"J. Robert King & Brian Thomsen - Realm of the Underdark" - читать интересную книгу автора (King Robert J)

Realms of the Underdark
(part of Demilich's Lair Project, OCR'ed by .............)

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.