Ellen Asher is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

editor who served as

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the

Science Fiction Book Club Bookspan LLC is a New York–based online bookseller, founded in 2000. Bookspan began as a joint endeavor by Bertelsmann and Time Warner. Bertelsmann took over control in 2007, and a year later, sold its interest to Najafi Companies, an Arizo ...

(SFBC) for thirty-four years, from February 8, 1973, through June 1, 2007. She grew up in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and began editing

New American Library The New American Library (also known as NAL) is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948. Its initial focus was affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works as well as popular and pulp fiction, but it now publish ...

from 1970 to 1972. As editor-in-chief of the SFBC, she oversaw the publication of anthologies like ''The Dragon Quintet'', ''Vampire Sextet'', ''Fair Folk'', and ''Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural''. In 1984, Asher sat as a judge for the World Fantasy Awards. In 2001, Asher received the

New England Science Fiction Association The New England Science Fiction Association, or NESFA, is a science fiction club centered in the New England area. It was founded in 1967, "by fans who wanted to ''do'' things in addition to socializing". NESFA is currently registered as a non- ...

Edward E. Smith Memorial Award. In early 2007, the multinational media corporation, Bertelsmann, bought a controlling portion of Bookspan, of which the SFBC is an affiliate. In the subsequent restructuring, Asher was given an early retirement. Asher received the

World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

in 2009 and was a guest of honor at Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention. She occasionally performs some freelance work.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asher, Ellen American book editors American book publishers (people) American speculative fiction publishers (people) American speculative fiction editors Living people Science fiction editors Women print editors Women book publishers (people) Year of birth missing (living people)