User talk:Anniemod

John Bowen

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?869322; Should have (21st century) added to author; other edition has it to differ this Bowen from the older one. --Username (talk) 11:22, 13 January 2024 (EST)

Yep - thanks. Fixed. Annie (talk) 17:59, 29 January 2024 (EST)

Fixer addition

Annie, I have Water Dragon Publishing reasonably complete, but it should be added to Fixer's list. I'm pinging you since you post all the requests on Fixer's talk page. John Scifibones 11:37, 12 February 2024 (EST)

I will ask it to be added to the recognized publishers - if it is not there already :) Which may or may not help - there are way too many of them. Not being on the list does not mean that it is ignored at the moment. The requests on the Talk page of Fixer are cleanup and not really how we add publishers to the recognized list. :) Annie (talk) 11:39, 12 February 2024 (EST)

Water Dragon Publishing has been added to Fixer's "Recognized Publishers" list. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:02, 22 February 2024 (EST)

Upcoming Tor UK subimprints

Just a very early heads up on Bramble and Nightfire UK; article says their first title is due November, so I guess it'll be a while before Fixer finds anything for them, although perhaps ebooks might show up earlier if they decide to make those simultaneous with US releases?

Apologies if my inactivity here is causing you extra workload; I haven't completely given up on contributing, but (a) dealing with current events have been taking more of my time, and (b) I'd already decided at the end of last year that I just couldn't work up the enthusiasm to work on the endless stream of stuff that the UK publishers are now putting out that I have zero interest in. I do intend to try to fill in any gaps in UK coverage up to the end of 2023, and to submit 2024+ pubs that are things I have an interest in - which I don't think is *that* different from what most editors here do? - but someone else can deal with all the romantasy etc stuff, hopefully not just you alone... ErsatzCulture (talk) 05:11, 22 February 2024 (EST)

People do what they are interested in :) Hopefully once Fixer gets rewritten, we will get a few more people working on new books but it is what it is.

Too early to even think of this imprint and I suspect that the US side will see them as Tor anyway - so we shall see them. But I will get the name to Fixer to be added to the recognized publishers. Annie (talk) 10:17, 22 February 2024 (EST)

Jo Fletcher Books no more?

Just FYI, from the new issue of Ansible:

   Jo Fletcher is suffering the traditional fate of departed founding editors: Quercus has mass-emailed past and present Jo Fletcher Books authors with the ‘exciting news’ that JFB is being rebranded this month – or rather, absorbed into the parent company’s existing imprint Arcadia.

I've never heard of Arcadia, although the Bookseller indicates that the parent Quercus division acquired it in September 2021m and it's in the database. I see the Twitter username has been changed, but not the display name is still Jo Fletcher Books. The JFB corporate site seems unchanged, and Amazon currently lists a June 2024 pub as from JFB.

I'll update the publisher notes for both in a minute... ErsatzCulture (talk) 11:42, 1 March 2024 (EST)

Thanks for the heads up. We probably should wait and see how they handle the book title pages - I suspect that they have quite a lot in the process of being printed so for the next few months we may still see the old name popping up. And then there will be the hell of reprints for a bit. Annie (talk) 11:44, 1 March 2024 (EST)

First book from the publisher here is 1978 and obviously from a different Arcadia so some differentiator should be added to the name to separate it from the others. I added the cover some time ago but there seems to be no archived copy; text search for the author only finds 3 books and only this one, https://archive.org/details/catalogofcop11libr/page/192/mode/1up, has info about his novel including a much higher page count than what's on ISFDB. There's also a note in his record here which gives birth/death dates but writer wasn't sure if it's the same person. --Username (talk) 11:59, 1 March 2024 (EST)

Heruitgave Editions

Isn't this just a weirdness of Amazon UK sometimes putting the Dutch word for "reissue" into listings? I've seen it before on a few pages in the past, and for example it's here on an upcoming Tolkien reprint from a completely different publisher.

I just did a quick grep over the pages my tools generate, and I can see "Heruitgave edition" has shown up for Hodderscape, Bloomsbury, Jo Fletcher, Farshore, Walker Books, Penguin, Orbit, Vintage, Fourth Estate, HarperVoyager, maybe others.

Maybe it's something that Ahasuerus could get Fixer to automatically filter out and/or handle more intelligently? Of course, if I *really* wanted to avoid this problem, I would have found and submitted the publication that came from myself ;-) ErsatzCulture (talk) 15:04, 6 March 2024 (EST)

Probably. I had been clearing it out in a lot of books lately but it looked as a special edition and it had usually been there on special editions so I made it a pub series so I can look into it again. I cleared it out (for now). Sometimes it takes a few books to make it clear what something is and is not -- so I usually use my gut feeling - and then adjust/fix when things appear different.

Fixer is better off printing what it knows - then a human (aka yours truly) can decide what to drop - that way we lose less information. :) Annie (talk) 15:41, 6 March 2024 (EST)

Audible cleanup report

Could you please take a look at this Audible discussion when you are back? Thanks. Ahasuerus (talk) 07:11, 15 April 2024 (EDT)

Will do later today. Sorry for the delay. Annie (talk) 11:22, 24 April 2024 (EDT)

White Spawn

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?555647; Does the darker image on SFE better match your copy or should the Amazon image remain? --Username (talk) 11:38, 17 April 2024 (EDT)

Do you have a link to the SFE image? Meanwhile I will see if I can figure out where this book is stored at the moment :) Annie (talk) 11:22, 24 April 2024 (EDT)

It's on the SFE site at https://sf-encyclopedia.com; type White Spawn in the search bar. --Username (talk) 11:46, 24 April 2024 (EDT)

"Headword Search" returns: "Search for "white spawn" — no finds". Global Search throws you into the author page which does not have this specific cover. So can you please provide a link to the page you saw it? :) Annie (talk) 12:13, 24 April 2024 (EDT)

You search for images on that site in the Gallery section on the right. --Username (talk) 12:23, 24 April 2024 (EDT)

Are you referring to this SFE page? Keep in mind that some Web sites' search software can be IP-sensitive, which means that it may display different images (and other content items) depending on which IP address (assigned by your Internet provider) you are coming from. Amazon has been toying with this approach and it can get annoying when different people see different images, prices, etc.

SFE's software was originally written by a third party back when SFE was sponsored by a commercial entity and was supposed to drive Web traffic to certain pages. The software has been tweaked since they became independent, but there is no telling what algorithms are still lurking underneath the surface.

Given these uncertainties, it's always better to provide exact URLs. Ahasuerus (talk) 12:51, 24 April 2024 (EDT)

There was nothing wrong with the IP; as she said, she searched in the wrong area at the top, Headwords/Global, instead of the gallery section where you actually search for cover images on that site. Just letting her know so when I'm gone and she ever needs to find an image she'll know where to look. --Username (talk) 12:56, 24 April 2024 (EDT)

Page count

Hello Annie, could you please have a look at this submission. My understanding is that non-eligible content is not included in the page count, although material can be included in the notes. What do you think? Kev. --BanjoKev (talk) 14:16, 17 May 2024 (EDT)

I hate page numbers :) Let me look at that again - I approved it for some reason so apparently I thought it is legitimate (or I misread something which made me think so?) but looking at it, it does not look so to me now and the note does not help. So let me think a bit on it. :) Annie (talk) 14:46, 17 May 2024 (EDT)

The thinking also applies to the rest of the pubs in the series - if that's any help :) Kev. --BanjoKev (talk) 14:54, 17 May 2024 (EDT)

Rules and Standards discussion about crediting editors

When you have a chance, could you please review this discussion? We are trying to decide how to enter guest editors, associate editors, etc in magazine records. TIA! Ahasuerus (talk) 22:18, 10 June 2024 (EDT)

Done. Thanks for pinging me. Annie (talk) 20:03, 11 June 2024 (EDT)

Tamara Trifonova (or something like that)

Is there a science-fiction-related person with this name? Someone who would have been active back in the late 1960s and early 1970s? I have an essay by her that was translated into Japanese, but I'm not having any luck finding her. In Japanese, the name is タマーラ・トリフォノワ (Tamāra Torifonowa). You an see the entry here. It's an essay about this book, I think. Thanks for any help! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:36, 20 June 2024 (EDT)

Based on the essay title, I suspect it may be a translation of this work - a standalone pamphlet about Илья Эренбург (which is awfully close to the start of that Japanese title thus the guess)) or another article related to it. In any way, if you want the Russian spelling of her name, it is Тамара Трифонова. She has some reviews and articles about genre writers in various anthologies and magazines from the looks of it.

Let me know if you want me to create a parent record with notes about the possible linking and with the correct name and so on - and I will keep digging to see if we can confirm that this is indeed the original. :) Annie (talk) 14:57, 20 June 2024 (EDT)

PS: Her legal name will be Трифонова, Тамара Казимировна (there is a scan of the first pages of that pamphlet). :) Annie (talk) 15:01, 20 June 2024 (EDT)

PS2: The pamphlet is from 1954 - so maybe a later article or they just translated it later (does not match the timeline you have but everything else matches so my guess is that this is the writer if not the article (which I suspect it is as well...). Annie (talk) 15:03, 20 June 2024 (EDT)

Feel free to create parents for this. You can include a note if you aren't sure enough the article is the same. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:45, 20 June 2024 (EDT)

Also, I'm sure you are correct about who the essay is about. I found pictures of the same person a few times while searching using the Japanese. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:48, 20 June 2024 (EDT)

Done. I added some notes and speculations -- if we ever get that definitely confirmed, we can add/update. At this point I am 99% sure this is the source but it may be a later rework or incomplete so I think we should just leave it on its own with notes and not add the Russian book as a parent. Feel free to edit the note if something does not make sense (or anything else). Annie (talk) 16:19, 20 June 2024 (EDT)

Sounds good to me. Thanks for your help! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 18:57, 20 June 2024 (EDT)

Alexander Eudokimov (or something like that)

Can you figure out who this is? They apparently are connected to a "Soviet SF Bibliography" of some sort. They may have written it or written about it. TIA! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:54, 26 June 2024 (EDT)

Александр Евдокимов - he has a few articles about Soviet SF (i.e. this one) in genre magazines. If you can find out which years the Japanese article covers, I may even be able to find the original. My guess is the one I linked as it has a subtitle of "an attempt at bibliography" and none of his others do and the Japanese one seems to have a similar thing in the title. :) Annie (talk) 17:58, 26 June 2024 (EDT)

PS: Without the years, it may also be a combination of that one and this one. Thus the question :) I will sort out the name in the meantime. Annie (talk) 18:02, 26 June 2024 (EDT)

Sorry. I have no information other than the title in Japanese. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 18:28, 26 June 2024 (EDT)

No worries - wasn't sure if you are working off a listing or scans of the publication :) I've added notes and a provisional title - that is the best we can do for now I think. Annie (talk) 18:36, 26 June 2024 (EDT)

Works for me. Thanks! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 20:23, 26 June 2024 (EDT)

How to - Pages help

Hi Annie, you've said you don't like Pages, so maybe you could comment here - does it ease your pain any? :) Kev. --BanjoKev (talk) 18:16, 27 June 2024 (EDT)

My problem with pages is on a deeper level than that - I know that the "count only the pages with relevant contents" came from standard library practices and all that but it makes everyone's life miserable and I personally find it superfluous (especially in the places where our counts depend on what you index - index a map and now the value in the field needs to be different; don't index the map and now you can forget that these pages are there). If it were up to me, I'd count all pages, text or not and be done (and add notes on when/where things start/end for non-indexed parts). Unfortunately, that ship had sailed so I do what needs doing. Thanks for tackling the help page though - it did need a bit of reshuffling (as do a lot of our help pages)! :) Annie (talk) 18:34, 27 June 2024 (EDT)

Thanks for responding, very helpful, both here and on the Rules board :) Kev. --BanjoKev (talk) 22:33, 27 June 2024 (EDT)

B. Baxhob

Can you find an author with a story that's something like "The Genius Man" that has a name like this? I suspect it's actually Cyrillic that someone wrote in Latin letters. Thanks for any help! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 16:50, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

That's very vague but let me see what I can find out. :) Annie (talk) 16:55, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

Good luck! And thanks! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 16:58, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

My first working theory was that the name is В. Вахнов (In all capitals it goes В. ВАХНОВ which if glanced at by someone who does not know Cyrillic and instead read in Latin script, goes exactly the way your author above is spelled). Unfortunately, that does not give me anything SF related - so I will continue tweaking the spelling and chasing it down. :) Annie (talk) 17:09, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

A better translation of the title might be "The Man Who Was a Genius". That may or may not make a difference. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:16, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

I may have found it: here: "Рассказ человека, который был гением" (the story of a man who was a Genius) by Владлен Бахнов, published in 1965. One of those B's up there is actually a B and not a V. Does this match your timelines? Annie (talk) 17:17, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

Yes, as the Japanese translation was published in 1976. Here's the Japanese title. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:22, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

And, the Japanese credit is "B. Baxhob" as far as I can tell. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:23, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

Who knows how many weird transliteration this thing went through :) Turned out, we even already had the story in the DB. All connected now. Annie (talk) 17:29, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

Thanks! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:46, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

Another one: 決闘 by Александр Грин

I found the right person and varianted the pseudonym, but I can't figure out which story this one is. The Japanese title, 決闘, translates to "Duel" or "Shoot-Out" (like a gun fight). Thanks in advance for any help! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:33, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

It is a good thing that the Japanese editors of that magazine were not very creative with their titles. Technically there is a second one with the same title according to FantLab but reading their notes about it, it is the same story - need to drop them a note to get the two stories together. Anyway - found it, added the parent :) Annie (talk) 19:40, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

Well, it is a fanzine, so they probably do most of the translations themselves. Thanks for your help! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:42, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

Three more by this author

六本のマッチ (Six Matches) (the things you light)
十四フィート (Fourteen Feet)
森の中の泥棒 (The Thief in the Forest, or The Robbery in the Forest)

Thanks for your help! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 20:27, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

Got them all. I am not sure either of these are genre but the fanzine inclusion makes them eligible so I am not going to dig too deep (may find them later and read them and mark them appropriately though). Annie (talk) 20:41, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

Thanks! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 23:11, 8 July 2024 (EDT)

Publisher Question

This submission is an example of several in the queue. In addition, a publication search reveals several more have "A Bantam Domain book" in the notes. In all cases, the title page shows Bantam Books, only the title verso states "Bantam Domain". We seem to be drifting away from canonizing publisher names. Thoughts? John Scifibones 17:55, 10 July 2024 (EDT)

Locus has them as a publisher at least at one point (which does not tell us much but is a data point). However, looking at that verso page, I'd probably record this as a publication series and not as an imprint if I was adding/updating the book. I think we may be due for another discussion in R&S on publishers and what and how we record when the title page and the verso/back cover/something else disagrees... Annie (talk) 18:03, 10 July 2024 (EDT)

I suggested the editor make it a publication series, he disagreed. I'll leave them open for now. Thanks, John Scifibones 18:11, 10 July 2024 (EDT)

Untitled discussion

Will you come offer thoughts on this discussion? Thanks! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 13:54, 12 July 2024 (EDT)

Please do. Kev. --BanjoKev (talk) 14:07, 12 July 2024 (EDT)

I am not ignoring you (or the discussion) - I had been thinking about it since this morning when I saw the thread. My gut feeling is that unless we change the help to specifically exclude this case, "untitled" is against policy. But as it is a placeholder, I am not sure if we want to enforce that way or to call it out as an exception to the capitalization rules - it may make sense to do that to differentiate from something actually called "Untitled" indeed. I will post in the other thread in a bit - I am letting that chug along at the back of my head for a bit. Annie (talk) 14:17, 12 July 2024 (EDT)