"Realms of the Underdark 2.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthologies)

Realms of the Underdark

PREFACE
At the Publishing House
The offices of Tym Waterdeep Limited, the most successful publishing firm in all
Faerun, had been fraught with tension for several weeks. Justin Tym, Faerun's
most successful publisher, was worried about the upcoming list. It was common
knowledge throughout the City of Splendors that TWL (as it was known to the
bookselling community) was on the verge of publishing their two most eagerly
anticipated titles yet.
Cormyr: A Novel had received numerous prepublication endorsements, and initial
orders were at an all-time high for a first novel. Likewise, Volo's Guide to the
Dalelands had all the earmarks of becoming the most successful volume in the
guide series written by the gazetteer rumored to be the most successful traveler
in all the Realms.
Without a doubt, TWUs current list was their best ever .. . yet Justin Tym was
still worried. Unlike the common book buyer, seller, or reader, a book publisher
seldom worried about the titles currently being released. His concerns were
typically the next season's list, titles currently being edited and readied for
publication; and next year's roster, those titles to be contracted to assure
that the firm maintains the strength of its list in the times ahead.
Justin Tym was deeply concerned because, as of yet, no new surefire success had
found its way to his desk and onto the list to follow up the current crop of
titles.
Though a follow-up novel to Cormyr: A Novel was under discussion (perhaps a
sequel, or perhaps something totally different, such as Evermeet: A Novel), the
author in question, Greenwood Grubb, was beginning to show signs of becoming a
prima donna, toiling over every word. Where Cormyr: A Novel was written over the
course of the aged scholar's seasonal sabbatical, Grubb had already indicated
that the new title would probably take at least thrice as long to write,
commenting that artists need time for the creative juices to flow. Tym suspected
that the juices that would be flowing were of the more distilled variety, that
they would continue to flow until the advance from the earlier book had been
completely spent, and that the scholar would not apply himself to his next opus
until he absolutely had to: when the gelt ran out. Unfortunately this could be,
depending on the extravagance of the author's tastes, several seasons from now.
True, success for the next title was almost assured once it was published, but
no one, particularly not TWL's creditors, expected the house to stop the presses
until thai time.
Weighing even more heavily on Justin's mind, however, were the curious set of
circumstances connected to the other title.
TWL had always been sole publisher of the works of the legendary Volothamp
Geddarm, and Tym had always considered the success of the numerous Volo's guides
to be the product of a true publishing partnership. He thought Volo considered
him more than just a publisher, maybe even a father figure (or perhaps an older
brother, since their ages weren't really that far apart). Likewise, he
considered Volo more than just a travel writer or some hack author; he was the
house's cash cow, the goose that laid the golden volumes. He was that rare
commodity: a bankable author.