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Ace is the Place for Double Sci Fi
For a guy who never finished high school, my Dad was a tremendous reader. He'd be watching the White Sox on TV with a quart of Drewrys beer, a lit Pall Mall, and a book open in his lap, attention on the printed page during commercials. Wide-ranging in his genre tastes, Dad was fond of the science fiction of Andre Norton. And he was a avid lover of the Ace series of double paperbacks. According to AbeBooks:"One of Ace’s biggest coups was the Ace Doubles series. These paperbacks contained two different novels that were bound together in the dos-a-dos style. Their strategy was to pair a famous writer with a lesser known one and constantly introduce readers to new literary talent. While Ace did not invent this concept, they did popularize it, and it became a fantastic marketing tool that benefited both the publisher and readers for many years. Ace published several hundred Ace Doubles in the dos-a-dos format between 1952 and 1973, and many science fiction fans have built collections around these eye-catching paperbacks."
They were basically novellas, but it was really cool to flip one over and see brand new cover art and a different story. That said, I have two novellas from my frenzy of 2013 writing. Since both stories involve hapless travelers set upon by monsters, my wife suggested they'd make a great single edition. I immediately thought of Ace Doubles. These two stories are an Ace Double. But I gather it's a production pain since you have to commission two covers and arrange the text in a just-so manner.
Maybe I can't swing a double, but the two tales of a mysterious, dangerous, wider world are what I shall write next.
A most Merry Christmas!
11 comments:
I wasn't aware of the Ace Doubles series. Interesting! I'll have to look into those. It would be a fun coup if you could pull off something like an Ace Double with your novellas, but also, as you state, a pain. At the very least, a branded series of stand-alones?
I've been working on a MG space opera for much of this year and have had to push projected publish dates back several times (because of circumstances within and beyond my control). No worries. I'd rather have the book in proper shape than not. All of this reminds me of Douglas Adams's great quote: "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
Very true. Better good than fast.
Good luck on the space opera, Roger and Merry Christmas to you and the family!
Thanks, John. Merry Christmas to you and yours, too!
"Better good than fast." I'm LOVING "50 Shades of Zane Grey" ! Take your time and don't let it out of your sight til you're satisfied the project is as good as you can make it. Otherwise, you'll kick yourself.
Glad you're enjoying 50ZG.
And Merry Christmas!
Did you happen to read Sean Penn's article about el Chapo?
I think that the reactions in news and social media are pretty similar to the strategy of certain Italian Native American of the Hallowmass. The content of Sean's article goes against the discourse of the Mexican news media, which wants to celebrate the re-recapture as if that meant anything to the people in terms of the war on violence or, even the war on drugs.
I haven't read the article yet.
But there is a growing disconnect between media and populations as media appears to be less interested in reporting events and more concerned with properly shaping them.
I just had a long debate with some people from the Social Science school of the UNAM (University of Mexico)... They talk just like Audrey... It's real, it's very real. The postmodern jargon, the PC culture, everithing.
I think the topic of the book is spot on and right on time.
Pretty crazy, isn't it? I'm hoping you're right and others also have grown tired of PC culture.
It's happening. Somebody brought up this "How to Speak and Write Postmodern" by Stephen Katz (very googleable) to the debate (in Facebook group) and everybody started having fun making mock jargon. People who use postmodern philosophy and jargon tend to come from soft science, but it's not always the case.
I'll take a look at that book.
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