Del Rey and Spectra‘s December “Suvudu” newsletter was released today (it’s available on the web at this link). In it, Editor-in-Chief Betsy Mitchell publicly announces her retirement after ten years with the company (we announced her departure in this September article. She includes special messages to readers, reviewers, voters, and writers.
The newsletter starts with a long farewell to Mitchell by author Terry Brooks, who says, in part, “Losing an editor is never easy. In thirty-five years, I have had only three editors—Lester del Rey, from 1975 through the early 1990s, Owen Lock until 1999, and now Betsy. Each time an old editor leaves, a writer has to start the process of looking for and bonding with a new one all over again. It’s not unlike trying to make a good marriage. I know that sounds odd, but it requires trust and loyalty and the kind of closeness you share with a spouse or life partner. You have to have a tolerance and an understanding of the other person, warts and all.… Betsy never cut me any slack when it mattered. She was a good, tough editor from day one, and she made every one of my books better as a consequence of her thorough and thoughtful editing.”
He also says “Betsy has a long and successful career in the publishing industry, one that began well before she came to work at Del Rey. She has worked at numerous publishing houses and with various science fiction/fantasy imprints and too many authors to list. Everywhere she went, she made the publishing houses and their authors and books better. The authors I know who worked with her have told me repeatedly how lucky I was to have her as my editor. They’re preaching to the choir. I could have told them how many times she went out of her way to help me in my dealings with the publishing company. I could have told them how often she found answers to problems I thought would send me around the bend. I could have told them how we laughed our way through ten years of hard work and great success. Sure, I could have told them that. But they already know this. Fantasy and science fiction publishing is a small community. You tend to find out pretty quick who’s worth your time and effort. Betsy was one. She still is.”
The newsletter also lists new books, and has a brief obituary of Anne McCaffrey.