1997 - 02/1997 Meeting

Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/26/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 03/04/08.

AMY GOLDSCHLAGER

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: February 8, 1997.

Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 22.

Meeting Program: Talk by Science Fiction Editor.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 1997 Philip J De Parto:

A light dusting of snow was enough to make a number of regulars miss the February 8, 1997 meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County. Those who did make it out found that the roads were fine and the meeting fun.

Philip De Parto, Hiroshi Konoya, James La Barre, John Upton, Taras Wolansky, and Mark Wolkoff joined guest speaker Amy Goldslager for a pleasant dinner at the Mason Jar in Mahwah, New Jersey before the meeting. Turnout was light for both pre meeting groups.

Amy Goldslager had always been a voracious reader of fantasy and science fiction. She was especially concerned with authors getting the details right. She mentioned, for example, how here enjoyment of one book was destroyed by the author's contradiction of the geneology stated in other books in the series. She felt that by becoming involved in editing, she would help writers get it right, and get lots of free books besides.

There are a lot of changes happening at Avon Books at this time. The AvoNova imprint will be dropped and a new one adopted. The line will become less eclectic and more focused as a publisher of literary science fiction. Some authors will be dropped and others added as part of this process. Several of the higher level people who have recently joined the company have ties to sf, so fantasy and science fiction should be less of an afterthought in the company.

Avon science fiction will go on a hiatus later this year to retool for this makeover. There will be only two science fiction books published during this period, one by Michael Moorcock, and the other by J R Dunn. Both books will be published as general fiction.

Ms Goldshlager recounted her responsibilities as an Editorial Assistant and the process by which a manuscript is bought and turned into a book. She also plugged some books she is excited about, especially Dunn's opus concerning a time traveler who wants to stop the Holocaust, and about her experiences in meeting and speaking to science fiction writers. She mentioned past guest Charles Pellegrino as a particularly interesting personality.

Amy Goldslager was particularly engaging on a one-on-one basis. She had interesting things to say about the STAR WARS re-release, and about HERCULES and XENA with the pre meeting diners and appeared to be in animated discussion at the post meeting coffee.

Roy Greenberg, John Upton, Bruce Wallace and Mark Wolkoff won door prize books. Thanks go to Charles Garofalo for the refreshments, Roy Greenberg for the tea and brewer, Ellen Heine for the cheesecake, Pamela Webber for the TV/VCR and lots else, Robert Yeager for the kitchen clean up, and everyone else who pitched in to help out. The group went to Nellie's Pace in Waldwick, New Jersey after the meeting.