FATAL REVENANT DRAFT ONE FINISHED!!!

[caamora]

Seareach, that is the funniest av I have ever seen!!!!!!!

[dlbpharmd]

Well Ladies and Gentlemen...here's some news for you (direct from SRD's News Page on his website)

"Fatal Revenant" news

The first draft of "Fatal Revenant" is now finished. But don't get your hopes up. I anticipate a year of rewriting--and editorial to-ing and fro-ing--before D&A ("delivery and acceptance"); and my publishers may not commit to a schedule for release until after D&A.

"Fatal Revenant" is roughly 150 pages longer than "The Runes of the Earth" was at this stage. As I recall, I cut about 125 pages out of "Runes" before publication. I think we can assume that the same thing will happen to "Fatal Revenant," so the final version will still be somewhat longer than "Runes".

2/24/06

This brings up an interesting question - we know that SRD has 3 years for each installment of FC. D&A for Runes was sometime in spring 2004, and we've been told before that the clock for FR started then. Will he have the re-write completed before spring 2007?

[Variol Farseer]

Speaking of which, I found this un-credited blurb on the web.

Martin Morse Wooster confirms: `Secrets from the Del Rey Files. It turns out that, in Judy-Lynn's last years, the house of Del Rey had three major editors. Judy-Lynn handled SF; Lester handled fantasy; and an anonymous junior editor was detailed to spend her time exclusively editing the mighty Stephen R.Donaldson. My mole reports that Donaldson's copy was so vile that Lester refused to touch it, delegating all responsibility to sub-editors. (Donaldson is on a special shortlist of writers whose work Lester can't stand, but whom he bought Because They Sold. Other writers on this select list are Terry Brooks and Piers Anthony.)
-- September, 1987

SRD's version is that Lester del Rey forbade him to use Linden as a viewpoint character in TWL, because 'you can't have a Tarzan story with Jane as the hero'. SRD insisted on writing it his way. Impasse. In the end, a senior exec from Random House called del Rey on the carpet, told him that he was in no circumstances to let a multi-million-selling author get away over a stupid editorial squabble, and assigned SRD to another editor.

I have forgotten the name of the editor who handled SRD's books after that, but she was in fact a regular editor with another Random House imprint, not 'an anonymous junior editor'. I sent her a query once, and she explained the situation to me in her answer.

Of the two del Reys, it was Judy-Lynn who was the editorial and publishing genius. Lester had the advantage of holding the U.S. paperback rights to LOTR, which gave him the prestige to get first refusal on a lot of profitable books. Within five years after Judy-Lynn's death, he had squandered this capital and surrendered the top position in SF & fantasy publishing to Tor, which still holds it. I have heard all kinds of former Del Rey authors speak in the most scathing terms of what that imprint has become in the last twenty years, and advise rising young writers to stay well clear.

So of the two stories, I have independent grounds to believe SRD's before Martin Morse Wooster's.

The draft of Fatal Revenant probably needs an enormous amount of cutting, and plenty of polish on the dialogue (which SRD says is what he has most trouble with). But I doubt it's as bad as you fear.

[Usivius]

[Loredoctor]

Remind me to avoid Del Rey when I send out my novel's manuscripts.

[Variol Farseer]

You won't need to avoid them, Loremaster; they only accept submissions from agents now. (Like most publishers, alas.)

[danlo]

Great! Just like the old employer Catch-22: "We can't hire you, you don't have any experience." "But how can I get any experience if NO ONE WILL HIRE ME!"

[Nav]

I've heard both Alastair Reynolds and Richared Morgan say that short stories in fiction magazines are the best way to build up industry contacts before trying to get your big stuff printed.

[Seareach]

Lore, get yourself a copy of the Australian Writer's Marketplace (they release one every year) and start submitting your short stories *now* to suitable publications listed in there.

[Loredoctor]

Lore, get yourself a copy of the Australian Writer's Marketplace (they release one every year) and start submitting your short stories *now* to suitable publications listed in there.

Thanks, but the problem is that A God for Atheists is 10,000 words. It might be too long.