Overview
ABOUT BEN PARRIS
I'm a professional editor with 30+ years of employment and freelance experience. My emphasis is in adventure/ thriller, anthologies, historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy, but I work with most fiction genres and some non-fiction. I have edited for New York Times Bestselling authors such as George Clayton Johnson and Irving A. Greenfield.
I prefer to begin an editing relationship by providing a writing assessment in order to ensure that an author is not paying for services for which they are not ready. Too often I've been asked to polish up scenes that shouldn't even exist because they serve no purpose in the story or have not yet been developed. Doing a line edit or a copy edit in these instances is like putting icing on a cardboard box and trying to replace the box with a cake later. As I like to say, authors can be in the business of fantasy. Editors need to be in the business of honesty.
FAVORITE BOOKS I RECOMMEND FOR LEARNING THE CRAFT
Story Structure- Worth Dying for by Lee Child (a Jack Reacher novel)
Dialogue- The Black Marble by Joseph Wambaugh
Characterization- Rain Man by Lenore Fleischer
Voice- Elmore Leonard
Setting- Ringworld by Larry Niven
Pacing- Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Prose- Rose Madder by Stephen King
Plot and Suspense- Lightening by Dean Koontz
Complex Descriptions Made Simple- Joseph Kannon
Alien Character Development- An Alien Light by Nancy Kress
Note: None of the above constitute the ultimate approach to their respective story elements. They are eye-openers that have inspired a great many other authors.
HIGHLIGHTS OF COMMERCIAL PROJECTS
The Walt Disney Company (confidential study), Connecticut Science Center (Concept Development Plan)
Harmon Kardon (Sales Guide), AICPA (Electronic Tax Preparation Guide), and U.S. Treasury Department
(Procedures Guides and Training Manuals).
I'm a professional editor with 30+ years of employment and freelance experience. My emphasis is in adventure/ thriller, anthologies, historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy, but I work with most fiction genres and some non-fiction. I have edited for New York Times Bestselling authors such as George Clayton Johnson and Irving A. Greenfield.
I prefer to begin an editing relationship by providing a writing assessment in order to ensure that an author is not paying for services for which they are not ready. Too often I've been asked to polish up scenes that shouldn't even exist because they serve no purpose in the story or have not yet been developed. Doing a line edit or a copy edit in these instances is like putting icing on a cardboard box and trying to replace the box with a cake later. As I like to say, authors can be in the business of fantasy. Editors need to be in the business of honesty.
FAVORITE BOOKS I RECOMMEND FOR LEARNING THE CRAFT
Story Structure- Worth Dying for by Lee Child (a Jack Reacher novel)
Dialogue- The Black Marble by Joseph Wambaugh
Characterization- Rain Man by Lenore Fleischer
Voice- Elmore Leonard
Setting- Ringworld by Larry Niven
Pacing- Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Prose- Rose Madder by Stephen King
Plot and Suspense- Lightening by Dean Koontz
Complex Descriptions Made Simple- Joseph Kannon
Alien Character Development- An Alien Light by Nancy Kress
Note: None of the above constitute the ultimate approach to their respective story elements. They are eye-openers that have inspired a great many other authors.
HIGHLIGHTS OF COMMERCIAL PROJECTS
The Walt Disney Company (confidential study), Connecticut Science Center (Concept Development Plan)
Harmon Kardon (Sales Guide), AICPA (Electronic Tax Preparation Guide), and U.S. Treasury Department
(Procedures Guides and Training Manuals).
Services
Fiction
Action & Adventure
Anthologies
Cultural & Ethnic
Historical Fiction
Humor & Comedy
Science Fiction
Short Story
Young Adult
Non-Fiction
Writing & Publishing
Languages
English (AUS)
English (CAN)
English (NZ)
English (SA)
English (UK)
English (US)
Awards
- Unisys Award for Online Science Education
Certifications
- New York State Continuing Education
- Advanced Business Communications
Work experience
Blueberry Lane Books
Jan, 2008 —
Present
I'm involved in editing all projects that come through Blueberry Lane Books, including those of bestselling authors Irving A. Greenfield and George Clayton Johnson.
Self-employed
Mar, 1985 —
Present
I currently divide my time between editing, writing, and teaching English and public speaking (which includes editing and personal training). Four times a year I give lectures for NASA and work as a media specialist. I used to write and edit for Scholastic. I've had one Kindle bestseller (optioned for film) and one script that became a tv movie. I'm the author of Today You Write the Book and I've edited three anthologies and a large number of novels, short stories and essays. I've been around science fiction long enough that my face is on two playing cards on the convention circuit. But I have a wide variety of experience, including that of my first career as a federal agent, expert witness, and training specialist, that enriches and informs my editing process.
Portfolio
In 1933, after Hitler's rise to power, the paramilitary HitlerJugend, or Hitler Youth, became the only permitted youth organization in Germany, then known as The Third Reich. It’s 1937 now, and a fourteen-year-old German youth, Ernst, is part of a secret missi... read more
Incorporating the Hugo & Nebula award–nominated novella “Identity Theft”The name’s Lomax—Alex Lomax. I’m the one and only private eye working the mean streets of New Klondike, the Martian frontier town that sprang up forty years ago after Simon Weingarten and ... read more
A man on a mission…Jake can see the future and there’s a special woman on his mind. She needs his help and he’s just the man to help when danger stalks her every step.A woman with responsibilities…For Ria, being the Nyx—the leader of her people—comes with burd... read more
The end of the world comes with a BANG!, a sword thrust, and a whole bunch of kick-ass heroines. Don't lie. If you're like the rest of us. You've harbored secret desires about surviving the end of the world as we know it. Either you've wanted to be one of the ... read more
Founded in 2005 by multi-award winning author, Orson Scott Card, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show is a bold experiment in online magazine publishing. Featuring science fiction and fantasy short stories from an eclectic mix of established pros (in... read more
This is a back issue of the science fiction and fantasy magazine Interzone (#213 from Dec 2007) and was the best selling of the now long gone Fictionwise e editions. That popularity may well stem from one of its stories heralding Aliette de Bodard’s Xuyan Univ... read more
One of the longest-running and most highly regarded magazines in the field, F&SF is the original publisher of Stephen King's Gunslinger stories, Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon," and many other classics.
Maggie Estep’s critically praised heroine, Ruby Murphy, is back! Back in Coney Island with a bunch of endearing misfits, back at the racetrack ogling thoroughbreds, and back learning that, on the seamy side of the sport of kings, survival can be a long shot. R... read more
A series of linked stories by the author of Diary of an Emotional Idiot follows the adventures of Jody, a kooky psychiatrist, and Katie, a lion tamer's daughter, as seen through the eyes of the men in their lives.
A slyly constructed semi-autobiographical story about a young woman skirting the edge of the '90s, dealing with relationships, her less-than-perfect past, and artistic angst, Diary of an Emotional Idiot is edgy and entertaining--a mesmerizing story of the more... read more
The Nebula Award–winning author of the Alex Benedict novels and the Priscilla Hutchins novels returns to the world of Ancient Shores in a startling and majestic epic.A working stargate dating back more than ten thousand years has been discovered in North Dakot... read more
Jack McDevitt loves a good mystery. And he enjoys baffling his readers with enigmas like why, after so many years of listening with no results, would a SETI director hear an artificial signal and keep it quiet? Why might an astronomer at a space station, facin... read more
The Kingdom or the Girl?Bloodthirsty demons attack him.Strange spirits protect him.A seer foretells his shocking destiny. In a primitive land filled with magic, witches and giants, a sixteen-year-old musician named David is summoned to chase away the nightmare... read more
Is this man Adolf Hitler? Are any of the mystery men smuggled into the United States at the close of World War II, Adolf Hitler? Does fifty years and a hunt across the continents unravel the true location and fate of Hitler and other high ranking Nazis who wer... read more
How would a world populated by superheroes differ from our own?Not much.If you have a rare skill or a talent or an ability that you’re not using, then maybe you could relate to our heroes: Orville Ortley, Mucus-Man, whose snot has the explosive power of a howi... read more
The staff of Moses has been passed down through the centuries, following only the worthiest of the bloodlines. Can the instrument that parted the Red Sea survive the Russian revolution and the modern day, and still remain in safe hands?FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR ... read more
Prolific author Irving A. Greenfield gives us his latest novel, SNOW GIANTS DANCING, in classic style, producing a slow build and high drama—quality literature with a grand finale. When religious fanaticism and hate are brought to a boil and the Snow Giants be... read more
GEORGE CLAYTON JOHNSON (Ocean's Eleven, Logan's Run) joins the print edition of Drastic Measures anthology of short fiction, volume I, to help spin tales of where the human mind goes when its cornered. New discovery MELISSA LYONS is the most powerful new voice... read more
Sarah gasped. She picked up the only thing close at hand, a large wooden stirring spoon, and braced herself for his entrance. Hearing footsteps. One, two, three… Jo Jo discovered Sarah shivering and cornered in the kitchen. He took in the situation with aplomb... read more
An insatiable fever demon... A restless Wind spirit... A treacherous shaman... A golden walrus... And one courageous young girl. . In the frozen north, a land of deadly weather and unforgiving spirits, the shaman is all that stands in the way of disaster. When... read more
ABOUT THE NEWLY-EDITED PAPERBACK EDITION: At the close of the Stone Age, a unique period in the history of man, Ronstrom the Builder would stand at the brink of a savage, lusty world and work wonders that would inspire the ages. A six-week New York Post bestse... read more
Drastic Measures Anthology Volume Three. Science Fiction Mysteries involving celestial bodies and Artificial Intelligence; Contraptions, Creations and Inventions; Earth and Natural Disasters; and Time Travel. Jack McDevitt and Stanley Schmidt lead off this sta... read more
Acclaim for Today You Write the Book, 1st Edition “I doubted that aspects of writing could be explained in any different or better terms than I’d seen before but this book delivers.” -Tanya LeBrock“I should have gotten this book on Valentine’s Day because it w... read more
