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© Copyright 2002, Jim Loy
Piers Anthony (a very popular Fantasy and Science Fiction author) has written some scathing (and fascinating) criticism of editors and publishers. And some of this has even been accepted by editors and publishers. In particular, his two autobiographies, Bio of an Ogre and How Precious Was That While each contain several chapters on the stupidity and questionable ethics of editors. Alien Plot, a collection of short stories, contains several rejected (but good) stories, each introduced with comments about its editorial history. A couple of the stories ("Nonent" and "Revise and Invent") are about stupid editors of the future, and are very funny. The novel But What of Earth? is a unique and amazing document which shows how an editor mutilated the original book. The current edition of the book is the original, unedited version, with extensive comments showing what the editor did to it.
A lot of this is depressing for hopeful authors, such as myself. But I suppose it is best to approach publishing and publishers with my eyes wide open.
Also see Hi Piers (Home page of Piers Anthony and Xanth).
To order any of these book from Amazon.com (goes directly to the book that you click on):