The Goddess Shines on America

Monday, the first day at work, was going to be the same day as always, Brown thought as he walked into the editing room.

This is the Bantam Book Company in Manhattan, New York. As a senior editor, Brown has spent fifteen years in three publishing houses, and now even his son is in elementary school. Therefore, one can imagine how many wonderful novels he has read, and how many manuscripts with extraordinary creativity he has read.

It's just that recently, the number of manuscripts submitted to the company has dropped a lot. Even because he can't pick out good books, Brown hasn't gotten a performance for a long time.

"Lianna, how many copies are there today? Can you make up twenty copies?"

Before his butt was hot, the secretary, Leanna, came towards him with a cup of coffee: "There are only seven books in total. Do you plan to read it now, or take a break first?"

Brown picked up the coffee and frowned: "Seven? Are you sure you didn't mean seventeen?"

"It's seven, that's right, Mr. Brown. I know what you mean. Last Friday, the number was still fifteen, but today it has dropped by half. That's it."

Although she was talking about things that were not good for the company, Lyanna's expression remained calm: "However, the weight of the courier has not changed. They are all novels. If you read them one by one, they probably weigh about the same as fifteen books. "

Brown nodded, which is also a feature of the book publishing industry. Quantity cannot determine quality, and the benefits that a high-quality work can bring are definitely several times that of ordinary books.

Think of the Lord of the Rings back then, it has been selling well since the 1950s, so much so that the promotional slogan is so arrogant: There are only two kinds of people in the world, those who have seen Lord of the Rings, and those who are about to watch it.

Therefore, as the book culture industry in the United States develops step by step, the responsibilities of editors are even more important. After all, if someone can dig out a work as valuable as Lord of the Rings, its value at that time alone is enough to compare with several best-selling books of the year!

"Hey, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack..."

Looking at the manuscript that Lyanna sent to him immediately, Brown sighed extremely helplessly.

"What are you lamenting again? The recent work pressure?"

After putting down the manuscript, Lyanna didn't leave in a hurry. While asking about it, she casually looked at the French windows behind Brown.

In the bustling core area of ​​Manhattan, there are jagged skyscrapers, and at a height of 100 meters above the ground, pedestrians are just a group of busy ants. It is early morning at this time, if it is changed to sunset or even late at night, it will definitely give people a feeling of "empty and lonely", especially for outsiders who work hard.

"Work pressure? Oh, of course, Lyanna, look at the number of recent submissions."

Brown opened the courier and said: "Five! Just in the last month, just one Manhattan, five large-scale publishing houses have been registered! Look at their overwhelming publicity, and look at the benefits they give authors Treatment! Look at the decreasing quantity here!"

"Do you wish you had more work, or less?"

Leanna still stood in front of him calmly: "As for the competition from other publishing houses, that's something Chairman Speck should worry about. Why don't you just do what you're supposed to do? Don't tell me, Mr. Brown My monthly salary can no longer afford the loan, and I am going to divorce soon?"

"...Lyanna, why did I persuade you to sign a ten-year contract?"

"Of course it's your sharp eyes that recognized my talent as a secretary."

Qifen Express was completely dismantled. Facing the seven heavy manuscripts, Brown waved his hands and said, "Forget it, forget it, you go out first, I still need to read the manuscript."

"So, let me make you another cup of coffee, or the Starbucks opposite?"

"Hurry up and take a stroll outside the company for me."

After Lyanna left, Brown began to read the first manuscript slowly.

It was undoubtedly a novel, presumably set in Georgia, and Brown knew it was a plagiarism as soon as he read the first chapter. It's so similar, except that the location must be different, it's like a reprint of "Gone with the Wind", with Scarlett replaced by Jiasi Li, Rhett Brad replaced by Rickard, the author's research on spelling is very good.

"What rubbish, it's a shame he can write hundreds of thousands of words!"

But this still doesn't catch Brown's eyes. After all, "Gone with the Wind" is a must-read list for him in school literature classes. As an editor who has been working for fifteen years, if he can't even spot this plagiarism, then the whole Bantam They should all be shut down.

Immediately afterwards, Brown began to read the next manuscript, which is typically a speculative novel. According to the statement at the beginning of the story, a married woman was strangled to death in a closed room. The story took place in a small island resort mansion on a rainy night, and all characters on the scene were limited to ten people. What the reader and the protagonist of the story have to do is to find out the real culprit with the same limited conditions under these limited conditions.

"That's not bad, but isn't this kind of environment too coincidental? A small island on a rainy night, a vacation mansion, a total of ten people, and a secret room case. Tsk tsk, the degree of reality is not good, but it is very interesting as a gimmick and setting... No !"

After a quick review, Brown flipped through dozens of pages in just ten minutes, and was surprised to see that the follow-up of the entire manuscript was actually another work.

"Is it the reasoning series? It will take a lot of experience to identify it, so let's put it aside for now."

In this way, Brown had read all seven manuscripts when his secretary Lyanna brought afternoon tea.

"It's just that this reasoning series is worth publishing a book, and the others are not good."

Leaning lazily on the back of the chair, Brown sipped his coffee contentedly while looking out the window at the tall skyscrapers. Coincidentally, a helicopter flew by in the distance, which was a routine patrol of the New York Police Department.

Just then, Lyanna walked in again.

"Mr. Brown, the front desk has received another courier, which is also a manuscript."

Brown waved his hand, turned his chair to face the floor-to-ceiling windows, and slowly said with a coffee cup in his hand, "I've read these seven books today, so put that one away first, and it won't be too late to read it tomorrow."

"Mr Brown?"

However, Lyanna didn't intend to leave, she still stood there: "You just said this morning, why are there only seven copies, why are there so few, that's why I specifically called FedEx to let them speed up sending more packages. Mr. Brown, please don't spoil the support of your subordinates for your work?"

Brown's eyebrows twitched subconsciously. Even though his back was facing the door, he could clearly feel the cold breath behind him.

"That...Lyanna, I was just complaining casually, why did you call FedEx specifically? The expedited fee is inconvenient..."

"Of course it's on you. How can we employees who work hard for the company have the nerve to ask the company to pay for the expedited fee? Are you right?"

"Cough! Cough cough cough!"

"Ah, Mr. Brown, please drink slowly. This is the toilet paper, then this is the manuscript, and finally, this is the check for the expedited fee, made payable to your name, please take it."

Looking at Lyanna's enchanting small steps when she went out, Brown sighed deeply.

"Well, I haven't had my Black Forest cake yet."

Seeing that there were a lot of words in the manuscript in front of him, he shook his head, pushed aside the sumptuous afternoon tea, and began to read this copy.

"Jurassic Park"

Very...unclear.

That's how Brown felt when he saw the title.

Of course he knows what the Jurassic is, the Triassic, the Jurassic and the Cretaceous, dinosaurs crawling everywhere; of course he knows more about the meaning of a park, flowers and plants, cobblestone roads, and he still goes for a walk in Central Park every weekend Get used to it.

But putting these two words together, he was a little confused.

Dinosaurs in the Jurassic era built a park, and then everyone fell in love, caught bees, played football... a children's story?

So why does it have to be the Jurassic era? Isn't the Cretaceous Tyrannosaurus rex more eye-catching?

Without much entanglement in this issue, he turned to the first page of the text.

"International Genetics Corporation Event"

This should be the name of the title of the sub-volume. After seeing it suddenly, Brown was shocked again.

Genetic technology company, and it's international!

No matter what the event is, it feels really awesome!

At this moment, Brown immediately realized that this might be a science fiction novel.

Subconsciously, he looked at the calendar beside him, which he did habitually every time he came across a science fiction novel in review.

Monday, May 28, 1984.

Once the date is determined, it is easy to compare the technological level in the book with the real world, isn't it?

Then, he immediately fell into the plot of the book.

According to the author's compilation, in the world of this novel, although it is still in the 1980s, biotechnology has developed ahead of time at a jaw-dropping speed. The whole world is full of various genetic technology companies, biotechnology companies, etc. In short, the biotechnology revolution broke out in this world.

A preface is only a preface of thousands of words to the entire novel of hundreds of thousands of words, and the author expresses this situation succinctly. Furthermore, at the end of the article, a more fascinating situation is explained.

One of the world's top biotechnology companies filed for bankruptcy protection, but the reason for the bankruptcy was not disclosed to the outside world, and when communicating internally, everyone signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Why, the company does not announce the reason for bankruptcy to the outside world?

Why, the relevant personnel have to sign a non-disclosure agreement?

Because, that reason was an event, and that event took place over two days in August 1989 on a remote island off the west coast of Costa Rica.

Without any hesitation, Brown opened the first chapter of the main text, and the oncoming title made him hold his breath immediately.

"The Beast Eats Man".