In the late 1970's, A. Scott Berg published a biography of Maxwell Perkins, the 'Editor of Genius,' as Berg puts it on the cover of his book, rightly so, for Perkins was a genius, working with the most brilliant writers of the late 19th and early 20th century, amongst them F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, Ring Lardner and Edmund Wilson. Perkins was admired, trusted and revered by these writers.
So what does an editor do? Well, Maxwell with his blazing passion and icy pen brought order, beauty and coherence to stories that, in places, faltered. It's the same today. Most writers have an editor they also trust and admire, for editors are probably the only other people who are as engaged and passionate about your work as you are yourself.
This story, 'Blue Fire and Ice', a first book by Alan Skinner, self-published under a family imprint, has a lot of vitality but can also be confusing with its huge list of characters and not always relevant plot twists and turns.
The story concerns a malevolent being who causes fires that are slowly destroying the kingdom of Beadledom. These blue fires, the blue fires of the title, not only destroy present buildings but when anything new is built on the burnt-out site, the fire surges up from the earth to destroy that, too.
Brian, a Beadle, is given the task of discovering not only who is causing the fires but also of finding a way to stop them. The other two groups in the book, the Muddles and the Myrmidots, are drawn in to help Brian in his quest and together they eventually unmask the villain. There are some well-drawn characters in this story and some nice pieces of writing - a description of the Mill that is burnt down is very evocative and the description of the nature of the fire is quite powerful.
However, a combination of too many characters, too much confusing movement in the story, too many irrelevant asides and far too many people popping in and out work against the often exciting and excellent ideas this writer has. He has temporarily, I'm sure, forgotten that what you leave out is just as important as what you put in.
According to the information at the back of the book, as well as the writer, there are six brothers and sisters involved in this new imprint, 'artists, designers and writers all', as it says, but before the promised sequel is published, I would urge that an editor be added to this list.
After all, if Maxwell Perkins' writers thought it was a good idea to have an editor, well, what can we do but trust them?