Roc Books is a fantasy imprint of Penguin Group, as part of its New American Library. It was launched in April 1990 after Penguin Chairman Peter Mayer asked John Silbersack, the editor in chief of New American Library's science-fiction program, to launch a new imprint that would draw more attention to Penguin's SF presence. The name Roc Books was chosen as a homage to Penguin's many famous bird-named publishing imprints. Roc was named after the enormous predatory bird of the Arabian Nights. After Penguin's merger with G.P. Putnam's Sons the imprint was aligned with Ace books and the current editorial team at Roc is the same team that edits the Ace imprint, although the two imprints maintain a separate identity.