The Woman Who Revolutionized the Fantasy Genre Is Finally Getting Her Due

Think of your favourite phantasy oregon subject fabrication novel. You’ll cognize the writer and title, of course. But tin you deliberation of its exertion oregon publisher?

In publishing, the radical who enactment down the scenes seldom get their due. But connected Oct. 1, 2024, astatine least, 1 manufacture pioneer got the limelight. On that day, PBS aired “Judy-Lynn del Rey: The Galaxy Gal,” the archetypal occurrence of its caller documentary bid “Renegades,” which highlights little-known humanities figures with disabilities.

A pistillate with dwarfism, Judy-Lynn del Rey was champion known for founding Del Rey Books, a subject fabrication and phantasy imprint that turned phantasy successful peculiar into a large publishing category.

As a student of phantasy literature, I had the bully luck to service arsenic probe advisor for the PBS project. Due to clip constraints, however, the occurrence could archer lone fractional of del Rey’s story, passing implicit however she affected subject fabrication and phantasy themselves.

Judy-Lynn del Rey, you see, had precise wide notions connected what benignant of stories radical wanted to buy. For immoderate critics, she besides committed the unforgivable misdeed of being right.

The Mama of ‘Star Wars’

Over the people of her career, del Rey earned a estimation arsenic a superstar exertion among her authors. Arthur C. Clarke, who co-wrote the screenplay for “2001: A Space Odyssey,” called her the “most superb exertion I ever encountered,” and Philip K. Dick said she was the “greatest exertion since Maxwell Perkins,” the legendary exertion of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

She got her start, though, moving arsenic an editorial adjunct – successful truth, a “gofer” – for the astir lauded subject fabrication mag of the 1960s, Galaxy. There she learned the basics of publishing and roseate rapidly done the editorial ranks until Ballantine Books lured her distant successful 1973.

Soon thereafter, Ballantine was acquired by publishing elephantine Random House, which past named del Rey elder editor. Yet her archetypal large determination was a risky 1 – cutting ties with Ballantine writer John Norman, whose highly fashionable “Gor” novels were wide panned for their misogyny.

Del Rey’s acquisition of the rights to ‘Star Wars’ was a boon for Ballantine.
The Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Nonetheless, del Rey’s ngo was to make a beardown backlist of subject fabrication novels that could hook caller generations of younger readers, not to notation adults. One aboriginal occurrence was her “Star Trek Log” series, a series of 10 novels based connected episodes of “Star Trek: The Animated Series.”

But del Rey landed an adjacent bigger occurrence by snagging the novelization rights to a subject fabrication movie that, astatine the time, few Hollywood executives believed would bash well: “Star Wars.”

This savvy gamble led to years of lucrative tie-in products for Ballantine specified arsenic calendars, creation books, sketchbooks, the Star Wars Intergalactic Passport and, of course, much novels acceptable successful the Star Wars beingness – truthful galore antithetic tie-ins, successful fact, that del Rey dubbed herself the “Mama of Star Wars.”

Afterward, she became idiosyncratic who, as newsman Jennifer Crighton enactment it, radiated “with the shameless glee of 1 of the Rebel forces, an upstart who won.”

A large subordinate successful large fiction

Del Rey’s tendencies arsenic an exertion were sometimes criticized – often by competitors who could not lucifer her line’s success – for focusing excessively overmuch connected Ballantine’s bottommost line. But she besides chose to enactment wrong the publishing scenery arsenic it really existed successful the 1970s, alternatively than the 1 she lone wished existed.

In his publication “Big Fiction,” publishing manufacture student Dan Sinykin calls this play the “Conglomerate Era,” a clip erstwhile publishing houses – usually tiny and household tally – were being consolidated into larger corporations.

One payment of this shift, however, was greater firm concern successful the industry, which boosted people runs, selling budgets, writer advances and salaries for personnel.

Ballantine’s genitor company, Random House, was besides known arsenic an manufacture person successful escaped speech, acknowledgment to the efforts of legendary CEOs Bennett Cerf and Robert L. Bernstein.

Accordingly, Random House gave their publishing divisions, including Ballantine, immense originative autonomy.

And erstwhile del Rey was yet fixed her ain imprint successful 1977, she took her biggest hazard of all: fantasy.

The Del Rey era

In anterior decades, phantasy had a estimation for being unsellable – unless, of course, your sanction was J.R.R. Tolkien, oregon you wrote Conan-style barbarian fiction. Whereas the apical subject fabrication magazines often had distinguished runs, phantasy magazines often folded owed to deficiency of sales.

The fashionable movie mentation of ‘The Princess Bride’ was aided by del Rey’s earlier advocacy for reissuing the novel.
The Internet Speculative Fiction Database

In 1975, though, del Rey hired her husband, Lester del Rey, to make a phantasy line, and erstwhile Del Rey Books launched 2 years later, it landed large successes with bestsellers specified arsenic Terry Brooks’ “The Sword of Shannara” and Stephen R. Donaldson’s “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.” Yet adjacent though Lester edited the phantasy authors, Judy-Lynn oversaw the imprint and the marketing.

One lesser-known illustration of her prowess is “The Princess Bride.”

Today, astir radical cognize the 1987 film, but the movie originated arsenic a overmuch earlier caller by William Goldman. The archetypal 1973 edition, however, sold poorly. It mightiness person faded into obscurity had del Rey not been determined to revive Ballantine’s backlist.

She reissued “The Princess Bride” successful 1977 with a dazzling, gate-folded die-cut screen and a caller promotional campaign, without which the caller – and the movie – mightiness ne'er person recovered its aboriginal success.

Accolades accumulate

Thanks to these efforts, Del Rey Books dominated genre publishing, producing much bestselling titles done 1990 than each different subject fabrication and phantasy steadfast combined. Yet contempt complaints that the imprint prioritized commercialized occurrence implicit literate merit, Del Rey authors earned their just stock of literate accolades.

The prestigious Locus Poll Award for champion subject fabrication caller went to Del Rey authors Julian May and Isaac Asimov in 1982 and 1983. Other Locus awardees see Patricia A. McKillip, Robert A. Heinlein, Larry Niven, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Barbara Hambly.

Barry Hughart’s “Bridge of Birds” was 1 of 2 winners for the World Fantasy Award successful 1985 and won the Mythopoeic Society Award successful 1986. Even much impressively, Del Rey ran distant with the Science Fiction Book Club Award during that prize’s archetypal 9 years of existence, winning 7 of them. The imprint’s titles besides won 3 consecutive August Derleth Fantasy Awards – present called the British Fantasy Award – from 1977 done 1979.

Yet contempt these accolades, Del Rey’s estimation continued to endure from its ain commercialized success. Notably, Judy-Lynn del Rey was ne'er nominated for a Hugo Award for champion nonrecreational editor. When she died successful 1986, the Hugo committee belatedly tried granting her a posthumous award, but her husband, Lester, refused to judge it, saying that it came excessively late.

Although the existent communicative continues to beryllium that Del Rey Books published chiefly formulaic mass-market fabrication successful its subject fabrication and fantasy lines, the clip whitethorn beryllium ripe to observe the foresight and iconoclasm of a steadfast who expanded speculative fabrication beyond the borders of a tiny genre fandom.

Dennis Wilson Wise, Professor of Practice successful English Literature, University of Arizona

This nonfiction is republished from The Conversation nether a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.