THE ADVENTURER
- THE ADVENTURER - A computer painting. Unused, it was intended for the Wildside Press book series written by Robert E. Howard, but before I sent it to the editor he had already selected the ten covers he needed from my previous submissions. So it appears here, unpublished.
As for adventure story writers, Rudyard Kipling once sent a story to an American publisher, who rejected it. The manuscript was returned to Kipling with this note, "I'm sorry Mr. Kipling, but you just don't know how to use the English language." - I have written several negative comments about some publishers in these notes, primarily to show how difficult it can be to become a successful writer, to have to deal with the often absurd comments that come with rejection slips. But I have read many books in which the authors dedicated their books to the editors and their assistants, thanking them for helping develop their writing careers.
One particular editor was especially helpful to Ray Bradbury. Back in the later 1940s, young Ray had a hard time finding a major publisher who would produce a collection of his science fiction short stories. When he finally visited Doubleday, editor Walter Bradbury (no relation) told him that he would have a better chance of getting published if he wrote a SF novel, but Ray doubted that he could write a novel. The editor then suggested, "why not take some of your short stories that take place on Mars and rewrite them into a novel?" . . .
When Bradbury returned home he decided not to rewrite them into a novel, but to present them as a "special series of happenings" in the future history of the exploration of Mars by men of Earth. And to make it all appear as one narrative he wrote short bridge passages to connect the stories, and the whole presentation became known as "The Martian Chronicles". Doubleday bought the "novel,"and published it in 1951. It has been in print ever since, thanks to editor Walter Bradbury's suggestion.
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