Ace Books

Ace Books

Parent company	Berkley Books (Penguin Random House)
Founded	1952;72 years ago (1952)
Founder	A. A. Wyn
Country of origin	United States
Headquarters location	New York City
Key people	Ginjer Buchanan, Editor in Chief
Publication types	Books
Fiction genres	Science fiction
Official website	www.penguin.com

Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns, and soon branched out into other genres, publishing its first science fiction title in 1953. This was successful, and science fiction titles outnumbered both mysteries and westerns within a few years. Other genres also made an appearance, including nonfiction, gothic novels, media tie-in novelizations, and romances. Ace became known for the tête-bêche binding format used for many of its early books, although it did not originate the format. Most of the early titles were published in this "Ace Double" format, and Ace continued to issue books in varied genres, bound tête-bêche, until 1973.

Contents

• History
• 1952: Ace Doubles concept
• 1953–1963: Genre specialization
• 1964–1970: Financial struggles
• 1971–2015: Ace becomes a subsidiary
• People
• Ace nomenclature
• References
• Sources
• External links

Ace, along with Ballantine Books, was one of the leading science fiction publishers for its first ten years of operation. The death of owner A. A. Wyn in 1967 set the stage for a later decline in the publisher's fortunes. Two leading editors, Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr, left in 1971, and in 1972 Ace was sold to Grosset & Dunlap. Despite financial troubles, there were further successes, particularly with the third Ace Science Fiction Specials series, for which Carr came back as editor. Further mergers and acquisitions resulted in the company becoming absorbed by Berkley Books. Ace later became an imprint of Penguin Group (USA).

History

1952: Ace Doubles concept

Editor Donald A. Wollheim was working at Avon Books in 1952, but disliked his job. While looking for other work, he tried to persuade A. A. Wyn to begin a new paperback publishing company. Wyn was already a well-established publisher of books and pulp magazines under the name A. A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers. ^[2] His magazines included Ace Mystery and Ace Sports, ^[3] and it is perhaps from these titles that Ace Books got its name. Wyn liked Wollheim's idea but delayed for several months; meanwhile, Wollheim was applying for other jobs, including assistant editor at Pyramid Books. Pyramid mistakenly called Wyn's wife Rose for a reference, thinking Wollheim had worked for her. When Rose told her husband that Wollheim was applying for another job, Wyn made up his mind: he hired Wollheim immediately as an editor. ^[4]

The first book published by Ace was a pair of mysteries bound tête-bêche : Keith Vining's Too Hot for Hell, backed with Samuel W. Taylor's The Grinning Gismo, priced at 35 cents, with serial number D-01. ^[5] A tête-bêche book has the two titles bound upside-down with respect to each other, so that there are two front covers and the two texts meet in the middle. ^[6] This format is generally regarded as an innovation of Ace's; it was not, but Ace published hundreds of titles bound this way over the next twenty-one years. ^[7] Books by established authors were often bound with those by lesser-known writers. ^[8] Ace was "notorious for cutting text", in the words of bibliographer James Corrick: even some novels labeled "Complete and Unabridged" were cut. ^[9] Isaac Asimov's The Stars Like Dust was one such: it was reprinted by Ace under the title The Rebellious Stars, and cuts were made without Asimov's approval. ^[10] Similarly John Brunner repudiated the text of his novel Castaway's World because of unauthorized cuts to the text. ^[9]

Some important titles in the early D-series novels are D-15, which features William S. Burroughs's first novel, Junkie (written under the pseudonym "William Lee"), and many novels by Philip K. Dick, Robert Bloch, Harlan Ellison, Harry Whittington, and Louis L'Amour, including those written under his pseudonym "Jim Mayo". ^[11]

The last Ace Double in the first series was John T. Phillifent's Life with Lancelot, backed with William Barton's Hunting on Kunderer, issued August 1973 (serial #48245). Although Ace resumed using the "Ace Double" name in 1974, the books were arranged conventionally rather than tête-bêche. ^[12]

1964–1970: Financial struggles

In 1964, science fiction author Terry Carr joined the company, and in 1967, he initiated the Ace Science Fiction Specials line, which published critically acclaimed original novels by such authors as R. A. Lafferty, Joanna Russ and Ursula K. Le Guin. Carr and Wollheim also co-edited an annual Year's Best Science Fiction anthology series; and Carr also edited Universe, a well-received original anthology series. Universe was initially published by Ace, although when Carr left in 1971 the series moved elsewhere. ^[16]

In 1965, Ace published an unauthorized American paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, believing that the copyright had expired in the U.S. Tolkien had not wanted to publish a paperback edition, but changed his mind after the Ace edition appeared, and an authorized paperback edition was subsequently published by Ballantine Books, which included on the back cover of the paperbacks a message urging readers not to buy the unauthorized edition. ^[17] Ace agreed to pay royalties to Tolkien and let its still-popular edition go out of print. ^{[18] [19]}

Wyn died in 1967, ^[2] and the company grew financially overextended, failing to pay its authors reliably. Without money to pay the signing bonus, Wollheim was unwilling to send signed contracts to authors. On at least one occasion, a book without a valid contract went to the printer, and Wollheim later found out that the author, who was owed $3,000 by Ace, was reduced to picking fruit for a living. ^[20]

People

The following people have worked at Ace Books in various editorial roles. The list is sorted in order of the date they started working at Ace, where known. It includes editors who are notable for some reason, as well as the most recent editors at the imprint.

• A. A. Wyn, owner (1952–1967)
• Donald A. Wollheim, editor (1952–1971) ^{[4] [20]}
• Terry Carr, editor (1964–1971); freelance editor (1983–1987) ^{[30] [31]}
• Pat LoBrutto, mail room (1969–1972); science fiction editor (1974–1977) ^{[22] [32]}
• Frederik Pohl, executive editor (December 1971 – July 1972) ^[33]
• Tom Doherty, publisher (1975–1980) ^{[34] [35] [36]}
• Jim Baen, complaints department (c. 1973–1974); gothics editor (c. 1974); science fiction editor (c. 1977–1980) ^[22]
• Ellen Kushner ^[37]
• Terri Windling, editor (1979–1987) ^[38]
• Harriet McDougal, editorial director ^[39]
• Susan Allison, editor (1980–1982); editor-in-chief (1982–2006); vice president (1985 – July 2015) ^{[23] [40] [41]}
• Beth Meacham, editorial assistant (1981–1982); editor (1982–1983) ^{[34] [42]}
• Ginjer Buchanan, editor (1984–1987); senior editor (1987–1994); executive editor, science fiction and fantasy (1994 – January 1996); senior executive editor and marketing director (January 1996 – 2006); editor-in-chief (2006–2014 ^[43] ). ^{[28] [44]}
• Peter Heck (c. 1991–1992) ^[45]
• Laura Anne Gilman (c. 1991) ^{[46] [47]}
• Lou Stathis, editor (? – c. 1994) ^[48]
• Anne Sowards, editorial assistant/associate editor (1996–2003); editor (2003 – February 2007), senior editor (from February 2007), ^[49] executive editor (by September 2010) ^[50]

Ace nomenclature

Until the late 1980s, Ace titles had two main types of serial numbers: letter series, such as "D-31" and "H-77", and numeric, such as "10293" and "15697". The letters were used to indicate a price. The following is a list of letter series with their date ranges and prices. ^{[5] [51]}

• D-series: 35¢, 1952 to 1962.
• S-series: 25¢, 1952 to 1956.
• T-series: 40¢. This series is listed in Tuck's Encyclopedia, ^[52] but he gives no examples in his index and there are none cited in other bibliographic sources. This series may, therefore, not exist.
• F-series: 40¢, 1961 to 1967.
• M-series: 45¢, 1964 to 1967.
• G-series: 50¢, 1958 to 1960 (D/S/G series); 1964 to 1968 (later series).
• K-series: various prices, 1959 to 1966.
• H-series: 60¢, 1966 to 1968.
• A-series: 75¢, 1963 to 1968.
• N-series: 95¢, 1968.

The first series of Ace books began in 1952 with D-01, a western in tête-bêche format: Keith Vining's Too Hot for Hell backed with Samuel W. Taylor's The Grinning Gismo. That series continued until D-599, Patricia Libby's Winged Victory for Nurse Kerry, but the series also included several G and S serial numbers, depending on the price. The D and S did not indicate "Double" (i.e., tête-bêche) or "Single"; there are D-series titles that are not tête-bêche, although none of the tête-bêche titles have an S serial number. ^[53] Towards the end of this initial series, the F series began (at a new price), and thereafter there were always several different letter series in publication simultaneously. The D and S prefixes did not appear again after the first series, but the G prefix acquired its own series starting with G-501. Hence the eight earlier G-series titles can be considered part of a different series to the G-series proper. All later series after the first kept independent numbering systems, starting at 1 or 101. ^{[53] [54]} The tête-bêche format proved attractive to book collectors, and some rare titles in mint condition command prices over $1,000. ^[55]

Related Research Articles

Donald Allen Wollheim was an American science fiction editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell, Martin Pearson, and Darrell G. Raynor. A founding member of the Futurians, he was a leading influence on science fiction development and fandom in the 20th-century United States. Ursula K. Le Guin called Wollheim "the tough, reliable editor of Ace Books, in the Late Pulpalignean Era, 1966 and '67", which is when he published her first two novels in Ace Double editions.

Pulp magazines were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazines printed on higher-quality paper were called "glossies" or "slicks". The typical pulp magazine had 128 pages; it was 7 inches (18 cm) wide by 10 inches (25 cm) high, and 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) thick, with ragged, untrimmed edges. Pulps were the successors to the penny dreadfuls, dime novels, and short-fiction magazines of the 19th century.

Baen Books is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. After his death in 2006, he was succeeded as publisher by long-time executive editor Toni Weisskopf.

A paperback book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardback (hardcover) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, leather, paper, or plastic.

Terry Gene Carr was an American science fiction fan, author, editor, and writing instructor.

Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains part of that company.

James Patrick Baen was a U.S. science fiction publisher and editor. In 1983, he founded his own publishing house, Baen Books, specializing in the adventure, fantasy, military science fiction, and space opera genres. Baen also founded the video game publisher, Baen Software. In late 1999, he started an electronic publishing business called Webscriptions, which is considered to be the first profitable e-book vendor.

Patricia Nead Elrod is an American novelist specializing in urban fantasy. She has written in the mystery, romance, paranormal, and historical genres with at least one foray into comedic fantasy. Elrod is also an editor, having worked on several collections for Ace Science Fiction, DAW, Benbella Books, and St. Martin's Griffin. She self-published a signed, limited edition novel under her own imprint, Vampwriter Books.

A. A. Wyn was an American publisher.

In bookbinding, a dos-à-dos binding is a binding structure in which two separate books are bound together such that the fore edge of one is adjacent to the spine of the other, with a shared lower board between them serving as the back cover of both. When shelved, the spine of the book to the right faces outward, while the spine of the book to the left faces the back of the shelf; the text of both works runs head-to-tail.

Lancer Books was a publisher of paperback books founded by Irwin Stein and Walter Zacharius that operated from 1961 through 1973. While it published stories of a number of genres, it was noted most for its science fiction and fantasy, particularly its series of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian tales, the first publication of many in paperback format. It published the controversial novel Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, and Ted Mark's ribald series The Man from O.R.G.Y. Lancer paperbacks had a distinctive appearance, many bearing mauve or green page edging.

Saturn was an American magazine published from 1957 to 1965. It was launched as a science fiction magazine, but sales were weak, and after five issues the publisher, Robert C. Sproul, switched the magazine to hardboiled detective fiction that emphasized sex and sadism. Sproul retitled the magazine Saturn Web Detective Story Magazine to support the change, and shortened the title to Web Detective Stories the following year. In 1962, the title was changed yet again, this time to Web Terror Stories, and the contents became mostly weird menace tales—a genre in which apparently supernatural powers are revealed to have a logical explanation at the end of the story.

Lillian Stewart Carl is an American author of mystery, fantasy and science-fiction novels.

The Door Through Space is a 1961 science fiction novel by American writer Marion Zimmer Bradley. An expansion of Bradley's story "Bird of Prey", which first appeared in the May 1957 issue of the magazine Venture, it is her first novel, and was published by Ace Books, bound tête-bêche with Rendezvous on a Lost World by A. Bertram Chandler.

Avon published three related magazines in the late 1940s and early 1950s, titled Avon Fantasy Reader, Avon Science Fiction Reader, and Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader. These were digest size magazines which reprinted science fiction and fantasy literature by now well-known authors. They were edited by Donald A. Wollheim and published by Avon.

The Annual World's Best SF was a series of annual paperback anthologies published by American company DAW Books from 1972 to 1990 under the editorship of publisher Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha from 1972 to 1990. Some volumes were also issued in hardcover through the Science Fiction Book Club. It was a continuation of the earlier anthology series World's Best Science Fiction, edited by Wollheim and Terry Carr, published from 1965 to 1971 by Ace Books DAW also issued the companion series The Year's Best Horror Stories from 1971 to 1994, and The Year's Best Fantasy Stories from 1975 to 1988.

World's Best Science Fiction was a series of annual paperback anthologies published by Ace Books from 1965 to 1971 under the editorship of Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr. Some volumes were also issued in hardcover through the Science Fiction Book Club or by Gollancz.

The Best Science Fiction of the Year was a series of annual paperback anthologies edited by Terry Carr. It was published by Ballantine Books from 1972 to 1980, Pocket Books from 1981 to 1983, Baen Books in 1984, and Tor Books from 1985 to 1987. The Tor Books volumes bore the title Terry Carr's Best Science Fiction of the Year from 1985 to 1986, and Terry Carr's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year in 1987. Most volumes were also issued in hardcover in the United Kingdom by Gollancz, the last three under the variant title Best SF of the Year. The series was a continuation of the earlier anthology series World's Best Science Fiction, edited by Carr with Donald A. Wollheim, published from 1965 to 1971 by Ace Books.

World's Best Science Fiction: 1965 is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr, the first volume in a series of seven. It was first published in paperback by Ace Books in 1965. It was reprinted by the same publisher in 1970 under the alternate title World's Best Science Fiction: First Series.

References

Sources

• Asimov, Isaac (1980). In Joy Still Felt (Book Club ed.). New York: Doubleday. ISBN   0-936071-13-3.
• Canja, Jeff (2002). Collectable Paperback Books (2nd ed.). East Lansing, Michigan: Glenmoor Publishing. ISBN   0-9673639-5-0.
• Corrick, James A. (1989). Double Your Pleasure: The Ace SF Double. Brooklyn, New York: Gryphon Books. ISBN   0-936071-13-3.
• Dzwonkoski, David (1986). "Ace Books". In Dzwonkoski, Peter (ed.). American Literary Publishing Houses, 1900-1980: Trade and Paperback. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company. pp. 5–8. ISBN   0-8103-1724-9.
• Edwards, Malcolm; Nicholls, Peter (1993). "Publishing". In Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 976–978. ISBN   0-312-09618-6.
• Kelley, George (1982). "Ace Books". In Cnider, Allen Billy (ed.). Mass Market Publishing in America. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co. pp. 1–14. ISBN   0-8161-8590-5.
• Knight, Damon (1977). The Futurians. New York: John Day.
• Nielsen, Leon (2007). Robert E. Howard: A Collector's Descriptive Bibliography of American and British Hardcover, Paperback, Magazine, Special and Amateur Editions, with a Biography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN   978-0-7864-6109-7.
• Thiessen, J. Grant Science Fiction Collector #1, Pandora's Books, 1976. Includes checklist of all Ace singles and doubles in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror fields.
• Thiessen, J. Grant. Science Fiction Collector #2, Pandora's Books, date unknown. Includes errata for checklist in #1.
• Tuck, Donald H. (1978). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy Through 1968: Volume 2: Who's Who, M-Z. Chicago: Advent: Publishers. ISBN   0-911682-22-8.
• Jaffery, Sheldon Double Trouble: A Bibliographic Chronicle of Ace Mystery Doubles, Starmont Popular Culture Series #11, Borgo Press, 1987. ISBN   1-55742-118-8.
• Jaffery, Sheldon. Double Futures: An Annotated Bibliography of the Ace Science Fiction Doubles, Borgo Press, 1999. ISBN   1-55742-139-0.
• Peters, Harold R. Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror in the Ace Letter-Series Editions: A Collector's Notebook, Silver Sun Press, 1996.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1981). "Letters #270, #272, #273.". In Carpenter, Humphrey (ed.). Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN   978-0-395-31555-2.
• Wollheim, Donald A. (1989). "Introduction". In Corrick, James A. (ed.). Double Your Pleasure: The Ace SF Doubles. Brooklyn, New York: Gryphon Books. p. 5. ISBN   0-936071-13-3.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ace Books .

• Ace Image Library. Contains images of most covers for the doubles in all genres, as well as many of the single titles.
• History on the Penguin Group website