On Monday, I had my first lunch with an editor in New York City. I headed down to the offices of Dell Magazine and met Dr. Stanley Schmidt, editor of Analog Science Fiction in person for the first time. We sat in his office and chatted for a while while we waited for others to arrive. It was a surreal experience for me. First of all, just seeing the offices of Analog (and Asimov’s) in the flesh: they are, in fact, more than just an address on an envelope. Second, getting to meet Stan in person and chat with him one-on-one. Here’s a man who has been the editor of Analog since 1978 or so–almost as long as John Campbell’s tenure–and who has been selecting the stories that I (and everyone else, for that matter) have been reading for more than three decades. Stan was incredibly nice to me and we talked about all manner of things as we waited for the others to arrive.
The others included Carl Frederick, who has been writing prolifically for Analog for 7 or 8 years now. He’s a tall fellow who speaks half a million languages and who has a great sense of humor. Also joining us was Jay Werkheiser, a writer who has had 2 stories in Analog so far (in consecutive Novembers, as he pointed out to me when I asked about it) and who will probably have many more. He’s a high school chemistry and physics teacher and that alone puts him in my high regard.
Once we had a quorum, Stan led us to Baluchi’s, which had some outstanding Indian food, and we sat at the table for nearly an hour and a half talking about all manner of things, only half of which had to do with writing. I was pretty much in awe of Stan and Carl throughout the lunch. Stan told us stories about his own rejection letters from John Campbell and about his process for reading stories submitted to the magazine and it was absolutely terrific. The time flew by and before we knew it, the restaurant was closing down and our little party was breaking up on the sidewalk just outside the restaurant.
As a first editorial lunch, it set a high standard for future lunches (if I’m lucky enough to have any) to meet. I had an absolute blast.
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Wait a minute…you hold high school chemistry teachers in “high regard” based on what? Certainly not your own experience – or were you a closet Mrs. Thatcher lover??
I have a couple of friends from college who teach high school science and the need for good high school science teachers is so important–as you point out, our own chemistry teacher was not so great–that I hold them all in high regard.
(I basically had to reteach myself what I had supposedly learned in 11th grade chemistry when I took general and organic chemistry in college. On the other hand, Dr. Goldman was an outstanding physics teacher and his teaching is in large part why I entered college as a physics major.)
Wow, that sounds like an awesome day with awesome guys, Jamie. I wish I could go see the Analog offices… maybe some day.
The only disappointment, Juliette, was that I was expecting to see heaping piles of slush–I’ve always wondered what that looks like–and of course, saw nothing but sterile offices and cubicles. No slush in sight.