Read The Synopsis Treasury Online
Authors: Christopher Sirmons Haviland
Tags: #Reference, #Writing; Research & Publishing Guides, #Publishing & Books, #Authorship
The Synopsis Treasury (4 page)
Please let me hear from you.
With all the best to Judy.
Cordially Yours,
Jack Williamson
From the Frederik Pohl Correspondence collection, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries at Syracuse University.
***
Andre Norton
(photo by Beth Gwinn)
Alice Mary Norton was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1912, and began her writing career early. Due to her love of writing fiction in what used to be a male-dominated market, she decided to write under pseudonyms that would not betray her gender. She would ultimately choose Andre.
She was a prolific author, and as she became so popular as Andre Norton in the literary world she legally changed it to Andre Alice Norton in 1934.
While she wrote in mainstream on occasion, she usually wrote genre fiction, and in 1983 she was honored with the Grand Master Award by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the sixth to receive the price, after Robert A. Heinlein, Jack Williamson, Clifford D. Simak, L. Sprague de Camp, and Fritz Leiber.
She would also become the first woman to receive the Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and the Nebula Grand Master Award.
She was best known for her novel
Witch World
(1963), which spawned dozens of sequels and spinoffs set in that world. Her novel
The Beast Master
was adapted into a movie in 1982 starring Marc Singer and Tanya Roberts, but Andre was displeased with the treatment of the tiger used in the film, which had been dyed black to look like a panther. Having a strong love for cats (with many domestic cats living in her house) and for animals in general, she asked her name to be removed from the credits of the movie. She vowed never again to work with Hollywood.
Late in her life she established the High Hallack Library for writers studying the genre. She had amassed over ten thousand manuscripts (including unpublished texts) and videos before closing the library in 2004 due to failing health.
By the time she passed away in 2005 she had written over two hundred novels and many more short stories, and had co-written quite a few in her later years with female fantasy authors who built their success on the wake of Andre’s pioneering career.
… My first book published,
The Prince Commands
, was issued during my very early twenties. I simply had an alphabetical list of publishers and sent it to the first on the list—who took it. The field was not so crowded then and one did not need an agent. I submitted the finished manuscript not an outline—this is what I did for years. This particular title was an adventure story, not sf or fantasy.
Now my agent uses an outline idea and perhaps a couple of chapters in a submission.
Witch World
[1963] grew from a short story idea concerning a Crusader, which I had set down in notes but never developed.
[Port of Dead Ships]
was one of the full length novels which appeared in the omnibus entitled
Storms of Victory
[1991] which was one of the Witch World books.
It does not read exactly as the printed copy does since once I begin to write I often change the plot. My characters seem to take over and carry on as they please rather than as I intended and I do not argue with them.
… This is, of course, what was submitted to the publisher before the book was written.
—Andre Norton
(2 Oct 2003 and 6 April 2004)
Port of Dead Ships
Plot
Simon, Jaelithe, Kemoc, Orsya (Kemoc’s Krogan Wife) and Koris meet with Sulcars asking for aid against what they believe may be either renewed Kolder trouble or Black power. Several Sulcar ships had disappeared and months later found derelict with no evidence of what happened to the crews—apparently they were abandoned voluntarily—they had all set sail in the beginning for the far south which was largely unexplored.
The Estcarpians agree to help, but the Witches, no longer holding government control, refuse to have anything to do with it. A seeress who is part Sulcar, plus Jaelithe, agrees to come. The seeress as part Sulcar is so refused witchship. While they are discussing this matter another Sulcar ship is reported in, bringing with it a derelict which is like no ship ever seen in Estcarp before. They go to investigate this. The Sulcars finding the ship also report volcanic disturbances under the sea which they had fled. Simon sees this is a ship of his own World. They explore it and discover that everything is as it was left, apparently by a crew who had departed hastily and some time ago. Find only ship’s cat on board. Charts on board are all of Simon’s world.
Four ships sail for the south. Kemoc and Orsya and seeress are on first vessel, and Simon and Jaelithe on another. They will keep in touch by mind touch. Five days out they run into a storm which parts the ships and drives the one with Kemoc south very swiftly. In fact the Sulcars are worried that they seem to be caught in a current from which they can not break free. Seeress tries, backed by Kemoc, to reach other ship. Not able to do so. Falconer on board as marine sends his bird—no better luck.
Seeress keeps trying and then announces that they seem to be enclosed in an unnatural “silence”.
They see islands which appear to have risen from the sea not too long before. The water about the ship is warm. At night farther away they see a glow which might come from a volcano. Orsya returns from one of her needful swims to say there is a surprising lack of all sea life—she can not pick up any trace of living things.
Ship continues to be drawn forward. They see land ahead which is larger than any island they have passed. There a large bay opens out and the Sulcars manage to get loose from the current and reach that.
The bay is crowded with ships, some looking very old, many of them strange in shape. The Sulcars manage to anchor at the edge of this collection. Kemoc, Orsya, and seeress are all aware of strange energy at work, but it does not register as either good or evil. The Sulcars decide to try to get ashore and hunt a source of water. No sign of any life—sea birds missing.
They explore one ship and have a feeling they are being watched. Ashore are some very ancient buildings but there appears to be no way to enter these. No doors nor windows.
Seeress visits what the Sulcars believe to be a fairly recently caught ship. She tries to sense any residue of happening aboard. Can pick up only fear which does not appear to have any one source. Orsya and Kemoc in water find evidence of more and more ships, some long sunk.
Finally, they find a war ship of a different type. Skeletons on board and evidence of a battle. Only one where they have found evidence of any bodies. Seeress says men were dead before ship came here—already a derelict.
Fire seen at night leads them to climb the cliffs above the bay. Think there is more volcanic action farther south and out to sea. Are worried about waves which might come from such a disturbance.
On the morning after they see the approach of a Sulcar ship and with it another ship of a different type. They discover the Sulcar one which has Simon and Jaelithe on board. Mind contact tells them that there is life on board the strange vessel also. They get together and from the Sulcar ship see a boat lowered from the other vessel and six men in it. They hail them but men pay no attention. Orsya and Kemoc swim out. They can not make mind touch but do get aboard the boat and discover the men seem to be in a trance. They try to wake them but there is no way. Men are totally strange in appearance and clothing. Simon, Sulcars, and Jaelithe come to them. Strive to grapple the other boat but it is carried on so forcibly that their boat is also dragged along. Jaelithe and the seeress try to concentrate on one man but he seems insane and throws himself into the sea.
Simon tells them this is a ship from apparently the same space-time as he had come from. The boat touched a big rock and the men arise and crowd by the Sulcars and the others going ashore. They follow.
There is a waterway like a cannel [sic.] and the men throw themselves in this and swim. Kemoc and Orsya are ready to follow when the seeress falls into a like trance with the men and goes after them. They come to a huge cavern but by a wall in which there are a number of niches. The men from the ship and the seeress climb up and settle themselves in these. There are huge piles of bones rising out of the water before each niche showing that this must have happened many times before. Jaelithe, Simon, Sulcars and Falconers come by boat. Jaelithe probes the seeress and says that there is some type of installation here which runs on human energy—it does not work smoothly but is able at times to pick up ships or people from other time streams and draw these to it for fuel. It then causes the volcanic action—but it is irregular.
Jaelithe, Simon, Kemoc, Orsya and several of the Sulcars unite power and succeed in breaking the ties the installation has on its latest fuel. The men from the ships fall dead but the seeress is saved. This all is the result they discover of one of the Dark Adepts’ experiments at Gate opening and it had not only opened on Simon’s world but on others also.
The installation shut down is in the blank buildings and Simon oversees the taking of explosives from several derelicts from his own time and blowing it up. They explore and take curiosities from the ships, planning to return. But Simon and the Sulcars make sure that there is no vestige left of other world weapons which might cause future trouble. He says this explains the mystery of the Devil’s Triangle in his own world.
Jaelithe, Orsya and the seeress work to make sure there can be no way of using any of the energy for Dark Purposes.
***
Robert A. Heinlein
(photo by Dd-b, taken at the 1976 World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City, MO, USA, at which Heinlein was the guest of honor. Courtesy Wikipedia.)
Robert A. Heinlein, born in 1907, had attempted two careers before he took up writing fiction. He joined the Navy first, but due to health issues he was forced to choose something else. He tried politics, but after a failed campaign that left him broke, he came across a contest notice from the magazine
Thrilling Wonder Stories
asking for new and unpublished writers. Heinlein was an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and H. G. Wells. Badly in need of an income, he decided to try his luck.
He felt that the story he wrote in the days that followed, “Life-Line,” was too good for a writing contest. So he took a risk and targeted a stronger magazine:
Astounding Science Fiction
. It was 1939, and John W. Campbell, the famed editor of
Astounding
, picked it up. It was a breakthrough, and Heinlein continued writing and submitting to
Astounding
and other magazines with increasing success. Over the next few years he was published with A. E. van Vogt, Lester del Rey, Theodore Sturgeon, L. Sprague de Camp, Clifford D. Simak, L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac Asimov, and the seasoned father of “space opera,” E. E. “Doc” Smith. His new career had been established, and it skyrocketed. He and his fellow authors launched what is now known as the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
Wrapping his stories around the experience of his first two careers and indoctrinating them with social commentary in the style of H. G. Wells but in his own political voice, he found a niche that suited him and his readers. He became the first to win the award of Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1975, having written the critically acclaimed novels
Farmer in the Sky
,
Double Star
,
Have Space Suit—Will Travel
, S
tarship Troopers
,
Stranger in a Strange Land
,
Glory Road
,
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
, and
Time Enough for Love
, all of which were nominated for, or won, a Hugo Award (some retroactively).
Heinlein participated in writing the movie
Destination Moon
in 1950, loosely based on his young adult novel
Rocketship Galileo
. Heinlein was also a technical consultant on the movie.
Destination Moon
became a science fiction classic, and under Heinlein’s scrutiny raised the bar for technical effects, helping to win the movie an Academy Award for Visual Effects.
By the time of his death in 1988 he became known as one of the “Big Three” in the Golden Age of Science Fiction, along with
Arthur C. Clarke
and
Isaac Asimov
, the latter about whom Heinlein once said, “There is a writer with the real stuff.”
*
*
From a letter dated 31 March 1941 to Frederik Pohl about Asimov’s short story “Heredity” published in
Astonishing Stories
magazine, alongside Heinlein’s short story “Beyond Doubt.” —CSH
The following letters introduce the novella
Lost Legacy
and other stories when Robert A. Heinlein worked with Frederik Pohl, his editor, toward publication. I found these letters in the special collections at the Syracuse University Library and mailed them to Pohl asking permission to publish them in 2004. Pohl thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgia, as it had been sixty-four years since he had had these discussions! Pohl remarked, in response to re-reading the letters, “I was astonished to find that Bob Heinlein once told me I could make editorial changes in his work myself. He changed his mind about that, all right.”
I could find no formal synopses or outlines, but Heinlein’s stories were summarized in these letters. They are mildly abridged. The author and his editor also discussed payments, revisions, and a pseudonym, most of which I edited out as it was irrelevant to this book, though it made for an interesting read. But it’s worthy to note that Heinlein chose to submit
Lost Legacy
and a few other works under the pen name of Lyle Monroe. Pohl wanted to use the Heinlein name which had already been nicely established by late 1940, but Heinlein wanted more money for that, and Pohl chose not to afford it.
Lost Legacy
was first published in
Super Science Stories
as
Lost Legion
by Lyle Monroe. It appeared subsequently in several collections, including
Assignment in Eternity
, and would later in fact bear the Heinlein name. “Beyond Doubt” by Lyle Monroe and Elma Wentz was first published in
Astonishing Stories
in April, 1941, and would later be republished in Isaac Asimov’s anthology,
Election Day 2084: Science Fiction Stories About the Future of Politics
.
Patterns of Possibility
was first published as
Elsewhen
in
Astounding Science Fiction
in September, 1941 and also would get collected into
Assignment in Eternity
. “Pied Piper” by Lyle Monroe was first published in
Astonishing Stories
in March 1942 and would not be republished until 2005 in
Off the Main Sequence: The Other Science Fiction Stories of Robert A. Heinlein
. “My Object All Sublime” by Lyle Monroe was first published in
Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories
in 1942, also collected into the
Off the Main Sequence
anthology.
—CSH
October 23, 1940
Dear Mr. Pohl,
I have delayed ten days in answering your letter because I was engaged in finishing a novelette, and wished to give your letter a careful, thorough answer when I did so. I find it very [difficult] to write letters when I have a story on the fire.
…
Now to business—I was a bit surprised at the controversy started by “Let There Be Light.” It contained controversial matters, but the objection seemed to be entirely to the language used by the characters. Apparently some readers believe that scientists are different from ordinary vulgar human beings. Well—I know that they aren’t.
I am sorry to say that I am unable to offer manuscripts under my own name at the cent-a-word rate. Sheer economic determinism, you will understand. For the same reason I would be unable to undertake to write stories by arrangement with you under pen names and at a lower rate.
However I have five stories which for one reason or another did not sell when they were written. You may have any of those under the name of Lyle Monroe for half a cent per word.
Let me make one point quite clear: Stories written under the name Lyle Monroe will receive every bit as careful attention from me as stories written under my own name. I will not be offering shoddy hack work for a lower rate. “Let There Be Light” was one of my favorite stories, written honestly and carefully. I will continue to be just as jealous of the reputation of Lyle Monroe as I am of the name with the higher rate.
Now as to these five stories—each of them will probably need rewriting and I am willing to do any necessary amount of rewriting in order to get them in shape for market. In a way that will cost me money, for I am now selling every word that I write at a higher rate than they will bring and have been doing so for a year. But I am anxious to see these published for my own morale. These five manuscripts are the only things I have ever written which were not immediately sold. They sit here and shame me. You will appreciate, I believe, that I would labor mightily to dispose of them.
It seems best to me that you see them unrevised, with all the mistakes I made while learning still in them. If I were to rewrite them without waiting for your advice I might greatly improve them, since I believe I know more about writing now than I did a year ago when they were written. But I think it would help a lot for you to indicate how you wish them changed. You may want more adventure, less adventure, more science, less science, a love interest introduced, or taken out, a grim treatment, or addition of humor. In fact I can do with a story almost anything that you want done, with the exception that the social evaluations expressed in a story must be my own.
What I am trying to say is this: Where the writer speaks through the mouth of a protagonist, or speaks in the third person by a straight exposition, the views expressed must be my views, not the views of the publisher. For example, I believe that I could have sold “Let There Be Light” at a higher rate than I received from you had I dropped from it the attack on privately owned public utilities. I left it in.
I do not anticipate that you would ask me to express a different viewpoint from my own; I simply wished to make my position explicit.
The stories—”Patterns of Possibility”, 10,051 words. Time travel story, containing a new time theory with five-dimensional continua. Adventure story with love interest. Too verbose and not well knit, but could be a good story.
“Beyond Doubt,” 4,309 words. Fantastic satire on politics, laid in ancient Mu. I think it’s funny; my usual publisher didn’t.
“Lost Legacy,” 35,000 words. This one is my pet. I would rather see this published than any story I have ever written. It needs some work done it, the opening speeded up and the ending expanded with perhaps 5,000 words of additional action. For your purposes you may want more action and less exposition throughout—we’ll see. It is a story which contends that the present human race are the degenerate descendants of a great race. Nothing new in that perhaps, but I did extensive research on this story and believe that I have made the theme credible.
“Pied Piper,” 5,053 words. You have seen this once and may recall it. It might be very timely just now, and I will revise it to suit your needs. It is a story of a ware which is won by the “great scientist” who then uses his temporary advantage to insure a permanent peace. Satire on the Versailles treaty. It probably needs more action and less talk.
“My Object All Sublime,” 7,715 words. You have seen this also. It is a slap-happy yarn about a little professor who conducts a crusade against reckless driving with synthetic skunk juice. The ending is not particularly novel and may need to be changed. Perhaps the whole story should be shortened.
You made no comment on either of the above stories when you returned them before. Possibly, in view of the fact that I am willing to rewrite to order, you may see in them possibilities.
If you wish me to do so, I will send all or any of these stories to you for your consideration and suggestions as to revisions. It seems to me that, if you will work with me on these stories, giving me a clear picture of what it is that you want, the name Lyle Monroe can be quite as useful in attracting the cash customers as my own name. I am honestly interested in improving these stories and in seeing them published, just as a matter of personal satisfaction in having a clean sweep of 100% sales, even though—believe it, or not—it will cost me money to do so.
I hope to hear your wishes in the near future.
Kindest regards,
Robert A. Heinlein
23 October 1940
Dear Mr. Heinlein:
Thanks for your long and explicit letter. While I’d prefer using your real name on your stories, Lyle Monroe is a fairly good substitute now, and ought to prove to be a very good one.
Your terms are perfectly satisfactory to me. 1/2¢ per word, to be published under the pseudonym. And you can trust me not to alter “the social evaluations expressed in your stories.” Particularly so in your own case, since I agree wholeheartedly with most of what you said in “Let There Be Light”, to name the story with which I’m most familiar.
I recall “My Object All Sublime” pretty well, and don’t think it will be necessary for you to let me see it again. I didn’t like it. “Pied Piper” I recall only vaguely, but I suggest that you let it wait for a while. I am most interested in the other three you mention, particularly “Lost Legacy”. I’m instituting a change in
Super Science Stories
, so that in future it will publish at least one fairly long story—up to 40,000 words—in each issue. I plan to make the standard rather high. Much higher, certainly, than would ordinarily be expected at a cut-rate magazine. I’ve got two very good novels already on hand; I hope yours will make a third.
Therefore, please let me see “Lost Legacy”, as well as “Patterns of Possibility” and “Beyond Doubt”, as soon as possible. Each of them, according to the brief synopses you gave, should be a good story; I’m sure that I hope they are in fact.
Cordially,
Frederik Pohl
November 1, 1940
Dear Mr. Pohl,
I refer you at this time to my letter of October 23. Then, assuming that you have that letter at hand, I will add a little to the remarks there in:
“Lost Legacy.” This story will undoubtedly need some revision. It needs speeding up in spots and amplifying in others. On the other hand it is not and can not be the adventure story with pseudo-science background which most of the contemporary long stories in the science fiction field are. I can’t turn it into a cops-and-robbers of the usual interplanetary type, nor the usual war story type. The field of the story is psychology and metapsychology and does not lend itself readily to violent action. Still—I think the ideas expressed are interesting in themselves to reasonably mature readers. Incident can be added; the hook can be speeded up; the ending can be changed.