The years 1982 to 1984 marked a pivotal moment in the computer book trade - the markets were booming, and the challenges were escalating at an alarming rate!
Prior to this time, my books were published by Howard W. Sams, a small press based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sams was run by good-hearted, salt-of-the-earth "short-sleeve farmer" Hoosiers, who I grew to love like family. However, as my ambitions grew and I started to churn out more book projects, it became clear that Sams couldn't keep up with my pace. I knew it was time to soar higher and faster, and so I began to explore larger technical book publishing firms.
It wasn't long before I joined forces with the mighty McGraw-Hill in New York, and we set to work creating four titles for their Byte Books division.
• Word Processing Primer
• Computer Animation Primer
• Apple Backpack
• 8086/8088 Microprocessor Primer
I was giddy with excitement as I landed in the Big Apple, feeling like I had finally made it to the pinnacle of my career. I was wined and dined by lovely women editors who charmed me into signing just about anything they put in front of me
Despite the heady atmosphere, producing these books was no walk in the park. As an unproven author, I was constantly pressured to deliver on over-optimistic deadlines, and I quickly learned that this type of publishing was significantly more challenging than I had initially anticipated.
Nevertheless, the hard work paid off. David Fox's Computer Animation Primer became a cult classic, and its pages have been immortalized online. Despite completing the book in 1982, it took until 1984 for the publisher to finally get it on the market. By that time, I had grown another beard, a testament to the obstacles I had overcome along the way.
