Wednesday, October 20, 2010

15 Classic Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels That Were First Rejected


The list, care of io9.

From the piece...

3) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)

The short story version, and even the original novel, had little trouble getting published. But back in the early 1950s, if you wanted eyeballs on your words or to get readers interested in your book you got it serialized. Not to mention that serialization rights sales meant you got paid again (sometimes more) for the same book. But nobody was willing to serialize Fahrenheit 451. Except Hugh Hefner. When no one else would serialize it, Fahrenheit 451 was published in Playboy magazine. Hefner and Bradbury recently appeared on stage together to discuss the history of this novel (video here) and Hefner explained that he'd just started Playboy in late 1953, and Bradbury's novel was already out in book form, but nobody had serialized it. "You have to realize what the 1950s were like. A story about book-burning in the future seemed so perfect for its time, and so perfect for the magazine that I was planning on publishing, that all I could do was contact Mr. Bradbury," says Hef. The novel appeared in the third, fourth and fifth issues of the magazine. Adds Bradbury in this other video, "So all of you young men who have stacks of Playboy under your bed, I put them there!"

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