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5/28 TUESDAY 25 MAY 1971 145th day - 220 days to come

Rcd. an ad from Marvin Kaye (Katz) of TOYS for a book he wrote "The Histrionic Holmes" (Sherlock). (Put in book Ads.)

Felicia called. Is NINETYSEVEN like anything else? Told her it was pretty original. Felicia said that someone had said that they never see S&T on the newsstands and that they never get any orders because of my reviews, so why should they waste time with me? (Later she mentioned G & R so it was probably them.) She told them that it is always difficult to see the effects of publicity. I told her that S&T sells only by subscription. She asked if the circulation was about 100,000. I told her it was closer to 4,000 - but to keep it confidential. Told her that I had an idea for a BRIDGE game and an x-word puzzle GAME, the Bridge game not having bidding. She asked how soon I could have them ready and I said the end of next week. When she showed WINDOWS and RACE THRU SPACE GAMES to Jim Goldsbury he said they were trash (in a friendly way) and she was afraid to show him ZEC-HI. She did and he liked it. I said that it didn't come to end and she said it had been improved. She couldn't understand why Jim rejected ESCAPE and was enthousiastic about COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE.

2nd call from Felicia. Impact is flying to present GO SEE to American Airlines. Felicia is working on a presentation about me, confidential, and can't tell me. I told her that publicity itself didn't send me, unless there is money in it for both of us. She said there might be. She got info on my SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN mentions and other publicity. Claude had had her hold up on sending his DUEL contract (about provis- ion for getting it back; but she said they'd return it as soon as they were finished with it) and she sent it airmail. She also told them in a letter that I was working on two games because of what Jim Goldsbury had told her. If they really don't want them, they should let us know, since I have other things to work on. This year the agent's fees from me are ahead of their BALI earnings.

3rd call from Felicia. She is getting together tomorrow with an of- ficial of a book publisher. Would I be interested in doing a history of games, with a light touch. Told her of my contract clause that Random House has first refusal rights on my next book. (Alice had similar contract on her book.) In her letter to Goldsbury she had quoted me that the BRIDGE game (OPEN BRIDGE) did not have bidding. Actually, it has. Told her this and she suggested that I drop Bob Edwards a line about it. Told her of my call from Arlan Tietle [?] suspending work on the audio-visual project. She had discussed it a little with Bill Caruson. She said that if anyone could come up with games for the gadget, I could. He agreed. Kontrell (NINETYSEVEN) seems to have money behind it. They are (cont. on 5/28)

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transcription
English 5/28
TUESDAY 25 MAY
1971 145th day - 220 days to come
Rcd. an ad from Marvin Kaye (Katz)
of TOYS for a book he wrote
"The Histrionic Holmes" (Sherlock). (Put in book Ads.)


Felicia called. Is NINETYSEVEN like anything else? Told her it
was pretty original.
Felicia said that someone had said that they never see
S&T on the newsstands and that they never get any
orders because of my reviews, so why should they waste
time with me? (Later she mentioned G & R so it was
probably them.) She told them that it is always difficult to
see the effects of publicity. I told her that S&T sells
only by subscription. She asked if the circulation was
about 100,000. I told her it was closer to 4,000 - but
to keep it confidential.
Told her that I had an idea for a BRIDGE game and
an x-word puzzle GAME, the Bridge game not having
bidding. She asked how soon I could have them ready
and I said the end of next week.
When she showed WINDOWS and RACE THRU SPACE GAMES to
Jim Goldsbury he said they were trash (in a friendly way)
and she was afraid to show him ZEC-HI. She did and he
liked it. I said that it didn't come to end and she said it
had been improved.
She couldn't understand why Jim rejected ESCAPE and was
enthousiastic about COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE.
2nd call from Felicia. Impact is flying to present GO SEE to
American Airlines.
Felicia is working on a presentation about me, confidential, and
can't tell me. I told her that publicity itself didn't send me, unless
there is money in it for both of us. She said there might be.
She got info on my SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN mentions and other publicity.
Claude had had her hold up on sending his DUEL contract (about provis-
ion for getting it back; but she said they'd return it as soon as they
were finished with it) and she sent it airmail. She also told them
in a letter that I was working on two games because of what Jim
Goldsbury had told her. If they really don't want them, they
should let us know, since I have other things to work on.
This year the agent's fees from me are ahead of their BALI earnings.
3rd call from Felicia. She is getting together tomorrow with an of-
ficial of a book publisher. Would I be interested in doing a
history of games, with a light touch. Told her of my contract
clause that Random House has first refusal rights on my next book.
(Alice had similar contract on her book.)
In her letter to Goldsbury she had quoted me that the BRIDGE
game (OPEN BRIDGE) did not have bidding. Actually, it has. Told
her this and she suggested that I drop Bob Edwards a line about it.
Told her of my call from Arlan Tietle [?] suspending work on the
audio-visual project. She had discussed it a little with Bill Caruson.
She said that if anyone could come up with games for the gadget,
I could. He agreed.
Kontrell (NINETYSEVEN) seems to have money behind it. They are
(cont. on 5/28)
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