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Penguin Imprint Focus: Introduction to Roc & Ace

Mon, 11/12/2007

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Welcome to our first Imprint Focus feature, where the Penguin Blog will spend four weeks examining each of Penguin Group (USA)'s many imprints. Learn more about the character and goals of each imprint, and meet the staff members that help make the magic happen behind the scenes.

The subjects of our first Imprint Focus are Roc and Ace, distinguished publishers of science fiction and fantasy.

Today, Roc and Ace share the same editorial staff, and both belong to the Penguin Group (USA). What is the distinction? Why are they two different imprints? To understand the current situation, we have to look back into the publishing history, and trace the events that brought these two imprints together.

Ace is the most venerable science fiction and fantasy imprint, having been started 1953, while Roc was founded by Penguin's NAL / Signet line in 1990. In December 1996, the publisher Putnam Berkley was acquired by Penguin's parent company and the two publishers merged. Despite the merger, Ace and Roc remained separate editorially and the difference between the two was a matter of editorial taste. But towards the end of 2003, Roc's editor, Laura Anne Gilman left to pursue her own writing, and Susan Allison, Editor-in-Chief of Ace, was put in charge of both lines. Divisions blurred, boundaries were erased, and as a result, editors began to work on titles for both imprints.

Authors from the time before the merger have retained their allegiance to their respective imprints, and acquisitions are divided between Roc and Ace depending on the publishing schedule, with the goal of maintaining a balanced list. Today, both imprints publish science fiction and fantasy, with a good dose of urban fantasy and military science fiction as well.

A Small Selection of Successful Roc Authors