Kevin's Watch

On my most recent trip to Barnes and Noble (great cafe-hope my bosses never figure out where I am), I saw a paperback copy of the Dragonlance Chronicles in an annotated version.

That got me to thinking. Not that I want the Man to take time from writing the Third Chronicles, but wouldn't it be great to get a copy of the 1st and 2nd Covenant Chronicles in annotated form?

Maybe some type of anniversary edition? Is twenty-five years this year or next year? Or maybe last year?

Hell, DelRey put together a special commerative edition of Brooks version of LOTR...er I mean of Shannara, and Eddings repetitive saga, they without a doubt should do something in tribute to Donaldson, a far more mature, powerful and significant writer.

Whats an annonated book?
LOL, Dont judge me.

Lord Mhoram

I'm glad you asked what annotated means....i haven't a clue either

GG

I'm guessing it's like those Readers Digest condensed books?

An annotated version (at least the type I was talking about) is where the author puts crib notes or footnotes into the margin or after chapters, giving his thoughts on scenes, characters, plotlines, etc... as the story moves along.

Ah, I see. Too bad there isnt one...SRD's po would be interesting, and maybe wed be able to identify him on KW...

Flagg wrote:Hell, DelRey put together a special commerative edition of Brooks version of LOTR...er I mean of Shannara, and Eddings repetitive saga, they without a doubt should do something in tribute to Donaldson, a far more mature, powerful and significant writer.

Unfortunately, Del Rey is a sad travesty of what it was when it introduced SRD to the world. Both Judy-Lynn and Lester del Rey are dead, the parent company has been bought by Bertelsmann, and the whole outfit now seems to be in the hands of clueless executroids.

Furthermore, SRD is now firmly established with Bantam as his publisher, and though Bantam is also owned by Bertelsmann, it doesn't seem to have a friendly relationship with Del Rey. Who would issue an annotated edition? I could see some nasty turf wars happening.

All that aside, I don't think Del Rey ever really understood what they had in SRD. I've been told by someone who knew Lester del Rey fairly well that he hated the TC books, thought SRD was a dreadful hack writer, but figured it would sell a lot of copies to the 'crypto-Christian market'. If that was the attitude the company's founder had towards one of his top three authors, imagine what his successors think of SRD now that he writes for the competition!

So I'm not at all surprised that nothing like this has been done. Besides, it doesn't seem to be SRD's bag to go over his old books that way.

Given the excellent dissection going on in this forum, some people here could almost write their own annotated edition

Is a serious temptation...

I don't think that SRD would ever support an annotated version of anything, as he often says that he doesn't want to tell readers how to interpret his work.

Sum sui generis
Vs

if you put the gradual interview alongside the books, you get an annotated version:-)

I have thought once or twice about asking permission to publish our dissection/read-leads on my website, but decided they are more at home here on the Watch.

Variol Farseer wrote:All that aside, I don't think Del Rey ever really understood what they had in SRD. I've been told by someone who knew Lester del Rey fairly well that he hated the TC books, thought SRD was a dreadful hack writer, but figured it would sell a lot of copies to the 'crypto-Christian market'.

Grrrrrr

Yes well in the market a publishers personal beliefs become subsumed but of course in our historical perspective it all is a little distasteful to hear the personal insights.

It is a deal. I mean do you believe that record executives give a shit about the fodder that gets sacrificed every week on the charts. Wether they are brilliant or not.

Literature is a different beast of course but fundamentals remain.

If Donaldson gets a distribution deal and the person with the power loves it or hates it becomes rather irrelevant. Sure it is nice and comfy that some marketing dude loves fantasy and giants and lords etc but it is a rather minor footnote.

Do the business, the readers do the rest. Art is a co-optive act between the market and creativity. Any artist or musician or writer knows this.....

Publishing's been a weird gig since Gutenburg, really. Obviously, lots of editors acquire books based on their saleability rather than their literary merit.

Deplorable, maybe--but editors do this because, if they acquire enough books that sell (whether or not they find them personally appealing), their bosses are more likely to say, "Ok, you picked up three crappy books last quarter that sold over 100,000 copies each, you may now go out and acquire a book of literary genius that you love, even if it will only sell 5,000 copies." It's a trade-off.

What makes the Chron's publishing backstory interesting to me is that Lester Del Rey had a work of true literary quality on his hands, but only acquired it because he thought he could sell 100,000 copies to a niche market. Maybe he figured that if he did well with the Chrons, he could then publish something of real genius, like "Nasty Space Vixens in the 28th Century" or something.

I really want Del Rey to put out new hardcovers of the 1st/2nd chronicles to celebrate the release of the 3rd. I don't care if they're annotated.