The woman who revolutionized the fantasy genre finally gets her justice

Think of your favorite fantasy or science fiction novel. Of course you realize the writer and the title. But can you think that of the editor or publisher?

In publishing, the individuals who work behind the scenes rarely get by. But on October 1, 2024, not less than one industry pioneer got here into the highlight. That day, PBS aired “Judy Lynn del Rey: The Galaxy Gal“, the first episode of his new documentary series “Renegades,” which highlights little-known historical figures with disabilities.

Judy-Lynn del Rey, a girl with dwarfism, was best known for founding Del Rey Books, a science fiction and fantasy publisher that made fantasy specifically a significant publishing category.

As a scholar of fantasy literatureI used to be fortunate to function a research consultant for the PBS project. However, resulting from time constraints, the episode was only capable of tell half of Del Rey's story, ignoring how she influenced science fiction and fantasy itself.

Judy-Lynn del Rey had very clear ideas about what sort of stories people desired to buy. For some critics, she also committed the unforgivable sin of being right.

The mother of “Star Wars”

Over the course of her profession, del Rey gained a popularity as a superstar editor amongst her writers. Arthur C. Clarke, co-writer of the screenplay for “2001: A Space Odyssey,” called it the “The most sensible editor I actually have ever met“, and Philip K. Dick said she was the “biggest editor since Maxwell Perkins“, the legendary editor of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

However, she started off as an editorial assistant – in point of fact, a “gofer” – for probably the most acclaimed science fiction magazine of the Nineteen Sixties. galaxy. There she learned the fundamentals of publishing and quickly rose through the ranks until she was headhunted by Ballantine Books in 1973.

Soon after, Ballantine was acquired by publishing giant Random House, which then appointed del Rey editor-in-chief. But her first big step was dangerous: she separated from the Ballantine writer John Normanwhose hugely popular Gor novels were widely criticized for his or her misogyny.

Nonetheless, del Rey's mission was to develop a robust backlist of science fiction novels that might appeal to latest generations of younger readers, not to say adults. An early success was her Star Trek Log series, a series of ten novels based on episodes of Star Trek Log.Star Trek: The Animated Series.”

But del Rey had even greater success when he secured the novel rights to a science fiction film that was then Few Hollywood executives believed he would do well: “Star Wars.”

This smart enterprise resulted in Ballantine receiving lucrative additional products similar to calendars, art books, sketchbooks, etc. for years Star Wars Intergalactic Pass and naturally other novels set within the Star Wars universe – so many various tie-ins that del Rey called herself the “Mama of Star Wars.”

After that she became someone who as reporter Jennifer Crighton put itHe exuded “the shameless joy of a rebel force, an upstart who has won.”

A significant player in major fiction

Del Rey's tendencies as an editor were sometimes criticized – often by Competitors who couldn't sustain with the success of their line – because he’s too focused on Ballantine’s bottom line. But she also selected to work within the publishing landscape because it actually existed within the Seventies, fairly than the one she only wished existed.

In his book “Great fictionPublishing scholar Dan Sinykin calls this period the “conglomerate era,” a period during which publishing houses—mostly small and family-run—were consolidated into larger corporations.

However, one good thing about this shift was greater corporate investment within the industry, which resulted in increases in print runs, marketing budgets, writer advances, and staff salaries.

Ballantine's parent company, Random House, was also considered an industry leader in free speech because of the efforts of legendary CEOs Bennett Cerf And Robert L. Bernstein.

Accordingly, Random House granted its publishing divisions, including Ballantine, immense creative autonomy.

And when del Rey finally got her own signature in 1977, she took her biggest risk: imagination.

That was Del Rey

In previous many years, fantasy had a popularity for being unmarketable – unless, after all, your name was JRR Tolkienotherwise you wrote Conan-style barbarian novel. While the highest science fiction magazines often had excellent circulation, fantasy magazines often failed resulting from lack of sales.

However, in 1975, del Rey hired her husband, Lester del Reyto develop a fantasy series, and when Del Rey Books launched two years later, it enjoyed great success with bestsellers like Terry Brooks' “The Sword of Shannaraand Stephen R. Donaldson's “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever.” But although Lester edited the fantasy authors, Judy-Lynn oversaw the imprint and marketing.

A lesser-known example of their skills is “The Princess Bride.”

Today most individuals understand it the 1987 filmhowever the film originated as a much earlier novel by William Goldman. However, the unique 1973 edition sold poorly. It might need been forgotten had del Rey not been determined to revitalize Ballantine's backlist.

She republished “The Princess Bride” in 1977 with a surprising die-cut gatefold cover and a brand new promoting campaign, without which the novel—and the film—may never have achieved its subsequent success.

The awards are piling up

Thanks to those efforts, Del Rey Books dominated genre publishing and produced more bestselling titles by 1990 than every other science fiction and fantasy publisher combined. Yet despite complaints that the publishing house prioritized business success over literary merit, Del Rey's authors received their fair proportion of literary awards.

The prestigious Locus Poll Award for Best Science Fiction Novel went to Del Rey authors Julian May and Isaac Asimov 1982 and 1983. Other Locus honorees include Patricia A. McKillip, Robert A. Heinlein, Larry Niven, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Barbara Hambly.

Barry Hughart's “Bridge of Birds“was one of two winners of the World Fantasy Award in 1985 and won the Mythopoeic Society Award in 1986. What was even more impressive was that Del Rey ran away with it Science Fiction Book Club Award In the first nine years of its existence, it won seven of them. The imprint's titles also won three times in a row August Derleth Fantasy Awards – now called the British Fantasy Award – from 1977 to 1979.

Yet despite these accolades, Del Rey's popularity continued to suffer from his own business success. Notably, Judy-Lynn del Rey was never nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor. When she died in 1986, the Hugo Committee belatedly attempted to provide her a posthumous award, but her husband Lester did refused to just accept itsaid it was too late.

Although the present narrative continues to be that Del Rey Books published mostly formulaic, mass-market fiction in its science fiction and science fiction novels Fantasy linesThe time could also be ripe to have fun the vision and iconoclasm of a publisher who has expanded speculative fiction beyond the confines of a small genre fan base.