Jove Books, formerly known as Pyramid Books, is an American
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 ...
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 the Walter Reade Organization in the late 1960s. It was acquired in 1974 by Harcourt Brace (which became Harcourt Brace Jovanovich) which renamed it to Jove in 1977 and continued the line as an imprint. In 1979, they sold it to The Putnam Berkley Group, which is now part of the
Penguin Group
Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initial ...
.
History
1949–1969
Phil Hirsch was vice president of Pyramid Books from 1955-1975 and had his name as author or editor on many of Pyramid's books, many of them anthologies of jokes, cartoons and humor, or concerned with the military and warfare, including some which combined those interests. While not the most prolific publisher of science fiction and fantasy during its years as Pyramid, it did offer some notable original titles in book form, such as Algis Budrys's novel ''Who?'' (1958), Theodore Sturgeon's novel ''Venus Plus X'' (1960) and several collections of Sturgeon's short fiction, as well as collections, novels and anthologies by Harlan Ellison and Judith Merril. Pyramid speculative fiction editor (1957–67) Donald R. Bensen edited two notable and popular anthologies drawn from the fantasy-fiction magazine '' ''Unknown'','' ''The Unknown'' (1963) and ''The Unknown 5'' (1964), the latter including an introduction by and a previously unpublished story by
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov ( ; 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and ...
, the story having been slated for publication by the magazine, which folded before it could appear. Pyramid in the 1960s also published several notable anthologies edited by L. Sprague de Camp, which helped create a sense of a tradition of
sword & sorcery
Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the ...
fantasy, and a series of four anthologies drawn from the magazine ''
Weird Tales
''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...
'', attributed to magazine publisher and editor Leo Margulies, though the latter two apparently "ghost-edited" by
Sam Moskowitz
Sam Moskowitz (June 30, 1920 – April 15, 1997) was an American writer, critic, and historian of science fiction.
Biography
As a child, Moskowitz greatly enjoyed reading science fiction pulp magazines. As a teenager, he organized a branch of ...
(Margulies and Moskowitz would in the 1970s launch a short-lived revival of the magazine). Among the notable paperback reprint editions Pyramid published in the 1950s and '60s were several collections by
Robert Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific acc ...
, Hal Clement's novel ''Mission of Gravity'', and de Camp and Fletcher Pratt's ''The Incompleat Enchanter''. Pyramid also published Evan Hunter's science fiction novel ''Tomorrow and Tomorrow'' (1956 as by Hunt Collins), and a paperback reprint of
Shirley Jackson
Shirley Hardie Jackson (December 14, 1916 – August 8, 1965) was an American writer known primarily for her works of horror and mystery. Over the duration of her writing career, which spanned over two decades, she composed six novels, two me ...
's novel ''The Road through the Wall'' (1956) in two editions with the variant title ''The Other Side of the Street'' (the first in 1958). Notable among the original publications in crime fiction were ''Death is My Dancing Partner'' (1959), a late novel by Cornell Woolrich, and such anthologies as ''The Young Punks'' (also 1959) attributed to Leo Margulies as editor.
In the 1960s Pyramid published two of the first three books attributed to
Cordwainer Smith
Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (July 11, 1913 – August 6, 1966), better known by his pen-name Cordwainer Smith, was an American author known for his science fiction works. Linebarger was a US Army officer, a noted East Asia scholar, and ...
Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen (born Irwin O. Cohen, June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film gen ...
Stainless Steel Rat
James Bolivar diGriz, alias "Slippery Jim" and "The Stainless Steel Rat", is a fictional character and a series of comic science fiction novels written by Harry Harrison.
Description
James Bolivar diGriz goes by many aliases, including "Slippe ...
novels (1961), Avram Davidson's ''Masters of the Maze'' (1965) and Chester Anderson's cult novel ''The Butterfly Kid'' (1967). Asimov and the biologist
John C. Lilly
John Cunningham Lilly (January 6, 1915 – September 30, 2001)John C. Lilly at
were among those who published popular-science books with Pyramid in the 1960s.
1970–present
Among the notable projects at Pyramid in the 1970s was a series of reprints of the pulp magazine novels and novellas about
the Shadow
The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...
, published as by Maxwell Grant; Ellison in 1975 and '76 saw an eleven-volume set of his books reprinted or, in the cases of ''The Other Glass Teat'' and ''No Doors, No Windows'' (both 1975), published for the first time, in matching cover format featuring the art of Leo and Diane Dillon. Also, a brief "Harlan Ellison Discovery" series of books, as edited for Pyramid (and, for the last volume, Jove) by Ellison, featured Bruce Sterling's first novel '' Involution Ocean'' (1977) and Terry Carr's collection ''The Light at the End of the Universe'' (1976). But the most prominent and best-selling books Pyramid published in the 1970s were the series of historical novels written by John Jakes, the Kent Family Chronicles, beginning with ''The Bastard'' (1974), which were well-timed for popular interest in the U.S. Revolutionary War and the bicentennial celebration of independence. More modest or more critical than commercial successes published in the decade included ''Man on Fire: A Novel of Revolution'' by Bruce Douglas Reeves (1971) and several novels by Barry N. Malzberg.
A series of "crossover" books, bridging prose fiction and comics, was the eight-volume '' Weird Heroes'' series of anthologies and novels (1975–77), where new superheroes and pulp-magazine-style adventure heroes were featured, as edited for Pyramid by
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English people, English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy fiction, fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic nov ...
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 ...
format, the '' Fiction Illustrated'' series.
The Jove branding was refocused not long after the purchase by the Putnam Berkeley Group, away from fantastic fiction generally and more toward crime fiction, further publication of John Jakes's and similar historical fiction, romance novels (including some with fantasy elements), and western series novels, such as the
Longarm (book series)
The Longarm books were a series of western novels featuring the character of Custis Long, who is nicknamed Longarm, a U.S. Deputy Marshal based in Denver, Colorado in the 1880s. The series was written by "Tabor Evans", a house pseudonym used ...
franchise; among the last notable fantasy-fiction titles as an HBJ/Jove Book was the 1979 variant edition of
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...
's collection ''Pleasant Dreams'', which varies in content from all previous editions (but like them, includes Bloch's fleshing out of an unfinished short story by
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
, originally published as "The Light-House" in 1953).