Ellen, Andrew, and Jay–and the other Bookspan-ers who I’ve also heard were let go–are indeed class acts, and I hope that they land well soon.

I just rejoined a few months ago, and I interviewed Andrew for my podcast, Adventures in Scifi Publishing. He was very kind, and we’ve shared many emails since.

This news saddens me deeply. I was looking forward to years of original collections. I wish Andrew and Ellen the best.

This is a shame. I’ve run a few companies and had to do a number of layoffs myself, and I know that no matter how idiotic they look from the outside, companies rarely go through that kind of pain unless they’ve exhausted all other options. I have to assume SFBC was simply a marginal enterprise in this age of quick online ordering, and perhaps wasn’t growing the way it once did.

Another shame. All the more so because I suspect the changing book-buying habits of SF fans are just as much (or perhaps, just a little bit more) to blame as “idiotic bean counters” across the ocean.

- John

John O’Neill

I’ll miss the SFBC. I’ve been a member since about 1970 or so, when, like many others, I got my copy of the Boucher two-volume Treasury of Great SF.

Without SFBC, I doubt readers in small towns (such as where I grew up) would ever have seen so much top-flight and varied sfnal literature.

Ellen, Andy – happy landings to you.

Good luck Ellen and Andrew!

David

I thank Ellen and Andrew for their hard work and congratulate Ellen on her breaking the Campbell record!

Rob

Good luck to Ellen and Andrew, I’m sure someone will snap them up.

As a former book club colleague of Ellen’s and Andy’s (I was SFBC Assistant Editor when Andy came on board as Ellen’s Editorial Assistant), I find it hard to picture that great institution without them.

Ellen and I used to joke that she would “die in the saddle” and only then would I succeed her. When I left the clubs in 1995 — by then having become editor of the Military Book Club — to try my hand in trade publishing, I was confident that Andy would make an even better heir apparent. Bertelsmannn’s management cadre should be ashamed that that will now not come to pass.

Ellen can look back proudly on over 34 years of strong and principled leadership, profitable management, and service to the field during both the Doubleday and Bertelsmann eras. Having exceeded John W. Campbell’s record by 7 months, she will likely never be superseded as the longest-serving SF editor in history.

She now faces some major adjustments in her life, a complete change from 34 years of relentless deadlines. I’m sure the whole SF industry joins me in wishing her a retirement at least as happy and fulfilling as her distinguished career has been.

While Ellen’s graceful departure resembles the happy ending of a long, satisfying epic saga, Andrew Wheeler’s situation is more like a Russian (or should I say German?) tragedy of injustice. The fact that his name is on the list of laid off employees is mind boggling. That the club’s new BMG management would voluntarily deprive themselves of the services of such a talented and respected editor at a difficult time of transition attests to their shortsightedness, stupidity, and ignorance. Short of shutting down the club completely, it’s hard to imagine anything they could have done that would more completely ruin their reputation in the SF/Fantasy field and the wider world of publishing. If the club now fails as a result, the idiots responsible for this management fiasco and miscarriage of justice will well deserve to have their own heads roll.

Meanwhile, any publisher out there in need of a solid, diligent, hardworking and smart editor, should snap up Andy post haste.