"Aspriin, Robert - Myth 09 - M.Y.T.H Inc in Action" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asprin Robert)

before things get flowing (These books only look
spontaneous and easy to write. Honest!) Anyway,
the cruel realities of the situation surfaced when I
tried to meet my promised schedule, and I fell far
behind my anticipated timetable. As the queries
and demands from the readers grew, the tolerance
of the publishers for late delivery grew less and
less, and the pressures on me increased "to get the
manuscript in" with, less and less time for rewrites
and polish.

Finally, in 1988, things blew up. I got into a
dispute with Donning/Starblaze (the prime Myth
publisher . . . the mass market [small paperback]
editions from Ace are subcontracted reprints) over
royalties. The dispute has been settled, and the

M.Y.T.H. INC. IN ACTION

ix

only reason I mention it here is that it lasted the
better part of a year . . . delaying my writing that
much more.

In addition to the negotiated terms of that set-
tlement, however, there is an additional apology
that I owe the management of Donning. You see,
part of the settlement was that the next book (the
one you're holding) would not be advertised nor
orders taken until the manuscript had been deliv-
ered. This was an effort to take some of the
"deadline" pressure off my writing as I tried to get
back into stride. There were two unfortunate side
effects of that condition, however. First, I was
unable to reply to the many readers and fans
asking when the next book would be out ... as
it would be less than fair to insist that Donning not
advertise a release date, then banter it about my-
self. Secondly, at one point I gave my assurance to
Donning on the phone as to when the manuscript
would be completed . . . then promptly forgot
that I had done so. This meant that when I
encountered problems with my writing, I ne-
glected to warn Donning of the delay, and in that
absence of revised information, they launched an
extensive and expensive advertising campaign for
the release of the book in late '89 ... only to
suffer embarrassment and loss of credibility when
the manuscript failed to appear for production.