DEL REY, Judy-Lynn

(1943-1986)

   US editor. She began her career in 1965 with GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION, becoming associate editor in 1969. Her predecessor was Lester DEL REY; they married in 1971. She moved to BALLANTINE BOOKS in 1973, bringing her husband in on the operation in 1974, and in 1977 was instrumental in forming the Del Rey imprint - named for her - of Ballantine (itself owned by Random House). As editor-in-chief of DEL REY BOOKS, she demonstrated an extraordinary gift for marketing sf and fantasy to an unprecedentedly large audience, and her releases often hit the US bestseller lists. At the time of her death, she had become the dominant figure in US sf and fantasy publishing. Given her physically taxing genetic disability - she was an achondroplastic dwarf, and frequently in pain - the range of her accomplishments in the driven world of New York publishing seemed all the more remarkable.J-LDR was also responsible for the STELLAR original anthology series: Stellar 1 (anth 1974), Stellar Short Novels (anth 1976), Stellar Science-Fiction Stories \#2 (anth 1976), \#3 (anth 1977), \#4 (anth 1978), \#5 (anth 1980), \#6 (anth 1981) and \#7 (anth 1981).

   JC

   See also: HUGO; PUBLISHING.