BANTAM BOOKS

   Large US publishing house, a general publisher, mainly of paperbacks, rather than an sf specialist. It was founded in 1945 by Ian Ballantine, but he left in 1952 to form BALLANTINE BOOKS because he wanted to publish paperback originals, whereas BB's list was almost entirely of reprints - although one early sf paperback original (but not published as sf) from BB was Shot in the Dark (anth 1950) ed Judith MERRIL. In the 1950s and 1960s BB published some sf, including original collections by Fredric BROWN, but generally were not major players in sf publishing. Their sf line was expanded when Frederik POHL was hired as sf consultant in 1975; inter alia he introduced Samuel R.DELANY to the list, with DHALGREN (1975). Pohl was followed as sf editor by Sydny Weinberg, who was in turn succeeded in 1980 by Karen Haas. By 1981 BB was publishing over 20 sf/fantasy paperback originals a year, including such authors as David BRIN and John CROWLEY. Lou ARONICA took over the sf line in 1982, with considerable success, his list coming to include Thomas M.DISCH, Richard GRANT, Harry HARRISON, Robert SILVERBERG and Norman SPINRAD, and introducing Pat CADIGAN, Sheila FINCH, R.A.MACAVOY and Robert Charles WILSON. By 1985 BB had become one of the top five sf publishers in terms of number of books published, and in that year launched the new Bantam Spectra imprint for sf, which emphasized original publications rather than reprints and also published some hardcovers. Shawna MCCARTHY joined BB as sf editor in 1985, working for Aronica, now Publishing Director. Soon BB authors included Karen Joy FOWLER, William GIBSON, Lisa GOLDSTEIN, Ian MCDONALD, Lewis SHINER and Connie WILLIS. McCarthy left in 1988. By the late 1980s BB had one of the most prestigious lines in sf publishing. Its anthology lines included WILD CARDS and FULL SPECTRUM. In 1986 the German company Bertelsmann, which already owned BB, bought DOUBLEDAY. As a result, since 1987 Doubleday's new hardcover imprint, Doubleday Foundation, was closely associated with Bantam Spectra. In 1989 Aronica became vice-president and publisher of all BB mass-market books, while retaining his direct control of Bantam Spectra. It appears (1991) that much of the Doubleday Foundation list will be returned to Bantam Spectra. The UK Transworld Publishers, which publishes sf and fantasy under the Corgi Books imprint, is a subsidiary of BB.