Writing team Sharon Lee and Steve Miller write that, “In order to make room in file drawers, and in response to reader requests that the material not simply be shredded, Lee and Miller will be auctioning off four bundles of papers, at a rate of approximately one bundle every two weeks. Auctions may be discontinued at any time at the sole discretion of the authors. That means that this is An Experiment. Winning bidders are responsible for shipping and attendant handling charges.”
They also note, quite emphatically, that “winners will be required to sign a paper asserting that they understand that they have purchased the paper only; that no right of publication has been granted; and that the authors’ copyrights remain with them.”
The first auction will be Agent of Change, and will begin on eBay on Monday 6 July (finishing Monday 13 July). The bundle will include:
1. Typescript dated 1984
2. Carbon of original submission letter to Judy-Lynn del Rey, dated 1 December 1985
3. Photocopy of Stephen Hickman’s cover concept
4. Revision/Acceptance letter from S. Shapiro
5. Cover flat of actual cover
6. Galleys
Later auctions will be:
Conflict of Honors:
1. Typescript dated 1986
2. Revision letters from S. Shapiro, reply from S. Lee
3. Editorial post card
4. Galleys
Candlelight:
1. Original typescript, hand corrected by authors, dated July 1984
2. Submission typescript
3. Carbon copy of submission letter to Good Housekeeping
4. Several rejection letters (including Good Housekeeping)
5. Another copy, with hand-written revisions
6. Intent-to-publish letter from Pulphouse, signed by Dean Wesley Smith, receive date noted in Sharon’s hand as October 1992
Carpe Diem:
A stack “nearly 10 inches high, an estimated two thousand sheets of paper, a stand-on-the-bathroom-scale-with-your-arms-full-of-paper guesstimate is between 18 and 20 pounds of paper,” including:
1. Typescript (starts on Page 2) and letter dated 19 September 1988
2. Another full copy, with extensive revision notes, and sections that had to be moved paper-clipped together
3. Several pages of notes from telephone conversations, in Sharon’s hand
4. Notes for eliminated plotlines
5. Editorial Christmas card
6. Photocopy of the copy-edited manuscript
7. Proof
8. Photocopy of cover concept by Stephen Hickman, with handwritten notes by the artist
9. Cover flat of actual cover