Russell Galen

My interest in science has been the defining impulse of my life. At the age of 12 I realized I lacked the math skills to become a scientist, which ignited a passion for reading about science, which led me to the works of Isaac Asimov. Everything sprouted from that: I realized I could not read a book unless it told a story and that I learned something from that story. My list seems eclectic, but every project has this in common, even the ones that on the surface seem the purest fantasy. I read about F. Scott Fitzgerald's agent, Harold Ober, while I was still in high school, and realized that this was what I wanted to do and that I could be good at it. Asimov sparked my passion for books that use storytelling to reveal the underlying workings of the world, and Ober sparked my passion to serve the people who create those stories. I never met either of them, but I believe these qualities are what have enabled to find some of the great works that I've brought to market over the decades, and to serve the people who created them.