1990 - 02/1990 Meeting

Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/27/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 01/05/08.

ELLEN STEIBER / ROBIN HARDY

Ellen Steiber and Robin Hardy worked at Cloverdale Press, a book packager. Both are also writers, though usually under pseudonyms.

Cloverdale serves as a middleman in the YA science fiction market.

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: February 10, 1990.

Meeting Site: Saddle River Valley Cultural Center.

Official Attendance: 20.

Meeting Program: Talk by Book Packagers.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

Editors Ellen Steiber and Robin Hardy were the guests of the S.F.A.B.C. on February 10, 1990. Cloverdale is not a publisher but is instead a packager, selling an idea (which may have been developed by Cloverdale or by someone else) to a publisher and then assigning a writer and artist to execute the concept. Among the publishers buying Cloverdale products are Ballantine, Scholastic, and Troll Books.

Most of Cloverdale's material is targeted towards young adults. A certain amount of this material is of a science fiction or fantasy flavor. Among the series they produce is "Turbo Cowboys," a sort of teenaged toned down road warriors, "Planet Builders," (the title says it all), and, on the fantasy side, "Circle of Magic."

The two editors brought in about a dozen books they had packaged, passed them around, and answered questions. They explained that they did series because that's what their readers at that age (I have a 50 book Hardy Boy collection which will attest to that). In response to a question from the audience, the editors were of the opinion that writing novels on spec was a good way for a new writer to learn his craft and get paid for doing so.

After a break, we resumed in the multi-purpose room next to the kitchen. Robin had recently been to France and brought a number of French comic books and graphic novels with him. He did a bit of show and tell about that scene in France.

Both Ellen and Robin are writers who have also held down other jobs in publishing. Ellen has written some YA material under pseudonyms for other companies. We will say no more on that score to protect her.

Robin Hardy had some wonderful writer's stories to tell. He is a Canadian who came up with the idea for a men's action series about a group of adventurers who are mercenaries titled "The S.O.B.s." These go under a house name, but Robin was the author of the first half-dozen or so books in the series.

There were some very funny anecdotes about the lengths he would go to in order to show just how depraved the villains were. In one case the son of the president of the publishing company got ahold of one of these books, read it, and enthusiastically pushed it upon his father to read. When the gentleman read it, he was appalled at the violence and gore, and phoned the division head asking what sort of depravity they were publishing? Robin descrbed his philosophy as "anyone can shoot someone in the head and send the eyeballs flying. I like to follow them as they bounce around the floor and roll to a stop beneath someone's boot."

This was a small meeting, with twenty people present. Due to another mix-up, we did not show anything before the meeting began.