Table of Contents, April 1985

This is the scanned Table of Contents for the issue, embedded as a PDF. It is searchable and includes all of the titles reviewed in the month. These issues are not available digitally yet, but most can be ordered by contacting the Locus offices. Locus-ToC-1985-04

THE NEWSPAPER OF THE SCIENCE FICTION FIELD
ISSN-0047-4959
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Charles N. Brown
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Faren Miller
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Donna Burriston
MANAGING EDITOR
Dawn Atkins
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Norman Spinrad
Richard Curtis
Fritz Leiber
Debbie Notkin
Locus, ISSN-0047-4959, The Newspaper of the
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Contents copyright © 1985 by Locus Publications.
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Contents
Heinlein’s Million-Dollar CAT….. p.1
Major Changes at 3 Publishers……. 1
DAW Starts Hardcover Line……….. 1
Somtow Sucharitkul: SF Clown Prince. 1
Contents………………………… 3
Editorial Matters……………….. 3
Around the Bookstores………… . 4
Politics Divides SF Writers Again… 4
Publishing Notes………………. . 4
Announcements…………………… 4
Hubbard New Writers’ Bash……….. 5
Clarion Call…………………….. 5
Elftheft………………………… 5
SF Software……………………. 5
The Outer Limits………………… 5
Book Notes………………………. 5
Awards, Awards………………….. 5
People & Publishing…… ……….. 7
Agent’s Corner, Richard Curtis….. 9
Locus Looks at Books, Faren Miller..11
Locus Looks at More Books,
Debbie Notkin…………………. 13
Moons & Stars & Stuff, Fritz Leiber.13
Stayin’ Alive, Norman Spinrad…….15
Soviet SF Report IV, Vladimir Gakov.19
Photos from Czechoslovakia………. 21
Convention Listings………………22
Boskone 1985……………………. 24
Long Ago & Far Away………………27
Books Received— February………… 34
Magazines Received— February……..39
Classified Ads………………….. 44
Bestseller Lists……………….. 47
Disneyland at 30………………… 49
British Book Notes……………… 49
Obituary: Stephen Franklin………. 51
ISSUE #291 * VOL. 18, NO. 4 ‘ APRIL 1985 Mailing date: March 21,1985
It’s a very interesting time in the
publishing field. The lead story on
job changing itself changes daily, and
I have no doubt it will be out-of-date
before this issue is out.
POCKET CHANGES
We’ve given an inordinate amount of
space to the changes at Pocket even
though they’re not directly concerned
with sf. After all, if Pocket decides
to just accept that they’re Jim Baen’s
distributor, they won’t do sf for the
next four years. (The Baen contract is
a five-year one.) On the other h and,
Pocket may try to buy out or renegotiate
with Baen. Pocket has been in
trouble for a couple of years, and
science fiction has been just a part of
it. (See Norman Spinrad’s column.)
The publishing end was neglected, while
the distribution company was expanded.
Selling Silhouette to Harlequin and
taking over distribution of both was a
huge moneymaker for Simon & Schuster
and Gulf & Western, but it hurt the
publishing company. Separating the
distribution arm didn’t help the morale
of the sales force either. Dropping
Timescape just when the backlist was
about to become profitable was just
plain dumb. Signing a non-competitive
clause with Jim Baen was great for Baen
but bad for Pocket. Without a front
list, the Timescape backlist was dead
in the water. In many cases, Simon &
Schuster has treated Pocket as a poor
relation instead of giving it the support
it should have had. The hardcover
sf list was pretty much ignored by
Simon & Schuster. Jim Baen’s hardcover
list is suffering the same fate now.
Jack Romanos started the hardcover line
at Bantam with the philosophy that you
could sell hardcovers like paperbacks.
He succeeded impressively. It may be
one of the things he has to do at Simon
& Schuster/Pocket.
OLD-TIME PHOTOS
I usually like to run photos without
too many detailed explanations of who
the people are, but maybe doing that
with 40-year-old photos is a little too
obscure. The photos on page 27, from
the collection of Frank Robinson, probably
need some annotation. The top
left photo was taken probably late in
1943 at the S l an Shack, a communal fan
house in Battle Creek, Michigan. E v ans,
Tucker, and Robinson became pr o fessional
authors, Krueger a bookseller
and small press publisher, and Wiedenbeck
an artist. The top right photo,
taken at the 1952 worldcon, shows Philip
Jose Farmer at his first con v e n tion;
Earl Kemp chaired the 1962 worldcon
and became an editor; Jeanne Smith
was married to famed writer E.E. “Doc”
Smith, shown below with young ex-marine
Randall Garrett. Mari Beth Wheeler and
Walter Dunkelberger were well-known
midwestern fans of the forties. F.
Towner Laney and Phil Bronson were
active Los Angeles fans. Laney is
famous for “Ah! Sweet Idiocy” (1947), a
book-length condemnation of Los Angeles
fandom. The photo of Ray Palmer and
Howard Browne was taken in Chicago
outside the offices of Amazing Stories.
Palmer was editor, Browne his assistant.
Bea Mahaffey was editor of Other
Worlds in the early fifties as well as
other Palmer-run magazines. Julian May
is well-known today as a writer; she
also chaired the 1952 world convention.
To round out the old-time pictures and
put age into perspective, the editorial
photo of ye editor was taken in 1942.
CORRECTIONS
We inadvertently credited Tor with
publishing THE GAME OF EMPIRE by Poul
Anderson. It’s a Baen Book.
Joe Gonnella pointed out that he has
two “n”s in his name. He refused to
change it.
In the Walt Liebscher obituary, his
fanzine’s name should have been Chantic
l eer. Rosebud was published by Mari
Beth Wheeler.
We managed to misspell the name of
Janny Wurts (no “z”).
THANKS
As usual, mailing was at the last
minute. Help was furnished by Mike
Friedrich, Ellen Leverenz, Bill Contento,
the L o c u s staff, and C y b e l l e ‘ s
Pizza. Thank you all.
— C.N. Brown
THE EDITOR IN UNIFORM
LOCUS April 1985 / 3