The Synopsis Treasury
Christopher Sirmons Haviland
WordFire Press
c/o WordFire Inc
PO Box 1840, Monument CO 80132
www.wordfirepress.com
9781614732851, $19.99, www.amazon
At conventions like Oasis, and Spooky Horror Empire, the question at panel discussions is asked “How do you break into the business of writing?” Christopher Sirmons Haviland has answered it and more with his collection “The Synopsis Treasury.”
For over ten years Haviland collected the letters between editors and writers about their works and now presents them here for the first time in this anthology. Among the names are Robert Heinlein, H. G. Wells, Andre Norton, Joe Haldeman, Jack Williamson, Ben Bova, Frank Herbert, Kevin Anderson, Connie Willis, Terry Brooks, Piers Anthony, and Michael Bishop are some of the writers included in this collection. Some of the writers have been editors themselves like Ben Bova, Jack Williamson and Kevin Anderson but it is the letters between the writers and the editors that make the collection so interesting to read. Two of them are Frank Herbert and Damon Knight about works by Herbert that include “Dune,” or Robert Heinlein and Fred Pohl who also became an sf writer, on Heinlein’s many short stories and novels. With all of the correspondences you see the friendships between author and editor that developed over the years as well how different works took shape.
“The Synopsis Treasury” is a groundbreaking collection that any fan of science fiction or any budding writer can not afford to miss.
