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Byron Preiss (April 11, 1953 – July 9, 2005)Byron Preiss
at the
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was an American writer, editor, and publisher. He founded and served as president of Byron Preiss Visual Publications, and later of ibooks Inc.


Biography


Early life and career

A native of Brooklyn, New York City, Byron Preiss graduated ''
magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972, and earned a master's degree in communications from Stanford University. In 1971, while Preiss was teaching at a Philadelphia elementary school, he conceived, and with Jim Steranko, produced an anti-drug comic book, ''The Block'', designed for low-level reading skills. Published by Steranko's company, Supergraphics, it was distributed to schools nationwide. He founded Byron Preiss Visual Publications in 1974 to publish original works, including ''Weird Heroes'' (1975). His 1976 '' Fiction Illustrated'' series of illustrated novels began with ''Schlomo Raven: Public Detective'', a Preiss collaboration with Tom Sutton, followed by ''Starfawn'', illustrated by
Stephen Fabian Stephen Emil Fabian Sr. is an American artist. Career Fabian specializes in science fiction and fantasy illustration and cover art for books and magazines. Fabian also produced artwork for TSR's ''Dungeons & Dragons'' game from 1986 to 1995, p ...
, Steranko's '' Chandler: Red Tide'' and the 1977 ''Son of Sherlock Holmes'', illustrated by
Ralph Reese Ralph Reese (born May 19, 1949) is an American artist who has illustrated for books, magazines, trading cards, comic books and comic strips, including a year drawing the ''Flash Gordon'' strip for King Features. Prolific from the 1960s to the 199 ...
. Other publications included a 1978 adaptation of
Alfred Bester Alfred Bester (December 18, 1913 – September 30, 1987) was an American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books. He is best remembered for his science fiction, incl ...
's '' The Stars My Destination'' as a two-volume
graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
, illustrated by
Howard Chaykin Howard Victor Chaykin (; born October 7, 1950) is an American comic book artist and writer. Chaykin's influences include his one-time employer and mentor, Gil Kane, and the mid-20th century illustrators Robert Fawcett and Al Parker. Early life ...
.


Publishing career

As a
book packager Book packaging (or book producing) is a publishing activity in which a publishing company outsources the myriad tasks involved in putting together a book—writing, researching, editing, illustrating, and even printing—to an outside company calle ...
, he developed titles for such publishers as HarperCollins and Random House. One such project, created in conjunction with the
Bank Street College of Education Bank Street College of Education is a private school and graduate school in New York City. It consists of a graduate-only teacher training college and an independent nursery-through-8th-grade school. In 2020 the graduate school had about 65 full ...
, resulted in a series of educational comic books adapting well-known genre authors: ''The Bank Street Book of Creepy Tales'', ''The Bank Street Book of Fantasy'', ''The Bank Street Book of Mystery'' and ''The Bank Street Book of Science Fiction''. He published
children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...
by celebrities, including
Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...
, Jane Goodall, Jay Leno, LeAnn Rimes and Jerry Seinfeld, and worked closely with such established illustrators as Ralph Reese, William Stout and Tom Sutton. Preiss was co-author, with Michael Reaves, of the
children's novel Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...
''Dragonworld'' ( Doubleday, 1979), with 80 illustrations by Joseph Zucker. ''Dragonworld'' was originally planned to be the fifth "Fiction Illustrated" title. In 1982, Preiss published '' The Secret'', a puzzle book that combined 12 short verses and 12 elaborate fantasy paintings by
John Jude Palencar John Jude Palencar (born February 26, 1957) is an American illustrator and fine artist, who specializes in works of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. In 2010, he was given the Hamilton King Award. His highly detailed work is described as co ...
. Readers were expected to pair each painting with a verse in a way that would provide clues to finding one of 12 plexiglass boxes buried in various parks around North America. Each box contained a ceramic box that contained a key that could be redeemed for a jewel worth $1,000. The book was inspired by the success of ''Masquerade'', written and illustrated by Kit Williams and published in England in August 1979, but ''The Secret'' never led to the same level of treasure hunting frenzy. One of the ceramic boxes was found in Chicago in 1983, one in Cleveland in 2004, and one in Boston in October 2019.Hidden treasure, a family's quest, and "The Secret"
/ref> The remaining nine boxes have yet to be found, and reportedly Preiss was the only one who knew where they were when he died. Beyond traditional printed books, Preiss frequently embraced emerging technologies, and was recognized as a pioneer in digital publishing and as among the first to publish in such formats as
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both compute ...
books and ebooks. He edited the recording of the
audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...
''The Words of Gandhi'', released by Caedmon in 1984 and narrated by
Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...
who won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording for the work.


Later life and death

Preiss was married to Sandi Mendelson, with whom he had daughters Karah and Blaire. On July 9, 2005, he died in a traffic accident at East Hampton, New York, on Long Island. Both Byron Preiss Visual Publications and ibooks Inc. filed for
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debto ...
on February 22, 2006, after his death.


List of Byron Preiss publications

''Published by Preiss, or packaged by Preiss for other publishers'' *''The Electric Company Joke Book'' (1973) *''The Silent e's from Outer Space'' (Western Pub., 1973; Goldencraft, 1974 ) *''One Year Affair'' (1976) *'' Weird Heroes'' (
Pyramid Books Jove Books, formerly known as Pyramid Books, is an American paperback and eBook publishing imprint, founded as an independent paperback house in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers (Alfred R. Plaine and Matthew Huttner). The company was sold to ...
, 1975–77) ::Vol. 1 () to Vol. 8 (); collections of illustrated, pulp-inspired stories *'' Fiction Illustrated #1 – Schlomo Raven: Public Detective'' (
Pyramid Books Jove Books, formerly known as Pyramid Books, is an American paperback and eBook publishing imprint, founded as an independent paperback house in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers (Alfred R. Plaine and Matthew Huttner). The company was sold to ...
, 1976; by Preiss and Tom Sutton) *''Fiction Illustrated #2 – Starfawn'' (Pyramid Books, 1976; by Preiss and Stephen Fabian) *''Fiction Illustrated #3 – Chandler: Red Tide'' (Pyramid Books, 1976 ; Dark Horse, 2001 ) *''Fiction Illustrated #4 – Son of Sherlock Holmes'' (Pyramid Books, 1977; by Preiss and
Ralph Reese Ralph Reese (born May 19, 1949) is an American artist who has illustrated for books, magazines, trading cards, comic books and comic strips, including a year drawing the ''Flash Gordon'' strip for King Features. Prolific from the 1960s to the 199 ...
) *''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' (1978) by
Samuel R. Delany Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ) (born April 1, 1942), is an American author and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays (on science fiction, literature, sexuality, and society). His fic ...
, illustrated by
Howard Chaykin Howard Victor Chaykin (; born October 7, 1950) is an American comic book artist and writer. Chaykin's influences include his one-time employer and mentor, Gil Kane, and the mid-20th century illustrators Robert Fawcett and Al Parker. Early life ...
. * ''The Illustrated Roger Zelazny'' (Ace Books, 1979), illustrated by
Gray Morrow Dwight Graydon "Gray" Morrow (March 7, 1934 – November 6, 2001).e., the Gilberton Company, publisher of the ''Classics Illustrated'' comic-book series of literary adaptations], and I was given a script. One thing led to another and I was soo ...
*''The Beach Boys'' (1979; revised ed. 1983 ) *''The Art of Leo and Diane Dillon'' (1981) *''The Dinosaurs'' (1981; revised 2000 as ''The New Dinosaurs'') *''The Secret'' (1982) – illustrated by
John Jude Palencar John Jude Palencar (born February 26, 1957) is an American illustrator and fine artist, who specializes in works of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. In 2010, he was given the Hamilton King Award. His highly detailed work is described as co ...
*''The First Crazy Word Book: Verbs'' (1982) *''The Little Blue Brontosaurus'' (1983) *''Not the Webster's Dictionary'' (1983) *''The Bat Family'' (1984) *''Time Machine 1 — Secret of the Knights'' (Bantam Books, 1984; by Jim Gasperini, illustrated by Richard Hescox) *''Nuts!'' (1985) *''The Planets'' (1985) *''The Universe'' (1987) *''Time Machine 19 — The Death Mask of Pancho Villa'' (Bantam Books, 1987; by Carol Gaskin and George Guthridge, illustrated by Kenneth Huey, cover by Jim Steranko) *'' Dragonsword (novel), Dragonsword, 1st edition'' (1988) *''The Microverse'' (1989) *''First Contact: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence'' (1990) *Tales from the One-Eyed Crow: The Vulgmaster by Dennis L. McKiernan and Alex Nino (1991) *''The Ultimate Dracula'' (1991) *''The Ultimate Frankenstein'' (1991) *''The Ultimate Werewolf'' (1991 reissue ) *''The Ultimate Dinosaur: Past, Present, and Future'' (1992) *''The Vampire State Building'' (1992) *''The Ultimate Zombie'' (1993) *''The Ultimate Witch'' (1993) *''The Ultimate Dragon'' (1995) *''The Ultimate Alien'' (1995) *''The Best Children's Books in the World'' (1996) *''The Rhino History of Rock 'n' Roll: The '70s'' (1997) *''Are We Alone in the Cosmos? The Search for Alien Contact in the New Millennium'' (1999) *''The New Dinosaurs'' (2000) *''The Roadkill of Middle Earth'' (2001) by John Carnell, illustrated by Tom Sutton, cover by Steve Fastner and Rich Larson. *''Battlestar Galactica: Resurrection'' (2001) by Richard Hatch and Stan Timmons; ibooks. *''Dying Inside'' (2002) *''The Ultimate Dragon'' (2003) *''The Best Bizarre But True Stories Ever!'' (2003) *''Exploring'' The Matrix'': Visions of the Cyber Present'' (2004) *''Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe'' (2005) *''Year's Best Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga'' (2005)


''Dragonworld''

This illustrated children's novel by Byron Preiss and Michael Reaves was published in several editions from 1979 to 2005: * Doubleday hardcover, 1979 * Bantam / Dell
paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, le ...
, (1979) * Spectra paperback (July 1983) * Bantam / Dell paperback (Aug. 1983) * ibooks, Inc. paperback (2000) * ibooks, Inc. ebook ( Microsoft Reader; 2001) * ibooks, Inc. paperback (2002) * ibooks, Inc. paperback (2005)


Further reading


Williams, Paul. 2019. "The Strange Case of Byron Preiss Visual Publications." ''Journal of American Studies''.


References


External links

* *
Fantastic Fiction: Byron Preiss
* *

at the
Michigan State University Libraries Michigan State University Libraries (MSU Libraries) is the academic library system of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. The library system comprises nine branch locations including the Main Library. As of 2015-16, ...
Special Collections Division: Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection, "Prehistoric Adventure Comics" to "Pre-Raphaelites" * (previous page of browse report as 'Preiss, Byron' without ', 1953–2005') {{DEFAULTSORT:Preiss, Byron 1953 births 2005 deaths Road incident deaths in New York (state) Science fiction editors American publishers (people) University of Pennsylvania alumni Male speculative fiction editors Inkpot Award winners