Byron Preiss

Byron Preiss (April 11, 1953 – July 9, 2005) was an American writer, editor, and publisher. He founded and served as president of Byron Preiss Visual Publications, and later of ibooks Inc. Many of his projects were in the forms of graphic novels, comics, illustrated books, and children's books. Beyond traditional printed books, Preiss frequently embraced emerging technologies, and was recognized as a pioneer in digital publishing and as among the first to publish in such formats as CD-ROM books and ebooks.

Early life and career

A native of Brooklyn, New York City, Byron Preiss graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972, and earned a master's degree in communications from Stanford University.

In 1971, while Preiss was teaching at a Philadelphia elementary school, he conceived, and with Jim Steranko, produced an anti-drug comic book, The Block, designed for low-level reading skills. Published by Steranko's company, Supergraphics, it was distributed to schools nationwide.

He founded Byron Preiss Visual Publications in 1974^{[citation needed]} to publish original works, including Weird Heroes (1975). His 1976 Fiction Illustrated series of illustrated novels began with Schlomo Raven: Public Detective, a Preiss collaboration with Tom Sutton; followed by Starfawn, illustrated by Stephen Fabian; Steranko's Chandler: Red Tide; and the 1977 Son of Sherlock Holmes, illustrated by Ralph Reese. Other publications included a 1978 adaptation of Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination as a two-volume graphic novel, illustrated by Howard Chaykin.

Publishing career

As a comics packager and book packager, he developed titles for such publishers as HarperCollins and Random House. One such project, created in conjunction with the Bank Street College of Education, resulted in a series of educational comic books adapting well-known genre authors: The Bank Street Book of Creepy Tales, The Bank Street Book of Fantasy, The Bank Street Book of Mystery and The Bank Street Book of Science Fiction.

He published children's books by celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Jane Goodall, Jay Leno, LeAnn Rimesand Jerry Seinfeld, and worked closely with such established illustrators as Ralph Reese, William Stoutand Tom Sutton.^{[citation needed]}

Preiss was co-author, with Michael Reaves, of the children's novel Dragonworld (Doubleday, 1979), with 80 illustrations by Joseph Zucker. Dragonworld was originally planned to be the fifth Fiction Illustrated title.He edited the recording of the audiobook The Words of Gandhi, released by Caedmon in 1984 and narrated by Ben Kingsley, who won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording for the work.

In 1982, Preiss published The Secret, a treasure hunt in book form that combined 12 short verses and 12 elaborate fantasy paintings by John Jude Palencar, as clues that lead to a buried casque. The book was inspired by the success of Masquerade, written and illustrated by Kit Williams and published in England in August 1979, but The Secret'’ did not meet the same degree of popular interest. Of the 12 casques, three have been found; the remaining nine have yet to be unearthed. Preiss was the only one who knew the solutions to the puzzles and locations of the casques. Although he stated these solutions were written down, no such document was found among his papers after his death.

Later life and death

Preiss was married to Sandi Mendelson, with whom he had daughters Karah and Blaire.

On July 9, 2005, he died in a traffic accident at East Hampton, New York, on Long Island: Preiss, turning left at an intersection onto Montauk Highway, was involved in a collision with a Hampton Jitney bus traveling at or around 30 mph (48,3 km/h). The airbag did not work. Preiss died almost instantly.

Both Byron Preiss Visual Publications and ibooks Inc. filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy on February 22, 2006, after his death.

Further reading

• Williams, Paul (February 2021). "The Strange Case of Byron Preiss Visual Publications". Journal of American Studies. Vol. 55, no. 1. pp. 102–129.

External links

• Frauenfelder, Mark (November 1993). "The Way of Comics". Wired. Archived from the original on May 20, 2014.
• Zeitchik, Steven (July 15, 2005). "Byron Preiss: 'He Saw Books Where Other People Didn't'". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 252, no. 29. Archived from the original on October 1, 2012.
• Fantastic Fiction: Byron Preiss
• Byron Preiss at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• "Preiss, Byron" at the Michigan State University Libraries Special Collections Division: Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection, "Prehistoric Adventure Comics" to "Pre-Raphaelites"
• Byron Preiss at Library of Congress, with 40 library catalog records (previous page of browse report as 'Preiss, Byron' without ', 1953–2005')