From: Aleksandra Swatek
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Date: 07/21/2009
Dear Mr. Bear,
Just one quick question:
Why did you decide to rewrite Blood Music as a novel, after you published it as a novelette?
I am almost a graduate of American Studies and I am writing a MA thesis about Blood Music. I couldn't find the answer to this question.
Best regards,
Ola Swatek.
From: Greg Bear
Date: 07/28/2009
Two friends who had read the short version suggested a novel-length treatment while we were all traveling to the Nebula awards. The friends? David Brin and John Carr. After "Blood Music" won a Nebula and a Hugo, it was picked up by Ace Books as a novel. Putnam publisher Phyllis Grann categorically rejected Ace's suggestion that the novel be published in hardcover by Putnam, and so it was backsold to Arbor House, which printed and sold about 6000 copies. The Ace edition had a terrible cover for years, until they reprinted it in trade paper. The UK cover treatments were lovely, but after that aggravating, indeed infuriating publisher screw-up in the U.S., BLOOD MUSIC has never sold as well as EON or other novels. It's widely regarded as one of my most accomplished novels, however. And let's remember that back in those heady days, NEUROMANCER and quite a few other classics came out as paperback originals from Ace.
From: patrick
Location:
Date: 07/28/2009
Mm, yeah, I didn't catch it till the late 90s in the trade version. It is THE book I suggest to anyone wanting to walk the bridge.
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