Monday, June 27, 2011

Marty Greenberg



Martin H. Greenberg 
1941-2011

Marty Greenberg, sometimes called the King of Anthologies, has passed away, after a long illness. There was nobody in the field of science fiction who came within a parsec of the quality and quantity of books he put together and edited. 

He was a professor, and later a dean, at the U of W in Green Bay, who eventually became best friends with Isaac Asimov. He came up with and edited all manner of books, SF&F, mysteries, more than 2500 titles, published in 33 languages. Go look, and be impressed.

Everybody who was anybody in our field worked with Marty sooner or later, and he was ever the gentleman and scholar, always trying to get the best deals for his people.

He wasn't a writer, but he was a great story-teller, and I remember a lunch in Portland a few years back that had me in stitches. A smart man.

I first worked with him on the Nimoy book, Primortals, then later on the Asimov-inspired Ibots novel, Time Was (written by Gary Braunbeck.)

I also had the odd story in one or the other of the anthologies, but mostly, I was involved in the ten-book series, Tom Clancy's Net Force. Marty and his guys at Tekno Books took excellent care of me during all of of these ventures, a class-act across the board.

Marty was always looking for a new project, he had more balls in the air than a platoon of jugglers on speed, and now and then, he'd give me a call and pitch one at me. Even once he grew deathly ill with a terrible attack of pancreatitis and was in the hospital, he called with a new idea. 

His wife Rosalind and his team, including Larry Segriff and John Helfers, will continue to run the company, but Marty will be missed. 

Adios, Marty. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Probably the greatest anthologist of them all. When Brian Thomsen was working with him, you had *two* guys on afterburners. I'll never forget Marty trying to speak through waves of emotion at Isaac's memorial service. Farewell.

Nancy Holder said...

Beautifully said, Steve. What a brilliant, kind man he was.