Donald M. Grant: NECON Hall of Fame

[Bev Vincent]

Don Grant was inducted into the NECON hall of fame on Friday evening. In addition to starting World Fantasy, Grant was also responsible for creating NECON some 28 years ago. DMG was too ill to attend the ceremony, but apparently he was very touched by the gesture. Some of his children came to accept on his behalf. Robert Weiner was there as well.

One thing I found fascinating was to hear how some of the early books were created. Text was generated in a single long strip and then cut into pieces and "glued" onto pages with wax. Typos were excised with a razor blade and the new text was affixed to the page with scotch tape. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger was one of the last books laid out in this fashion before they upgraded to newer technology.

Can you imagine how arduous that task must have been--to create fully justified text, with each line perfectly lined up, etc? Blows my mind!

[jhanic]

That's amazing! I've never heard of such a thing. Now, that's called dedication!

And congratulation, Donald M. Grant! VERY well deserved!

John

[jhanic]

Somehow a duplicate post with just one click!

John

[wizardsrainbow]

Fascinating story Bev. Thanks. Reminds me of one of our first publications after I joined my firm. We were putting out a 30-page Market Letter and it was typed out. If we made an erroer or wanted to replace a word we needed to find a synonym that was almost exactly the same number of characters so it could be inserted. So, yes, I know how much of a hassle that can be!

And congrats to Donald. Where would we be without him today

[Randall Flagg]

A most deserved of awards. Congratulations to DMG.
I agree, the older way of laying out a book would be arduous-only a true lover of books could endure that.

[Ari_Racing]

Congratulations to DMG! Very deserved!

[lophophoras]

Congrats DMG!

I am really sorry to hear that he is not doing well. It is good that some of his family was able to attend.

[Cutter]

Congrats DMG! This is great that he was awarded at Necon.

This is a publisher that has really put out some great books. Obviously The Dark Tower books, but some of the older titles are very much a treat to come across. The Donaldson book is one of the best limiteds I own, and Straub's Mrs. God is another nice volume. One of these days I'm going to try expanding my collection of Grant books, from what I've sen they've all been great..

[Bev Vincent]

When I worked for a newspaper one summer many years ago, I got to see how they laid it out one day and also got to write my own story headline and wax it into place. Same sort of technology as Grant, so I've actually seen it in action to a small extent. Headlines for articles were often written more by available space than relevance to the story!

[mia/susannah]

Congradulations to Donald Grant. Well deserved.

[Patrick]

Congratulations to DMG, and thank you.

[idlewarnings]

DMG's first edition of The Gunslinger was not only my very first Stephen King collectible, it was my introduction to how beautiful books can be with heavy stock and color prints, etc. My first signed limited from Grant was Prime Evil...it was the first time I'd seen a tray case. I still remember opening the shipping box and being shocked by the size and the weight and the smell. The traycase seemed to unfold like magic. I was awestruck. DMG turned me into a bibliophile.

Congrats, Don, and thank you.

[Sir_Boomme]

And congrats to Donald. Where would we be without him today

people with more a lot more money in the bank????

[Nerak]

LOL Terry!

Congrats to Don. I do know that he's still hanging in. It wasn't looking to good for him a few months ago, but he's still around!

[Bev Vincent]

Bob Booth -- who got a job proofing for DMG after he showed up at the publisher's door one day long ago to complain about an error or two he found in an early Grant book and to ask for his money back -- told me that Don Grant could hold a piece of paper in his hands with his eyes closed and tell the weight, stock, and probable place and year where it was created.

[Brice]

Damn! That's good!

[oy-the-brave]

Damn! That's good!

Brice I love your new avatar, I saw Sublime at the House of Blues in Hollywood about 3 days before the overdose, such a shame. It was a great show tho.

[Brice]

Thanks Dave!