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Packaging books means you get the manuscripts, the art, an editor, have the cover lines written, get an art director and/or artists to do the covers and cover graphics.  In other words a whole staff of people.  Well Dad and I had been supplying everything to Bob, including cover lines.  So we continued to do that with the Scorpion Line.  It was a matter of selling books to this new higher paying outlet, which gave me total control, that would have been offered up to other publishers like Pike and the other's who were taking everything I could write.

Later I would be able to package single books like IF THIS GOES ON, a sci-fi anthology, where dad did the cover, I bought all the stories from such well known sci-fi authors as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Fred Brown, Fritz Leiber, Willy Ley, Richard Matheson, Donald A. Wollheim, V. E. van Vogt, then  wrote the editorial material and commentary, plus all the coverlines.  Dad did the cover art and graphics and then we presented it to the publisher.

This led single book packaging for Book Company of America led, a couple of years later, to being able to walk into Powell Publications and leave the offices with a packaging contract where I had control of everything, and just about anything I could offer to them. Though in one case I was vetoed concerning an original book which could have been rushed out almost over night on Boris Karloff (right after his death) - the wholesalers didn't really know anything about the man other than he was now a dead actor. Forry Ackerman was an authority on sci-fi (having invented that term) and fantasy literature and horror movies.  In fact, Forry had edited "Famous Monsters of Filmland" for almost 20 years (and was its founder).

Perhaps my favoriate, his last cover:

It was a sweet deal, which offered the chance to put together a line of sci-fi books: Powell Sci-Fi.  It was a fun time and nice to get work for my father, too, in his retirement. But he didn't live long enough to do more than three sci-fi covers and I had to turn over the work to Bill Hughes, who was a marvelous artist and a sci-fi fan and was a wiz at cover graphics.  He freelanced for many of the local publishers and was in great demand.  But I had the sci-fi line and he was highly anxious to break into the field!  We worked really very good together.  My only sadness over it was dad's death caused our "kinda" partnership come into being.
 

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