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Conference noted::sf

Title:Arcana Caelestia
Notice:Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:NETRIX::thomas
Created:Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1300
Total number of notes:18728

56.0. "Quality among Editors" by EDEN::MAXSON () Thu Apr 12 1984 22:35

	There's a noticible quality difference among publishers of SF.
	Ballantine, Timescape, Berkley, Pocket - those are reliable
	publishers. The titles published under these houses may not always
	be great, but at least they do not stink. On the other hand,
	Ace, DAW, and "Jim Baen Presents..." occasionally are SO bad
	that you wonder how the hell they ever got into print. Not to
	say that there hasn't been anything great under those publishers,
	there has - but their quality control is spotty.

	That's a bold statement, but I think it's true. Has anyone else
	noticed this? If so, is it a safe policy to recommend shopping
	for unknown books by publisher?

					Max

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56.1SHORTY::REDFORDThu Apr 12 1984 23:1010
The old Ace Science Fiction Specials were consistently good, or at least
consistently interesting.  They made a real effort to stay out of formulas
and perhaps they tried to hard sometimes, but the results were worth reading.
Terry Carr has recently started up the line again at Ace.  I've read the first
two, "The Wild Shore" and "Green Eyes" and they've both been worth while.
Ballantine/Del Rey is also almost always good.  Anyone out there remember the
Ballantine Adult Fantasy series?  The one with the unicorn logo?  I got my
first taste of Lord Dunsany through them and so relentlessly found every
other book in the series.
/jlr
56.2CORVUS::BARANSKIMon Oct 21 1985 18:434
One of my Favorite Publishers, is DAW paperbacks.  When they first started
coming out, they had some REALLY good ones:  Andre Norton ..., and good artists:
Kelly Freas....  Admittedly DAW does have flops, and recently they have gotten
worse, but I still have a soft spot for them.
56.3AKOV68::BOYAJIANTue Oct 22 1985 05:568
Don Wollheim (DAW) has certainly published some good stuff (Moorcock, Vance,
et al.) and has "discovered" some good writers (Cherryh, Lee, et al.), but
he is a lousy editor. He has even said that he prefers to buy books "as is"
with no editing on his part (it's either good enough to publish or it isn't).
This has had a deleterious effect on some writers, most notably Marion Zimmer
Bradley; her books need to be *heavily* edited.

--- jerry
56.4FUTBAL::BROOMHEADTue Oct 29 1985 20:525
[.1] Another vote for the new ACE SF Specials series (particularly "Neuromancer"
and "Green Eyes").  Some of the better written and more creative sf to come
along in a while.

Kirk
56.5Questar is trash!SNDCSL::SMITHWilliam P.N. (WOOKIE::) SmithSun May 01 1988 20:217
    I always check for the blue arrow (Questar), quickly replace the
    book on the shelf, wipe my hand on my pants, and make a warding
    sign when I come across one in my search for SF.  All because of
    exposure to a single book.....
    
    Willie_who_is_spelunking_the_archives.