PREISS, Byron (Cary)

(1953-)

   US book packager, anthologist and co-author of 2 sf novels - Guts (1979) with C.J. Henderson and Dragonworld (1979) with J. Michael REAVES - and The Bat Family (1984), a juvenile. Though he has also edited and co-edited numerous ANTHOLOGIES, BP is best known as the most successful of the independent sf book packagers (i.e., creative middlemen who conceive projects, pitch them to publishers, commission writers, artists and others to produce the required material, etc.), founding Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc (frequently abbreviated to BPVP) in 1974.The company's first project was the Weird Heroes anthology series - BP himself edited Weird Heroes \#1 (anth 1975), \#2 (anth 1975), \#6 (anth 1977) and \#8 (anth 1978) - which early demonstrated BP's interest in visual presentation. Among the early BPVP projects were a number of GRAPHIC NOVELS: adaptations included a version written by BP of Alfred BESTER'sTiger! Tiger! (1956 UK; rev vt The Stars My Destination 1957 US) published under the vt in 2 vols (graph 1979 and graph 1992), both vols illus Howard CHAYKIN; original works included Samuel R. DELANY's Empire (graph 1978)with Chaykin. In the 1980s, BPVP branched out into many different areas, from children's and young-adult books to art books, nature books and other projects.But most of the company's attention remained on the sf field, and BVPB was one of the forces behind the huge growth during that decade ofSHARED-WORLD texts tied either to the work of well known authors or generated by BVPB itself, and almost always written on a SHARECROP basis. Projects of the first sort included Isaac Asimov's Robot City, a series ofnovels by various authors including David F. BISCHOFF, Arthur Byron COVER and William F. WU; Arthur C.Clarke's Venus Prime, all by Paul PREUSS (whom see for details); and Robert Silverberg's Time Tours, a series of novels by Wu and others. Projects generated by BPVP included U.S.S.A., to which authors like Tom DE HAVEN contributed individual volumes. Such projects - which BPVP was far from alone in producing - generated lively debate, some critics feeling that writers were being led to recycle the ideas of others rather than exploring their own. Defenders of the sharecrop argued that newer writers, who might otherwise have trouble selling a first novel, could more readily work for hire; and suggested that young readers might be encouraged to read more ambitious sf through initial exposure to accessible shared-world books. Other BPVP projects included the Next Wave line of novels, each focusing on a specific area of scientific speculation and accompanied by an essay on the subject by a notable scientist; titles included Red Genesis (1991) by S.C. SYKES, about colonizing MARS, with an essay by Eugene Mallove; and Alien Tongue (1991) by Stephen LEIGH, about ALIEN contact, with an essay by Rudy RUCKER.Also during the 1980s, BPproduced several lavishly illustrated, ambitious theme anthologies combining fiction and nonfiction. The Planets (anth 1985) featured fiction by Robert SILVERBERG, Jack WILLIAMSON and others, and essays by scientists such as Dale P. Cruikshank. The Universe (anth 1987) included fiction by Poul ANDERSON and Gene WOLFE along with essays on COSMOLOGY and BLACKHOLES. The Microverse (anth 1989) included the NEBULA-winning "At the Rialto" by Connie WILLIS along with nonfiction from Gerald Feinberg (1933-1992) and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon M. Lederman. First Contact (anth 1990) was a similar treatment of CETI. Other anthologies have included the Ultimate series: The Ultimate Dracula (anth 1991) with David Keller, Megan Miller and (anon) Martin H. GREENBERG; The UltimateWerewolf (anth 1991) with John BETANCOURT, Keller, Miller and (anon) Greenberg; The Ultimate Frankenstein (anth 1991) with Keller, Miller, Betancourt and (anon) Greenberg; The Ultimate Dinosaur: Past, Present, Future (anth 1992) with Robert Silverberg; further titles projected.Despite the controversy surrounding some of his sharecropped projects, BP should be recognized for his contribution to the visual presentation of sf, and for reaching out to a younger readership through such projects as the new Tom Swift adventures (TOM SWIFT for details), the Dragonflight series of short novels, and the Camelot World series. Of all the book packagers, BP is likely the only one from his period to have made any real creative contribution to the field.

   RKJK

   Other works: The Art of Leo and Diane Dillon (1981); The Secret: A Treasure Hunt (anth 1982).