Byron Preiss (April 11, 1953 – July 9, 2005)Byron Preiss
at the

Social Security Death Index The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) was a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File until 2014. Since 2014, public access to the updated Death Master File has been via the Limit ...

via Genealogybank.com. Retrieved on May 20, 2014
Archived
from the original on May 20, 2014. was an American writer, editor, and publisher. He founded and served as president of Byron Preiss Visual Publications, and later of ibooks Inc. Many of his projects were in the forms of

graphic novels A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form 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 comics scholars and ...

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

illustrated books A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

, and

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

. 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 computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

books and

ebook An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

Biography

Early life and career

A native of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, 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 Sout ...

'' from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1972, and earned a master's degree in communications from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. In 1971, while Preiss was teaching at a

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

elementary school, he conceived, and with

Jim Steranko James F. Steranko (; born November 5, 1938) is an American graphic artist, comics artist, comic book writer/artist, comics historian, Illusionist, magician, publisher and film production illustrator. His most famous comic book work was with th ...

, 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 Thomas F. Sutton (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2002) He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school in 1955, and worked on art projects while stationed at Fort Francis E. Warren, near Laramie, Wyoming. Later, stationed at Itam ...

; followed by ''Starfawn'', illustrated by

Stephen Fabian Stephen Emil Fabian Sr. (January 3, 1930 – May 6, 2025) was an American fantasy and science-fiction artist who only became a professional artist at the age of 54 after losing his job. Despite being a self-taught artist, he became a widely know ...

; Steranko's '' Chandler: Red Tide''; and the 1977 ''Son of Sherlock Holmes'', illustrated by Ralph Reese. 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 screenwriter, magazine Editing, editor and scriptwriter for comics. He is best remembered for his science fiction, including ''Th ...

's ''

The Stars My Destination ''The Stars My Destination'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester. Its first publication was in book form in June 1956 in the United Kingdom, where it was titled ''Tiger! Tiger!'', named after William Blake's 1794 poem ...

'' as a two-volume

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

, illustrated by

Howard Chaykin Howard Victor Chaykin (; born October 7, 1950) is an Americans, American comics artist, 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 an ...

Publishing career

As a

comics packager Comics packaging is a publishing activity in which a publishing company outsources the myriad tasks involved in putting together a comic book — writing, illustrating, editing, and even printing — to an outside service called a packager. Once th ...

and

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 HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

and

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

. 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 ful ...

, 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

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 comedian, actor, and filmmaker. ...

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall; 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English zoologist, Primatology, primatologist and Anthropology, anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremo ...

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...

LeAnn Rimes Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at the age of 13 and has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Christian, and o ...

and

Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. As a stand-up comedian, Seinfeld specializes in observational comedy. Seinfeld gained stardom playing a semi-fictionalized version ...

, and worked closely with such established illustrators as Ralph Reese,

William Stout William Stout (born September 18, 1949) is an American fantasy artist and illustrator with a specialization in paleontological art. His paintings have been shown in over seventy exhibitions, including twelve one-man shows. He has worked on over ...

and

. Preiss was co-author, with

Michael Reaves James Michael Reaves (September 14, 1950 – March 20, 2023) was an American writer, known for his contributions as a script writer and story editor to a number of 1980s and 1990s animated television series, including '' Gargoyles'' and '' Batma ...

, of the

children's novel Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

''Dragonworld'' (

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

, 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. Early life Palencar was born February 26, ...

. 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. The remaining nine boxes have yet to be found, and reportedly Preiss was the only one who knew where they were when he died. 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 sch ...

''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 List of awards and nominations received by Ben Kingsley, various accolades throughout Ben Kingsley on screen and stage, his career spanning fi ...

, who won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

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 A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Tr ...

at East Hampton, New York, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

: Preiss, driving left on an intersection with

Montauk Highway Montauk Highway is an east–west road extending for across the southern shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. It extends from the Amityville, New York, Amityville–Copiague, New York, Copiague line, where ...

was involved in a collision with a

Hampton Jitney Hampton Jitney is a commuter bus company based in Southampton, New York. It operates three primary routes from the east end of Long Island (The Hamptons and the North Fork) to New York City. Hampton Jitney also operates charter and tour service ...

bus traveling at or around 30 mph (48,3 km/h). The

airbag An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate in milliseconds during a collision and then deflate afterwards. It consists of an airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor. ...

did not work. Preiss died almost instantly. Both Byron Preiss Visual Publications and ibooks Inc. filed for

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 U.S. Code is the bankruptcy code that governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. This is in contrast to bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and Chapter 13, which govern the process of ''re ...

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 (also known as Almat Publishing Corporation) (Alfred R. Plaine an ...

, 1975–77) ::Vol. 1 () to Vol. 8 (); collections of illustrated, pulp-inspired stories *'' Fiction Illustrated #1 – Schlomo Raven: Public Detective'' (

, 1976; by Preiss and

) *''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) *''

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

'' (Berkley Windhover and Byron Preiss Visual Publications, 1978) by

Samuel R. Delany Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ; born April 1, 1942) is an American writer and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays on science fiction, literature, sexual orientation, sexuality, and ...

, illustrated by

. * ''

More Than Human ''More Than Human'' is a 1953 science fiction fix-up novel by American writer Theodore Sturgeon. It is a revision and expansion of his 1952 novella '' Baby Is Three'', which is bracketed by two additional parts written for the novel, "The F ...

'' ( HM Communications &

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, 1979) – adaptation of the

Theodore Sturgeon Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American author of primarily fantasy fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and Horror fiction, horror, as well as a critic. He wrote approximately 400 ...

novel of the same name, by

Doug Moench Douglas Moench (; born February 23, 1948, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American writer of comics, novels, short stories, newspaper feature articles, weekly newspaper comic strips, film screenplays and teleplays. He is notable for his ''Batman'' wo ...

and

Alex Niño Alex Niño (born May 1, 1940) is a Filipinos, Filipino comics artist best known for his work for the American publishers DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Warren Publishing, and in ''Heavy Metal (magazine), Heavy Metal'' magazine. Biography Early l ...

* ''The Illustrated

Roger Zelazny Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American fantasy and science fiction writer known for his short stories and novels, best known for '' The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nominatio ...

'' (Ace Books, 1979), illustrated by

Gray Morrow Dwight Graydon "Gray" Morrow (March 7, 1934 – November 6, 2001)Gray Morrow
at the S ...

*''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

*''The First Crazy Word Book: Verbs'' (1982) *''The Little Blue Brontosaurus'' (1983) *''Not the Webster's Dictionary'' (1983) * '' Be an Interplanetary Spy'' (

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin Jr., Sidney B. K ...

, 1983–1985) — series of twelve interactive children's science fiction books, illustrated by

Marc Hempel Marc Hempel (born May 25, 1957) is an American cartoonist/comics artist best known for his work on '' The Sandman'' with Neil Gaiman. Biography Writer and artist Marc Hempel grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and now lives in Baltimore ...

, Mark Wheatley,

, Dennis Francis, and others *''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

) *'' 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) * ''

Nine Princes in Amber ''Nine Princes in Amber'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Roger Zelazny, the first in the ''Chronicles of Amber'' series. It was first published in 1970, and later spawned a computer game of the same name. The first (Doubleday hardcover) ...

'', originally by

, adapted by

Terry Bisson Terry Ballantine Bisson (February 12, 1942 – January 10, 2024) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was best known for his short stories, including " Bears Discover Fire", which won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, and " T ...

and drawn by Lou Harrison, Bryn Barnard, and Tom Roberts (3 issues, 1996, DC Comics) * '' The Guns of Avalon'', originally by Roger Zelazny, adapted by Terry Bisson and drawn by Christopher Schenck and

Andrew Pepoy Andrew Pepoy (born 1969) is an American comic book writer and artist. Career Pepoy began working as a professional artist while still in college at Loyola University Chicago. He has worked on a large variety of comics, including ''Superman'', ' ...

(3 issues, 1996, DC Comics) *''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''

''Dragonworld'', the illustrated children's novel by Byron Preiss and

, was published in several editions from 1979 to 2005: *

hardcover, 1979 * Bantam / Dell

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...

, (1979) * Spectra paperback (July 1983) * Bantam / Dell paperback (Aug. 1983) * ibooks, Inc. paperback (2000) * ibooks, Inc.

(

Microsoft Reader Microsoft Reader is a discontinued Microsoft application for reading e-books, first released in August 2000, that used its own .LIT format. It was available for Windows computers and Pocket PC PDAs. The name was also used later for an unrelated ...

; 2001) * ibooks, Inc. paperback (2002) * ibooks, Inc. paperback (2005)

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 2021� ...

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 American publishers (people) Book packagers Inkpot Award winners American speculative fiction editors Road incident deaths in New York (state) American science fiction editors University of Pennsylvania alumni