ISFDB:Verification requests

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This page is for requesting editors to locate and varify dubious or missing information about particular works. For completed requests, see ISFDB:Verification requests/Archives.

Contents

Science Fiction Age January 2000

The first publication of A Place So Foreign is listed as just Foreign. Almost certainly an entry error, but bears verification? --WimLewis 01:14, 28 Mar 2007 (CDT)


Miscellaneous suspicious title pairs

I want somewhere to note down titles that look suspiciously like variants, misprints, or errors, but which I don't have the resources to investigate. In some cases it seems to me that someone will need to compare the actual text of the stories, but maybe there are other references that could explain these one way or the other.


Anderson

I rechecked "Let the Spaceman Beware" and the UK version is actually "men" rather than "man" but definitely has no exclamation mark. (A case of British reserve? ;-) )Unfortunately we're up to THREE versions now: and my verified copy is now a duplicate of Mike Christie's, although I think his is under the wrong title. BLongley 05:49, 9 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Beyond Fantasy & Science Fiction #1, April/May 1995

Would anybody happen to have a copy of Beyond Fantasy & Science Fiction #1, April/May 1995 handy? I don't have it in my collection and the data that Brin1 recently entered differs from the Locus Indes record in various subtle ways. Unfortunately, Brin1 doesn't seem to be aware of the ISFDB Wiki (has anybody had contact with him/her?), so any help would be appreciated. Ahasuerus 20:21, 31 Mar 2007 (CDT)

Nebula Award Stories 6

Could somebody please check if the original 1971 hardcover edition of Nebula Award Stories 6 includes Sturgeon's "The Stars Are the Styx" (1950)? I am 99% sure that it's an error, but would like physical verification before we nuke it. Thanks! Ahasuerus 16:16, 7 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Also, if somebody has the 1971/1973 UK hardcover/paperback reprints of this book, could you please check whether Thomas D. Clareson's essay is called "Science Fiction and Literary Tradition" (which is the title that was used in the US editions) or just "Preface"? TIA! Ahasuerus 00:29, 8 Apr 2007 (CDT)
1973 paperback Panther edition says on page 11:
 Foreword
 
 Science Fiction and Literary Tradition
 
 Thomas D. Clareson
 Professor of English, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio

Contents page just says: 

 FOREWORD    11
    Thomas D. Clareson

BLongley 18:29, 27 Dec 2007 (CST)


Psi High and Others

Requesting physical verification of the hardcover (1967) and paperback (1968) versions of Alan E. Nourse's Psi-High and Others aka Psi High and Others. Areas of interest include whether "Mirror, Mirror" was reprinted under that title or under its original title, "The Mirror", as well as other visible discrepancies between the editions. I have the hardcover version in my collection, which I will be able to check in late April, so the paperback edition is a higher priority. TIA! Ahasuerus 00:46, 12 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Resolved issues archived. -DES Talk 07:26, 11 Feb 2008 (CST)

Turns out that I have both the hardcover and the paperback editions in my collections, so I was able to compare them side by side. There are no hyphens anywhere that I could find, although my hardcover copy is missing the dustjacket. I wonder if that's where the hyphen came from? I have also confirmed that "The Martyr" was first published as "Martyr" in Fantastic Universe January 1957 and created a variant title relationship. I will e-mail Bill Contento witt the corrections.
Finally, I used Jon Warren's paperback guide to confirm that the Ace paperback was published in 1968. Now, if somebody happened to have a copy of the 1968 Faber edition (hardcover, I believe), we would be all set :) Ahasuerus 20:13, 28 Apr 2007 (CDT)


Amazing Stories, Fall 1998

Can someone identify the exact title of the James Tiptree, Jr. story in this issue of Amazing? In the ISFDB listing it's shown as "Please Don't Play With the Time Machine." It's reprinted in the collection Meet Me at Infinity with as "Please Don't Play with the Time Machine, or, I Screwed 15,924 Back Issues of Astounding for the F.B.I." I need to create a variant title if the two are actually different. Mhhutchins 16:34, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)

FWIW, the Locus Index lists the Amazing story as "Please Don’t Play with the Time Machine" and the Meet Me at Infinity story as "Please Don’t Play with the Time Machine, or, I Screwed 15,924 Back Issues of Astounding for the F.B.I". Ahasuerus 16:58, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)


Charles Beaumont: Selected Stories

Could anyone who may have this collection check to see whether the story "The Devil, You Say?" has quotation marks surrounding the title in this publication? Thanks. Mhhutchins 18:15, 14 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Help With Two Artist Signatures

If someone could please check out the two artist signatures on the cover of The Dragon Issue #27 at, http://nightmare.org/dnd/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=10389 and tell me if you recognize who either of the two artist signatures in the lower corners belong to. One is PS and the other TC. Thanks. CoachPaul 22:23, 20 Apr 2007 (CDT)

A/The Wish for Smish

Requesting physical verification of the David Gerrold story A Wish for Smish. The Locus Index lists it as "The Wish for Smish" in the table of contents of Aladdin: Master of the Lamp (1992) while OCLC's WorldCat lists it with an "An". It was apparently reprinted in 2005 in Alternate Gerrolds, which we also list, but neither Locus nor OCLC has anything on it online. Ahasuerus 20:32, 21 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Anvil title check 3

One more. Is Ghost Fleet in The Stars Around Us Ghost Fleet or The Ghost Fleet as it is in Analog Feb 1961 and The Trouble with Aliens? Dana Carson 21:30, 24 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Harry Turtledove's A Different Flesh

Is their any evidence (internal or otherwise) that this edition of Turtledove's collection is different from the first edition (which I have verified)? Locus, who is usually pretty good at indicating revisions, doesn't mention it. Mhhutchins 18:11, 22 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Checking my catalog, I see that the notion that the 1994 edition was different comes from John Wenn's bibliographies, which are usually as reliable as Locus (if not more so) when it comes to minor textual variations. I have the 1988 paperback edition in my collection, but not the 1994 reprint, so if anybody could do physical verification of the latter, it would be much appreciated. Ahasuerus 18:19, 22 Apr 2007 (CDT)
I have just verified the 1994 Baen pb ed of A Different Flesh. The contents, and indeed the pagination, are identical to the 1988 ed, and there is no claim of new copyright or mention of revision on the copyright page. It looks to me as if the only difference is the format, the price, and the cover art. -DES Talk 18:25, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Mainly in Moonlight by Nicholas Stuart Gray

Mainly in Moonlight by Nicholas Stuart Gray was originally subtitled "Ten Stories of Sorcery and the Supernatural" yet various online sources list 12 (!) stories. I wonder if it started out as a collection of 10 stories and then 2 more were added in a later edition? If anybody has a copy, could you please check what it has? Ahasuerus 21:13, 22 Apr 2007 (CDT)

An update: Some online libraries suggest that the 1967 Meredith edition had only 10 stories while the 1979 reprint by Faber contained 12. Ahasuerus 21:30, 22 Apr 2007 (CDT)
FWIW, my 1979 Faber Fanfares edn (with 12 stories) states, on the copyright page, that it was first published 1965 by Faber & Faber. Thus, it may be that the 10 story edn has actually dropped 2 stories! (A quick skim of the 2 dropped/extra stories indicates that they might not fit a "sorcery & the supernatural" theme.) --j_clark 18:57, 29 Dec 2007 (CST)
Thanks! Could you please Verify the edition when you get a chance? Ahasuerus 19:48, 29 Dec 2007 (CST)

Deals with the Devil ed Mike Resnick

Does anybody have this anthology or rather it's probably single publication? There's quite a mess now: the title has two publication entries, but for the same ISBN/data. The second is taken from http://www.locusmag.com/index/t284.html#A29440 and notes that "existing pub looks suspiciously bad": it contains only about 2/3 of the stories. I've submitted delete of that one, but changed my mind and didn't approve it yet. After all, there are more mysteries around: Locus1 counts (and lists) "36 stories", but the cover as well as Library Journal annotation at Amazon says 32... So I'd be more satisfied if somebody could check it physically. --JVjr 07:31, 17 May 2007 (CDT)

None of the people that have verified DAW books have this. One AbeBooks seller has a list of stories, says there are 32 and provided the following list. I have no idea if the dealer entered this or copy/pasted from another source. I added the numbering as there are 34 stories (?) and the order of the stories is what the dealer used. Note that there are several misspellings in this list and so it's quite likely it was hand-entered by the dealer.
  1. A Later Date by Jack C. Haldeman II
  2. Winter by Michelle Sagara (in dealer's subject line but not story list)
  3. Pitch by Jane Yolen
  4. Red Heart by Terry McGarry
  5. Another Damn Deal by Dean Wesley Smith
  6. Discounts by Jack Dann
  7. Seminar From Hell by David Gerrold
  8. Confessional by Laura Resnick
  9. The Ultimate Complment by John C. Bunnell
  10. For Value Recieved by Lawrence Watt-Evans
  11. Jealous Gods by Kristne Kathryn Rusch
  12. Bargaining Chip by Esther M. Friesner
  13. The Turning Test by Anthony R. Lewis
  14. Infernal Dramnation by Jack Nimersheim
  15. Rent-To-Own by Mark C. Sumner
  16. The Easy Way Down From Avernus by Dave Smeds
  17. Small Print by Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon
  18. Stanley the Eighteen Percenter by Mike Resnick
  19. Good Night, Duane Allman by George Alec Effinger
  20. Moishe in Excelsis by Barry N Malzberg
  21. Nobody wins in a deal with the Devil by Brian M Thomsen
  22. Mending Souls by Judith Tarr
  23. Just Do It by Nicholas A DiChario
  24. A Deal is a Deal by Marie A. Parson
  25. Good Intentions by Charles Von Rospach
  26. Passion for the Souls Below by Barbara Delaplace
  27. Not Just another Deal by Pat Cadigan
  28. Devildeal by Robert Sheckley
  29. Free Will Baby by Janni Lee Simner
  30. Dealer's Choice, Frank M Robinson
  31. Jelly Reds by John Lutz
  32. A Girl for Ronald by Jeff Wallmann
  33. The Hack by Loren D Estleman
  34. To Walk the Earth by Thomas Sullivan
Marc Kupper (talk) 22:30, 17 May 2007 (CDT)
Correction - I was comparing the dealer's list [1] against ISFDB and see that it's missing Winter but... the dealer stuck that in the title of the listing meaning there are 34 stories! In diffing this list vs. ISFDB I see that the dealer did not list these stories
  • The Party of the First Part
  • Connections
That gets us up to 36 stories but maybe the dealer would be willing to verify your ISFDB page. I would delete the pub listing with 21 stories as whoever entered the second one must have also recognized that the first looked bad but chose not to delete it. One final note on this is I did this Google search and it only found ISFDB ver-1 pages implying an edition with 21 stories was not published. It is a pretty random mix of missing stories though.
I found another TOC [2] that also has 36 stories and enough small typographical changes that it's probably not a copy/paste. Worldcat also lists 36 stories. It's possible the following stories are not titled exactly as listed in ISFDB:
  • The Turing Test - several sites list this as The Turning Test
  • Stanley, the Eighteen-Percenter - several sites list this as Stanley the Eighteen-Percenter
Marc Kupper (talk) 23:15, 17 May 2007 (CDT)
I don't have this anthology in my collection either, but I would be inclined to go with the Locus Index and WorldCat (note the spelling of Jeff Waldmann's name as per Locus). Ahasuerus 02:02, 18 May 2007 (CDT)

Okay, I deleted the incomplete publication, the rest will have to wait for the Singularity. (I suppose The Turing Test is correct and non-sf readers mistyped it as "Turning"; and a comma is an easy thing to leave out in titles). --JVjr 08:28, 21 May 2007 (CDT)

That "existing pub looks suspiciously bad" comment makes me think it was me that added the pub from Locus, but I can't for the life of me remember WHY. :-( I don't have a copy, so presumably one of the entries cropped up in something else I was looking at at the time. BLongley 13:29, 21 May 2007 (CDT)
Ah, yes, the "good" data was from me. I'm not going mad after all. (Well, not madder, anyway.) BLongley 15:46, 1 Jun 2007 (CDT)


Judith Merril The Year's Best S-F 10th Annual Edition 1965

I'm looking for any and all editions except the Dell #8611 $0.75 US edition. Is the story by José Maria Gironella titled, "A Red Egg", or "The Red Egg"? CoachPaul 17:03, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

Book Club editon is "The Red Egg" on copyright page, TOC, and story page.--Swfritter 19:02, 8 May 2007 (CDT)
The db had this story as "A Red Egg". That's now two pubs that have it as "The Red Egg". If we can come up with a third "The", is that enough to officially change both that are currently listed as "A" in the db? CoachPaul 23:59, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

Beyond the Farthest Star

Can someone check if the Del Ray editions from 1992 pb and tp contain both Beyond the Farthest Star and Tangor Returns. The trade edition may not exist according to the notes. Dana Carson 18:41, 15 May 2007 (CDT)

I don't have this story. While the notes for BYNDTHFRTH1992 says "Just 9 Google hits for the ISBN (often with different year), unknown to Locus, may be spurious." I believe it exists. 1) Locus often does not list later printings. 2) Bookfinder dug up 29 listings and AbeBooks has eight with some of them appearing to be for 0-441-05658-X. One confusion is that 0-441-... is an Ace ISBN but some listings say Ballantine. Amazon.com 044105658X and www.amazon.ca list it as Ballantine (Nov-1992). I believe the Ace printing history would be
  • Ace F-282 1964 1st
  • Ace 05651 1969
  • Ace 05652
  • Ace 05653 1973 Rare
  • Ace 05654 1973 Rare - $1.25 cover
  • Ace 05655 1975 (0441056555 found on 3 pages)
  • Ace 05656 1979 (0441056563 found on 41 pages)
  • Ace 05657 Not used - 0441056571 not found either
  • Ace 05658 1979 (044105658X found on 5 pages - some sites say this is the 7th printing but I believe it's the 8th)
  • Ace 05659 Not used - 0441056598 not found either
Marc Kupper (talk) 01:25, 16 May 2007 (CDT)
Thanks. I can use that to fill in some more entries. According to the copy I have.
  • First Ace Printing June 1964
  • Second Ace Printing October 1969
  • Third Ace Printing December 1972
  • Fourth Ace Printing December 1973
  • Fifth Ace Printing April 1975
  • Sixth Ace Printing July 1976
  • Seventh Ace Printing January 1979
and the seventh entry you have matches the number SBN mine which lists seventh as its last entry Dana Carson 05:50, 16 May 2007 (CDT)

Ron Goulart's "Odd Job #101"

I was verifying this collection when I noticed that there was a variant spelling of the title story. The title "Odd Job No. 101" is already in the ISFDB but with no publications. The copyright page of the collection states the following: ©1974 by Mercury Press...from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Locus gives the first publication as simply "F&SF, 1974" (but also incorrectly gives the title of the story and collection as "Odd Job No. 101".) I physically checked every issue of F&SF from 1974 (and into 1975), but no story by Goulart appears. Thinking it may have been pseudonymously credited, I also checked the first line of every story to see if any matched the story as published in the collection. Still, to no avail. Ray Lovell's excellent bibliography of F&SF gave no further insight. Does anyone have any idea how to resolve this? Could the story have been purchased by F&SF and not published because the collection came out before Ferman could find a slot for it? I'm baffled, and because this has taken more than an hour out of my life, I can't give up now. Mhhutchins 15:37, 16 May 2007 (CDT)

Sorry - I've read Odd Job #213 (also by Goulart) but don't have #101 and also recall wasting some time trying to figure out #101. As far as I could tell, he does not use pseudonyms (other than perhaps ghost writing for William Shatner) and also did not write anything for F&SF in 1974 [3]. I see that you verified the collection Odd Job #101 And Other Future Crimes and Intrigues ODDJOB1975. What does the copyright/acknowledgments page say for this story? The other option is to e-mail him via something like [4] though my experience is that while authors are happy to get mail many don't seem to keep copies of every publication their stuff appeared in. Marc Kupper (talk) 16:47, 16 May 2007 (CDT)
Oops - I was just re-reading your original question and see you already noted what the copyright page says. This is speculation but I'm assuming F&SF agreed to publish the story but never did and somehow it fell into the cracks. What's the date of the publication? I see references to "Scribner, 1974" in places that don't seem to be based on Amazon.com (which has 1974 though I just sent in an update on this). Does your copy say 1974 wrt the publication itself or maybe the confusion was caused by the 1974 date for the story story? Anyway - it seems the canonical, and perhaps only name for the ss, would be whatever is used in the collection though you might as well add a title note explaining that while sources such as the copyright page of the "101" collection state the first appearance was in F&SF 1974 that it seems the story was never printed in F&SF and that you inspected all of the 1974 and some 1985 issues. Marc Kupper (talk) 17:43, 16 May 2007 (CDT)
FWIW, I have seen books with obvious errors on the copyright page. I wonder if this is one of those errors that Contento and others later copied? Ahasuerus 18:51, 16 May 2007 (CDT)
The collection has no formal statement of publication date. Only a ©1975 by Ron Goulart. The Library of Congress Catalog Card Number is 74-10853. Both would indicate that the book was published either very early in 1975 or, even more likely, December of 1974. WorldCat gives a 1974 publishing date. I've made notes in the title data for both the story and the collection. Mhhutchins 19:18, 16 May 2007 (CDT)
Checking the full Worldcat record, I see the following: "Year: 1974, ©1975; Entry: 19740603". The latter suggests that the book was entered in OCLC in June 1974, which may indicate delayed publication. I will consult Reginald-1/3 on Saturday to see what he has to say. Ahasuerus 15:18, 21 May 2007 (CDT)

World's That Weren't

There are two book with that title [5] and one by Laura Anne Gilman that was in twice that I just merged. However she does not have it listed on her site and if you check on Amazon they have the first one listed with her as one of the authors. She is not in that book. Is the second book a mistake or was she the editor? Dana Carson 05:06, 20 May 2007 (CDT)

According to the Locus list of Awards, she edited the anthology, but I can't find any evidence of her involvement elsewhere. Can we send her an e-mail and ask? Ahasuerus 15:01, 21 May 2007 (CDT)
OK. I'll do that. Thanks. Dana Carson 16:58, 21 May 2007 (CDT)
We could do with clearing up the Gillman/Gilman issue too. There's still a stray reference to Gillman. BLongley 17:29, 21 May 2007 (CDT)
I cleaned up her biblio a bit, but, of course, there are links that lead to other link that lead to other links... Ahasuerus 18:26, 21 May 2007 (CDT)
Yeah, that's why I wander off and neglect moderating duties at times... e.g. I've spent 4 happy days so far looking at what THIS pub led me to - and I only plan on checking the relevant half! BLongley 18:37, 21 May 2007 (CDT)

The Analog Anthology #1: Fifty Years of the Best

Can anybody Verify that this title exists on the Title Page of a Publication and not just on the cover? I have two editions of this pub, and neither Printing has "The Analog Anthology #1: Fifty Years of the Best" on the Title Page? There is more discussion of this on my Talk page and on the Talk page of Ahasuerus. CoachPaul 22:05, 22 May 2007 (CDT)

I only have the "Fifty Years of the Best Science Fiction from Analog" edition, so I don't have anything to add to the title issue, but I noticed in my copy that the Heinlein story (-And He Built a Crooked House) does not have quotations around it, the way it was shown in the contents of that pub. I changed that pub, and made it a variant of the more usual title ("-And He Built a Crooked House"). Do your other editions have the quotation marks as part of the title?Jefe 13:10, 30 May 2007 (CDT)

Alan Dean Foster's "Mission to Moulokin"

Does anyone have a copy of this publication http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?MSSNTMLKNN1981 and if they do can they verify the printing date, ISBN#, price & country printed US or Canada.Kraang 22:08, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

I have just verified this publication, which looks like either the same or a very similar pub. The one I verified was "Manufactured in the United States of America". -DES Talk 20:31, 10 Feb 2008 (CST)

The 1976 Hale edition of Nova 1

We have verified two US (1970-1971) editions of Nova 1 so far and found a few errors in the Contento record. According to Contento, the 1976 Hale hardcover reprint dropped 3 stories, so I have created a Variant Title for it, but it would be nice to have it physically verified if anybody has a copy.

Also, this is an original anthology, but the copyright page says:

Copyright @ 1970 Harry Harrison, "Mary and Joe" by Naomi Mitchison Copyright @1962 by Naomi Mitchison Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Incorporated.

Any ideas where this story may have been first published? Her biblio page at Feminist SF simply says "(1962) reprinted in Harry Harrison's Nova 1 (1970)". Ahasuerus 23:24, 27 May 2007 (CDT)

This is still bugging me. The Sphere 1975 paperback repeats the "'Mary and Joe' copyright Naomi Mitchison 1962" claim, and The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 4 says it's copyright Harry Harrison 1970, reprinted by permission of the author, first published in Nova 1. It's a shame she died so young, or I would have asked her. BLongley 19:00, 27 Dec 2007 (CST)

Miracle Science and Fantasy Stories, June-July 1931

I have entered both issues of "Miracle Science and Fantasy Stories" into the database, but I only have the first issue. I was able to recreate the contents of the second issue using Day's Index and online sources, but if somebody happens to have a physical copy, could you please verify No. 2? Admittedly a long shot, what have we got to lose? :) Ahasuerus 00:55, 28 May 2007 (CDT)

van Vogt volunteer verifiers vanted

(Sorry, had to use the German accent to keep the alliteration going... ;-) ) No particular publications in mind yet, but after the first 10 entries I've made, it seems clear this author needs some work. Anyone else want to work on this (suspected) creator of the "fix-up novel"? BLongley 19:00, 29 May 2007 (CDT)

I've already verified the few books of his that I have in my collection. Knowing how the ISFDB doesn't deal well with fix-ups, I pass on your request to help clean up his page. And then to try to straighten out which stories were written, whether collaborative or only credited, by him and Hull, hell, hit's horrible! Mhhutchins 19:08, 29 May 2007 (CDT)
Considering current cowardice, collection completed conspirator-less. ;-) BLongley 18:24, 30 May 2007 (CDT)
Seriously though - I'll have to do another pass to finish off the cover-art at least, wave the Clute-Nicholls wand over it, and then do some major merges and note-making - so even if I'm going it alone some more verifications will help. BLongley 18:24, 30 May 2007 (CDT)
Actually, even some more NOTES will do... from my recent experiences, the notes about prior publications in my pubs may give more clues than what we have here already. If you've got a pub with a bibliography in, I'd be interested in what those say especially - scan and send if you'd rather not tackle it. BLongley 17:56, 31 May 2007 (CDT)
I have about 75 van Vogt volumes in my collection, which includes almost all of his fiction sans a few textual variations. I don't have The Misfit Press's "The Enchanted Village" from 1979 or his non-fiction. Unfortunately, access is still a problem :( It would probably work best if other editors finished their collections first and I would fill in any remaining lacunae later. Ahasuerus 21:14, 31 May 2007 (CDT)
Would be happy to help. If you have any questions about my verified publications let me know. As for Laumer could you look at the collections only and verify the ones i've done from Contento. For the unverified ones that have wrong stories just change them, i'll fix the variants as i work title by title. Once the titles in the collections are correct it should be easier to fix the variants and there order.Thanks:-)Kraang 21:29, 31 May 2007 (CDT)
Well, I feel thoroughly unqualified to deal with this now. I think I've improved what we have here somewhat, but in my searches I've encountered several people that already know more accurate publication dates, have more cover-art, know of more foreign editions, can put Artists to uncredited publications, etc. Only one has considered becoming an editor here so far, but I've left notes on everything I have, and provided links to several other excellent sites and established contacts with their owners. BLongley 18:02, 6 Jun 2007 (CDT)
I'm a bit of a butterfly that wants a new thrill, so I'm going to take a break on this and do something productive but different. There's a lot of "copy-and-paste" work still to do with the sites I found, so feel free to take that on. I'll have another look at Laumer, but Kraang and Ahasuerus seem to have that covered pretty well already. Maybe I'll just go find another set of specialist sites for another neglected author... BLongley 18:02, 6 Jun 2007 (CDT)
My van Vogt collection is limited and at a hard-to-reach spot at the moment. Here's the data from my db which does not map perfectly to ISFDB but should be recognizable. If one of more of these looks like a "must have" in terms of getting entered/verified I'll dig the books up. Mission to the Stars probably has a price but I must have picked up the book before I had the price column in the db.
TitlePublisherFirst-PrintPr.Print-dateCatalog #/ISBNBarcodePriceBindingPages
Earth Factor XDAW BooksAug-19761Aug-1976DAW UY1249; On Amazon at *0879972491None1.25MM Paperback174
The House that Stood StillPaperback LibraryNov-1965n.p.n.d.Paperback Library 52-873 50¢; On Amazon at *B000B8314INone0.50MM Paperback159
Mission to the StarsPocket BooksOct-1977n.p.n.d.0-671-81451-6None-MM Paperback174
SlanNelson Doubledayn.d.n.p.n.d.Book Club edition with no coding; On Amazon at *B000BMTXA0NoneNoneHardcover176
The Weapon Shops of IsherAce Booksn.d.n.p.n.d.SBN 441-87855-060; On Amazon at *B000ETNFTUNone0.60MM Paperback155
Marc Kupper (talk) 03:29, 14 Jun 2007 (CDT)

New Worlds December 1959

Robert Silverberg story - 'Appropriations' or 'Appropriation'. A story under the second title appeared in May 1959 Satellite and Locus lists the second spelling.--swfritter 15:47, 6 Jun 2007 (CDT)

I have recently aquired a run of New Worlds from 1956-1966 and am looking at a copy of that issue - number 89. On the cover, contents page and on the first page of the story it is given as 'Appropriation'. --Daikiwi 15:31, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Agog! Ripping Reads

Requesting physical verification of Agog! Ripping Reads. An Amazon.com review claims that there are 22 stories in the book, but WorldCat lists 23 entries, one of them seemingly uncredited/unknown. I suspect that it's either an introduction or a data entry error, but it's hard to tell sight unseen. Ahasuerus 23:28, 19 Jun 2007 (CDT)

World's Wackiest Upper Atmosphere is listed as World’s Wackiest Upper Atmosphere Re-entry Disasters Dating Game on most sites. That will get the # of titles to match.
The real hassle is
  • Andrew Macrae's Truckdreamin - Some sites list this as Truck Dreamin
  • David Kane's Very Like a Whale - Some sites list this as Blubberguts
  • Jason Nahrung's Pain Threshold - Some sites list this as The Pain Threshold
  • Anna Tambour's See Here, See There - Some sites list this as See Here See There
  • Simon Brown's Along came a spider - Some sites list this as And Down Came a Spider
This is just stuff I noticed when looking over contents lists! I did not bother with firing up diff. Sorry, I don't have a copy and have no idea which titles are correct. Marc Kupper (talk) 02:14, 20 Jun 2007 (CDT)

The Once and Future King

I've had more trouble with T. H. White and Ted E. White tonight than I had over the entire X-files Universe at the weekend. :-( Still, after learning that Novel to Omnibus conversions need a manual Omnibus entry adding afterwards to get them visible, I think it's mostly OK now. But anyone with The Once and Future King, or even better, sightings of The Queen of Air and Darkness (NOT the Anderson one!) or The Ill-Made Knight or The Candle in the Wind would be very welcome to reassure me I haven't messed up a classic! BLongley 18:45, 25 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Don[ald [J.]] Pfeil

Any physical verifications welcome - I've massaged the three variations together and found a few cover pictures, but own precisely none of his works. (Unless he's got another pseudonym apart from the "William Arrow" that started it all.) BLongley 07:04, 1 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Well, the easy one.... I have Voyage to a Forgotten Sun (Ballantine, 1975). "Donald J. Pfeil" on cover, spine, title page, and copyright page. --MartyD 15:47, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Colonial Survey / Planet Explorer / The Planet Explorer / Planet Explorers

I am verifying my Murray Leinster collection at the moment. After reviewing various records in the Locus Index and the ISFDB, I sent an e-mail to Locus and Contento, which said, in part:

...the Locus Index (http://www.locusmag.com/index/b295.html#A4080) lists the title of the 1989 Bart reprint of Leinster's "Colonial Survey" (aka "Planet Explorer") as "Planet Explorers". I don't have the Bart edition, but according to OCLC and various online catalogs, the title used by Bart was "Planet Explorer", not "Planet Explorers". Could the extra "s" be a typo?
Also, the "Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections" states (http://contento.best.vwh.net/t63.htm#A1375) that the Avon paperback edition (T-202, 1957) was called "The Planet Explorer". I have checked my copy and the title is "The Planet Explorer" on the cover and on the spine, but it's "Planet Explorer" on the title page, which would be the same as the title used by Bart as per OCLC.

Would anybody happen to have a copy of the 1989 Bart edition to see whether the title is Planet Explorer or Planet Explorers? TIA! Ahasuerus 21:45, 28 Jul 2007 (CDT)

UK editions of Asimov's Rest of the Robots

Can anyone verify the contents of these two editions: Grafton, 1986 and HarperCollins, 1994? They're both only 200+ pages so it's doubtful that they include the eight stories AND two novels of the original 1964 edition. Contento says they're reprints of the 1964 edition. In the US, all paperback editions dropped the 2 novels and are either 159 or 192 pages. Thanks. Mhhutchins 08:50, 29 Jul 2007 (CDT)


The SFBC edition of Michael P. Kube-McDowell's Alternities

I have physically verified the SFBC edition of Michael P. Kube-McDowell's Alternities, which, naturally, doesn't state the publication date or price. The Locus Index is no help in this case since they apparently didn't see this edition. Would anybody happen to have access to the SFBC catalogs for 1988-1989 so that we could determine the date and the price? I have a few years worth of their catalogs, but nothing from the late 1980s. TIA! Ahasuerus 16:47, 30 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Middle 'M' Muddles

A couple of authors I've been verifying recently are in a bit of a mess. (Not entirely down to me, I assure you!) "Esther Friesner" seems to be the most common variation now but "Esther M. Friesner" is canonical so far. And a lot of "Brian M. Stablefords" were under "Brian Stableford". After noticing this, I checked "Iain M. Banks" - which is mostly OK so far, but if so then we could be a bit more definite about "Nongenre" works. Anyway, I'm not asking for sightings of Isaac M. Asimov or Robert M. Heinlein, but if anybody has some Friesner or Stableford works they can verify, please do, and hopefully we can settle on a canonical name before someone has to go do all the variant-making and fixing. Ta muchly! BLongley 17:02, 31 Jul 2007 (CDT)

(Oh, and if anyone can explain THIS attribution, feel free!) BLongley 17:02, 31 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Poul Anderson, The Warriors From Nowhere

In Agent of the Terran Empire Ace, 0-441-01066-0 it's The Warriors From Nowhere. In the other four publications of that title it's Warriors from Nowhere. Can someone with one of those pubs please check. The Coronet edition was verified by Mike Christie, I'll ask on his talk page also. Thats a British edition, so I'd still like to know about the other US editions. Dana Carson 22:40, 13 Aug 2007 (CDT)

I have the same Coronet edition as Mike (I hope, as I've just added the cover-art to his verified pub), and it's definitely "Warriors from Nowhere" on first page of story, and on the copyright page. There is no contents page. Copyright page also confirms it's a variant of "The Ambassadors of Flesh". BLongley 13:15, 14 Aug 2007 (CDT)
I've also taken the liberty (but asked afterwards) of correcting "Honourable Enemies" back to the British spelling that edition actually has. BLongley 13:17, 14 Aug 2007 (CDT)
Before I make that pub any messier - the same copyright page says "Hunters of the Sky Cave" was published in shorter form as "A Handful of Stars" in Amazing Stories, and reprinted in Ace as "We Claim These Stars!". So that would make it a "Novel" type, as you already have it, Dana - but it's Shortfiction for the other pubs with entries so far. Any other sightings of the variant claims? BLongley 13:31, 14 Aug 2007 (CDT)
I confirm that it is "The Warriors from Nowhere" in the 1980 Ace pb, and that the copyright page of that ed mentions earlier printings both as "Warriors from Nowhere" and "The Ambassadors of Flesh", and also the different past titles of "Hunters of the Sky Cave" as given above. -DES Talk 17:33, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

The 1990 expansion of The Puppet Masters

Would somebody happen to have the 1986 Del Rey reprint of Heinlein's The Puppet Masters? According to OCLC, it's 347 pages long and has the same ISBN as the 1990 restored/expanded version, which is only 340 pages long. As noted in this rec.arts.sf.written message, it looks suspicious since previous paperback reprints had been around 175-220 pages, but the OCLC record was created in 1987 and there are over 100 libraries that claim that they have a copy. A physical verification would be great! :) Ahasuerus 00:45, 19 Aug 2007 (CDT)

Astounding Science Fiction, 1959 - May-July US versions, and August-September British version

My copy of the British magazine is a weird one. Rather than go with the same contents as the May 1959 US edition, it has the the "right" contents page but instead has all 3 parts of "Dorsai!" plus a couple of fragments from the June/July stories/essays on the reverse of some of those pages. I'd normally assume someone had decided to vandalise three issues to create a one-volume "Dorsai!": but

  • the contents page (despite listing everything apart from Editorial and Dorsai! incorrectly) does mention that there were going to be no September or October issues due to a printer's strike
  • Visco seems to confirm there were no British editions those months
  • the page numbers for parts 2 and 3 don't match the ones from the US issues

Which leads me to the conclusion that unless the US edition page numbers are wrong, there were no other printings for an individual to use to create such a Frankenstein volume, and this must have been the publishers rushing to bodge together a readable if confusing issue to cover the gap. Or perhaps there were Canadian or Australian or New Zealand editions with those page numbers and mine is a unique creation by an individual? Any sightings of Dorsai! in Astounding welcome, to help me get rid of this headache! (Have I mentioned recently how much I hate doing Magazines?) BLongley 14:43, 19 Aug 2007 (CDT)

Well, I'm gussing you never had a reply, since this is still here. I have the August, November & December 1959 issues of the british edition of 'Astounding'. They are numbered vol. XV no.8, 9 & 10. They contain parts 1, 2 & 3 respectively of 'Dorsai!'. I also have a copy of the June 1959 US edition of 'Astounding' which contains part 2 of 'Dorsai!'. The synopsis and start of the second episodes appear identical.
My copy of Aug59UK appears normal - 'Dorsai', plus stories by Gordon, Herbert, Harris, Kuykendall, Smith. Nov59UK has 'Dorsai' begin on page 62 and Dec59UK on page 54. My guess is that unless you have one of the strangest printing and binding errors in the world, a previous owner decided to make their own 'fix-up'.
US & UK editions are not identical. Generally the UK editions will sawp out one short-story for a different, shorter one and run truncated versions of the Reference Library & Brass Tacks. Being very new to the ISFDB wiki (joining today) I was surprised to find no separate listing for the UK series of Astounding/Analog, or comment about it. Perhaps after I've played in the sandbox a bit... --Daikiwi 16:23, 14 June 2009 (UTC)
Well now we have a start with our two existing UK entries having their own wiki page. Magazine data entry can be a little more complicated than other areas but it is great fun browsing through these wonderful old issues. Welcome aboard. Our UK magazine listings can definitely use a lot of work.--swfritter 19:33, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

The Magic White Suit / The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit

Rudam and I can only can only track this back to references to "The Magic White Suit, Saturday Evening Post, October 4 1958" but due to a load of internet clutter around the play and film, we're not too sure about this reference. Does anyone have a reliable SEP reference site? (Or even better, a physical copy under this title?) BLongley 14:29, 7 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Locus online database.--swfritter 20:20, 7 Oct 2007 (CDT)
I was hoping for a Non-Genre reference site e.g. it's easy enough to verify anything in Playboy at a site that has no reason to propagate SF Urban Legends, if they turn out to be such. Still, The FictionMags Index says it's been confirmed on ebay, and sure enough there's enough current listings there that I can be quite confident of this date. But if anyone does find a good online complete index to the SEP, drop me a line. I find ebay dangerous to go near. ;-) BLongley 13:29, 9 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Jim Baen's Universe, February 2007

There are several essays in this issue which are untitled, and one is written by "Written by Barry N. Malzberg" (and that's not a Gene Wolfe recursive title!) Can anyone straighten this out? Mhhutchins 14:37, 8 Oct 2007 (CDT)

I entered all the Baen's Universe data. 'February 2007' is the actual title given for the articles. As for the Malzberg - that can happen when with electronic editions. A little too much of the old copy and paste. I've been waiting for them to post the downloads for the latest issue before I make a final pass through the mags I've entered in the last week. They have never-ending serials and I am still trying to decide whether to treat them as serials or short stories in a series.--swfritter 17:42, 8 Oct 2007 (CDT)
Thanks. I was checking on a Malzberg title and noticed that strange byline. Mhhutchins 17:59, 8 Oct 2007 (CDT)

"Anita Hijja"?

This is not exactly a verification request, but I am not sure where else to post it. I entered my Edmondson paperbacks over the weekend and was puzzled by the 1980 Ace edition of The Man Who Corrupted Earth, which had been previously verified by Dana Carson. Here is the note that I added to the record: "The cover art is not credited and the signature on the cover is very small and almost illegible. The artist's first name is almost certainly "Anita" and the last name looks like "Hijja"." Any ideas who that might be? Anybody have a copy and a really good magnifying glass? :) Ahasuerus 20:56, 5 Dec 2007 (CST)

I've run across a cover artist with a similar name "Atilla Hejja"[6]?Kraang 22:15, 5 Dec 2007 (CST)
That's it, I knew it looked familiar! :) BTW, we have records for "Attila Hajji", "Attila Heja", "Attila Hejja", "Attila Hejji" and "Atila Hega". Could the verifiers please take a closer look at the signatures and see if we can standardize this poor guy's name? I'll check my verified pubs on 2007-12-29. Ahasuerus 22:41, 5 Dec 2007 (CST)
It looks like "Attila Hejja" on my "Space Colony", and sure enough Google seems to confirm that as the official name. And sadly, that he passed away 3 months ago. BLongley 13:30, 6 Dec 2007 (CST)
Yes, that's what it looks like. And we need to add "Atilla Hejja" (note that Kraang's link above leads to "Attila" rather than "Atilla" Hejja) to the list of misspellings. Ahasuerus 13:49, 6 Dec 2007 (CST)
If anyone needs a comparison, I've uploaded a sample sig image . BLongley 14:51, 6 Dec 2007 (CST)
I think one of the problems with this name is it's easy to misspell. It's easy to type in one "t" when it should be two, and if copying the name from a cover the misspellings would be even worse. In conclusion what I'm getting at is that some of these variants may only be mistyping a name from a copyright page or a misinterpretation of a signature on a cover.Kraang 19:03, 6 Dec 2007 (CST)
Oh, I am sure that the "variants" are just typos, but it's possible that some of the typos were publishers'/printers' and not our editors'. Editors are human too :)

Science Fiction Omnibus (1952) with story by Krepps/"St. Reynard"

The db shows that "Five Years in the Marmalade" was reprinted in Science Fiction Omnibus as by "Geoff St. Reynard" the pseudonym under which it was originally published. It was published as Krepps in The Best Science-Fiction 1950. Since SF Omnibus reprints this anthology, why would it change the authorship credit? Mhhutchins 13:12, 15 Dec 2007 (CST)

Other Worlds, March 1951

Should the story in this issue by Charles Tanner (and its accompanying art) be titled "Angus MacAuliffe and the Gowden Touch" or "Angus MacAuliffe and the Gowden Tooch"? The MIT Index has the second spelling. There is also a reprint with the second spelling. Mhhutchins 10:15, 16 Dec 2007 (CST)

Right you are. Fixed and merged. Thanks. The Other Worlds entries were created from scratch so any and all errors are the responsibility of yours truly. No plausible deniability.--swfritter 14:01, 16 Dec 2007 (CST)

Alfred's Ar[c/k]

Could somebody with access to New Worlds SF, May 1965 please check if Jack Vance's story was "Alfred's Arc" as we currently claim or "Alfred's Ark" as the Contento Index and the Locus Index claim? TIA! Ahasuerus 19:23, 17 Dec 2007 (CST)

Enterprise 2115

I acquired the large paperback book recently, and now I suspect that the hardcover version we record doesn't exist. Does anyone know if Merit published hardbacks, or can someone check the usual references to see if a hardcover edition was entered in error? BLongley 17:26, 21 Dec 2007 (CST)

It exists alright, have a look at this [7],it even comes with a nice scan.. :-)Kraang 21:46, 21 Dec 2007 (CST)
Yep, that looks a lot harder than mine. I guess my tp was the missing edition after all - and now I've wondering if that should be 1957/58 due to the review date... BLongley 05:44, 22 Dec 2007 (CST)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Script Book Season One Vol. 1

Is Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Script Book Season One Vol. 1 really listed as having Buffy The Vampire Slayer as the author? Dana Carson 04:15, 23 Dec 2007 (CST)

This publication is volume 1 in a 2 volume set reprinting the following Buffy scripts:
Volume 1:
  • Welcome to the Hellmouth
  • The harvest
  • Witch
  • Teacher's pet
  • Never kill a boy on the first date
  • The pack
Volume 2:
  • Angel
  • I robot, you Jane
  • The puppet show
  • Nightmares
  • Out of mind, out of sight
  • Prophecy girl
OCLC (record 49011769) attributes all of them to Joss Whedon (b. 1964), but I don't know how individual scripts are credited within the book itself. The description posted by the Library of Congress is the usual publisher-provided fluff and doesn't help. However, Buffy is a very popular franchise, so I am sure there is something on the Net (Wikipedia?) about it. Ahasuerus 13:47, 23 Dec 2007 (CST)
Yes, Wikipedia has them all. BLongley 13:58, 23 Dec 2007 (CST)

Andrew Masterson's "Last Days [etc.]"

Masterson/Masterton ... There are various places in the Internet indicating that the author is Masterton (especially of the 2000 publ.). All the research I've done (National Library of Australia, British Library, World Cat, Fantastic Fiction, covers on various amazons) seems to indicate that the 2 publs of Last Days currently on ISFDB are printed as Masterson. From my research, it seems to me that the error has come from the publisher's database or similar. (Both the Andrew Masterson titles that are in ISFDB were Masterton until today. I have a copy of the other title, which also refers to Last Days so I'm confident it's the same author. Does anyone have a copy of either publ. of Last Days to physically check, please? --j_clark 18:12, 29 Dec 2007 (CST)

The Pale Invaders - G. R. Kesteven or Kestavan or even Crosher!

Anyone got this by any variation? So far I've only found a Kestavan picture and a Kesteven review... BLongley 15:41, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

I have a Knight Books/Hodder & Stoughton pb 1979 edn by G. R. Kesteven, copyright 1974 ("First published by Chatto & Windus"), which I'll add in due course. ISBN 034020480X.
In "About the Author" it says "... He ... published thirty stories under his real name, G. R. Crosher."
British Library has Kesteven, G.R. for the 1974 edn. --j_clark 20:23, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)
I have finally added my 3 G. R. Kesteven publications. (2 of Awakening Water - different publishers; 1 of Pale Invaders). All 3 say © G.R. Crosher. All use Kesteven (not Kestevan) on the cover & title pages.--j_clark 07:16, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

The two Michael Carrolls

I am not sure where to post this, but we have a single biblio for Michael Carroll, which covers two separate people who happen to share the same name. Most of our records are for Michael Carroll the artist, but we also have one or two that need to be moved to "Michael Carroll (Ireland)". The latter has been fairly prolific under his own name and as "Jaye Carroll" since turning pro in 1999 -- see his Wikipedia article and his official Web site. I am busy doing verifications this week, so if anybody has a little free time, feel free to tackle the hydra :) Ahasuerus 15:18, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

"Sir Mallory's Magnitude" by S. D. Gottesman

We have two records for this pseudonymous story. One of them is a variant title pointing to C. M. Kornbluth while the other one points to Frederik Pohl. Could someone with access to His Share of Glory please check the attribution? "S. D. Gottesman" was mostly used by Kornbluth alone, but sometimes it was used when he collaborated with other people, so we will want to make sure before we merge these titles. TIA! Ahasuerus 16:08, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

If nobody else answers, it's in the mail. I have been meaning to order this book for a long time.--swfritter 17:28, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)
The collection includes only stories that Kornbluth wrote without a co-author. Here is the listing for Into the Fourth Dimension and Other Stories at Locus online.--swfritter 22:52, 8 Jan 2008 (CST)


Tom Deitz Worldwright/Wordwright

I just noticed that Tom Deitz' book Wordwright contains the title Worldwright. Looks like "Word" (no L) is the correct one, but can anyone verify?

I don't own it, but the cover looks clear to me. And the few sites with "Worldwright" seem to be using our data. Someone here seems to be half-fixing titles - correcting title but not pubs, or vice versa. :-( BLongley 14:08, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

Would it be worth having a script check for NOVELs containing a single title whose name is not a simple prefix of the pub's name?

Eventually: sometimes the pub title is a subset of the title title, sometimes vice versa. Usually series names added to one or the other. There's a lot to sort out, see my script for duplicate ISBNs that tried to eliminate such similarities. BLongley 14:08, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

The Machine-God Laughs

Could somebody with ready access to Reginald-1 please double check that The Machine-God Laughs (1949) was anonymously edited by William L. Crawford? TIA! Ahasuerus 22:07, 7 Jan 2008 (CST)

And while we are at it, any idea who (if anyone) edited "Empire of Dust and Gifts of Asti"? I set it up (earlier tonight) as by Basil Wells and "Andrew North" (aka Andre Norton) whose stories this obscure anthology collects, but there may have been an actual editor, for all we know. Ahasuerus 00:38, 8 Jan 2008 (CST)


Amazing Stories, July 1948

Would anyone who has this issue check to see if the story "Myatery of the Midgets" was written or "A. K. Jarvis" or "E. K. Jarvis"? Thanks. Mhhutchins 09:36, 23 Jan 2008 (CST)

It's "A. K. Jarvis" in TOC and on the title page. I suppose we could make it pseudonym of the house name E. K. Jarvis, <ha, ha>--Rkihara 16:04, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1979

Alibrarian is currently MIA and I won't have access to my collection until mid-February. Could somebody please check whether Joanna Russ' review in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1979 spells Le Guin's name "LeGuin"? TIA! Ahasuerus 23:06, 30 Jan 2008 (CST)

I was advised, when a review in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Winter 1977 used the spelling "LeGuin" that i should nonetheless record it under "Le Guin". Or if there are several reveiwers uising this spelling do we want to recognize it? -DES Talk 10:58, 31 Jan 2008 (CST)
It is spelled "LeGuin" in the review.Don Erikson 13:10, 1 Feb 2008 (CST)

The Incompleat Enchanter

Reposting from Clarkmci's Talk page:

The second submission would make the 1979 The Incompleat Enchanter into a variant tile of the 1941 The Incomplete Enchanter, but they currently have different title types: one is a novel and the other is a collection. I think it would be best to first determine whether we want to consider this work a fixup novel or a collection of two novellas and then create a variant title relationship. The Notes field currently says "This story, in a somewhat different form, appeared in the May,1940, and August,1940, issues of "Unknown"", which suggests a fixup, but I vaguely recall that the differences between the magazine versions and the book publication were minimal. I can't check at the moment since I don't have access to my collection, but perhaps somebody else could. Let me post this question over on the Verification board and see if anybody may be in a position to help us. Thanks! Ahasuerus 23:16, 5 Feb 2008 (CST)

More detail on my 1979 Sphere pb ...
It does say: Copyright © 1975 by L. Sprague de Camp near the top of the copyright page. (plus a 1975 copyright for the preface)
In the middle of the copyright page, it says: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: THE INCOMPLEAT [sic] ENCHANTER (including The Roaring Trumpet and The Mathematics of Magic) Copyright © 1941 by Henry Holt and Company. A somewhat different form of this novel appeared in the May and August 1940 issues of Unknown, Copyright © by Street & Smith, Inc.
Despite the use of the word "novel" above, it has a Table of Contents which lists ...
Book One
The Roaring Trumpet

Book Two
The Mathematics of Magic
as well as a title page before each "book" in the text. That is why I put it as a Collection. What do you think? --j_clark 20:03, 8 Feb 2008 (CST)
I can try to pull out my Unknowns when I (briefly) have access to my collection in mid-February and compare the texts, but my "collection time" is at a premium at the moment and comparative text analysis can be rather time consuming. Any other ISFDB editors with an Unknown collection or at least superior Google-fu skills (which may enable us to find a pre-existing analysis of the stories)? Ahasuerus 23:54, 8 Feb 2008 (CST)
I have read the doubleday versiuon. i never read the original Unknown versions, but I recall reading an account of the creation of thsi series. My memory is that it indicated that there was little if any change from the Unknown publication to the book versions. The book versions read like separate episodes in a continuing series of stories,m and the first one is compelte in itself as it stands, but open for the sequel. On the other hand this is sometimes true of chpters/episodes in a story never published separately. Clerly this is a "fixup", whether we cvall the result a novel or a collection. If we had "relationship support" I would be inclined to call it a novel, because it reads like a single, albiet epidodic, work in book form. As it is, i think a good case can be made for calling it either way, assumign that a check does indicate that the text changed little from the original publication. -DES Talk 10:09, 9 Feb 2008 (CST)


Keith Taylor's Bard series - Subtitle of Bard IV

Does anyone have a copy of the original 1987 Ace edition for Bard IV? If so, would you please check whether the subtitle is Raven's Gathering or Ravens' Gathering.

This has come up because the 1990 Headline (UK) edition has the sub-title as Ravens' Gathering. Further, some sites have the cover for the Ace edition as being the same as the Headline cover, but list the title as Raven's .... Thanks --j_clark 01:53, 10 Feb 2008 (CST)

The Great Fetish

I'm entering De Camp when found the Pocket edition of De Camp's The Great Fetish has been verified. I have a problem with Steele Savage as the cover artist. It doesn't look much like his work and the signature is all wrong. And this book came out 10 years after he died. And I don't know who the artist is either. I try not to change a verified entry only on circumstantial evidence. Maybe some knows better than I. Don Erikson 13:30, 10 Feb 2008 (CST)

Damon Knight's Orbit 11, 1972 or 1973?

There's a conflict in the publication date of this anthology. There are two OCLC records: the first one outright states the date is 1973; the second one gives the copyright date as 1972, but no publication date, leading one to suspect that the book came out in December with a January publication date. Contento gives it a 1973 date. Here's the strange part: it was the January 1973 selection of the SFBC. Strange because that's unusually close to the Putnam trade edition (if it was released in December 1972) where there's normally several months before the book club edition is made available. Even stranger, in the contents listings you'll notice that the stories are evenly split between 1972 and 1973. This was an original anthology, so they all have to have the same publication date. Can anyone shed light on the situation? Mhhutchins 16:34, 12 Feb 2008 (CST)

Something else: the gutter code of the SFBC edition is C49, meaning it was printed (not published) the first week of December 1972. Mhhutchins 16:38, 12 Feb 2008 (CST)
Well, I have Orbit 11 in my collection and can verify it on Saturday, but I am not sure how much that will help, especially if it's the SFBC version. Ahasuerus 17:27, 12 Feb 2008 (CST)
Either date would be fine with me, as long as we have all stories the same date! Mhhutchins 18:10, 12 Feb 2008 (CST)
Turns out that my copy was published by the SFBC as well and I don't even have the dust jacket :( The copyright page says "Copyright 1972" and the gutter code is the same as stated above. FWIW, Contento lists Orbit 11 as a 1973 book. I wonder if Putnam and SFBC decided to do a simultaneous publication as an experiment or due to some unusual circumstances? Ahasuerus 16:43, 17 Feb 2008 (CST)

As it happens, I have the Putnam hardback a couple of steps from my computer; the copyright page says (c) 1972 but no other details. --JVjr 09:01, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Without any hard evidence since I originally asked this question, I had changed the date of the pub and all its contents to 1972. The trade edition's lack of a stated date of publication and having only a copyright date doesn't help either. Looking at the other Orbits that had book club editions, the differences between the trade and book club edition were one, five, two, four, and five months. So there was no pattern as to how soon afterward that the book club edition would follow. To make it worse there are three different OCLC records, two of which only show the copyright date, and the third which dates it as 1973. So there appears to be no way to reconcile all of these dates (including Contento1's date of 1973 and Reginald1's date of 1972). I'm back to my original conclusion that the book may have been published at the end of 1972, but didn't appear in the stories and libraries until January 1973. MHHutchins 13:55, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Tyrant of Time

Anybody happen to have Lloyd Arthur Eshbach's Tyrant of Time handy? Contento lists it as The Tyrant of Time, but OCLC, all of our Review records and every online bookseller that you can find thinks that it is just Tyrant of Time. I have a copy, but I can't check it until mid-March at the earliest. Ahasuerus 00:19, 22 Feb 2008 (CST)

For what it's worth, Tuck lists it with the "The", and it appears that the title novella is also "The Tyrant of Time". MHHutchins 22:26, 25 Feb 2008 (CST)
Thanks, this makes sense since much of Contento's original data came from Tuck. I'll check my copy on the 15th, although it occurs to me that there may be a discrepancy between the dust jacket and the title page and I think my copy is dj-free. <frown> Ahasuerus 00:20, 26 Feb 2008 (CST)

Ellison & Cover's anthology Best of the New Wave

I'm working on the Bluejay Books list and looking for proof that this title exists. The ISBN falls in with Bluejay's numbers, but it shows St. Martin's was the publisher of both editions. Neither the title nor the ISBN is listed in OCLC, and Locus1 shows no record as well. The ISBNs of both hc and tp return very few hits on Google. Look at the dates of publication: trade paperback in 1986 and hardcover in 1987. Strange. I'm convinced this is a phantom title. Can anybody corroborate? Thanks. MHHutchins 20:57, 25 Feb 2008 (CST)

It's hard to prove a negative, but a search of about 300 US and Canadian libraries returned 0 matches. Google found a grand total of 4 matches at 2 sites, including BookFinder, which is notorious for keeping vaporware titles in its database. Christopher Priest once compiled an impressive collection of anecdotes about Ellison and vaporware titles as part of his LDV investigation, but I don't recall whether Best of the New Wave was one of them. Ahasuerus 21:57, 25 Feb 2008 (CST)

SFBC ads in 1953 magazines

A big favor to ask of anyone who has issues of US magazines from early to mid-1953: Can you check to see what books were being offered to inaugurate the Science Fiction Book Club? There was a list of twelve selections on a rec.arts.sf.written posting that I used to create the 1953 SFBC selection list , all but one verified by Tuck: L. Sprague de Camp's Rogue Queen. Not only does Tuck have no record of it, OCLC shows no record, and there are no dealers on abebooks.com offering a book club edition of this title. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. MHHutchins 20:04, 29 Feb 2008 (CST)

Just happen to have my Astoundings handy.
  • June, 1953: Sands of Mars, Needle, The Stars Like Dust, Double Jeopardy, Takeoff, The Puppet Masters.
  • July, 1953: Takeoff, Omnibus of SF, Sands of Mars, The Currents of Space, West of the Sun, Double Jeopardy.
  • August, 1953: West of the Sun, Astounding SF Anthology, Omnibus of SF, The Mixed Men, Player Piano, The Long Loud Silence.
  • September, 1953: Astounding SF Anthology, The Puppet Masters, Sands of Mars, The Martian Chronicles, The Mixed Men, Omnibus of SF, The Long Loud Silence, Player Piano, Currents of Space.
  • October, 1953: Long Loud Silence, Omnibus, Player Piano, Takeoff, West of the Sun, World Out of Mind.
  • November, 1953: World Out of Mind, Astounding, Omnibus, Long Loud Silence, Player Piano, West of the Sun.
  • December, 1953: Puppet Masters, Omnibus, Astounding, This Island Earth, The Second Foundation, Ring Around the Sun.--swfritter 20:31, 29 Feb 2008 (CST)
Galaxy: First ad is in September 1953. Same titles until February, 1954 when Costigan's Needle, Lights in Sky Are Stars, and The Syndic show up.--swfritter 20:43, 29 Feb 2008 (CST)
Great! They seem to be following the list with a few exceptions: The Stars Like Dust, The Illustrated Man, and The Day of the Triffids are missing. There's one that wasn't on my list: Conklin's Omnibus (which I will add.) Does the first ads appear in June? I know that March was the official launch month, but I assumed that they had some selections already in the pipeline to create a catalog. And they'd have to advertise before March as well. Can you check some of the early 1953 issues? MHHutchins 20:48, 29 Feb 2008 (CST)
Looked earlier, even inside. Of Course, the June issue would have been on sale in the first part of May and I would imagine the deadline for ads probably would have been earlier than that in order to meet production deadlines. The first ad for Amazing was in the August issue and F&SF. which sucked because the prior two issues they reprinted the cover art on the back cover without any text. No new titles in those mags.--swfritter 20:55, 29 Feb 2008 (CST)
Yeah, those ads on the backs of the digests of the 70s (when I started reading the mags) were ubiquitous (and cheesy as hell!) I overlooked your listing of The Stars Like Dust, which leaves Illustrated Man, Triffids and Rogue Queen not being offered in the ads. Tuck lists Triffids as a 1953 selection but not the other two. MHHutchins 21:17, 29 Feb 2008 (CST)
My current longterm reading project includes reading all of about 180 magazines published in 1953. With other reading that will probably take a couple of years. I will make a mental note to keep on eye on all the SFBC ads once I get that far. 1953 - what a year - probably the greatest output of any year, the SFBC, and the beginning of the end for the pulps.--swfritter 17:23, 1 Mar 2008 (CST)

Dean Koontz

This is just something I noticed during my audiobook onslaught today, rather than a pressing issue. But after checking a few samples via Amazon "Look-Inside", it seems Dean has lost his "R." in recent years. Not just on covers, but on copyright pages and title pages too. If anyone is actively reading his recent books, can they please comment? There might be some over-regularization going on. BLongley 17:55, 2 Mar 2008 (CST)

Interzone #28

In Interzone #28, Mar/Apr 1989, there is a review of Agent of Byzantium by Turtledove. I would like to know if this ia a review of the expanded edition (which would have been fresh out when the review was published? I have recently created a varient title for the expanded edition, and want the reviews to link correctly. User:Brin1, who verified this publication, has not been active for several months. -DES Talk 19:04, 4 Mar 2008 (CST)

Science Fiction Review, Spring 1990

In the Science Fiction Review, Spring 1990 there is a review of Heinlein's The Puppet Masters. Can anyone verify if this is a review of the revised/expanded/restored version which was first released in that year as far as i know? The fist pubs that i know of were later in the year, but an advance copy might have been sent to the reveiweres. I would like the review to link to the varient title for the restored edition if the review is actually of the restored text. -DES Talk 07:13, 19 Mar 2008 (CDT)

Past Lives, Present Tense ed. by Scarborough

In Past Lives, Present Tense "Forever Free" is listed as being by Rod Garcia y Robertson. I presume with reasoanbl certianty that this is the same author as R. Garcia y Robertson. But I would like to know if the story was actually attributed to this form of the author's name, in which case we need to make it a pesud, or if the entry is in error, and the two author records should be merged. -DES Talk 09:56, 20 Mar 2008 (CDT)

Analog, February 1964 - page count issue

When someone has a chance: in Analog, February 1964, was there something (subscription card?) bound between pages 80 & 83?
This issue, like some others I've seen, has a count of numbered pages running two numbers higher than usual; & in my copy, there is a gap at that point. (Probably not coincidentally: in my copy one of the staples only clutched through p. 80, & this is where paper changes from pulp to slick; & the rest of the issue is held together at the top with scotch tape.)
Thanks -- Dave Dave (davecat) 14:13, 27 Mar 2008 (CDT)

My issue is also missing the page but there are remnants left of something that was red on one side and blue on the other.--swfritter 14:53, 27 Mar 2008 (CDT)
My issue has the card still bound in which is why I entered the page count to include it as it matched the actual page numbering. Thx, rbh (Bob) 15:52, 27 Mar 2008 (CDT)
At least we know it wasn't a photo spread of Campbell in a swimsuit.--swfritter 16:20, 27 Mar 2008 (CDT)
Are you thinking of the same issue, Bob? This one apparently has only contents imported from some source, & for the page count shows only the 98 (not including covers), & there was a question on your talk page about a similar card in the September 1963 issue. I've seen a couple of other issues with cards bound in myself, which is why I was guessing that it was a subscription card.
I guess I'll enter it with a note saying there's an insert there. Thanks. -- Dave (davecat) 10:18, 28 Mar 2008 (CDT)
September 1963 was the issue I was addressing, although I suspect this is a repeat of that. Thx rbh (Bob) 15:55, 28 Mar 2008 (CDT)
And just to make sure it's clear - non-paginated inserts that are not significant do not have to be included in the page count. In the current case - if you don't account for the insert you could have content on page 102 of a publication that purports to be 100 pages - if you don't count the insert. The opposite case is the situation where pages with significant data are not paginated - often illustrations - as happened to me recently in this case.--swfritter 14:51, 28 Mar 2008 (CDT)
Um. I'm sorry, but that made things less clear for me. "Non-paginated" meaning that there aren't actual numbers printed on the page? or (what I'd assumed you meant) pages that the page numbers don't take account of? I don't see what you mean.
I'd assume that something stapled in the magazine, which does not affect the numeration, can be ignored unless there's content (that we care about). I think I see that (in the issue you cited) you counted the illustrations - on unnumbered pages which were not accounted for in the numbering - as being on the preceding or following pages (because the artwork went with content on those pages? not sure why here). But I'm not sure what "a publication that purports to be 100 pages" means - that the numbered pages run to 100? that we've said there are 100 pages? I'm really confused here, not trying to be difficult. -- Dave (davecat) 18:56, 28 Mar 2008 (CDT)
All of your interpretations are correct. If we list the number of pages as 100 (by not counting the paginated inserts in the page count) and then list content that has an actual page number of 102 that might confuse somebody.--swfritter 19:32, 28 Mar 2008 (CDT)
Thank you. So I'll continue what I've been doing, if I meet others, namely including such cards in the count if the numbering treats them that way, but putting in a note to explain.
Interestingly, the issue I'm looking at right now (November 1963) has a card (actually an envelope with form on flap), between pages 80 & 81, so not counted in the numbering. (And the glued flap has stuck firmly to p. 80. I remember the story ending on p. 80 moderately well, but it plainly wasn't from this copy that I read it.)
Again, thanks. -- Dave (davecat) 14:17, 2 Apr 2008 (CDT)

Link/Grant short in Altair and Best Fantasy/Horror 14

Kelly_Link and Gavin_J._Grant had two collaborative stories listed: "Sea Ship Mountain Sky (2000)" and "Ship, Sea, Mountain, Sky (2000)"; the former in Altair 6/7 (ALTAIR672000), the latter in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourteenth Annual Collection (35333). I merged them to 98934 after some perfunctory googling - but then it started to seem that it wasn't so good an idea. http://locusmag.com/index/yr2000/s30.htm#A1181 (and elsewhere in the bibliography) has "Sea, Ship..." but http://locusmag.com/index/yr2001/s35.htm#A1226 (etc) gives "Ship, Sea, ..." without any mention of the name change. http://kellylink.net/biblio.htm or http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/grant3/grant3_biblio.html also favour "Sea, Ship". So, could anybody check at least the anth? (There are a few other sources for "Ship, Sea" being in it, while I haven't been able to find details about the magazine.) I guess I'll have to fix the mess again.

Most of the St. Martin's Year's Bests are in Google Books. YBF&H 14 has "Ship, Sea, Mountain, Sky" (p. 149): [8]. (I have no idea how stable links for the page views in Google Books are, so if that link doesn't work, try this one for the main page, and then search for Kelly Link: [9].)

Also, why doesn't Grant's entry show any issue of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, which ARE in the system? My ISFDB-fu is getting rusty... Thanks --JVjr 06:46, 3 Apr 2008 (CDT)

I can answer the second part - Missing EDITOR pub_content records. Fixed now. BLongley 12:52, 3 Apr 2008 (CDT)

Van Vogt's Weapon Shops

To quote Mike Schilling's recent Usenet post:

Icshi's story source (an incredible Van Vogt resource, found at http://icshi.bingodisk.com/public/vanvogt/StorysourceV4.pdf) shows _The Weapon Shops_ as being a fixup of three short stories:
The Seesaw -- Astounding 7/41
The Weapon Shop -- Astounding 12/42
The Weapon Shops of Isher -- Thrilling Wonder 2/49
I've read the first two. The first is about the 20th century reporter who does not witness, but aids in, the formation of the planets. The second is about Fara Clark and how the weapon shops save his repair business from the greedy so-and-sos who were going to cheat him out of it. The third would, by elimination, have to be the story of Fara's son Cayle, though I've never seen it. ISFDB lists it as a reprint of the 1942 story (http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?TWONSFEB1949), which seems implausible to me.
Does anyone know what's going on here?

Would anybody happen to have Thrilling Wonder Stories 2/49 handy? If not, I can check my copy on the 19th. TIA! Ahasuerus 19:22, 7 Apr 2008 (CDT)

And it looks like we have our answer :) Ahasuerus 20:32, 7 Apr 2008 (CDT)

Reversing pseudonym relationships and "H. Nearing, Jr."

Earlier tonight I merged "H. Nearing, Jr." and "H. Nearing" since all of his stories appeared as by "H. Nearing, Jr." and there was no point in having them listed pseudonymously. I then merged all of the Variant Title records and his biblio page seems to look OK now. Well, except for the fact that the "Used These Alternate Names:" line at the top is blank because the "H. Nearing" record is now gone. I guess it's a minor display issue that we can live with. The good news is that a similar approach may work in other "pseudonym reversal" cases, although it requires a lot of manual merges and may not be efficient when the author in question in prolific. Hopefully, we will have a real "pseudonym reversal" tool some day.

In the meantime, could somebody please check whether Nearing's 3 supposedly non-series stories -- "The Embarrassing Dimension", "The Gastronomical Error" and "The Neurotic Rose" -- may be a part of the "C. P. Ransom" series? They remain uncollected, so they are not in Contento's online Index to collections/anthologies and we'll need to excavate the original magazines to check. Also, are the prologue and the afterword in The Sinister Researches of C. P. Ransom ("The Award" and "The Dilemma" respectively) really essays or are they fiction pieces? TIA! Ahasuerus 01:24, 10 Apr 2008 (CDT)

SF Site says The Embarrassing Dimension and The Gastronomical Error are number 3 and number 11 in the series but doesn't mention the Neurotic Rose: Noosfere does and includes it as a C. P. Ransom story. BLongley 13:09, 10 Apr 2008 (CDT)
Ah, yes, that makes sense since "The Neurotic Rose" was published in Fantastic Universe, April 1956, so it may not be mentioned in an F&SF-specific index. Thanks! Ahasuerus 23:45, 10 Apr 2008 (CDT)

Galaxy Magazine, February 1963 and Astounding Science Fiction, March 1953

Galaxy Magazine, February 1963 was verified by Alibrarian last July, but unfortunately he never found the Wiki, so we can't ask him about it. Could somebody with access to the issue please check whether Floyd C. Gale's review of The Mathematical Magpie really omits the leading article? Similarly, is Wallace West's 17 page "Five Billion Dollar Magpie" in Alibrarian-verified Astounding Science Fiction, March 1953 really an essay? TIA! Ahasuerus 05:34, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Both are correct. Mathematical Magpie only without the "The". The West article is about scrap and recycling.--swfritter 00:37, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
Thanks! Ahasuerus 01:07, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
With potential changes to book review linking I am not sure what is now the best way to document variant book review titles. Rather than changing the book review title to match lexically perhaps we should should just make an entry in the notes stating the correct title of the book. That might create less work in the future when we can actually link the titles.--swfritter 00:37, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
I'm not sure what Al intends for the future, but making them match lexically for now will make it easier to find and change the links later: there's quite good support from title to reviews, if they match. (Not so good the other way where reviews link to authors only.) Leaving them unmatched just means we have to repeat the work to find the missing links later. BLongley 18:54, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
I concur with Bill that we probably want to continue using the current standard. Then, when Al adds support for linking reviews and Titles, we can do a mass change. Ahasuerus 01:07, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
Are you saying that I can go back to entering reviewzines without having to worry about broken links between reviews and titles? Or should I hold off until Al has made the changes? Thanks. MHHutchins 02:02, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
Unfortunately, if we follow the current convention (which is what Bill and I are suggesting), we still have to worry about getting the "real" title match the "review" title. If you have a bunch of reviewzine that are waiting to be entered, waiting for Al to enhance review support may be the easiest thing to do. That way you won't have to go back and change things again. Ahasuerus 02:34, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
I'll take your advice and hold off entering the remaining 'zines (at least 100 issues!) MHHutchins 02:42, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Blackmask.com Doc Savage reprints

Blackmask.com reprinted some of the Doc Savage books. According the some of the ones entered the author was Robeson and Dent. Dent was the main writer to use the Robeson house name. Do the copyright pages actually list both names? See Robeson bibliography for a list of which are entered. Dana Carson 09:39, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Street & Smith sued Blackmask for copyright infringement and won. That's why the Shadow and Doc Savage books are no longer available there. I am not sure how much credence we should give to the information found in bootleg editions.--swfritter 14:54, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
True but we are recording what is in the books. So if they did something strange like listing Dent and Robeson we should record it and add a note. Dana Carson 19:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
Yup, we do record these peculiar self-collaborations the way they appeared, e.g. see The Outward Urge by John Wyndham "and Lucas Parkes". I am not sure what Blackmask put on the title page(s), but I would imagine that there should be used copies still available. Heck, you can still find semi-bootleg-semi-plagiarized Tarzan copies some 45 years later! Ahasuerus 23:22, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
If I remember correctly the Burroughs family neglected to renew a number of copyrights and it took a lot of negotiations to convince Ace that it would be to their advantage to fork over some money. The Ace editions had much more interesting covers by Frazetta. Because of loopholes in the copyright laws Ace also released a shoddy one volume edition of Lord of the Rings with a microscopic typeface.--swfritter 18:16, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
True, ERB's heirs did a lousy job of taking care of the estate's intellectual property after his death (see Dick Lupoff's book about ERB), but the "semi-bootleg-semi-plagiarized Tarzan" books that I mentioned were the 5 "Barton Werper" novels (1964-1965) which boldly crossed the line between "shady" and "illegal". The estate sued, won and the remaining copies were destroyed. Ahasuerus 18:37, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Story or Novel in Conklin's Best of SF

In the anthology Best of Science Fiction edited by Groff Conklin, the story "The Great War Syndicate" by Frank R. Stockton is given as a novelette. However, the Project Gutenberg ebook contains 35,750 words (as measured by MS-Word) and I have entered it as a novel, although perhaps it ought to be called a chapterbook publication of a Novella. Can anyone verify if the version included in the Conklin anthology is the same as the one published by PG? or at least is of roughly the same size? 35k words is rather long for a novelette, as I understand our standards, indeed it is in the upper end of the novella range. Is it possible that the Conklin contains a shorter version, or an excerpt? -DES Talk 15:43, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I have a first edition of this and will edit it as several titles are mis-classified, including the one above. Even the title of the book is wrong: should be The Best of Science Fiction. Indeed the Stockton title is only 9 pages in length. All the page numbers are correct.--Bluesman 05:57, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
Based on our rules (aka the Hugo/Nebula rules), 36,750 words would be a novella, but according to Contento's record, "The Great War Syndicate" occupies 9 pages in the Conklin anthology and was "abridged". 9 pages is too short to be a novelette, though, so I'll e-mail Bill Contento and point it out to him. Always something :) Ahasuerus 16:03, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
Thanks. I notice that our record does not include page numbers, and Contento's does. (I always think it odd that a major source on the contents of things is named "Contento" :) Such is life.) Should those page numbers be copied from his record to ours? -DES Talk 16:09, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
Sure, we'll want the page numbers eventually. At some point we will need to go over Contento's data and compare it with what we have, one line at a time -- just like we will want to do it with Reginald, Tuck, etc -- but that can be very time consuming as well as more than a little mind numbing. Michael is currently working on Tuck (in his plentiful spare time) and one of these days we'll get to Contento's data... Ahasuerus 18:42, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
Tuck only gives contents, but not page numbers. Contento only provides page numbers on selected items in his Anthology and Collection Index, more often in his Locus Index. Another shortcoming of Tuck is his abbreviation of authors' names when the author in question is popular, e.g. "A. MacDonald", "L. Padgett", "C. D. Simak" in this particular anthology. Thus this source cannot be used to verify variants in authorship (though he does supply credits as published even if the attribution of the pseudonym is widely known, as the "MacDonald" and "Padgett" above indicates.) And I'm up to Page 59 of the 474 in Tuck's first two volumes. That's more then 10 percent. Whoopee! MHHutchins 04:23, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

'Travelers' or 'Travellers' of Space

Martin Greenberg anthology circa 1952. We have the latter as do Contento and Tuck. Wikipedia (from Chalker), Worldcat, abebooks and three verified ISFDb reviews say 'Travelers'. I would suspect that the 'Traveller' listings are probably in error and orginated with Tuck.--swfritter 19:51, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Little Fuzzy, 1st ed

The isn't very high priority, but . . .
Does anyone have the original publication (first edition (Avon, if our listing is complete))? If so, would you check the sixth paragraph of the book, & see whether it starts like this:

Some fifty million years ago, when the planet that had been called Zarathustra (for the last twenty-five million) was young . . .

I ask because I know the Ace edition has this obviously wrong "million" there; and I find that the Project Gutenberg edition, which doesn't give a source for the transcription at all AFAICS, also does. So I'm wondering whether that's a clue, or whether it slipped in at the beginning & everyone's been faithfully reproducing it ever since.
As I said, low priority; just my ill-regulated mind wandering. Or merely wondering. -- Dave (davecat) 21:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

That quote is as it appears in the 1962 Avon edition. Don Erikson 01:00, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
Thank you very much! Dave (davecat) 14:16, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
That's odd. I remember that paragraph, and i don't recall the extra "million". I read it in an SFBC edition, I wonder if they made the correction. I'll have to check when i get a chance. -DES Talk 15:31, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Bizarre Mystery Magazine

I have created a Wiki page for Magazine:Bizarre Mystery Magazine (which published primarily SF even though the title may suggest otherwise) and entered the first issue. I also have the second issue in my collection, which I should be able to enter in early May. However, I don't have the third (and final) issue published in 1966, so if anybody happens to own a copy and can enter its contents, we could wrap this magazine up. TIA! Ahasuerus 02:59, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

If no one has immediate access to an actual copy, I can enter the contents from the NESFA Index, as a placeholder until one can be found. MHHutchins 04:28, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

R. Clayton a pseudonym for Pete Bogg?

Does anyone know of a source that credits this pseudonym? I can't find it in Rock, Robinson, Tuck, Day, AKA, and no information has been entered in either of the bibliographic comments for the authors.--swfritter 23:06, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

No answers so I went ahead an approved the submissions for this insignificant filler material and made Bibliographic Notes to the effect that the source is not known.--swfritter 01:32, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Charles Davidson a Pseudonym for Charles Stross?

Charles_Davidson is listed as a pesud of Charles_Stross, but I find no mention of this on Stross's web site, nor in any of the online sources for Pseudonyms from Sources of Bibliographic Information (aka, fictionMags, Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Database, Scifan, SF Hub, CyberSpace Spinner, Locus) nor in his Wikipedia article, nor in anything that a google search on "Charles Stross" returns. Locus lists the one story attributed to Charles Davidson, and lists other stories by Stross in the same year, but does not list Davidson as a pesud for Stross, and they do list such relationships as a general rule. Can anyone provide a source for this? -DES Talk 01:52, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

I see it (with a bunch of other pseudonyms) in Vector (mag. apparently connected to the British Science Fiction Association, text apparently written by Stephen Baxter). --Roglo 17:39, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
Thank you, that fills the bill. It's funny, Vector is also the name of the journal of the British APL association, of which I am a member. Must be something in the air over there. :) -DES Talk 19:13, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
I would suggest leaving a note in the Bibliographic Comments of at least one of the authors or perhaps at story level since only one story is involved. We should be thinking of a standard for documenting our pseudonym sources.--swfritter 00:50, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
I left a note in the Bibliographic Comments of each author, and in the title-level note to the story. redundancy is good. -DES Talk 01:52, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
Well hopefully that is one question that hopefully won't have to be answered in the future. Now if I can remember to do the same.--swfritter 20:00, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
The story is not listed in the bibliography of Charles Stross; the author's name is set to 'Charles Stross.' with a dot (biblio). Is it done on purpose (still some doubts?) or by accident? --Roglo 19:49, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
I'm pretty sure that was a simple mistake, probably mine. I have corrected it. -DES Talk 20:58, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

"Remember the Alamo!" author

The only work attributed to "R. R. Fehrenbach" is "Remember the Alamo!". We list 6 publications of Analog 1 which contain this story. Three are verified, and all three attribute the story to "T. R. Fehrenbach" (the cannonical name). Two are Tuck-verified, and list "R. R. Fehrenbach" as the author. One is unverified, and lists "T. R. Fehrenbach". Also, Analog Anthology, which is Tuck-verified, lists "R. R. Fehrenbach". In addition, The Great SF Stories #23 (which is verified) and Analog (Dec 1961) (which is primary and Contento-verified) both list "R. R. Fehrenbach". It appears that "R. R. Fehrenbach" was initally an error, possibly by Analog magazine. Can people check the unverified pubs with this form of the authors name, and perhaps even re-check the original Dec 1961 Analog or The Great SF Stories #23 to confirm where this form actually appears as the author's name? -DES Talk 01:59, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Analog 12/61 - R. R. Fehrenbach both TOC and title page. The other thing that should be double-checked is whether or not all reprints have an exclamation point. It has one on the story title page of Analog but not on the TOC entry.--swfritter 23:26, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
As a side note, T. R. Fehrenbach is alive and still writes occasional editorials for the San Antonio Express News (Sunday editions only). As I understand it (rumor), the "R. R." is for his fictional works with "T. R." being used for his non-fiction. He's an historian by trade.--Dsorgen 02:26, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
I am aware of his writings as a historian. I note that more recent reprints of this story, and of other fictional works (not SF) are credited to "T. R.". (In fact, i can't find any other work of his, or anyone's, credited to "R. R. Fehrenbach".) One of the reprints was in the Pournelle "There will be War" series, where "Proud Legions" (an excerpt from his history of the Korean War) was also printed. The interview at http://www.ereads.com/2007/11/t-r-fehrenbach-interview.html mentions his fiction at some length, but never mentions an alternate byline. I can't say for sure, but I think this runor is mistaken. -DES Talk 02:53, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
Since he is alive and still active, maybe someone should email him and ask him directly. Would this be appropriate? -DES Talk 02:54, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
I just fired off an email to mr. fehrenbach. In it I asked him to clear up the confusion. I don't know when I'll get a reply, but it shouldn't be too long. I used the Express News address for the email. Someone there will see that we get an answer of some sort....--Dsorgen 20:05, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
Thank you, I look forward to hearing what the response is. -DES Talk 20:25, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

1941 magazine essay "Strange but True"

"Strange but True" by P. F. Costello was published in Fantastic Adventures, May 1941; while "Strange but True" by William P. McGivern was published in Amazing Stories, June 1941. P._F._Costello is listed as a pseudonym of William_P._McGivern. Before marking the former as a variant of the latter, I would like a check. It seems odd to me that the same essay would be published in two different magazines a month apart, but then it also seems odd that two different essays with the same title would be. Perhaps this was some sort of roving column? In any case, can anyone check if these are really the same essay, or what? -DES Talk 22:48, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

According to my catalog, I own both issues and should be able to check on May 17. Unfortunately, my Amazing Stories collection is among the worst organized ones, so there is no guarantee that I will find the 1941-06-00 issue.
And yes, "roving columns" did exist in the pulp era. FA and AS were both owned by Ziff Davis and were edited by the same editorial team, so it's reasonably likely. Ahasuerus 05:58, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
Welcome to pulp magazine land. Try to find the stories in this issue of Amazing. My Spock-o-Meter tells me there is a 99.823% probability that these are unique entries. In that case the correct way to make them unique is to append the mag name and issue from the mag inside parenthesis. See the entry for "The Observatory" in the mag referenced above.--swfritter 21:07, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
I have been sick lately, so I couldn't work on verifications while I had access to my collection over the weekend and now I am on the road again. I'll try again on the 31. Sorry! Ahasuerus 20:04, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
I haven't been able to find this Amazing issue, but I will try again in July when I finally get to spend some time with my collection. Hopefully :) Ahasuerus 02:39, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

Sheri S. Tepper's essays/poems in Galaxy

According to Wikipedia, Sheri S. Tepper published two articles in Galaxy in December 1960 and August 1961 as "Sheri S. Eberhart". The title of the first article, "Extraterrestrial Trilogue", was reportedly re-used on the second article. We currently list the first one, "Extraterrrestrial Trilogue on Terran Self-Destruction" (with 3 "r"s), as a poem and the second one as a pub-less essay. Could somebody please double check these issues of Galaxy so that we could straighten these (currently pub-less) Titles out and update the Wikipedia article? TIA! Ahasuerus 15:26, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Nothing by her in December 1960 - nothing in the TOC and nothing found when flipping through every page. Not listed in Locus/Contento either. Should be 2 "r"s and is definitely a poem for in August 1961 entry - will fix spelling. TOC for that issue lists only "Extraterrestrial Trilogue" which is probably how the title was originally entered. I imagine that title was removed and the pseudonym connection was not reapplied. Just in case I am missing something I will not remove the orphan duo or make the pseudonym assignment for right now.--swfritter 18:35, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Robert J. vs. S. Martin?

In the database, author of Beyond Pandora was listed as Robert S. Martin". The magazine consistently (heading & contents) shows it as Robert J. Martin. I'm changing the entry to match.
The pub was previously verified from Contento2 (zine). That's a CD not available on line, right? Can someone who has it see if that's where the "S" came from? If so, I'll include a note. Or if anyone has any other info indicating that "S" really is correct, of course, let me know & I'll change it back & add a note. Thanks -- Dave (davecat) 15:40, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

"Aunt Hester" by Lumley

Brian_Lumley is listed as having written "Aunt Hestor" (1994), "Aunt Hester" (1975), and "Aunt Hesther" (1975). These appeared in Dagon's Bell and Other Discords, The Horror at Oakdeene and Others, The Twentieth Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, The Whisperer and Other Voices, andThe Satyr's Head and Other Tales of Terror. Can anyone check is see whether a) these are in fact the same story or not, and b) was the story really printed with these three different but similar titles. Then we we can do a merge, create variants, or do nothing, as may be proper. -DES Talk 15:55, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Brian's Web site thinks it should be "Aunt Hester" and doesn't list any variant titles. OCLC concurs to the extent that it has contents level data. Unapersson will have the definitive answer, but it may take him a day or two to check the Wiki. Ahasuerus 21:00, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Conscience Interplanetary by Joseph Green

Don Erikson has added the following note to the 1974 DAW edition of this Collection Title:

  • From the copyright page: "The following stories, in a rewritten form, have been incorporated in this novel."

In other words, this book appears to be a fixup, so we probably want to convert it from a Collection to a Novel and perhaps create a Series for the four stories + the fixup. Could the verifiers (Michael and Bill) and/or anyone else who owns copies of the other editions please check if this would work? TIA! Ahasuerus 21:35, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

In the absence of any other form of database linking for such, hyperlinks at title level work for me, and the pub can be converted to a novel. The short stories were important enough to be noted in my edition as well, but there's no obvious separation within the book itself and I can't compare with any of the other sources. Series entries might be appropriate, although I can't say there's any indication of ORDER. BLongley 22:08, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, I have updated all affected Publication records, left Michael a note, moved the (plain text) Notes text to the Title level and created a couple of series for Green's Titles. I suspect that a Series record that includes the original stories as well as the subsequent fixup novel is the best way to ensure that casual users will notice the relationship. I doesn't work too well for van Vogt, who would often rewrite unrelated stories and stuff them, kicking and screaming, into a fixup, but outside of van Vogt's oeuvre it's rarely an issue. Thankfully :) Ahasuerus 23:54, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

The Day the Martians Came by Frederik Pohl

This is either a fixup novel or a collection. We should make a decision, and change all refs to one or the other. Please comment on which this should be treated as. Note that several of the works in the collection were published separately in magazines. -DES Talk 22:02, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

I spent ages on my version :-(. "COLLECTION" I'd say. When you CAN link chapters/sections to other publications, I prefer to keep the links. When they're mashed-up beyond all recognition, let it go as a fix-up novel and move the links to constituent titles up to the title level (support for such "contains these bits" links are low down Al's list I think, but we're working around that quite well for now IMO.) Titles for the interstitial material are arguable but present. I can go check how different the Stories are in this case against other publications I own though: although I'm sure I did SOME of that before I went to all that effort. BLongley 22:37, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Vance story titles

In all three cases the stories are currently listed as being published in the same year. -DES Talk 23:34, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

On further checking the Vance Integral Edition's "All Title Index" states that each of these pairs is a single story (revised in the case of "Dream Castle") and that the preferred titles are "Dream Castle", "Sabotage on Sulfur Planet", and "The Ten Books".
Which reminds me that at some point we will need to go over all Integral Edition records carefully and incorporate the relevant bits in the ISFDB... Ahasuerus 00:24, 10 May 2008 (UTC)
And maybe we can determine whether some of those Ace double 'novels' are really novels. They give word counts for every story. What an accomplishment. Now there's a standard to strive for.--swfritter 01:28, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Phillipa / Philippa [C.] Maddern, especially in Lee Harding's Rooms of Paradise

Hi, I'm trying to tidy Ms Maddern's data. As far as I can determine, she is Philippa (1 L, 2 Ps). In ISFDB, there are 2 instances of stories "by" Phillipa Maddern. (2 Ls, 1P)

- the 1979 Ed of Lee Harding's Rooms of Paradise, the story "Ignorant of Magic" is listed as by Phillipa Maddern (2 Ls, 1P), in ISFDB. My 1978 edn has Philippa C. Maddern (1 L, 2 Ps)(page 100).
- the story "The Subconscious Computer" - in Eidolon, Winter 1990 - is listed as by Phillipa Maddern (2 Ls, 1P), in ISFDB.

Would someone with either of these pubs please confirm the spelling in those pubs. Thanks ----j_clark 03:40, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

The Sioux Spaceman by Andre Norton

User:Rhschu reports that his copy of what appears to be this pub has no evidence of the date beyond the copyright. Specifically, he says "What is the source for the date 1974? My copy shows only the copyright 1960 by Ace Books, Inc." Can anyone confirm the source of this date? -DES Talk 16:00, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

There is an abebooks entry with that date. Where they got their data from and how valid I don't know. It might be best just to note something like "The original source for the date of this publication is unknown." Since it was obviously printed after Ace #76801 this would be somewhat more accurate than 0000-00-00.--swfritter 17:03, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
See OCLC: 9163530 which gives that date and that Stock Number. The notes confirm the Stock Number again, and also pagination for the Lin Carter essay. OCLC: 162142055 also shows the missing #76803 edition. BLongley 17:35, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
The Ace Double guide lists subsequent standalone editions as well. I'll check it tonight. Ahasuerus 22:53, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
1974 confirmed by Double Your Pleasure and Notes updated. Ahasuerus 02:52, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
I never knew about 'Double Your Pleasure' - shouldn't it be on Sources of Bibliographic Information? And is there not enough confidence in all these sources to create #76803 yet? BLongley 18:49, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
I vote "yes" and "yes" :) Ahasuerus 01:02, 29 May 2008 (UTC)


Astounding, November 1944 Killdozer!

this copy of Astounding lists the NOvelette by Sturgeon, along with Interior Artwork by Orban, and shortfiction by Orban. Is this magazine in anybodies collection so they can check on it and see just what this shortfiction by Orban is?CoachPaul 13:49, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

I'll take care of it.--Rkihara 15:35, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Done--Rkihara 16:09, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, I didn't want to remove it in case there was actually something there, although for the life of me, I couldn't even to begin to guess what it might have been.CoachPaul 20:59, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
If there's really nothing there, the title record needs to go to. BLongley 21:47, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
To answer Paul's question, illustrators have been known to add so much text to their pics that they can be arguably treated as essays. For example, as I noted in the Notes field of Thrilling Science Fiction Adventures No. 14, Fall 1969, "The illustrated essay "Riddles of Science: Mystery of the Sunspots" is signed by Joe Sewell and it is assumed that he is responsible for both the text (7 sentences) and the art." Thankfully, it doesn't happen very often, otherwise we might need a new policy to define the cutoff point :) Ahasuerus 22:43, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Fantasy Press eds of Triplanetary

We currently have two publications listed:

  • "1948" ed, whose notes say "Based on statement in Pyramid 1965 pub: 'Fantasy Press edition published 1948,"
  • "1950" ed, whose notes say: "Limited edition of 2000 copies. Library of Congress shows this book as 1948."

OCLC/Worldcat lists three records:

  • OCLC: 1225609 (LCCN: 48-6988) which lists the date as 1948, mentions illustrations by A.J. Donnell, and says "Edition: [1st ed.]" which means that the edition is not stated in the actual pub, but inferred. (287p; 20cm)
  • OCLC: 221912800 which also lists the date as 1948 and mentions A.J. Donnell, but says noting about being a 1st ed. This record lists the author as "Edward Lindall" but says "Responsibility: by Edward E. Smith" which appears to be a data entry error (this is how the book would normally be listed if "Smith" were a pesud of "Lindall"). No LCCN given. (287p; 20cm)
  • OCLC: 81301754 lists the date as 1950, mentions A.J. Donnell, and does not mention the edition nor the LCCN. (287p; 20cm)

None of the OCLC records mention the work being a "limited edition". The Library of congress has a single record which seems to match OCLC: 1225609 for the first ed. Amazon lists the first ed as 1948, and has used copies of that edition available.

Can anyone verify or provide additional sources of info on this significant work? Was there actually a limited edition in 1950 (I find no source that says so)? Was the first fantasy press edition actually in 1948? What else should we be listing here? -DES Talk 18:01, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia has a list of Triplanetary publications, including the following data:
  • 1948, USA, Fantasy Press, Pub date 1948, Hardback, 4,941 copies
  • 1950, USA, Fantasy Press, Pub date 1950, Hardback, 2,505 copies, title in yellow
I believe I have the yellow (thus 1950) version in my collection and should be able to verify on June 14. Ahasuerus 18:57, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, I look forward to your verification.
Based on the Library of Congress record and the OCLC records, I think that the part of the note in TRPLNTR1950 about LC showing that ed as 1948 is in error. However, I will not correct this pending the verification by Ahasuerus. Also, does anyone know if there are any steps we should take to report the apparent error in OCLC: 221912800 to someone who would be authorized to correct it? I am pretty much positive that "Edward Lindall" is a quite different author from E. E. Smith. -DES Talk 20:31, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
There is also this variant using double quotes around "Doc". Did it actually appear that way? -DES Talk 22:40, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
Quite possible. Double quotes in names cause ISFDB problems though. Click on the Author name there to see Author not found: E. E.. So I suspect some have been adjusted to single quotes to work around that. Most of my E.E. 'Doc' Smith books are actually ones with a definite left quote before Doc and right quote afterwards, but those characters are just as much a pain. Long live the plain Apostrophe! BLongley 22:53, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
I can't check my collection until 2008-06-14, but I seem to recall that Doc's UK publishers tended to use single "left/right" quotes while US publishers tended to use double quotes, if at all. Using the "naive user" standard, this is something that we may want to record in the database, but if we still have problems with escaping quotes in the database (as it happens, Al was working on it earlier today), it may not be viable. Ahasuerus 23:25, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
I know recently the ability to search for "rsquo", for instance, in publisher names looked promising: and editing the publisher name to change such to a straight quote looked good too. The fact that the submitted edit didn't actually DO anything was a bit annoying. And discovering that you couldn't do a publisher merge of a "rsquo" version with a straight quote version as they were NOT considered identical enough REALLY annoyed me. (Not that I could have told which was which on the display anyway, I might have left the "rsquo" version as canonical.) Glad to hear Al is looking at it though: but I think I still prefer the obliteration of all non-upstanding single quotes. BLongley 00:05, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
As far as reporting data entry errors to OCLC goes, you can create a personal user account (not to be confused with OCLC's corporate/library accounts) and, when you sign on, you will have the option of contacting OCLC. However, when I tried using this feature a couple of years ago, I ran into a problem. I don't recall the details, but there is no harm in trying again. Ahasuerus 23:25, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
Apart from the risk of spending more time there than you do here... I know I've been tempted to do a LOT more fixing of Amazon data, but I restrain myself to entries I want to use for image-linking purposes. Does anyone else find that there's a lot of books we're interested in on Amazon actually credited to "Enid Blyton"? BLongley 00:05, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
Oh, yes! Dear Enid seems to be more prolific in death than ever she was in life. I've never been able to figure out why Amazon credited her as the co-writer of literally hundreds of books. I haven't run across it lately so they may have corrected the problem. MHHutchins 03:29, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
A number of our old Amazon imports have bogus co-authors who have been since cleaned up on the Amazon side. Not sure why they were there in the first place, but database issues is the first thing that comes to mind. Ahasuerus 03:40, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

(Unindent) It turns out that my hardcover edition of Triplanetary was published by T. V. Boardman, a UK publisher, in 1954, so I am afraid I can't verify the Fantasy Press edition(s). On the plus side, we have gained a pub record :) Ahasuerus 02:34, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

Astounding Science Fiction, November 1949

"Editorial: Scienc-Fiction Prophecy" or "Editorial: Science-Fiction Prophecy" in Astounding Science Fiction, November 1949? Ahasuerus 03:54, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

It's the latter, "Editorial: Science-Fiction Prophecy."--Rkihara 04:26, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, fixed! Ahasuerus 16:27, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Dark Terrors 3: The Gollancz Book of Horror

I don't think Unapersson has been seen here since April, but perhaps somebody else has a copy of Dark Terrors 3: The Gollancz Book of Horror? Jay Russell's story is currently listed as "Sous Rapture", but the 1984-1998 and 1999 Locus Indexes list it as "Sous Rature". Unfortunately, neither OCLC nor the dozen UK libraries which own this book list its contents online... Ahasuerus 23:46, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Hammer's Slammers - At Any Price

My Arrow edition I'd call a collection, with two short stories and an essay covering the last 73 pages. But they're not mentioned in a ToC of any sort. The other editions look as though they may be the Novel alone, judging by cover-blurb, but pagination suggests otherwise. Can anyone with the Baen or Pocket version (if it exists) please check how many individual entries there are included please? The titles in mine have been republished individually it seems, although an "Interlude" prefix on some complicates matters. (And yes, I know my edit puts a Collection into the "The Complete..." instead of a Novel, that's why I'm asking before it gets any messier.) BLongley 19:33, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

Specifically, "[Interlude: ]The Interrogation Team" and "Code-Name Feirefitz" get republished in The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 1, whereas the novel is in Volume 2. (I think: and although those haven't been verified, I know I entered those from publisher's info.) BLongley 19:40, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
I have the Baen pb edition of this, i am pretty sure, and i will check. -DES Talk 21:13, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
I have verified the Baen 1st printing. It contains the same contents as the Arrow ed. Indeed it has the same pagination, adn the same lack of any ToC. It looks like the Arrow ed just put a new cover on the Baen ed. As Baen was, in a sense, created as a replacement for the Pocket SF line, I am inclined to doubt the existance of a separate pocket edition, particularly as it has the same ISBN as the Baen edition. But who knows. -DES Talk 02:55, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
Is it possible to put the novel into "The Complete..." rather than the collection? -DES Talk 03:00, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
Yes. Done. BLongley 04:10, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
P.S. Worldcat lists the Arrow and Baen eds, but does not list a non-baen pocket edition. -DES Talk 03:07, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
Unless anyone has an objection, I'll delete the Pocket version. It appears to be a phantom duplicate entry. BLongley 04:10, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
I agree. -DES Talk 04:12, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
A quick search of a few dozen online catalogs has found 8 records for this ISBN and all of them listed Baen as the publisher, so I agree that the Pocket record is likely in error (an early Amazon.com import?) and should be deleted. Ahasuerus 04:25, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Noel, Noel, Noel and Noel

As I wrote re: "Atanielle Annyn Noël" over on rec.arts.sf.written the other day:

According to http://www.trussel.com/books/pseud_n.htm, her legal name is Ruth Helen Swycaffer Noel and she was born in 1947. A "Ruth S. Noel" published 2 books about Tolkien, _The Languages of Middle-Earth_ and _The Mythology of Middle-Earth_ (later reprinted as _The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth_), in 1974 and 1977 respectively, and it appears likely that it was the same person.

Would anybody happen to have further insight into this person(s) before I create variant titles and a pseudonym? And speaking of Noels, I suspect that our Scott Noel is actually a misspelling of Scot Noel, but the verifier of Pandora, Winter 1992 is no longer active. Would anybody happen to have this issue? Ahasuerus 23:42, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

I think I have The Languages of Middle-Earth I will check and see if ther is anythign relevant in an "about the author" section.
According to Wikipedia:The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth, "Ruth S. Noel, also known as Atanielle Annyn Noel, is the author of The Mythology of Middle-earth". -DES Talk 00:31, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
Nope, no "about the author" at all. -DES Talk 01:08, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
Oops, missed the back cover where it says only that she "teaches remedial and developmental reading in Riverside, CA" plus info about her other books on JRRT. -DES Talk 02:58, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
I have entered and verified my copy of this book. -DES Talk 01:22, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
I have also entered records for her other works on JRRT, for what sources I coulkd find. In any case Ruth S. Noel now exists for you to make into a pesud. -DES Talk 03:00, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
Thanks! I see other references to the "Noel/Noel" relationship on the Web, including on Tolkien Gateway, so I think it's reasonably safe to assume that they are the same person. Interestingly, the Locus Index says that "Atanielle Annyn Noël" is "legalized from Ruth Helen Swycaffer Noel". Ahasuerus 02:51, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
OK, everything has been linked now. The non-fiction section of the page looks iffy, but that's how the software works at the moment. There is also that perpetual question about linking revised/expanded/abridged/etc Titles, but that's fodder for another Wiki page. Ahasuerus 00:47, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

The Castle of the Otter by Gene Wolfe

The Castle of the Otter is currently listed as containing two different essays, both entitled "The Castle of the Otter". can anyone determine the actual contents? -DES Talk 23:30, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't own the limited edition version, just the book club reprint, but my copy appears to be an exact copy of the first edition and there is only one essay with that title in the book. The other Title record was originally Non-fiction, but somebody has accidentally changed it to Essay, which broke the link between the pub and the title records. I have changed it back and added a note to the Non-fiction Title to make it clear that these two Titles are different. Ahasuerus 23:48, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Bob Parkin and/or Bob Larkin

Locus seems a bit confused over which of these guys illustrated some Babylon Five covers, and having looked at some now I can see why.

This sig Bob_Parkin_Sig.jpg could be interpreted with a P and B sharing a loop, or an L below a B. I lean toward the latter explanation, and Parkin may not exist. I've looked at some credited Bob Larkin covers though, and can't find a similar sig. Does anyone else have any definite Bob Larkin covers they can check for such? BLongley 22:06, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

I knew these were by Bob Larkin but now I proof. The cover of David A. Kyle's Z-LENSMAN has this signature and is credited on the copyright page.Don Erikson 19:11, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
Thanks Don! I'll correct the Parkins. BLongley 19:17, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

"My Son, the Physicist" by Asimov

In this pub of The Complete Stories, Volume 1, the story is listed as My Son, the Physicist, and there is a note (unsigned, unfortunately) confirming this on the title record. But all other appearences, including several verified ones, and several UNverified ones in other pubs of The Complete Stories, Volume 1, list this as "My Son, the Physicist!" (with an ! mark). Can anyone confirm that a version without the ! was actually published?

Yes, my UK "Nightfall Two" has it without exclamation mark on contents page or start page. Possibly Brin1's edition has the same. There's a few more variations that should be recorded, there's a lot of single/double quote variations too. I'll go check a few while I can still reach them - they were early verifications of mine before I realised quite how pernickety we should be. I'm not going to go as far as angled quotes though, you'll get normal ones. BLongley 18:40, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
OK, I did the part of Complete Stories I own as well - still no exclamation mark. Note that it's Volume 2, not 1 - the British Volumes don't seem to match the US ones with contents so far. There's a few British entries obviously cloned incorrectly already. And it's actually Volume Two on title-page, rather than 2 so should technically need a variant title overall. But we're already differing from the practice we adopted for "Nightfall and Other Stories" so I'm going to leave any more punctuation/numerals differences for a bit, until a few more people do some more edits/verifications (and hopefully not merges, as I'm sure I'm correcting some stuff I entered correctly before). But there's still room for ellipsis quibbles ("space required before a final question mark?"), and I will admit now that I DIDN'T add the space before the final single-quote on some others, if anyone finds that important. Spacing is something I think we can usefully regularise, and indeed the documented ellipsis spacing rules have already been challenged a bit. Not something I really want to get into at the moment though. BLongley 20:18, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
And I've now verified a third version here without the exclamation mark. I'm obviously buying too many books. BLongley 20:03, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

T. O'Conor Sloane

Tuck gives this 1930s editor of Amazing the name Terence, but Wikipedia names him Thomas. Any more definite source of the true name? MHHutchins 15:59, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Ashley in The Time Machines and Carter in The Creation of Tomorrow both give Thomas O'Conor Sloane.--swfritter 18:08, 3 August 2008 (UTC)


Jane Gaskell: The Serpent and The Dragon

My Tandem 1975 copy of The Dragon states that it is the second part of the original hardback entitled The Serpent & that the story begins in the paperback volume The Serpent, the first part of the original hardback edition. My copy of The Dragon starts with a chapter titled "The Bed in Southern City" & end with a chapter titled "The Possession".

The original hardback is Hodder & Stoughton (1963 (?)) which isn't in ISFDB, though there's enough in the British Library catalogue to create a basic entry.

Looking at the ISFDB entries for The Serpent, it looks like (based on number of pages), that the Sphere & Paperback Library are the full Serpent, and the St Martin's, Pocket & DAW are The Serpent (Part 1). My Futura edition (1985) that I'm about to enter also seems to Part 1. My Futura finishes with a massive Chapter V "The Kitchen at H.Q." (unless I've missed a chapter heading).

If anyone has a copy handy of any editions of The Serpent, would you please look at whether your edition is full or Part 1. ... and any copies of The Dragon to see if they start in the same place as mine.

I'm also interested in confirming that the full edition was first published 1963 (from British Library). ISFDB currently has 1966. My Futura Part 1 gives copyright 1963, but first published in GB in 1966. Thanks --j_clark 06:53, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

Half the records in the MELVYL catalog list 1963 as the copyright year and the other half list 1966. OCLC record 11674543 for the 1963 Hodder and Stoughton edition states "First printed 1963"--Verso of t.p./ Wrapper design by Denvil./ Followed by Atlan; The city; Some summer lands./ Issued in the U.S. in 1977 by St. Martin's Press in two volumes as The serpent and The dragon." Locus says:
  • The Dragon (DAW 0-88677-021-1, Mar ’85 [Feb ’85], $2.95, 240pp, pb) [Atlan] Reprint (St. Martin’s 1977) of the second half of The Serpent (Hodder 1963), now the second book in the “Atlan” fantasy saga.
  • The Serpent (DAW 0-87997-990-9, Jan ’85 [Dec ’84], $2.95, 320pp, pb) [Atlan] Reprint (St. Martins 1977) fantasy novel, the first half of The Serpent (Hodder 1963), now the first book in the “Atlan” saga.
I will check Reginald-1 and my collection tonight, but it looks like it first appeared in 1963. Ahasuerus 13:37, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
The 1967 Sphere "The Serpent" certainly continues beyond Chapter V "The Kitchen at HQ" (which is 80 pages, 212-291) but there's another 34 pages of Chapter VI "The Bed in Southern City" before it starts Part 2 ("The Beloved" - Part 1 was "The Hostage"). Strange place to split it I think, but it evens up the sizes. It claims to be a reprint of the Hodder 1963 edition, not an abridgment or subset. BLongley 14:42, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
Thanks. I propose to unmerge the shorter The Serpent pubs & reorder the series as follows:
1. The Serpent
1. The Serpent (Book 1)
1. The Dragon (Book 2 of The Serpent)
2. Atlan
3. The City
4. Some Summer Lands
Any better solution / solution more consistent with similar series in ISFDB? --j_clark 23:20, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
I don't think we ever resoled the issue of "subsequently split novels" -- see this recent discussion and the one immediately below it for an example. I think your proposed solution should be OK for now since the numbering scheme will make it easy to find the series later on if/when we have a more comprehensive solution in place. Ahasuerus 03:00, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Edwin L./Lester Arnold's Gullivar / Gulliver Jones

Hi, Re this title's publications & vts: Various reputable sources (including 1979 Nicholls & Clute Illustrated) indicate that the original 1905 is Lieut. Gullivar Jones : His Vacation by Edwin Lester Arnold; and that some later publs have ... Gulliver ... (or the variant, Gullivar / ... er of Mars) by Edwin Lester Arnold or Edwin L. Arnold. (My 1977 NEL is Gulliver / Lester [and no period after Lieut] & is unmerged already, ready for a vt to ?? of 1905.)

ISFDB has all as Gulliver. I'd like to tidy this up. Anyone have copies of the other entered pubs handy for this? ... and other sources re the original version of the title and author. Thanks --j_clark 01:08, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

The Project Gutenberg test is online, and is now linked to from our record. It does not mention the "vacation" title, but says that the "original" title was "Lieut. Gullivar Jones" I have verified it, as our record matches the PG text online exactly. -DES Talk 03:13, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
I believe that I have the Ace edition in my collection. I will add it to my list of things to check this weekend. Ahasuerus 02:49, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
I have now verified my Ace "#30600" edition. It lists the original title as "Lieut. Gulliver Jones" three [sic] times and there is no sign of "Gullivar". Also, Tuck uses "Gulliver" as well and gives the subtitle as "His Vocation" as opposed to "His Vacation". "Vocation" is used twice, so it's somewhat unlikely to be a typo. Ahasuerus 23:47, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Milton Kalets[z]ky

I wonder if somebody with ready access to Amazing could double check whether Milton Kaletsky's letter in Amazing Stories, February 1934 is attributed to Kaletsky or Kaletzky? Ahasuerus 23:58, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

William Matthew[s]

Similarly, is it Milton "Matthew" or "Matthews" in Fantastic Adventures, August 1950? Ahasuerus 00:00, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Campbell's editorial

Speaking of Campbell, would anybody be in a position to quickly check whether "Editorial: History to Come" was Short Fiction or an Essay? Ahasuerus 13:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

"Wrong-Way Street" vs "Wrong Way Street"

I added and verified the second Ballantine printing of Niven's Convergent Series earlier today but noticed that the last story in my copy is called "Wrong Way Street" while all other publications on file list it as "Wrong-Way Street". Unfortunately, half the verifiers in this case are inactive, so instead of notifying everybody individually, I decided to post the verification request here and to point the affected parties to this page. Ahasuerus 23:14, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

A lazy edit on my part (or someone regularised it). No hyphen in mine. Fixed now. BLongley 00:19, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
I suspect that the hyphen originally came from Contento and has been merrily cloned by everybody and his dog. Ahasuerus 02:02, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
Galaxy appearance: hyphen both TOC and title page entry.--swfritter 17:05, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
First Ballantine, no hyphen. Fixed Dana Carson 07:44, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
Just a query: Are they all intended to be without the hyphen now? ... even the Galaxy (magazine?) appearance noted by swfritter? ... and including the variant title? (That's how it looks to me at the moment) --j_clark 04:44, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
P.S. My Pan edition of "The Ninth Galaxy Reader" has the hyphen. --j_clark 04:49, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
Looks like somebody accidentally deleted the hyphen from the canonical title. I have restored the hyphen and will check the full edit history later today to see if I can determine what happened. Ahasuerus 15:13, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
Hm, I can't seem to restore the full backup from yesterday night. Hopefully, it's an isolated occurrence (fingers crossed) and I'll try again tomorrow. Ahasuerus 22:36, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
OK, I have figured out how to restore the backup file (note to self: it helps to use the right kind of slashes in MySQL commands!) and I can see the related submissions. It looks like Dana accidentally deleted the hyphen from the hyphenated version of the title when he was editing in the wee hours of the morning on the 18th. The morale of the story is to resist the temptation to edit after 2am :) Everything has been fixed now. Ahasuerus 19:03, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm going to have to dig through some boxes to find my Verified copy of Voyagers in Time, but I can verify that the first Pocketbook edition of The Ninth Galaxy Reader verified by Scott Latham does contain the hyphen as it is on the shelf next to my computer. CoachPaul 13:46, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Sig Help again please

Who signs like this? Is it "Bangs"? "Fangs?" "Bom 95"? (Unlikely for a 1983ish pub.) "Romas"? I don't recall seeing anything similar, but then I've only been checking for cover sigs for a few months.

Image:Bangs.jpg

BLongley 21:50, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

It's Romas. When I get a chance later tonight, I'll scan the cover of a book that's identified as by Romas. MHHutchins 22:06, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
Here you go. MHHutchins 22:33, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

Image:Romas.jpg

Initials Help please

The cover artist is credited as "Powers" but don't see an "RP" in these initials. The source is a title page illustration published by Ace in 1968. Thanks. Marc Kupper (talk) 17:15, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Image:Unknown_Initials.jpg
Jack Gaughan. Think he did every one of these little drawings for a number of years in the ace doubles. That doesn't mean he did the cover...--Bluesman 05:32, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
Image:JG_1967.jpg Here's what his sig looked like the year before. Not one of the most consistent signers I think. BLongley 20:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

"Repent, Harlequin!"... title spelling

Alone Against Tomorrow: Stories of Alienation in Speculative Fiction includes a record for "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktokman. Other records are for "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman with an extra c. ("tok" vs "tock"). Can anyone verify Alone Against Tomorrow? Is this actually a varient title? Several of the "tock" publications are verifed. -DES Talk 17:11, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Yes, VT away. When I run into something like this I also leave notes on the publications alerting people to pay attention to that detail and that the publication record may be wrong. Another intent of the note is someone searching with Google can find the page and it'll then help explain why they are seeing both names in their searches and what a particular publication really says. I do the same for publications that have both a catalog # and ISBN for example so that people know that dealer listings for one or the other are likely for the same publication and not different printings. Marc Kupper (talk) 19:21, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
On a second thought - before you VT see if people can confirm tok vs tock as it's so easy to miss one for the other. Marc Kupper (talk)
I have the Macmillan HC (SFBC edition) and it has 'tock'.--Bluesman 05:38, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
I doubt I'd miss an extra/missing letter - punctuation is the usual error I make, when I get it wrong. (See Wrong-Way Street/Wrong Way Street elsewhere). But I checked All the Sounds of Fear (We really DO need a quick search for "Pubs I verified with that title in"! I've probably got it in several other pubs) and it is "tock". It's actually got "Repent, Harlequin!" in single quotes rather than double though. (Which I would prefer we standardised, or agreed to ignore differences in - but I really don't want to have to go as far as mentioning when opening or closing quotes are straight or the 6/9 style ones.) BLongley 21:50, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
There is a title out there with variants because there's an X in the middle with X replaced by one of , ; : and I think something else. I don't think I've seen a variant for - – —... Marc Kupper (talk) 00:06, 4 October 2008 (UTC)
I was reluctant to create a varient not because i thought the difference was too trivial, but because i wasn't sure it was real. The varient (if that is what it is) is recorded in only one unverified publication, and Ellison's wikipedia article says this is his most reprinted story, and one of the most reprinted stories of all time, by any author, IIRC. So it might be an error or change in that pub, or it might be a data-entry error. -DES Talk 13:52, 4 October 2008 (UTC)
That seems reasonable. There are ~20 sellers on AbeBooks that we could ask. Marc Kupper (talk) 06:30, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

"That Hell-Bound Train"

The hugo-winning story "That Hell-Bound Train", by Robert Bloch was published in The Hugo Winners among other places. Harry has submitted an edit in which he notes " 'The Hell-Bound Train' is used on copyright page, contents page, individual author (Robert Bloch) introduction by Asimov, and before the actual story. The story is listed in the ISFDB and Wikipedia as 'That Hell-Bound Train'."

The question before the house is, in which publications was the story printed as "The" and in which was it printed as "that", and were there any revisions worth noting. several of the publicatiosn where this story appeared have been verified, so we ought to get some useful data promptly. Titles where this story was included, according to the current db, are:

Title # Pubs # Verified Notes
F&SF September 1958 1 0
Pleasant Dreams 3 1
The Hugo Winners 9 1
Twenty Years of Fantasy & Science Fiction 2 0
The Hugo Winners, Volumes One and Two 1 1 The - Either I got unusually careless or a title record changed. The pub-record says "That" but the publication uses "The" on the copyright, TOC, and body. Marc Kupper (talk) 06:54, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Many unrecorded reprints
Midnight Specials 1 0
Alfred Hitchcock's Witch's Brew 2 0
The Best of Robert Bloch"" 1 1
A Treasury of Modern Fantasy 3 0 aka Masters of Fantasy
The Fantasy Hall of Fame 2 2 aka The Mammoth Book of Fantasy All-Time Greats
The Best Fantasy Stories from the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 1 0
Magical World of Fantasy: Devils 2 0
The Early Fears 2 1
Technohorror 1 0
My Favorite Fantasy Story 2 0

Could anyone with access to any of the above, or to any other printinng of the Bloch story, post what the title is in his or her copy, and other relevant info? Thanks. -DES Talk 17:31, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I commented in Harry's Talk page before I found this. I have what appears to be a copy of The Hugo Winners, Volumes One and Two that Marc Kupper Verified back in March of 07 and it is "The" not "That" in my copy. CoachPaul 18:07, 13 October 2008 (UTC)
I have also found a copy of The Best Fantasy Stories from the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction on my shelf, and that has it as "That", so I have one vote for each. The official Hugo Awards site also has the story as "That" which leads me to believe that "The" should be a variant of "That" unless someone can come up with some sort of proof that "The" came first. CoachPaul 18:14, 13 October 2008 (UTC)
The Signet edition of Isaac Asimov's Magical Worlds of Fantasy #8: Devils uses That in the table of contents and on the title page, but The on the copyright page. Ahasuerus 01:36, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
My verified copy of The Fantasy Hall of Fame is correct as shown. Story is titled "That Hell-Bound Train" on the copyright page, in the table of contents and on the title page. MHHutchins 03:35, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
This version of The Fantasy Hall of Fame, is edited only by Silverberg, and is different then the one listed in the table above that is edited by both Silverberg and Greenberg. There is both a tp and hc version of this book. I can confirm that the hc version contains "That" on the TOC, first page of the story, and on the copyright page. CoachPaul 04:14, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Did someone merge the titles? I fixed my publication and was surprised to see that there was no record for The Hell-Bound Train. I see
I loaded up a db from Apr 22, 2007 and only 65044 with That existed then meaning it's likely I missed it in the March verification. Marc Kupper (talk) 07:29, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
"That Hell-Bound Train" in the original appearance in F&SF on the story title page although it is listed as "That Hellbound Train" on the TOC.--swfritter 15:37, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Galaxy Magazine, August 1968

Can anybody get their hands on a copy of this magazine? I'm most curious about a story in it called HEMEAC. CoachPaul 03:08, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

A quick look indicates that HEMEAC is a sentient robot. It's name is spelled in capital letters (an acronym of some sort?) throughout the story. From reading the first page and glancing at the last it seems that it is a student in an all-robot university who may think it is human. On the last page it appears that humans break into the fortified university. In pity they refer to students as "living robots" so they may actually be humanoids of some sort. Considering the time frame the story is probably a satiric take on the dehumanizing mechanical aspects of society, especially the educational system.--swfritter 15:50, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Who is the author listed in the Magazine? CoachPaul 15:53, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Now if you had said you were curious about the author...! It is E. G. Von Wald who is nowhere credited as a psuedonym of A. E. van Vogt who is listed as the author in the isfdb. The story should be in all uppercase. I will go ahead and make the changes since I have a copy of the pub.--swfritter 16:15, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Oh, and by the way it's a help if you put a link to a pub when you refer to it. I probably would have taken a look at the pub and sooner realized the problem. But at least you got a nice story summary.--swfritter 16:21, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
The story is not listed in this comprehensive van Vogt biblio, so I assume that "E. G. Von Wald" is not a van Vogt pseudonym. 17:46, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Thanks for checking this out for me. I would have asked it better, and probably put in a link, had I not been doing it so late last night. It was a great summary by the way. CoachPaul 19:57, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
I should probably paste it into the synopsis section. What I thought at first is that you were trying to decide whether the title should be in all caps or not which required something more than just looking at the title page.--swfritter 20:27, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
The summary was a great help in that it allowed me to realize that the two stories were the same story. I really wonder about von Wald though. I can find no information on him that doesn't lead back to the short stories. No birth nor death dates, no record of the man at all. Maybe he really was van Vogt. You have some of the Ifs and Astoundings that had his works published in them. Do any of them say anything about him as a person? CoachPaul 20:54, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
There was a TV version 10 years ago apparently, search for "HEMEAC" and "Welcome to Paradox" and you might find the people that produced it and presumably checked the person they credited it to? BLongley 19:42, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

The mysteries of Gordon R. Dickson's The Outposter as brought to you by Tor

The Outposter is a 1972 novel by Gordon R. Dickson, which was reprinted by Tor in 1982. It would appear that there were three printings of the Tor edition in the 1980s:

  1. The Outposter, (Jun 1982, Gordon R. Dickson, Tor, 0-523-48530-1, $2.75, 251pp, pb) Cover: Thomas Kidd
  2. The Outposter, (Nov 1982, Gordon R. Dickson, Tor, 0-523-48580-8, $2.95, 251pp, pb) Cover: Tom Kidd
  3. The Outposter, (Oct 1985, Gordon R. Dickson, Tor, 0-812-53564-2, $2.95, 251pp, pb) Cover: Tom Kidd

I have verified the second printing and the copyright page states: 

First printing, June 1982
Second printing, November 1982

However, the Locus Index reports that the October 1985 printing was also advertised as a second printing. Looking closer, I see that the words "Second printing, November 1982" in my copy are printed using a different, shabbier, font. My guess is that when Tor reprinted the book in 1985, they had no record of the second printing in November 1982, so the new printing was stamped "second printing", thus creating two separate second printings. If anybody happens to have either the June 1982 or the October 1985 printings, could you please check your copies and see what they say? Thanks! Ahasuerus 03:38, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

I have the June 1982 edition and it says First Printing, June 1982. This is a 'printed in the USA' edition. Maybe the Nov. '82 was printed in Canada?? Sometimes there is a month difference, but not five...?--Bluesman 22:25, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Another mystery artist sig

Anyone recognise this? (From Hunting on Kunderer)
Image:Brigman.jpg
It looks vaguely like "Brigman" to me but I could be way off. BLongley 18:56, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm now leaning towards "Bergman". Possibly "Harry", so I've asked Mike Hutchins about his copy of Dr. Futurity / The Unteleported Man. But there's a "Mary" too, so if whoever entered The Three Suns of Amara / Battle on Venus would like to have a look too I'd be grateful. BLongley 19:35, 15 October 2008 (UTC)
I have both of these and it is definitely HARRY BERGMAN on all three covers, and the BERGMAN part matches exactly the partial signature on Kunderer!! Since I started this, it is nice to solve it too. Just wasn't aware of the other covers. Good detective work, guys!--Bluesman 00:29, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
Just added this to the record.--Bluesman 00:34, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
I don't have either publication but assuming the pattern is %b%gman% then both Mary Bergman and Harry Bergman are good fits. See these images which also include
  • The Unteleported Man
  • painting for The Unteleported Man that shows signature well and seems to match the style of what's on this page. The "Harry" looks like a "Mary" which may account fopr that name.
  • Dr. Futurity also shows the signature.
  • this reports Battle on Venus as "Mary Bryman?" while we have Mary Bergman meaning that signature may be fuzzy enough that it is Harry Bergman.
  • There used to be a http://www.harrybergmangallery.com/ but that's been sucked up by scammers with Harry Bergman himself and his gallery being in Finland. Some sites give a DOB of 1903 and some use the name "Carl Harry Bergman". Marc Kupper (talk) 04:11, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
FWIW, Double Your Pleasure says "Cover by Bergman". Ahasuerus 04:15, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
I based my credits for Dr. Futurity / The Unteleported Man solely on the artist's signature, as there is no internal credit given. Both covers of this Ace Double are definitely signed as by "Harry", but this discussion has me concerned about my attribution of the last name. Looking closer made me believe I may have been mistaken. So I took a little stroll through the triple-dubya and found this fascinating interview with illustrator Harry Borgman. Mystery solved. I'm changing my credit. MHHutchins 05:52, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
And this suggests his middle initial is "M" and he was born in 1928. BLongley 12:36, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

John R. Pierce vs. John Pierce, M.S.

It looks like John R. Pierce and John Pierce, M.S. may be the same person, but I can't access Day's Index to check at the moment. Any Day-enabled editors on-line this morning? Ahasuerus 14:18, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

The second link leads to nowhere (the comma?) but this author is indeed John R. Pierce - titles all listed in Day under John (Robinson) Pierce.--swfritter 15:34, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
Thanks! I'll set up the vts (and double check the apparent Perry Rhodan reprint) later today. Ahasuerus 16:48, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Worst Sig challenge yet?

Try this one from Octagon:
Image:Sig-Challenge.jpg
"Kresek" maybe? BLongley 00:12, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

Larry Kresek's signature from The Best of Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1980)

Image:Kresek1.jpg

Kresek's signature from The Seven Deadly Sins of Science Fiction (1981)

Image:Kresek2.jpg

These are from later works. On Three to Dorsai (1975) and Stardance (1979), he only capitalized the first letter (but still only "Kresek") MHHutchins 01:11, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

World's Spring

Looking for physical verification of World's Spring, specifically the spelling of "Vladimir Grigorev"'s name. I am 99% sure it should have been "Vladimir Grigoriev", whose stories we also list, but it's not clear whether the typo was in the book or whether it comes from Contento. Ahasuerus 01:41, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

Mystery sig - McAll...?

Here is another one from The Best of Walter M. Miller, Jr.:

www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/9/94/Mystery_sig.jpg

McAllister, perhaps? Ahasuerus 00:56, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

I'd guess "McAfee". Maybe Mara McAfee, in which case comparison with Communipath Worlds might help. BLongley 16:30, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
Same signature, same style, same publisher - we got us a winner! Thanks! :) Ahasuerus 01:07, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

The House of Many Worlds

The truncated signature in the left corner of this image:

HSMNWRLDS1983.jpg

looks awfully familiar, but I can't quite place it :( Ahasuerus 02:36, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Could it be the end of "Frank Brunner"? BLongley 17:09, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
I can't find anything in my collection to match, but the signature here seems to end with the same capital "R". BLongley 13:26, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, Bill, it does look like Brunner. I'll update the record. Ahasuerus 16:36, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Jones?

From Wetware: Image:TJones.jpg
A "Jones" of some sort? BLongley 19:38, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

"Lover When You're Near Me"

I was verifying my third printing of Third from the Sun when I noticed that the story "Lover When You're Near Me" had no comma after the first word of the title even though we were showing a comma there for all Publications. Our only verified pub was verified by Scott Latham in March 2007 when our standards were lower. Also, Scott isn't around to ask, but I have checked the story's original appearance in Galaxy and it was also comma-free. I then checked The Best Science-Fiction Stories: 1953 and it did have a comma in the title.

I will create a variant title for the comma-free version and add it to my checked publications, but I don't have Second Galaxy Reader of Science Fiction, Born of Man and Woman or the first two printings of Third from the Sun. If anyone happens to own one or more of these pubs, could you please spot check? TIA! Ahasuerus 01:58, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I have the same 3rd printing of the Bantam pb of Third from the Sun that you verified. and have transient verified it, but that isn't much help. I'll check the local library if I have a chance and remember to. -DES Talk 11:54, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

The Jungle artist

On the paperback edition of The Jungle (by David Drake) the artist is not credited. The HC credits Allan Gutierrez, and this might be his work, but it doesn't look quite right to me, and the HC record is unverified and I suspect is not fully accurate anyway. Here is a link to what might be the sig, but I can't make anything out of it -- I'm not even sure if it is a sig, much less whose. Any thoughts? -DES Talk 13:35, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I am not sure it's a signature either, but according to the Locus Index, the paperback cover was done by Roger Loveless. Ahasuerus 14:21, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, i need to get into the habit of checking the Locus index more often. Data entered into the pub record, and Locus verification done on both the pb and hc versions. -DES Talk 14:47, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
There are all kinds of resources on-line and off-line, but the trick is to know which one to use when looking for a particular data element. Tuck doesn't list minor title variants or anything after 1968, but he does include prices and anthology/collection contents; Reginald doesn't list prices or contents; Contento's original index doesn't list fantasy/horror, but the 1984+ Locus Index does; etc. Ahasuerus 15:47, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
Yes indeed. Tricky. -DES Talk 15:53, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
By the way, I'm not sure I would call this an omnibus. It contains one novel, and one novella in the same setting by a different author, with the novella not mentioned on the cover, but credited on the title page. I suspect it was called an omnibus because it was listed as one of the Tor Doubles -- that listing appears to be incorrect. At least, "Tor Double" is not mentioned anywhere in the pb, nor on the cover of the hc (according to the Amazon image, nor does locus mention it). That is in the grey area, IMO. Any thoughts, anyone? -DES Talk 14:47, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
I guess it can be looked at as a semi-original/semi-reprint anthology, but I am not sure it's worth agonizing over these gray areas. If there is no obvious "anthology editor" listed, the omnibus categorization may make it easier for our users to find the book, but it's not a huge deal. Ahasuerus 15:47, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
Fair enough. I only visited this because of the recent comment on "Tor Double" as a publisher, which led me to the wiki-list of such pubs, which noted that this one ahd not been verified as to its number in the Tor Doubles series. So I checked my copy, and here we are. -DES Talk 15:53, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Trujillo and Other Stories by Lucius Shepard

Can anyone with this collection please add back the page number for the novel Trujillo? I was unmerging the novel's title record from another pub's title record, when that old familiar bug of dropping pagination crept in. I'd asked Scott but he hasn't been around lately. Or maybe if you've downloaded a previous copy of the database, could you please check the pagination? Thanks. MHHutchins 06:26, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Fixed from backup - it was page 529. BLongley 13:22, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, Bill. One of these days I'm gonna learn how to download the backups file. MHHutchins 16:56, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
Luckily, ISFDB Downloads has been updated with the latest and greatest instructions :) Ahasuerus 17:02, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Calling all Rowena fans

One of DES's recent projects reminded me that I never finished entering foreign language sequels to various English language series. I have now entered Mikhail Akhmanov's Poslednyaya Bitva (Last Battle), a sequel to Sterling E. Lanier's Hiero Desteen duology. The cover is clearly signed by Rowena, so it was presumably re-used by the publisher, a common practice in Eastern Europe in the late 1990s-early 2000s. The 64,000 dollar question, of course, is which Rowena cover it was based on. Any Rowena experts here? Ahasuerus 23:20, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

It might not have been used as a cover before: that picture is called "Aztec Sacrifice" and was an art card published in 1993 by FPG Cards. It might well have been a cover though (several others in the set are, e.g. "Crystal Line") but as Googling for "Cover", "Rowena Morrill" and "Aztec Sacrifice" leads to mostly Russian sites it might be better if you try to confirm that rather than wait for me to learn Russian. BLongley 19:56, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, Bill! One of the Russian sites had 146 (!) scans of Rowena's work, but there wasn't much explanatory material, so it's not clear if "Aztec Sacrifice" has been used elsewhere. I guess I'll just add a note explaining the origins of the cover. Ahasuerus 03:40, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

The Prydain Chronicles

User:MA Lloyd would like to change the catalog/ISBN field of the 1991 SFBC edition of Lloyd Alexander's The Prydain Chronicles from "#18531" to "0030074312". You can see the submission here if you are a moderator. I suspect that he has a later printing of the book since the publication is listed as by "GuildAmerica Books / SFBC", which is different from what the Locus Index has. Unfortunately, MA Lloyd hasn't been seen on the Wiki side since August 2007, so we can't ask him. Any suggestions? Ahasuerus 11:57, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

Waldrop's Custer's Last Jump and Other Collaborations

If anyone has this pub, can you verify that there's an exclamation point after the title of "Custer's Last Jump"? Also, are the essays that accompany each story actually titled the same as the stories themselves? I'm afraid someone might come along and try to merge those identically titled pieces, even though they're either shortfiction or essay. Thanks. MHHutchins 02:34, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

I recall the stroy, but don't own a copy. This request brought it back to mind so vividly that i just ordered a copy, and will be in a position to verify when it arrives in a week or two. -DES Talk 05:05, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Waldrop's Things Will Never Be the Same

Will anyone who has this pub please verify that the title of the story on page 27 is "Flying Saucer Rock and Roll" and not "Flying Saucer Rock & Roll" nor "Flying Saucer Rock n Roll"? Thanks. MHHutchins 02:58, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Marta Randall's New Dimensions 13

Can anyone verify that this title was ever published? I'm working on the ISFDB's records for Howard Waldrop using the bibliography published in his collection Going Home Again, where he states that his story "Flying Saucer Rock & Roll" was sold to Randall, but the series was discontinued before this number was published (even though review copies went out.) Google returned only 8 hits for the title, and only 2 hits for the ISBN (not counting the ISFDB record.) Anyone know anything definitive about this title? Thanks. MHHutchins 03:07, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

FWIW, it's not in Clute/Nicholls or Reginald-3. Ahasuerus 03:32, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
Google Books has Christopher P. Stephens' A Checklist of Some New Science Fiction Writers which says that the book was scheduled to be published by Timescape, but that the book was canceled after reaching galley form.Jefe 19:12, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
Another 8888-00-00 title then? BLongley 21:17, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
Sounds like a plan! Ahasuerus 21:29, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Ben Bova's Escape! the same text, novel or novella?

Does anyone have both of the following pubs? The novel Escape! and the novella Escape!. The novella version was published in the collection Escape Plus. And the novel was published in 1970 by Holt and in 1975 by Scholastic. Both novel publications are slim editions (122 and 108) so I suspect the collection version is identical. I just wanted to make sure before we merge the titles. Thanks. MHHutchins 03:00, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

I don't own either version, but according to the Locus Index, Escape Plus simply reprinted the text of the Holt edition. Ahasuerus 05:08, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
I just verified a copy of Escape Plus. In the intro to the story the author writes: "...Escape, which was published originally as a short novel". The copyright page lists a 1970 copyright for the story, and does not list anythign about "Published in a different form", nor does it give a second copyright date, as would be normal for a revised story. The story is divided into "Chapters". Chapter 1 starts "The Door shut behind him". Chapter 3: "Alan looked at Danny in a funny way." Chapter 6: "It was lunchtime the next day before the doctors would let Danny go." Chapter 9: "When Danny got to his first class the next morning, he thought he was in the wrong room." Chapter 13: "Somebody was helping him back to the stool in his corner." Chapter 18: "The party went on well past midnight." Chapter 21: "They all met again in the cafeteria two days later." Chapter 25: "Danny awoke in the hospital." Last line: "I'm part Gypsy, you know." That should be enough to compare if anyone has the separate publication.
By the way, I used swfritter's spreadsheet to estimate the wordcount in this story. The estimate was 25,930 words. Even allowing for inaccuracies, I don't see how it could be clsoe to 40,000 words. -DES Talk 12:10, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Analog, January-February 2008

There is a python error on Tom Easton's summary page, which I believe is caused by a review of an untitled novel which was published in this issue of Analog. If you have this issue, please add the name of the novel by Alexis Glynn Latner reviewed by Easton on page 228. Perhaps that might fix the error. Thanks. MHHutchins 18:54, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

I first changed None to the title of the book but got errors that would not allow me to approve or reject when I submitted the pub and tried to update it. Then tried removing the review from the pub and then adding it - still the same problem. Cannot find the orphan review that I removed - found it using titles but can't delete it.--swfritter 19:15, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
Problem fixed. Merged the dastardly review with a dummy review and added correct review.--swfritter 19:31, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Another unknown sig

The sig is:

Image:ALE-sig.jpg

It comes from the 1979 pb of The Book of Skulls. I am pretty sure that the first three letters are "ALE" but beyond that, I can't make it out. There is no author credit on the book. -DES Talk 06:17, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

It looks like "Alexander" to me. Possibly Paul Alexander. BLongley 19:11, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
Quite possible. He doesn't seem to have a personal site or gallery on the web that would make checking easy. -DES Talk 21:43, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
Well, a lot of our plain Alexander covers are verified, you could ask those verifiers if this the same. And Marc seems to have an interest too as he posted a bit on the Bibliographic Comments page for such. We might not need to go outside ISFDB to sort this. Unfortunately, if I have any examples then somebody verified them before me, so they're not easy to find. (I now have scripts for my verified pubs by author, publisher, and cover-artist for questions like this - no doubt I'll have to do such for page-count, format, interior artists, etc, eventually. But multiple verifier support would be a good start, I don't maintain a personal database anymore.) BLongley 23:13, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
I also have Whipping Star which I had not verified and is signed with the same "Alexander" signature but unfortunately, there's no artist credit. Other printings of the same title credit Paul Alexander. I suspect a more reliable way to do this would be to look for a verified Paul Alexander work to see if there's one that's credited as Paul Alexander and has the same signature. For example with this the signature looks similar in the image. However, this one looks different and this is ambiguous. --Marc Kupper|talk 02:57, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Asimov's Science Fiction, November 1994

As per User talk:Jprucher# Merging Swanwick essays, requesting physical verification of Asimov's Science Fiction, November 1994. The question is whether the title of Swanwick's essay "In the Tradition . . ." has quotes around it. TIA! Ahasuerus 03:32, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

The title page displays it with quotes, while the ToC doesn't.--Rkihara 03:43, 18 November 2008 (UTC)
Notes added, thanks! Ahasuerus 03:59, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Weird Tales, March 1942

According to our Publication record, Weird Tales began serializing Lovecraft's "Herbert West: Reanimator" in the 1942-03-00 issue, which matches Tuck's data. However, our record also states that a complete version of the same novella was also printed in the same issue. I find it unlikely in the extreme, so I would be inclined to Remove it, but it would be nice if someone could check Miller/Contento first. Ahasuerus 04:14, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Miller/Contento actually classifies the components as a series of six short stories, each of which was originally published in the February thru July issues of "Home Brew" - so should probably have the 1922 date. The various segments do not appear in consecutive issues of "Weird Tales" but are scattered through the March 1942 through November 1943 issues - so those isfdb entries are correct and the novella entry should be out.--swfritter 16:57, 18 November 2008 (UTC)
Thanks! Ahasuerus 00:24, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

The Paintings of J. Allen St. John: Grand Master of Fantasy

The trade paper edition has 2008 copyright and first printing dates both on the book and internet listings - except Worldcat and our entry which say 2006. Is this possibly a book which was delayed in release but added robotically based upon Amazon or other listings? How about the HC edition? swfritter 23:49, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

Those look familiar, and I may have interfered with those entries in the past. But I don't own any. BLongley 01:01, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Separate issue - it would seem to make sense to add St. John as a co-author so the book will show up on his biblio page.--swfritter 23:49, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

This is probably a Rules and Standards question, but I think I'm in favour. Any SF artist worth a book dedicated to his/her art should be credited, even if they 'only' did art and added no words. BLongley 01:01, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

"The Ship Who/That Returned"

User: MA Lloyd would like to change Anne McCaffrey's "The Ship That Returned" to "The Ship Who Returned". I have checked my SFBC edition and it uses "That" throughout, but Amazon's Look Inside, which uses the 2005 paperback reprint, shows "Who" used in the table of contents. If anyone happens to have that paperback version, could you please check what it says on the title page? I'd ask MA Lloyd, but he hasn't posted here in over a year... Ahasuerus 02:01, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

I don't have the publication but there's a little trick with the Amazon Search Insides which is their OCR includes the page numbers. This means you can nearly always look in the middle of a publication by entering a page number. I used page 379 in this case and then page 343 to look at the previous story. I usually use this to figure out the ending page for a novel.
Unfortunately, this one is going to be tricky. It looks like on the table of contents they use "Series Name: Story Name." The "title page" of each story only has the series name. The story name is carried on the page header of the odd numbered pages with the even pages having "Far Horizons". The tricky part is "The Ship Who Returned" is only two pages long with the title page being on an odd page. Had it been three pages we would have had an odd numbered page with a header.
The copyright page says the story copyright are on page 482. Search inside finds it and that has "The Ship Who Returned," copyright © 1999 by Anne McCaffrey. --Marc Kupper|talk 01:26, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
Are we looking at/inside the same book? In the Eos trade paperback edition, McCaffrey's occupies 40 pages. Still, I think the table of contents plus the copyright page are good enough for now - thanks! Ahasuerus 02:24, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
That was my mistake. Pages 379 & 380 at Amazon.com 0060817127 is an Ann McCaffrey essay about The Ship Who Sang series. In this case page 381 has The Ship Who Returned on the title page and page headers. It ends on page 417 making for a 37 page story. It only confirms that the story title in this publication is The Ship Who Returned. FWIW, it appears every story is prefaced with a one to two page introduction essay by the author of the story. --Marc Kupper|talk 03:20, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
BTW, that Bob Keck cover on the EOS edition looks so familiar that I thought I had a copy. I'm wondering if it got used somewhere else or that it's similar to another cover... --Marc Kupper|talk 03:31, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, that settles it! As far as the intros go, they may be short, but they are also likely to contain potentially valuable information about their respective authors' universes. I'll try to remember to check my SFBC edition tomorrow. Ahasuerus 03:44, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

"Vincent(y) Omniaveritas"

Lewis Shiner's fanzine, Modern Stories, apparently published an essay by Bruce Sterling called "Life During Wartime". We currently list it as by "Vincenty Omniaveritas", but Sterling's Omniaveritas pseudonym was usually spelled "Vincent Omniaveritas" without the "y". I wonder how we could verify the spelling?.. Ahasuerus 01:29, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

According to the FictionMags index it should be "Vincenty". Maybe he was just trying to be clever? MHHutchins 04:59, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, I will set up a vt for "Vincenty"! Ahasuerus 03:51, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

L. Sprague de Camp's "Hyperpilosity" or "Hyperpelosity"

If anyone has copies of this story can you please verify the title's spelling? I've unmerged the two pubs that I have which are spelled "Hyperpilosity", and asked the active verfiers of other pubs to double-check as well. Thanks. MHHutchins 18:12, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

My copy of Omnibus of Science Fiction (book club edition) has "Hyperpilosity" both in TOC & with story. -- Dave (davecat) 20:37, 18 December 2008 (UTC) Ditto for my copy of Science Fiction of the Thirties (also a book club edition), which I note has what must be a reproduction of artwork from the original magazine. (Drawing doesn't seem to be listed in the pub entries we have.) -- Dave (davecat) 21:39, 18 December 2008 (UTC)
I was updating that edition, adding the interiorart when I noticed the different spelling of this story. It's now updated. MHHutchins 01:24, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
Fantastic Story Magazine September 1953 - "Hyperpelosity" on the cover but "Hyperpilosity" on the TOC and title page - needs to be changed. The Wheels of If - 10/70 - "Hyperpelosity" - OK. Science Fiction of the 30's - 3/77 Avon - "Hyperpilosity" - needs to be changed. Omnibus of Science Fiction - hc/sfbc - "Hyperpilosity" - OK - but there are reprints of the anthology with the alternate spelling.--swfritter 01:04, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
I took a dive into the Webster Collegiate, and found "Pilose - covered with soft hair—Pilosity." I'm sure this was de Camp's intended spelling, since the story is about humans becoming furry creatures. There was no entry under "Pelose."--Rkihara 18:38, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
Makes sense - "Hyperpilosity" should presumably be the parent; I suspect some of the entries are still in error.--swfritter 01:19, 20 December 2008 (UTC)
I checked this edition and it definitely spells Hyperpilosity, so I changed that. It probably means that this one is also misspelled. Willem H. 14:55, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
Did you unmerge it from the titles it was merged with first? If not you may have also changed it in eight other pubs at the same time. A nasty isfdb gotcha. The other one is not necessarily in error since the story is known to have been published under two different titles.--swfritter 17:00, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
If they're the submissions I approved, it was done via add content and remove content, see here and here. BLongley 19:01, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
Sounds like every things OK. Just a little merging and variant title work to be done.--swfritter 22:09, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Ten Science Fiction Stories edited by R. A. Banks

Has anyone ever seen a copy of this anthology? I created a placeholder based on info in Locus #199 (February 1977), but can't find the contents anywhere. It's not indexed in Contento, but there's an OCLC record (which doesn't list the contents). There's only one copy for sale on abebooks.com (from a German bookdealer). It must be pretty obscure if Contento missed it. MHHutchins 23:10, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Just found another copy with a picture on abebooks.com, and it's a trade paperback (which I assumed based on the OCLC record and the lower than hardcover price). MHHutchins 23:16, 20 December 2008 (UTC)
And this auction on a New Zealand website which lists the contents. Gotta love the internet! MHHutchins 23:18, 20 December 2008 (UTC)
The Shanghai Library has a copy if anybody is traveling that way for the holidays.--swfritter 02:00, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
We may want to let Bill Contento know -- it's a rare pre-1983 anthology that escapes his clutches. Ahasuerus 19:57, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
Yeah, Contento should be told. MHHutchins 23:03, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
Done! Ahasuerus 01:54, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
I've entered the contents, but had to make assumptions about a couple of them. Anyone booked their flight to Shanghai yet? MHHutchins 23:03, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet

It seems a fairly important Fanzine/Magazine judging by the number of references to it I've found recently, and I've entered some raw data for each issue I know about either from the website or from Locus. Locus seems suspiciously bad at times though (how often do they normally record entries on pages 42, 45, 39, 40, 43, 44 in that order?) and I think we could do with some physical verification if anybody has some. If not - we could probably do better on the "two poems" on one site and named poems from the other or such. And we could definitely regularise a bit more and sort out Publication tags and create a proper Magazine page or something. Any volunteers? Not me, I'm going to do "Electric Velocipede" next. BLongley 00:30, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

I don't own any issues and the underlying problem appears to be that it's not always easy to tell what is and what is not speculative fiction (or "fancy", as they call it) in this mag. And speaking of magazines, Locus is having an End of the Year Special on Back Issues if anyone is interested. Ahasuerus 00:57, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Plamadore?

From THTRGDFTHM1978 which is a 1978 Dell

tn_plum.jpg

Does anyone recognize the signature? I looked at the Dell pubs from 1974 to 1983 and the only name that looks close is Estaban Maroto. TIA --Marc Kupper|talk 08:38, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

I found a "Paul Plumadore" for a 1977 Doubleday Encounter Program, does the style look similar to you? BLongley 14:34, 4 January 2009 (UTC)
Perfect and thank you. I suspect I should have used a fresher copy of the database when I was scanning for artist names. --Marc Kupper|talk 18:29, 4 January 2009 (UTC)
No, I only added "Paul Plumadore" today after some major Google-Fu. I'm sure someone would prefer that I'd entered exact references for such, but explaining my methods of Googling with "site:" prefixes for alibis and abe books, discounting all copies from amazon, re-researching without all the more famous Plumadores, and such-like, would make any sort of justification look suspect and even longer than all the other publication details. It's my best guess, and will do till someone asks Paul directly. If he's the one I think he is. BLongley 00:13, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
Wow; thank you for the fu! As I was uncertain on the name itself I had not thought about looking outside ISFDB. --Marc Kupper|talk 20:16, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

The Transmigration of Souls

In the record for TMSL1996 the credited artist Sean Beavers has been replaced by Bob Eggleton, and a note left saying the signature looks more like Eggleton's (as well as the style). Can't speak to the style, but what can be seen of the signature (the beginning part is hidden behind the "RT' in the author William Barton's name) is not IMO even close to being Eggleton's. I can understand leaving a note about thinking the credited artist should be someone else, but to replace it??? The note-leaver obviously had the book in hand, but didn't verify it. What should I do with this? (I do have the book) ~Bill, --Bluesman 23:23, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

If you have the book then go ahead with marking it as verified and updating things as needed. I'll see if I can figure out who made the changes. --Marc Kupper|talk 23:25, 4 January 2009 (UTC)
Dsorgen may have a copy or at least on 2007-07-30 he changed the date to 1996-01-00. At that time the note said
"Sean Beavers" is credited for the cover, but the signature (and style) look like Bob Eggleton
and the credited artist was Bob Eggleton indicating this has been in the system for a long time. One option is to add a note explaining that the record used to credit Bob Eggleton, had the note "...", but then explain the evidence you have found. --Marc Kupper|talk 23:46, 4 January 2009 (UTC)
Took awhile and about thirty books, but managed to find a clear Eggleton signature (and begin to see the style similarity) and the signature is a lot closer than I thought. He combines the 2 'g's with the 'l' in an odd way so it's almost one letter. Think I'll just leave it until more 'evidence' is presented. Appreciate all the feedback! ~Bill, --Bluesman 00:07, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
If you've found a good example, could we have a copy for our Artist Signature Library? BLongley 20:21, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
I do not have a scanner, but the cleanest one I could find was from the HC of Greg Bear's Anvil of Stars. ~Bill, --Bluesman 19:49, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

McKillip's The Quest of the Riddlemaster - does it exist?

Does anyone have verifiable evidence of the existence of this pub, supposedly a one volume edition of McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy published by Ballantine? The ISBN returned no hits on OCLC or ABE. Google has only 8 hits which include 2 on the ISFDB, and the others probably feed off the ISFDB just to get site hits. And note the spelling as "Riddlemaster" instead of "Riddle-Master" (the name of the one volume edition published by Ace). Also there's no mention of it on the author's website, only of the SFBC and Ace one-volume editions. Anyone? MHHutchins 21:26, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

On Amazon US there's one seller, who states it's three books, and stresses no box. Maybe the ISBN belonged to a box-set this seller doesn't actually have the box for? BLongley 22:26, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
There's a fan site plus mailing list where the members are likely to know about this. --Marc Kupper|talk 09:15, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
That's the site I'd already checked and it had no mention of the omnibus. But Bill's onto something here. Each of the books at that time were being published by Ballantine at $2.25 each, so doing the math would make this a boxed set of the mm paperbacks, not a trade pb of the three novels in one volume. I'll make a note about the reasonableness of this assumption. Thanks. MHHutchins 19:35, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
OpenLibrary lists it as a boxed edition. Books in Print has a listing, but doesn't give any information about whether it's a boxed set or not. It does give the binding as mass market, however, which jibes with the pricing assumption.Jefe 23:52, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
Nytecrow (The Amazon seller) has responded and says she is unaware of any boxed edition, but had to stress the lack of a box in case people complained. I think there probably was one, of mm size paperbacks, but people are hanging onto them rather than selling them. So I'd change the binding of our suspect record from "tp" to "pb". BLongley 21:10, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Analog, December 1963

Anyone with this issue, please check to see if the story "Thin Edge" on page 68 is by "Johnathan Blake MacKenzie" or "Jonathan...". There's a record of reprints under "Jonathan". Thanks. MHHutchins 18:44, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Johnathan on both title page of story and TOC although the title page is actually Johnathan Blake Mac Kenzie. I have Analog 3. It lists Jonathan Blake Mac Kenzie on both title page and TOC. Double checked some other sources and the real author actually is Randall Garrett as the mag entry states.--swfritter 20:10, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Find the Changeling

There is a signature on the cover of Benford/Eklund's FNDTHCHNGL1980 that I can't quite figure out. C. W. Co?y, with both "Cs" appearing as capital "¢"s. There is a slight chance the ¢ in the last name is a "G", but only a slim one. Have tried every permutation I could think of in the DB but no hits. Any ideas? ~Bill, --Bluesman 17:07, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

From the description that sounds like Ken W. Kelly, whose K's do look like Cs with a vertical bar through them. Like this?

Image:C._W._Celly.jpg BLongley 17:36, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Exactly like that! Muchos gracias, senor! One more off the desk!! ~Bill, --Bluesman 17:51, 17 January 2009 (UTC)
Another score for the Artist Sig Library (contributions still welcome). Now, how to promote it more? BLongley 23:43, 17 January 2009 (UTC)
I'm wondering if a category should be created so that we can park the unknown signatures. I see that people have uploaded Image:Unknown Sig.jpg (which is now identified but the page did not get moved), Image:Unknown Initials.jpg, and I just uploaded Image:THSLNTNVDR1973 sig.jpg. --Marc Kupper|talk 21:06, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
I think our overall skill in moving wiki pages is low. In my case, nonexistent. What I do now is try to upload to my best guess at the name (e.g. the above is called "C. W. Celly") and add notes when identified. I think it's safe to duplicate identified sigs to all the other possible variants, but of course after we've identified a misnamed artist it tends to disappear from ISFDB itself and you have to look in the sig library. E.g. "Bob Parkin" went after we found Bob Larkin - although we haven't got Locus updated to match. But I'd like examples of all the "obvious" ones too, just so we can double check whether we have, for instance, a Paul Lehr rather than any other Lehr. BLongley 21:30, 19 January 2009 (UTC)
Oops - it looks like moving images is either not there yet or needs a MediaWiki update[10]. Apparently there are painful aspects to it. The problem in a nutshell is when you move an article the old page has a redirect to the new one. The links to the old name are not changed. Apparently with images a redirect does not or can't work. For now, this means that once an artist is identified we'd need to create a new page for that person's signature and to delete the old one.
I'm not sure what you mean by "But I'd like examples of all the 'obvious' ones too". Obvious unknown signatures? --Marc Kupper|talk 01:29, 20 January 2009 (UTC)
Yes - any signature that is not clearly readable as the complete name. So any sig which is just a surname, or initials, or is a nickname. We shouldn't restrict the library to particularly difficult sigs only, anything incomplete can do with extra clarification for somebody. I'd suggest ALL signatures but that might lead to the lists getting too big. BLongley 18:45, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Time's Last Gift

This Farmer novel TLSTG1972 is under the series "Tarzan's Africa". It's set in 12000 BC. Not sure it belongs in this series. --Bluesman 20:01, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure who gave the series that name. I'd think "Opar" would be a better name. This novel is a prequel to the two Opar novels, but I don't know how close the connection is. MHHutchins 20:06, 17 January 2009 (UTC)
According to this link from the official Farmer site it is "sort of" in the "Opar" series.--swfritter 23:28, 17 January 2009 (UTC)
I have seen "Tarzan's Africa" as well as "Opar" used in Farmer bibliographies. FWIW, Clute/Nicholls uses "Ancient Africa", so I suppose there are many ways to skin this particular cat.
As Help:Screen:EditTitle notes, "a series may have only one name, so if two or more series names are equally popular (e.g. one name is preferred by the author, another one by the publisher, and a third one is commonly used in SF encyclopedias), the only option that we have is to list them all in a slash delimited format", so we may want to add "/ Opar" to the series name. Ahasuerus 01:02, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

5 Novels

This Pinkwater omnibus lists the author as "Daniel M. Pinkwater" for both the first and seventh printings. I just entered the tenth printing, which lists the author as "Daniel Pinkwater". Can anybody with any other editions of this verify how the author is credited?Jefe 23:39, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

No "M." in my 9th printing. Ahasuerus 18:19, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

CDS Books

As per the the Locus Index and OCLC, it would appear that "CDs Books" should be "CDS Books", and Harry has just entered Notes for a publication that uses "CDS Books". Since our software changes publisher capitalization to what's already on file, the only way to change a publication is to change the underlying Publisher record, which will affect all publications sharing the same publisher. Any objections to changing "CDs Books" to "CDS Books" wholesale? Ahasuerus 18:14, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

It must have been a bad first entry that created the publisher record. I wouldn't object to changing it to "CDS" if that's the only truly verified name. And besides, who would name their publishing company "CDs" knowing it would be confused with the plural of compact disc or certificate of deposit? :) MHHutchins 19:36, 7 February 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, change made. Ahasuerus 01:14, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

All Those Enduring/Endearing Old Orders

Anybody have a copy of Aldiss 'Last Orders and Other Stories from Triad/Panther. "All Those Endearing Old Charms" is listed as "All Those Enduring Old Charms" elsewhere - see this discussion.--swfritter 21:38, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't have that edition/printing, but I have now verified my Carroll & Graf mass market paperback edition, which seems to reprint the Triad/Panther edition page for page. I found 2 other typos in our Triad/Panther record, so it's likely safe to change it to follow the Carroll & Graf record. Ahasuerus 00:59, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
Hopefully at least the title page is different, or it doesn't explain the variant. But there's something else odd in that set of variants - why "Last Orders and Other Stories (8888) - Brian W. Aldiss" for the 1979 edition? BLongley 18:27, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
I have merged Endearing with Enduring - 99%+ chance that is correct.--swfritter 23:54, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
I just bought a 1979 Triad Panther edition (for research purposes, I can afford the penny plus postage). It's definitely "Enduring". However, it's not exactly the edition you're querying - the original price on mine is cheaper. But the chances of them getting it right in first printing, wrong in a later one, and then getting it right again are low. BLongley 23:43, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
I have unlinked and merged the 8888 version since it was apparently in error. As far as my Carroll & Graf edition goes, I was wrong and it's not an exact reprint. Not only is the title page different, but it appeared as by "Brian Aldiss" rather than as by "Brian W. Aldiss". The "W" can be found on the copyright page and the "Author's Note" is signed "B.W.A.", but there is no "W" on the title page or on the cover, which means that the constituent Title records need to be changed to the W-less version. And then we'll need to revisit the other verified publications, which look suspicious too... Ahasuerus 02:00, 25 February 2009 (UTC)
The 1990-08-00 version has been redone and re-verified. Who knew that middle initials could be so painful... Ahasuerus 00:43, 26 February 2009 (UTC)
I knew. Why do you think I've avoided Aldiss, Friesner, Koontz etc for so long? I've only tackled Stableford (to some extent) as I've met the guy and owe him a major debt of gratitude for all the fanzines he gave me. BLongley 23:43, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

(Unindent) OK, how do we now fix all the "Three Enigmas" stuff? It seems this book has five of the triples, it might be the definitive source? BLongley 23:43, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

To my knowledge there are 8 Enigma triplets. Six were published in New Writings in SF 22, 23, 24, 26, 27 and 28. The seventh was in Epoch and the last one in Final Stage. In Last Orders five of them were reprinted, and numbered, but not in the original order of appearance. The ones in New Writings 22, 24 and 28 were left out of Last Orders. It may take a few days, but I can try to fix the whole mess. Willem H. 21:12, 1 March 2009 (UTC)
Great! I think we have all those books covered to some extent, so one big proposal and a few verification requests should get it sorted. We may even develop a reasonable standard for "Group Titles". (Of course, as Aldiss is still alive, he may create a ninth just to throw us.) BLongley 22:54, 1 March 2009 (UTC)
The job is growing. So far I've come across three more enigma triples. ISFDB already has one of them (Three Songs for Enigmatic Lovers). According to The Official Brian W. Aldiss Website there should be one in Vector, March 1978 (#87) (Yin, Yang and Jung, Three Galactic Enigmas) and one in Something Else 1, Spring 1980 and reprinted in New Pathways Into Science Fiction And Fantasy [No.14, May 1989] (Three Revolutionary Enigmas). If anyone owns one of these publications, please enter the data.
There should now be a series called Enigma, in which I will nest the 9 enigma triples known to ISFDB. I've also begun to match the six editions of Last Orders (I own this one, and I see no reason why the other editions should be different, except for the page count.

New Writings #23 has no introductory essay with The Eternal Theme Of Exile, so I deleted that one. To be continued Willem H. 13:42, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Mike Cross agrees on the Vector #87 contents, if not the date. I probably have a copy somewhere in the Stableford collection, no telling when I'll find it though. BLongley 20:27, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Does anyone have a copy of this one or that one? It seems to contain four stories by Brian W. Aldiss, but I'm almost certain it is one of the Enigma triples, in which case this is not a story at all, but the title of the enigma triple, and it should be a series containing the other three stories. Common Clay lists only the three stories. Willem H. 20:53, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

According to Locus1, you're correct. It's another triptych under the umbrella title "Her Toes Were Beautiful on the Hilltops". Go ahead and drop that title from both pubs and place the three stories into a series with that name. Thanks. MHHutchins 21:06, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

The Curse of the Mohndoro Nkabele

I was checking this pub, and came across the author Eric Norden. There are three entries for the story "The Curse of the Mohndoro Nkabele" and I strongly suspect they are all wrong. Probably the first edition is in Starsongs and Unicorns. This one gives the title as "The Curse of the Mohndoro Nkabele or The Revenge of Stanley G. Weinbaum" (Locus agrees on that), but strangely enough gives the year as 1980 (Starsongs and Unicorns was published in 1978). The second one was published in F&SF Sept.1980 I can hardly imagine it is a different story (can anyone check this?) The one I do own (Inside the Funhouse) is also strange. It gives 1982 as the copyright year, which is obviously wrong, on the toc the title is "The Curse of Mohndoro Nkabele", the story itself is "The Curse of the Mohndoro Nkabele" with the "the" restored. It seems like the story is really cursed. Any suggestions? Willem H. 11:54, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

I don't have Starsongs and Unicorns in my collection, but Reginald-3 and OCLC agree that it was published in 1978. Contento provides further details and suggests that the "cursed" stories are the same story. As far as the copyright year goes, it may have been renewed in 1982 for some reason -- uncommon, but it happens and yet another reason to be wary of copyright dates.
I have updated "The Primal Solution" to reflect Contento's information about Cavalier and added the author's legal name. Ahasuerus 19:14, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
I changed the date of [11] to 1978-00-00, and made the later titles into variant titles. Thanks Willem H. 19:46, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Galaxy, January 1974

Could someone with a copy of Galaxy, January 1974 handy please check whether Sturgeon's review of Past, Present, and Future Perfect spells one of the editors' name "Jack C. Wolfe" or "Jack C. Wolf"? TIA! Ahasuerus 23:36, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

It's the latter, "Jack C. Wolf."-Rkihara 23:43, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, that eliminates the "Wolfe" record! :) Ahasuerus

Amazing Stories, May 1980

Similarly, is the story "October Blood" attributed to "Gregory FitzGerald" or to "Gregory Fitz Gerald" in Amazing Stories, May 1980? The primary verifier, Bob Hall, hasn't been seen on the Wiki side since November, so it's probably more productive to ask here. Ahasuerus 23:53, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

It's "Gregory Fitz Gerald."-Rkihara 07:45, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
Another bogus Author record bites the dust! :) Thanks! Ahasuerus 19:04, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Squares of the City cover signature

Does anyone recognize this signature?

Unknown_Signature.jpg

Thanks! ~Bill, --Bluesman 19:25, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, couldn't find a reference for that edition but I did find a few more. BLongley 22:36, 16 March 2009 (UTC)
Took me some time, but it looks like the signature from Davy which is credited to Bob Foster. Willem H. 19:55, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
Thanks! Good sleuthing! ~Bill, --Bluesman 04:12, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

"The Ancestral Home of Thought"

We have two version of Brian W. Aldiss' "The Ancestral Home of Thought" on file. The first one is #3 in his "Three Revolutionary Enigmas" series and the second one is #3 in "Her Toes Were Beautiful on the [Hilltops|Mountains]". As I recall, this area was cleaned up recently, so I wonder if someone may remember enough about it to properly attribute the story? Ahasuerus 16:02, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

It's the same story, but the editor who was cleaning up Aldiss's Enigmas left this one alone. (Because one story can't be in two series.) I guess it's up to someone else to merge the title records, deciding which series it should be part of. MHHutchins 20:19, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
The discussion about "The Ancestral Home of Thought" was here. It was decided to leave the two entries alone until someone could compare them. Willem H. 20:23, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
I hope I'm wrong - but haven't the series been corrupted since I last looked? :-( Search for series with "Enigma" in and there's 11, only five of which point to the overall parent I thought we had. BLongley 21:47, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
Looks like someone's been undoing my work. I tied all (I hope) of the series to the Enigma parent again. Thanks for the warning. Willem H. 17:57, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
I've saved the current structure on the overall series wiki page, perhaps we could add more notes to the sub-series wiki pages too? I don't want to go through that again. :-/ BLongley 19:24, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

World Editions pub of Clarke's Prelude to Space

I'm holding a submission from a new editor (who probably hasn't found the wiki yet) that wants to change the publisher of this pub to "World Editions, Inc. / Galaxy Publishing Corp." The book was published in 1951, the year that World Editions was publisher of Galaxy Magazine, but by the end of the year they had become Galaxy Publishing Corporation. Does anyone have a copy to verify that both publishers are credited? Thanks. MHHutchins 22:53, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Only "World Editions, Inc." is mentioned in this publication. It does have "Galaxy Science Fiction Novel" written all over it of course, but "Galaxy Publishing Corp." is not mentioned, and wasn't in the first seven galaxy novels. Willem H. 13:46, 20 April 2009 (UTC)
Thanks for checking. That confirms the suspicions that made me hold the submission. MHHutchins 14:59, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

First Edition of 2010 Odyssey Two

Does anyone know for sure whether this Arthur C. Clarke novel was published first in the UK or the US? Some say the Granada edition was first some say it was published earlier in the US. I'm confused. Can anyone help? Thanks. Phileas Apr. 25, 17:49:03 UTC

According to an article in Locus #264 (January 1983), the Granada edition appeared a week before the Del Rey edition was released in America. But officially the Phantasia Press edition was the first, even though both the Phantasia and Del Rey appeared in October according to Locus #263 (December 1982). So it looks like all of them appeared within weeks of each other. MHHutchins 18:03, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
Reginald-3 agrees that the Phantasia Press version (limited to 650 copies) was the official first edition. Ahasuerus 19:35, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
Thanks (yes, I'm late). I got me the Granada edition, because even if there was one Phantasia for sale, I'm sure my wife would have killed me ;). I reached part four and the same problem occurred. Voyager and Del Rey editions appeared both in March 97 - Locus says they were published "simultaneously". There are two first editions and no second? Locus also states Feb 97 for the Del Rey, but in square bracket - what do such dates in bracket mean? I hope Del Rey was the first (at least by some minutes) because the cover looks way better. -- Phileas 09:37, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
I think the confusion is caused by the different definitions of "First Edition". It could be the first-ever publication by any publisher of a book and it could also be the first printing by this particular publisher. "Second Edition" has no meaning in this context. (That usually means a book as been revised, updated, etc. and this is the first printing of that edition.) The Voyager was a first edition. The Del Rey was a first edition. If Tor came out with a printing tomorrow, it would be the first Tor edition, and probably include the statement "First Edition: May 2009" with a complete number line.
Back to your question. Did Voyager or Del Rey first publish 3001? If Locus1 states "published simultaneously" it means that the publishers decided that they would release their editions "approximately" within a certain time frame (perhaps a couple of weeks or a month). The "official" Del Rey publication date was February 25, 1997. The "official" Voyager publication date was March 20, 1997. Now, when those books actually arrived in the stores, who can tell? Locus received their copy of the Del Rey edition in February, that's what the bracketed date means in Locus listings. So I think you have the "official" First Edition. MHHutchins 16:16, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
Thanks again. I'm aware (nevertheless still confused) about the different definitions of "1st edition". When I say "1st edition" I want a copy of the first printing run of the book that was first released (in a certain laguage). The official dates you mentioned are quite what I had in mind. -- Phileas 07:49, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Arthur C. Clarke - Dolphin Island - 1st ed.

I'm thinking about buying this book. It's the first listed edition in the ISFDB and every seller who offers this book calls it the "1st edition". There's another copy for $300, but I think it's not that much better and the 85 GBP copy will do. But then I found link this one. It's not in the ISFDB yet. Seller says the book states "1st edition". There are other copies of that edition which seem to verify the "1st edition" statement on the copyright page. What now... any suggestions? -- Phileas 09:35, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

Both are first editions. They were both published in 1963, but I can find no source for the month. (Amazon.co.uk dates the Gollancz edition January 1, but that's a default date.) So I can't tell you which was first published. But again, they're both first editions. Holt was the first US edition. Gollancz was the first British edition. R. Reginald, who only lists the first edition says it's Holt. And Tuck, who lists all editions, has the Holt first, but I don't know if that's American centrism (which I doubt, because he was Tasmanian). I think the Holt would be your best choice.
BTW, there's no record of the Holt edition in the ISFDB because no one has created one yet. You'll find there's thousands of editions that are not in the database yet. That's where you come in. :-) MHHutchins 16:33, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
Fair enough. Holt sounds good. Although I was afraid you would say that, because getting books (or anything else) from America to Germany is much more exasperating than getting books inside the European union. The packages will be opened by the German customs and if the content is worth more than €22 you have to pay VAT (again). That means you have to go there personally to pay and get the package - sometimes it takes 2 or 3 months until I get my hands on it and I always have a bad feeling about my package. But that's another story. ;) -- Phileas 08:03, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Signature help

Does anyone recognize this Image:CrazyTime_sig.jpg? It's from Crazy Time, Feb 1989, St. Martin's Press. Sorry, but I couldn't get it any bigger and have it remain even remotely legible. I have a guess, but don't want to prejudice anyone. Thanks. --MartyD 20:08, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

I don't even see a signature. Can you create a larger scan at a greater resolution? MHHutchins 20:29, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Bleiler's Science Fiction: The Early Years

Someone has started entering info from this title (kudos to that brave soul), but there's one entry I'd like to have double-checked. This doesn't match Reginald1, from which I'm doing a similar (slow) project. He has the title as L.P.M.: The End of the Great War and published as by "J. Stewart Barney". OCLC agrees with this title and author-credit. Thanks. MHHutchins 16:12, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Actually it is listed in Bleiler as "L. P. M. The End of the Great War" under the full name. Bleiler quite often uses the authors real name without mentioning the name under which the work was actually published. Changed both review and novel title to the that. Guess what. It is in Google Books. It probably makes sense to add the the assumed ":". I will modify the novel and also readjust the author name in the review so we don't have an orphan author. I figure it is going to take at least another year to complete this project and it looks like our projects might complement each other. Which will give us reasons to compliment each other. Sorry, couldn't resist.--swfritter 17:18, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
In related news, I have changed "A Scientific Balloon" by W. L. Alden from "1986-01-00" to "1896-01-00". Ahasuerus 17:32, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
Magazine dates fixed also. This is like Twitter. People are following me.--swfritter 17:59, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
There was an announcement at work today. YouTube, Twitter and Facebook are going to merge into one big waste-of-time service. It'll be called YouTwitFace. :-) BLongley 18:03, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
Actually I have that publication bookmarked and have been working my way through it ever so slowly behind you as the interest strikes me, looking for online editions of the out of copyright stuff to link up to and to flesh out some of the entries (Google Books, Internet Archive, Gutenberg, etc), and occasionally branching off into tangents for interesting authors. Kevin 02:46, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Twitter - opposite of

Related to my off-topic comment above: Hugh Laurie has just mentioned on British TV that he is more of a "Shush" person than a Twitterer like his former partner Stephen Fry. (Most followed British Twitterer, I'm told.) I'm sure "Shush" and all other spelling variants have been grabbed as domain names by now, so won't even attempt to create such a service, but what was the SF story where people could just talk to somebody (via vague technology I forget) in full confidence that it would be heard but never overheard, and would not be repeated? BLongley 22:17, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Amazing Stories, August 1979

This issue was verified by Bob Hall, who hasn't been seen around ISFDB for some time, so I am posting it here. Could somebody please check whether "The First Buck Rogers Story Ever Published" is attributed to "Philip Frances Nowlan" or "Philip Francis Nowlan"? TIA! Ahasuerus 00:16, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

With my transient verification. Credited as Philip Frances Nowlan on the ToC with no interior credit. It is actually the fictional Foreword to "Buck Rogers in The 25th Century" so is legitimately a piece of fiction. The cover from The August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories is also reproduced. The title actually refers to a one page essay preceding the excerpt with the excerpt being untitled but mentioned in the essay. Tomorrow I will break it down into two titles. The essay as titled by uncredited and "Armageddon - 2419 (excerpt)" as by Philip Frances Nowlan.--swfritter 00:55, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
Thanks! Ahasuerus 01:08, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, sort of! The story was entered merely as "Armageddon - 2419" for its original appearance in Amazing. Both Contento and Day have it as "Armageddon - 2419 A.D.". A little web-surfing resolved that issue. I go to merge the titles; one is a novella and one is a novelette. A little web surfing; I get a word count and I am in hopes that I did not break the law just by doing so. Honest I did not read any of the words. I already have the story in my collection. Again. Thanks, sort of.--swfritter 13:37, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Against The Fall Of Night (novella == novel ???)

Arthur C. Clarke's "Against The Fall Of Night" has two entries: as a novella and as a novel. Today I got a copy of this magazine, which contains the very first publication of this story. I compared it to a later paperback print - I haven't compared every single word. But I checked all chapters and several paragraphs of each chapter randomly and all the "special stuff" like paragraphs in italics and something like that. Both versions seem to be the same. Plus the magazine doesn't call it a novella or novelette, but a novel. Actually I found one minor difference: at the very first sentence of the 9th chapter in the magazine there's a "the" missing at the beginning of the sentence - but I'm sure that's a mistake, because I think it's grammatically wrong without the "the". I did some brief comparisons to later editions too: this one and this one - no difference. So I've read all the forewords by Clarke about "Against...". He always wrote that the novel had been developed over many years and many changes had been made until it was finally accepted by the Startling Stories magazine. Then he said it was later published in hardback, but he didn't mention any further changes to the novel - except, of course, the extended version "The City and the Stars".

So, I believe all published versions of "Against The Fall Of Night" are the same - so far I found nothing that suggests two different versions - except teh ISFDB. This would also explain some confusion - for example: according to the DB Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1986 "The Lion of Comarre and Against the Fall of Night" is supposed to contain the novella and another edition by the same publisher one year later (using the same ISBN) is supposed to contain the novel.

What do you think? -- Phileas 20:30, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

I think you're right. Tuck has all publications as a novel (including the first publication in Startling Stories) and the various editions of The Lion of Comarre and Against the Fall of Night are split evenly between novel and novella. Willem H. 21:06, 9 June 2009 (UTC)
Ooh, you're opening the big can of worms again! There are people here (I call them "Lengthists") that go by very precise word-counts. These seem to have been derived from the rules for various awards (Hugo, Nebula, etc) that define NOVEL at 40K words, NOVELLA at 17.5k, etc. I'm not a "Lengthist" and think anything that has been published on its own as a book is fine to be called "NOVEL". And some award rules allow for NOVELLAs published stand-alone to be entered for the NOVEL award category too. And there are stories that were put forward for awards in both NOVELETTE and NOVELLA categories, and some awards that didn't distinguish "Short Story" from "Novelette" either... BLongley 22:10, 9 June 2009 (UTC)
I personally think the current length rules are mostly unjustified and senseless if they don't even support the award category they were in with the categories they'd fall into now. We're mostly getting by with letting the Lengthists deal with Award nominees/winners and the majority of books that don't get that far are left alone: sometimes they're children's books, or older books that never had to pad out their word-counts to get to the level of an award category invented much later, or just short books. Sometimes we just call some claimed novels "collections" (as things like the original "Foundation" books have sections pretty close to their magazine publications). BLongley 22:10, 9 June 2009 (UTC)
There's probably a civil war looming where some editors and even moderators will quit in disgust at the proposed nonsense from the "other side", but fortunately there's a universal revulsion about "chapterbooks" which seems to be what some Lengthists want to demote some "short novels" to, and that some others want to preserve for books that actually deserve such a category. BLongley 22:10, 9 June 2009 (UTC)
Having said all that - I've got "Against the Fall of Night" in a book (or several) somewhere but I'm pretty sure I haven't got it standalone. If it's been published standalone then I'd support "NOVEL", but I don't think I can do that from my current evidence. Welcome to the world of old ISFDB standards disagreements! BLongley 22:10, 9 June 2009 (UTC)
There are certainly disagreements in this area, but if we are sure that the text is the same across all Publications, I think we should merge the two Titles first and then debate whether it's a Novel or a Novella. Ahasuerus 22:20, 9 June 2009 (UTC)
Another borderline case like the Francis Stevens novels? Contento lists it as a novella for the magazine appearance which is probably where that length designation came from in our system. Unless the story is continued later in the magazine version and/or the print size is smaller than normal it would probably be in the area of 40,000 words which would normally equate to about 130 pages in most paperbacks which is about the length of the story in "The Lion of Comarre and Against the Fall of Night" editions. Most of the paperbacks come in at about 160 pages which usually puts the word count at closer to 50,000 depending upon font size, white space, etc. Even if the magazine appeance is novel length it might still be shorter.--swfritter 21:45, 9 June 2009 (UTC)
Found my copy of "The Lion of Comarre and Against the Fall of Night". Based upon a word count sample "Against the Fall of Night" appears to about 50,000 words - about 150 pages in my SFBC edition which is about what I figured for the paperback editions. The magazine version might still be shorter. Phileas must have some tiny print in his edition which is only 130 pages.--swfritter 22:05, 9 June 2009 (UTC)
Should not have got started editing when I had an appointment. Even if the magazine version is shorter, and even if it were to squeak in at slightly less than 40k, classifying it as a Complete Novel (Serial) will document the potential for variant text; that's part of the rationale for the designation. The subsequent printings seem clearly to be of Novel length.--swfritter 23:07, 9 June 2009 (UTC)
But we have documentation (Phileas's word compare) that there are no changes. I'm thinking Just 'Novel' in a magazine. No need to beat around the bush with (Complete Novel) Serial designations even. Kevin 01:27, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
Oh no, a Novel Title in a Magazine Publication would be against the rules and an automatic red flag. Magazine appearances of novels are always entered as Serials, using either the "Part X of Y" format or the "(Complete Novel)" format (depending on the number of installments) even if the text has been verified as unchanged between magazine and book publications. Ahasuerus 01:56, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
I thought we had rules so we could have exceptions to the rules (shrug) - So it appears I will change my vote to (Complete Novel) Kevin 02:20, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
Rules are made to be modified (when the circumstances warrant changes) as opposed to broken :) In this case it's important to keep magazine appearances of novels as Serials so that they would appear under their associated Novel titles. It's not a great arrangement since it relies on the infamous "lexical match" and we hope to change it Some Time Soon (tm), but we need to keep it that way for now, in part so that we could automatically convert our data to the new format when the time comes. Ahasuerus 03:18, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
swfritter, I know what you mean. The page counts seem pretty suspicious, but there are huge differences regarding the typesetting. I own 4 editions with a page count range of 60 to 152, but still, during the comparisons I made so far, I found no differences (exception the one word I mentioned earlier and which is probably the editor's mistake). My Gollancz hardcover has only 108 pages for example. The magazine pages are of about the same size as Gollancz (thus larger than a mass paperback) but the font size is small, so small that they had to print two columns on each page, otherwise it would be hard to keep track of the lines while reading. Picking a sequence from the text and comparing magazine to book you can see that the text presented on one magazine page takes easily 2 to 3 paperback pages. Furthermore, the chapters doesn't start on a new page like they do in most book editions - that should compensate the magazine's illustrations at least. What's still troubling me is that I think the Author would have mentioned it somewhere in one of the forewords or remarks where he described the history of this novel - usually he's pretty precise about such things - but in his description the book pub by Gnome press followed the magazine pub and there's no "step" in the meantime worth mentioning. -- Phileas 07:52, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
Another remark: it's not a divided into parts. It's the complete novel on page 11 to 70 - that's it. However, I don't know if it's a novella or novel (personally I don't like to count words). A admit that a magazine pub make it look like a novella, but if I had to decide this according to instinct I'd say it's a novel - certainly a short one, but a novel. But that's just my opinion. I'm not familiar with the rules, all I can say is the it currently looks like an inconsistence (When I bought the magazine I expected a different version, because of the two entries in the DB). Btw, I just found this. Quote: This magazine was the first companion to Thrilling Wonder Stories; its policy was to publish long novels -- Phileas 07:52, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
I don't think anyone has a problem with classifying the magazine version as novel length. As such it would be entered as a Complete Novel (Serial) in the magazine. Rather than being a special case that would justify exceptional processing it as an example of why the methodology was adopted in the first place. Magazine serials and longer stories are particular prone to editorial tampering. By using the Complete Novel (Serial) methodology we avoid the onerous task of having to spend countless hours of textual analysis to compare versions. As far as page counts; there are 40,000 word novels crammed into 70 tiny-text pages of a digest magazines and 20,000 word novels that filled up 200 pages of a book. It often requires pub in hand to make a true determination. Magazine publishers consistently over classified the lengths of stories in order to convince potential customers that they were getting the most bang for the buck. The Complete Novel (Serial) concept, even if we find a different nomenclature, is probably something for which we should have a white paper document. I know it took me a little while to buy into the logic.--swfritter 15:22, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
Before Ahasuerus reminds me. There is an even more compelling reason for using the The Complete Novel (Serial) methodology. If we classified the story as a NOVEL it would logically have to be merged with the other occurrences which would give the novel an earlier publication date than most people would expect. In the wider world the first book publication date is considered to be more appropriate.--swfritter 15:53, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
If everybody is satisfied that all versions of this story are novel length I will make the appropriate changes in the next couple of days. That will also require changing the entry in Phileas' verified pub from a novella to (Complete Novel) Serial and changing the titles of the artwork to be consistent with that title. I am looking forward to the days when this confusing nomenclature goes away.--swfritter 14:32, 13 June 2009 (UTC)
Done.--swfritter 14:36, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Unknown signature - Key Out of Time

Key Out of Time by Ace has this signature. It appears to end in "ki". Do you recognize it? If not, and you have a copy of the ISFDB db handy, can you pull up a list of artists whose names end with "ki"? select author_canonical from authors where author_canonical like '%ki' AND author_id in (select author_id from canonical_author where title_id in (select title_id from titles where title_ttype in ('COVERART','INTERIORART'))); I know it'd be better to use an inner join but the version here is something I can do while sleeping <g>. Thank you! --Marc Kupper|talk 20:01, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

The query narrows it down to Mike Kucharski, Matt Stawicki, Susan Zolkowski, Mark Dubowski, Richard Egielski, Bill Skurski, Edward Osowski, Paul David Novitski, Allen Koszowski, Zdzislaw Beksinski, Mark Salwowski, Michael Kucharski, Eric Turowski, Steve Cieslawski, Anton Brzezinski, Kevin Jankauski, Tommy Soloski, Elizabeth Malczynski, Rafal Olbinski, Peter Szumowski, Tony Pyrzakowski, Juda Tverski, Stanislaw Zagorski, Chet Jezierski, Andrzej Dudzinski, Wictor Sadowski, Dale D. Ziemanski, John Borkowski, Rudolph Belarski, Michael Labonski, Stefan Rudnicki, Stephan Kopinski, Jan Pienkowski, Yvonne Bogdanski, Pete Rozycki, Paul Stanczykowski, Pawel Lewandowski, Tim Zulewski, Belarski, Rafael Olbinski, Marcin Baranski, Gene Mydlowski, Thomi Wroblewski, Fred Winkowski, Steven Stawicki, Jerzy Osmolski, Matthew Stawicki, Don Dolanski, Al Nozaki, Kazuaki Iwasaki, Marek Minecki, Smolenski, Jan Glinski, Joan Pienkowski, Marek A. Majewski, Mark Romanoski, Victoria Kuskowski, Ann Mikolowski, Rafal Oblinski, Karl Kopinski, Paul Stancykowski, Stan Zagorski, Wieslaw Walkuski, Zoë Sadokierski, Klaus Scherwinski, Stefan Kopinski, Donna Pawlowski, Groginski, Andrzej Klimowski, John Zielinski, W. Strudeski, Sigismund de Ivanowski, Al Koszowski, Tomasz Maronski, Konrad Kruszewski, Hans Waldemar Wessolowski, Bartlomiej Jurkowski, Stan Skardindki, H. W. Wessolowski, Regina Brytowski, Przemyslaw Ulatowski, Mikio Ishizaki, Ann Mikoloswki, Andrzej Wolinowski, Glen Iwasaki, Dariusz Zawadzki, Victor Sadowski, Stanley Skardinski, Tilman Michalski.
Hope that helps. ;-) BLongley 20:42, 13 June 2009 (UTC)
Thank you Bill. That helps and the pattern looks close to W. Strudeski and so I'll put that one down as the likely artist. His other cover, which is also for Ace, has a very similar style. --Marc Kupper|talk 21:13, 13 June 2009 (UTC)
After reading here and looking the cover I have decided to remove the note that said I believed this cover was by Davis Meltzer. But I can't make heads or tails out the signature, or the one on my copy of THE VEILED WORLD which is the other cover credited to W. Strudeski.Don Erikson 03:03, 14 June 2009 (UTC)
I'm adding a note that the artist's name is likely misspelled. A Google search for Strudeski only finds the ISFDB records and one mention in a German book from 1883. --Marc Kupper|talk 03:26, 14 June 2009 (UTC)
I pulled up some cursive charts and the name Grudeski seems to be a better match plus is used as a family name. --Marc Kupper|talk 03:40, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Unknown signature - A Wreath of Stars

Here's another from a Dell 1978 edition of A Wreath of Stars. I've seen this signature before and it's one of those where the artist stylizes stuff.

Image:AWROSTR1978-Signature.jpg

I'd do a SQL string but in searching for patterns such as o%o%so%o I'm not finding it. Thanks! --Marc Kupper|talk 01:10, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

I read that as "Do?o So??so?", for what that is worth. Notjhing in the db matches that pattern, AFAICT. -DES Talk 01:22, 14 June 2009 (UTC)
Try "Sohnson" or more likely "Johnson" as the last name. And the first could be a stylized "Doug" with the "g" dangling to form the first letter of the last name. MHHutchins 16:00, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
Michael is right. The artist's name is Doug Johnson. here's a nice site with more of his work. His signature is clearly visible on this one. Willem H. 20:13, 18 June 2009 (UTC)
Thank you everyone. I've updated the artist's biblio page. --Marc Kupper|talk 22:53, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

First publication date for The Mule

I noticed that the 6th entry in the Foundation (Original Stories) series, The Mule is dated 1941, yet its proper place in the series' chronological order is late 1945 - early 1948. Wikipedia claims it was first published in the 2-part serial (which we have recorded) in November 1945 and December 1945 Astounding Science Fiction. Does anyone have access to an authoritative source that could confirm or deny that 1941 is wrong and Nov 1945 is correct? Thanks. --MartyD 11:07, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

You are correct. The proper date should be 1945-11-00. As for an authoritative source, see Cover of November 45 Astounding (shrug). I also know that Mule was not published before Foundation in 1942. I leave the correction to you. Kevin 13:12, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Cloud Chamber (1977) by Howard Myers or Howard L. Myers

We have 2 publication records for Cloud Chamber (Popular Library, 1977): CLDCHMBRDQ1977 and CLDCHMBRKF1977. The variant with 'Howard Myers' has no source stated and looks suspiciously like one based on a review in F&SF (FSFSEP2004). I have changed the link in the review to point to the canonical record, but perhaps the original publication was as by Howard Myers? (The book covers found on the net show 'L.' in author's name, and WorldCat has 'L.' too, but perhaps the title page has 'L.' omitted?) Thanks! --Roglo 14:22, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Stephen Baxter: questions, suggestions and verification needs

  • So far I found nothing about the alternate world series. All other bibliographic sources (including Baxter's official website) say that there's a "NASA Trilogy" to which Voyage, Titan and Moonseed belongs. Whereas The Time Ships and Anti-Ice don't belong to any series. Which makes perfectly sense to me, because I don't see any connection between them - or at least no stronger connection than to many other science fiction stories. If you add anything that takes place in an alternate world the whole "Time's Tapestry" and the "Mammoth" series could be part of it.
  • It would appear that whoever set up this series took Wikipedia's "Alternative History" genre designation as a Series name :) Also, isn't The Time Ships a sequel to H. G. Wells' The Time Machine anyway? Ahasuerus 13:58, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Good point. They never got tired to mention the fact that this is an official and authorized sequel to Wells' Time Machine. --Phileas 14:09, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
    My vote goes for a new series containing The Time Machine and The Time Ships (this would also lead Wells readers, who never heard of Baxter to the sequel), a new "NASA Trilogy" series and Anti-Ice as an unrelated novel. --Phileas 15:07, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Sounds reasonable, although keep in mind that we already have a Time Machine series. We could probably add Jeter's Morlock Night to the new series as well. Since the three books, especially the one by Jeter, are only tenuously related, we could call the series something like H. G. Wells' Time Machine Universe Ahasuerus 15:20, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Done. I assigned series numbers to Time Machine and Time Ships, but none to Jeter's novel to show that it plays in the same universe, but it's not the real sequel. --Phileas 15:55, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Titan links to a serialized form published in 1979. But this one had not been written by Baxter. Obviously it belongs to this title by John Varley. Is there any connection between those two works apart from the title name, or does that serialized novel show up by mistake under Baxter's novel?
  • Lexical matching of serials is based strictly on the spelling of titles; author names are not taken into account. I suspect there will probably be a fix for this before too long.--swfritter 12:43, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • We can fix it now or we can wait until lexical matching is done away with. I have been thinking about the "ideal state" of Serials for a while and hope to start a discussion soon. Ahasuerus 15:08, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Flood, Ark and maybe some more to come seem to form a new series. Although that's not quite clear yet, and there's no name for this (Wikipedia calls it the "Un-named disaster series" other sources call it something like the "Flood series"). But at least "Ark" will be a sequel to "Flood" that's pretty sure. Should we create a series for that?
  • Done. I called it Flood, but we can always change it later if a definitive series name emerges. Series names are somewhat subjective (and different publishers have been known to use different names anyway) -- the fact that certain books are related is the important thing to convey to our users. Just make sure that the Series name hasn't been already used or else you'll add books/stories to an unrelated series. Ahasuerus 13:55, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • I assume a series name has to be unique in a global sense, not just per author? --Phileas 14:09, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • That's right. Ahasuerus 14:59, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Reality Dust and Riding the Rock are listed as part 6 and 7 of the Xeelee sequence whereas other short fiction (like Starfall) didn't get an number. Is there any reason why these two get a number in the series, while the others don't?
  • Series numbers are used to indicate the ordering of titles within the series and help answer the perennial question "Which book/story should I read next?" Some short fiction titles, especially novellas, are part of the overall plot development, so our users would benefit from knowing in what order they should be read. Other short fiction titles (or even novels) may be set in the same universe but could be profitably read in any order -- e.g. most Retief stories/novels -- so series numbers are less important. Ahasuerus 15:14, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • There's a possible dupe. Once we have Longtusk as part of the Mammoth series and there's another one with the variant title Long Tusk which is currently listed as unrelated novel. The latter entry was obviously created along with the Behemoth omnibus. If the novel titles changed to "Long Tusk" in the omnibus the currently unrelated title should become a variant title of "Longtusk" in the "Mammoth" series. But if the novel included in the omnibus is titled "Longtusk" we should merge the "Long Tusk" with the proper one. As a note: Sources that spell it "Long Tusk" are bookshops - but they even spell some of single editions that way along with covers that clearly show "Longtusk". Worldcat spells it "Longtusk". The publisher Gollancz uses both. First: Mammoth, Long Tusk, Icebones but then This is the story of SILVERHAIR, LONGTUSK and ICEBONES, Stephen Baxter's epic drama of nature's behemoth: the mammoth. Does anyone have this omnibus edition at hand?
  • If you look at "Behemoth" and click the Amazon UK link, you'll see the probable source of the space in "Long Tusk" - Amazon UK list it in the title. But if you use "Look Inside", all references are to "Longtusk". It doesn't show the title page but based on cover and copyright pages, and with no verification saying otherwise, I'd change it to "Longtusk" and merge them. BLongley 18:04, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Thanks. Done. Found another candidate which looks kinda weird to me. The title Phase Space correctly belongs to the Manifold series and has three publications. This one is obviously a dupe not connected to the series and has one pub. But when I try to merge them I get a warning that both titles are referred in the same pub. So I looked into this pub, but I can't find where this pub references the dupe title. When I click on the dupe title, then on the pub and then on the title reference of the pub I get back to the correct title, not the dupe. The title reference correctly links to this one and among the contents of this pub I couldn't find a reference to the dupe title either. Can someone please help me to understand this? I even looked into the SQL table structure (to avoid unnecessary questions and) to figure out how this pub can refer to the correct title and at the same time to the dupe title without having one of them among the pub content, but I'm lost. --Phileas 20:08, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
    That probably means that the publication contains (points to) both title records. Note that Container records are hidden even when in edit mode if they match in type, and are not listed in the remove titles dialog either. The kludge for dealing with this is to:
    1. change one (sometimes both are needed, but I suspect not in this case) of the title records to a non-container type (I favor POEM myself, as it is generally obviously absurd, and can't be mistaken for something legit).
    2. Then (once the previous step is approved) the transformed title can be removed from the pub record which includes both titles.
    3. Then it can be transformed back to the proper type
    4. Then the two titles can be merged.
    As you can see, this is a multi-step process in which each step requires approval of the previous step, and is thus a little tedious for non-mods. If you want to do this yourself, to gain experience with the process, go ahead. If you'd like me to tackle it, let me know. -DES Talk 20:22, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Thank you. I'm always crazy about gaining experience. I'll give it a shot and let you know when I'm stuck... that certainly would be a disgrace to your detailed description. ;) --Phileas 07:52, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Opinions? Thanks for any input. --Phileas 09:52, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Wolfe

I just picked up a copy of this pub for a pretty good price, but think it may not be the first edition. It has the code "A-4.72 [c]" but has no statement of edition or printing. Also the LCCN is 77-38283. Why would a book published in 1972 have that LCCN? Is there anyone familiar with Scribner's printing identification system? Or could someone with a Currey see if he lists any identifying markings for the first edition? Thanks in advance. MHHutchins 15:41, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Currey has this as the first edition with the code exactly as your book. ~Bill, --Bluesman 13:15, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
No Currey here, but "A-4.72 [c]" reads as "A" = First Printing, "4.72" = April 1972, and [c] is a division or category code....I don't know off hand what [c] means. See also Interim System. Between Dec 1, 1968 and Feb 1972 a third LCCN Assignment system was used that had no prefix/opening letters, and that always began with a "7", and a Check Digit, instead of the date. Officially these records have to use the 'date entered' MARC field to determine year. Cheers - Kevin 16:28, 14 July 2009 (UTC)
(after edit conflict) It is possible that Scribner's didn't register this with the LoC until 1977, thus getting a 77- LCCN. Since the LOC record for that LCCN refers to the 1972 edition, this seems probable to me. It still suggests to me that your copy was printed in 1977 or later. OCLC doesn't list any Scribner's edition of The Fifth Head of Cerberus later than 1972, but if a copy has no visible publication date, they tend to use the copyright date, so this doesn't really help much. -DES Talk 16:32, 14 July 2009 (UTC)
I'm going with Kevin's explanation (and proof). According to the Interim System, those first two numbers do not refer to the year. The LCCN for this edition must have been assigned near the end of this numbering system. Sorry, DES, I can't believe that a book that didn't sell that well in 1972 would be reprinted at the same price five years later. Looks like I got a good price for a first edition Wolfe. Thanks to all. MHHutchins 16:41, 14 July 2009 (UTC)
After looking this over I agree. This appears to be an "Interim system" LCCN, and the MARC tag for its date of entry into the LOC system holds "720620", which would be plausible for a book published in April of 1972. The decoding of "A-4.72 [c]" makes this look like a true first printing to me. -DES Talk 16:55, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine, January-February 1984

Our record states that "Isaac Bashevis Singer: Portrait of a Magician" on page 24 is an interview while "`These Hidden Poems Are Everywhere'" is an essay about him. The Locus Index record has it the other way around, which seems more likely. Could someone who has this issue handy check it, please? TIA! Ahasuerus 01:42, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Locus is right. The first piece is the essay by Haiblum and the second is an interview of Singer by Haiblum. I'll make the correction and hold the issue out to do a verification. The TZ is one of my proposed projects, but it always gets put on the back burner. MHHutchins 13:55, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
Done. MHHutchins 14:33, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
Thanks! Ahasuerus 15:23, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Signature help [2]

Anyone recognize this signature??

SIGNATURE%3F%3F.jpg

Thanks! ~Bill, --Bluesman 13:08, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

What's it from? I wonder if it could be Timothy Kobs, although I didn't notice anything matching that. But his "signature" seems to vary among the works. --MartyD 14:20, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
It's from a '56 SFBC edition of Blish's "Earthman Come Home". ~Bill, --Bluesman 14:56, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
Looking for "Kohs" from 1950 to 1959 on Abebooks finds Marion R. Kohs and Lester Kohs both active as illustrators & cover artists. Based on the style for the RTHMNCMHMX1956 cover I'd say it's Lester Kohs. --Marc Kupper|talk 04:54, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Perry Rhodan #s 77, 78, and 79

It seems that there was, in Perry Rhodan #77: Conflict Center: Naator and the next two in the PR series a 3-part review of The Undersea Kingdom, a 1936 movie. See (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Currently, Part 1 is dated 1975 while parts 2 & 3 are dated 1938. An editor wants to change them all to 1975, but has no real source for this beign the first publication of these essays. Do any of our Perry Rhodan fans have anything to say on the matter? Actually reading the review would probably settle the issue. -DES Talk 06:30, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

The scientifilm commentary before the start of the review. "The review you are about to read (in 3 installments) originally appeared in a hectographed fanzine edited by Walter E. Marconette. It was published complete in Vol. 1 No. 5 of Science Fantasy Movie Review, Sept. 1938, and was written by an active fan of the time who was probably then in his late teens. Two years later he had achieved professional publication with "Murder from Mars" in Astonishing Stories". " The rest is a quick bio on Richard Wilson. Actual review starts on page 155. I believe that 78 and 79 are more partial in crediting before the review. When it was input 78/79 are easily confusing with the film to the same title review. Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 14:54, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
Scientifilm World: "The Undersea Kingdom" by Richard Wilson, Jr., first published by Empress Publications, 1938. from copyright page 77. Please thank the contributor for working on the 'most difficult' of the Ackerman publication. Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 14:54, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
Thank you very much. That is quite clear. -DES Talk 15:12, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1949

As per Butch Malahide on rec.arts.sf.written:

The title of Van Vogt's story is neither "The Problem Professor" nor "Problem Spaceship"; it is simply "Project Spaceship". (The story is divided into 4 chapters, and "The Problem Professor" is the title of Chapter II.)
In the same issue, the title of Bradbury's story is "The Naming of Names".

If anyone has a copy of Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1949 handy, could you please double check? TIA! Ahasuerus 03:11, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't have the issue, but Donald Day's index agrees with both titles. He has no listing for either "The Problem Professor" or "Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed". MHHutchins 05:47, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
Contento agrees. I wonder about "The Problem Professor" reprints, though. Will check later tonight. Ahasuerus 12:51, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
OK, everything has been fixed. I have my doubts about the hyphen in one of the VTs, but we'll get to it eventually. Ahasuerus 03:47, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

"The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass" in Galaxy Magazine, June 1962

We currently list the short story "The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass" as part of the "Editor's Page (Galaxy)" series. This causes a problem on Frederik Pohl's Summary page because the software shows all of Pohl's "Editor's Page (Galaxy)" Essays (and there are a few dozen) in the "Short Fiction Series" section. I can't check the magazine at the moment, but I assume that it was an "editorial in the form of a short story" (or vice versa.) Could someone please check the issue and see if it would be OK to remove this story from the series? TIA! Ahasuerus 15:12, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

It's an essay on exponential growth in the form of a story, similar to "John Jones's Dollar." A quick look at the "Editor's Page (Galaxy)" shows that the software has grouped stories under editorials about the stories.--Rkihara 15:44, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
Editing conflict while some stranger made an entry. It is actually entered as an ESSAY in the magazine. Didactic in nature. It uses a time-machine "plot" to make points about population growth and if given as a speech would probably not be considered fiction. The last paragraph is in essay mode. I think it could safely be changed to essay and a note added. Contento lists it as a short story.--swfritter 15:48, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, it says it is feeling much better now that it is an Essay :) Ahasuerus 16:25, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
Actually, I just re-read this when entering Day Million (I couldn't resist a "three for a pound" offer on SFBC UK books recently). Although written in essay style, it is clearly pure fiction. However, as it's "P." not "Phineas" in the title in my copy, we live with a shortfiction variant of an essay at the moment. BLongley 21:32, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

She Only Goes Out at Night (. . .)

If anybody owns any of these printings of these pubs could you please check whether the "She Only Goes Out at Night" is credited with ellipsis. Thanks.--swfritter 13:50, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

The 1968 paperback library edition of The Fantastic Universe Omnibus has ellipsis on the title page of the story, not on the contents page. Willem H. 14:52, 17 August 2009 (UTC)
(It looks as though it was cut in TOC to make title & author fit on a single line. They barely do, even so.) -- Dave (davecat) 15:01, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
In Here Comes Civilization ellipsis are on both title page and contents page. Willem H. 14:52, 17 August 2009 (UTC)
To quote what I wrote in the second Ballantine printing of The Square Root of Man, "The title of "She Only Goes Out at Night . . ." ends with an ellipsis on the title page; the title in the table of contents is ambiguous since it has dots between the title and the page number." Ahasuerus 03:53, 20 August 2009 (UTC)
Made the appropriate changes to the pubs Willem H. owns. Thanks.--swfritter 13:18, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

The Power of X/Y

New Worlds SF serialized Arthur Sellings' "The Power of Y" in January-February 1965. Both parts of the serial were reprinted the following year in SF Reprise 2, apparently the only reprint appearance of the novella. I suspect that it was later expanded as The Power of X, but I don't own the book (and my New Worlds are not easy to access at the moment anyway), so I can't check. Do we happen to have anybody who might be able to check both titles and see if they are related? TIA! Ahasuerus 03:27, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Variant of "The Frost Giant's Daughter"

Does anyone know why, or can anyone figure out why, for "The Frost Giant's Daughter" 533885 is set up as a variant of 68500? There is also the 1953 "The Frost Giant's Daughter" vs. the 1976 re-write as "The Frost-Giant's Daughter", but that isn't this case (at least not as far as I can tell). Thanks. --MartyD 13:33, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

My copy of this pub credits Howard only but the publishing history states that it was revised by de Camp. De Camp apparently did not consider his changes significant enough to credit himself. Also, in my verified pub the story is listed as by Howard and edited by de Camp. My suspicion is that somebody added the de Camp name to a merged title.--swfritter 13:52, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Ok, so do you think de Camp should be removed from both (and the two merged) or that he should be removed from just the one originating from Fantasy Magazine? Or something else? --MartyD 10:21, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
My opinion is Howard only for both and probably for all the Lancer and perhaps Ace editions. This one is an even bigger mess as is the entire Howard page. There are at least seven other entries for the story that haven't been merged or made variants. My guess is that there are a lot of others who own some of these pubs but have had the wisdom not to verify them so nobody will ask them questions.--swfritter 12:57, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
I wrote the notes about not merging "The Frost Giant's Daughter" (Howard with de Camp) with "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" (by Howard alone, with hyphen), based on Karl Edward Wagner's introduction in Echoes of Valor II. Here's the story: "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" (hereafter as F-GD) was submitted and rejected by Weird Tales in 1932. The story itself was a rewrite of "The Frost King's Daughter" (FKD) to make it into a Conan story. The original story (FKD) was only later published in a 1934 fanzine. The revised ms. (F-GD) was lost for twenty years, and when found was "extensively rewritten" by L. Sprague de Camp, according to Wagner, and was published in Fantasy Fiction, August 1953 as "FGD" (no hyphen). The original version (F-GD) was first published in Donald Grant's limited edition Rogues in the House. All the versions published in Lancer / Ace editions of Conan of Cimmeria are the revised version by de Camp. I have no idea how they're credited in the books. But these title records should remain separate.
To answer the original question about it being a variant of itself, someone merged the title record that credited only Howard to the one that credited both Howard and de Camp. That's usually how a title becomes a variant of itself. Now the chore is to figure out how the books are credited. MHHutchins 17:19, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
According to the Howard Works bibliography website, the Lancer and Ace editions do not credit de Camp (even though they are the revised versions). I'll try to straighten it out. MHHutchins 17:27, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
It only took one edit: change the author credit of the variant 533885 to just Howard. That leaves one concern, how the story is credited in The Coming of Conan. I've a suspicion that it's only noted as "edited" by de Camp. Is that how it's credited in Fantasy Fiction, or is Howard and de Camp given equal credit? MHHutchins 17:36, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
The edition that I own credits only Howard on the toc. The other stories are as credited so there was no shyness about crediting the other authors when there contributions were considered significant or in many cases dominant. The copyright page states the following: "The Frost Giant's Daughter was first published in slightly different form under the title Gods of the North in The Fantasy Fan for March 1934; it was reprinted in this form in Fantastic Universe Science Fiction for December, 1956. Revised by Robert E. Howard and later by L. Sprague de Camp, it was reprinted under its present title in Fantasy Fiction for August, 1953; copyright 1953 by Future Publications, Inc.; and in the The Coming of Conan, by Robert E. Howard, Gnome Press, Inc., 1953." Interesting too that the Lancer edition is entered as an anthology with Howard as one of the editors. I would sooner think that Collection would be more correct since Howard has at least partial credit for all the stories.--swfritter 17:52, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
Pub linked to above: the Fantasy Fiction appearance is credited as edited by de Camp.--swfritter 17:54, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
I'm glad it was such a simple problem. :-) And FWIW, the other two hyphenated F-GDs, from the unverified THCMNGFCNN2003 and THCMNGFCNN2005 have an explanation in the contents on Locus: The Frost-Giant’s Daughter · ss Rogues in the House, Donald M. Grant, 1976; originally published in a somewhat different version in Fantasy Fiction, August 1953. that matches the above explanation and suggests they, too, have the 1976 more-original version. --MartyD 21:54, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

"When the People Fell" by Cordwainer Smith

My copy of Perilous Planets mentions a copyright date for this title of 1937 by Street and Smith Publications, renewed 1965 by Paul Linebarger. Does anyone have any idea what the 1937 date refers to? BLongley 18:44, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

It must be a typo. There's no way this was copyrighted by Street & Smith in 1937. I don't believe Cordwainer Smith ever published a story in Astounding/Analog. Looking at the list of stories in the anthology, I couldn't place any of them in a S&S magazine in 1937. Strange. MHHutchins 16:36, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
That's a pretty big typo! BLongley 18:45, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
If I had a penny for every time I found a typo on the copyright page of a paperback, I'd have a jar full of pennies! Ahasuerus 17:05, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
I do have a jar of pennies... I'd be richer if some of them weren't typos, e.g. an SF paperback from 1056 A.D. should command a pretty good price. BLongley 18:45, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
The U.S. Copyright Office has this record, which while not a direct copyright record of the 1959 publication in Galaxy, at least corroborates that date. --MartyD 17:47, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Notes Toward(s) a Mental Breakdown by J. G. Ballard

If anyone has any of these pubs could you check how this Ballard story is entered. There are two totally different stories with variants of this title. "Notes Towards a Mental Breakdown" first appeared in "Bananas" magazine. It is listed incorrectly in this copy of War Fever which I have on loan from the library and probably in the other editions of the same title. It should actually be Notes Towards a Mental Breakdown (1976 version). I have compared the text of the two stories and they are the same. The other similarly titled story appeared in "The Atrocity Exhibition" and, as with a couple of other stories from that book, does not appear in Ballard's "The Complete Stories" either under that title or its original title "The Death Module". The copy of the "The Atrocity Exhibition" that I own lists the story as "Notes Towards a Mental Breakdown". The 1979 date is obviously wrong. To add to the confusion Contento lists both stories as separate titles but according to him both are titled "Notes Toward a Mental Breakdown". Now I can write my own story of the same title. In any case, if you own any pubs with either of these stories please let me know how it is listed. Thanks.--swfritter 16:06, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm confused when you say "there are two totally different stories", but "I have compared the text of the two stories and they are the same". How are they different? How are they the same? The record of The Atrocity Exhibition currently has the story incorrectly titled as "Notes Toward..." and it's actually titled "Notes Towards..." in the book, so I'll correct it. But I have no idea which record to merge it with. Are they really two different stories, or simply revised? The story in my book has 22 paragraph-long "chapters", beginning with "The Impact Zone" and ends with "The Serial Angels". I'll correct the story title in my copy, and let you determine which title(s) should be merged. MHHutchins 16:28, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
As noted above I was comparing the text of the one which was first published in "Bananas" and reprinted in "War Fever" to the the one I entered as "Notes Towards a Mental Breakdown (1976 version)" - those are the ones I compared and they are the same. Absolutely totally different text from the story in "The Atrocity Exhibition" which as noted above I also have a copy and which as noted above have separate listings in Contento. I suspect they are both supposed to be "Notes Towards..." and the error is probably replicated from secondary sources. Wish I had the American first edition - unfortunately pulped by the publisher when he saw the titles of the stories; I suspect there must be a few copies out there.--swfritter 17:57, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
Can you tell from my description which version I have? I want to merge it with the correct record. Thanks. MHHutchins 18:43, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
Will let you know as soon as, hopefully, there are some more responses and I get mine straightened out. Thanks.--swfritter 14:10, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
Finally ended up with this title which is "The Atrocity Exhibition" version and this title which is the "War Fever" version. I was also able to compare the text of the first story to "The Death Module" for which I have the New Worlds anthology. I very strongly suspect that you originally entered the title correctly and a merged title in an unverified pub was updated from a secondary source with an erroneous listing. Not as likely to happen now. "The Complete Stories" is incredibly disappointing as a bibliographic source.--swfritter 14:54, 3 October 2009 (UTC)
Thanks for sorting this out and merging the correct titles. I'm surprised this would not be included in "The Complete Stories". Could it possibly be because the compiler made the same mistake, thinking this to be the same story that appeared in Bananas in 1976? MHHutchins 05:16, 4 October 2009 (UTC)
Just checked out the content listing for the new edition of "The Complete Stories", and it appears that only a few of the "stories" from The Atrocity Exhibition are included in this inaccurately named collection. Unless the compiler considers these pieces as "condensed novels". Still, I suppose we should applaud the effort. 1200 pages in a hardcover edition for only $35.00 sounds like a great bargain. (This is the same price as Stephen King's new novel. Is that a record price for a trade edition for a single novel? It seems that prices for hardcovers have remained somewhat stagnant the last few years, floating in the mid to high 20s.) MHHutchins 05:27, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

Norton's Spell of the Witch World later DAW editions

Many sources state that DAW Books' 1987 and later editions of this title had cover art by Michael Whelan. This record has a cryptic note that gives the credit to Jack Gaughan, the original cover artist. Anyone seen a copy with a Michael Whelan cover? MHHutchins 19:13, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Sig Help

Anyone recognise this? It's quite old (1955 or earlier).

Image:C_W.jpg

BLongley 19:26, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Someone here thinks the artist is called Carl Walton. Can't find any information about the man. Willem H. 16:01, 4 November 2009 (UTC)
Another hit on that name. --MartyD 00:44, 5 November 2009 (UTC)
Several hits (no good images yet) on "Carl Wilton". --MartyD 00:46, 5 November 2009 (UTC)
http://www.tikit.net is a PAN Books history site, and it repeatedly claims "Carl Wilton" for various covers. In fact, see the site's Covers and Artists page. Here are some examples:
I also found multiple sites crediting him for the cover of the paperback edition of You'll Die in Singapore. --MartyD 11:46, 5 November 2009 (UTC)
OK. so we're agreed on Carl and it's either Wilton or Walton. Anyone got their own examples to check? I lean towards Wilton because of the dot. BLongley 20:56, 8 November 2009 (UTC)
And how about this? (1960)
Image:Boldeno.jpg
BLongley 19:40, 1 November 2009 (UTC)
This might be S. R. Boldero. See the image here. --MartyD 20:08, 1 November 2009 (UTC)
Some more S. R. Boldero references. The October 3 version of this Amazon page also cited Boldero, although the current version does not. Unfortunately, the signature on the large image is difficult to make out. That same PAN site I mentioned above also notes "Boldero" among PAN's cover artists but doesn't have an explicit references on any of the cover images that I was able to find. --MartyD 14:09, 5 November 2009 (UTC)
Looks quite likely to be "Boldero" now. BLongley 20:59, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Amra

Analog Science Fact -> Science Fiction, March 1964 includes a review of Amra. Amra was a fanzine dedicated to the work of Robert E. Howard and was edited by George H. Scithers in 1959-1982. The reviewer, P. Schuyler Miller, presumably reviewed one or more of the issues, but our record doesn't indicate which ones they were. The primary verifier is currently inactive and my bedsheet Analogs are not accessible at the moment, so I wonder if someone else might have a copy handy. TIA! Ahasuerus 04:27, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Issue #26 and some of its contents are specifically mentioned although the laudatory comments are meant to apply to the magazine in general.--swfritter 15:38, 4 November 2009 (UTC)
Thanks! Ahasuerus 00:55, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Dangerous Visions John T. Sladek or John Sladek?

My copy of this title, which is the Book Club edition, lists "The Happy Breed" as by John T. Sladek rather than John Sladek. Perhaps all of the Dangerous Visions entries should be that? My copy is interesting in that there is no catalog number on inner or outer cover although it does have a gutter code of 46I on page 539. It was probably purchased upon initial offering. I wonder if they sometimes sent printings designed for the regular book club when the supply ran short - or perhaps just regular book club covers.--swfritter 15:19, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

About your dustjacket: does it have a printed price at the top of the front flap or the statement "Book Club Edition" printed at the bottom of the flap? Also do you recall receiving the book in late 1967 or early 1968, or in 1978/1979 (both years used "I" gutter codes). Keep in mind that gutter codes were printed on most Doubleday books, both trade and book club editions, from 1958 to 1987. MHHutchins 23:47, 8 November 2009 (UTC)
Book Club Edition at bottom of inner front flap.--swfritter 14:54, 9 November 2009 (UTC)
Then your copy was printed before fall 1968, when the club began adding a catalog number to the dustjackets. (The first known gutter code for this title is "I38", printed in September 1967. Your copy was printed in November.)
About your concern that different printings would be sent as initial offerings: I don't believe the club would make such a distinction. The books would be warehoused and pulled according to orders no matter if it were a new member or not. Obviously there were certain popular titles that had several printings, and Dangerous Visions was one of those that were offered to new members for more than a decade after its original publication. MHHutchins 18:50, 9 November 2009 (UTC)
Both my copies (another incarnation of the Book Club edition, gutter code V12 and the 4th printing of the Berkley paperback) have John T. Sladek. Willem H. 15:41, 5 November 2009 (UTC)
It's definitely John T. in my Sphere reprint. I know a lot of editors (me included) used to verify slight variations in names without due care and attention in our early days (I've corrected a dozen of my Aldiss titles today for instance, as I packed them ready for my move) so it's always worth asking. BLongley 21:19, 8 November 2009 (UTC)
And my SFBC edition of Dangerous Visions also credits with a middle initial. I've changed it, as well as the Doubleday trade edition. MHHutchins 23:47, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

"Leonard"?

I have verified the Four Square Books edition of Mack Reynolds' Time Gladiator. The cover is signed "Leonard" in block (and blurry) letters, but there is no attribution on the copyright page. Does it ring any bells, perchance? Ahasuerus 20:40, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Not to me. Is there a Cover scan or Sig scan on the way? BLongley 21:09, 8 November 2009 (UTC)
A fairly high resolution scan has been uploaded - see [12]. The signature is behind the right gladiator's knee. Ahasuerus 22:51, 8 November 2009 (UTC)
I recall a feature request I made at one point before it got shouted down over a mis-understanding - please let's separate Authors from Artists where we can, to make searches for such names easier. I know several authors are both Author and Artist, but it could halve the number of checks needed at times. BLongley 21:09, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

The Unholy City

I have uploaded a new cover scan, but there is no artist credit in the book. The style looks vaguely familiar; any ideas/suggestions? Ahasuerus 03:08, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

A couple of entries on AbeBooks claim Peter Jones. Looks like you could ask him. --MartyD 13:28, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
Peter Jones it is. The painting is on page 37 of Solar Wind. Signature is behind the Panther logo. Willem H. 13:40, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
Thanks! Ahasuerus 23:03, 15 November 2009 (UTC)
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