly compelling. He had a knack of introducing a character with, say, two sentences of description, which left you feeling you'd known the man all your life. A friend of mine calls such characters "men from Rick's pub." They walk out of the bar and on to the page, arriving complete. No real effort is needed by the author to flesh them out. L'Amour's talent in this area was majestic. The third major influence was Stan Lee at Marvel Comics. I've never met him or spoken to him, but I love that man. The growth of Marvel in the sixties was a revelation. Heroes and villains became interchangeable. Both sets had faults, both had heroic qualities. The effect was mind-blowing. SWS: How have your influences affected your approach to the craft of fantasy novels and to characterization? GEMMELL: When I began to write my own stories, I realized they were being fueled by what I had gained from these three sources: Tolkien gave me a love of fantasy, L'Amour taught me that characterization was vital, and Stan Lee made me realize that the lines between heroes and villains should always be blurred. I based all my characters on people I have known, and I have been lucky in my life to have met a great many interesting people. I was born in West London, in a violent area, and many of the people I grew up with were criminals. Some were merely thieves, others men of violence. I know the breed. But whatever else, they were also men of contrasts. Life is never simple. We take a young man and train him for war. We teach him to kill without mercy. When he comes home he is a hero. But if, once home, he uses the skills he has been taught, he is considered a villain and a danger to society. There is a grand nonsense here. I once interviewed a man who ran a protection racket. I asked him how he justified his occupation. He smiled at me and said, "I'm no different to the government, son. They tell you to give a percentage of your earnings to them, otherwise they'll put you in prison. What's that if it's not a protection racket?" A hero in a fantasy novel does not have to be nice, or kind, or caring, or--God forbid--politically correct. What he needs is courage and a willingness to fight evil regardless of the cost to himself. His own prejudices are largely irrelevant. SWS: What are your current projects in the various media? GEMMELL: Del Rey has acquired twelve of my books, and I am currently continuing the _Drenai_ and _Stones of Power_ series. I am also involved in scripting a television drama series, based on a thriller I wrote under the name Ross Harding. My agents are also negotiating film rights for my first novel, LEGEND. SWS: What have you learned about the different media by virtue of working in more than one? GEMMELL: Writing for television is a wholly different discipline. Ten pages of description can be encapsulated in a single scene, and twenty lines of dialogue can be put over by a good actor, virtually with the raising of an eyebrow. The other great thing about television work is that it is far more of a team effort. Writing novels is a solitary business. Television is about creative tensions merging together to create a dynamic story. It's much more exciting, though ultimately less rewarding for the ego. SWS: Given your diverse background, what areas do you still want to conquer? GEMMELL: That is the most difficult question. I have always been highly competitive, and rarely satisfied with any achievement. I am a workaholic who produces around a quarter of a million words a year. I don't really have an ultimate goal. I just want to be the best I can be. On the other side of the coin, I received a letter from a reader who told me that, after reading one of my stories, he was out walking his dog when he saw two men attacking a woman. He ran in and fought them off. He told me he was sure he wouldn't have pitched in so readily if he had not just read a story of heroes. "By heavens," I thought, "life can't get much better than that." --copyright 1995 by David Gemmell Q & A============================================================== Q: Does Del Rey handle Julian May (whose _Galactic Milieu Trilogy_ is first published in hardcover by Knopf) only through subsidiary rights, or do you also have editorial privileges? I am curious if the author (or author's agent) simply delivers and fine-tunes the manuscript and then the subsidiary rights take care themselves, or if there is continued involvement after the hardcover release. A: Actually, the Julian May situation is unusual. Usually if we publish the mass-market edition of a hardcover we do no editing--merely buy the rights from the hardcover publisher. In this case, we and Knopf (which is another part of Random House, Inc.) decided that the _Galactic Milieu Trilogy_ deserved a wider audience, and Knopf should publish the hardcovers with us doing the paperbacks. We still do the editing and consult with them on the cover copy, etc. In general, authors' involvement after the delivery and editing of the manuscript varies. Some authors are involved in cover copy, cover design, approval of copyediting, etc. Others aren't; it depends on the author and the contract. Subsidiary rights are usually the responsibility of the agent or the publisher, with the author possibly making suggestions or giving approval. Q: I have read the three books written by Steve Miller and Sharon Lee and am curious as to whether any more will be forthcoming--it has been some time since the others were written. A: Ah, the eternal Internet Lee & Miller question. We don't have any more books under contract from them, and don't know of any other deals they have with other publishers. Their books just couldn't find a market, and we couldn't go on publishing them, though we thought those three books were wonderful. Q: When will the third novel in Harry Turtledove's _Worldwar_ series be out? A: WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE will be a February '96 hardcover. Q: I understand that a sequel to Larry Niven's RINGWORLD and RINGWORLD ENGINEERS is forthcoming in 1996. Will this be a novel actually written by Larry Niven, a collaboration, or in fact a novel/anthology written by other authors in the "Thrilling Universe Created By Larry Niven"? A: THE RINGWORLD THRONE is a totally-Larry production, with no help from other authors--not a collaboration, a shared-world anthology, or anything else but a plain old-fashioned novel. Ellen Key Harris Editor, Del Rey Books Director of Online Projects, Ballantine Books delrey@randomhouse.com |DEL| ===================================================================|REY| [The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is copyright 1995 by Del Rey Books, except for the IN DEPTH section, which is copyright by the author. The DRIN may be reproduced only in its entirety, and not for profit.] |DEL| |REY| The DEL REY BOOKS Internet Newsletter Number 30 (July 1995) WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES=========================================== BELGARATH THE SORCERER by David & Leigh Eddings. Hardcover. (VC) This is the Eddings' long-awaited return to the world of _The Belgariad_ and _The Malloreon_. Fans will recall that Eddings wrote, at the end of his _New York Times_ hardcover bestseller THE SEERESS OF KELL, that "There will be other days and other stories, but this tale is finished." But even as he (sly devil) was putting a firm _end_ to the tale of Garion the Godslayer, Eddings was planning to go back and tell the _beginning_ of the story. After all, Ancient Belgarath and his daughter Polgara the Sorceress had spent eons fighting the battle to determine the fate of all creation-- don't try to tell him there wasn't a rip-roaring story in _that_! Now, aided and abetted (as always) by his previously unindicted co-conspirator and spouse Leigh, David Eddings gives us the epochal autobiography of Belgarath himself, the original big bad Old Wolf. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- SLOW RIVER by Nicola Griffith. Hardcover. (EKH) Every once in a while, an author pigeonholed into a genre (sf, in this case) writes a book that bursts the genre's boundaries and brings his or her work to the attention of a whole new audience, dragging the genre along willy- nilly. That's what Nicola Griffith, author of the award-winning AMMONITE, has done with SLOW RIVER, which has a deceptively simple set-up: it's the story of a young woman from a rich, powerful corporate dynasty who's separated from everything she thinks defines her: her family, her status, her money, her career, her identity itself. She has to start over from scratch, on the underside of a near-future European city, with nothing, building a new person from the ground up. Few of us ever get that chance once we've embarked upon our lives, and the central question of SLOW RIVER is who you are, who you become, when you have nothing left--what core of yourself remains when you strip everything external away, and how much control do you have over what crystallizes around it? Of course there's a lot of thought-provoking skiffy stuff in SLOW RIVER-- information crimes, ID implants, bioremediation of the environment through genetically tailored bacteria, a future Net with its own mechanisms and its own scams--but SLOW RIVER is more a novel (type: sf) than science fiction (form: novel). And we will no doubt get reviews of the "I can't believe it's from Del Rey" type for publishing it (though _Locus_ and _SF Age_ have so far loved the book without any such commentary). So if you're looking for a book that stands up to mainstream novels like Jane Smiley's A THOUSAND ACRES and Dorothy Allison's BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA, plus rings the literary-genre bells of, say, Ursula K. Le Guin, try SLOW RIVER. Don't take my word for it--try the sample chapter. That was what grabbed me and refused to let go when the book was first submitted. (The months until the manuscript was finished were No Fun!) >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- THE BASTARD PRINCE by Katherine Kurtz. Paperback. (VC) This is the concluding volume in the _Heirs of Saint Camber_ trilogy. The two eldest princes have already reigned and died. Now Rhys Michael, the soft, wine-loving prince, has become king. The former regents rejoice; power is in their hands again. But not quite: Rhys Michael is less foolish than they've thought. And he has Deryni friends... THE BASTARD PRINCE is a bit more grisly and gruesome than the previous books--definitely the darkest book of the series--and the royal intrigue and political plotting are even more diabolical than usual. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- THE GAMESTER WARS by William Forstchen. Paperback 3-in-1. (SHS) Bill Forstchen has long entwined his love of science fiction and his love of history in his writing, and the Gamester Wars trilogy is no exception. These books were published individually in the late 80s and early 90s, and have been unavailable for a year or so. This three-in-one edition presents all three books in the trilogy together for the first time. For fans of military SF or alternate history, Forstchen's use of historical characters in a far- future setting is a recipe for a galaxy-spanning tale of war, greed, and interstellar mayhem. We think it's also lots of fun. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- DEL REY DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR: GENELLAN: PLANETFALL by Scott G. Gier. Paperback. (SS) This is one of those rare books that I enjoyed reading even the third time around, and I found that the characters stuck with me way beyond the last reading. It's about a crew of a crippled Earth ship forced to evacuate to an alien planet, where they then must learn to survive while they wait for rescue. On that planet, they meet the sentient natives, low-tech winged people, and befriend them; they also meet the enemy--the warlike Kon from the next planet over. It's up to one lieutenant to somehow hold together command of her mixed group of spacer marines and civilians and to make some kind of peace between humans and both alien races before war destroys them all. This is military sf; it's also first-contact sf; it's a story of survival; and it's got believable, likeable characters. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ---------------------------------------------------------------- AMMONITE by Nicola Griffith. Repackage. (EKH) Okay, first the credentials: winner of the 1993 Lambda Award for best lesbian sf novel and the 1993 Tiptree Award for best work of sf dealing with gender issues. Shortlisted for the 1993 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Now for the praise: Ursula K. Le Guin called it "A knock-out first novel." Kim Stanley Robinson says it's "A marvelous blend of high adventure and mind- boggling social speculation--it marks the arrival of Nicola Griffith as a new sf star for the 90s." Vonda N. McIntyre chimes in with: "A noteworthy first novel...A powerful story of connection, allegiance, and obligation." And Tim Powers says, "AMMONITE is a wonderful novel...you quickly find yourself believing it all, living it all." _The New York Times Book Review_ and a lot of other papers and magazines liked it a lot, too. And the story itself: AMMONITE is about a rather lonely, standoffish woman who takes the job of testing a new vaccine on a recently discovered planet, GP, that harbors a mysterious virus. She has to contend with the military force sent to the planet by the company that employs her, the indigenous population of the planet--human, but after 500 years without contact, disquietingly changed--and finally, her own sense of not belonging...on GP, or anywhere. We're reissuing AMMONITE to accompany the publication of SLOW RIVER, Nicola Griffith's second novel, and this time around we've given it a much more appropriate cover. Advance orders are very strong, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding AMMONITE in your bookstore, should you be so moved. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- SENTINELS: THE DEVIL'S HAND, DARK POWERS, DEATH DANCE by Jack McKinney. Paperback. (EKH) A three-in-one volume containing the first three books of the Sentinels series, part of the Robotech saga. DEL REY DATA======================================================= July 1995: POWER PLAY by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (SF) Book Three in the _Power_ book series; 345-38826-7 Hardcover, 304 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE POWER LINES by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (SF) Sequel to POWER THAT BE; mass-market edition of our 8/94 hardcover; 345-38780-5 Paperback, 336 pp, cover art by Rowena; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE QUEST FOR LOST HEROES by David Gemmell (F) 345-37904-7 Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Royo; SWS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE STOLEN THRONE by Harry Turtledove (F) Book I of _The Time of Troubles_; 345-38047-9 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Stephen Youll; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ---------------------------------------------------------------- August 1995: BELGARATH THE SORCERER by David & Leigh Eddings (F) Prequel to the Belgariad series; 345-37324-3 Hardcover, 704 pp; cover art by Laurence Schwinger; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE SLOW RIVER by Nicola Griffith (SF) 345-39165-9 Hardcover, 352 pp; cover art by David Stevenson; EKH, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE BASTARD PRINCE by Katherine Kurtz (F) Book Three of _The Heirs of Saint Camber_, mass-market edition of our 6/94 hardcover; 345-39177-2 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by Edwin Herder; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE GAMESTER WARS: THE ALEXANDRIAN RING, THE ASSASSIN'S GAMBIT, THE NAPOLEON WAGER by William Forstchen (SF) Three-in-one volume of _The Gamester Wars_ trilogy; 345-40049-6 Paperback, 792 pp; cover art by Don Dixon and David Mattingly; SHS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE DEL REY DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR --> GENELLAN: PLANETFALL by Scott G. Gier (SF) 345-39509-3 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE AMMONITE by Nicola Griffith (SF) 345-37891-1 Repackage, 368 pp; cover art by David Stevenson; EKH, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE SENTINELS: THE DEVIL'S HAND, DARK POWERS, DEATH DANCE (SF 3-in-1) Three-in-one of books 1-3 of the Sentinel series; 345-38901-8 Paperback, 480 pp; cover art from Robotech archives; EKH, editor ----------------------------------------------------------------- September 1995: THE SHAMAN by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book One of _The Star Stone_; 345-39242-6 Hardcover, 368 pp; cover art by Stephen Youll; VC, editor CLASSIC STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE by George Lucas (SF) Repackage of the _Star Wars_ movie novelization; 345-40077-1 (This is the same as our previous book STAR WARS; we've retitled it to match LucasFilm's current title. This is not a new novelization.) Hardcover, 272 pp; new cover art CLASSIC STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK by Donald F. Glut (SF) Repackage of the _Empire Strikes Back_ movie novelization; 345-40078-X Hardcover, 224 pp; new cover art CLASSIC STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI by James Kahn (SF) Repackage of the _Return of the Jedi_ movie novelization; 345-40079-8 Hardcover, 240 pp; new cover art THE HIDDEN CITY by David Eddings (F) Book Three of _The Tamuli_; mass-market edition of our 9/94 hardcover; 345- 39040-7 Paperback, 517 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; VC, editor CATARACT by Tara K. Harper (SF) 345-38052-5 Paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor IN THE EMPIRE OF SHADOW by Lawrence Watt-Evans (F/SF) Book Two of _The Three Worlds Trilogy_; mass-market edition of our 3/95 trade paperback; 345-3978-X Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; SWS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------ October 1995: TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD by Barbara Hambly (F) 345-38102-5 Hardcover, 400 pp; cover art by Wictor Sadowski; VC, editor THE BELGARIAD: Part One by David Eddings (F 3-in-1) PAWN OF PROPHECY, QUEEN OF SORCERY, MAGICIANS GAMBIT; 345-40004-6 Hardcover, 656 pp; cover art by Laurence Schwinger; VC, editor STAR WARS TECHNICAL JOURNAL by Shane Johnson (SF) 345-40182-4 Hardcover, 144 pp; cover art by Sylvan; SWS, editor THE SECULAR WIZARD by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book Four of _A Wizard in Rhyme_; mass-market edition of our 1/95 hardcover; 345-38854-2 Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Darrell K. Sweet; SWS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE WITCH by Donald E. McQuinn (SF) Sequel to WARRIOR and WANDERER; mass-market edition of our 11/95 trade paperback; 345-39737-1 Paperback, 640 pp; cover art by Michael Herring; SHS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE HIGH HUNT by David Eddings (F) Mainstream novel; 345-32887-6 Repackage, 340 pp; cover art by Mark Garro; VC, editor THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: Dreams of Terror and Death by H. P. Lovecraft 345-38421-0 Trade paperback, 416 pp; cover by John Jude Palencar; SWS, editor STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS by Andy Mangels (SF) 345-39535-2 Trade paperback, 224 pp; cover art by Sylvan; SWS, editor ----------------------------------------------------------- November 1995: MID-FLINX by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-38374-5 Hardcover, 336 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor THE DOLPHINS OF PERN by Anne McCaffrey (SF) Mass-market edition of our 10/94 hardcover; 345-36895-9 Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE MIDWORLD by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-35011-1 Repackage, 218 pp; cover art by Mark Garro; SHS, editor WAYLANDER by David Gemmell (F) 345-37907-1 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Mark Harrison; SWS, editor THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS by Jack L. Chalker (SF) Book One of _The Wonderland Gambit_; 345-38690-6 Trade paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Paul Youll; SHS, editor BLADERUNNER by Phillip K. Dick 345-35047-2 Reissue, 216 pp; cover art supplied by The Ladd Co.; SWS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------------ DRIN AVAILABILITY (Lots of ways to get the DRIN online) 1. read it the first few days of the month on rec.arts.sf.written, GEnie's Del Rey topic on the SFRT, Delphi's Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG (Upcoming Books and Magazines topic), America Online's SF Library or OmniPurpose Library,* or CompuServe's SF Library 5*; 2. to be added to the DRIN subscriber list, send a message to majordomo@www.randomhouse.com with the words "subscribe drin-dist to your mailbox the first or second working day of each month. 3. read it and more on our World Wide Web site*, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ 4. get a copy from the Del Rey fileserver* (delrey@tachyon.com) by sending e-mail with "SENDME newsletter.current" as the body of the message (or send "HELP" for full instructions); 5. read it on the Panix gopher* (gopher.panix.com; choose the Del Rey Books directory); 6. read it at the Internet Book Information Center (WWW address: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html);* 7. read the current issue in the science-fiction area on BIX; 8. retrieve the current issue from the SF archives at gandalf.rutgers.edu *Back issues also available -------------------------------------------------------------- WORKS IN PROGRESS: Changes, Additions, Updates (The DRIN lists only the changes to the Works in Progress report. The entire current report can be found on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books subdirectory, under Publishing Information.) DAVID GEMMELL's _Stones of Power_ series is slated to begin in February 1996 with GHOST KING, and an interview with Gemmell will appear in the September- December issue of the Del Rey print newsletter, the DRINK (Del Rey Ink), which features the best of the DRIN. The DRINK is made available to bookstores nationwide for the benefit of those readers who aren't online (yet?). NICOLA GRIFFITH's second novel, SLOW RIVER, has been printed and will hit the shelves in mid-July. It has been chosen as a featured alternate by the Science Fiction Book Club and advance orders are making the sales department very happy. _Publishers Weekly_ and _Locus_ have just run laudatory reviews, and an absolutely stellar review is set to run in _Science Fiction Age._ The brilliant, non-pulp cover that graces SLOW RIVER was done by Del Rey's very own art director, Dave Stevenson. BARBARA HAMBLY--who is currently President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America--has a Star Wars book out: CHILDREN OF THE JEDI. October will bring her new Del Rey hardcover vampire book, the sequel to THOSE WHO HUNT THE NIGHT. TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD is set in London, Vienna, Paris, and Constantinople. This November, she'll be giving a workshop at the National Council of Teachers of English convention in San Diego even as she polishes up MOTHER OF WINTER, an eagerly anticipated sequel to her first fantasy trilogy, _The Time of the Dark_. H. P. LOVECRAFT remains deceased, but work is already beginning on the third book in Del Rey's three-book trade paperback set. The first volume, with the understated title THE BEST OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: BLOODCURDLING TALES OF HORROR AND THE MACABRE, has been picking up new momentum in recent months, leading to the second book, THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: DREAMS OF TERROR AND DEATH, set for this fall. Once the third book is released in 1996, all of Lovecraft's prose works will have been included. These are the versions Ballantine and Del Rey have made famous for more than two decades. GEORGE LUCAS has prepared brand-new introductions for the special hardcover re-issues of STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and RETURN OF THE JEDI. These collectors' editions of _the_ seminal novels will be available beginning in September, and will feature dramatic new covers and interior design, as well. THE STAR WARS TECHNICAL JOURNAL, written and featuring technical illustrations by SHANE JOHNSON, is due out in October 1995, and ANDY MANGELS has completed the meticulously-researched STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS, set for November, featuring dramatic new pen-and-ink character illustrations by Michael Butkus. Andy is working on a number of other Star Wars projects, including material for Topps. JACK McKINNEY's next Robotech novel (#21) will be set between THE FINAL NIGHTMARE (Robotech #9) and INVID INVASION (#10). The new adventure--BEFORE THE INVID STORM--reveals the struggle for control of a dreadnought starship from Tirol, a competition that involves notable Robotech heroes Dana Sterling and Colonel John Wolf. We will be merrily publishing more books in CHRISTOPHER STASHEFF's popular _A Wizard in Rhyme_ series, to follow THE SECULAR WIZARD, which was a Del Rey hardcover in January. Meanwhile, Stasheff's starting a bold new heroic fantasy series about _The Star Stone._ Book One, THE SHAMAN, is scheduled for 11/95, with Book Two, THE SAGE, to come not too much later. Having completed work on WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE, the third installment of the _Worldwar_ alternate history series, HARRY TURTLEDOVE has turned in the fourth and final volume, as well, titled WORLDWAR: FINDING THE BALANCE. He has also completed HAMMER AND ANVIL, the second of two books in the _Time of Troubles_ series that takes place long before, but in the same world as, the _Videssos Cycle._ LAWRENCE WATT-EVANS's THE REIGN OF THE BROWN MAGICIAN is slated for publication in early 1996. It concludes the _Three Worlds_ trilogy, which features an unusual and sometimes unsettling combination of science fiction, fantasy, and reality. The second book in the trilogy, IN THE EMPIRE OF SHADOW, is set for a September 1995 release in mass-market paperback. -------------------------------------------------------------- SIGNINGS, READINGS, CONVENTION ATTENDANCE BY DEL REY AUTHORS JAMES P. HOGAN will be at LibertyCon in Chattanooga, Tennessee, July 8-10. TERRY BROOKS, JOHN SAUL, BARBARA HAMBLY, R. A. SALVATORE, K. D. WENTWORTH, SHELLY SHAPIRO (Executive Editor), STEVE SAFFEL (Editor), and KUO-YU LIANG (Del Rey Sales Manager) will be at DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia, July 13-16. SUSAN DEXTER will be at Confluence 8 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 28-30. DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS===================================== SF BOOK CLUB ACTION SLOW RIVER by Nicola Griffith has been chosen by the SF Book Club to be a featured alternate in the fall. And David Gemmell's famous _Drenai Saga_, which began with LEGEND, has been picked up as a SFBC three-in-one volume. The LEGENDS OF THE DRENAI omnibus will include LEGEND, THE KING BEYOND THE GATE, and QUEST FOR LOST HEROES. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- THE PRICE YOU HAVE TO PAY The votes are in, and it looks like most people who felt strongly enough to respond to our call for opinions want price information in the DRIN. Two respondents out of about 20 were against including price information; many booksellers who use the DRIN to place orders were eager for us to add prices. So, starting in August, we will be adding price information to the DRIN--but only in the Del Rey Data section that lists upcoming books, along with page length and cover artist and so on. We won't be adding the price information to the book description or other listings. We'll use US and Canadian prices and list them as such; other foreign prices will not be included. Thanks for your input! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WE'RE SLIPPING! We've been saying our manuscript-consideration time for sf is a few months. For a while, it was, and we were darn proud of it. Now we've undergone some editorial changes and our consideration time for sf, as well as fantasy, is back to a more industry-standard 6-8 months, with manuscripts that deserve a second reading by another editor taking longer. Not the kind of news we like to disseminate, but we don't want to mislead those of you who have submitted lately or plan to submit (manuscripts, that is). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WEB SITES: ONLINE BOOKSTORES For those of you who want to order books over the Internet, here are a few venues. Keep in mind that supporting your local independent bookstore is important, too. If you don't, soon you may not have one to support. Foreign readers are especially encouraged to use these online bookstores...it's easier than ordering directly from us, and helps keep the bookstores going! (Online bookstores are independents, too.) FUTURE FANTASY http://futfan.com/home.html The first and biggest sf/f specialty store on the Internet. Set up an account and order away...the news is that much of their online business is from overseas. They link to publishers' resources about the books they sell (for example, look up Harry Turtledove's books in their catalog and you'll be able to click right over to our sample chapters). BOOK STACKS UNLIMITED http://www.books.com (or telnet to books.com) Features an easy-to-use interface, credits toward free books, and online discussion groups. All kinds of books, and you can browse new releases by subject/genre. THE ONLINE BOOKSTORE http://www.obs-us.com/obs/obshome.html Also has "storefronts" in other languages (which you can access through the URL above). Books from participating publishers, special features (OBS's other business is doing joint promotions with publishers--check out the Nicholas Negroponte/BEING DIGITAL project), and articles about online commerce, publishing, bookstores, etc. They also have a custom "book-finder" service that will match you up by e-mail with a bookstore (worldwide) that can sell you the book you're looking for. Shipping & handling seems a little steep here; ordering is by e-mail. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE, BOOKSTORE http://bookweb.cwis.uci.edu:8042/HomeTest.html (or /Books.html) A college bookstore rather than a general-interest bookstore, but has some SF (sort of a spotty selection). Orders via e-mail, not Web forms; indexing of titles using a simple WAIS search engine rather than something more spiffy and powerful. A search for Harper the author gets you Harper Collins books as well. LATEST EXCERPTS ONLINE============================================= Sample chapters of some of our upcoming and recent (and some of our favorite, neither upcoming nor recent) books are now available online (for free, of course). This month's books are BELGARATH THE SORCERER by David and Leigh Eddings; SLOW RIVER by Nicola Griffith (read this one pleasepleaseplease!); THE BASTARD PRINCE by Katherine Kurtz; THE GAMESTER WARS by William R. Forstchen; and GENELLAN: PLANETFALL by Scott G. Gier (Del Rey Discovery of 1995). Descriptions above in "What's New in the Stores." You can get the sample chapters a few different ways: they're on the Del Rey Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/) and on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books directory; you can request them via e-mail from the Del Rey fileserver (delrey@tachyon.com; SENDME sample.belgarath, sample.slow_river, sample.bastard_prince, sample.gamester_wars, or sample.genellan) and they'll be available in CompuServe's SF Library 4, AOL's SF and Fantasy libraries, eWorld's SF/F area, and GEnie's SFRT fiction library, too. (For a list of all sample chapters available via the fileserver, send a message to delrey@tachyon.com with "LIST sample" as the body of the message.) IN DEPTH=========================================================== Shawna McCarthy, an agent with Scovil Chichak Galen of New York City, has written this month's "In Depth," which makes a persuasive (if obviously a little biased!) argument for acquiring an agent if you are a professional writer or want to become one. This isn't really a what-I-do-all-day article, so here's a little background: agents and editors do many of the same things all day--read submissions from known and unknown authors, suggest revisions to promising manuscripts, check sales figures, negotiate contracts. Agents also do a lot of the things writers do themselves: pack up and send off manuscripts with hopeful cover letters, wait impatiently for a response, call up to try to shake a response loose, deal with requests for changes. A good agent is more than the person who sends your manuscript to publishers and gets it in the door. Shawna McCarthy explains why and how. Standard disclaimers, just in case: this is just an article for the DRIN, not an endorsement by Del Rey of a particular agent or agency (though we do deal with SCG often). As always, you don't need an agent to submit a manuscript to Del Rey. And now for the pitch! HOW TO MAKE MONEY STUFFING ENVELOPES or What does a literary agent do? A literary agent is sort of like a housekeeper--until you really need one, you can't figure out why anyone else might have one. After all, what do they do for you that you can't do for yourself if you just do a little extra work? And look at all the money you'll save. True enough--sure, you can negotiate your own contract, just like you can clean your own kitchen. But a professional housekeeper will know that if you mix bleach with Ajax you'll create deadly chlorine gas, and a professional iterary agent will know that if you allow the publisher to keep clause 6-sub- b-sub-1, you might as well go into your kitchen and create some deadly chlorine gas. But negoiating contracts is only a tiny bit of what an agent does. Long before the negotiating comes into play, the good agent has talked with you about your work, your feelings, and your future. He or she has asked you what you want to write, what you will write, and where you want to be in ten years. A good agent has looked at your work and determined whether Editor Jones at Mega House would like it more than her sworn enemy Editor Smith (also at Mega House). He or she has called everyone at every publishing house who might be interested in your work and excitedly told them about the terrific new novel that is coming their way. And once the submission has gone out, your professional literary agent is still on the job, relentlessly nagging each and every editor on the list until they've responded to your book. Under the best of circumstances all of them will love it and wave large sums of money in the air, allowing your agent to select the best possible deal for you out of many. Under really pretty good circumstances, two or three will make offers, and your agent will play them off against each other until the best possible deal is made. Under normal circumstances, everyone but one will turn it down, at which point the ability to get rid of clause 6-sub-b-sub-1 becomes really essential. If you're like most writers, especially new ones, you'll sign just about anything to get your book published. Your agent is there to keep you from signing something truly unpleasant. He or she knows that the offer isn't going to go away if you haggle some. Much like at a flea market, a certain amount of negotiating is expected, and if it's not forthcoming the writer might as well pin a big Kick Me sign to his or her back. And your agent is here to tell you that a writer wearing a Kick Me sign will get kicked. But good. But there's a level beyond this on which the agent/author relationship really functions: underneath the wheeling and dealing, there needs to be a fundamental level of trust and respect between agent and clients. After all, in a very real sense, we represent you. We stand in your stead in the publishing world, and a writer who does not trust his or her agent is like a spouse who doesn't trust his or her mate: always looking for the Big Clue that will once and for all prove betrayal. The agent/author relationship cannot function under that sort of cloud, and your writing career will suffer as a result of it. Thus it often happens that a writer will go through four or five different agents before finding one where the relationship just clicks. This is a fact of life, and the agent who takes a client's departure personally is in for a very unappy career path. (Unless of course said author has taken with him your bank account, your significant other and your cat.) So: What do I do for a living? Well, I'm a stern principal, an understanding friend, a rigid taskmaster, a savvy financial advisor, an eagle-eyed contract reader, a hard-nosed negotiator, a therapist, a marital advisor, a weatherman (even though you don't need one to know which way the wind blows), a psychic, and an editor. But I'm a lousy housekeeper. --copyright 1995 by Shawna McCarthy Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency, Inc. Q & A============================================================== Q&A-in-one: We've been getting a lot of requests for information on Robotech lately. In brief: yes, all 20 Robotech/Sentinels books are still in print, along with the various three-in-one volumes; sorry, we don't know anything about the Robotech movie; and Robotech #21 is titled BEFORE THE INVID STORM and takes place before INVID INVASION. A Sentinels 3-in-1 will be out in August--volumes 1-3, or 13 to 15 in the whole Robotech saga--but we don't yet have other three-in-ones scheduled after that; it will depend on the sales record of the first four. Q: Is David Gemmell writing a sequel to QUEST FOR LOST HEROES? A: QUEST FOR LOST HEROES was the fourth book in the Drenai saga that David Gemmell began with LEGEND (there's also a prequel--WAYLANDER, which we will release in November). David has written two more Drenai books, DRUSS THE LEGEND and WAYLANDER 2, which were published in England and for which Del Rey does not have U.S. rights. Q: How can I order books directly from you that I can't find in bookstores? A: Most bookstores will special-order books for their customers (as long as the book is in print). Ask your bookseller. If that fails, you can order directly from us by phone from inside the US by calling 1800-793-2665. Outside the US, unless you live in Western Europe (where we can't sell you most books directly because of our international rights agreements), you can write to our warehouse at the following address: Random House Distribution Center, 200 Hahn Road, Westminster, Maryland, 21157 USA. List the books you want and they will (eventually) notify you of the cost and how to pay (money order or credit card, I believe). You will have to pay shipping and handling charges on the books, which are sold at list price. But at least you can get them this way if your bookstore won't special-order them for you. Or be cool, be hip, be 21st century and try one of the online bookstores listed above in the "News and Announcements" section. TURTLEDOVE CORNER... Q: When is Harry Turtledove's TILTLING THE BALANCE going to be out in paperback? A: TILTING THE BALANCE will be out in paperback in February of next year, along with the hardcover of UPSETTING THE BALANCE. Q: When will books 2 & 3 of Harry Turtledove's _The Time of Troubles_ be published? A: The current plan is for Book 2 to come out in the summer of 1996, with Book 3 to follow less than a year later. There will also be a Book 4 after that. Ellen Key Harris Editor, Del Rey Books Director of Online Projects, Ballantine Books delrey@randomhouse.com |DEL| ================================================================|REY| [The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is copyright 1995 by Del Rey Books, except for the IN DEPTH section, which is copyright by the author. The DRIN may be reproduced only in its entirety, and not for profit.] Д Netmail: General (2:5030/207.2) ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД NETMAIL Д Msg : 645 of 683 Rcv Pvt From : Del.Rey.Books@www.randomhouse.com 2:5030/27 Thu 03 Aug 95 04:41 To : Serge Berezhnoy 2:5030/207.2 Mon 04 Sep 95 14:05 Subj : DRIN August Edition ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД Received: by ort.palantiri.spb.su (UU2FIDO 1.92b [OS2]) for barros@tf.spb.su; Thu, 3 Aug 1995 15:09:36 +0300 Date: Thu, 3 Aug 1995 00:41:22 -0400 From: Del.Rey.Books@www.randomhouse.com Subject: DRIN August Edition Content-Type: text Content-Length: 25975 Apparently-To: drin-dist@www.randomhouse.com Sender: owner-drin-dist@www.randomhouse.com Precedence: bulk |DEL| |REY| The DEL REY BOOKS Internet Newsletter Number 31 (August 1995) WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES=========================================== THE SHAMAN by Christopher Stasheff. Hardcover. (VC) Christopher Stasheff--a favorite with fantasy readers for his _A Wizard in Rhyme_ series for Del Rey and his _Warlock_ series for Ace--starts a bold new hero and a new series, _The Star Stone_. In Book One, THE SHAMAN, he introduces the Ulin, a race of superbeings so powerful in might and magic that they seem like gods--and Ohaern, the one man brave enough to free humanity from their oppression. THE SHAMAN is a rich, full-bodied read, and Stasheff's fans will find it particularly rewarding to watch this popular writer as he grows in power. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------ THE HIDDEN CITY by David Eddings. Paperback. (VC) THE HIDDEN CITY is the conclusion to _The Tamuli_ --and additionally to _The Elenium_, the series that began the tale of Sparhawk and Ehlana. This volume unfolds the long-awaited conclusion to the story of Sparhawk, Knight and Queen's Champion, in the exotic eastern realms of the Tamul Empire. When the minions of the foul God Cyrgon kidnap Sparhawk's wife, Queen Ehlana, they demand that he surrender Bhelliom, the jewel of power, to reclaim his bride. Sparhawk and his cohorts set out to thwart the evil God and rescue the queen. Rousing epic adventure in the standard Eddings mold. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- CATARACT by Tara K. Harper. Paperback. (SS) In CAT SCRATCH FEVER, the guide Tsia became illegally bonded to the intelligent felines of her world. Now, in CATARACT, Tara K. Harper further explores that unusual telepathic relationship: what it means to be connected so intimately to the cats and how that bond affects Tsia's relationships with human beings, in particular her fellow mercenaries and her estranged sister. The amazing thing about this book is that so much under the surface is explored in depth, while the action takes place in a whirlwind drama over about a day and a half. Tsia and her merc comrades are on a mission that goes completely awry, breeding intense suspicion and turning everyone against Tsia and the cat who won't go away. I think the cat is _my_ favorite character, and it shows again how deftly Harper handles that Pern-like telepathic bond between human and animal. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- IN THE EMPIRE OF SHADOW by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Paperback. (SWS) This second installment of the _Three Worlds Trilogy_ follows the trail of Pel Brown, an average guy from here and now, caught up--much against his will--in battling evil in other worlds: one a realm of magic, the other a technologically advanced empire. Neither science nor magic seems able to stop the evil known as Shadow. And Pel soon finds that a life of adventure might sound wonderful, but in practice it's something much less pleasant. He learns--forgive the expression--that there's no place like home...and now his home is lost to him forever. Real life, real risks, and real consequences. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- CLASSIC STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE by George Lucas CLASSIC STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK by Donald F. Glut CLASSIC STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI by James Kahn All based on a story created by George Lucas The original movie novelizations, now all available in hardcover for the first time. CLASSIC STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE includes a new George Lucas introduction. >> SAMPLE CHAPTERS AVAILABLE ONLINE MID-AUGUST DEL REY DATA======================================================= August 1995: BELGARATH THE SORCERER by David & Leigh Eddings (F) Prequel to the Belgariad series; 345-37324-3 Hardcover, 704 pp; cover art by Laurence Schwinger; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE SLOW RIVER by Nicola Griffith (SF) 345-39165-9 Hardcover, 352 pp; cover art by David Stevenson; EKH, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE BASTARD PRINCE by Katherine Kurtz (F) Book Three of _The Heirs of Saint Camber_, mass-market edition of our 6/94 hardcover; 345-39177-2 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by Edwin Herder; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE GAMESTER WARS: THE ALEXANDRIAN RING, THE ASSASSIN'S GAMBIT, THE NAPOLEON WAGER by William Forstchen (SF) Three-in-one volume of _The Gamester Wars_ trilogy; 345-40049-6 Paperback, 792 pp; cover art by Don Dixon and David Mattingly; SHS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE DEL REY DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR --> GENELLAN: PLANETFALL by Scott G. Gier (SF) 345-39509-3 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE AMMONITE by Nicola Griffith (SF) 345-37891-1 Repackage, 368 pp; cover art by David Stevenson; EKH, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE SENTINELS: THE DEVIL'S HAND, DARK POWERS, DEATH DANCE (SF 3-in-1) Three-in-one of books 1-3 of the Sentinel series; 345-38901-8 Paperback, 480 pp; cover art from Robotech archives; EKH, editor ----------------------------------------------------------------- September 1995: THE SHAMAN by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book One of _The Star Stone_; 345-39242-6 Hardcover, 368 pp; cover art by Stephen Youll; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE CLASSIC STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE by George Lucas (SF) Repackage of the _Star Wars_ movie novelization; 345-40077-1 (This is the same as our previous book STAR WARS; we've retitled it to match LucasFilm's current title. This is not a new novelization.) Hardcover, 272 pp; new cover art CLASSIC STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK by Donald F. Glut (SF) Repackage of the _Empire Strikes Back_ movie novelization; 345-40078-X Hardcover, 224 pp; new cover art CLASSIC STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI by James Kahn (SF) Repackage of the _Return of the Jedi_ movie novelization; 345-40079-8 Hardcover, 240 pp; new cover art THE HIDDEN CITY by David Eddings (F) Book Three of _The Tamuli_; mass-market edition of our 9/94 hardcover; 345-39040-7 Paperback, 517 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; VC, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE CATARACT by Tara K. Harper (SF) 345-38052-5 Paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE IN THE EMPIRE OF SHADOW by Lawrence Watt-Evans (F/SF) Book Two of _The Three Worlds Trilogy_; mass-market edition of our 3/95 trade paperback; 345-3978-X Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; SWS, editor >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------ October 1995: TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD by Barbara Hambly (F) 345-38102-5 Hardcover, 400 pp; cover art by Wictor Sadowski; VC, editor THE BELGARIAD: Part One by David Eddings (F 3-in-1) PAWN OF PROPHECY, QUEEN OF SORCERY, MAGICIANS GAMBIT; 345-40004-6 Hardcover, 656 pp; cover art by Laurence Schwinger; VC, editor STAR WARS TECHNICAL JOURNAL by Shane Johnson (SF) 345-40182-4, Hardcover, 144 pp; cover art by Sylvan; SWS, editor THE SECULAR WIZARD by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book Four of _A Wizard in Rhyme_; mass-market edition of our 1/95 hardcover; 345-38854-2 Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Darrell K. Sweet; SWS, editor WITCH by Donald E. McQuinn (SF) Sequel to WARRIOR and WANDERER; mass-market edition of our 11/95 trade paperback; 345-39737-1 Paperback, 640 pp; cover art by Michael Herring; SHS, editor HIGH HUNT by David Eddings (F) Mainstream novel; 345-32887-6 Repackage, 340 pp; cover art by Mark Garro; VC, editor THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: Dreams of Terror and Death by H. P. Lovecraft 345-38421-0 Trade paperback, 416 pp; cover by John Jude Palencar; SWS, editor STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS by Andy Mangels (SF) 345-39535-2 Trade paperback, 224 pp; cover art by Sylvan; SWS, editor ----------------------------------------------------------- November 1995: MID-FLINX by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-38374-5 Hardcover, 336 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor THE DOLPHINS OF PERN by Anne McCaffrey (SF) Mass-market edition of our 10/94 hardcover; 345-36895-9 Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor MIDWORLD by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-35011-1 Repackage, 218 pp; cover art by Mark Garro; SHS, editor WAYLANDER by David Gemmell (F) 345-37907-1 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Mark Harrison; SWS, editor THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS by Jack L. Chalker (SF) Book One of _The Wonderland Gambit_; 345-38690-6 Trade paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Paul Youll; SHS, editor BLADERUNNER by Phillip K. Dick 345-35047-2 Reissue, 216 pp; cover art supplied by The Ladd Co.; SWS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------------ December 1995: THE IMMORTALITY OPTION by James P. Hogan (SF) Mass-market edition of our 2/95 hardcover; 345-39787-8 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by John Berkey; EKH, editor HORRORS OF THE DANCING GODS by Jack L. Chalker (F) 345-37692-7 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by Darrell K. Sweet; VC, editor THE SHAPING OF MIDDLE-EARTH by J.R.R. Tolkien (F) 345-40043-7 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by John Howe; VC, editor DANCING GODS: PART ONE by Jack L. Chalker (F) THE RIVER OF THE DANCING GODS and DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS in a 2-in-1 volume; 345-40246-4 Repackage, 320 pp; cover art by Darrell Sweet; VC, editor THE TAR-AIYM KRANG by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90857-0 Repackage, 251 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor ORPHAN STAR by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90859-7 Repackage, 234 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor THE END OF THE MATTER by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90861-9 Repackage, 246 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor BLOODHYPE by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90863-5 Repackage, 249 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor FOR LOVE OF MOTHER-NOT by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90865-1 Repackage, 247 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor FLINX IN FLUX by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90867-8 Repackage, 247 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor -------------------------------------------------------------- DRIN AVAILABILITY (Lots of ways to get the DRIN online) 1. read it the first few days of the month on rec.arts.sf.written, GEnie's Del Rey topic on the SFRT, Delphi's Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG (Upcoming Books and Magazines topic), eWorld's SF/F area, America Online's SF Library or OmniPurpose Library,* or CompuServe's SF Library 5*; 2. send a message to majordomo@www.randomhouse.com to be added to the subscriber list and have the DRIN delivered to your mailbox the first or second working day of the month. The body of the message should read: subscribe drin-dist e-mail address Firstname Lastname; 3. read it and more on our World Wide Web site*, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ 4. get a copy from the Del Rey fileserver* (delrey@tachyon.com) by sending e-mail with "SENDME newsletter.current" as the body of the message (or send "HELP" for full instructions); 5. read it on the Panix gopher* (gopher.panix.com; choose the Del Rey Books directory); 6. read it at the Internet Book Information Center (WWW address: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html);* 7. read the current issue in the science-fiction area on BIX; 8. retrieve the current issue from the SF archives at gandalf.rutgers.edu *Back issues also available -------------------------------------------------------------- WORKS IN PROGRESS: Changes, Additions, Updates (The DRIN lists only the changes to the Works in Progress report. The entire current report can be found on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books subdirectory, under Publishing Information.) No updates this month--see the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) for the complete report on which author is working on what, and when it might be done. -------------------------------------------------------------- SIGNINGS, READINGS, CONVENTION ATTENDANCE BY DEL REY AUTHORS NICOLA GRIFFITH will be a guest on Delphi at 7:00 Pacific time (10:00 East Coast time) Thursday, August 3. She says: "I'm hoping some people pop in the conference to chat, because I love talking about what I do." LARRY NIVEN will be attending GenCon in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, August 11-13. HARRY TURTLEDOVE will be Guest of Honor at Bubonicon 27 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, August 11-13. TERRY BROOKS will be attending Intersection/WorldCon in Glasgow, Scotland, August 24-28. DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS===================================== BTW, FYI: MORE SF & F ON THE WWW Ottowa's House of Speculative Fiction (SF/F bookstore) http://www.cyberus.ca/~specfic/ A Canadian sf/f specialty store with a useful Web site (no ordering online at the moment) featuring recommendations (including the beloved-by-me SLOW RIVER!), summer reading lists, new arrivals with cover images, links to other sf stores, etc. SF-Bokhandeln (SF/F bookstore) http://www.sfbok.se/sfbok/sfbok.html An independent sf & fantasy specialty bookstore in Stockholm, Sweden, with an online WWW catalog. From their location in Stockholm, they do mail orders mainly to Sweden and the Scandinavian countries and accept orders by e-mail. The store's home page is available in English at the URL above. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- BEYOND SF IN SF Nicola Griffith's SLOW RIVER has just received a great review in the _San Francisco Chronicle_--in the fiction section rather than a special sf review. This is a great coup for a book that appeals to non-sf readers as well as the cognoscenti, and may be a first for Del Rey! It's certainly a welcome first for the book's editor (EKH), who feels she has been peering out of the sf ghetto and desperately waving this book around since it was first turned in. LATEST EXCERPTS ONLINE============================================= Sample chapters of some of our upcoming and recent (and some of our favorite, neither upcoming nor recent) books are now available online (for free, of course). This month's books are THE SHAMAN by Christopher Stasheff; THE HIDDEN CITY by David Eddings; CATARACT by Tara K. Harper; and IN THE EMPIRE OF SHADOW by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Descriptions are above in "What's New in the Stores." And we hope to have sample chapters of the three original Star Wars novelizations (A NEW HOPE, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, RETURN OF THE JEDI) online sometime this month, before the next DRIN comes out. You can get the sample chapters a few different ways: they're on the Del Rey Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/) and on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books directory; you can request them via e-mail from the Del Rey fileserver (delrey@tachyon.com; SENDME sample.shaman, sample.hidden_city, sample.cataract, or sample.empire_of_shadow) and they'll be available in CompuServe's SF Library 4, AOL's SF and Fantasy libraries, and GEnie's SFRT fiction library, too. Star Wars chapters, when they're available, should be requested with SENDME sample.new_hope, sample.empire_strikes_back, and sample.return_jedi (For a list of all sample chapters available via the fileserver, send a message to delrey@tachyon.com with "LIST sample" as the body of the message.) IN DEPTH=========================================================== Patrick Price, Associate Publicist, handles fiction and nonfiction titles from the controversial ABDUCTION: HUMAN ENCOUNTERS WITH ALIENS to Douglas Rushkoff's MEDIA VIRUS and the Ballantine Lesbian Mystery Tour. He is also the publicist for the current Del Rey hardcover SLOW RIVER by Nicola Griffith. In addition, he often reads and assesses gay-themed books or proposals for the Ballantine editors. For this month's DRIN, he tells us about how a publicist's job fits into the publication process: My job is to serve as a kind of gateway between our books and the outside world. Everyday you might read book reviews in newspapers and magazines, watch an author being interviewed on "The Today Show" or "Oprah," see authors as experts in the op-ed pages or in a news report, and maybe even anticipate a reading/signing by your favorite author at the neighborhood bookstore or a conference. All of these things are easy to take for granted because they are so evident. But in truth, behind each appearance, review, or sound- bite, there is a publicist working like mad for the reader's attention. Publicity can be a grueling affair of long days, endless phone calls, author hand-holding, meticulous itineraries, and damage control, but there's an air of excitement, too-- an almost discernible buzz emanating from every publicity department. When I first considered publishing as a career, the only thing I imagined doing was what I now know of as the editorial process-- reading, copy-editing, etc. Luckily for me, I went to a two-day seminar offered at my university where alumni from the publishing world came to speak about their fields, and there I was first smitten by the allure of publicity. Publicists can tell great stories. Believe me, the behind-the-scenes is always more interesting than what the public sees. Publicists have to be outgoing, engaging, and know how to be charming even when everything is happening at once. Most of my work begins after a book is written. If it's an original work (rather than a reprint) we get galleys or advance reader's copies to send to the media and reviewers as both a preview and an attempt to meet the long lead times for most publications. (A finished book is available to us only very shortly before its available to the public.) Even before publication, I become a spokesperson or cheerleader for a title-- reading the book, meeting with the author and establishing a working relationship, collecting editorial summaries. Then I get busy writing a press release that captures the essence and merits of the book in a concise, introductory manner for the over-flooded media. We send the releases off with a prayer and a lot of follow-ups. Now the process has just begun. It is important to distinguish between two types of books: tour and non-tour titles. Tour books are those whose authors we send on the road. Being on tour gives an author the chance to reach new audiences and local media outlets that would be impossible to reach otherwise. A tour can be a weekend in the author's hometown and a neighboring city or an insane, twenty-city-plus East and West Coast blitz. These decisions are made based on many factors: an author's availability, our expectations, bookstore requests for an author's appearance, market factor (are we reaching the book's audience?), and our own budget restraints. Tours are expensive affairs of cross-country flying and nice hotels, but they're hardly a holiday-- ask any exhausted author who has been shuttled back and forth between TV and radio stations, trying to find time for dinner before the next bookstore reading. My part of the tour involves reaching the media in each city. I create a press kit full of vital information: an author bio, a press release, tour dates, press clippings, and the ever-important pitch letter. Few writers get in on their name alone; a book has to be presented as newsworthy or of interest to the venue's audience. After a mass-mailing to selected media and a little wait for the postal system, we begin the essential ploy of pitching. Pitching can only be described as a roller-coaster ride; its highs and lows make for a bumpy time. We start by printing out call sheets--detailed summaries of where we mailed our press kits. These give some clues as to who might consider using our book, but they ultimately just tell us who to call to get a direct response. Pitching is where we get savvy, because getting a producer's ear is a privilege and we must win him or her over quickly. A producer's response can be a simple "no," the teasing "I'm not sure if that idea would work. Any other approaches?", or the back-to-base-one "Who?" When an appearance is agreed upon, I am the one who coordinates all the who, what, when, and where and relays everything to the author. When problems arise later, it is my job to fix them. Publicists rarely travel with an author unless the author is in New York. Otherwise, we have media escorts who specialize in taking authors to all their appointments in a given city. But in New York, I will go with authors to their taping of "The Ricki Lake Show" or attend their book signings. Since a lot of the national media stems from New York, I get to see a lot of fascinating outlets. An example of a non-tour book that I'm working on now is Nicola Griffith's SLOW RIVER (an August Del Rey hardcover). I first read the novel when it was still only a manuscript and instantly wanted to work with it and Nicola. Nicola's situation is a bit more complicated than most authors' because she lives with multiple sclerosis and thus is unable to endure the physical strain of a tour. Nevertheless, we wanted to reach as many people as possible, so we decided to concentrate on getting print coverage (both reviews and interviews) and setting up interviews by phone. SLOW RIVER is blessed with an especially striking cover that I thought would make a perfect recurring image to entrance reviewers. With this in mind, I purchased unique folders to paste the cover art onto and created an "early word" press kit to help showcase SLOW RIVER as a hot, up-and-coming title. I mailed these kits, with an advance reader's copy, to various science-fiction, lesbian and gay, and feminist publications. I also did an unusual press release wherein I had the cover art (minus text) printed as a full-page, haunting watermark behind the standard-style press release. The finished effect adds an extra sense of depth to the release (and hopefully increased notice). I also wrote letters to the book reviewers, making them aware of SLOW RIVER and anticipating their reviews. Right now, Nicola and I are busy collecting the fruits of our work--the quotes. In the near future, I'll have enough critical praise to merit a new mailing (I also have the finished book now) and I'll work with the theory that if X and Y sang the book's praises, shouldn't Z take another peek and not miss out on a great book that readers, viewers, or listeners will want to know about? Critical blackmail. All of this is only the peak of the publicity iceberg. Part of what makes the job enticing is its unpredictable nature--a quiet day can turn instantly frantic with only one phone call. I never know who I'll be meeting or talking to next. A publicist's Rolodex becomes both a lifeline and a treasure chest. To make life even more challenging, a publicist is usually working on several books at one time, and backlist authors call from time to time as well. There are many stages to a book's publicity and, in truth, it never really ends. The good news is that there are unlimited possibilities out there and they are all undoubtedly just a phone call away. --copyright 1995 by Patrick Price Q & A============================================================== Q: Whatever happened to Lyndon Hardy,and Robert Don Hughes? I liked both authors--have they stopped publishing? A: Nice to hear from someone else who misses Lyndon Hardy's unique approach to fantasy--but Dr. Hardy bowed out of the publishing racket after RIDDLE OF THE SEVEN REALMS; I think he had plenty of other interesting and rewarding things to do with his time. Robert Don Hughes was away for awhile--in Africa, I think--on missionary work. He has returned and the last I heard, he planned to concentrate on writing; beyond that, we don't know. Q: Will MAGNIFICAT, the final book in Julian May's _Galactic Milieu Trilogy_, be published soon? A: MAGNIFICAT will be published in early '96 in hardcover by Knopf, then about a year later in paperback by Del Rey. Q: I would like to know where I can purchase the rest of the Gundam series. I also would like to know if there are any new Robotech Books either out now or to be released. A: Our three GUNDAM books are currently out of stock, and we don't plan to reissue them or acquire more. We're publishing one new Robotech book early next year--BEFORE THE INVID STORM--but don't have any firm plans at the moment for more original novels after that. SOME PEDESTRIAN BUT COMMON QUESTIONS FROM OUR MAILBOX: Q: what is your AOL address so I can cruise through the good stuff? A: AOL instructions: Use keyword "Science Fiction"; choose menu item "Science Fiction Fandom"; scroll through folders until you find "Del Rey Books." However, the "good stuff" is mostly on our gopher site (gopher.panix.com) and our Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/). Q: How can I write to/send e-mail to Terry Brooks/David Eddings/Katherine Kurtz/Anne McCaffrey/other Del Rey authors? A: Send snail mail to them care of Del Rey Books, 201 East 50th Street, NY NY 10022 USA. We will forward the mail when we receive it. We don't give out authors' addresses, but if the author is online and you know his or her e- mail address, you can use it to write directly. Ellen Key Harris Editor, Del Rey Books Director of Online Projects, Ballantine Books delrey@randomhouse.com |DEL| ===================================================================|REY| [The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is copyright 1995 by Del Rey Books, except for the IN DEPTH section, which is copyright by the author. The DRIN may be reproduced only in its entirety, and not for profit.] Д Netmail: General (2:5030/207.2) ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД NETMAIL Д Msg : 654 of 685 Rcv Pvt From : Del.Rey.Books@www.randomhouse.com 2:5030/27 Sat 02 Sep 95 00:12 To : Serge Berezhnoy 2:5030/207.2 Mon 04 Sep 95 14:05 Subj : DRIN September Edition (Number 32) ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД Received: by ort.palantiri.spb.su (UU2FIDO 1.92b [OS2]) for barros@tf.spb.su; Sat, 2 Sep 1995 06:58:25 +0300 Date: Fri, 1 Sep 1995 17:12:19 -0700 From: Del.Rey.Books@www.randomhouse.com Subject: DRIN September Edition (Number 32) Apparently-To: drin-dist-outgoing@www.randomhouse.com |DEL| |REY| The DEL REY BOOKS Internet Newsletter Number 32 (September 1995) WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES=========================================== TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD by Barbara Hambly. Hardcover. (VC) Popular author Barbara Hambly takes her readers back to the England of THOSE WHO HUNT THE NIGHT, then off on the ride of lifetime (or deathtime, for the vampires and other unfortunates involved) aboard the fabled Orient Express. Dr. James Asher pursues undead enemies across the Continent, unaware that the infamous vampire Don Simon Ysidro is following him...and unaware that his wife, Lydia Asher, is not staying home where it's safe. A vampire fantasy for intelligent fantasy readers, focused on character, not erotic/horror gore. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS by Andy Mangels. Trade paperback. (SWS) Sometimes it helps to have a scorecard, and this illustrated trade paperback offers the data and background for the key players from the multimedia _Star Wars_ saga. It features 101 of the major players from the movies, TV specials, novels, comics, and all the branches of the Star Wars galaxy. New movies are on their (slow) way, and this book can serve as a study guide to what's come before for those who don't feel like rereading/reviewing everything, or who just need to catch up. With lots of illustrations (photos and art) and detailed entries, it's also interesting to browse. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE BY 10/1 ------------------------------------------------------------ STAR WARS TECHNICAL JOURNAL by Shane Johnson. Hardcover. (SWS) From the droids to the Death Star, this special hardcover offers the detailed specs and official, Lucasfilm-approved schematics of the technology, planets, and cultures that abound in the Star Wars Universe. (This has a different cover than the U. K. Boxtree edition, but the same content--the three Starlog TECHNICAL JOURNALS.) >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE (TEXT ONLY EXCEPT ON WEB SITE) ------------------------------------------------------------- THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: DREAMS OF TERROR AND DEATH by H. P. Lovecraft. Trade paperback. (SWS) Collected for the first time in one trade-paperback edition are Lovecraft's tales of the horrors that lurk in the dimensions of dream. These 25 works include the seminal material that led to the definitive nightmare stories like _Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath_. Introduction by Neil (_Sandman_) Gaiman; cover by John Jude Palencar. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- THE BELGARIAD: Part One by David Eddings. Hardcover. (VC) Includes PAWN OF PROPHECY, QUEEN OF SORCERY, and MAGICIAN'S GAMBIT It would be hard to find a more popular modern fantasy series than David Eddings' BELGARIAD, and harder yet to find such a series that has not been available in hardcover. But in the unlikely event that you're on such a search, look no further: the first three books of Eddings' first series are now published together in hardcover for the first time in the US--_with the author's review and revision,_ so this is the way the series should be read. It makes a perfect companion piece for BELGARATH THE SORCERER; readers are reporting that they want finish BELGARATH and go straight to THE BELGARIAD to follow the Old Wolf's story straight through. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- THE SECULAR WIZARD by Christopher Stasheff. Paperback. (VC) Grad student Matt Mantrell--first introduced in HER MAJESTY'S WIZARD and THE OATHBOUND WIZARD, when he was whisked away to a world where poetry works magic--is now back on the hot seat in that other world. Reports from sunny Latruria say trouble's brewing down south. Matt sets off to investigate, disguised as a wandering minstrel. When Latruria's sinister prime minister penetrates his disguise, Matt runs afoul of would-be assassins and indignant music critics alike. Stasheff serves up his patented brand of humor and humanity, history and histrionics, while his slightly off-center characters explore some pretty serious philosophy and have fun doing it. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE --------------------------------------------------------------- WITCH by Donald E. McQuinn. Paperback. (SHS) Don McQuinn wraps up his post-apocalyptic trilogy set in the Pacific Northwest some 500 years in the future. Gan Moodark's fledgling empire is beset by enemies on all sides. His ace-in-the-hole is the new technology brought by the odd strangers (cryogenic resurrectees from the 21st century). But the slow poison of betrayal and deceit is working at the hearts of Gan's followers, and his people suspect that the strangers are sorcerers practicing black magic. A rousing end to the series that Dean Koontz called "a first- rate fantasy [science fiction, please!] adventure, crammed full of action, wonder, intrigue, vivid characters and rich details. McQuinn's military background ensures an authenticity and heightened sense of reality." >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- HIGH HUNT by David Eddings. Paperback. (VC) Hunting season opens soon, so Del Rey is repackaging David Eddings' guys- with-guns adventure story--his first published work. No, actually it just seems to be open season on the Eddings oeuvre this fall at Del Rey, so we're going all the way and redoing HIGH HUNT. Worlds away from his fantasy series, it's a raw, explosive read that still exhibits Eddings' familiar storyteller's touch. DEL REY DATA======================================================= September 1995: THE SHAMAN by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book One of _The Star Stone_; 345-39242-6 Hardcover, 368 pp; cover art by Stephen Youll; VC, editor CLASSIC STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE by George Lucas (SF) Repackage of the _Star Wars_ movie novelization; 345-40077-1 (This is the same as our previous book STAR WARS; we've retitled it to match LucasFilm's current title. This is not a new novelization.) Hardcover, 272 pp; new cover art CLASSIC STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK by Donald F. Glut (SF) Repackage of the _Empire Strikes Back_ movie novelization; 345-40078-X Hardcover, 224 pp; new cover art CLASSIC STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI by James Kahn (SF) Repackage of the _Return of the Jedi_ movie novelization; 345-40079-8 Hardcover, 240 pp; new cover art IN THE EMPIRE OF SHADOW by Lawrence Watt-Evans (F/SF) Book Two of _The Three Worlds Trilogy_; mass-market edition of our 3/95 trade paperback; 345-3978-X Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; SWS, editor THE HIDDEN CITY by David Eddings (F) Book Three of _The Tamuli_; mass-market edition of our 9/94 hardcover; 345-39040-7 Paperback, 517 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; VC, editor CATARACT by Tara K. Harper (SF) 345-38052-5 Paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------ October 1995: TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD by Barbara Hambly (F) Sequel to THOSE WHO HUNT THE NIGHT; 345-38102-5 Hardcover, 400 pp; cover art by Wictor Sadowski; VC, editor STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS by Andy Mangels (SF) 345-39535-2 Trade paperback, 224 pp; cover art by Sylvan; SWS, editor STAR WARS TECHNICAL JOURNAL by Shane Johnson (SF) 345-40182-4 Hardcover, 144 pp; cover art by Sylvan; SWS, editor THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: Dreams of Terror and Death by H. P. Lovecraft 345-38421-0 Trade paperback, 416 pp; cover by John Jude Palencar; SWS, editor THE BELGARIAD: Part One by David Eddings (F 3-in-1) Three-in-one volume: PAWN OF PROPHECY, QUEEN OF SORCERY, MAGICIAN'S GAMBIT; 345-40004-6 Hardcover, 656 pp; cover art by Laurence Schwinger; VC, editor THE SECULAR WIZARD by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book Four of _A Wizard in Rhyme_; mass-market edition of our 1/95 hardcover; 345-38854-2 Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Darrell K. Sweet; VC, editor WITCH by Donald E. McQuinn (SF) Sequel to WARRIOR and WANDERER; mass-market edition of our 11/95 trade paperback; 345-39737-1 Paperback, 640 pp; cover art by Michael Herring; SHS, editor HIGH HUNT by David Eddings (F) 345-32887-6 Repackage, 340 pp; cover art by Mark Garro; VC, editor ----------------------------------------------------------- November 1995: MID-FLINX by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-38374-5 Hardcover, 336 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS by Jack L. Chalker (SF) Book One of _The Wonderland Gambit_; 345-38690-6 Trade paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Paul Youll; SHS, editor THE DOLPHINS OF PERN by Anne McCaffrey (SF) Mass-market edition of our 10/94 hardcover; 345-36895-9 Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor MIDWORLD by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-35011-1 Paperback repackage, 218 pp; cover art by Mark Garro; SHS, editor WAYLANDER by David Gemmell (F) 345-37907-1 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Mark Harrison; SWS, editor BLADERUNNER, or DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECRIC SHEEP by Phillip K. Dick 345-35047-2 Reissue, 216 pp; cover art supplied by The Ladd Co.; SWS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------------ December 1995: THE IMMORTALITY OPTION by James P. Hogan (SF) Mass-market edition of our 2/95 hardcover; 345-39787-8 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by John Berkey; EKH, editor HORRORS OF THE DANCING GODS by Jack L. Chalker (F) 345-37692-7 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by Darell K. Sweet; VC, editor THE SHAPING OF MIDDLE-EARTH by J.R.R. Tolkien (F) 345-40043-7 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by John Howe; VC, editor DANCING GODS: PART ONE by Jack L. Chalker (F) Two-in-one volume: THE RIVER OF THE DANCING GODS, DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS; 345-40246-4 Repackage, 320 pp; cover art by Darrell Sweet; VC, editor THE TAR-AIYM KRANG by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90857-0 Repackage, 251 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor ORPHAN STAR by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90859-7 Repackage, 234 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor THE END OF MATTER by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90861-9 Repackage, 246 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor BLOODHYPE by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90863-5 Repackage, 249 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor FOR LOVE OF MOTHER-NOT by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90865-1 Repackage, 247 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor FLINX IN FLUX by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90867-8 Repackage, 247 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor -------------------------------------------------------------- JANUARY 1996: GHOST KING by David Gemmell (F) 345-37902-0 Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Royo; SWS, editor THE TRUE KNIGHT by Susan Dexter (F) 345-39345-7 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by Givelo Cabral; VC, editor CAIN'S LAND by Robert Frezza (SF) 345-39025-3 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; OL, editor THE CRYSTAL SINGER TRILOGY by Anne McCaffrey (SF) Three-in-one volume: CRYSTAL SINGER, KILLASHANDRA, CRYSTAL LINE; 345-40292-8 Trade paperback, 672 pp; cover art by Michael Whelan & Rowena; SS, editor FIRE IN A FARAWAY PLACE by Robert Frezza (SF) 345-38724-4 Reissue, 320 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; OL, editor ----------------------------------------------------------- DRIN AVAILABILITY (Lots of ways to get the DRIN online) 1. read it the first few days of the month on rec.arts.sf.written, GEnie's Del Rey topic on the SFRT, Delphi's Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG (Upcoming Books and Magazines topic), America Online's SF Library or OmniPurpose Library,* eWorld's SF/F area, or CompuServe's SF Library 5*; 2. send a message to majordomo@www.randomhouse.com to be added to the subscriber list and have the DRIN delivered to your mailbox the first or second working day of the month. The body of the message should read: subscribe DRIN-dist e-mail address Firstname Lastname; 3. read it and more on our World Wide Web site*, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ 4. get a copy from the Del Rey fileserver* (delrey@tachyon.com) by sending e-mail with "SENDME newsletter.current" as the body of the message (or send "HELP" for full instructions); 5. read it on the Panix gopher* (gopher.panix.com; choose the Del Rey Books directory); 6. read it at the Internet Book Information Center (WWW address: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html);* 7. read the current issue in the science-fiction area on BIX; 8. retrieve the current issue from the SF archives at gandalf.rutgers.edu *Back issues also available -------------------------------------------------------------- WORKS IN PROGRESS: Changes, Additions, Updates (The DRIN lists only the changes to the Works in Progress report. The entire current report can be found on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books subdirectory, under Publishing Information.) CHRIS BUNCH is hard at work on the second book of the _Shadow Warrior_ trilogy, a science-fiction thriller, having completed book one, THE WIND AFTER TIME, as well as the first of his solo fantasy trilogy for Warner/Aspect. Having wrapped up the Anteros series, ALLAN COLE has just begun a brand-new solo fantasy trilogy. The Del Rey editions of DAVID GEMMELL's Drenai saga will conclude in September with WAYLANDER, but there are three _additional_ Drenai books available in British editions: DRUSS THE LEGEND, THE LEGEND OF DEATHWALKER, and WAYLANDER 2. The next series, the "Stones of Power," will begin with Del Rey's GHOST KING (January), with two book slated for 1996 and two for 1997. The fifth book in that series, BLOODSTONE, is also only available in the UK edition. GEARY GRAVEL is working on Volume Three of the Might and Magic books. NICOLA GRIFFITH is working on an outline for her next novel, a non-sf thriller. Meanwhile, SLOW RIVER is out on the shelves in hardcover and getting great reviews almost everywhere. ANNE McCAFFREY is working on a brand-new Pern novel, as well as the sequel to Freedom's Landing (for Berkley). JACK McKINNEY's next Robotech novel (#21) will be set between THE FINAL NIGHTMARE (Robotech #9) and INVID INVASION (#10). The new adventure--BEFORE THE INVID STORM--reveals the struggle for control of a dreadnought starship from Tirol, a competition that involves notable Robotech heroes Dana Sterling and Col. John Wolf. LARRY NIVEN has completed THE RINGWORLD THRONE, the third Ringworld novel. Look for a preview in the October issue of _Omni Comics_, which will re-present the Louis Wu story "There is a Tide," along with pinups by many of the more famous sf and comics artists. That issue will also present a new eight-page comics story, based on a portion of THE RINGWORLD THRONE, illustrated by Richard Corben. HARRY TURTLEDOVE's third book in the Worldwar tetralogy, WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE, will feature another amazingly realistic Stan Watts scene of alternate history, as Albert Einstein shows the workings of an alien spacecraft to General Dwight Eisenhower and Benito Mussolini. The book is slated for February 1996, with the final book to follow a year later. MARK COTTA VAZ will write the ambitious STAR WARS: THE GUIDE TO SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE, set for May release. The Shadows of the Empire is a movie-level event without a movie falling between the storylines of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI. The Lucasfilm folks are working closely with a variety of producers for the novel, trading cards, role playing games, video game, comic book series, and even soundtrack. THE GUIDE TO SHADOW OF THE EMPIRE pulls everthing together, providing the vital statistics on all the major players, including the Vader-level villain named Xizor, and reveals the behind-the-scenes efforts that went into producing each and every element. -------------------------------------------------------------- SIGNINGS, READINGS, CONVENTION ATTENDANCE BY DEL REY AUTHORS Our calendar compiler is on vacation in the Bahamas this week, so Del Rey's authors will have to go unremarked to their signings, conventions, and readings until October. DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS===================================== JOHN BRUNNER Del Rey Books has been publishing John Brunner since its founding in the late 70s, and we are saddened by his passing last week at WorldCon in Glasgow. I took over editing Brunner in the late 80s, having loved his books for years. John was an incredibly talented writer and an exacting author. He wrote science fiction in a classic style. His view of the future was not a rosy one; his stories often foretold the dangers of the short-sighted uses to which technology is put, sounding a warning to us all that while technology can enhance human life in wonderful ways, there is another, darker side to technology and a price to be paid for technological advancement. In recent years, John had often told me that he found it difficult to write stories set out in the wide reaches of the galaxy because he couldn't see how humanity could ever get there. But earlier this summer I had lunch with John and his wife in New York, and John seemed slightly more hopeful than he had been before as we tossed around ideas for a new Brunner epic. It is a shame that we'll now never learn what wonderful new worlds John might have imagined, or have the pleasure of reading about them in John's unique prose. --Stephen Sterns LATEST EXCERPTS ONLINE============================================= Sample chapters of some of our upcoming and recent (and some of our favorite, neither upcoming nor recent) books are now available online (for free, of course). This month's new books are TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD by Barbara Hambly; THE BELGARIAD Vols. 1-3 by David Eddings; THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: DREAMS OF TERROR AND DEATH by H. P. Lovecraft; and THE STAR WARS TECHNICAL JOURNAL by Shane Johnson. THE SECULAR WIZARD by Christopher Stasheff and WITCH by Don McQuinn are also available online. Descriptions are above in "What's New in the Stores." You can get the sample chapters a few different ways: they're on the Del Rey Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/) and on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books directory; you can request them via e-mail from the Del Rey fileserver (delrey@tachyon.com; SENDME sample.traveling_dead, sample.belgariad, sample.dream_cycle_terror, sample.secular_wizard, sample.witch, or sample.sw_technical_journal) and they'll be available in CompuServe's SF Library 4 and AOL's SF and Fantasy libraries, too. (For a list of all sample chapters available via the fileserver, send a message to delrey@tachyon.com with "LIST sample" as the body of the message.) IN DEPTH=========================================================== Christopher Stasheff is the author of many fantasy novels for Del Rey and Ace, including our _A Wizard in Rhyme_ series and the _Star Troupers_ series. Though his books are often light in tone, the issues that underpin them are more weighty than you might guess. Here Stasheff tells us about the genesis of his current series, _The Star Stone,_ and its mythology: In the mid-Eighties, Tolkien's Silmarillion was published. I was dazzled by its scope--it was a saga containing outlines for a hundred books--and staggered to discover that the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy was only a page and a half toward the end of the book. I was so excited by it that I sat down and wrote an outline for a heroic fantasy. Then I sat back, looked at it, and said, "There's a story that came before that." I decided that I wanted to start writing at the beginning of the series, instead of building the last book first and following it with prequels. So I sat down and wrote out the outline for that story, then sat back, looked at it, and said, "There's a story that came before that." So I sat down and wrote the outline, and.. Well, I ended up with a story about a stone-age hero dealing with the building of the first city--I decided that was going back far enough. But when Lester del Rey didn't buy that first outline, I put the project aside for a while--about fifteen years. When I finally sent a second outline to Del Rey, they decided it might sell. So I began _The Star Stone_. Of course, I'd been thinking the whole series over all that time, and working out the details. I followed Tolkien's example, working out my own mythology, then setting the story within the conflicts it contained. I already had decided, along with many other scholars and authors, that people need a mythology as a foundation for living, and that Christianity doesn't seem to provide a broad enough sweep--with the decline of belief in the saints, there aren't enough archetypes interacting to form myths that cover all the major aspects of today's life. As a result, Hollywood is busily grinding out variations on the old pagan archetypes for us, but none of them lasts long enough to give us a real template for living a full and happy life. Therefore, I set out to make up a mythology that was compatible with Christianity, centering around the Ulin, an elder race of magical giants, whom humankind think of as gods. The Ulin who tries to protect human beings is Lomallin, the "Green One," aided by the "goddess" Rahani. Against them is Ulahane, the "Scarlet One," determined to rid the earth of the vermin called humanity. Against the background of that mythology, I showed how an ordinary man could be caught up in this battle of gods, eventually transcending the limits of his mortality to become a timeless hero, almost a demigod. The book begins with the sentence, "Ohaern was only a man, then--but that was then." Right there, we know we're going to be watching a man becoming something more than human--and he does, avenging his wife's death by rescuing the sage who could have saved her life, even though he was imprisoned in Byleo, the fortress of the worshippers of the evil god, Ulahane, the Scarlet One. In retaliation, Ulahane sends a barbarian horde to wipe out Ohaern's village. As a result, Ohaern sets the goal of his revenge as the slaying of the Scarlet One himself. With the help of Rahani, the goddess who loves humankind and is still determined to save it, Ohaern welds together an alliance of human beings from the ends of the earth, half-human monsters, and elementals, and attacks Ulahane's stronghold... The book is about identity, as all my books are in one way or another, but also about love healing grief, death and rebirth, and the rebirth of hope and idealism. These are, I think, ideas that we need to reaffirm today; our age needs to regain our parents' belief that human beings can be good, and can become good again even if they have been corrupted. I identified the evil god with scarlet, the color of blood,and the good god with green, the color of life, because I suspect that the racism that still plagues America has its roots in the ancient Zoroastrian mythology of a good god of light endlessly pitted against an evil god of darkness. Many recent fantasies have tried to avoid Christianity, but have kept the polarity of good = light and evil = darkness. If my new dichotomy catches on, maybe we can begin to escape that bias that, I think, still underlies the way we look at the world and each other. If we can, we'll begin to form a new concept of our own identities, and of our neighbors'--as always, the central point that I believe determines all else about ourselves and our world. --copyright 1995 by Christopher Stasheff Q & A============================================================== Q: I just finished reading BELGARATH THE SORCERER and have read all of Eddings' works (some multiple times) and am wondering if this concludes the Belgariad/Malloreon series or if there will be more. A: Stay tuned for POLGARA THE SORCERESS (you didn't think Pol would let the Old Wolf have the last word, did you?). When that's published, likely sometime in 1997, the entire 12-book series will be complete. Q: I have been a fan of Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novels since the early 80s. I just finished THE BASTARD PRINCE and the ending sounded sort of final. Will there be any more novels? I thought I had heard once that Ms. Kurtz would try to connect the two ends of the timeline she had created. What's up? A: We'd love it if Katherine Kurtz connected up the two ends of the timeline, but I don't know if that's in the cards. She is hard at work now on KING KELSON'S BRIDE, but she doesn't think she can have it in to Del Rey before spring 1996, though, so publication is planned for sometime in 1997. Q: I was wondering if there will be any further additions to the Robotech line of novels. A: We have at least one more Robotech novel scheduled--it's #21, BEFORE THE INVID STORM. This adventure is actually set between novels 9 and 10, and fills in the gap after the point at which the Master's ship fell to Earth (on Monument City) and before the Invid arrived. The central figures in this novel are Dana Sterling and Col. Wolf, who returns from Tirol with a warship that everyone wants, each with their own agenda in mind. The book will have original cover art by Ken Steacy. Ellen Key Harris Editor, Del Rey Books Director of Online Projects, Ballantine Books delrey@randomhouse.com |DEL| ===================================================================|REY| [The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is copyright 1995 by Del Rey Books, except for the IN DEPTH section, which is copyright by the author. The DRIN may be reproduced only in its entirety, and not for profit.] |DEL| |REY| The DEL REY BOOKS Internet Newsletter Number 33 (October 1995) WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES=========================================== MID-FLINX by Alan Dean Foster. Hardcover. (SHS) Alan Dean Foster's most popular characters are probably the red-haired kid known as Flinx and his unusual pet, the "mini-drag" Pip. The last Flinx and Pip novel was FLINX IN FLUX, published back in the late '80s. At long last, Foster is picking up the threads of the Flinx saga and taking Pip and Flinx on a wild adventure in one of Foster's more interesting locales, Midworld, a planet with a huge, globe-covering rainforest and some very unusual denizens. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- THE WONDERLAND GAMBIT: BOOK ONE, THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS by Jack L. Chalker. Trade. (SHS). Jack Chalker's fertile imagination has taken SF readers to the outer reaches of the universe and beyond. Now, _The Wonderland Gambit_ takes Chalker fans into far stranger places and worlds, where the line between virtual reality and actual reality is blurred beyond recognition. THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS is the first of three novels in the _Wonderland Gambit_ story. But this Wonderland will make Alice look like a mere babe in the woods. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ----------------------------------------------------------------------- THE DOLPHINS OF PERN by Anne McCaffrey. Paperback. (SS) Throughout the _Dragonriders of Pern_ series, references have been made to the "shipfish" of Pern, legendary sea creatures who occasionally rescue sailors and fishermen from peril at sea. Over the generations, fewer and fewer Pernese have even seen a shipfish...until now, the time of ALL THE WEYRS OF PERN. While most of the dragonriders are busy with the last stages of the final assault on Thread, one young dragonrider and a holder boy join forces in renewing humankind's relationship with the dolphins of Pern. I enjoyed this more than some of the recent Pern novels, as the dolphins bring to the series a refreshing sense of the new and fun. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------ WAYLANDER by David Gemmell. Paperback. (SWS) The prequel to the international bestselling fantasy LEGEND, and the fourth and final (for now) installment in Del Rey's offering of Gemmell's Drenai saga. This is the tale of the warrior known as Waylander in his quest through the haunted lands of the Nadir in search of the lost Armor of Bronze. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- MIDWORLD by Alan Dean Foster. Paperback. (SHS) The human inhabitants of the vast jungle planet lived in the middle levels of the huge rainforest. Above, in the open sky, strange creatures would bring instant death, and below, in the depths of the forest floor, lay other dangers. But these abandoned colonists had adapted well to their home, until the real dangers appeared--humans from the Humanx Commonwealth intent on stripping the planet of its riches. MIDWORLD is set in one of Alan Dean Foster's most inventive locales and is a novel of environmental caution. ------------------------------------------------------------- BLADERUNNER, or DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP by Philip K. Dick. Reissue. (SWS) Deckard is a latter-day private detective who reluctantly agrees to cooperate with a large but ineffective police department to find six desperate "offworlders" before they break the security of a major industrial organization and disrupt the delicate balance between humans and "replicants"--third generation androids. These creatures, half human and half machine, look, think, and feel so much like humans that it is almost impossible to identify them. But there are two important differences between the androids and their human creators: androids possess incredible strength and are programmed to live only a few years. As Deckard's search takes him through the treacherous streets of a fantastic future metropolis, he is met at every turn with new and greater challenges. The climactic confrontation with the renegade replicant leader is the most terrifying--and the most haunting--of his career. This is not a novelization of the movie--it's the retitled original novel (DO ANDROID DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP). DEL REY DATA======================================================= October 1995: TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD by Barbara Hambly (F) Sequel to THOSE WHO HUNT THE NIGHT; 345-38102-5 Hardcover, 400 pp; cover art by Wictor Sadowski; VC, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS by Andy Mangels (SF) 345-39535-2 Trade paperback, 224 pp; cover art by Sylvan; SWS, editor STAR WARS TECHNICAL JOURNAL by Shane Johnson (SF) 345-40182-4 Hardcover, 144 pp; cover art by Sylvan; SWS, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: Dreams of Terror and Death by H. P. Lovecraft 345-38421-0 Trade paperback, 416 pp; cover by John Jude Palencar; SWS, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE BELGARIAD: Part One by David Eddings (F 3-in-1) Three-in-one volume: PAWN OF PROPHECY, QUEEN OF SORCERY, MAGICIAN'S GAMBIT; 345-40004-6 Hardcover, 656 pp; cover art by Laurence Schwinger; VC, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE SECULAR WIZARD by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book Four of _A Wizard in Rhyme_; mass-market edition of our 1/95 hardcover; 345-38854-2 Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Darrell K. Sweet; SWS, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE WITCH by Donald E. McQuinn (SF) Sequel to WARRIOR and WANDERER; mass-market edition of our 11/95 trade paperback; 345-39737-1 Paperback, 640 pp; cover art by Michael Herring; SHS, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE HIGH HUNT by David Eddings (F) 345-32887-6 Repackage, 340 pp; cover art by Mark Garro; VC, editor ----------------------------------------------------------- November 1995: MID-FLINX by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-38374-5 Hardcover, 336 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS by Jack L. Chalker (SF) Book One of _The Wonderland Gambit_; 345-38690-6 Trade paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Paul Youll; SHS, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE THE DOLPHINS OF PERN by Anne McCaffrey (SF) Mass-market edition of our 10/94 hardcover; 345-36895-9 Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE WAYLANDER by David Gemmell (F) 345-37907-1 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Mark Harrison; SWS, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE MIDWORLD by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-35011-1 Paperback repackage, 218 pp; cover art by Mark Garro; SHS, editor BLADERUNNER, or DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECRIC SHEEP by Phillip K. Dick 345-35047-2 Reissue, 216 pp; cover art supplied by The Ladd Co.; SWS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------------ December 1995: THE IMMORTALITY OPTION by James P. Hogan (SF) Mass-market edition of our 2/95 hardcover; 345-39787-8 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by John Berkey; EKH, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE HORRORS OF THE DANCING GODS by Jack L. Chalker (F) 345-37692-7 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by Darell K. Sweet; VC, editor THE SHAPING OF MIDDLE-EARTH by J.R.R. Tolkien (F) 345-40043-7 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by John Howe; VC, editor DANCING GODS: PART ONE by Jack L. Chalker (F) Two-in-one volume: THE RIVER OF THE DANCING GODS, DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS; 345-40246-4 Repackage, 320 pp; cover art by Darrell Sweet; VC, editor THE TAR-AIYM KRANG by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90857-0 Repackage, 251 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor ORPHAN STAR by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90859-7 Repackage, 234 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor THE END OF MATTER by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90861-9 Repackage, 246 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor BLOODHYPE by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90863-5 Repackage, 249 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor FOR LOVE OF MOTHER-NOT by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90865-1 Repackage, 247 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor FLINX IN FLUX by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90867-8 Repackage, 247 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor -------------------------------------------------------------- JANUARY 1996: GHOST KING by David Gemmell (F) 345-37902-0 Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Royo; SWS, editor THE TRUE KNIGHT by Susan Dexter (F) 345-39345-7 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by Givelo Cabral; VC, editor CAIN'S LAND by Robert Frezza (SF) 345-39025-3 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; OL, editor THE CRYSTAL SINGER TRILOGY by Anne McCaffrey (SF) Three-in-one volume: CRYSTAL SINGER, KILLASHANDRA, CRYSTAL LINE; 345-40292-8 Trade paperback, 672 pp; cover art by Michael Whelan & Rowena; SS, editor FIRE IN A FARAWAY PLACE by Robert Frezza (SF) 345-38724-4 Reissue, 320 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; OL, editor ----------------------------------------------------------- FEBRUARY 1996: WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) Volume III of the _Worldwar_ series; 345-40221-9 Hardcover, 496 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; SWS, editor WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) Volume III of the _Worldwar_ series; mass-market edition of our 3/95 hardcover; 345-38998-0 Paperback, 608 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; SWS, editor THE CURSED by Dave Duncan (F) Mass-market edition of our 5/95 hardcover; 345-38952-2 Paperback, 432 pp; cover art by David A. Cherry; VC, editor >>SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE COMMENCEMENT by Roby James (SF) 345-40038-0 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Bruce Jensen; EKH, editor GUNS OF THE SOUTH by Harry Turtledove (SF) 345-38468-7 Reissue, 561 pp; cover art by Tom Stimpson; SWS, editor --------------------------------------------------------- DRIN AVAILABILITY (Lots of ways to get the DRIN online) 1. read it the first few days of the month on rec.arts.sf.written, GEnie's Del Rey topic on the SFRT, Delphi's Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG (Upcoming Books and Magazines topic), America Online's SF Library or OmniPurpose Library,* eWorld's SF/F area, or CompuServe's SF Library 5*; 2. send a message to majordomo@www.randomhouse.com to be added to the subscriber list and have the DRIN delivered to your mailbox the first or second working day of the month. The body of the message should read: subscribe DRIN-dist e-mail address Firstname Lastname; 3. read it and more on our World Wide Web site*, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ 4. get a copy from the Del Rey fileserver* (delrey@tachyon.com) by sending e-mail with "SENDME newsletter.current" as the body of the message (or send "HELP" for full instructions); 5. read it on the Panix gopher* (gopher.panix.com; choose the Del Rey Books directory); 6. read it at the Internet Book Information Center (WWW address: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html);* 7. read the current issue in the science-fiction area on BIX; 8. retrieve the current issue from the SF archives at gandalf.rutgers.edu *Back issues also available -------------------------------------------------------------- WORKS IN PROGRESS: Changes, Additions, Updates (The DRIN lists only the changes to the Works in Progress report. The entire current report can be found on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books subdirectory, under Publishing Information.) CHRIS BUNCH has just completed the second book of the _Shadow Warrior_ trilogy, a science-fiction thriller, and will begin work on the final volume right after a well-deserved vacation. When he has completed the trilogy, he will return to work on his solo fantasy trilogy for Warner/Aspect. DAVID GEMMELL's next series from Del Rey is the four-book _Stones of Power,_ begining in January with GHOST KING. This book and LAST SWORD OF POWER are slated for 1996 and two more are on the schedule for 1997. The fifth book in the series, BLOODSTONE, is available in the UK edition. NICOLA GRIFFITH is working on her next novel, a non-sf thriller. STEVE SANSWEET has turned in the outline for the 1997 STAR WARS ENCYCLOPEDIA--the most comprehensive overview ever published of people, places, and things from every corner of the Star Wars Universe. Award-winning games author/editor BILL SMITH has written March's STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS, the companion volume for STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS. This new volume details the history and capabilities of the 100 most famous craft that populate the Star Wars universe, and features a plethora of illustrations and technical drawings by Doug Chiang and Troy Vigil. It also offers a sneak peek at some of the technical elements of the SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE. HARRY TURTLEDOVE has handed in the fourth and final volume of the _Worldwar_ tetralogy, scheduled for February 1997. He is already hard at work on another new alternate-history saga, and has also completed HAMMER AND ANVIL, the second of two books in the _Time of Troubles_ series that takes place long before, but in the same world as, the _Videssos Cycle_. THE REIGN OF THE BROWN MAGICIAN by LAWRENCE WATT-EVANS, the conclusion of his _Three Worlds Trilogy_, is now set for mass-market paperback release in May 1996. MARK COTTA VAZ has turned in the re-named STAR WARS: THE SECRETS OF SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE, set for May release. The Shadows of the Empire is a movie-level event without a movie, set in the period between THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI. STAR WARS: THE SECRETS OF SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE pulls together the upcoming novel, trading cards, role-playing games, Nintendo video game, comic book series, and even the original soundtrack, providing the background on the creative process for each and vital statistics on all the major players, including the villain named Xizor who matches Vader's bad-guy score. --------------------------------------------------------------- SIGNING, READINGS, CONVENTION ATTENDANCE BY DEL REY AUTHORS BARBARA HAMBLY will be signing TRAVELING WITH THE DEAD at the following stores this month: October 10: Dark Carnival, Berkeley, California, 6PM-8PM. October 11: Clean, Well-Lighted Place for Books, Cupertino, California, 7:30PM-9PM. October 12: Page One, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 7PM-8:30PM. October 13: Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, California, 6:30PM-8PM. October 14: Dangerous Visions, Sherman Oaks, California, 2PM-4PM. October 15: Book Carnival, Orange, California, 1PM-3PM. October 25: Borders, Los Angeles, California, 7:30PM-9PM. JIM LUCENO, aka half of JACK McKINNEY, will be Guest of Honor at Robocon 10 in Anaheim, California, October 6-9. K. D. WENTWORTH Will be at Armadillocon in Austin, Texas, October 6-8. ANNE McCAFFREY will be at Octocon '95 in Dublin, Ireland, October 14-15. J. GREGORY KEYES, K. D. WENTWORTH, SUSAN DEXTER, LAWRENCE WATT-EVANS, DAVID GEMMELL, SHELLY SHAPIRO (Del Rey Executive Editor), and STEVE SAFFEL (Del Rey Senior Editor) will be at 1995 World Fantasy Con, Baltimore, Maryland, October 26-30. DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS=================================== ONLINE OUTPOST UPDATE The Ballantine Publishing Group Web site, of which Del Rey is a major piece, now has a searchable electronic catalog of all books in print. We're still working on it, so though all titles are in the database, not all have covers or descriptions yet. Many do, though, and it's pretty neat to play around with. The rest of the Ballantine site offers some other fun stuff, and we've been adding things to the Del Rey site here and there over the months, with more to come. The address is http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- MORE ALTERNATE TAKES ON THE CIVIL WAR WARD MOORE wrote one of the most famous and critically acclaimed alternate history works--BRING THE JUBILEE. In a recent _New York Times_ book review, author/reviewer Donald Westlake noted, "The Civil War has been often rethought in this genre, most effectively in Ward Moore's BRING THE JUBILEE." Impressed that this book would win out, in Westlake's mind at least, over our very own popular GUNS OF THE SOUTH, Del Rey is now preparing to publish a new mass-market edition of this pivotal novel to make it available for a new generation of readers. LATEST EXCERPTS ONLINE============================================= Sample chapters of some of our upcoming and recent (and some of our favorite, neither upcoming nor recent) books are now available online (for free, of course). This month's new samples are MID-FLINX by Alan Dean Foster, THE WONDERLAND GAMBIT: BOOK ONE, THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS by Jack L. Chalker, and WAYLANDER by David Gemmell. THE DOLPHINS OF PERN is also available online. Descriptions above in "What's New in the Stores." You can get the sample chapters a few different ways: they're on the Del Rey Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/) and on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books directory; you can request them via e-mail from the Del Rey fileserver (delrey@tachyon.com; SENDME sample.mid-flinx, sample.cybernetic_walrus, sample.dolphins_of_pern, or sample.waylander) and they'll be available in CompuServe's SF Library 4 and AOL's SF and Fantasy libraries too. (For a list of all sample chapters available via the fileserver, send a message to delrey@tachyon.com with "LIST sample" as the body of the message.) IN DEPTH======================================================== Crawford Kilian's latest novel for Del Rey is REDMAGIC. Among his other novels: GREENMAGIC, GRYPHON, EYAS, and the _Chronoplane Wars_ series (THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC, ROGUE EMPEROR, and THE EMPIRE OF TIME). One of the Del Rey authors most active on the Internet, he makes some keen Net-derived observations here about sf/fantasy readers, the current genre market, and the quality of recent sf/fantasy: For many readers of my generation, growing up just after World War II, science fiction wasn't something we found in our school libraries, still less in the curriculum. It was a misfit genre: it baffled most people, and its publication in lurid pulp magazines (those Art Deco robots! those shrieking maidens in bronze brassieres!) made it distinctly unacceptable to parents and other authorities. Well, we were misfits too, usually too few in a given neighborhood to find many kindred souls. For us, community most often expressed itself in print, in the letter columns and editorials of the SF magazines. There we'd find views that echoed or challenged our own, a culture that dealt seriously with issues our parents and classmates didn't even recognize. And we read about the fortunates in the SF community who could actually meet face to face at conventions and club events. Far away in Mexico City, I read about conventions in New York that seemed impossibly glamorous; I read about fanzines produced by other SF readers; I read the lively, opinionated correspondence in magazines like Astounding--not yet Analog--and dreamed of sending in my own views. (When I finally did, it was to pan Robert Heinlein's DOUBLE STAR, which had just appeared in Astounding as a serial. John W. Campbell, the editor, didn't print my letter.) Those letters and fanzines were a prototype of today's Internet newsgroups: steady exchanges of opinion, news and gossip springing from a shared love of the genre. Access to that early community, however, was difficult; if you didn't actually live in a town holding a convention, how could you hope to attend? And if you lived in another country altogether, you could only eavesdrop. So I grew up aware of the SF fan community, but not at all part of it. I didn't attend a convention until I was over thirty; when I did, it was only to glimpse Ursula Le Guin, the guest of honor, and then to leave out of sheer shyness. That sense of separation has persisted, though I've attended some very enjoyable conventions and met some wonderful people since. With the advent of the Internet, however, a new community has arisen--one which seems to me both more sophisticated and less informed than that of forty years ago. For an SF author, the presence of so many readers on the Net can be an enormous advantage. We have very little sense of our audience without it. We get an idea for a book; we write it over a period of months or even years; we wait still longer for publication and then for royalty statements. Some of us may enjoy hundreds of letters from fans, but many of us don't get more than a letter or two for every 20,000 copies sold. So authors don't know our own culture as well as we should. We know the books and authors who inspired us to try writing; our own books are really extended fan letters themselves, responses to the challenging ideas thrown out to us by the likes of Heinlein, Asimov, and Le Guin. And we recognize that their novels are a response to the authors they read in their youth. What we don't know is how our readers respond to our own work. And here is where the Internet shows us something about our readers. Heinlein, Asimov, Le Guin and other writers who began publishing in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s had few role models within SF. They wrote SF but read in many genres, and they expected their readers to be widely read as well--even if we were kids. Consider Arthur C. Clarke's AGAINST THE FALL OF NIGHT, later revised as THE CITY AND THE STARS. It's rich with literary allusions to the Bible, to Jonathan Swift, and to other classic sources. His novel CHILDHOOD'S END is almost unintelligible without a solid grounding in Christianity, and a couple of courses in John Milton would help as well. Those of us who read these authors as children hadn't read Milton, of course--but when we did, we recognized that the "escapist" novels our parents had fretted over were actually literature. The authors of that Golden Age were almost too successful. They created genres and subgenres so popular that many readers (like me) sought to imitate them...without necessarily sharing the literary background that made their books so poweful. Some of us got published anyway, and attracted readers who then sought to imitate us. But they were still farther from the source. When I follow the discussions in SF newsgroups, I see the results. The genre is over a century old (if we date it from Jules Verne and H. G. Wells). But for many younger readers, Clarke is only the author of the Rama series and of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Other postwar writers like Philip K. Dick are of interest only to experts or "Blade Runner" fans. So discussions tend to focus on very current authors, or on a handful of the old masters. (Heinlein's STARSHIP TROOPERS still provokes lively debate--and who ever talks about books from the mainstream bestseller lists of 1959?) The commentary, however, reflects the changes in the genre. The impression I gain from many postings on the Net is that a generation gap has developed within the SF/fantasy community. Older readers (and writers) have a pretty good perspective on the development of the genre, and they can judge new work in the light of what came before it. Younger readers, lacking this perspective, are missing a great deal. Just as my generation didn't always "get" the literary allusions in Arthur C. Clarke or J. R. R. Tolkien, many of today's young readers are ignorant of even the recent influences on the new books they're reading. This is not to condemn young readers (least of all for being young), but to regret what they're missing. A genre-creating book like STARSHIP TROOPERS creates an excitement that its imitators lack; they are, after all, imitators, lacking the new ideas and visions of their founder. For my generation, SF was by definition a literature of new ideas and visions; today it too often resembles a mass-production industry for a readership that wants familiar material, not something new and surprising. Discussions of SF on the Net therefore resemble debates on the comparative merits of Pizza Hut versus Boston Pizza without reference to Italian cuisine. If this discovery through the Net hasn't been entirely welcome, it is still useful information. As a teacher, I have to determine my students' areas of ignorance before I can deal with them. As a writer, I need to know what my readers know, and to work from there. Every novel is a kind of collaboration between writer and reader, an interactive education for both. Heinlein (to name just one of my literary mentors) taught me a great deal; his greatest lesson, I think, was that the student eventually must revolt from the mentor rather than slavishly imitate. Out of the growing community on the Net, new genres will arise as the readers of SF and fantasy test their responses against those of others. Some of the genre-creating books will generate only a host of clones; but an increasingly sophisticated SF/fantasy community will prefer new visions. As a novelist I will be truly happy if my readers say: "Great! But I can top that!"--and then do so with books that in turn inspire still newer rebellions. --copyright 1995 by Crawford Kilian (ckilian@hubcap.mlnet.com) Q & A======================================================================= Q: I read your submission guidelines on the Web, but no mention was made on how to submit a Star Wars novelization. Are there different criteria or procedures since all of the characters are copyrighted? A: Ballantine's nonfiction _Star Wars_ projects are often initiated in close collaboration with Lucasfilm, occasionally on the basis of a proposal, and often on a perceived need to fill an existing niche. They can be proposed by Del Rey or by Lucasfilm. The novels are currently being produced by Bantam, who works with Lucasfilm to pick out authors and develop the plots. Perennial Q: The back of Harry Turtledove's IN THE BALANCE mentions a sequel, TILTING THE BALANCE. My questions are, has the book been published yet? If so, is it available in paperback? A: WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE is currently out in hardcover. The paperback edition is due in February of '96, at the same time as the hardcover edition of WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE (volume three of four). Q: I am interested in finding out some information on when Julian May's book MAGNIFICAT would be available and if you guys published any sample chapters on the Internet. A: MAGNIFICAT will be a mid-1996 hardcover from Knopf, with the paperback to follow 10 months or so later from Del Rey. We will put up a sample chapter near the beginning of the year on our Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/) and gopher space (gopher.panix.com, Del Rey Books directory). Ellen Key Harris Editor, Del Rey Books Director of Online Projects, Ballantine Books delrey@randomhouse.com |DEL| ======================================================================|REY| [The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is copyright 1995 by Del Rey Books, except for the IN DEPTH section, which is copyright by the author. The DRIN may be reproduced only in its entirety, and not for profit.] |DEL| |REY| The DEL REY BOOKS Internet Newsletter Number 34 (November 1995) WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES=========================================== THE IMMORTALITY OPTION by James P. Hogan. Hardcover. (EKH) THE IMMORTALITY OPTION is the sequel to James P. Hogan's CODE OF THE LIFEMAKER, one of his most popular books. It's hard sf that's easy to read, with a drily witty tone. A race of robots has accidentally evolved into consciousness on Titan, and spacefaring humans, the robots, and a mysterious third party inhabiting Titan's eons-old computer banks struggle for control of the planet and its valuable robotic factories. Meanwhile "psychic" charlatan Karl Zambendorf, accompanying the official mission to Titan, pits confidence tricks against science and robotic credulity to make himself look good and possibly save the day. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- HORRORS OF THE DANCING GODS by Jack L. Chalker. Paperback. (VCh) Jack L. Chalker finally returns to the realm of the Dancing Gods with a fifth installment in the adventures of Joe the truck driver-turned-barbarian hero- turned-wood nymph. This time, Joe's son Irving gets involved in the action-- really involved!--as the powers of God _and_ the Adversary mobilize to halt an invasion from the Dark Beyond. It takes a writer of singular imagination to put a spin on the scary stuff, and who better than the author of the _Well World_ saga, _The Four Lords of the Diamond_, and _The Rings of the Master_? >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ----------------------------------------------------------------------- THE SHAPING OF MIDDLE-EARTH by J.R.R. Tolkien. Paperback. (VCh) This is geography 101 for Tolkien fans, and the fourth book in Christopher Tolkien's _History of Middle-earth_ series. He presents writings--some hitherto unknown--that display the advances in the chronological and geographical structure of the legends of Middle-earth and Valinor, and provides diagrams and maps of this most famous of fantasy worlds. A great way to get your bearings. ------------------------------------------------------------ DANCING GODS: PART ONE by Jack L. Chalker. Paperback. (VCh) For anyone who wasn't around for the adventures of the aforementioned truck- drivin' Joe and Marge the waitress in the magical realm of Husaquahr, Del Rey offers this 2-for-the-price-of-1 value pack: THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS and DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS, available together for the first time. It's frugal fantasy fun. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- FOR LOVE OF MOTHER-NOT THE TAR-AIYM KRANG ORPHAN STAR THE END OF THE MATTER BLOODHYPE FLINX IN FLUX All by Alan Dean Foster. Repackages. (SHS) Alan Foster's _Pip and Flinx_ adventures are considered classics of science fiction by some, and certainly Flinx and the mighty minidrag Pip are among Foster's most popular characters. Now all five of the previously published Flinx and Pip books are available again, all with bright new cover art, to tie-in with the hardcover publication of the latest Flinx book, MID-FLINX. Follow Flinx and Pip as they avert galactic disaster, discover the origins of Flinx's unusual talents, explore the ever-growing Commonwealth Universe, and meet some very interesting aliens and allies along the way. DEL REY DATA======================================================= November 1995: MID-FLINX by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-38374-5 Hardcover, 336 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS by Jack L. Chalker (SF) Book One of _The Wonderland Gambit_; 345-38690-6 Trade paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Paul Youll; SHS, editor THE DOLPHINS OF PERN by Anne McCaffrey (SF) Mass-market edition of our 10/94 hardcover; 345-36895-9 Paperback, 384 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor MIDWORLD by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-35011-1 Paperback repackage, 218 pp; cover art by Mark Garro; SHS, editor WAYLANDER by David Gemmell (F) 345-37907-1 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Mark Harrison; SWS, editor BLADERUNNER, or DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECRIC SHEEP by Phillip K. Dick 345-35047-2 Reissue, 216 pp; cover art supplied by The Ladd Co.; SWS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------------ December 1995: THE IMMORTALITY OPTION by James P. Hogan (SF) Mass-market edition of our 2/95 hardcover; 345-39787-8 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by John Berkey; EKH, editor HORRORS OF THE DANCING GODS by Jack L. Chalker (F) 345-37692-7 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by Darell K. Sweet; VC, editor THE SHAPING OF MIDDLE-EARTH by J.R.R. Tolkien (F) 345-40043-7 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by John Howe; VC, editor DANCING GODS: PART ONE by Jack L. Chalker (F) Two-in-one volume: THE RIVER OF THE DANCING GODS, DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS; 345-40246-4 Repackage, 320 pp; cover art by Darrell Sweet; VC, editor THE TAR-AIYM KRANG by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90857-0 Repackage, 251 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor ORPHAN STAR by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90859-7 Repackage, 234 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor THE END OF MATTER by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90861-9 Repackage, 246 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor BLOODHYPE by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90863-5 Repackage, 249 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor FOR LOVE OF MOTHER-NOT by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90865-1 Repackage, 247 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor FLINX IN FLUX by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90867-8 Repackage, 247 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor -------------------------------------------------------------- January 1996: GHOST KING by David Gemmell (F) 345-37902-0 Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Royo; SWS, editor THE TRUE KNIGHT by Susan Dexter (F) 345-39345-7 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by Givelo Cabral; VC, editor CAIN'S LAND by Robert Frezza (SF) 345-39025-3 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; OL, editor THE CRYSTAL SINGER TRILOGY by Anne McCaffrey (SF) Three-in-one volume: CRYSTAL SINGER, KILLASHANDRA, CRYSTAL LINE; 345-40292-8 Trade paperback, 672 pp; cover art by Michael Whelan & Rowena; SS, editor FIRE IN A FARAWAY PLACE by Robert Frezza (SF) 345-38724-4 Reissue, 320 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; OL, editor ----------------------------------------------------------- February 1996: WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) 345-40221-9 Hardcover, 496 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; SWS, editor WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) Mass-market edition of our 3/95 hardcover; 345-38998-0 Paperback, 608 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; SWS, editor THE CURSED by Dave Duncan (F) Mass-market edition of our 5/95 hardcover; 345-38952-2 Paperback, 432 pp; cover art by David A. Cherry; VC, editor COMMENCEMENT by Roby James (SF) 345-40038-0 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Bruce Jensen; EKH, editor GUNS OF THE SOUTH by Harry Turtledove (SF) 345-38468-7 Reissue, 561 pp; cover art by Tom Stimpson; SWS, editor --------------------------------------------------------- March 1996: FIRST KING OF SHANNARA by Terry Brooks (F) Prequel to _The Sword of Shannara_; 345-39652-9 Hardcover, 480 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; OL, editor THE WIND AFTER TIME by Chris Bunch (SF) Book One of the _Shadow Warrior_ trilogy; 345-38735-X Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Nicholas Jainschigg; SS, editor MAD AMOS by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-39362-7 Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Peter Bollinger; SHS, editor STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS by Bill Smith (text), Doug Chiang (original illustrations), Troy Vigil (schematics) (SF) 345-39299-X Trade paperback, 224 pp; cover art by Doug Chiang; SWS, editor --------------------------------------------------------- DRIN AVAILABILITY (Lots of ways to get the DRIN online) 1. read it the first few days of the month on rec.arts.sf.written, GEnie's Del Rey topic on the SFRT, Delphi's Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG (Upcoming Books and Magazines topic), America Online's SF Library or OmniPurpose Library,* eWorld's SF/F area, or CompuServe's SF Library 5*; 2. send a message to majordomo@www.randomhouse.com to be added to the subscriber list and have the DRIN delivered to your mailbox the first or second working day of the month. The body of the message should read: subscribe DRIN-dist e-mail address Firstname Lastname; 3. read it and more on our World Wide Web site*, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ 4. get a copy from the Del Rey fileserver* (delrey@tachyon.com) by sending e-mail with "SENDME newsletter.current" as the body of the message (or send "HELP" for full instructions); 5. read it on the Panix gopher* (gopher.panix.com; choose the Del Rey Books directory); 6. read it at the Internet Book Information Center (WWW address: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html);* 7. read the current issue in the science-fiction area on BIX; 8. retrieve the current issue from the SF archives at gandalf.rutgers.edu *Back issues also available -------------------------------------------------------------- WORKS IN PROGRESS: Changes, Additions, Updates (The DRIN lists only the changes to the Works in Progress report. The entire current report can be found on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books subdirectory, under Publishing Information.) NATHAN ARCHER, whose credits include two _Star Trek_ novels and two _Predator_ novels, will write the first of Del Rey's MARS ATTACKS novels-- MARTIAN DEATHTRAP, slated for June 1996 release. The MARS ATTACKS series will be based on the famous trading cards that were banned in the 1960s, as well as the 1990s comic book series. These trading cards will also lead to a Tim Burton movie, currently slated for 1997. JACK L. CHALKER has turned in book two in the _Wonderland Gambit_ series, titled THE MARCH HARE NETWORK. The first book in the series, _The Wonderland Gambit_, Book One: THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS is in stores this month in trade paperback, and will be published in mass-market in May '96. Chalker's other new Del Rey title is HORRORS OF THE DANCING GODS, due out in mass-market paperback in December. ALAN DEAN FOSTER'S new Pip and Flinx novel, MID-FLINX, will be available this month. He is currently working on a new Commonwealth Universe novel. Also, look for new covers on the reissues of MIDWORLD and the entire Pip and Flinx saga, in stores now. Del Rey will present DAVID GEMMELL's _Stones of Power_ series in chronological order for the first time beginning in January with GHOST KING. LAST SWORD OF POWER is also slated for 1996 and two more--WOLF IN SHADOW and THE LAST GUARDIAN--are on the schedule for 1997. The fifth book in the series, BLOODSTONE, is available in the UK edition, as are additional books in Gemmell's famous Drenai series (which began with LEGEND). Work has begun on the third and final book in the complete library of H. P. LOVECRAFT Ballantine works. Titled THE TRANSITION OF H.P. LOVECRAFT: THE ROAD TO MADNESS, it will include one of HPL's most famous Cthulhu works, AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. It will complete the set that was begun a decade ago with THE BEST OF H.P. LOVECRAFT: BLOODCURDLING TALES OF HORROR AND THE MACABRE, and continued with the recent release of THE DREAM CYCLE OF H.P. LOVECRAFT: DREAMS OF TERROR AND DEATH. RAY W. MURILL is on board to write the second MARS ATTACKS novel for Del Rey. MARS ATTACKS: WAR DOGS OF THE GOLDEN HORDE will feature the Martian invaders (from the cult favorite trading cards that were banned in the '60s) facing the descendants of Ghengis Khan. MARS ATTACKS is also slated to become a Tim Burton movie in 1997. Having received the go-ahead based on his outline, STEVE SANSWEET has begun work on the STAR WARS ENCYCLOPEDIA--the most painstaking overview ever prepared of people, places, and things from every corner of the Star Wars Universe, including data on the Star Wars phenomenon and its impact on our culture. BILL SMITH's new STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS, the companion volume for STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS, illustrated by Troy Vigil and Doug Chiang, will offer some of the first glimpses of the multi-media "Shadows of the Empire" storyline when it features the ships piloted by some of the key villains from the Shadows underworld. Smith is an award-winning writer/editor for the West End Games Star Wars role playing game materials. HARRY TURTLEDOVE's fourth and final volume in the _Worldwar_ tetralogy is scheduled for hardcover release February 1997, concurrent with the mass market release of Book Three. He is already hard at work on another stand- alone alternate history novel in the vein of GUNS OF THE SOUTH, and on another epic series, this one about an alternate World War One. He has also completed HAMMER AND ANVIL, the second of two books in the _Time of Troubles_ series that takes place long before, but in the same world as, the _Videssos Cycle_. MARK COTTA VAZ has completed all additions, revisions, and updates for STAR WARS: THE SECRETS OF SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE, set for May release to tie in with the Shadows epic. Chronicling events that take place between _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_ movies, STAR WARS: THE SECRETS OF SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE pulls together actions that take place in the Bantam novel, Topps trading cards, West End role playing games, state-of-the-art Nintendo video game, and Dark Horse comic book series. This book reveals how the many media joined together in one massive storyline, and offers a guide to the saga's major elements. --------------------------------------------------------------- SIGNING, READINGS, CONVENTION ATTENDANCE BY DEL REY AUTHORS DONALD E. McQUINN will be signing WITCH at the following stores this month: November 2: Barnes and Noble, Bellevue, Seattle, Washington November 15: University Bookstore, Seattle, Washington, 7PM ANDY MANGELS will by signing STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS at the following stores this month: November 4: Tower Books, Tacoma, Washington November 5: Tower Books, Seattle, Washington BARBARA HAMBLY will be guest of honor at ANTARES '95 in Atlanta, Georgia, November 10-12. SHELLY SHAPIRO (Del Rey Executive Editor), STEVE SAFFEL (Senior Editor), CHRISTINE LEVIS (Editorial Assistant), and DAVE STEVENSON (Assistant Art Director) will be at PHILCON '95 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 17- 19. LARRY NIVEN will be at LOSCON 22 in Burbank, California, November 24-26. DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS=================================== THE MARS ATTACKS INVASION HAS REACHED DEL REY! Two new hardcover novels are scheduled for May and July, 1996, from authors Nathan Archer and Ray W. Murill. The first will even sport a cover by Ken Steacy, whose art has graced the _Mars Attacks_ trading cards and comic books. The MARS ATTACKS novels are based on the famous trading cards which achieved cult status after being banned in the 1960s due to their graphic nature. Tim Burton is reported to be working on a _Mars Attacks_ movie for 1997, as well. --------------------------------------------------------------------- LEGEND ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY WILL RELEASE SHANNARA, A CD-ROM ADVENTURE GAME BASED ON TERRY BROOKS' SHANNARA WORLD The PC CD-ROM fantasy adventure game _Shannara_, will be available throughout the United States in November 1995. The game is based on the novels by _New York Times_ best-selling author Terry Brooks. With Legend Entertainment Company's CD-ROM adventure, _Shannara_ fans will enjoy an original story set in the time period between the first two _Shannara_ novels, THE SWORD OF SHANNARA and THE ELFSTONES OF SHANNARA. Developed in close consultation with Terry Brooks himself, the game features many of the popular characters and places from the two novels. Written by Corey and Lori Cole, the award-winning designers of the _Quest for Glory_ series, _Shannara_ features 3-D animated sequences and over 30 speaking characters. An innovative adventurer's journal automatically records events of interest during the game, and also allows players to add their own notes. _Shannara_ also boasts an original musical score by George "The Fat Man" Sanger (_Wing Commander_ and _The 7th Guest_). Look for _Shannara_ in your software store this month. _Shannara_ will be distributed to stores throughout North America by RandomSoft, a division of Random House. European distribution will be arranged by Virgin Interactive Entertainment (Europe) Ltd., and Australian distribution will be through Directsoft Australia. LATEST EXCERPTS ONLINE============================================= Sample chapters of some of our upcoming and recent (and some of our favorite, neither upcoming nor recent) books are now available online (for free, of course). This month's books are THE IMMORTALITY OPTION by James P. Hogan, HORRORS OF THE DANCING GODS by Jack L. Chalker, and DANCING GODS: PART ONE by Jack L. Chalker. Descriptions above in "What's New in the Stores." You can get the sample chapters a few different ways: they're on the Del Rey Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/) and on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books directory; you can request them via e-mail from the Del Rey fileserver (delrey@tachyon.com; SENDME sample.immortality_option, sample.horrors_dancing_gods, or sample.dancing_gods_one) and they'll be available in CompuServe's SF Library 4 and AOL's SF and Fantasy libraries, too. (For a list of all sample chapters available via the fileserver, send a message to delrey@tachyon.com with "LIST sample" as the body of the message.) IN DEPTH======================================================== Alan Dean Foster's first published novel, THE TAR-AIYM KRANG, introduced the world to the unusual duo of Flinx and his companion, the flying snake Pip. Since that auspicious beginning, Alan has gone on to write further adventures with these two characters as well as a host of stand-alone novels set in the same universe. One of the most fascinating worlds he's created is the jungle-covered planet of Midworld. In this month's In Depth, Alan talks about his love of travel, the genesis of Midworld, and the connections between that wonderful planet and his latest Flinx and Pip adventure, MID- FLINX: I've always loved the empty places, and I'm spending a good part of my life trying to visit as many of them as I can. For example, in two days I'm off to Papua New Guinea. That's one of the places I _can_ visit. I've dived with great white sharks and ridden whale sharks, driven solo across the Namib desert, explored the outer reaches of northwest Australia, camped out in the Manu of southeastern Peru, and so on. But doggone it, there are so many more unexplored places I'd like to see. Fortunately, I can conjure them up whenever I want--because they happen to exist primarily in the recesses and byways of my mind. I love to travel, and I love to tell stories, and I've been combining the two for nearly a quarter of a century. One of the first places I always wanted to go was a rainforest. But as I had no money, and no time, instead of journeying there I had to invent one I could visit via my imagination. And since there are few budget constraints on the imagination, I figured that as long as I was imagining, I might as well conjure up a world that was _all_ rainforest. That was MIDWORLD, which came about before I ever had the opportunity to travel outside the U.S., and before zoos and aquariums started building their own rainforests ("first door on your left, no waiting, no mosquitoes"). Since 1973, when MIDWORLD was written, I've been fortunate enough to marvel and sweat at the real thing: in South America, in Southeast Asia, in Australia--even in Hawaii. Actual rainforests turned out to be much as I'd imagined them, only moreso. Yet depending on location there were pronounced differences. For example, in northeast Australia the bugs are relatively benign, whereas in the Peruvian Amazon they will suck you dry. While traversing the Upper Madre de Dios and the Manu rivers I expected to be bitten. I did not expect to be bitten through two shirts (one long-sleeved) or through denim jeans. For these hungry arthropods, 100% DEET is a pre-supper cocktail. As for citronella repellents, room scent would have been as effective. When I returned home, I most nearly resembled a fugitive from a leper colony. Nature can be more aggressive than you ever imagined. She can also be more entertaining, and I learned lessons in my travels that I wanted to share. I'd written about a giant otter long before I ever saw one, but the reality turned out to be more endearing than my imagination. Fast forward. Years slip-slide away. View montage of author dutifully scribing. Readers speak fondly of MIDWORLD and inquire about a sequel. It's always flattering for a writer to be asked for a sequel because it says that the original work is still well remembered. But sequels are difficult, and I frankly never thought of doing one to MIDWORLD. Readers also kept asking about the further adventures of Flinx and Pip. I'd left that slightly disreputable pair to go their own way for a while and reckoned it was getting near time to see what they were up to. Trouble was, I couldn't think that they were up to anything. Which is when, as sometime happens, the Prince of Serendip ups and boots el mio in the butt and ventures his own suggestion. Which is how the requested sequel to not one book but several came about, and how it continues the tale not only of Midworld and of Flinx and Pip, but of the eventual resolution of the entire interconnected Commonwealth sequence. None of which I had in any way in mind when I wrote the very first book of the series, THE TAR-AIYM KRANG, back in 1971. The Commonwealth was not planned and neatly laid out from the beginning. There never was a Heinleineseque Future History chart. The series has grown along with me and frequently in spite of me. People keep asking about the darndest things, bits and pieces of story I've completely forgotten about or put aside, and guilt-ridden soul that I am, I feel compelled to answer their questions. Besides, it's fun. Just don't ask Flinx, or Pip, or Ethan Fortune, or Skua September, or the whales, or Truzenzuzex, or Maxim Malaika, or the AAnn, or anyone else what's it all about or where it's all going, because they don't know and neither do I. At least, not quite yet. It's all going _somewhere_, though. That much I'm sure of. I suspect the Ulru-Ujurrians know--but they're not telling. . . --copyright 1995 by Alan Dean Foster Q & A======================================================================= Q: Can you tell me when MAGNIFICAT is due for publication? Does Julian May plan any other books after MAGNIFICAT? (A Milieu companion? Other stories set in her universe?) A: Julian May has turned in MAGNIFICAT, the third and final book in _The Galactic Milieu Trilogy._ Alfred A. Knopf expects to publish it in hardcover in Spring 1995. Julian's next project will be SKY TRILLIUM, her solo sequel to the three TRILLIUM books. After that, she's starting on the new _Rampart Worlds_ trilogy. Q: Will there be any more books by Donald E. McQuinn in the WARRIOR, WANDERER, WITCH series? A: Currently, Donald E. McQuinn doesn't have any novels planned in the _Warrior_ series, but there's always the possibility that he may go back to check on Tate's adventures sometime in the future. Donald McQuinn's next book (first of a two-part series) will be a far- future, military SF novel set in another star system. It will be published in the fall of 1996 in mass-market paperback. We don't have a title yet to give, but Donald McQuinn expects to have the manuscript completed next month, and once we have the manuscript in, we'll be able to start providing more info. Donald McQuinn also is in the planning stages of a fantasy trilogy. Q: I would like more information about _Robotech._ Are there any books coming out? A: There have been twenty Robotech books so far, with the 21st set for April. The books are: Genesis Metamorphosis Battle Cry Symphony of Light Homecoming Sentinels: The Devil's Hand Battlehymn Sentinels: Dark Powers Force of Arms Sentinels: Death Dance Doomsday Sentinels: World Killers Southern Cross Sentinels: Rubicon Metal Fire The End of the Circle The Final Nightmare The Zentraedi Rebellion Invid Invasion The Masters' Gambit The first 12 Robotech novels have been collected in 3-in-1 volumes, as have the first three Sentinels books, and we expect to continue the collections. Robotech 21 will be set between books 9 and 10, and will be called BEFORE THE INVID STORM. If you are a long-time Robotech fan, you'll recognize the cover artist for #21--Ken Steacy. Ken is also dong the first cover for our new MARS ATTACKS series. Ellen Key Harris Editor, Del Rey Books Director of Online Projects, Ballantine Books delrey@randomhouse.com |DEL| ===================================================================|REY| [The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is copyright 1995 by Del Rey Books, except for the IN DEPTH section, which is copyright by the author. The DRIN may be reproduced only in its entirety, and not for profit.] |DEL| |REY| The DEL REY BOOKS Internet Newsletter Number 35 (December 1995) WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES=========================================== GHOST KING by David Gemmell. Paperback. (SWS) The King of Brittania has been assassinated, the great Sword of Power has vanished, and chaos and terror rule the day. The enemies of the realm amass their forces, bent on spreading destruction, and they are aided by the powers of the Witch Queen and the Lord of the Undead. The unlikely heroes are a frail boy and an aging mountain warrior. But the boy has the blood of kings, and the warrior is the legendary Lord of the Lance, Culain. They must overcome incredible odds if they hope to prevail. And they just may succeed, for they have a secret weapon--Culain knows the secret of the Witch Queen. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- THE TRUE KNIGHT by Susan Dexter. Paperback. (VC) Susan Dexter shows flair and style in this romantic sequel to THE WIND-WITCH. She tells the classic tale of a boy who wants to be a knight, a girl who wants to be a magician, and an ensorcelled swan who wants to _stay_ a swan. This is the third, heartwarming installment in _The Warhorse of Esdragon._ >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CAIN'S LAND by Robert Frezza. Paperback. (OL) After leading the second rebellion against the Japanese corporation that colonized the planet Suid Afrika and then attacking Tokyo itself, the Imperial Army's own Colonel Anton Vereshchagin has retired, leaving Suid Afrika in the control of the people he was sent to suppress. In Cain's Land, Vereshchagin is asked to come out of retirement by a very unlikely source-- the Japanese Ambassador to Suid Afrika--to lead an expedition to the newly discovered planet Go-Nihon (nicknamed Neighbor) on behalf of the Japanese empire he betrayed. First, he must convince the Suid Afrikans that the Empire's expedition is not a ploy by the Japanese to regain control of their former colony by diverting its military. Then, he must learn what threat the Neighbors pose. Unfortunately, the men he dispatches to Go-Nihon soon learn that the aliens-- bipedal humanoids nearing the ability to travel between planets--are a militant, distrustful lot more intent on learning how human technology works than in seriously negotiating a treaty of friendship. When, having learned all they think they can, the aliens kidnap the negotiators and attack those humans not in orbit, the negotiations become all-out war. Once again, the men and women of Col. Vereshchagin's 35th Infantry must overcome tremendous odds merely to survive. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------ FIRE IN A FARAWAY PLACE by Robert Frezza. Reissue. (OL) Several years after the soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 35th Imperial Rifle Regiment quelled the revolt that marooned them on the planet Suid Afrika in Frezza's first novel, A SMALL COLONIAL WAR, another fleet appears in the skies above the planet: Earth has not forgotten them, nor has the ruthless Japanese company that once ran Suid Afrika. Despite his well-intentioned efforts to prevent bloodshed, Lt.-Col. Anton Vereshchagin and his battalion of very well-trained and well motivated troops eventually must protect an entire planet against imperial aggression from an Earth dominated by the Japanese. The editor of this one bought it because he found it to be well- drawn, meticulously detailed military sf--a cut above the usual "small group takes on state/empire/world and wins" scenario. Frezza, a former Army officer, is also the author of the wacky McLENDON'S SYNDROME. ------------------------------------------------------------- THE CRYSTAL SINGER TRILOGY by Anne McCaffrey. Trade. (SS) Outside of Pern, the amazing world of Ballybran--whose fascinating varieties of crystal are mined by singing them out of the rock--has been one of Anne McCaffrey's most popular creations. Here, for the first time, we've brought together all three of Killashandra Ree's crystal-singing adventures in one book...about a musically talented woman and her amazing career singing valuable, almost magical, crystal out of the rock of an alien planet. But as much as this job brings her wealth and a place to belong, it also brings heartache and memory loss--until Killashandra at last comes to grips with her past and her future. DEL REY DATA======================================================= December 1995: THE IMMORTALITY OPTION by James P. Hogan (SF) Mass-market edition of our 2/95 hardcover; 345-39787-8 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by John Berkey; EKH, editor HORRORS OF THE DANCING GODS by Jack L. Chalker (F) 345-37692-7 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by Darell K. Sweet; VC, editor THE SHAPING OF MIDDLE-EARTH by J.R.R. Tolkien (F) 345-40043-7 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by John Howe; VC, editor DANCING GODS: PART ONE by Jack L. Chalker (F) Two-in-one volume: THE RIVER OF THE DANCING GODS, DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS; 345-40246-4 Repackage, 320 pp; cover art by Darrell Sweet; VC, editor THE TAR-AIYM KRANG by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90857-0 Repackage, 251 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor ORPHAN STAR by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90859-7 Repackage, 234 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor THE END OF MATTER by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90861-9 Repackage, 246 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor BLOODHYPE by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90863-5 Repackage, 249 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor FOR LOVE OF MOTHER-NOT by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90865-1 Repackage, 247 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor FLINX IN FLUX by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-90867-8 Repackage, 247 pp; cover art by Bob Eggleton; SHS, editor -------------------------------------------------------------- JANUARY 1996: GHOST KING by David Gemmell (F) 345-37902-0 Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Royo; SWS, editor THE TRUE KNIGHT by Susan Dexter (F) 345-39345-7 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by Givelo Cabral; VC, editor CAIN'S LAND by Robert Frezza (SF) 345-39025-3 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; OL, editor THE CRYSTAL SINGER TRILOGY by Anne McCaffrey (SF) Three-in-one volume: CRYSTAL SINGER, KILLASHANDRA, CRYSTAL LINE; 345-40292-8 Trade paperback, 672 pp; cover art by Michael Whelan & Rowena; SS, editor FIRE IN A FARAWAY PLACE by Robert Frezza (SF) 345-38724-4 Reissue, 320 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; OL, editor ----------------------------------------------------------- FEBRUARY 1996: WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) 345-40221-9 Hardcover, 496 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; SWS, editor WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) Mass-market edition of our 3/95 hardcover; 345-38998-0 Paperback, 608 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; SWS, editor THE CURSED by Dave Duncan (F) Mass-market edition of our 5/95 hardcover; 345-38952-2 Paperback, 432 pp; cover art by David A. Cherry; VC, editor COMMENCEMENT by Roby James (SF) 345-40038-0 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Bruce Jensen; EKH, editor GUNS OF THE SOUTH by Harry Turtledove (SF) 345-38468-7 Reissue, 561 pp; cover art by Tom Stimpson; SWS, editor --------------------------------------------------------- MARCH 1996: FIRST KING OF SHANNARA by Terry Brooks (F) Prequel to _The Sword of Shannara_; 345-39652-9 Hardcover, 480 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; OL, editor THE WIND AFTER TIME by Chris Bunch (SF) Book One of the _Shadow Warrior_ trilogy; 345-38735-X Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Nicholas Jainschigg; SS, editor MAD AMOS by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-39362-7 Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Peter Bollinger; SHS, editor STAR WARS: THE ESSENCIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS by Bill Smith (text), Doug Chiang (original illustrations), Troy Vigil (schematics) (SF) 345-39299-X Trade paperback, 224 pp; cover art by Doug Chiang; SWS, editor ---------------------------------------------------------------- APRIL 1996: THE WARRIOR RETURNS by Allan Cole (F) Book Four of the _Anteros_ series; 345-3945-3 Hardcover, 352 pp; cover art by Gnemo; SS, editor KINGDOMS OF THE NIGHT by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch (F) Book Three of the _Anteros_ series; 345-38732-5 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by Gnemo; SS, editor BEFORE THE INVID STORM by Jack McKinney (SF) 345-38776-7 Paperback, 228 pp; cover art by Ken Steacy; SWS, editor MIGHT & MAGIC, Book Two: THE SHADOWSMITH by Geary Gravel (SF) 345-38293-5 Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Donald Clavette; SS, editor MIGHT & MAGIC, Book One: THE DREAMWRIGHT by Geary Gravel (SF) 345-90930-5 Reissue, 256 pp; cover art by Kevin Murphy; SS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------------- DRIN AVAILABILITY (Lots of ways to get the DRIN online) 1. read it the first few days of the month on rec.arts.sf.written, GEnie's Del Rey topic on the SFRT, Delphi's Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG (Upcoming Books and Magazines topic), America Online's SF Library or OmniPurpose Library,* eWorld's SF/F area, or CompuServe's SF Library 5*; 2. send a message to majordomo@www.randomhouse.com to be added to the subscriber list and have the DRIN delivered to your mailbox the first or second working day of the month. The body of the message should read: subscribe DRIN-dist e-mail address Firstname Lastname; 3. read it and more on our World Wide Web site*, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ 4. get a copy from the Del Rey fileserver* (delrey@tachyon.com) by sending e-mail with "SENDME newsletter.current" as the body of the message (or send "HELP" for full instructions); 5. read it on the Panix gopher* (gopher.panix.com; choose the Del Rey Books directory); 6. read it at the Internet Book Information Center (WWW address: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html);* 7. read the current issue in the science-fiction area on BIX; 8. retrieve the current issue from the SF archives at gandalf.rutgers.edu *Back issues also available -------------------------------------------------------------- WORKS IN PROGRESS: Changes, Additions, Updates (The DRIN lists only the changes to the Works in Progress report. The entire current report can be found on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books subdirectory, under Publishing Information.) CHRIS BUNCH has just completed the second book of the _Shadow Warrior_ trilogy, a science-fiction thriller, and will take a break between writing books two and three to continue work on his solo fantasy trilogy for Warner/Aspect. After he feels he's had enough of a breather to keep the Shadow Warrior series fresh, he will begin work on the final volume. Having wrapped up the Antero series with _The Warrior Returns_, ALLAN COLE is hard at work on the first volume of a brand-new solo fantasy epic for Del Rey. --------------------------------------------------------------- SIGNING, READINGS, CONVENTION ATTENDANCE BY DEL REY AUTHORS TERRY BROOKS will be signing WITCHES' BREW at Ricketts Auditorium, Bothell, Washington, December 6. HARRY TURTLEDOVE will be signing WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE at the following store this month: December 9: Super Crown, Simi Valley, California, 7-9PM. ALAN DEAN FOSTER will be signing MID-FLINX at the following stores this month: December 1: Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas, Nevada, 11AM-1PM. December 2: Las Vegas Book Fair, Las Vegas, Nevada, 10AM-1PM. December 4: Page One, Albuquergue, New Mexico, 7PM-8:30PM. December 5: Deseret Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, 12PM-2PM. December 7: Bookmark, Tuscon, Arizona, 7PM-8:30PM. December 8: Barnes and Noble, Phoenix, Arizona, 7PM-8PM. December 9: Hastings, Prescott, Arizona, 2PM-4PM. DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS=================================== NEW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES! Due to time constraints we regret that Del Rey Books will no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts. We do, however, encourage query letters for submitting a manuscript. The query letter should include a brief description of the manuscript and a detailed outline of the story from beginning to end. You'll receive a response only if we wish to see your manuscript and you've enclosed a SASE. Please send all query letters to the attention of Jill Benjamin. LATEST EXCERPTS ONLINE============================================= Sample chapters of some of our upcoming and recent (and some of our favorite, neither upcoming nor recent) books are now available online (for free, of course). This month's books are GHOST KING by David Gemmell, THE TRUE KNIGHT by Susan Dexter, and CAIN'S LAND by Robert Frezza. Descriptions above in "What's New in the Stores." You can get the sample chapters a few different ways: they're on the Del Rey Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/) and on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books directory; you can request them via e-mail from the Del Rey fileserver (delrey@tachyon.com; SENDME sample.ghost_king, sample.true_knight, or sample.cains_land) and they'll be available in CompuServe's SF Library 4 and AOL's SF and Fantasy libraries, too. (For a list of all sample chapters available via the fileserver, send a message to delrey@tachyon.com with "LIST sample" as the body of the message.) IN DEPTH======================================================== Name: George D. Bick What my business card says: Vice President, Wholesale Sales, The Ballantine Publishing Group Diversions: cycling, cybersurfing, screenwriting Authors with the most space on my bookshelf: Philip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Book I recommend most: A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by John Kennedy Toole Net address: gbick@randomhouse.com The Pavlovian response to the word "publishing" is "editor." At least that's the first thing that popped into my head when I heard the publishing bell ring. That must have been sometime between reading HAVE SPACESUIT, WILL TRAVEL by Robert Heinlein and declaring Psychology as my college major. The thought of sitting in a big, comfy chair with a banker's lamp by my side, a pen cup filled with red felt-tips, and a stack of unsolicited manuscripts seemed like the dream career. Until I actually went publishing job hunting and all sorts of bells went off. You're probably wondering what "ID" sales are. And what it is I do to manage them nationally. And why I'm not an editor. Well, first things first. "ID" is an acronym for Independent Distributors. There are roughly 300 Independent Distributors in the US and Canada, selling and distributing books and magazines (and POGs, trading cards, sunglasses, etc.) to a variety of retail outlets in their service areas: airports, rail stations, military bases, schools, supermarkets, drugstores, and national chain stores like Walmart, Target, K-mart, Walgreens, Albertson's, Safeway and so on--basically any non-traditional book outlet, though many wholesalers own and service bookstores and newsstands. A service area can range from a few square miles to hundreds of square miles, but the ID's function is essentially the same and can be broken down to three basic elements: 1) Having intimate knowledge of the demographics of the service area so that products can be matched to consumer demand Example: Carry a higher proportion of science fiction and fantasy titles if the wholesaler services military bases (high sf/fantasy readership in our armed forces) 2) Ability to deliver and merchandise dated material (especially books and magazines) to a huge number of retailers within a tiny window of time, typically within one to three working days Example: The new edition of "TV Guide" is lovingly merchandised in every grocery check-out lane each and every week 3) Performing warehousing functions so that retailers can instantly capitalize on "hot" mass-media events (movie tie-in books, celebrity tell- alls, etc.) Retailers can also rely on on-demand fulfillment of orders and reorders. An empty rack pocket is a lost sale. Example: Safeway can call their local wholesaler to instantly replenish movie tie-in copies of, say, HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT, rather than ordering directly, but not quite as quickly, from us. And this is just the bare bones of what wholesalers do. They also solicit and penetrate new markets, do chain marketing, place ads, host author functions, and so on. Now that you have an idea of what wholesalers are, let me discuss briefly what it is I do (instead of edit). We have twenty-five sales representatives in the US, eight reps in Canada, and one telemarketing rep calling on all 300 wholesalers. The reps in turn report to six regional sales managers, who report to my superior commanding officer, the Director of ID Sales. He quips that I do all the work and let me tell you, he is a very smart cookie. There are three very basic stages to publishing for profit: 1) Acquire books 2) Reps sell them to accounts (both wholesalers and bookstores) 3) Consumers respond (i.e., buy) at the retail level The major focus of my position falls in between #1 and #2. To borrow an Orwellian term, I could be called the Minister of Information, for it is my responsibility to distill the prodigious amounts of information gleaned in meetings--both virtual and physical--about our upcoming books into easy-to- digest sales bits that the reps can use most effectively. Since the Ballantine Publishing Group publishes roughly forty titles each and every month and each rep has ten to fifteen accounts to call on, you can see how crucial time-management becomes. Not only do I distill, but I also devise and effect sales strategies and marketing tactics aimed at increasing volume, efficiency, and market share. These elements also serve to affect #3 above. To spread the information and inspiration to the field force, I use various media--Lotus Notes, Powerpoint, the Web, good old-fashioned conversation, and face-to-face confabs. (How does that adage go? You can't fax a handshake.) Learning from mistakes and successes is the final component in this process, and the most valuable. Since we sell each month's list of books five months in advance--we're selling March 1996 new releases in November 1995--we won't know the results of the best-laid plans until a year later. Building a database of what works and what doesn't is crucial to maintaining major- player status in an extremely competitive marketplace. Lastly, I work with every department from art to warehousing (wish there was a department that began with Z) to keep the whole machine humming. So why am I not an editor? Well, when I first started hunting for publishing gigs, I answered an ad at Warner Books for an editorial position. I was asked to take a typing test, which I failed miserably. Thought I'd be reading _other_ people's typing. "Anything available that doesn't require a typing test?" I asked. Much riffling through papers. "We do have a sales position open. Interested?" Sales, hmm. "The base salary is also $500 more." Ding ding!! That was eight years ago, and I'm still amazed that they actually pay me to do this. I'm also still amazed at how few editors there really are in publishing. Maybe it's that darn typing test. ---copyright 1995 by George Bick (gbick@randomhouse.com) Q & A======================================================================= Q: Are David and Leigh Eddings going to come out with any additional books like BELGARATH THE SORCERER? A: Absolutely! The next will be POLGARA THE SORCERESS. The book is well underway now; and we expect that the manuscript will be completed late 1996-- which means a 1997 publication date. Q: Is Katherine Kurtz coming out with a new Deryni novel, and if she is, what will it be called? A: Katherine Kurtz is hard at work on a big stand-alone fantasy to be titled KING KELSON'S BRIDE. Don't go looking for it soon, though; she won't be delivering the first draft to Del Rey until spring of 1996. So publication will be sometime in 1997. Ellen Key Harris Editor, Del Rey Books Director of Online Projects, Ballantine Books delrey@randomhouse.com |DEL| ===================================================================|REY| [The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is copyright 1995 by Del Rey Books, except for the IN DEPTH section, which is copyright by the author. The DRIN may be reproduced only in its entirety, and not for profit.] |DEL| |REY| The DEL REY BOOKS Internet Newsletter Number 36 (January 1996) WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES=========================================== WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove. Hardcover. (SWS) Now that the alien invaders are aware that mankind has the ability to produce multiple atomic weapons, human scientists must continue their work in the face of even more aggressive retaliation. This is the third book in Turtledove's popular alternate-World War II series that began with IN THE BALANCE and continued with TILTING THE BALANCE. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove. Paperback. (SWS) Book Two of the alternate-history _Worldwar_ series. As the lizardlike male warriors of the Race attempt to consolidate the various beachheads they have seized on the Earth of World War II, Americans, Germans, Russians, and the Japanese each attempt to develop atomic weapons. Told in thriller style, the same way LUCIFER'S HAMMER was--lots of major characters, all experiencing the alternate WWII from vastly varying positions and viewpoints. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CURSED by Dave Duncan. Paperback. (VCh) Dave Duncan, author of many fantasy and science fiction novels for Del Rey, explores a whole new direction in his new, single-volume, stand-alonenovel THE CURSED. It's the story of Gwin, a widowed innkeeper who offers shelter to a young girl "cursed" with the magic power of healing. Gwin's accidental involvement with magic changes her life in ways neither she nor the reader could ever have anticipated, bringing her love and tragedy, adventure and magic as she serves as midwife at the birth of a new empire. Duncan's a master of upending the established conventions of the fantasy genre, and he says he believes THE CURSED is the strongest book he has ever written. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMMENCEMENT by Roby James. Paperback. (EKH) Two reasons I knew this was a good one: the day I started this book, I spent a whole day at home devouring page after page and then cursed myself for not bringing the whole manuscript home. Then came Christmas. I left town, and didn't get back to the second half of the book until January--but when I picked it up again my first day back, it was just as vivid as before, and I was dumped right back into the story. Ronica McBride is the only Class-A talent-in-training in the galactic federation called the Com. But on the night of her graduation into service to the Com, she finds herself instead on a wilderworld, a planet outside the Com--without her talent. In the course of the book, she grows out of being the self-centered young woman she had once been, and then, much to her surprise, learns that everything she believed about her world, her place in it, and the people she loves is a lie. This book has the two things I enjoy most about good sf: extreme otherness of situation, and extreme realism of character and character interaction. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH by Harry Turtledove. Reissue. (SWS) Turtledove's alternate history asks two good questions: who would have won the Civil War if the South had had better weapons--specifically, the AK-47? And what would have happened afterwards? James MacPherson, a Civil War historian, calls THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH "without question the most fascinating Civil War novel I have ever read..._must_ reading for every Civil War student." The Chicago _Sun-Times_ says it's "an expert exercise in speculative history," and Orson Scott Card call Turtledove "a damn fine storyteller" and says he "plays the game of alternate histories better than anybody else, and THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH is Turtledove at his best." Lest this description begin to sound like a mere self-congratulatory quote-fest, I will stop now. But if you like well-thought-out alternate histories or the Civil War, you'll probably like this book a lot. DEL REY DATA========================================================== JANUARY 1996: GHOST KING by David Gemmell (F) 345-37902-0 Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Royo; SWS, editor THE TRUE KNIGHT by Susan Dexter (F) 345-39345-7 Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by Givelo Cabral; VC, editor CAIN'S LAND by Robert Frezza (SF) 345-39025-3 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; OL, editor THE CRYSTAL SINGER TRILOGY by Anne McCaffrey (SF) Three-in-one volume: CRYSTAL SINGER, KILLASHANDRA, CRYSTAL LINE; 345-40292-8 Trade paperback, 672 pp; cover art by Michael Whelan & Rowena; SS, editor FIRE IN A FARAWAY PLACE by Robert Frezza (SF) 345-38724-4 Reissue, 320 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; OL, editor FEBRUARY 1996: WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) 345-40221-9 Hardcover, 496 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; SWS, editor WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) Mass-market edition of our 3/95 hardcover; 345-38998-0 Paperback, 608 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; SWS, editor THE CURSED by Dave Duncan (F) Mass-market edition of our 5/95 hardcover; 345-38952-2 Paperback, 432 pp; cover art by David A. Cherry; VC, editor COMMENCEMENT by Roby James (SF) 345-40038-0 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Bruce Jensen; EKH, editor GUNS OF THE SOUTH by Harry Turtledove (SF) 345-38468-7 Reissue, 561 pp; cover art by Tom Stimpson; SWS, editor --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MARCH 1996: FIRST KING OF SHANNARA by Terry Brooks (F) Prequel to THE SWORD OF SHANNARA; 345-39652-9 Hardcover, 480 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; OL, editor THE WIND AFTER TIME by Chris Bunch (SF) Book One of the _Shadow Warrior_ trilogy; 345-38735-X Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Nicholas Jainschigg; SS, editor MAD AMOS by Alan Dean Foster (SF) 345-39362-7 Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Peter Bollinger; SHS, editor STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS by Bill Smith (text), Doug Chiang (original illustrations), Troy Vigil (schematics) (SF) 345-39299-X Trade paperback, 224 pp; cover art by Doug Chiang; SWS, editor --------------------------------------------------------------------------- APRIL 1996: THE WARRIOR RETURNS by Allan Cole (F) Book Four of the _Anteros_ series; 345-3945-3 Hardcover, 352 pp; cover art by Gnemo; SS, editor KINGDOMS OF THE NIGHT by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch (F) Book Three of the _Anteros_ series; 345-38732-5 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by Gnemo; SS, editor BEFORE THE INVID STORM by Jack McKinney (SF) 345-38776-7 Paperback, 228 pp; cover art by Ken Steacy; SWS, editor MIGHT & MAGIC, Book Two: THE SHADOWSMITH by Geary Gravel (SF) 345-38293-5 Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Donald Clavette; SS, editor MIGHT & MAGIC, Book One: THE DREAMWRIGHT by Geary Gravel (SF) 345-90930-5 Reissue, 256 pp; cover art by Kevin Murphy; SS, editor --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAY 1996: MARS ATTACKS #1: MARTIAN DEATHTRAP by Nathan Archer (SF) 345-40495-5 Hardcover, 224 pp; cover art by Ken Steacy; SWS, editor POWER PLAY by Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (SF) Book Three of the _Powers_ series; 345-38781-3 Paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor THE SHAMAN by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book One of _The Star Stone_; mass-market edition of our 9/95 hardcover; 345-39247-7 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Stephen Youll; VC, editor IN THE REIGN OF THE BROWN MAGICIAN by Lawrence Watt-Evans (SF) Book Three of the _Three Worlds Trilogy_; 345-38781-3 Paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Peter Peebles; SWS, editor THE MARCH HARE NETWORK by Jack L. Chalker (SF) Book Two of _The Wonderland Gambit_; 345-38691-4 Trade paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Paul Youll; SHS, editor THE SECRETS OF STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE by Mark Cotta Vaz (SF) 345-40236-7 Trade paperback, 312 pp; SWS, editor --------------------------------------------------------------------------- DRIN AVAILABILITY: WAYS TO GET THE DRIN ONLINE 1. read it the first few days of the month on rec.arts.sf.written, GEnie's Del Rey topic on the SFRT, Delphi's Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG (Upcoming Books and Magazines topic), America Online's SF Library or OmniPurpose Library,* eWorld's SF/F area, or CompuServe's SF Library 5*; 2. send a message to majordomo@www.randomhouse.com to be added to the subscriber list and have the DRIN delivered to your mailbox the first or second working day of the month. The body of the message should read: subscribe DRIN-dist e-mail address Firstname Lastname; 3. read it and more on our World Wide Web site*, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ 4. get a copy from the Del Rey fileserver* (delrey@tachyon.com) by sending e-mail with "SENDME newsletter.current" as the body of the message (or send "HELP" for full instructions); 5. read it on the Panix gopher* (gopher.panix.com; choose the Del Rey Books directory); 6. read it at the Internet Book Information Center (WWW address: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html);* 7. retrieve the current issue from the SF archives at gandalf.rutgers.edu *Back issues also available --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WORKS IN PROGRESS: Changes, Additions, Updates (The DRIN lists only the changes to the Works in Progress report. The entire current report can be found on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books subdirectory, under Publishing Information.) NATHAN ARCHER, of _Star Trek_ and _Predator_ fame, has completed the first of Del Rey's MARS ATTACKS novels--MARTIAN DEATHTRAP, based on the infamous/ famous trading cards that were banned in the 1960s. In this first installment, a Martian Death Squad corners a group of humans in a gigantic tourist trap of a mansion. In true, grisly tradition, not everyone will come out alive. (The cards inspired filmmaker Tim Burton in a similar fashion--the _Mars Attacks_ movie is currently slated for 1997.) PHILIP K. DICK's famous anti-utopian DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, which inspired the motion picture _Bladerunner_, will feature a Roger Zelazny introduction when it is re-released as a deluxe trade paperback next June. THE TRANSITION OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: THE ROAD TO MADNESS will include one of HPL's most famous Cthulhu works, AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS--which, as many fans are aware, inspired John Carpenter as he produced _In the Mouth of Madness_. This volume will also contain the story "Herbert West, Reanimator," which made the transition to celluloid when it was made into a motion picture by Stuart Gordon. This trade-paperback collection completes the set that was begun a decade ago with THE BEST OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: BLOODCURDLING TALES OF HORROR AND THE MACABRE and continued with the recent release of THE DREAM CYCLE OF H. P. LOVECRAFT: DREAMS OF TERROR AND DEATH. RAY W. MURILL has turned in the second MARS ATTACKS novel for Del Rey. MARS ATTACKS: WAR DOGS OF THE GOLDEN HORDE will feature the Martian invaders fighting the savage descendants of Ghengis Khan. While creating this novel, Murill did extensive research in the interest of authenticity, and had to learn the Mongol word for "Mars." STEVE SANSWEET continues work on the STAR WARS ENCYCLOPEDIA--perhaps the most painstaking overview every prepared of the Star Wars universe. This ambitious hardcover will feature a thorough accounting of Star Wars characters, locales, and technology. As a bonus, it will also review the people, places, and things that went into the _creation_ of George Lucas's fantastic milieu. BILL SMITH's new STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS, the companion volume for STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS, will feature detailed schematics of each spacecraft, prepared by Troy Vigil, and dynamic new illustrations of the ships, rendered by Doug Chiang. MARK COTTA VAZ has completed all additions, revisions, and updates for STAR WARS: THE SECRETS OF SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE, set for May release to tie in with the Shadows epic. Tracing events that take place between _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_ movies, STAR WARS: THE SECRETS OF SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE will be profusely illustrated with original video game illustrations and storyboards, photos of all of the key creative talents, and seminal artwork for the comic book series and Bantam novel. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SIGNING, READINGS, CONVENTION ATTENDANCE BY DEL REY AUTHORS JAMES P. HOGAN will be Guest of Honor at TROPICON 14 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, January 12-14. DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS========================================================== ==== DEL REY AUTHOR ALLAN COLE HAS A WEB SITE Science fiction and fantasy author Allan Cole invites his friends and readers to visit him at his new home page. The address is http://www.acole.com. Cole, best known for the _Sten_ and _Antero_ series, says the new home page features chapters and cover illustrations of his upcoming THE WARRIOR RETURNS, as well as a "works in progress" sample of WHEN THE GODS SLEPT, the first in a new fantasy trilogy for Del Rey Books. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CALL FOR INFORMATION ON OTHER AUTHOR WEB & GOPHER SITES We're always looking for online resources about our authors. If you know of one, please send it in--checking first the large list we maintain on OUR web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/) to make sure we don't already know about it. We're especially interested in adding new authors to our online resources list, rather than adding a second or third site for an author who's already represented. LATEST EXCERPTS ONLINE================================================================== ==== Sample chapters of some of our upcoming and recent (and some of our favorite, neither upcoming nor recent) books are now available online (for free, of course). This month's books are WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE and WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove, THE CURSED by Dave Duncan, and COMMENCEMENT by Roby James. Descriptions above in "What's New in the Stores." You can get the sample chapters a few different ways: they're on the Del Rey Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/) and on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books directory; you can request them via e-mail from the Del Rey fileserver (delrey@tachyon.com; SENDME sample.upsetting_the_balance, sample.tilting_the_balance, sample.cursed, or sample.commencement) and they'll be available in CompuServe's SF Library 4 and AOL's SF and Fantasy libraries, too. (For a list of all sample chapters available via the fileserver, send a message to delrey@tachyon.com with "LIST sample" as the body of the message.) IN DEPTH================================================================================ == (Editor's Note: In the interest of up-to-the-minute reporting, war correspondent Harry Turtledove has prepared a detailed account of Worldwar action on all fronts, foreign and domestic. Turtledove has produced an even more complete status report in the February hardcover volume WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE.) NEW YORK: The Soviet atomic bomb that detonated south of Moscow has rocked those invaders back on their heels. They plainly fear that any further concentration of their forces against the Red Army will lead to another such blast, and to losses they cannot afford." Captain Eric G. Iverson, U.S. Army spokesman, described the taut situation that has lent impetus to armies worldwide in the battle to repel the reptilian invaders known as The Race. There can be no doubt that the United States, Germany, and perhaps Japan are working feverishly on atomic weapons programs; these offer the best hope of challenging the invaders on their own terms. And the invaders will do everything in their power to squelch these programs; their ruthless destruction of Berlin and Washington, D.C., shows the lengths to which they will go to terrorize mankind into submission. Soviet representatives have met with American officials to discuss a joint effort against the common foe, but even the persuasive words of Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Molotov have received tremendous suspicion. On the battlefields, new field weapons have given soldiers hope in the struggle against the technologically superior foe, yet these are often in short supply. The invaders, driven back from Chicago last winter, are on the outskirts of the city once more. With control of the Mississippi valley, they have virtually cut the United States in half, and their tanks push westward across the Great Plains. In some instances, they have been opposed by horse cavalry, an institution once thought obsolete. Germany has stabilized fronts in France and Poland, and has driven the invaders out of their foothold in Croatia. The Germans have also introduced guided rockets like those the enemy employs. Soviet-German cooperation is said to be shaky in many areas of the USSR that had been occupied by the Nazis, but, on the whole, cooperation continues. Despite the veil of secrecy, correspondents report that the British have made great progress in harnessing the invaders' advanced engineering. As when Hitler was the foe, Great Britain's island status has protected it from the worst of the onslaught, though air defenses have taken a severe pounding. Ambiguous reports still continue to emerge from Poland, most revolving around the role played by Jewish partisans. Oppressed by the Nazis, they once welcomed the invaders as liberators. Some still do, while others, fearing worse enslavement, are working with human resistance movements of all ideological stripes, from fascist to Communist. On a vastly larger scale, China is occupied by the enemy, but the Chinese remain unsubdued, continuing resistance under the very snouts of their oppressors. Resistance movements find themselves divided along ideological lines, and the situation in that land can be described only as "fluid." And what of the invaders themselves? Interrogation of captured members of the Race reveals how shocked they are at mankind's ability to resist their onslaught. US military leaders have expressed the hope that recent events, especially mankind's use of atomic weapons, may create a crisis of leadership among the enemy. This, coupled with the fact that many invaders have found themselves disastrously addicted to certain Earthly herbs, may give the human race a fighting chance. But few could have foreseen the astonishing developments of the past year, developments that, before the invasion, would have been dismissed as science fiction. Military and civilian leaders alike ask, what lies ahead? Only time will tell. --copyright 1996 by Harry Turtledove Q & A=================================================================================== = Q: I have just finished Jack L. Chalker's _The Wonderland Gambit_, Book One: THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS. In my humble opinion it was his best effort to date. I am sitting on the edge of my chair waiting for the rest of the story. Could you possibly tell me when the rest of the story will be available? A: THE MARCH HARE NETWORK, Book Two of _The Wonderland Gambit_, will be available May 1996, in trade paperback. Q: The latest book I have by Katherine Kurtz is THE BASTARD PRINCE. Does she have a new book out since that one? Is she planning on writing more? A: Katherine Kurtz is hard at work on a big fantasy to be titled KING KELSON'S BRIDE. She doesn't think she can deliver it to Del Rey before spring 1996, though, so publication will be sometime in 1997--we hope. Ellen Key Harris Editor, Del Rey Books Director of Online Projects, Ballantine Books delrey@randomhouse.com |DEL| ================================================================================|REY| [The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is copyright 1995 by Del Rey Books, except for the IN DEPTH section, which is copyright by the author. The DRIN may be reproduced only in its entirety, and not for profit.] >=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Drin37.Txt =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=< |DEL| |REY| The DEL REY BOOKS Internet Newsletter Number 37 (February 1996) WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES=========================================== FIRST KING OF SHANNARA by Terry Brooks. Hardcover. (OL) Each of the seven _Shannara_ novels has been a _New York Times_ bestseller, selling in all over 10 million copies. And over the years Terry Brooks has been asked thousands of questions about characters and situations in the series. In FIRST KING OF SHANNARA, which is set 500 years before THE SWORD OF SHANNARA, Terry answers in great detail the most important of those questions: How were the Druids destroyed? What happened to Paranor? What is the early history of the Shannara family? How did the Sword of Shannara come to be? Anyone who enjoyed the previous _Shannara_ titles, or likes epic fantasy, will enjoy visiting the beginnings of the _Shannara_ epic in the latest--and possibly the last--_Shannara_ book.. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS by Bill Smith. Art by Doug Chiang, technical illustrations by Troy Vigil. Trade Paperback. (SWS) Companion to THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CHARACTERS, this volume details the 100 key spaceships from the _Star Wars_ movies, books, comics, and even the upcoming SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE multimedia saga. As a bonus, there is a brief Star Wars timeline, a Layman's Guide to Technology, and a listing of the key starship manufacturers in the Star Wars Universe. Each entry features various illustrations and schematics prepares especially for this volume. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE -------------------------------------------------------------- THE SWORD OF SHANNARA by Terry Brooks. Paperback. (OL) This is the book that was the first fantasy novel to hit the _New York Times_ bestseller list in trade paperback, forcing the _Times_ to change the way it organized its lists: before THE SWORD OF SHANNARA, the Paperback Bestseller list was called "Nonfiction." As one of Del Rey's first titles ever, THE SWORD OF SHANNARA had a major impact even beyond the bestseller list. It proved that fantasy could be a reality in the marketplace, and established Del Rey as a major player in the field. (It didn't hurt that the fledging imprint's other title was a book called STAR WARS!) An epic fantasy adventure. In a world of elves, dwarfs, gnomes, and humans--the descendants of races all but destroyed in a terrible war in the distant past--a new and even more devastating war threatens. Shea, a half-human half-elf who lives in Shady Vale, is told that he--and only he--can save Mankind from the Warlock Lord, the very essense of Evil. As the only living descendant of the Elf House of Shannara, Shea is the one person who can wield the fabled magic Sword, the only weapon capable of stopping the Warlock Lord. So, Shea must find the Sword before his enemy can destroy it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- THE WIND AFTER TIME by Chris Bunch. Paperback. (SS) Joshua Wolfe, loner, fighter, and almost-alien, finds evidence that the long-gone Al'ar aliens--or some of them, anyway--may not be gone at all. But as his search brings him closer and closer to the truth, it also brings him closer and closer to whoever it is who wants him stopped...forever. This first volume of a science-fiction thriller trilogy titled SHADOW WARRIOR shows fans of the Sten novels that, although he has gone on to write epic fantasy, Chris Bunch has not forgotten his roots in--and love of--science fiction.. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE ------------------------------------------------------------- MAD AMOS by Alan Dean Foster. Paperback. (SS) A collection of fantasy short stories about Mad Amos, craziest wizard in the wild west. Fantasy of a different--and fun!--sort, from the author of the Pip and Flinx and _Damned_ series. >> SAMPLE CHAPTER AVAILABLE ONLINE DEL REY DATA======================================================= FEBRUARY 1996: WORLDWAR: UPSETTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) 345-40221-9 Hardcover, 496 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; SWS, editor WORLDWAR: TILTING THE BALANCE by Harry Turtledove (SF) Mass-market edition of our 3/95 hardcover; 345-38998-0 Paperback, 608 pp; cover art by Stan Watts; SWS, editor THE CURSED by Dave Duncan (F) Mass-market edition of our 5/95 hardcover; 345-38952-2 Paperback, 432 pp; cover art by David A. Cherry; VC, editor COMMENCEMENT by Roby James (SF) Del Rey Discovery; 345-40038-0 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Bruce Jensen; EKH, editor GUNS OF THE SOUTH by Harry Turtledove (SF) 345-38468-7 Reissue, 561 pp; cover art by Tom Stimpson; SWS, editor --------------------------------------------------------- MARCH 1996: FIRST KING OF SHANNARA by Terry Brooks (F) Prequel to _The Sword of Shannara_; 345-39652-9 Hardcover, 480 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; OL, editor STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS by Bill Smith (text), Doug Chiang (original illustrations), Troy Vigil (schematics) (SF) 345-39299-X Trade paperback, 224 pp; cover art by Doug Chiang; SWS, editor THE SWORD OF SHANNARA by Terry Brooks. (SF) First book of the _Shannara_ series; 345-31425-5 Paperback, 726 pp; cover art by the Brothers Hildebrandt; OL, editor THE WIND AFTER TIME by Chris Bunch (SF) Book One of the _Shadow Warrior_ trilogy; 345-38735-X Paperback, 304 pp; cover art by Nicholas Jainschigg; SS, editor MAD AMOS by Alan Dean Foster (SF) Short-story collection; 345-39362-7 Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Peter Bollinger; SHS, editor ---------------------------------------------------------------- APRIL 1996: THE WARRIOR RETURNS by Allan Cole (F) Book Four of the _Anteros_ series; 345-3945-3 Hardcover, 352 pp; cover art by Gnemo; SS, editor KINGDOMS OF THE NIGHT by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch (F) Book Three of the _Anteros_ series; 345-38732-5 Paperback, 448 pp; cover art by Gnemo; SS, editor BEFORE THE INVID STORM by Jack McKinney (SF) Latest Robotech original; 345-38776-7 Paperback, 228 pp; cover art by Ken Steacy; SWS, editor MIGHT & MAGIC, Book Two: THE SHADOWSMITH by Geary Gravel (SF) 345-38293-5 Paperback, 288 pp; cover art by Donald Clavette; SS, editor MIGHT & MAGIC, Book One: THE DREAMWRIGHT by Geary Gravel (SF) 345-90930-5 Reissue, 256 pp; cover art by Kevin Murphy; SS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------- MAY 1996: MARS ATTACKS #1: MARTIAN DEATHTRAP (SF) 345-40495-5 Hardcover, 224 pp; cover art by Ken Steacy; SWS, editor POWER PLAY by Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (SF) Book Three of the _Powers_ series; 345-38781-3 Paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Rowena; SS, editor THE SHAMAN by Christopher Stasheff (F) Book One of _The Star Stone_; mass-market edition of our 9/95 hardcover; 345-39247-7 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Stephen Youll; VC, editor THE REIGN OF THE BROWN MAGICIAN by Lawrence Watt-Evans (SF) Book Three of the _Three Worlds Trilogy_; 345-38781-3 Paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Nicholas Jainschigg; SWS, editor THE MARCH HARE NETWORK by Jack L. Chalker (SF) Book Two of _The Wonderland Gambit_; 345-38691-4 Trade paperback, 352 pp; cover art by Paul Youll; SHS, editor THE SECRETS OF STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE by Mark Cotta Vaz (SF) 345-40236-7 Trade paperback, 312 pp; SWS, editor ------------------------------------------------------------- JUNE 1996: THE WATERBORN by J. Gregory Keyes (F) 345-40393-2 Hardcover, 448 pp; cover art by David Cherry; VC, editor WITCHES' BREW by Terry Brooks (F) Mass-market edition of our 4/95 hardcover; 345-38702-3 Paperback, 368 pp; cover art by Keith Parkinson; OL, editor THE CYBERNETIC WALRUS by Jack L. Chalker (SF) Book One of _The Wonderland Gambit_; Mass-market edition of our 11/95 trade paperback; 345-38847-X Paperback, 336 pp; cover art by Paul Youll; SWS, editor SHADE AND SHADOW by Francine Woodbury (F) 345-39428-3 Paperback, 320 pp; cover art by Paul Youll; VC, editor DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP by Philip K. Dick (SF) a.k.a. BLADERUNNER; 345-40447-5 Trade paperback, 256 pp; cover art by Bruce Jensen; SWS, editor -------------------------------------------------------------- DRIN AVAILABILITY (Lots of ways to get the DRIN online) 1. read it the first few days of the month on rec.arts.sf.written, GEnie's Del Rey topic on the SFRT, Delphi's Science Fiction and Fantasy SIG (Upcoming Books and Magazines topic), America Online's SF Library or OmniPurpose Library,* eWorld's SF/F area, or CompuServe's SF Library 5*; 2. send a message to majordomo@www.randomhouse.com to be added to the subscriber list and have the DRIN delivered to your mailbox the first or second working day of the month. The body of the message should read: subscribe DRIN-dist e-mail address; 3. read it and more on our World Wide Web site*, http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/ 4. get a copy from the Del Rey fileserver* (delrey@tachyon.com) by sending e-mail with "SENDME newsletter.current" as the body of the message (or send "HELP" for full instructions); 5. read it on the Panix gopher* (gopher.panix.com; choose the Del Rey Books directory); 6. read it at the Internet Book Information Center (WWW address: http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC.homepage.html);* 7. read the current issue in the science.fiction area on BIX; 8. retrieve the current issue from the SF archives at gandalf.rutgers.edu *Back issues also available ------------------------------------------------------------- WORKS IN PROGRESS: Changes, Additions, Updates (The DRIN lists only the changes to the Works in Progress report. The entire current report can be found on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books subdirectory, under Publishing Information.) No updates this month, except the happy news that Julian May's MAGNIFICAT is finally out from Knopf in hardcover! A sample chapter is available on our Web site, gopherspace, and fileserver (see below for addresses). --------------------------------------------------------------- SIGNING, READINGS, CONVENTION ATTENDANCE BY DEL REY AUTHORS LAWRENCE WATT-EVANS will be Guest of Honor at CREMECON in Glendale, Wisconsin, February 2-4. ROBY JAMES will be signing COMMENCEMENT at the following stores: February 17: B. Dalton, Northridge Fashion Mall, Northridge, California 12-1PM. February 21: Barnes & Noble Superstore, Encino, California, 7:30PM. February 24: Super Crown, Encino, California, 1PM. February 26: Barnes & Noble, Northridge, California, 7PM. DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS=================================== BIG CHANGES IN WHO RUNS DEL REY Owen Lock, formerly Del Rey editor-in-chief, has been appointed to the newly created position of Vice President, Editor at Large for the Ballantine Publishing Group. In his new position, Mr. Lock will be acquiring properties for the company's expanding military nonfiction line as well as in the areas of new media and science fiction. He will continue to work with bestselling fantasy author Terry Brooks. Meanwhile, Kuo-Yu Liang, formerly Del Rey Sales Manager, has been named Associate Publisher of Del Rey Books. In his newly created position, Kuo-Yu will be responsible for editorial direction as well as sales and marketing for all Del Rey books. Shelly Shapiro, Executive Editor of Del Rey, will continue to supervise the Del Rey staff. Tim Kochuba, General Manager of Ballantine's House of Collectibles imprint, has been named Vice President and General Manager of Del Rey Books, a new position with overall responsibility for Del Rey's publishing program. He will work closely with Kuo-Yu Liang. Prior to joining the Ballantine Publishing Group, Mr. Kochuba was Products Manager at MBI, Inc. (the Danbury Mint). In that capacity, he published signed first editions of works by such major science fiction authors as Anne McCaffrey, Frederik Pohl, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Harlan Ellison. --------------------------------------------------------------- WEIS AND HICKMAN SIGN WITH DEL REY FOR TWO ALL-NEW FANTASY SERIES Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, bestselling fantasy authors, have signed with Del Rey for six books in two brand-new series: a science-fiction series tentatively titled _Starshield_ and an as-yet-unnamed epic fantasy series. We hope to publish the first of these new acquisitions--the first _Starshield_ novel--in November of this year. LATEST EXCERPTS ONLINE============================================= Sample chapters of some of our upcoming and recent (and some of our favorite, neither upcoming nor recent) books are now available online (for free, of course). This month's books are FIRST KING OF SHANNARA, MAD AMOS, THE WIND AFTER TIME, and STAR WARS: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS by Bill Smith. Descriptions above in "What's New in the Stores." And we also have a sample chapter of Julian May's MAGNIFICAT, third book in the _Galactic Milieu Trilogy,_ which is out this month from Knopf in hardcover. You can get the sample chapters a few different ways: they're on the Del Rey Web site (http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/) and on the Panix gopher (gopher.panix.com) in the Del Rey Books directory; you can request them via e.mail from the Del Rey fileserver (delrey@tachyon.com; SENDME sample.first_king_shannara, sample.mad_amos, sample.wind_after_time, sample.sw_guide_vessels, or sample.magnificat) and they'll be available in CompuServe's SF Library 4 and AOL's SF and Fantasy libraries, too. (For a list of all sample chapters available via the fileserver, send a message to delrey@tachyon.com with "LIST sample" as the body of the message.) IN DEPTH======================================================== Terry Brooks, bestselling author of the Shannara series, is at it again with FIRST KING OF SHANNARA, a prequel. Here Mr. Brooks tells us why he wrote another book in the series, why it's a prequel and not a sequel, and what he might be working on next. ORIGINS OF SHANNARA I wasn't going to write FIRST KING OF SHANNARA. Really I wasn't. I was going to begin work on a new fantasy series, one that I had been mulling over for almost five years, one that takes place in this world in present time. With the completion of WITCHES' BREW in the Magic Kingdom series, I was more than ready to tackle this newest project. But then my editor intervened, as editors sometimes will, albeit in a kindly way, suggesting that perhaps I should do another Shannara book first. What? Another Shannara book? Already? I was flummoxed! Besides, I didn't have another Shannara book to give him. The story after THE TALISMANS OF SHANNARA requires a two book set, and I definitely wasn't about to do two. Then I remembered my often considered, but still unrealized plan for a prequel to the series. It was you, the readers, who kept asking for it. Tell us about the time before coming of the Ohmsfords. Where were Allanon's origins? How did he become a Druid? How was the Sword of Shannara forged? How were the Druids destroyed at Paranor so that Bremen became the last? Where did Jerle Shannara come from and how did he end up with the Sword? Those were the kinds of questions I would receive on a regular basis. But I steadfastly refused to answer them, saying that it was better if the readers imagined it for themselves, thinking slyly that I would someday write that story myself. Well, here was my chance. But this seemed to me a hard story to write. The ending was already known to every reader of the series. So how could I make it exciting and suspenseful? I didn't want to give a bland recitation of the events surrounding the battle between the rebel Druid Brona and Jerle Shannara, and let it go at that. Then after some thought and some casting about for a solid plotline, I came up with what I thought was a good story. There were some new characters, including the Borderman Kinson Ravenlock, the Druids Risoa and Tay Trefendwyd, the apprentice Druid Mareth, and Jerle Shannara's great love Prela Starle. There were old friends like the once-Druid Cogline. There were more than a few new tales to be told about some familiar people, and a few revelations about how things came to be. To my surprise, the outline came together in about three weeks. I knew it was going to be a big book, because the story was sprawling and covered a large period of time. Don't worry, said my editor. Don't worry, said my wife. I immediately began to worry. But the ease with which the story unfolded once I began to write it was a pleasant surprise. Even Keke the cat got in on the action. Early in the writing of the book, I left the computer on and walked downstairs for a short break. While I was gone, Keke must have walked across the keyboard, because when I came back, the sentence I had left unfinished now read: "There is time yet before it reaches us," Bremen whispered. "I think we should aaaaeeaeaeaeeeeiiiiii. . ." Of course, maybe it wasn't the cat. Maybe it was the things that live under the house. Maybe they're getting impatient. The book I put off doing, after all, is about them. --copyright 1995 by Terry Brooks IN DEPTH II-------------------------------------------------------------- (Didn't like the previous In Depth, perchance? In honor of the DRIN's third anniversary, this month we have two.) Bill Smith is the _Star Wars_ roleplaying game line editor for West End Games. Since joining West End in 1991, he has edited or written over 30 _Star Wars_ game books and he has entirely too much fun doing his job. He lives in Northeastern Pennsylvania with Amy (his understanding girlfriend) and a mountain of _Star Wars_ "stuff." Here he tells us a little about his latest project: George Lucas captured my imagination when an Imperial Star Destroyer first rumbled overhead. What can I say? I was only a kid. Now that I'm twenty-seven--an adult by some standards--I guess you're expecting me to say I've outgrown such things. Guess again. _Star Wars_ is my favorite fictional playground. It has heroes and villains, aliens and droids, and, of course, starships and vehicles. Which brings me to THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS. Soon after getting the chance to write this guide, I realized that my biggest challenge would be making a book of technological gadgets as much fun as the movies from which they were drawn. So, I went back to the basics. For example, the Rebel Alliance's X-wing fighter has always fascinated me. From the first time I saw this sleek ship, I wanted to know more. Who built the X-wings? How did the Rebels get them? How do they stack up against ships like Y-wings and TIE fighters? I didn't much care about the theoretical physics of hyperdrives; I cared more about understanding Star Wars technology in a practical, useful way. I wanted to understand this universe and the ships that belonged to it. After choosing one hundred vehicles and vessels, graphic artist Troy Vigil (known for his popular Star Wars Blueprints), illustrator Doug Chiang (from Industrial Light and Magic), and I went to work. The resulting guide covers the ships and vehicles from the movies, as well as many from the novels, comics, and role-playing and computer games. Each ship or vehicle entry includes a technical diagram, an illustration, and an essay discussing its history, uses, and capabilities. Ever wonder why Darth Vader's TIE fighter is special? Or how AT-AT walkers unload troops? Or how the Jawas got their greedy little hands on sandcrawlers? The GUIDE answers these questions and many others. And the GUIDE details ships you've never seen on-screen. You'll learn about the Katana Fleet Dreadnaughts used in Timothy Zahn's three-book cycle and the infamous Sun Crusher from Kevin J. Anderson's _Jedi Academy_ Trilogy. There's even a sneak peek at the upcoming _Shadows of the Empire_ saga. We put together THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS to be your handbook to these wonders of the _Star Wars_ galaxy. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. --Copyright 1996 by Bill Smith Q & A ==================================================================== Q: I am writing to find out about Christopher Stasheff's fantasy series, _A Wizard in Rhyme._ I was wondering if there is another book in the series and what is it called? A: Mr. Stasheff is working on a _Wizard in Rhyme_ book right now. In the meantime, he's taken a 2-book detour, starting a new series called _The Star Stone._ Book One, THE SHAMAN, is already available in hardcover, and Book Two, THE SAGE, will be out in July. Q: Will there be any more books by Donald E. McQuinn in the WARRIOR, WANDERER, WITCH series? A: Currently, Mr. McQuinn doesn't have any novels planned in the _Warrior_ series, but there's always the possibility that he may go back to check on Tate's adventures sometime in the future. Don's next book (first of a two-part series) will be a far-future, military SF novel set in another star system. It will be published in early 1997 in mass-market paperback. Q: What determines whether a "compilation novel" (two-in-one or three-in-one volume) gets released? A: A bunch of interrelating factors: a new book in a popular series often puts us in mind of a two-in-one or three-in-one edition of earlier books in the series. We republish backlist classics in this combined format (called "omnibus" in the trade) to give them another shot at the shelves with an attractive price--omnibus editions always cost less than two or three separate books. And sometimes an unrelated new book by a popular author, or renewed interest in a series, is reason enough to publish an omnibus. However, omnibus editions are expensive to produce, especially when--like now--paper prices are very high. Therefore, the profit margin on them is very low, so we can't do them for all our authors and series. Ellen Key Harris Editor, Del Rey Books Director of Online Projects, Ballantine Books delrey@randomhouse.com ======================================================================== |DEL| |REY| [The Del Rey Internet Newsletter is copyright 1995 by Del Rey Books, except for the IN DEPTH section, which is copyright by the author. The DRIN may be reproduced only in its entirety, and not for profit.] >=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Drin37.Txt =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=< |