Byron Preiss








































Byron C. Preiss
Born
(1953-04-11)April 11, 1953
Brooklyn, New York City
Died July 9, 2005(2005-07-09) (aged 52)
East Hampton, New York
Occupation Author, editor, publisher
Nationality American
Alma mater
University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University
Genre
Fantasy, illustrated novels, audiobooks, digital publishing
Notable works
The Words of Gandhi
Dragonworld
Spouse Sandi Mendelson

Byron Preiss (April 11, 1953 – July 9, 2005)[1] was an American writer, editor, and publisher. He founded and served as president of Byron Preiss Visual Publications, and later of ibooks Inc.




Contents






  • 1 Biography


    • 1.1 Early life and career


    • 1.2 Publishing career


    • 1.3 Later life and death




  • 2 List of Byron Preiss publications


  • 3 Dragonworld


  • 4 References


  • 5 External links





Biography



Early life and career


A native of Brooklyn, New York City, Byron Preiss graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972,[2] and earned a master's degree in communications from Stanford University.[2]


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.[3]


He founded Byron Preiss Visual Publications in 1974[citation needed] 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, 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's The Stars My Destination as a two-volume graphic novel, illustrated by Howard Chaykin.



Publishing career


As a book packager, he developed titles for such publishers as HarperCollins and Random House. One such project, created in conjunction with the Bank Street College of Education, 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.[4]


He published children's books by celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Jane Goodall, Jay Leno, LeAnn Rimes and Jerry Seinfeld, and worked closely with such established illustrators as Ralph Reese, William Stout and Tom Sutton.[citation needed]


Preiss was co-author, with Michael Reaves, of the children's novel Dragonworld (Doubleday, 1979), with 80 illustrations by Joseph Zucker. Dragonworld was originally planned to be the fifth "Fiction Illustrated" title.[citation needed]


In 1982, Preiss published The Secret, a puzzle book that combined 12 short verses and 12 elaborate fantasy paintings by John Jude Palencar. 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 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. Another was found in Cleveland in 2004. The remaining 10 boxes have never been found.[5]


Beyond traditional printed books, Preiss frequently embraced emerging technologies, and was among the first[citation needed] to publish in such electronic forms as CD-ROM books and ebooks. The Words of Gandhi, an audiobook he produced, won a Grammy Award in 1985.[citation needed]


Both Byron Preiss Visual Publications and ibooks Inc. filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy on February 22, 2006, after his death.[6]



Later life and death


Preiss was married to Sandi Mendelson, with whom he had daughters Karah and Blaire.[7] On July 9, 2005, he died in a traffic accident at East Hampton, New York, on Long Island, while driving to his synagogue.[2]



List of Byron Preiss publications


Published by Preiss, or packaged by Preiss for other publishers


This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.



  • The Electric Company Joke Book (1973) .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
    ISBN 0-307-64824-9


  • The Silent e's from Outer Space (Western Pub., 1973; Goldencraft, 1974
    ISBN 0-307-64821-4)


  • One Year Affair (1976)
    ISBN 0-911104-86-0


  • Weird Heroes (Pyramid Books, 1975–77)


Vol. 1 (
ISBN 0-515-03746-X) to Vol. 8 (
ISBN 0-515-04257-9); collections of illustrated, pulp-inspired stories



  • Fiction Illustrated #1 – Schlomo Raven: Public Detective (Pyramid Books, 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
    ISBN 0-515-04241-2; Dark Horse, 2001
    ISBN 1-56971-438-X)


  • Fiction Illustrated #4 – Son of Sherlock Holmes (Pyramid Books, 1977; by Preiss and Ralph Reese)


  • Empire (1978) by Samuel R. Delany, illustrated by Howard Chaykin.
    ISBN 0-425-03900-5


  • The Illustrated Roger Zelazny (Ace Books, 1979), illustrated by Gray Morrow
    ISBN 978-0441365258


  • The Beach Boys (1979; revised ed. 1983
    ISBN 0-312-07026-8)


  • The Art of Leo and Diane Dillon (1981)
    ISBN 0-345-28449-6


  • The Dinosaurs (1981; revised 2000 as The New Dinosaurs)


  • The Secret (1982)
    ISBN 0-553-01408-0 – illustrated by John Jude Palencar


  • The First Crazy Word Book: Verbs (1982)
    ISBN 0-531-04500-5


  • The Little Blue Brontosaurus (1983)
    ISBN 0-89845-165-5


  • Not the Webster's Dictionary (1983)
    ISBN 0-671-47418-9


  • The Bat Family (1984)
    ISBN 0-89845-237-6


  • Time Machine 1 — Secret of the Knights (Bantam Books, 1984; by Jim Gasperini, illustrated by Richard Hescox)
    ISBN 0-553-23601-6


  • Nuts! (1985)
    ISBN 0-553-24725-5


  • The Planets (1985)
    ISBN 0-553-05109-1


  • The Universe (1987)
    ISBN 0-553-05227-6


  • 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)
    ISBN 0-553-26674-8

  • Dragonsword, 1st edition (1988)
    ISBN 1-55802-003-9


  • The Microverse (1989)
    ISBN 0-553-05705-7


  • First Contact: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (1990)
    ISBN 0-7472-3508-2

  • Tales from the One-Eyed Crow: The Vulgmaster by Dennis L. McKiernan and Alex Nino (1991)
    ISBN 9780451450883


  • The Ultimate Dracula (1991)
    ISBN 0-7472-0552-3


  • The Ultimate Frankenstein (1991)
    ISBN 0-440-50352-3


  • The Ultimate Werewolf (1991 reissue
    ISBN 0-440-50354-X)


  • The Ultimate Dinosaur: Past, Present, and Future (1992)
    ISBN 0-553-07676-0


  • The Vampire State Building (1992)
    ISBN 0-553-15998-4


  • The Ultimate Zombie (1993)
    ISBN 0-440-50534-8


  • The Ultimate Witch (1993)
    ISBN 0-440-50531-3


  • The Ultimate Dragon (1995)
    ISBN 0-440-50630-1


  • The Ultimate Alien (1995)
    ISBN 0-440-50631-X


  • The Best Children's Books in the World (1996)
    ISBN 0-8109-1246-5

  • The Rhino History of Rock 'n' Roll: The '70s (1997)
    ISBN 0-671-01175-8


  • Are We Alone in the Cosmos? The Search for Alien Contact in the New Millennium (1999)
    ISBN 0-671-03892-3


  • The New Dinosaurs (2000)
    ISBN 0-7434-0724-5


  • The Roadkill of Middle Earth (2001) by John Carnell, illustrated by Tom Sutton, cover by Steve Fastner and Rich Larson.
    ISBN 0-7434-3467-6


  • Dying Inside (2002)
    ISBN 0-7434-3508-7


  • The Ultimate Dragon (2003)
    ISBN 0-7434-5868-0


  • The Best Bizarre But True Stories Ever! (2003)
    ISBN 978-0-7434-4557-3


  • Exploring The Matrix: Visions of the Cyber Present (2004)
    ISBN 0-312-31359-4


  • Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe (2005)
    ISBN 1-59687-847-9


  • Year's Best Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga (2005)
    ISBN 0-312-34326-4



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, 1979)
    ISBN 0-553-01077-8

  • Spectra paperback (July 1983)
    ISBN 0-553-25857-5

  • Bantam / Dell paperback (Aug. 1983)
    ISBN 0-553-23426-9

  • ibooks, Inc. paperback (2000)
    ISBN 0-671-03907-5

  • ibooks, Inc. ebook (Microsoft Reader; 2001)

  • ibooks, Inc. paperback (2002)
    ISBN 0-7434-5253-4

  • ibooks, Inc. paperback (2005)
    ISBN 1-59687-233-0



References





  1. ^ Byron Preiss at the Social Security Death Index via Genealogybank.com. Retrieved on May 20, 2014. Archived from the original on May 20, 2014.


  2. ^ abc "Byron Preiss, 52, Digital Publishing Pioneer, Dies". The New York Times. July 11, 2005. Archived from the original on February 21, 2011.


  3. ^ Steranko, Jim (July 10, 2005). "Comics Loses One of its Major Visionaries: Byron Preiss". Comicon.com. Archived from the original on June 20, 2011. Additional , June 20, 2011.


  4. ^ "Babylon Gardens to Battlestar Galactica: Armageddon". The Locus Index to Science Fiction: 1984–1998. Archived from the original on May 20, 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-20.


  5. ^ "The Secret (a treasure hunt)". Retrieved 23 December 2015.


  6. ^ "ibooks & Byron Preiss Visual Publications File Chapter 7; Creditors Confab Set for Apr. 4". ICv2.com. February 24, 2006. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011.


  7. ^ "Preiss Was Influential Publishing Figure". Publishers Weekly. July 11, 2005. Archived from the original on January 5, 2006.




External links





  • Frauenfelder, Mark (November 1993). "The Way of Comics". Wired. Archived from the original on May 20, 2014.


  • Zeitchik, Steven (July 15, 2005). "Byron Preiss: 'He Saw Books Where Other People Didn't'". Publishers Weekly. 252 (29). Archived from the original on February 21, 2011.

  • Fantastic Fiction: Byron Preiss


  • Byron Preiss at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database


  • Works by or about Byron Preiss in libraries (WorldCat catalog)


  • "Preiss, Byron" at the Michigan State University Libraries Special Collections Division: Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection, "Prehistoric Adventure Comics" to "Pre-Raphaelites"


  • Byron Preiss at Library of Congress Authorities, with 40 catalog records (previous page of browse report as 'Preiss, Byron' without ', 1953–2005')









-

Popular posts from this blog

Steve Gadd

Image
For other people named Steve Gadd, see Steve Gadd (disambiguation). Steve Gadd Gadd at Bodø Jazz Open, 2014 Background information Birth name Stephen Kendall Gadd Born ( 1945-04-09 ) April 9, 1945 (age 73) Irondequoit, New York, U.S. Genres Jazz post-bop jazz fusion rock blues R&B Occupation(s) Musician, drummer, percussionist and session musician Instruments Drums, percussion Years active 1968–present Website www.drstevegadd.com Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945 [1] ) is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the most well-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1984. [2] Gadd's performance on Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" and Steely Dan's "Aja" are examples of his style. He has worked with popular musicians from many genres including Simon &
Read more

Лира (музыкальный инструмент)

Image
У этого термина существуют и другие значения, см. Лира. Лира Аполлон с лирой, ок. 460 до н. э. Археологический музей в Дельфах. Классификация Струнный инструмент, Хордофон Родственные инструменты Арфа  Лира на Викискладе Ли́ра (др.-греч. λύρα , лат.  lyra ) — старинный струнный щипковый инструмент (хордофон). Содержание 1 Лира в античности 1.1 Общая характеристика 1.2 Этос и функционирование лиры 2 Другие значения термина 3 Рецепция 4 Примечания 5 Литература Лира в античности | Общая характеристика | В Древней Греции и Древнем Риме словом лира в широком смысле обозначался любой инструмент семейства лир — хе́лис (др.-греч. χέλυς , лат.  chelys, chelis букв. черепаха), ба́рбит (др.-греч. βάρβιτον, βάρβιτος , лат.  barbitos, barbitus ), фо́рминга (др.-греч. φόρμιγξ ), или кифара (др.-греч. κιθάρα , лат.  cithara ). В узком смысле лирой назывался хелис — простейшая и самая лёгкая по весу из лир, с корпусом из панци
Read more

Сарыагашский район

Image
район Сарыагашский район Сарыағаш ауданы Герб Страна Казахстан Входит в Туркестанскую область Включает 14 административных единиц [1] Административный центр Сарыагаш Дата образования 16 октября 1939 Аким Абдуалиев Кайрат Аманкелдинович Заместитель акима Таскулов Смайл Абубакирович Заместитель акима Есбаев Акментай Усенович ВВП ВВП на душу населения 141,436 млн. тенге ( 2014 ) 66,837 тенге Официальные языки казахский, русский языки Население 183 363 [2]  чел. ( 2018 )( 2-е место ) Плотность 41 чел./км² Национальный состав казахи - 88,57% узбеки - 3,65% таджики - 2,76% русские - 0,88% другие национальности - 4,14%(2016г.) [3] Конфессиональный состав мусульмане Площадь 4170,74 [1]  км² Часовой пояс UTC+6 Код автом. номеров Х, 13 Официальный сайт Сарыагашский район  — район Туркестанской области Республики Казахстан. Административный центр — город Сарыагаш.
Read more