Famed anthologist Martin H. Greenberg passed away from cancer yesterday and comic book artist Gene Colan died two days before. A sad week for amateurs of SF and fantasy.
Gene Colan is dead? Sad, but not that much of a surprise, he seemed in pretty bad shape these last years. It’s depressing the number of major comic artists that have died in recent years.
Martin H. Greenberg was the greatest anthologist in the history of the field, helping put together thousands of books. He was the idea man – he’d pitch an idea for an anthology, then hire a big name to edit them while he handled the business end. He was well-regarded in the field for his integrity: a royalty statement from Marty was about as honest as you’ll ever see in the field. If the numbers were wrong, you could be sure it was an honest mistake and that Marty would make things right. That’s high praise in the field.
He also had a system for reprint anthologies with Charles G. Waugh. Waugh had a complete index of science fiction magazine stories by subject. Marty would propose a theme; Waugh would go to his index and come up with possible stories; and a big name editor would make the final choice.
The SF anthology is almost dead these days, but Marty kept it alive until now. Mike Resnick told the story of how he met with Marty at a con and mentioned a story he was working on about an alternate history Teddy Roosevelt. Marty left the meeting saying he was off to sell their anthology. Resnick asked “What anthology?” Mary said, “Alternate Presidents.” He sold the concept three hours later.
I sold two stories to Greenberg anthologies and never got a chance to meet him, but he was always a professional.
Note that there is a different Martin Greenberg who founded Gnome Press in the 50s and who was infamous for cheating his writers. When Marty H Greenberg started working, some writers refused to work with him at first, thinking he was the other one. Isaac Asimov insisted he provide proof he was a different person, and Lester Del Ray once showed up at a meeting with rolls of quarters in his hands so he could punch him out (until the difference was explained).