Warner Green was a founder of Ackerly Green Publishing and the father of Sullivan Green.
Biography[]
Warner Green was born in 1917 on the island of Inisheer in Ireland's Galway Bay. That year his parents immigrated to America, settling in Brooklyn. He worked on the Lower East Side as a child, binding books for Ackerly Printing House. That's where he met his lifelong friend, M. Grey Ackerly[1].
Warner enlisted in the army and served in Northwest Europe, but there is little other information about his service. This is either because of the fire in 1973 that destroyed much of WWII’s army enlistee records or because much of what he did during the war is classified.
Warner's Place in the Timeline[]
Warner's time in the military is where The Mountaineers think the timeline might have changed. The ’94 Mountaineers came up with the theory that maybe Warner smuggled out supernatural materials the Axis had collected, then he set about publishing them in the States. If that’s true, then this is the moment that everything changed, and the cause of Warner's missing service records.
In Phase Three, Deirdre Green received an email from Orvin Wallace, who had tracked down one of Warner's military correspondences. The content of the letter seemed to confirm Warner's involvement in the smuggling of supernatural materials.
| “ |
Meredith, In Wewelsburg at castle used for SS, cataloging many strange artifacts and manuscripts. Reich were writing their own mythology and this was center of their faith. Only just received word of your father's death and unexpected handing down of printing house. Did you know? Miss you terribly old friend. End in sight. wg[2] |
” |
Founding Ackerly Green[]
Home from the war in 1945, Warner learned that Reginald Ackerly, Grey’s father, had died and left him the reigns of the printing house, not Grey. Only months into his role as reluctant owner, Warner hired a nineteen-year-old illustrator named Sylvia Sullivan to work in the art department. He was almost ten years her senior, but they were married a year later.
Many years later, Warner was feeling listless and grim, and reconnected with his friend Meredith Grey Ackerly. Warner was tired of answering to stodgy shareholders while also realizing what he really loved was the creative aspect of the book industry. Warner would leave Ackerly Printing House, and he and Grey would build a new company from nearly nothing. Warner would run the creative aspects of the company, and Grey would be the business head. Ackerly Green Publishing's doors opened in the fall of 1954.
Grey and Warner were equal partners, although they had differing views about what to publish. Grey wanted to follow the post-war culture. Darker stories, in both tone and content, serious literature, social commentary. Warner, on the other hand, wanted to give people something to take them away from the horrors of the previous ten years.
Grey, in the current timeline, won out and the company focused on darker materials. Unfortunately, the company had little success. Their refusal to dive into the paperback pool didn’t help. They couldn’t get a foothold in the market. They refused to sacrifice quality, funneling their budget into a few talented authors, publishing a handful of books a year, hoping they could stay afloat until one of the books hit big.
Leaving Ackerly Green[]
While Ackerly Green struggled to gain a foothold in the market, Sylvia became pregnant. Sullivan Green, Deirdre’s future father, was born in the spring of 1958. Warner distanced himself more and more from the company, and his old friend. He had to care for his wife (who was suffering episodes of deep depression by this time) and his baby boy.
Warner had been secretly making a deal to go back to Ackerly Printing House, which was now a booming paperback printer rebranded A&L Printing. When Grey found out, it was the end of their friendship. Warner slogged away as the floor manager of A&L Printing. Throughout the 60s, Sylvia’s mental illness grew deeper and more violent, and finally Warner had his beloved wife institutionalized to protect her and their son. Sullivan grew up on the floor of the printing house, and by the 70s Warner was in charge again. He was unsatisfied creatively and wounded by his wife’s degrading health, but now his son had a future. Sylvia took her own life in 1977 and Warner died a year later, leaving Sullivan to inherit the company.
Gallery[]
