SPIN STATE Featured in 25 Years of Spectra

Bantam is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its SF/Fantasy imprint, Spectra, and I got a nice surprise when they made SPIN STATE one of the featured titles for 2003. They asked me to write something about the experience of writing the book, or writing in general, or SF in general. So being the indecisive type I picked all of the above....

Here's a link to the page on SPIN STATE. And here's a link to the main list, which makes for fun reading. Surprising how many of my favorite books these guys turn out to have published....

Another thing you'll notice is how many of the writers talk about working with Anne Groell, the senior editor at Spectra. Anne is one of the great unsung heroes of SF. She has worked with many of the top writers in the business, from Kim Stanley Robinson and David Brin to George R. R. Martin and Robin Hobb. In fact, Anne is the person who believed in Robin Hobb enough to give her a second chance when a string of badly handled books had ruined her sales numbers and most publishers had decided she was washed up as a writer. We all know how that turned out. And it was characteristic of Anne's steadfast belief that if you just keep putting really good books out there readers will find them.

One of the funny and endearing things about working with Anne is that, as Lynn Flewelling mentioned, she draws smiley faces on her manuscripts every time she likes something. So even if you get back a manuscript covered with red ink, there somehow seems to be at least one smiley face for every question, comment or correction. You wouldn't think it would matter. I mean we're all grownups and professionals, right? We ought to be able to take our medicine. Can you imagine the members of your average writing group drawing smiley faces all over each others' drafts? Heavens, no! And yet ... somehow Anne's smiley faces are like Mary Poppin's spoonful of sugar. They really do help the medicine go down. Though the slog from manuscript to publication can be long, when you are working with Anne it never gets discouraging. This ability to critique without crushing is part of her great talent as an editor -- and one reason why she has inspired so many writers to deliver of their best work for her.