User talk:Stonecreek/Archive2

Science-Fiction Magazine N° 5

Hello, and thanks for approving my recent submissions. I don't undestand why some reviews in this pub haven't developed any links : especially Futur intérieur, after I corrected the title spelling, since the title page exists. I also created the French variants of The Invisible Man and Walpurgisnacht, but the corresponding titles remain in italics in the pub record of the magazine. Linguist 10:33, 7 March 2014 (UTC).

Archiving

When moving a page, it creates a redirect that automatically sends people from the old page to the new page. If you move your talk page to archive it, you then need to go back to your talk page and remove the redirect (by editing the page and deleting the redirect). Because of the redirect, the prior section was added to your archive and not this page. I've moved it here & also added a link to your archive for future reference. Thanks. -- JLaTondre (talk) 23:29, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Thank you very much! I should have done it much earlier when I had the chance to do it right in the first attempt. Stonecreek 05:09, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Schnittstelle

Hello... I was hoping you could tell me the name of the translator of the Kim Stanley Robinson story A Transect in the Heyne Mondaugen anthology you recently added? Thanks, Albinoflea 04:21, 13 March 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, it seems I missed that one. I added the translator Inge Holm to the title record. You'll be interested also in this anthology. Stonecreek 07:17, 13 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, I would not have thought to look at the title record, I will have to keep that in mind. I look forward to when we are able to enter translators directly into the database.

Thanks also for the detailed entry on these anthologies! Albinoflea 16:30, 13 March 2014 (UTC)

Utopia Grossband

Hi - just complated Cyril Judd's Der Verräter by adding Cover artist and reconfirming the pub date. Hope that you are fine with it. - JLochhas 13:49, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

Great! But how did you reach the month? This one point really needs a clarification. Stonecreek 14:10, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

Dominator cover image

Thanks for your help in posting the cover image. I realised after I'd uploaded it that I needed to copy the URL but by the time I went back you had already sorted it out.

I did consider adding in the price and page count but the copy I have has a publication date of 1985, not 1989 as shown (though it is the Methuen edition). As a brand new user of the site I didn't want to go steaming in and making major changes - how would I go about adding this as a different printing? GordonD 19:45, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

I've moved the image to a record I just created for the 1985 Methuen edition. It appears that the later reprint was from Mandarin and not Methuen, and may have had a different cover. Mhhutchins 20:54, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks! I'm sure I'll eventually get the hang of things.GordonD 21:12, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks to both of you for sorting things out. Stonecreek 17:21, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

Marvano

Perhaps the vignettes which appeared by Marvano in Heine Science Fiction Magazin should be further disambiguated to avoid accidental merging? Also, many of his titles published as Mark van Oppen need varianting. (I've started doing some of them.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 21:55, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for starting this, Michael! Actually the vignettes need to be merged: they were reprinted several times somewhat randomly in the magazine. It's just that it really doesn't seem to be clarified if Mark van Oppen or Marvano should be the canonical author. I'll start a discussion. Stonecreek 07:29, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 7

Added overseas prices to your verified. Thanks. Linguist 15:09, 31 March 2014 (UTC).

Follow-up to creating pseudonyms

After you've made one author into a pseudonym of another, please follow that up by making the pseudonymous title records into variants under the canonical author's name. I'll make those titles by "Blair Wilkins" into variants by Edward Blair Wilkins. Mhhutchins 17:56, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Welcome message

Hi Christian, I see you're wrestling with the welcome message, and I think you're doing something wrong there. The message you should place on new user's talkpage is {{subst:Welcome}} ~~~~, not {{welcome}}. As a result, your edits on user Semisomna's talkpage also changed the template. Can you restore the Original, or do you want some help? --Willem H. 09:06, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

Hello, Willem! Help would be most welcome. I tried to insert my four tildes that I had forgotten, but that lead to some not so welcome changes that I tried to undo. Apparently that didn't work out :-( . Christian Stonecreek 09:09, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

I thought so. The trick is in the "subst:" part of the message, with it you don't place the template on the new user's page, but only the welcome message. I restored the template and replaced the message on Semisomna's page (with your signature). No harm done. :) --Willem H. 09:25, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

Thank you very much, Willem! It sure does look better this way. Christian Stonecreek 09:27, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

The shortcut {{welcome}} ~~~~ works just as well as {{subst:welcome}} ~~~~. The "subst:" is no longer necessary. The omission of it wouldn't have caused the original problem. Try both and you'll see. Mhhutchins 15:57, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

The problem occurred when Christian went back to add his signature. Instead of editing the message on the new editor's page, he edited the actual template, inserting the four tildes. No worries. Mhhutchins 16:03, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

Held submissions

The editor (Library House) who submitted the two submissions which you are currently holding has created a new user name (Kevin S. Hardy) and attempted to enter the same two publications. In the past he also used the name K.S.Hardy. You can see my communication with him at that talk page was useless, as he was either unable to find the talk page, or chose not to respond. I wound up accepting many of his submissions and fixing them myself. I have accepted one of the submissions entered by "Kevin S. Hardy" (and made all the necessary changes to make it comply) and rejected the other because it was easier to start from scatch. Here's the first, and here's the second. So please reject those two you're holding. Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:46, 19 April 2014 (UTC)

Rene Sussan title

Sorry, I didn't mean to step on your toes. I was working on clearing up some titles appearing on pseudonymous author pages, when I came upon this one. Hope it didn't mess with any of your submissions. Mhhutchins 04:18, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

No, just go on. I didn't have worked out the details for this title. Stonecreek 04:20, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

I found it in an original French collection which was in the database incorrectly typed as NOVEL. Here is the record to which I added the contents from nooSFere.org. Strangely, they don't use standard French capitalization rules on that site! Please check it out when you get a chance to see if the contents are correctly entered. Thanks. Mhhutchins 04:46, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Unter dem Terror fremder Sterne

Hi, I want to merge the Moewig reprint with the initial Balowa Edition. What I want to confirm with you is: The authors are inconsistent: Moewig has "Brian Aldiss" on the cover as does Balowa, the database entry however reads "Brian W. Aldiss". Are you good with me merging all under "Brian Aldiss", i.e. without the "W"? - JLochhas 19:19, 8 May 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, John, but the title page of the Terra edition has the 'W.'. But it does seem that the Balowa edition has this also (and only the shorter version 'Brian Aldiss' on the cover: DNB notes the title as Unter dem Terror fremder Sterne : Science-fiction-Roman / Brain W. Aldiss. So it seems they could be merged under the BWA name. What do you think? Christian Stonecreek 20:04, 9 May 2014 (UTC)

I've rejected the held submission based on Christian's response. Thanks. Mhhutchins 20:09, 9 May 2014 (UTC)

I'll merge the two entries using the BWA name. John JLochhas 07:53, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

Fine. This is most probably the correct thing to do. Thank you, Christian Stonecreek 14:04, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

Foundation

Hello Christion, I've just acquired a sizable (#4 to 111) batch of issues of this magazine, I'm likely going to make minor adjustments to some of your verified pubs (e.g. the first by changing the title of this essay from _Can God Fly? Can He Hold Out His Arms an Fly? — The Fiction of Philip K. Dick_ to _Can God Fly? Can He Hold Out His Arms and Fly? — The Fiction of Philip K. Dick_. If you'll agree, this will serve as a notice (of course except for major changes). Thanks. Hervé Hauck 08:31, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

Perhaps interesting to you: I've added this essay to Foundation #17. Hauck 09:53, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Oh, sh.., guess this essay slipped through somehow. Yes, please go ahead and adjust typos without further notification. Stonecreek 03:34, 2 June 2014 (UTC)

Counter-Clock World

Added some notes and uploaded new cover scan for your verified. Thanks. Linguist 21:49, 16 June 2014 (UTC).

Serial by Theo Ochsenbein

Is the serial in this publication of a NOVEL or a work of SHORTFICTION? (Its title is not in the form "Title (Part X of Y)" which is the usual form for serial titles.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 18:37, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

It's really only a short story published on the letter's page but broken up into two parts due to limitations of space. I'll correct the title to our usage. Thanks for the hint. Christian Stonecreek 05:22, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

Le Guin introduction variant

Is Le Guin's introduction in this publication credited to Tiptree and properly varianted? Thanks for checking. Mhhutchins 22:41, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

No, it is in fact credited to Le Guin, will correct it. Thanks for finding this. Christian Stonecreek 08:29, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

Die Triffids

Hi. I just added information regarding the fact that it's probably the first unabridged edition of Die Triffids. I have compared the first few page only but the differences between the 2012 and the 1983 edition are huge. Hitspacebar 10:13, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Thank you very much! I should have made this comparison but it didn't came to my mind that the differences might be so huge. I always thought the previous german editions were nearly complete. Do you think they might speak for a new translation / new title? Christian Stonecreek 12:02, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

I just compared a few more pages (end of first and beginning of second chapter) and found more abridgements in the edition from 1983. I guess they are all over the place. This, plus an edited translation and "Vollständige Neuausgabe" stated on the copyright page in the 2012 edition => yes, I'd say that's a new title. Hitspacebar 12:45, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Thank you very much! I have unmerged the title(s) (there was an earlier 2006 edition), and made them into a new variant title (after merging). Stonecreek 14:45, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

I added infos about number of printing to this Triffids record. I just learned that Heyne prints the number of printing on the back of their books, with barcode and number, next to the ISBN barcode. I double-checked with other books from them and it always fits (e.g. "4. Auflage" printed inside => "04" on the back). So if there's no "1. Auflage" printed on the copyright page but a "01" on the back => first printing. Hitspacebar 20:36, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

Thank you very much, I didn't know of this! Stonecreek 04:18, 6 September 2014 (UTC)

Di Filippo's Cosmocopia

I believe the work titled Cosmocopia in this publication may be the same work in this publication. Can yo do a word count to determine if it is a novel or a novella? To assist in the word count, you can use this Google spreadsheet. If you have any questions about using the word counter, just ask. Thanks. Mhhutchins 18:27, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

I think the two titles are one and the same: there's no statement of revision or expansion in my edition. However, it is not clear how the 2008 edition got entered as CHAPTERBOOK. There's a difference between the 116 pages of Di Filippo' Cosmocopia and the stated 132 pages of the Hardcover: shall most of the 16 remaining pages be blank? In either case the text is stated as NOVEL in both entries and ends on p. 148 in the 2011 OMNIBUS (I'll add some more notes to it). I can judge from the density of words on a page and the few pages without text belonging to the fiction that this is a NOVEL (even if it is a short one). Christian Stonecreek 15:28, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

In its original publication (here), it is designated as a SHORTFICTION with novella length. (The extra 16 pages may have text but may not be part of the novel.) I'm in contact with the author and will ask him, if there is any difference between the two texts. Thanks. Mhhutchins 03:11, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, but in the notes of the pub. entry it is described as a short novel. Stonecreek 03:38, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

The usage of your page counter seems to be really easy and logical to everybody loosely interested in books, but I can't enter into the highlighted cells, even after registering. If you allow, I'll try to build it anew on my computer. Thanks anyway for this enhancement! Christian Stonecreek 15:28, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Try this link. I've changed the privacy of the spreadsheet so that anyone with this link should be able to use it. Mhhutchins 03:11, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, but this doesn't work either. Maybe it is of some help that a page has 36 lines with an estimated average of 10 words per line. With 128 pages of text (not counting p. 148, which only has one word) this should be above the threshold of 40,000 words. Stonecreek 03:38, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure why the spreadsheet isn't working for you. I just received my copy of the book, did an estimate word count using the spreadsheet, and came up slightly over 40K as well. (I counted 120 pages of text, taking into account the partial pages.) I'll change the CHAPTERBOOK into a NOVEL and merge the records. Thanks. Mhhutchins 15:09, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

I have done a second primary verification of the record, adding a note about its POD nature. I also clarified the wording concerning the dedication to avoid confusion. It had said "there's a dedication to Deborah and Michael Bishop" which I changed to " there's a dedication to Deborah [Newton] and Michael Bishop". (Deborah Newton is Di Filippo's partner of many years.) And since we can now order contents in these kinds of publications, I removed the brackets around the page numbers of the collection's contents. Thanks. Mhhutchins 15:27, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Thanks! Looks really better now. Christian Stonecreek 18:48, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Of Verleger and Herausgeber

Hello. I was puzzled (not to say mystified) by the wording used on the page of this site : the publisher of the book entitled Marie, die Wöferin seems to be DuMont (“Köln, DuMont Buchverlag, 1991”). Then I'm not too sure what to do with “Herausgegeben von Frank Rainer Scheck” : can there be two different publishers ? Thanks for your enlightened Germanic advice… Linguist 19:32, 28 June 2014 (UTC).

Well, Frank Rainer Scheck, judging by the statement 'Herausgegeben von', was the editor for this book (and of the whole publication series, if I remember it right). DuMont is in every case the correct publisher for this book. Christian Stonecreek 14:15, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. That's what I had surmised, but I wanted to be sure. Linguist 20:54, 29 June 2014 (UTC).

Strugatzki-Werkausgabe

I'm thinking about adding the missing books of Strugatzkis "Gesammelte Werke" by Heyne. You already verified Number 3 and the title of it consists of the included novel names. However, Heyne and Golkonda call it "Gesammelte Werke" on their websites. Moreover, the books have printed "Werkausgabe" on the title page, which is also used by Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Now I'm not sure about which title to choose. But I think they should be consistent across all six books. I suggest to use the form "Werkausgabe - Erster Band" etc. for the titles and edit the existing #3 accordingly. What do you think?

Great! That's a project which got postponed every so often on my to do list, and I don't think that I would get to it this year (plus: I'll be on vacation from next weekend on). On entering the books: I followed the ISFDB standard for entering titles of an OMNIBUS, see here. "Gesammelte Werke" could be made into a title series, though (or into a publication series?). I had thought about doing so, but didn't know if it was titled exactly in that way by Golkonda, which seems to be the parent publisher in this case. Christian Stonecreek 19:33, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

There are PDF extracts of the Golkonda edition on their website. According to that, Heyne is the parent publisher actually because there's a "copyright by Heyne". The title page of the Golkonda edition has printed "Gesammelte Werke" on the title page, deviating from the Heyne edition having "Werkausgabe" printed. With Heyne most likely being the parent publisher and the Golkonda edition being a very limited edition I'd use "Werkausgabe" for the name of the series.

I'm not very familiar with the way series are handled here so far, but after reading the help about series I'd go for a title series. So, I'd enter the titles of the books in the form "novel name / novel name / ...", the same way volume 3 has already been entered, and enter the name and number of the title series. Moreover, in order to distinguish the series name from other series potentially called "Werkausgabe" as well it should be called "Werkausgabe (Arkadi und Boris Strugatzki)".

Does all that sound like a good way to do it? Hitspacebar 09:22, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

Indeed it does! Thanks, Stonecreek 10:27, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

Needle in a Timestack

Uploaded a new cover scan of your verified (better definition). Thanks. Linguist 08:55, 15 July 2014 (UTC).

Forty Signs of Rain

Just added a month of publication from Locus for this edition of Forty Signs of Rain. Albinoflea 04:33, 16 August 2014 (UTC)

Page counts

I was verifying this record when I saw that you'd entered the page count as "410+[1]", which would normally indicate that there are 410 pages in the book, plus an unnumbered page at the end that contains significant content. For example, if there were an afterword or an acknowledgements on an unnumbered page. In this case, I believe we should enter the page count as "411" based on the last (fifth) bullet point on the standards page:

It is fairly common for the last page of text in a book to have a different graphic layout which may not include a page number. The "last printed page number" rule would then use a page number before the end of the work. In these cases, count forward to the end of the text and use that as the last page number.

I would interpret this to mean that we'd simply use "411" as the page count. What do you think? We can add a note that the last page of the novel isn't numbered. Thanks. Mhhutchins 06:16, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Oh. Yes. You're right. It seems that upon reading this paragraph a long time ago I wasn't able to grasp it's full meaning, I just sticked to the "last printed page number". I'll change the page count for the entry and add an explaining note. Thanks! Stonecreek 16:03, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

No problem. I've found a couple more Bishop books published in Germany that have the same format: no printed number on the last page. Is this a common practice in German publications? I'll make the changes for those books which I have primary verified. Thanks. Mhhutchins 19:35, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

About this record: my copy's last page is numbered 176. Does your copy differ? Also, the publication date on the copyright page states "Juni 1983". Mhhutchins 20:06, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, correct! I guess it's always better to double-check, even with dependable primary verifiers (although it's possible that it was my fault). Thanks, I'll correct it.

Hello Christian! I've just checked my copy of Arachne. It seems to be the same as yours and Michael's, but the last numbered page in my copy is 175! Rudolf Rudam 10:14, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

Wow, and it's not indicated as a higher printing? In this case: maybe it'd be worth to check some details like advertisements? Christian Stonecreek 11:14, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

And, yes, this format of missing last page numbers is common over here. Stonecreek 04:21, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Page counts too

I think the following page counts of publications we both primary verified should be changed:

Kallocain: from 159+[1] to 160 (for same reason as in the other "Page counts" section above).

Die Triffids: the interior cover art is at the beginning and it's just one page. Page count should be [1]+300 instead of 300+[2].

What do you think? Hitspacebar 20:17, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Oh boy, changing all the numerous publications with unpaginated last text page will become tedious, I think. But thanks for bringing this up, I'll change it.

I think it's better to keep the count for Die Triffids, though: we do record all pages before the last relevant one, and while it is blank, someone might wonder if a page without a back page can be possible. Christian Stonecreek 20:32, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean with "we do record all pages before the last relevant one"? I don't know how to apply that the artwork at the first inner page of this book.

As for the part "if a page without a back page can be possible": that's impossible anyway. However, stating "[2]" indicates that there are 2 pages of relevant content, which is not the case here.

The help says:

Sometimes a publication will have unnumbered pages before page 1. If there is any material in these pages which needs to be entered as part of the contents of the book, you may record this by entering the count in squared brackets. For example, [6]+320 would be a publication with six unnumbered pages and then 320 numbered pages.

According to the help I understand that the numbers should at least be switched to the form [n]+300. Enlighten me if I'm wrong :) Hitspacebar 21:21, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Sounds reasonable. I'll change it to [2]+300, that's indeed better! Christian Stonecreek 03:33, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

ISBN for 'Orte der Erinnerung'

It seems like the ISBN for your primary verified Orte der Erinnerung is not correct. It has 11 digits only. Shouldn't it be 978-3-926126-91-7? Hitspacebar 10:34, 19 October 2014 (UTC)

Yes, you are right: I have changed the ISBN to the correct one. Thanks for finding this mistake! Christian Stonecreek 03:38, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Der Schrecksenmeister

Please confirm the absence of an ISBN-13 in this 2009 publication. Thanks. 07:02, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

You got me again :-). I fell into one of the trap doors of cloning. Stonecreek 08:21, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Armageddon Rock

Please check the ISBN given in this record. Thanks. Mhhutchins 05:31, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Well, the incongruent ISBN is stated in the notes, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek has no other information. Stonecreek 13:58, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. Adding "#" before a bad ISBN will remove the record from the clean-up script. Mhhutchins 20:48, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Does this publication have an invalid ISBN? Mhhutchins 21:07, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Not really, only an insufficiently entered one. ;-( Christian Stonecreek 21:18, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Science fiction, fantasy & horror im Heyne-Taschenbuch

I added a note to this publication record that it has the same ISBN as the 1993 edition, which could save you some inquiries in the future. (They showed up on a new clean-up report which finds pubs with different titles but the same ISBN.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 17:45, 2 November 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, Michael, but it seems the note has to be modified (as I'll do): A second look revealed that the same ISBN as for the 1993 edition is stated on the copyright page, the back has a new one. It pays quite often to have a fresh look, so thanks for the input. Christian Stonecreek 14:45, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for taking a closer look. My assumption was based on the OCLC record which corroborated your original record. (They only use the copyright page ISBN.) I should have inquired before adding the note, because neither of us ever make mistakes(!). Thanks again. Mhhutchins 18:11, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Olga Rinne

There are titles which need to be varianted for this author which you recently made into a pseudonym. (Found using a clean-up script.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 21:31, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, it was on my list of to-dos. Thanks for the reminder, though. Stonecreek 04:36, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

Mondmysterien

This publication shows up on a clean-up report because it's a COLLECTION which contains a COLLECTION. If the contained collection is a group of stories previously published as a COLLECTION (under ISFDB's definition), then the container should be typed as an OMNIBUS. Looking at the contents of this collection, the stories don't seem to be in the same order as in this one, so I'm not certain whether it would be correct to call the latter publication an OMNIBUS. Is it necessary to have the COLLECTION title record within this publication? Your description makes it appear to be a group title instead of a true COLLECTION. Mhhutchins 16:40, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

The same situation is apparent in this pubication. Mhhutchins 16:43, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

I'd prefer to keep the COLLECTION container in this special Simon case. He decribes in his commentary how he built the single volumes of 'Simon's Fiction' around the previously published volumes. Even the new titles play some games with the earlier ones. In every case the number of contents were enlarged by thematically corresponding fictions, written sometimes much later. Stonecreek 16:48, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

I can't see how we can reconcile your preferences with the ISFDB standards. The definition of the COLLECTION title type doesn't allow for an individual editor's preferred usage. If you can think of a different way of handling this and still remain in the standards, please try. Mhhutchins 18:48, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

Well, an OMNIBUS contains texts that have previously been published independently, and that is not the case here, since there is fictional material that is published for the first time. Usually , a COLLECTION shouldn't be part of a COLLECTION, but these titles are unusual in that regard, and I haven't found a statement that forbids it. I do concede that I have placed the author's statements quite high, but we try to do so, don't we?. Stonecreek 19:48, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

Padgate

SFE3 has been edited: see here.--Dirk P Broer 00:01, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

de Bergerac's Voyages

All of the OMNIBUS records on this list currently don't have contents. When you have time could you go back and add them to the records? Thanks. Mhhutchins 07:41, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

I'm working on the german editions and will be able to state cautionary contents to the French parent, based on the wikipedia entry, but the English ones had been initially entered as NOVEL. They are not verified and I haven't found a source for the title of the contents. Stonecreek 18:56, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

New cleanup reports

Just a quick note to let you know that you may find one or more of these new cleanup reports relevant:) Ahasuerus 05:38, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for those, I'll work on them. Christian Stonecreek 09:33, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Duplicate ISBNs

I added notes to this record and this record that they share the same ISBN. Mhhutchins 05:48, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Thanks! Stonecreek 09:32, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

contents (my favorite horror story)

hi i cloned the contents from another pub, as you suggested but.. each story is introduced by a small introduction. These are listed in the contents section that I cloned from, but are not in the actual TOC of the version I have. But, I get the impression from reading the pub I have cloned from that they are not there either, i.e. that the contents in the isfdb page are not a identical copy of the TOC in the book. So, my question is, should the contents in the isfdb be an exact copy of the TOC, or enhanced, such as with separate page numbers for the introductions and the stories proper, which is not how the TOC lists them? thanks. gzuckier 09:38, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for asking, but it really doesn't matter if they are listed in the TOC, it only matters if they are actually contents in a given publication. Please don't use the TOC as your source: it happens quite often that it lists false pages of beginnings and/or different titles as stated on the beginning pages of the respetive items. We always (for books) refer to the title page of the book and the title pages (usually the same as the beginning page, but this may not be the case with introductions to stories, where we document the different beginning pages) of the included items. See also the section on Page from the help pages. Stonecreek 09:55, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

very good to know. thanks. my first instinct was to just copy the TOC verbatim.gzuckier 22:57, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

Kehlmann photograph

I added the proper license tag to this photograph, and removed the statement that it was public domain. It's copyrighted with a "Sharealike" license according to your source for the file. Mhhutchins 16:54, 12 December 2014 (UTC)

Thank you very much! I wasn't aware that this tag was the wrong one. Stonecreek 18:10, 12 December 2014 (UTC)

Books jointly published by two publishers

I noticed that you advised a new editor to use the "Publisher / Publisher" format to indicate that a book is jointly published by two publishers. Based on ISFDB standards that would indicate that the first "publisher" is actually an imprint of the second. In such cases an ampersand should be used to indicate the two publishers, such as here and here. According to the editor's response, the ebook was published by Flipside, so it's not necessary to give Kestrel credit.

One other thing, they gave the Amazon sale price and not the list price, and they entered the wrong URL for the cover image (they gave the Amazon website page for the book, instead of the image file.) Hope this helps. Mhhutchins 02:38, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

Playboy SF Cover Art

Hi Christian, I've added the Alfonso Azpiri as cover Artist of Die besten Stories von Frederik Pohl. My source is: http://www.net-cafe.hu/fantasy.php?ct=113. Cheers, John - JLochhas 15:01, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

Thank you very much, John! Stonecreek 05:59, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

Various Utopia Classics

Hi Christian, I'm successively adding my Utopia Classics and completing any gaps in the existing entries. Have just added Josh Kirby as the artist of UC-15. I'll variant it to the available English original once it's approved. Cheers, John - JLochhas 17:05, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

And one more: UC-16 is by Carl Lundgren, the picture is available on his website. - JLochhas 17:20, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

You are great! Thanks very much! I wouldn't have thought that it'd be possible to find the artists for the vast majority of UC cover art. Stonecreek 04:14, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

SF international III

Could you please check whether the Czech writer Václav Kajdoŝ is credited as "Václav Kajdoś" in your verified SF international III? TIA! (I set up a pseudonymous relationship a few minutes ago, but then wondered if it may be a data entry artifact.) Ahasuerus 19:18, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

No, he is credited as Václav Kajdoš. I changed the entry accordingly, but this version of his name seems to be the canonical as is stated at databazeknih.cz. (?) Stonecreek 04:30, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

Hm, I wonder if it's "Kajdoŝ" or "Kajdoš" in Die Verwandlung. The letter "ŝ" is not a part of the Czech alphabet, so it's probably a typo. Ahasuerus 05:29, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

I'll look it up after digging up the anthology (along with Die Vergangenheit der Zukunft) later today. Stonecreek 05:35, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

Thanks! Ahasuerus 05:52, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

It was Kajdoš and I have made this name into the canonical one. Stonecreek 12:14, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

Thanks again! Ahasuerus 15:05, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

Review in Interzone #166

I'm trying to create publication records for eligible works which are reviewed, but can not find anything anywhere on the internet to match the reviewed title (Season X by Rik Hoskin) on page 64 of this issue of Interzone. Can you confirm that the review is correctly entered? Thanks. Mhhutchins 23:08, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, but I'm afraid that I haven't access to this issue right now: it might get even next year (!) before I'll be able to take a look into the matter. Right now I'm moving the contents of the literature catacombs and I have to get a new overview on them. Christian Stonecreek 11:46, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

As it seems that my issues are more easily accessible than those of Christian, I can confirm the correctedness of the entry. Season X is in fact an issue of a fanzine edited by Rik Hoskin. Perhaps a change from REVIEW to ESSAY is in order. Hauck 14:46, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

I'll do that. Thanks for responding. Mhhutchins 16:03, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

Alien Contact #36

I'm trying to create records for all unlinked reviews, and even though I have a copy of this publication, my knowledge of German is just enough to make me dangerous. Is it possible you could create publication records for the titles reviewed on pages 24 and 25? If they review works which are not eligible for the database, the REVIEW records should be exchanged for ESSAY records. Thanks. Mhhutchins 04:54, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

One more request: I created pub records for three titles reviewed in Alien Contact #35: Studien des Todes, Alien-Lexikon, and Der siebte Schrein. Can you take a look at these records and correct any errors I may have made? In the last case, I took the title from the OCLC record, but it's likely that its title record should be merged with this one. Thanks for checking them out. Mhhutchins 05:14, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

Sorry, one more to check: Der Tag des silbernen Tieres: Geschichten vom Ende der Welt. This looks like a collection of stories by two authors, but not in collaboration. That's why I made it into an ANTHOLOGY. Thanks again. Mhhutchins 05:42, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

I added what I could find, but in the case of Der Tag des silbernen Tieres: Geschichten vom Ende der Welt it's still not clear what kind of title it is. There's the notion that both authors colloborated by communicating via e-mail and internet, so I guess that at least some of the shortfictions are authored by both. The Bekanntlich title is stated as a special issue of the magazine TERRAsse, so it's likely to be counted as an anthology (presuming the numeration of that issue is out of the regular counting.) Stonecreek 15:28, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

According to this webpage, the authors' contributions were individual: 6 stories by Angerhuber and 7 by Haubold. Mhhutchins 19:39, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

Great! Then it is in fact an ANTHOLOGY. Thanks, Christian Stonecreek 19:46, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

Terra TB 269

Hi Christian, could you have a look at the related cover for this publication? I've tried to upload mine as the existing item isn't displaying - and, of course, it won't work... Many thanks, John. JLochhas 12:33, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

Well, all seems to be okay. I think it's only that you have to refresh your display once: in the case of displaying cover images the cache seems to stick to the version that's there. Christian Stonecreek 13:42, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

Something different: I added the price and the month to Der Dämonenprinz Christian Stonecreek 14:11, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

I see you uploaded the image three times before giving up. Before making a second upload, please inquire at the help desk. All of these files take up space on the server. In the future, when you're replacing an image, or updating a record, remember to refresh your browser's cache if you're not seeing the update. This is done on most keyboards by hitting the F5 key. I will delete all of the unnecessary files. Thanks. Mhhutchins 21:16, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

Terra Kleinband 1961

Hi Christian, I am adding further verifications and covers to the Terra digests. As I am not modifying your data I hope that you're okay. I'll posting any changes to THIS entry. Cheers, John - JLochhas 14:18, 17 January 2015 (UTC)

Barely started and "promise" broken: #189 Welt ohne Ende had the page count of 272 from the hardcover edition - I have changed it to the digest's count, 64 in this case. JLochhas 14:28, 17 January 2015 (UTC)

The ad for TSB #46 in #190 Kampf der Telepathen is phoney. #45 was published only the week before... and #46 has a new ad in #193 Menschen zwischen der Zeit: "Achtung! Heute kaufen!". Most conveniently, the back page of that digest has a Tubb portrait. I have added no such comment but perhaps you're interested in doing so? - Oh, and the last numbered page in my edition is 64. JLochhas 14:38, 17 January 2015 (UTC)

Oops, thanks for spotting this error! Please correct any obvious errors such as this without further notification. Do you have any overview of the series for the year 1964? I think there are fewer issues of Terra than of Perry Rhodan, so that for some weeks there seems no Terra publication (but I didn't work out for which weeks, since for both series there are many gaps in my collection). And there's still the problem of one surplus issue of PR, which I think was publlished sometime in the early Sevemties, but which might have been published much earlier. Christian Stonecreek 14:41, 17 January 2015 (UTC)

No sweat, I am happy to make the corresponding changes. As to 1964 / 1965: I never diligently tried to work out the week in which there was an additional Perry Rhodan but I was planning to go through my stacks of Terra anyway in order to complete the gaps and I'll look out for it. John. JLochhas 14:51, 17 January 2015 (UTC)

Perry Rhodan Surplus Issue

Hi Christian, I've been doing some digging and if there was a "surplus copy" then only before June 1972.
Here's my pitch: The pub months in the novels, counting backwards from #1000 (21-Oct-1980) work perfectly until 3-Jul-73. That's when the series switched to Tuesday as the official day of publication. Before that it was Fridays. So there were 5 numbers (619-623) in July 1973, further 5 (614-618) in June 1973. And the printed Dates continue to work down to #562 on 2-Jun-72.
Strangely... #561 is also for June 1972.
So here's our duplicate. I claim - mainly based on the back cover ads, that PR #560 (May) and #561 (June) were both published simultaneously, together with Terra Astra #41, on the last Friday of May 1972. A couple of weeks later, Schelwokat made an amendment in the Terra Astra preview when he showed 5 Perry (and 3 Atlan) novels matching 4 Terra Astras. From then onwards the announcements matched the actual publications (with one exception when TA paused for a week).
Sounds plausible enough although it is only circumstantial evidence...
Cheers, John - JLochhas 16:10, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Great work, John! I hoped for my life that the additional issue had not been published in the Sixties (which seemed possible since the copyright statements weren't always up to date). Yes, your scenario is not only plausible but in fact the most likely. Thank you very much for your digging! Christian Stonecreek 17:20, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. My wife'll shoot me, though, the living room's now stuffed with loads of booklets not smelling of Chanel No. 5 or something similarly well-scented... JLochhas 18:10, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Terra TB 201 & 202

Hi Christian, the last two of the early Pabel-TTB I am looking are with you as the PV: #201 Die Welt der grünen Lady and #202 Geschöpfe der Nacht. Publication Dates are a nightmare as at least in the first year, or so, of Pabel printing the series that dates are extremely unreliable. And Sales (Vertrieb) sometimes did what they wanted to. Meaning: #202 Must have been published in January, otherwise there would have been too many books in 1972. I hope that you are good with the Change. Please cross-check and let me know your thoughts. Cheers, John - JLochhas 18:20, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Already approved. Go ahead and righten my guesses. Christian Stonecreek 18:44, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Franz Kafka

Hi Christian, the last couple of days I've been working with two substantial Franz Kafka collections in English, and I'm a little astounded as to how much of his 'genre' work was still missing from the database and how few of the English translations had already been made variants from the German. With regard to the variants, my own hesitant German and Google Translate have helped match most of the German originals with their English counterparts, but there are a few titles that I have failed to pair up. Could I ask you to take a look? The few unmatched German titles are near the top of his short fiction list, and most of the English ones are (at the moment) at the bottom, at least until I find the earliest publishing dates for each translation.

This also hints at the question of which of his works thus far entered should be considered 'non-genre' (I'm assuming that all would agree that such a pivotal figure in fantastika is 'above the threshold'). I've read all his short fiction and I have my own estimation on what I'd consider to be non-genre in English, but I'd like to discuss this with someone who may have read his short fiction in the original German as he is notoriously difficult to translate, with several of the originals using a form of German subtlety that is very difficult to replicate in English (eg. see Wikipedia on translating 'Die Verwandlung'/'Metamorphosis'). Any thoughts? Thanks. PeteYoung 16:24, 1 February 2015 (UTC)

PS. I've since found this page which has helped identify most translations. PeteYoung 07:13, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

I'm happy to help in determining the original titles and also in judging on the genre content, though I have read most, but not all of his fiction. It might prove to be difficult in some cases, since I personally would call some works absurdist ("Amerika" being the most prominent example, and maybe the only title in question which would be considered as part of his major canon of works), but some of them verge on the brink of this definition.

At one time, I had started to find out about first publications of the works published after his death, but due to insufficient sources I stopped at a certain point and was subsequently carried away by other projects. I see that you have worked tremendously on clarifying this.

Two remarks I'd like to make at this point: 1) Since 'Verlag' really only means 'publishing house' and we usually drop any forenames (except where they are necessary for disambiguation), I'd like to suggest to rename Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag into just 'Kiepenheuer'. 2) Die Aeroplane in Brescia should probably changed into an essay, since it was written as a report on its theme.

So, let's get on with the work: I'll start with some research and reading work. Christian Stonecreek 11:37, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

After some (re-)reading I find it rather difficult to draw a line between genre and non-genre for most of his early micro-fiction with length of not more than one page: most often they don't have any plot that would allow a judgment for either side: the setting seems to be taken from ordinary life, but the author's perspective puts them near the fantastic. There are a few exceptions like "Auf der Galerie", which seems to have no genre content at all. Stonecreek 15:01, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

I can't find a parent for The Proclamation. Do you have the first one or two lines of the piece at hand? Stonecreek 15:05, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

I couldn't find an original for that one, either. The Notes in The Great Wall of China and Other Short Works are not helpful at all: They simply say "December 1916. No author's title.", which indicates it may have come from one of his notebooks and then titled 'The Proclamation' by Max Brod. It's also absent from The Complete Short Stories. It begins: 'In our house, this vast building on the outskirts of the town, a tenement-house whose fabric is interspersed with indestructible medieval ruins, there were today distributed, on this foggy ice-cold winter morning, copies of the following proclamation: "To all my fellow tenants. I possess five toy rifles; they are hanging in my wardrobe..."' PeteYoung 08:49, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

Hmm, this one really seems to have been taken from a whole other source: my (german) edition of Kafka's collected stories has no piece beginning with lines similar to these ones. It might be an extract from a longer piece of work (maybe even from one of the novels) or taken from his diary, but it doesn't ring any bell right now.

I am trying to catch up on the shortfiction published after his death, the majority of which I haven't read yet, maybe it will pop up as part of one of these pieces. Stonecreek 09:06, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

I've found it at this Google Docs link on page 5, of The Blue Octavo Notebooks (just search "rifles" in the top right search box). It's untitled there. Several of his other self-contained shorter pieces which are most definitely genre, such as 'The Silence of the Sirens', are also taken from these notebooks. There have been at least two English editions, so I expect there will certainly be German editions. PeteYoung 13:16, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

I was able to track this down; it is from the Octavo Notebooks (Oktavhefte), notebook B, which corresponds to Brod's notebook 1. In the Kritische Ausgabe: Nachgelassene Schriften und Fragmente, Bd. 1 Teil 1, it appears (untitled) on [329], and notebook B is dated to January/February 1917.

I searched on the line about the toy rifles, "Ich besitze fünf Kindergewehre, sie hängt in meinem Kasten, an jedem Haken eines." and turned the story up on www.franzkafka.de.

According to A Franz Kafka Encyclopedia, Brod first published major portions of the Oktavhefte in Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande und andere Prosa aus dem Nachlaß, which was published in 1953... I don't have my hands on this particular edition at the moment but I have requested it from our off-site storage and should be able to determine if it appears there, which if so is likely the first published version of this fragment/story. Albinoflea 23:58, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

Okay, so the German version of The Proclamation is in present in Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande und andere Prosa aus dem Nachlaß on p. 60, although it is just an untitled part of Das erste Oktavheft. I don't know if it has a separate titled German publication later elsewhere. My guess is to just treat it as an extract, which (since extracts don't have a special status in ISFDB) would simply involve a title note. Albinoflea 20:46, 5 February 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for these news! On The First Long Train Journey: It seems that this piece rather should be categorized as shortfiction. Though apparently based on both authors' travel diaries the characters are fictionalized. Stonecreek 04:04, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

Several more mystery variants and/or new title additions in the Everyman Library edition of The Collected Stories (which I believe is a re-issue of the Alfred A. Knopf title of the same name, yet to be entered). For example, 'A Splendid Beast', another genre 'Notebook' title I found here. I'm making an educated guess about Isabella being a variant of 'Der Gruftwächter' ('The Warden of the Tomb'), given that Isabella is a character in that story. The rest of the unknown English variants I'll work on tomorrow. Thanks for your continuing assistance on this! PeteYoung 11:34, 5 February 2015 (UTC)

From the introduction to Collected Stories, Gabriel Josipovici has this to say:

"I have added two stories to Glatzer's selection which have been translated and published by Malcolm Pasley in Franz Kafka: Shorter Works, Volume 1 " ... "'The Proclamation' and 'New Lamps'; and eight stories which I have culled from the Diaries and Notebooks: 'The Student', 'The Angel', and 'An Ancient Sword', from The Diaries of Franz Kafka, edited by Max Brod, translated by Joseph Kresh and by Martin Greenberg" ... "and 'A Splendid Beast', 'The Watchman', 'Hands', 'Isabella' and 'A Chinese Puzzle', from Wedding Preparations in the Country, translated by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser, Secker and Warburg, 1954. These are not the only stories I could have chosen, they merely reflect my own sense that they are as good as many of the pieces in the Glatzer volume and that they should be included in a volume of Collected Stories. The titles of these stories are, of course, my own."

There is an English-language collection Wedding Preparations in the Country and Other Stories, which may be the translation of the German collection Albinoflea refers to.

I've tracked down online what I suspect are two of the above self-contained titles: 'An Ancient Sword' (online titled 'A Sword in My Back') and 'Hands' (just search "hands" in the top right search box). If they are the titles in question, both are certainly genre/spec-fic titles, previously not present on ISFDB. I've today ordered online an old paperback of the collection Wedding Preparations in the Country and Other Stories but won't be able to see it until the end of the month, as it's being sent to my UK address. I hope these details all provide useful pointers for you. PeteYoung 08:08, 6 February 2015 (UTC)

As there are not two but three german fragments for Ein Bericht für eine Akademie that were first published in 1937, 1954 & 1954, respectively, it seems possible that A Report to an Academy: Two Fragments should better be split up into the two fragments it encompasses, depending on their content. I have put up a series that lists all of the german parts and pieces; I also added some notes on the beginnings of the individual fragments and tried to capture a possible English translation. I hope that helps to identify them. Stonecreek 18:54, 8 February 2015 (UTC)

Given your brief translations describing the fragments, the two fragments included in The Complete Stories are 1 and 2.

The first fragment begins "We all know Rotpeter, just as half the world knows him" and ends "But I, who of course dare not let him out of my sight, always rent the apartment opposite his and watch him from behind curtains."

The second fragment begins "When I sit opposite you like this, Rotpeter, listening to you talk, drinking your health" and ends "Where do you want to go? Beyond the boards the forest begins..."

I'll now create new title records for the English fragments 1 and 2. Thanks. PeteYoung 06:40, 10 February 2015 (UTC)

Removing the bad checksum warning from a pub record

You can get rid of the warning on this record by adding # before the number. That way you fooling the system into thinking it's a catalog number so it doesn't check for a checksum. Mhhutchins 07:24, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

Yes, I know. But adding '#' severs the automated links to all data banks. So, it's not a nice remark to have a Bad Checksum statement, but practibility wins over aesthetics, at least for me. Stonecreek 07:49, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

Not all data banks. Many, including Amazon and Abebooks.com among them, can't establish links to invalid ISBNs. Mhhutchins 16:34, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

Voltz - Quarantäne

Hi Christian, have just shifted the publication date by one week. In total Terra skipped two weeks in 1963 and by circumstantial evidence I should have properly pin-pointed them. And in consequence, Quarantäne is now one week later.
Terra Extra is even weirder, wait and see... John. JLochhas 06:52, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

Okay, looks good! Christian Stonecreek 09:47, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

And the corresponding change for Terra #321, "Rebellion auf Herculum". Cheers, John. JLochhas 11:36, 14 February 2015 (UTC)

Windschiefe Geraden'

The dates of the interior art contents in this collection should be 1984 since they were first published in a 1984 publication, according to this record. Thanks. Mhhutchins 19:04, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

Cover credits Die schwarze Wolke

Hi Christian, I have just changed to cover artist for this book to Richard Powers - it's the same cover as for the first Heyne Edition and cross-referenced. - Could you confirm, time provided, that the title really is "Die Schwarze Wolke" - and not "Die schwarze Wolke"??? Thanks! JLochhas 18:45, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for the update! At the time of entering this book I didn't know the works of Powers and thought it might be a genuine german design. I'll look the title up as soon as possible. Stonecreek 18:53, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Linking of the Perry Rhodan issues

In the process of handling the cleanup reports of "Invalid Record URLs in Notes", the Perry Rhodan links that go from issue to issue are being reported as "bad", because that format of publication link is no longer "fully supported". I updated a bunch of these links today (from issues #950 to #999), and I can update them all, but there are problems with what to do about the links that go to missing issues. If you have the chance, could you join us in this conversation? There's some background in the first set of comments, but the stuff directly relevant to the Perry Rhodan series occurs right at the "unindent" point. Thanks, Chavey 00:12, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Roger Sattler

Hello Christian. I have looked for some info about this Roger Sattler, who appears to be, if not German, at least Germanophone. I couldn't find anything at all, apart from the existence of this one book, Hotel Himmel. Any clues as to who or what he might be ? TIA, Linguist 09:42, 27 February 2015 (UTC).

Hans Kneifel / Planet in Flammen

Hi Christian, I guess that this title: Hans Kneifel über kriegerische Auseinandersetzungen is identical with the text he published here.
Terra 384 reads: Wir sehen gerade, daß Ost und West große Anstrengungen unternehmen, um dem ewigen Ziel der Menschheit - den Weg zu den Sternen zu beschreiten - näherzukommen.
Immer wieder wird der Mensch versuchen, Dinge möglich zu machen, die noch vor kurzer Zeit als restlos unmöglich angesehen wurden. So ist es auch mit der Eroberung des Mondes. (...)
Krieg führen Barbaren und Unreife. Rassen, die den Sternenflug beherrschen, können nicht mehr unreif sein, wenigstens nicht in der Gesamtheit ihrer kulturellen Substanz. Übergriffe von Einzelpersonen oder Machtgruppen sind denkbar, jedoch kein Krieg der Weltanschauungen.
Ich würde mich sehr freuen, wenn Sie, verehrte Leser, die beiden Erzählungen nach diesen Gesichtspunkten betrachteten.
I can scan the full text if needed - but if it is identical with the one in your book please be so kind and link / variant them. Cheers, John. JLochhas 10:43, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Thnaks for finding & entering the original appearance. I'll variant the second appearance. Christian Stonecreek 14:02, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Thanks

Raja99 21:26, 1 March 2015 (UTC) Hello Stonecreek and thanks for your quick acceptance of my edits for Bob Shaw's The Peace Machine. Sorry I didn't know about the etiquette; how would I contact a primary verifier before submitting? For that matter how do I contact a primary verifier *after* submitting; do edits here go to you automatically? Thanks!

By the way, per your comment that it makes sense to move my edits to the title, I would agree--but please note that the current Gateway/Orion ebook of The Peace Machine seems in fact to be an ebook of Ground Zero Man. I am emailing them (tactfully I hope) to see if this is an error.

Thanks for the question to Gateway/Orion!

Contacting a primary verifier isn't too difficult, you have done just that with contacting me! Other verifiers are listed at the bottom of a publication's entry. If you click on these links you each the verifier's user page and the talk page is the one neighbouring page marked 'discussion'. Some editors have a heading that will guide you to a special page reserved for additions to publications verified by them. Stonecreek 10:20, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Robot-Legende

If the review on page 4 of this publication is of a nonfiction work by a "below the threshold author" (as it appears to be), then it should be entered as an ESSAY. Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:50, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

I'll take a look into this matter but this review wasn't added by me but likely by John. Stonecreek 10:22, 2 March 2015 (UTC)

Links to cover image files on a non-permitting server

Re this record: I exchanged the link to an image hosted by Barnes & Noble to the one on Amazon. There should have been a moderator warning that the URL led to a non-permitting host. (It showed up on a clean-up report which finds violating pub records.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 14:26, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for that, Michael! Didn't the one supplied also direct to Amazon? If not, I have missed it in the turbulence. Stonecreek 19:12, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

No, the record was originally linked to an image on bn.com. I changed the URL to a file of the same image on Amazon.com. Mhhutchins 20:06, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

War and the Weird

When you get some time, please read my response to this topic concerning this publication record. Your first instincts were correct. Thanks. Mhhutchins 05:37, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

Pseudonyms and interviews

Please read this message concerning the ISFDB standard of entering the interviewee's canonical name and not their pseudonym. Dean Koontz is a pseudonym and the interviewee should have been entered as Dean R. Koontz, regardless of how it's given in the publication. Thanks. Mhhutchins 06:12, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

Die Agentur

Hello Christian. I have uploaded an new cover scan for your verified (larger, better definition). Also added OCLC # in notes. Thanks. Linguist 10:43, 31 March 2015 (UTC).

Zendegi

I updated this record [1] with an image and additional data, thank you.Wjmvanruth 16:31, 31 March 2015 (UTC)

Kafka's collection The Sons

Hi Christian, I've listed two publications of Kafka's English-language collection The Sons that I'm aware of. Wikipedia states that Kafka wanted this themed collection in 1913, however they make no mention of it actually appearing. Wikipedia also has no date for the first English-language Schocken edition. Do you think a German edition appeared at some point? PeteYoung 01:15, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

Well, there was a 1989 pb edition titled Die Söhne, which was subtitled '3 Geschichten'. I guess that it collects the three shortfictions but not the essay. I'll see if I can get hold of a copy. Stonecreek 04:22, 12 April 2015 (UTC)

Moderator Noticeboard discussion

When you are back in town, could you please take a look at this discussion? Ahasuerus 20:57, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

Beam uns nachhaus

Can you confirm the cover art credit for this publication? Could it possibly be Enrich Torres? I'm thinking both of these may be the same artist Enric whose full name is "Enric Torres-Prat". Thanks for checking. Mhhutchins 19:33, 13 April 2015 (UTC)

It's actually Enrich Torres. I'll update the connected entries. Thanks for finding this!

And I'd also think that the two Torreses are one and the same person. Stonecreek 18:48, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

Billie Sander and Sanders

It seems likely that Billie Sander and Billie Sanders are the same person. Can you confirm the credits in the records you've verified and determine whether a pseudonym and variants are called for? Thanks. Mhhutchins 00:45, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

Yes, they are. At the time of entering the books I thought that further evidence concerning the canonical name might come up later. I'll now make the later version into the canonical one. Thanks, Christian Stonecreek 06:15, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

Vampir Horror-Roman Doppelgänger !

Hi ! About Pabel's Vampir Horror-Roman series : it appears that I have unfortunately duplicated the series name (see here) by normalizing a pre-existing “Vampir” into ”Vampir Horror-Roman”. Any idea how to fix the mess ? TIA, Linguist 10:52, 22 April 2015 (UTC).

Well, after cloning the publication, deleting the publication series and then entering it anew, the earlier established one was chosen and it was possible to delete the surplus publication (that as yet isn't verified by you: you may want to do this again). Stonecreek 19:07, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. Everything seems OK now. Linguist 09:43, 23 April 2015 (UTC).

Björn Jagnow and Bjørn Jagnow

Could you reconcile the credits for this author when you get the chance? I couldn't determine which one should be the canonical name. Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:49, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

The credits should remain as they are. As the 'Bjørn' pieces are copyrighted to Björn Jagnow, that should be the canonical name, I guess (I'll take the necessary steps). Christian Stonecreek 13:56, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

I didn't say to change the credits, only to determine which should be canonical and to make a variant based on that decision. Thanks for doing that. Mhhutchins 17:00, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Submissions by "Captainjaq"

This new editor used the "Add New Novel" function instead of the "Add Publication to This Title" function. Those newly created title records will have to be merged with the existing one (for Undersea Fleet and Undersea Quest.) You'll also have to delete the URL link to image files on an unpermitting website. The prices should be corrected to ISFDB standard for pre-decimal British prices. And all of this should be explained to the submitting editor. Or not. Your decision. Mhhutchins 18:54, 26 April 2015 (UTC)

Are the links to wordpress not permitted? There was absolutely no warning for them. Stonecreek 09:23, 27 April 2015 (UTC)

I've left a message on Ahasuerus's talk page to ask why there wasn't a warning. Mhhutchins 17:00, 27 April 2015 (UTC)

Also, the submission you're holding is identical to a record submitted by the same editor, except for the misspelling of "Frederick". Mhhutchins 18:54, 26 April 2015 (UTC)

Philippe Goy and Philippe Guy

Is it possible that the author of this work could be the same person who wrote three French novels as Philippe Guy? Thanks for checking. Mhhutchins 02:25, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

Permit me to chime in, but Philippe Goy is more likely to be this author even if there's no trace of a french publication.Hauck 09:51, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

Nele Schütz cover artist

Hi, you might be interested in my question at the help desk about Nele Schütz cover artist, because you primary verified some books with her as cover artist. Hitspacebar 18:32, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

Summers Gothic Bibliography

With reference to discussion on my talk page about the price of this book. Not sure if you quite understood my answer but the price of the book is six old pounds AND fifteen shillings not just 15/- (20 shillings made up an old pound) so maybe you should put 135/- as the price. Quite an expensive book for 1941. --Mavmaramis 04:49, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

Oh, well, I guess I am still not accustomed to that time period. Thanks for letting me participate, it's just my decimal informed training. Christian Stonecreek 08:48, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

I changed the price, added a related note and dropped the note that the data was obtained from WorldCat: that one isn't needed anymore once a publication is primary verified. Stonecreek 08:53, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

Kafka's Notebooks and Fragments

Hi Christian, before I add contents to Kafka's The Blue Octavo Notebooks, I've been making notes and matching the English translations with the original German titles that you have added. I have a query about what you think should be the correct form of entry for these fragments in English, as I see you have adopted two ways, eg. Fragmente (19. Februar 1917. Heute gelesen Hermann und Dorothea) and its variant Das erste Oktavheft (19. Februar 1917. Heute gelesen Hermann und Dorothea).

I'm inclined to go with titling each fragment as "The First Notebook [February 19, 1917. Today read Hermann und Dorothea]" etc., as the publication is divided into separate sections for each of the first to the eighth notebooks. As you know, some of these fragments have also appeared independently in English, so my query is, Did you use the form "Fragmente..." for when each fragment appeared outside the notebook publications, eg. in a collection, and why are titles that begin "Das erste Oktavheft..." etc. varianted to those that begin "Fragmente..." instead of the other way around? I'm just trying to understand the approach you've taken and I'm willing to follow your suggestions here. Thanks. PeteYoung 15:23, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

Well, the 'Fragmente' and 'Meditationen' titles are those stated by Max Brod in his notes to Hochzeitsvorbereitungen ..., and they are varianted, because some of them were published before in Tagebücher und Briefe. Later editions, especially the critical one, but apparently also some or all of the English ones, have ordered the octavo notebooks differently, and thus will have still different titles, once they are entered. I am not sure which rule should be applied for the canonical title: the chronologcal first seems to be the one favourized. Christian Stonecreek 02:56, 16 May 2015 (UTC)

On a closer study of the notes it really seems that the titles used in the critical edition ('Oktavheft A' - 'Oktavheft H') would mirror the correct chronological order of writing, and as such could be made into the canonical titles. What do you think? Christian Stonecreek 18:59, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Das himmlische Kind

Hello Christian,

I've corrected this title: € 19.99 in €19.99 and german in German. What means exact "credit", "credited"? I cannot find a German translation.--Wolfram.winkler 11:26, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Thanks very much for correcting this: for a long time there wasn't an exact rule how to enter Euro prices, so there'll be lots of those. I also correct them when I visit a publication with the old version again. So just correct them, there's no need to notify me in those cases.

'to credit' here at ISFDB means 'jemandem etwas zuschreiben'. It is widely used in the movies ('film credits' for the actors, the director, the special effects etc.). Christian Stonecreek 16:11, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Hello Christian, thanks for your information. Meanwhile, I have found one similar translation, but I don't remember the exact compatible German word, now I mean it is "zuordnen", but your suggestion "zuschreiben" is also well.

Notify or not, in the future, I know about--Wolfram.winkler 19:43, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

Translator (possible) mix-up

Hello Christian. Concerning the German translation of Dorémieux' "La Vana" in this pub, which you have verified, and this other one, which I have recently submitted : basing myself on the DNB data, I understood that the latter was translated by Ewald Czapski, in the anthology edited by Bernhard Thieme. Would you think this is correct, and, in this case, shouldn't the former be translated by Ewald Czapski as well ? Or did I miss something ? TIA, Linguist 14:02, 26 May 2015 (UTC).

I'll take a look into the matter as I own the Thieme edited anthology (just haven't got around entering it), but it is possible that Deutsche Nationalbibliothek listed only one of a handful of translators (the main or the first stated). I hope to find it pretty soon. Christian Stonecreek 15:15, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Thanks anyway. I'll wait… Linguist 15:24, 26 May 2015 (UTC).

German translation of "Pêcheurs de lune" by Ewald Czapski. should be German translation by Ewald Czapski of "Pêcheurs de lune". It would clear up any confusion that "Pêcheurs de lune" might be written by Ewald Czapski.

Thanks, Michael! That'd be in fact better. But it was as I thought: Czapski is only albphabetically the first of a group of different translators, he did only one of the respective shortfiction translations. I'll enter the translators as actually credited. This system of crediting one person for translation is one of the weaknesses of Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Stonecreek 17:12, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for fixing everything up ! Linguist 18:55, 26 May 2015 (UTC).

The Night Before Christmas

If all of the publications of this work in the ISFDB are credited to "Clement C. Moore" why create variants to "Clement Clarke Moore"? Also, by creating variants without a pseudonym, they're all stray publications. Mhhutchins 06:52, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

Well, I've got to enter a publication where the poem is credited to the full name, but as other things came in between I didn't fulfill the task (then including the set-up of the pseudonym relationship, which is now installed). Christian Stonecreek 14:04, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

From my experience, it's almost always credited to "Clement C. Moore". Occasionally, I've seen it credited to "Clement Moore". If a publication credits the full name, then it's quite unusual. But I'll drop it, since poems about Santa Claus seem to be outside my personal definition of speculative fiction. (ALthough I can see how broadly the ISFDB definition can be interpreted.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 15:21, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

Harrison Nova 3

Replaced cover for this book with full wraparound version and added note "Cover art may be Tony Roberts. Attribution unconfirmed (in his style/assumed)." --Mavmaramis 20:39, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, Stonecreek 04:35, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

Abbreviation problem.

Hello Christian. Do you happen to know what this pub series (“Die Welt von morgen”, published by Weiss) looks like ? The NDB often gives mysterious indications such as “Hlw. : 6.80, Lw. : 7.80”, or just “Lw. : 7.80”, which I just can't figure out. If it's the size of the book, it's ridiculously small. If it's some kind of price, it looks rather expensive for SF books published in the '50s and '60s. So far, these figures have been treated as prices by most editors, who also tagged the books as hardcovers. I was going to add a few more pubs, but before I do, I would be grateful to benefit from your opinion about the matter. TIA, Linguist 20:44, 1 June 2015 (UTC).

Yes, they are hardcovers, and the prices are within the range used during that period. I think this series was also (like others of that time) published for use in commercial lending bookshops, so that the average reader had to pay only a small fee. 'Hl' should stand for 'Halbleinen' (half linen) and 'L' for 'Leinen' (linen). What exactly 'w.' means escapes me too. I hope that helps, Christian Stonecreek 06:11, 2 June 2015 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. I'll be able to submit a few more of these… Linguist 09:24, 2 June 2015 (UTC).

The Anything Box

Replaced Amazon cover of this book with one scanned from my own copy and added other prices to notes. --Mavmaramis 16:54, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

A brief German terminology question

Christian, I'm reading (and proof-reading for a forthcoming PoD edition) Rob Hansen's history of British SF fandom, Then. There's a brief discussion of Germany's first nationwide fan group, Science Fiction Club Deutschland (SFCD) that was formed in 1955 with the promotion and assistance of the British fan Julian Parr. There is also this: "Incidentally, "science fiction" was borrowed from the English language by German fans, who used it almost exclusively in preference to its German equivalent".

I'd like to suggest a copy edit that would also include what the German terminology is for "science fiction", or would have been at that time. Would "Wissenschaft Fiktion" or something similar have been used? Thanks. PeteYoung 13:08, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

In West Germany the term 'Utopische Literatur' or 'Utopischer Roman' (when it was a NOVEL) was somewhat misleadingly used after World War 2 before 'Science Fiction' began to replace it. For East Germany I don't know if it was 'Wissenschaftliche Fantastik' ('Scientific Fantasy', but 'Fantastik' standing for the whole range of speculative fiction) right from the beginning, but at least it was used for science fiction from the end of the Sixties on, as far as I know. Of course, the SFCD was only active in West Germany. I hope that helps. Christian Stonecreek 19:28, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

Philip K. Dick covers

Found the cover artist for Counter-Clock World and The Turning Wheel. Geoff Taylor - see here and here respectively. Records amended accordingly. --Mavmaramis 04:35, 20 June 2015 (UTC)

Great! It had puzzled me for a long time by whom that art might have been created. Stonecreek 05:15, 20 June 2015 (UTC)

Der befleckte Engel - Joe Haldeman (tr. of 'All My Sins Remembered')

Hi, found your cover artist: Peter Tybus. It is the same cover art as used on Les cerveaux morts. It is also used on 'As Man becomes Machine' by David Rorvik, but that title is not yet in our database...--Dirk P Broer 22:35, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

Great find, Dirk! Thank you! Christian Stonecreek 03:21, 26 June 2015 (UTC)

Vertigo

Replaced cover of this book with full wraparound version. --Mavmaramis 18:37, 1 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks! Christian Stonecreek 04:16, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

German language abbreviations and translations wiki page

Hi Christian, I've added lots of German terms to the Foreign Language Abbreviations wiki page. Could you maybe have a look there and try to spot all the errors I hopefully didn't make? Thanks, Jens Hitspacebar 10:32, 4 July 2015 (UTC)

No error found, Jens! Christian Stonecreek 04:44, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Artist found

here http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?427672 as Paul Lehr. --Zapp 18:00, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

and the parent cover illustration. --Zapp 18:09, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

:Thanks! Christian Stonecreek 04:16, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Soldier of the Mist

Replaced cover of this book with full wraparound version. --Mavmaramis 08:06, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks! Christian Stonecreek 04:16, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Cleanup report

Hello Christian! When you'll be back from holidays, can you have a look at those three publications that sit on our cleanup reports and nag me for too long for my taste. They are COLLECTIONs that seem to contain at least one other COLLECTION, which should make them OMNIBUS(es). What are your thoughts on the matter? I saw that you've already responded to Michael on this issue but I was hoping that your position may change. Thanks. Hervé Hauck 10:44, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Hi, Hervé! The thing which prevents the titles from being categorized as OMNIBUS(es) is the rule A publication may be classified as an omnibus if it contains multiple works that have previously been published independently. These titles were built (expamded) from previously published COLLECTIONs, but they do contain new fiction that is published there for the first time, often these shortfictions were especially written for the books to match the respective themes and atmospheres. Christian Stonecreek 12:02, 6 August 2015 (UTC)

Interior artwork artist

Interior artwork here http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?438276 is credited by Impressum, p.59 --Zapp 12:59, 12 July 2015 (UTC) See http://www.perry-rhodan.net/erstauflage-bd2289.html --Zapp 13:03, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, but I commented in the notes on the reason why I belive that the artworks credited to Papenbrock are really by another hand: he usually signs his art and the style doesn't match his other works. Christian Stonecreek 04:16, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Die lautlose Macht

Hi, the cover of 1982 title 'Die lautlose Macht' is done by Alan Daniels, according to the copyright page. I think we may have an infringement of copyright here then: just compare the art to that of Michael Whelan's 1980 cover for 'The Sinful Ones'....--Dirk P Broer 22:14, 19 July 2015 (UTC) I send a mail to Alan Daniels

Hi,

On the copyright page of Frank M. Roninson's 'Die lautlose Macht' (1982 German translation of 'The Power') Alan Daniels is given as the cover artist.

see e.g.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?419414

http://www.dassein.de/mediawiki/index.php5?title=Die_lautlose_Macht

Die lautlose Macht.jpg

I find a rather striking similairity however with the 1980 edition of 'The Sinful Ones' by Michael Whelan:

Michael Whelan’s ‘trademark’ M can be seen on the trunk in the lower left corner.

Would you care to comment on this?

kind regards,

Dirk Broer

isfdb

Alan Daniels replied to my mail

Hello

yes, I would like to comment. No not mine, not at all my style of work, the bio is close but not correct. Did some sci-fi work in the 70's 80's but definitely not that. I was always focused on the machinery or ::the aliens. Somebody got their facts mixed up.

All the best, Alan

Thanks for finding this, Dirk! Obviously the publisher was in error in this case. Christian Stonecreek 04:16, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Frontispieces

Re the frontispieces in this issue: Their titles should be changed to conform to ISFDB standards for titling and disamgibuating interior art records. An untitled art piece is given the title of the work it illustrates. Certain works can then be parenthetically disambiguated by the kind of art, i.e. "Title (map)", "Title (endpaper)", etc. And then adding the number in squared brackets if there are two or more identically titled works in the same publication. So "Frontispiece [2] (Der Rabe 59)" should be "Der Rabe 59 (frontispiece) [2]". Thanks. Mhhutchins 17:22, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

You are right, Michael. Sorry for the error! Christian Stonecreek 04:16, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Wrong Date?

Hello Christian, I'm looking here and see the Date 2000-00-01. Is this correct or do you mean 2000-01-00?
In the notes I've changed non-speculaive in non-speculative.--Wolfram.winkler 06:18, 31 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for changing the note! The date was deliberately set to put the undated issues of the magazine into a chronological order Christian Stonecreek 04:16, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Science-Fiction Stories series

I had to undo the varianting of four titles of this series to the English titles of the publications from which the contents of the German anthologies were drawn. ISFDB software prohibits the varianting of two works with different authors (in this case, editors). Because the German anthologies were essentially new compilations, all with less than half of the stories of the original English anthologies, and credited to a different editor, it didn't seem right that they be varianted at all, even if the software allowed it. (These four titles were discovered when they appeared on a clean-up report which finds such discrepancies in author credit in variant titles.) Mhhutchins 06:49, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

Well, this seems to me to be wrong: Although there's another editor credited on the title page, the original titles of the anthologies are stated in the respective copyright sections. This is especially obvious in the case of the World's Best SF anthologies: the publisher bought the licenses to distribute the contents over several volumes. Would it be better to change the credited editor to 'uncredited' and put the former into the role of the series editor (after all, the major german reference works do credit the original editors)? This would be in line with this anthology that explicitly credits Nagula for selecting the stories ('zusammengestellt von Michael Nagula'), but Spiegl as editor (of the pub. series). Christian Stonecreek 07:54, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

It seems that this is the correct way: from a certain point in 1973 or 1974 all books published in the series 'Ullstein 2000' have the same note that they were edited by Spiegl, NOVELs, COLLECTIONs & ANTHOLOGIEs alike, so that this refers really to his role as series editor. I'll change the entries. Thank you! Christian Stonecreek 13:33, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

Yes, removing Spiegl as editor would be the best approach to solving the problem...if you consider a translated, retitled, and non-credited German publication to be a reprint of the English anthology. I personally wouldn't consider an anthology that reprints less than half of the contents of another to be a variant of the original. Maybe if one or two titles have been omitted. You have to draw the line somewhere. Also, if you choose not to number the titles in this series based on the number in the title, then why number them at all? It's totally confusing even to veteran users of the ISFDB. Mhhutchins 14:59, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

Ullstein had a page limit of 128 or 144 pages for this series, so Spiegl was forced to split voluminous anthologies into several publications. Right now, it seems that only a small fraction of the stories were published by Ullstein, but this is only because there are many volumes still missing, but in the final stage it should be obvious that (nearly) all of the stories of a given anthology were eventually published.

The numeration wasn't initiated by me. In fact, I argued against making this into a title series, because of the hybrid nature of the titles published as Science-Fiction-Stories (it was initially entered without the addition of 'original anthologies': please read the note to the series I added just recently). But I guess it was a temptation one editor couldn't resist. Christian Stonecreek 16:12, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

But how could anyone logically explain that Science Fiction Stories 46 is number 30 in the series? Just because some are "original" and others aren't doesn't make one more eligible for the series than the other. Mhhutchins 16:46, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

Yes, and that's exactly the reason why I argued against establishing a series in the first place: if we'd put all of the titles into the series, we'd end up for example with Science-Fiction-Stories 37 (not yet entered) as a part, which is a translation of Arthur C. Clarke's COLLECTION The Wind From The Sun, so that in turn this title would be part of the series. What's better: to drop the numeration or the series as a whole? Stonecreek 03:32, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

Cover art for Legends

Why did you accept a submission changing the cover art credit for this record, when the source for the data clearly has another credit? If there was a primary source for the data (or even a reliable secondary source which contradicts Locus1), then I'd understand accepting the submission. Otherwise, it's one editor's opinion against the secondary source from which data the record was created. Mhhutchins 21:32, 24 August 2015 (UTC)

For background, see this discussion. Mhhutchins 21:35, 24 August 2015 (UTC)

Answered there. Stonecreek 03:38, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

Derek Grub and Derek Grubb

There are two records for letters to Interzone from these authors. Can you determine if perhaps they're the same person? Thanks for checking. Mhhutchins 17:05, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

Seems likely, I'll pick Derek Grubb as canonical, as he is the one to appear when searching for the two. Stonecreek 14:54, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

Freytag = H. J. Frey

Only 238 more titles to go... Mhhutchins 20:38, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Yes, seems like a blink of an eye (in a winter's sleep). Stonecreek 03:30, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

Radio Times Guide submission

About this submission to update a publication: I would suggest that very few of the "contents" to be added to this record are truly ESSAYs and eligible for the database. (The only exceptions being the introduction, which should be disamgibuated, and the "Who's Who" written by another hand.) They appear to be sections of the larger NONFICTION work represented by the publication's title record, thus already being a "content" of the publication. We also don't normally create contents for acknowledgments, appendices, indices, etc. I posted here because I didn't want to butt in on your discussion with the submitting editor. 19:09, 13 September 2015 (UTC)

Don't know why my user name didn't appear above and the time/date did. Strange. Mhhutchins|talk 03:42, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Oh, the secrets of word processing! Stonecreek 04:20, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Details now amended following discussion with sub. editor. I think I'd been unduly influenced by the following line in the 'Content/Contents never included' help page, "Tables of content: These are not included. However, a good rule is that anything listed in the table of contents should be included.", and by the fact that there are three interlinked indexes, for Directors, Actors and Writers, together taking up around 20% of the book. Gradually getting a feel for things,Astrodan 11:43, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

That help page should be clarified. Many novels give chapter and part names on a contents page, but that doesn't mean they should be entered as separate contents in the ISFDB record. Mhhutchins|talk 17:54, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Yeah, it takes some time to get into it, just ask me!

Thanks for updating the book! I also deleted the now obsolete titles for you: when you enter a new publication the software automatically generates titles for all included items; but with deleting them from a publication the titles are not automatically deleted too! So, in this case (and many others) we have dangling titles with no publication that need to be deleted manually. Stonecreek 13:55, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

As Sheldon Cooper would say, "I did not know that..."! I take it you just do a search for the removed titles and delete the results? Astrodan 15:16, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Exactly, it's just a bit easier when there are actual authors involved: this guy 'uncredited' seems to have dona a lot of work in his sparetime. Stonecreek 17:18, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies edit approval

Thanks for the approval, and one more query: for future reference, what would be the correct way to enter the number of pages when both Roman and Arabic numerals are used in the one total, as was the case in this book http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?2821741? Astrodan 11:52, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Oh yes, that's a lovely one! I guess the right way to avoid any mistaken page count (xv + 408 would sum up to 423 pages) in this case would be to give the page count as 408, but to note the oddities of pagination, just as you did. Stonecreek 13:37, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Ok, noted, thanks. Astrodan 15:18, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Default display of non-English translations

When you get a chance, could you please review this discussion? The proposal basically boils down to changing the behavior of the Summary Bibliography when the viewing user is not logged in. Currently only English translations are displayed for unauthenticated users. The proposal would change it to displaying all translations. The downside is that the Summary page could get longer and harder to navigate.

I am trying to get a sense of how widespread the support for this change is. TIA! Ahasuerus 01:03, 20 September 2015 (UTC)

Die Physiker

This 2014 printing shows up on a clean-up report because of its ISBN-10. In retaining the original 1998 ISBN, did the publisher also provide the ISBN-13 version of it as well? If not, please note that in the record and I'll clear it from the report. Thanks. Mhhutchins|talk 19:30, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

Nah, it just was copied via my careless cloning (but it's safer for the world if I'm cloning books than a Dolly, I think). Corrected. Christian Stonecreek 19:45, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

So frustrieren wir Karl den Grossen

Could you please verify for http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?366591 if "So frustrieren wir Karl den Grossen" is again a misinterpretation Uppercase/lowercase ß or if this is really meant to be with "ss". If you're on it. I assume the Title of the Pub should be "Fußangeln" as well. Same issue. See also discussion on my page. There is a pending change for this issue. --Stoecker 18:11, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

Answered on your talk page. Alas, only 'Fussangeln' is used in the whole book, so it probably should stay that way (as both spellings are/were allowed). Stonecreek 11:42, 29 September 2015 (UTC)

Language of "Letter (title)" titles in German publications

Hi Christian. I've seen several title records using the pattern "Letter (title)" which have no language value yet but which are contained in German pubs. Some are primary verified by you, for example: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1352560. Is it correct that these are all actually a "Leserbrief" and should be set to German language? If that's the case I'd go ahead and set the language to German if I come across one of these records. Moreover, are they really called "Letter" in the pubs, and not "Leserbrief"? Jens Hitspacebar 20:59, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

I understand that we enter all these items as 'Letters', regardless of the language, which should be set to German here. Christian

Das Science Fiction Jahr Ausgabe 1998: Science Fiction-Hörspiele

Hi, you have a double entry for the Science Fiction-Hörspiele on page 397. BTW: I have scored Das Science Fiction Jahr Ausgabe 1997 lately.--Dirk P Broer 23:29, 10 October 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for adding this big one! I'll add some items late on. Christian

Die Abschaffung der Arten

Hi Christian, I added the cover image to our primary verified Die Abschaffung der Arten, moved the publication series info from the "Notes" field to the publication series fields and added a note about the last page's number. Jens Hitspacebar 20:00, 14 October 2015 (UTC) Thanks for the update! Christian

Dan Simmon's Helix

Hi Christian, I just stumbled upon your primary verified record of Dan Simmon's collection Helix. The pub record strangely includes the English original titles instead of German titles. I don't have a copy of it myself but this looks like an error to me because the excerpt of the book at Heyne's website states German titles on the page of contents. Jens Hitspacebar 20:23, 17 October 2015 (UTC)

Well, I guess a few of those may still pop up: they were entered at a time when only English was the one language. German titles would be rigHt, of course. Chrstian

ok, thanks. I wasn't aware there was no foreign language support at that time. Jens Hitspacebar 16:22, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

I'm gonna change these titles into translations when I find some time to do so. I already did that for the "Vermillion" titles (story and art) in Nova #12. Jens Hitspacebar 08:05, 20 October 2015 (UTC)

Much obliged! If you find one of those and feel like it then just go ahead and make any corrections necessary. Christian

I've done serveral corrections now regarding translations of titles PV by you. As you have approved most of these submissions and therefore seen them is it ok that I don't put an extra message here? Translation corrections approved by other mods: this and this. Jens Hitspacebar 13:25, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

Sure, just do it! Christian

Blue Mars - pub notes

Hi, I've added a bit to a couple of your pub notes for your PV1'd Blue Mars, on artist accreditation and map detail. I've added the map to the Content section in both Red Mars and Green Mars, and propose to do the same with this book, unless you have any objections. Thanks, Astrodan 14:03, 20 October 2015 (UTC)

No objection, instead I think it's a splendid idea. Thanks, Stonecreek 17:17, 20 October 2015 (UTC)

Ok, I'll get on to it. Looking at the notes section again, it seems quite full (partly my fault I know); do you think we need the two notes referring to the table of contents and the acknowledgements? Thanks again, Astrodan 09:19, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

Other Days, Other Eyes - pub notes

Added pub notes on number line, lack of cover art credit or artist signature, and additional pricing to your PV'd Other Days, Other Eyes. Astrodan 21:22, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

Added pub note on unnumbered last page also, omitted to do so two days ago. Astrodan 21:53, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

Thanks! Stonecreek 04:05, 27 October 2015 (UTC)

The Tunnelers

Re this publication record: The number in the catalog # field is the ASIN, Amazon's identifier. It shouldn't be considered a catalog number, but can optionally be recorded in the Note field. Also, ebooks don't have pages, so the page number field should be blank (unless it's PDF format). If this is only 31 "pages", it should be a CHAPBOOK with a SHORTFICTION content record. According to the source (the publisher's website), this is a short story. Also, the price given is probably a sale price. The publisher's website and Amazon gives the retail price as $1.99. This record showed up on a clean-up report which finds NOVEL-typed records of less-than-80 pages. I bring it to your attention, because you were the moderator that accepted the submission from a new editor. Thanks. Mhhutchins|talk 18:34, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

Sorry for the ASIN. I guess one has to pay attention even if an author enters his own work. Christian

So true. Generally, I find that fans are often more reliable and knowledgeable when creating ISFDB records than the authors themselves. Mhhutchins|talk 15:05, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Atlan editor mismatches

The editor fields of the publications under this series must match the credit given in the title record. Please get with the other primary verifier and determine if all publications credit both persons or just one. If the editor credit differs in individual issues, then the publications under the title record must be unmerged to show the different credit. Thanks. Mhhutchins|talk 16:09, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

I have made the editor records match the editor credits which are given in the primary verified publication records. If the publication records' editor credits are wrong please change the editor records' editor credit match. Thanks. Mhhutchins|talk 15:16, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Why was there the need to do that? The help pages for content mentions "Author - The name of the author of the work. This will be duplicated from the publication author field for novels, anthologies, collections and omnibuses." - note the absence of magazines. In the case of Perry Rhodan associated magazines (like this one) either way will lead to inconsistencies, since the publisher later on still credited Scheer who had already left the magazine. In any case it does add an unnecessary layer of complexity. Wouldn't it better to use a variant of Occam's scalpel? Christian Stonecreek 05:56, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

I disagree. It creates a consistent policy: the author/editor field of a publication record should match the author/editor field of that publication's title reference record, regardless of the type of the publication. And there's a clean-up report which finds mismatches between these fields. Allowing magazines to be handled differently creates an unnecessary complexity. My repair of these titles is consistent with the ISFDB policy. It was recently discovered that a software bug prevented periodicals from appearing on the clean-up report and it has been fixed. Upon repairing the bug, it was discovered that the Perry Rhodan issues were the vast majority of the violators of the ISFDB standard, so they don't currently appear on the report. If you believe that exceptions should be made for Perry Rhodan, please bring it up for group discussion. I don't see the logic in the editor(s) of the publication not being the same as the editor(s) credited in that publication's title reference. Mhhutchins|talk 06:43, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

Well, the help pages aren't consistent in this case (or was the software bug the reason for excluding magazines from the list?). Christian Stonecreek 06:47, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

When I brought the discrepancy in the report results to the attention of Ahasuerus, he said it was an oversight when the clean-up report was written. Whenever you create a publication record for a magazine, the system automatically creates a title reference record (in this case, the editor record) which matches the pub record credit exactly. If you have to later edit the title reference record to change the editor credit, then it's certain (at least to me) that you're doing something that isn't consistent with the way the software was written. Thanks. Mhhutchins|talk 16:39, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

Sure, but it is consistent with the text written in the help pages. And as I have written because of laxness or policy on the side of the publisher there is no way to avoid the showing up on some clean-up report: we do record the actual credit in a given publication, but we also record what was really going on. Christian Stonecreek 05:01, 8 November 2015 (UTC)

That's why we have a variant function. The "stated" editor record can be varianted to a new "actual" editor record. Why was that option never considered? Here is one example of the many in the database. Mhhutchins|talk 21:55, 8 November 2015 (UTC)

Because of the reasons I have written of: it is consistent with the text written in the help pages and the unavoidability of showing up on some clean-up report. Christian Stonecreek 04:21, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

We're having a failure to communicate here. The ISFDB standard is to enter the editor as stated in the publication into the ISFDB publication record's editor field. This will automatically create a title reference (editor) record that matches exactly the credit in the pub record. Then you make this title reference (editor) record into a variant of a parent record which will credit the person(s) who you have determined should be the credited editor(s) based on a reliable secondary source. Doing this will not create any errors and these records will not appear on a clean-up report, because they follow exactly the ISFDB standards of varianting title records. In other words, if you had followed the ISFDB standard when creating these issues of Perry Rhodan, following the procedure I outline here, this discussion need never to have happened. Instead of varianting, you changed the editor credit of the title reference records which means they don't match the publication record, and thus would have shown up on this list (once Ahasuerus had repaired the script, and if he had not made an exception for Perry Rhodan.) Mhhutchins|talk 07:03, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

To avoid different discussion panels I'll answer on Ahasuerus' talk page. Stonecreek 08:21, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

I asked him to join this discussion. By responding on his page, you have effectively failed "to avoid different discussion panels". Mhhutchins|talk 16:50, 13 November 2015 (UTC)

Zwischen den Atomen

Hi. I've been looking over the Titles Without Pubs list and I see you are prime verifier of Alien Contact #35. The review on p.31 is for "Zwischen den Atomen". This title is publess and you have it marked as a novel. Can you check and see if the review is possibly of a short story with this title because from what I can detect (using Google translate) from http://www.medusenblut.de/index.php?feat=12&id=6 is that Zwishcen den Atomen is a 40 page COLLECTION of several stories, one of which is also titled "Zwischen den Atomen". Even if it is one work, at 40 pages it's probably not a novel. I was going to add a pub to this but after you check it out, feel free to add the appropriate pub. Thanks, Doug / Vornoff 21:45, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Just looking for this issue ... (though I guess you're right). Stonecreek 05:43, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

Haven't found it in the short go-round, but from the link you provided it's obvious that it is a review of the COLLECTION. I'll change the entry and add a publication. Thanks for finding this. Christian Stonecreek 06:05, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

No problem, Christian, happy to do it. Doug / Vornoff 06:59, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

PseudoPod

Hi, wanted to let you know that I am an editor for PseudoPod, and am also a primary source for that podcast. Fenrix1958 04:36, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

Lightborn

Hi Christian, I'd like to add the excerpt from Philip Palmer's Red Claw to our verified Lightborn. Thanks. PeteYoung 12:09, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

Fine with me. I've changed the cover artist to just Nathan Burton, for whom we already had two titles in the database. Christian Stonecreek 04:33, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Done. I've changed the page count to 438+[14] to accommodate the excerpt. Thanks. PeteYoung 08:16, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Der Klang der stille

Hi, Christian. I've been looking up this book, which you have as a publess review in Alien Contact #35. If you'd like to add a pub, the info I've found is that it is a pb, 376 pp and published by Goblin Press in 1998. I can only read the German remarks from the last site through Google Translate - does it seem that this book is eligible for the db or is it just a murder thriller? If you add the pub or delete the title, either way we get rid of one more publess title. Thanks, Doug / Vornoff 01:13, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

Will do. Thanks for all the work you are doing for those siblingless titles, Doug. Christian Stonecreek 06:40, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

You're welcome, Christian. It's a great learning experience so I'm happy to do it. Doug / Vornoff 15:47, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

It's described as dark fantastic, so it's likely a weird or horror novel. I'll enter the information you provided in your link. Christian Stonecreek 16:54, 19 December 2015 (UTC)