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Expanded archive listing

Looking for one book.

Hello. I am Looking for one book. I only remember the beginning of the piece. Some guy found a derelict computer, sat down at it and started doing something, and then he saw a man with a gun walk up to the desk, they looked at each other in silence for a while, then the guy mechanically pressed the Enter button and the man shot him back. The work was read in the 1990s or very early 2000s. The piece appeared no later than the 1990s (probably earlier). I also remember that the guy was doing something enthusiastically on the computer: at first he typed without looking at the screen, but the message on the computer monitor made him do his work more slowly and carefully. The phrases went something like this. The message on the computer screen made him work more carefully. Behind the desk stood a man with a gun in his hand. The guy had never seen a real gun, except in the movies, but he knew immediately what it was. The guy's hand dropped mechanically to the Enter button, and the same second the black muzzle of the gun burst into flames, ending his life. Thank you in advance. --Strannik27 (talk) 01:23, 6 January 2023 (EST)

Nothing comes to mind, I am afraid. There are a couple of Reddit forums that may be worth a shot: Tip of My Tongue, which handles all types of media, and PrintSF, which specializes in printed speculative fiction. The Usenet group rec.arts.sf.written may be another place to check. Ahasuerus (talk) 13:49, 6 January 2023 (EST)

Sadly. Thank you. Wrote in the first and third place, in the second they require 2 days from the date of registration. --Strannik27 (talk) 15:05, 6 January 2023 (EST)

Another possible place to check is Book Sleuth on the AbeBooks site. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:09, 6 January 2023 (EST)

I've updated the ISFDB FAQ with a section containing the above links. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:14, 6 January 2023 (EST)

Thank you, I wrote. --Strannik27 (talk) 05:02, 7 January 2023 (EST)

I wrote: 1. Book Sleuth, tipofmytongue, printSF and rec.arts.sf.written. Where else to write? --Strannik27 (talk) 06:58, 8 January 2023 (EST)

Title Merge -- post-submission pages enhanced

Post-submission pages for Title Merge submissions have been enhanced. They now correctly display embedded HTML and properly link to third party Web sites. Displayed field names are now more meaningful. If you come across any issues, please let me know. Ahasuerus (talk) 17:52, 6 January 2023 (EST)

Award Editor -- post-submission pages enhanced

Post-submission pages for Edit Award submissions have been enhanced. They now link to the main Award Type page for the award's type, correctly display embedded HTML and link to IMDB where applicable. If you come across any issues, please let me know. Ahasuerus (talk) 17:52, 6 January 2023 (EST)

Request Currey check (print, 1979)

The Body Snatchers (1955) publication record 211333, primarily by User:Bluesman who is no longer with us, implies that Currey is the source for cover artist "Stuart Treslian". That reference should be to print Reference:Currey rather than the L. W. Currey website, which does not name Stuart T nor any cover artist in current descriptions of two copies (one at US$4500).

Spelling "Stuart Tresilian" may be expected. Stuart T at Wikipedia. --Pwendt|talk 14:04, 12 January 2023 (EST)

The entry for this book in Currey is not the source for the cover artist, and doesn't ordinarily provide the cover artist in the entries. I'm certain that the reference is what Bill was referring to in the note. However, I believe he was only indicating that Currey stated that there was no statement of printing. You may also find this chart helpful. --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 14:15, 12 January 2023 (EST)

Thanks. Layout supports your interpretation.

That chart of ISFDB Verification Sources will be useful. --Pwendt|talk 09:03, 13 January 2023 (EST)

Fiction series(?): Body Snatchers, The; Invasion of, The

We have 1955 T437 and rewritten 1978 T186595 versions of this Jack Finney novel, as distinct parent titles with multiple variants (some under shared titles), presumably because the rewrite has been judged "great enough" (DO NOT MERGE, Mhhutchins, 2008-12-13).

Those need some linkage. (I will need to re-revise the former parent Title note, item 2.) I suggest a Series containing numbered versions 1 and 2. Is there any reason not to link them by a fiction series, rather than multiple cross-reference links? --Pwendt|talk 09:16, 13 January 2023 (EST)

New Publication -- post-submission page in the process of being updated

Post-submission pages for "New Publication" submissions are currently in the process of being updated. The first patch was installed a few minutes ago. It tweaked the way the "Title" section is displayed.

Upgrading the software behind this Web page is a delicate process because some of it is shared with other post-submission pages like "Clone Publication". It will take a few patches to get everything updated. In the meantime, if you come across any issues, please let me know. Ahasuerus (talk) 17:15, 13 January 2023 (EST)

It does look a little jarring without a label at the top of the first table but I will wait to see where that ends before complaining about it properly. Annie (talk) 17:30, 13 January 2023 (EST)

Oh, one thing - html in the Moderator notes is not resolving. See example Annie (talk) 17:31, 13 January 2023 (EST)

Investigating... Ahasuerus (talk) 18:05, 13 January 2023 (EST)

OK, the missing header ("Title Data") has been resurrected and "Note to Moderator" has been changed to display HTML correctly. All previously upgraded post-submission pages had the same HTML display issue, but it didn't become obvious until NewPub was upgraded since Fixer uses HTML in moderator notes. Thanks for reporting the problems! Ahasuerus (talk) 18:32, 13 January 2023 (EST)

Looks good now. Thanks! Annie (talk) 19:16, 13 January 2023 (EST)

(unindent) The "Title" section has been further enhanced for AddPub submissions. It now displays all field values for the title record that the new pub is about to be attached to. It doesn't include reviews, tags, a link to the parent title (if there is one), variants or other fancy things that the regular Title page displays, but it's a lot more data than what was displayed before the change. The new format also has a new section header, "Automerge title data", which hopefully makes it easier to tell that the submission is an AddPub and not a NewPub. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:52, 14 January 2023 (EST)

The "Publication Metadata" section has been updated to display embedded HTML tags correctly and to allow multiple warnings per field. A few yellow warnings have been tweaked and I plan another pass to upgrade the rest of them once I update ClonePub, Import/Export and EditPub to use the same software. If you come across any issues, please let me know. Ahasuerus (talk) 17:32, 17 January 2023 (EST)

I suppose that "Post-submission pages" include "Approved ..." among others. Approved New Publication; Approved ClonePub; Approved Publication Update --all retain(?) link label "New record:" in the footer. Approval timestamp 2023-01-17 21:28:23 for the mildly offending PubUpdate. --Pwendt|talk 12:09, 19 January 2023 (EST)

Checking this recently created pub's Edit History, I see that the NewPub submission which created it links to the new record at the bottom of the page, which is as it should be. The subsequent PubUpdate submission also says "New record" and links to it even though it's no longer a new record.

It looks like it's an old bug introduced back when Edit History was implemented a couple of years ago. Bug 824 has been created -- thanks for identifying it! Ahasuerus (talk) 16:14, 19 January 2023 (EST)

It should be fixed now. Thanks again. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:36, 20 January 2023 (EST)

Looking for a sci-fi title

Hello everyone, I am looking for the title and author of a SF short story (or novel) in which a NASA-type company sends chronically unlucky people to unknown planets. Since these people are dogged by ill luck, the company figures they will encounter all the problems there are : monsters, eruptions, and so on. And that will be a good way to prepare for the planets’ exploration. Does anybody happen to know, by any chance, the title or/and author of this story ? Yves Lavandier —The preceding unsigned comment added by Yves Lavandier (talk • contribs) 07:15, January 18, 2023‎

I have no recollection of a plot like this. Can you perhaps give a line of time it might have been published in? (It sounds more like a classic plot: 1940s to 1950s, I'd say). Stonecreek (talk) 12:15, 18 January 2023 (EST)

You can try one of the resources listed here. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 13:33, 18 January 2023 (EST)

Sounds like the plot of Robert Sheckley's The Minimum Man. --Willem (talk) 14:07, 18 January 2023 (EST)

Annals of Klepsis

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?2779; https://archive.org/details/annalsofklepsis0000laff; Active verifiers, look at this, it's got stuff crossed/whited out on front and back covers, a pasted string of numbers on copyright page, etc. Alternate edition or something, maybe, if anyone wants to enter it. It was added in Feb. 2021, just after the last PV. EDIT: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5547100; This was uploaded in April 2021; I made an attempt at entering it ("borrowing" the phrasing of the price info from other records on ISFDB) but I'm sure editors who enter French books regularly can add some stuff after my edit is approved. I notice someone named AlainLeBris did a lot of them; is he still editing? --Username (talk) 11:44, 18 January 2023 (EST)

AlainLeBris's last activity date is 2022-01-22, almost a year ago. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:03, 18 January 2023 (EST)

Robert Silverberg's "We, the Marauders" and "Invaders from Earth"

Silverberg's 1958 novella, We, the Marauders, came out a few months earlier than his 1958 novel Invaders from Earth, although they are basically the same story. As such, it has often been viewed (including in our records) that the novella came first, and was then expanded into the novel. In a post yesterday on the FictionMagsIndex mailing list, Silverberg corrects that impression, writing:
"After 65 years I don't have a clear recollection of how the changes in INVADERS FROM EARTH came about. I do recall that I wrote the book for Don Wollheim at Ace and then offered it to Bob Lowndes, whose pulp magazine SCIENCE FICTION QUARTERLY could handle long stories. The title "We, the Marauders" on the magazine version was Lowndes', though I liked it. I don't recall whether he or I did the cutting, or how the changes in plot came about. The Ace version was the original one, though."
I have updated the title notes to both the novella and the novel to reflect this information. Chavey (talk) 13:08, 18 January 2023 (EST)

(I reviewed those Title notes but don't know the story.) I submitted update, and noted "hold for User: Chavey", of the NOVEL note as "the same story" ==> "nearly the same story" ... "and the cuts create a different resolution to the main character's personal story." The latter information, from the novella Title note, seems too important to omit from either one. Also I showed strong approval of the paragraph break by replicating it here for the novel, which unfortunately creates a mass of text in the "Differences".

I would have named the "writer's blog" that is also the "FictionMagsIndex mailing list", if I understand correctly. I won't make the call that it belongs in the Notes but hope you will identify it here with a link. --Pwendt|talk 11:53, 19 January 2023 (EST)

Ohioana Book Award

Here's another award I found. It's not a specifically genre award, but there are genre winners regularly appearing in its list of winners. Main list, additional list, general info. They appear to be all juried awards, given out since the early 1940s.

List of categories:

• Fiction
• Nonfiction
• Middle Grade & Young Adult Literature
• Juvenile Literature
• Poetry
• About Ohio (not sure if there are any genre winners in this one as I haven't had time to look)
• Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant (not sure if there are any genre winners in this one as I haven't had time to look)
• Readers’ Choice Award (the only non-juried award)
• Alice Louise Wood Award
• Anniversary Award
• Award of Merit
• Career Award
• Citation Award
• Editorial Excellence
• Head Award
• Krout Poetry
• Ohio Favorite Author (not sure if there are any genre winners in this one as I haven't had time to look)
• Ohio Favorite Book (not sure if there are any genre winners in this one as I haven't had time to look)
• Pegasus Award
• Sesquicentennial Award
• Ohioana Fellowship
• Ohio Favorite Book
• Ohio Favorite Author

I can enter them once they're created. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:13, 18 January 2023 (EST)

I am not sure how many of their categories have SF awards, but I have found at least a few genre authors: Andre Norton, Lois McMaster Bujold, Virginia Hamilton. If there are no objections, I can create a new award type, which will let moderators create categories as needed. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:01, 18 January 2023 (EST)

Yup, that's pretty much along the lines of what I found. Edward Eager is in there, too. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 20:00, 18 January 2023 (EST)

Done. It's our 100th Award Type! Ahasuerus (talk) 15:32, 21 January 2023 (EST)

An auspicious beginning, to be sure. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:12, 23 January 2023 (EST)

Took a while, but I think all of them are entered now. See here. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:35, 3 March 2023 (EST)

S.E.P. SF

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?29174; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?363483; Likely these 2 records are for the same book, but each contains info the other doesn't. --Username (talk) 08:39, 19 January 2023 (EST)

I agree. I've merged everything to this one. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 13:13, 19 January 2023 (EST)

Amazon cover images in publication records

[1] Given some stable image file.jpg under "images/I" at Amazon, do we have any reason to prefer one of the addresses https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/ and https://m.media-amazon.com/ ? Is it valuable to change our URL from one to the other, upon noticing an address change at the Amazon product page?

[2] Do we have any reason to prefer linking a cover image at Amazon or linking one at Open Library? If not in general, then a match with stated printing number, available via "Look inside" at Amazon or "Preview" at Open Library but not both, is one attractive criterion. Image quality is another. Most recently I chose to link m-media-amazon.com rather than Open Library OL28305950M because the latter image looks "too dark" to me. (Only now I see that "Preview" reveals a 9th printing, and Amazon UK/US provide no "Look inside".)
--Pwendt|talk 12:56, 19 January 2023 (EST)

Amazon: Either works and points to the same place for EVERY image. If we discover that one of the spaces is discontinued, we can swap them programmatically but for the time being, either can be used (ebooks usually use the media one these days; paper books can use the images-na). As long as the ID at the end is the same, the two domains are identical for all intents and purposes and will always show the same image.

As for the OL/Amazon - both are stable (As long as it is an /I/ image in Amazon so use whichever looks better and is of better quality overall. Annie (talk) 17:37, 19 January 2023 (EST)

Clone/Export/Import -- post-submission page updated

The "Publication Data" section of the post-submission review page for Clone/Export/Import submissions has been updated. Ahasuerus (talk) 20:02, 19 January 2023 (EST)

Clive Barker Author Photo

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?71; I did some Clive Barker book edits recently and, as far as I can recall, his photo was broken because it was from one of those sites that don't display HTTP images correctly after our server move (or possibly it was just a bad photo and I decided to replace it), so I substituted a color photo from FantLab of Barker in his library that's very recent judging by his appearance, which is not very pleasant these days due to all his medical problems. Today I randomly came across his page again and saw that someone replaced that with a different photo that's not only in black-and-white but very old judging by his youthful appearance, plus it has one of those long WEBP URL's Amazon was using for a while recently. Is there any way to see a history of who edits author records? I'd like to know who changed it. I'm going to re-replace it with the FantLab photo and hopefully it will stay that way this time. --Username (talk) 11:36, 22 January 2023 (EST)

Author records do have Edit History information on file, but only moderators can access it. The reason is that our data deletion policy lets living authors request removal of biographical (as opposed to bibliographic) data from their author records. Making authors' Edit History publicly available would defeat the purpose of the policy.

In this case the change was made by User:Stonecreek in submission 5527111 on 2023-01-01. Ahasuerus (talk) 13:13, 22 January 2023 (EST)

Stonecreek, you say? What a shock. Anyway, my edit is pending to change it back. --Username (talk) 13:40, 22 January 2023 (EST)

In order to prevent a continuing edit war, I've put the further edit on hold. Could Username and Christian as well as any other editors with an opinion on which image should be used please come to an agreement here before we further churn the author image? Thanks. --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 10:21, 23 January 2023 (EST)

My opinion is a recent image, like the one I added from FantLab seems to be (they have 2 others which are old and B&W), is better because he doesn't look anything like he did in his heyday when he was rather handsome. However, if someone feels like they really need to see an overly bright B&W photo from decades ago on his ISFDB page, so be it. Maybe after he's dead (which may be soon judging by his appearance these days) perhaps a recent photo will be more appropriate then. I doubt I'll be around to add it, but maybe someone else will. --Username (talk) 10:34, 23 January 2023 (EST)

There were two reasons for me to change the image: the first is the more handsome look (I do think that we should aim to have no images that would possibly intimidate an author or his/her readers), the second that Amazon seems to be more stable & is somewhat more official. I could live with the other image but do fear that it would lead towards users escaping Barker's summary page as fast as one could. Stonecreek (talk) 11:48, 23 January 2023 (EST)

Pending edit's been sitting in my list for a long time so I just cancelled it. I did, however, make another edit today (pending) replacing the ancient Ramsey Campbell B&W photo on ISFDB with a recent color one on Amazon of him in all his chubby glory, so one Brit horror writer falls, another rises. It's hard to say who looks more unhealthy these days, Barker or Campbell. --Username (talk) 14:39, 26 January 2023 (EST)

Australasian Horror

https://australasianhorror.com/competition/ahwa-competition-past-winners/; I was doing some edits for the first issue of Hub Magazine and 1 of the stories by Liam Rands was an honorable mention for this award (he won for another story the next year); there was discussion here recently about awards so this may be something someone would want to enter. Awards are still going as of 2022. --Username (talk) 13:39, 22 January 2023 (EST)

Interesting. It looks like the Australasian Horror Writers Association has two separate/parallel projects:

• The Australian Shadows Award with the usual menagerie of categories like "short story", "novel", "novellete/novella", "collection", etc.
• The AHWA Robert N Stephenson Flash Fiction & Short Story Competition, which has two categories for unpublished horror stories:
  • Flash Fiction: Stories up to 1000 words in length
  • Short Story: Stories from 1001 to 7500 words.

We already have the Australian Shadows Award listed, but we don't cover "The AHWA Robert N Stephenson Flash Fiction & Short Story Competition" at this time. One thing to note is that the latter is a true "competition" in the tradition of pulp magazines. To quote their rules page:

• The winner in each category will receive an engraved plaque and the winning stories will appear in Midnight Echo, and receive the pay rate commensurate with that edition.

Runner-ups presumably benefit by being able to claim that their stories were "runner-ups" when they try to sell them to other markets.

This is a bit unusual, but we do have precedent for including awards given to unpublished texts -- see Prix Jean Ray, which is given to "Best unpublished fantasy text by a Belgian writer".

Thoughts? Ahasuerus (talk) 16:59, 22 January 2023 (EST)

I'd support adding it. Some of the more prestigious Japanese SF awards are contests where the winner(s) get publishing contracts (as do some of the runners up, often). ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:11, 23 January 2023 (EST)

If there is no objection, I will create a new Award Type tomorrow. Ahasuerus (talk) 15:59, 27 January 2023 (EST)

A new award type and two award categories have been created. Ahasuerus (talk) 16:58, 28 January 2023 (EST)

Jusges?--Username (talk) 18:36, 28 January 2023 (EST)

Fixed, thanks. Ahasuerus (talk) 19:51, 28 January 2023 (EST)

Nick Fox/Bantock Cover

https://books.google.com/books?id=GDPwBhpEtAIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=shadrach&f=false; Nick Bantock's art book The Artful Dodger includes a Silverberg cover, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1139072, which is credited to a studio (and back cover seen online does credit it to that studio) but he says he did it under his Nick Fox name. So what to do? Also, Google Books copy seems to be a 2nd printing of the Chronicle Books edition on ISFDB and there's a Canadian edition from Raincoast on Archive.org which isn't on ISFDB. --Username (talk) 09:49, 25 January 2023 (EST)

Inter-author collections of speculative drama

Good afternoon, everyone. Are there inter-author collections (Anthology, Almanac) of speculative drama? Thank you in advance. --Strannik27 (talk) 02:48, 27 January 2023 (EST)

• "Six Science Fiction Plays" anthology, edited by Roger Elwood, Washington Square Press, 1976, ISBN 0-671-48766-3.
• "New Canadian Drama Vol. 8: Speculative Drama: Roswell, Eden's Moon, Alien Bait" edited by Scott Kesi Duchesne, Borealis Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-88887-265-4.

--Zlogorek (talk) 11:01, 27 January 2023 (EST)

• Thank you so much, are there more examples? --Strannik27 (talk) 13:40, 3 February 2023 (EST)

Edit Pub -- post-submission page updated

The Metadata (i.e. top) section of the post-submission review page for Edit Publication submissions has been updated. Ahasuerus (talk) 20:02, 19 January 2023 (EST)

Robert Bloch Book Duplicate

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1941501; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?551231; I started to enter the HC edition, mentioned in the note by the PV, using FantLab's copy but decided to check further and it's already on ISFDB; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?30351. Both HC and TP were entered many years earlier so I guess nobody checked first before approving PV submission. I've made a (pending) edit adding ID, full cover and cover design note to the HC, but there's a problem. PV did a lot of work entering the contents, which nobody did for the 2 records entered earlier, but he got the format wrong and entered it as a collection instead of non-fiction (it has both fiction and non-fiction, so who knows). So some more astute people here should decide what to do, which to keep, possible merges, etc. I'll leave a brief note on PV page about this; they're still active. --Username (talk) 19:48, 27 January 2023 (EST)

I still have the TP handy if you want to point me in the right direction. Still mostly a novice at this. I appreciate this resource and like to contribute how I can. Fenrix1958 (talk) 21:10, 27 January 2023 (EST)

Thanks for responding so quickly. I randomly came across the Bloch book you entered and thought I'd enter the HC edition you mentioned in your note since FantLab has many photos of it, but I found it hard to believe that nobody ever entered it, and after checking further I found both HC and TP editions which, judging by edit history, were entered in the very early days of public editing here. Yours was in 2015, so I'm not sure why a moderator approved it when it already existed and had the same ISBN, but the problem is that you actually did the hard work of entering the numerous contents, unlike the others, but didn't enter the month, made it a PB instead of a TP, made it a collection with Bloch as author instead of non-fiction with Matheson and Mainhardt as editors (I'm not even sure what's correct because it includes Bloch stories but also essays from many other people about Bloch, so anthology, maybe?). So I was wanting people who, unlike me, have been doing this for a very long time to chime in and suggest what should be done because your hard work shouldn't go to waste, but several different people made edits for the edition you didn't enter so it wouldn't be right to just delete that. I've been editing for just over 2 years but am rapidly losing interest due to a variety of reasons, so I won't be of much help to you, I'm afraid; I just do simple stuff these days. Someone else will respond shortly, I'm sure, and this will be resolved soon. --Username (talk) 23:03, 27 January 2023 (EST)

This is the most relevant section of the help:

NONFICTION. This type should be used for books that are predominantly or completely non-fiction. This includes book-length works of non-fiction or books containing essays by one or more authors. A publication that contains both non-fiction and fiction should be typed by that which is predominant. A single work of fiction in an Isaac Asimov essay collection does not make it a COLLECTION. A book of fiction (NOVEL, COLLECTION, or ANTHOLOGY) containing a generous, but not predominate, amount of non-fiction, such as introductions, essays, and other non-fiction works, should not be typed as NONFICTION. Mixtures of fiction and non-fiction are more usually found in magazines than they are in books, so the question does not often arise.

I'd wait a bit to see if there are any opposing viewpoints, but it looks to me like the book is predominantly the Bloch stories and poem, and most of the essays are introductions to those works. However, it also has more -- and a wider range of -- essays than we would normally see as supplemental material in a typical collection. So it strikes me as a book assembling Bloch works and a lot of other material, as opposed to a book about Bloch that happens to contain some of his works. If you have the book, you can make a more informed judgement that I can. If it's primarily a book of Bloch works, I would use ANTHOLOGY as the least bad fit, with Matheson and Mainhardt as the editors. If the book is primarily about Bloch, then NONFICTION would be more appropriate. --MartyD (talk) 07:45, 28 January 2023 (EST)

My edit for the HC was just approved after a long wait (I made a minor error in the note so that new edit still has to be approved), but I think I'm done and so someone should decide what to do with the 2 separate but equal paperback editions now. --Username (talk) 13:03, 14 February 2023 (EST)

HC copy just uploaded to Archive.org, I added a link, now I'm really done with this and so someone may want to decide what to do re: the above. --Username (talk) 11:35, 31 March 2023 (EDT)

L. R. Giles/Lamar Giles - Canonical Name

Our canonical name for this author is currently L. R. Giles, presumably because that's how his first three SF stories credited the author back in 2004-2007. However, over the last 6 years he has published 4 SF novels and 2 stories as "Lamar Giles". A 2018 reprint of a 2006 story also used "Lamar Giles".

Are there any objections to changing the canonical name to "Lamar Giles"? Ahasuerus (talk) 13:41, 28 January 2023 (EST)

Done. Ahasuerus (talk) 16:58, 1 February 2023 (EST)

Page & Spine: Fiction Showcase - call for editors to assist

Hello everybody! As all webzines, including those with mainly non-genre content, are now being indexed following a policy change in October 2022 regarding the Rules of Acquisition (as per this discussion), I recently started indexing speculative contributions appearing in the last two-and-a-half years of Page & Spine: Fiction Showcase. This webzine began publication in 2012 and ceased on 6 May 2022. It will be taken offline permanently on or about 6 May 2023, i.e., in about three months or so. My focus on those issues published between January 2020 and May 2022 is mainly because of the addition of a speculative fiction and poetry section called 'Outta This World' from May of 2020. However, some speculative contributions continued to be published in different sections, such as 'Crumbs' (for drabbles, jokes and short-form poetry) and 'Kid Stuff' (stories and art by under-eighteens) and, prior to the establishment of the 'Outta This World' section, speculative stories and poems could be found in other sections across the site (e.g., in 'The Reading Lamp' and 'Stories').

It will be a challenge for me to complete the period from 2020 to 2022 in the three months available but there's no way I can cover the earlier years alone (if at all). Would anyone else be interested in covering the earlier (nine) years? It's possible that after May 2023, most - if not all - of the webzine could continue to be indexed using the Internet Archive but I suspect that lacunae would occasionally be found in the latter's coverage.

It may be the case that earlier issues contained only a small amount of speculative material so this might facilitate more rapid indexing, though of course the stories, poems and essays will still need to be read to determine their eligibility.

Note that 'issues' are distributed across different sections and have been archived in different ways (e.g. under a specific section or under a particular author). The final issue appears on the current home page with items shown listed under each section. Each item appearing in the same issue will bear the issue date in brackets after the title. They can be found grouped according to month under most sections, e.g. 'The Reading Lamp' section is indexed for the period December 2013 to May 2020 here while that for 'Crumbs' is indexed for the period December 2012 to April 2022 here.--Explorer1000 (talk) 12:34, 29 January 2023 (EST)

Oh, and the series page on ISFDB is here.--Explorer1000 (talk) 12:51, 29 January 2023 (EST)

Rozic/Rosick

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=letter+to+roger&type=Fiction+Titles; I was adding a few links to stories from bloodrosemag.com that are on ISFDB and this dude's name is a mess. He had a story in Pulphouse which was reprinted many years later in a horror anthology under a different name; his story on Blood Rose, https://www.bloodrosemag.com/archives/sep%202001/craziedaze.html, spells his name differently at top and bottom. I did an edit (pending) making Rozic an alternate name of Rosick, but I'm not touching anything else. --Username (talk) 14:24, 29 January 2023 (EST)

Ongoing cleanup of post-submission pages

I am in the process of removing obsolete code which was previously used to display post-submission pages and was deactivated last week. I am also making minor improvements to yellow warnings as I go along, e.g. I am currently working on making the "Price" field support multiple yellow warnings. If you come across any issues, please let me know. Ahasuerus (talk) 15:07, 29 January 2023 (EST)

Catalog ID- and ISBN-specific yellow warnings have been upgraded to support multiple warnings per entered value. Pre-1970 pubs with an ISBN now generate yellow warnings. Ahasuerus (talk) 17:42, 29 January 2023 (EST)

Price-specific yellow warnings for prices now support multiple warnings per entered value. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:04, 29 January 2023 (EST)

Yellow warnings for image URLs now support multiple warnings per entered value. Certain odd Amazon URLs may generate more than one warning because they break more than one of our rules. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:35, 30 January 2023 (EST)

Yellow warnings about alternate and/or disambiguated names are no longer displayed for submissions which do not change them. Ahasuerus (talk) 19:17, 1 February 2023 (EST)

Broken Galactic Central image links

Can anything be done about this? —Rosab618 (talk) 13:45, 30 January 2023 (EST)

See this post for an explanation. John Scifibones 14:04, 30 January 2023 (EST)

Rats! Thanks for the info. Is there a way I can make Google Chrome show the images, by allowing insecure images? I tried allowing both isfdb.org and philsp.com to show insecure content, but it didn't seem to do anything. —Rosab618 (talk) 16:33, 30 January 2023 (EST)

I would tell you to switch to a less arrogant browser, but I did a little research and found you can actually convince Chrome to do what you want in this case:

1. Click on the lock icon to the left of isfdb.org in the address bar.
2. Click on Site settings in the drop-down menu that appears.
3. If Privacy and security is not already selected in the list at the left, select it.
4. You should see a list at the right with "www.isfdb.org" at the top.
5. Scroll way down through the "Permissions" and look for Insecure content with a danger triangle to the left and "Block (default)" to the right.
6. Click on the little down-arrow next to "Blocked (default)" and switch to "Allow".

That's it. Now if you refresh (or go back to) the ISFDB page with the blocked image, you will see the image.

I hope that helps. --MartyD (talk) 19:25, 30 January 2023 (EST)

HOORAY! It works! Thank you so much! —Rosab618 (talk) 20:33, 30 January 2023 (EST)

Biffignandi

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?107101; https://archive.org/details/aless-andro-biffignandi-illustration-art; https://archive.org/details/sex-and-horror-the-art-of-alessandro-biffignandi; Biff apparently did a ton of art but ISFDB, oddly, only has 2 German krimi covers and an American cover for an Anne McCaffrey book (?!?) Anyway, I have a feeling the books linked above may be of use to those who enter all those obscure foreign covers. Be warned, however; there is much, MUCH nudity, including some pretty racy stuff. I do like the cover near the end of the 2nd book, however, where a weird-looking shark is chasing a woman swimming with a BABY in her arms. Is that an Italian thing? --Username (talk) 23:33, 30 January 2023 (EST)

Drew S.

Drew Struzan is a well-known artist, today I added a link to an Archive.org copy of a novel he did the cover for, credit was to Drew Struzman, searching for that name only hit on that book, I asked PV who entered it as Struzan to check but SFJuggler doesn't always respond, so if anyone else has a copy of the 1991 Bantam Falcon edition of Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils you may want to check the copyright page. Struzan has no alternate names on ISFDB, so this may be the first. --Username (talk) 23:43, 30 January 2023 (EST)

Creative Guy From Canada

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pubs_not_in_series.cgi?23801; I did some editing for Lucy A. Snyder book, publisher is Canadian, my price fix adding the "C" is the only one, should all be "C"? There's also 1 price missing and 1 where editor entered British price for some reason. --Username (talk) 11:15, 31 January 2023 (EST)

Riley Art

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1468203; Is this, https://fantlab.ru/images/editions/plus/big/220727_19, actually by David A. Riley, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?19937? He has 2 cover art credits, both discovered by me some time ago, and I think this may be another piece of art by him. --Username (talk) 12:29, 31 January 2023 (EST)

French Bardin and Dick

https://archive.org/search?query=%22terrain-vague-pour-la-traduction%22+&sin=TXT&sort=-addeddate; I added Archive.org link to Tor TP of P.K. Dick's The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike and added another link to the Paladin edition I did an edit for a long time ago, but there's another edition, a French one, and while searching for other books by the publisher I found they did an edition of Bardin's Deadly Percheron, although the French title is Big Clogs or something similar. So if anyone who regularly enters French editions wants to enter those. Oddly, there are publishers with the same name on ISFDB, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=terrain+vague&type=Publisher, but one published LONG before these 2 books came out and the other I'm not sure about, having published only an art book and a French novel, with no translations of American books. --Username (talk) 21:36, 31 January 2023 (EST)

The Big O

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/publisher.cgi?936; I added a D. Wheatley edition from this publisher and noticed the series, Plus, spells the publisher with a capital O. So should the publisher be spelled with a capital O, too? Also for the other series with A.C. Doyle books? Because on the Wheatley book it does look like they made the O big, since it stands for Oswald and so it makes sense that a person's initial would be capitalized. --Username (talk) 10:00, 1 February 2023 (EST)

That seems appropriate. I found this scan where the cover and title page have a stylized "NéO" logo (where it's hard to tell whether the "O" is capitalized), but title page says "Nouvelles éditions Oswald" and the copyright page says "© Nouvelles éditions Oswald (NéO) 1981". So it seems they used the big "O". Two more scans corroborating that: [1] and [2]. --MartyD (talk) 10:38, 1 February 2023 (EST)

Based on that title page, the publisher should be "Nouvelles éditions Oswald" rather than "Néo" or "NéO". ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 11:56, 1 February 2023 (EST)

All three of those scans have: "NéO" [in stylized form] (over) "Nouvelles éditions Oswald" on the title page. The copyrights use "Nouvelles éditions Oswald (NéO)". Dates are 1981, 1982, and 1986. In the 1986 book on the page facing the title page is "Voir liste des libraries NéO en fin de volume." and "Maquette: Studios Knack/NéO" (referring to the cover illustration). The 1982 book's copyright page's list of other books by the same author has a citation that uses "Nouvelles éditions Oswald/NéO". Whether it should be "NéO" or spelled out doesn't seem clear-cut to me. But if the short form is what should be used, then I think it's clear the capitalization should be "NéO", not "Néo". --MartyD (talk) 14:53, 1 February 2023 (EST)

Yes, the stylized "NéO" is the logo, and the name of the publisher is "Nouvelles éditions Oswald". If the publisher information is on the title page, we always go with that over anything on the copyright page or elsewhere. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 18:43, 2 February 2023 (EST)

Frankenstein Glut

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5569772; PV is very gone, as can be seen there's a bunch of messy details I've tried to note/fix, LCCN ID on OL leads to a record which mentions a collector ed. and a paperback but there's only one edition on ISFDB, copyright page also mentions the 1977 Mews edition was shorter and substantially different and so wouldn't it be considered a separate book? Anyway, I noticed somebody made an edit for a Glut book today so they or someone may want to look at this after it's approved and see if they can do anything more with it. Donald N. will need to be made a variant of his real name, anyway. --Username (talk) 12:53, 1 February 2023 (EST)

Making of ROTJ

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?957601; $4.25 edition has been here for years, I added $3.50 edition recently, I moved 2 ID over, $4.25 either is Canadian with higher price, later printing, whatever, but both PV are gone, so if anyone here knows what's up a C should be added to price or date should be changed to 0000, etc. --Username (talk) 12:33, 2 February 2023 (EST)

Alien Sex

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?192541; Several PV, some active, nobody added Roman numerals to page count, one of the PV should do that. --Username (talk) 12:32, 3 February 2023 (EST)

Self-nomination for self-approver - Pwendt

Happy New Year (or Groundhog Day)! I nominate myself for self-approver. --Pwendt|talk 16:20, 3 February 2023 (EST)

Support. Kraang (talk) 21:32, 7 February 2023 (EST)

Support. Does a good job. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 12:46, 8 February 2023 (EST)

Support (and changing the title of the thread so it is clear what this is for :) ) Annie (talk) 15:55, 8 February 2023 (EST)

Support -- Apologies for missing this earlier and not responding sooner. --MartyD (talk) 12:45, 9 February 2023 (EST)

Comment. I haven't worked on Pwendt's submissions lately, so I'll abstain. One issue that I encountered in the past was lack of clarity in Notes. My recommendation would be using shorter complete sentences with a subject, a predicate and an optional object. Ahasuerus (talk) 12:54, 9 February 2023 (EST)

Outcome

Self-approver flag set on the account as per the consensus above. Congratulations! Ahasuerus (talk) 11:40, 11 February 2023 (EST)

Disch Ruins

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?285521; I added links to 2 club editions recently, today a link to Arrow edition, Hutchinson edition has no price or cover artist, SFE says Chris Yates, this STAINED eBay copy has a flap photo which is blurry but a 2 seems to be the start of the price, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380896522207, so if anyone can find somewhere that shows better photos or owns a copy then price can be entered and cover artist (on back flap, I assume, although it may just be design) can be entered if warranted. --Username (talk) 18:43, 3 February 2023 (EST)

The Turner Diaries

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1601834; I came across a copy, uploaded to Archive.org a little over a year ago, and while making an edit remembered I had done an edit previously, which turned out to be not long before the copy was uploaded (I hate when that happens). Anyway, after my new edit is approved, there's 2 questions: name's spelled Macdonald, not MacDonald, but when changing that it still looks like MacDonald even though it's in a new column so it sees it as a change even though it doesn't look that way. Is that a quirk of ISFDB? More importantly, there's an essay by someone with the same name who I highly doubt is the same guy who wrote this notoriously violent and racist novel, and none of his 5 wives mentioned on his Wikipedia page were named Gina (I suppose it could be a relative), so I'm sure the essay writer, assuming they're still alive (it's been 40 years), would like their name moved to a separate record if they're not that other guy. --Username (talk) 22:11, 4 February 2023 (EST)

When you enter or edit an author name, a publisher name, a series name or a publication series name, the ISFDB software first checks the database to see if we already have it on file. The check is not case-sensitive, so "ace books" will find "Ace Books", "george orwell" will find "George Orwell", etc. Once a matching name has been found, the software uses it instead of the form of the name that was actually entered. The process ensures that we don't end up with multiple separate records for the same author/series/publisher/etc due to capitalization mistakes during the data entry process. If we determine that the capitalization of the canonical name/series name/etc is incorrect, as is apparently the case with Andrew MacDonald, we can edit the main record directly.

That said, the fact that this submission shows "Andrew MacDonald" in the "Proposed Changes" column may be a bug. I'll take a closer look tomorrow. Thanks for reporting the issue. Ahasuerus (talk) 23:17, 4 February 2023 (EST)

I have confirmed that this problem affects both Edit Title and Edit Publication. Bug 826, "Edit Title and Edit Pub do not check for author case properly", has been created. Ahasuerus (talk) 13:23, 5 February 2023 (EST)

Coincidentally, famous artist LeRoy Neiman has all 4 of his credits on ISFDB as Leroy. Fixing the first one, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5575086, I subbed R but pending edit says r. So I assume it takes a while for your bug fix to start working? --Username (talk) 19:54, 5 February 2023 (EST)

Bug 826 is just a document describing the reported bug and how to recreate it. I am currently working on a software patch which should fix the problem. Ahasuerus (talk) 21:39, 5 February 2023 (EST)

Red Skelton Book

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5575145; I asked about this last July 4 on this board, MartyD agreed with adding the "e", neither of us ever fixed it, I came across this randomly today and am finally fixing it. I trust nobody has any objection? PV is gone. --Username (talk) 21:34, 5 February 2023 (EST)

Price Of Three Women

This is a bit complicated. A stray mention of Anne McCaffrey on this site spurred me to see if I could enter anything interesting by her, skipping over her endless Pern books, and I decided to start with her non-genre works. That was a mistake. She published 3 gothic novels in the 70's which were collected by Tor as Three Women and published in either Dec. 1991 or Jan. 1992. So searching ISBN on OL found a record with no book but it did find a copy on Archive.org; searching for their URL, threewomen00mcca, on OL found a record with a link to the copy, so why ISBN doesn't is unknown because it's there on the page. Anyway, the copy is ancient, having been uploaded in 2010, but is missing the copyright page. Noticing the price was higher I created a new record with an "unknown" date and a note about it, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5575697. The problem is that I can't find a single photo online of a cover with the $4.99 price on it; I suspect there is none and the real original price was $5.99. Locus has much incorrect info, and searching ISBN in contents found these, https://archive.org/search?query=0-812-50587-5&sin=TXT; ignoring the 4 unrelated books, that Brown/Contento book is Locus with the same info found on their site, but that YA guide says $5.99. I find it very strange that multiple copies with extensive photos can't be found since most of her books were big sellers with large print runs and many were reprinted. I was going to cancel my edit and just add the copy link and the page numbers to the existing record, but decided not to because there's still a slim possibility it was originally $4.99. So check your shelves or the dark corners of the web, readers, and let me know if you can find a copy with that price. EDIT: My edit was rejected for some reason over my head so if anyone else wants to enter it, go ahead. --Username (talk) 18:22, 6 February 2023 (EST)

If you were confused as to why it was rejected, you could have asked. I rejected it because it was creating an new OMNIBUS record without any content. Nor was there a moderator note stating that you intended to add the content in a subsequent edit. There are three ways you could have added this publication record. You could use the add publication tool, and manually add the contained novels in one edit. Then you would need to merge each novel separately. You could also use the add publication and in a subsequent edit import the three novel titles. If this was your intent, it's a good idea to note this in the Moderator notes, so that we'll know that you intend to finish the edit. However, the most efficient way to add this publication is with the Clone this Pub tool. That way, all the contained novels will automatically be copied and it will all be accomplished in a single edit rather than 2 or 4 edits. Hope that helps. --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 18:22, 16 February 2023 (EST)

Stockholders in Death

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pubseries.cgi?3560; Archive.org copy of #7 since 2010 that nobody ever entered here so I just did in a (pending) edit, but publisher is Warner PL; several entries omit the Warner on ISFDB, so should all of them, including this one, be made Warner PL, too? Did PL, no Warner, publish any of them? --Username (talk) 10:47, 7 February 2023 (EST)

Author name validation enhancements

The way the ISFDB software handles author names in Edit Title, New Pub, Add Pub, Clone Pub, and Edit Pub has been enhanced. The following scenarios are now processed correctly:

• The same author name is entered using different capitalization, e.g. "David Weber" is changed to "david weber"
• The order of co-author, co-artist, co-interviewee, co-interviewer, co-reviewer or co-reviewee names is changed
• The same author name is entered two or more times (for the same title) using different capitalization, e.g. "David Weber" and then again "david weber"

In all of these cases the software now ignores the submitted "change".

Hopefully every permutation has been addressed/fixed. If you come across anything unexpected, please let me know. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:53, 7 February 2023 (EST)

Great SF About Doctors

https://archive.org/search?query=%22Great+science+fiction+about+doctors%22; I added a link to original edition, fourth printing is on ISFDB with correct date but wrong printing and date in note, I added a link and fixed the note, cover artist is Don Ivan just like the fifth printing, so there's a lot of confusion, especially since the 2nd printing has no PV and nobody's entered the 3rd. So maybe someone can look into that and unmerge/un-variant; I have a feeling all the editions with that cover have Don Ivan on the back. --Username (talk) 13:22, 8 February 2023 (EST)

C. Alexander London canonical name

Are there any objections to swapping the canonical name here to Alex London. The longer name had not been used for a long time and all new books use the shorter name. SFE also has the record under Alex London. Annie (talk) 12:46, 9 February 2023 (EST)

It's a slightly unusual case in that his first series appeared as by "Alex London", the second one came out as by "C. Alexander London" and the last two went back to "Alex London". Be that as it may, "Alex London" is currently leading 8:3, so I think it should be the canonical name. Ahasuerus (talk) 14:01, 9 February 2023 (EST)

Series with non-fiction and short-fiction only

When a series has only non-fiction and short-fiction in it, it shows up in an author list as a "Nonfiction Series" (As the only container title is non-fiction, it kinda makes sense). However, it is factually wrong and we are a fiction DB after all. As novellas/novelettes are popular (both as "juvenile novels under 40K" and as self-published or e-only non-juveniles), this is happening more and more often. As soon as a collection of more than one of the stories show up, the collection title bumps the series into the Fiction category. But in the meantime, it lags under Non-fiction.

Any chance to have these shown up in the Fiction series list? Example: this series. See where it shows on the author page. Thanks!

PS: Another related case is a series with only short-fiction. Now these show all the way at the bottom, with the short fiction until they get a collection and then they sail up under Fiction series. Maybe we can solve both usecases together and just treat short fiction entries as the fiction containers and just list all fiction series under the normal series heading. Annie (talk) 13:45, 9 February 2023 (EST)

I am looking at the code that drives the Summary Bibliography page and here is what I am seeing.

First, the software organizes all titles by series. Then it builds "series hierarchies" so that embedded series appear under the top series -- note how "Star Wars: The Clone Wars (animated)" appears under "Star Wars: Clone Wars", which appears under "Star Wars Universe" on Tracey West's page. Then it checks the title type of each parent title in each "series hierarchy" to determine which section of the Summary page the hierarchy belongs under. The current logic is as follows:

• If a "series hierarchy" contains at least one NOVEL, COLLECTION, or SERIAL title, it is displayed in the "Fiction Series" section.
• OTHERWISE:
  • If it contains at least one ANTHOLOGY title, it is displayed in the "Anthology Series" section.
  • OTHERWISE:
    • If it contains at least one NONFICTION title, it is displayed in the "Nonfiction Series" section.
    • OTHERWISE:
      • If it contains at least one OMNIBUS title, it is displayed in the "Fiction Series" section. (This check is performed after the ANTHOLOGY and NONFICTION checks so that OMNIBUSES with only ANTHOLOGY/NONFICTION titles would appear in their respective Anthology/Nonfiction series sections.)
      • OTHERWISE:
        • If it contains at least one SHORTFICTION title, it is displayed in the "Short Fiction Series" section.
        • OTHERWISE:
          • If it contains at least one POEM title, it is displayed in the "Poem Series" section.
          • OTHERWISE:
            • If it contains at least one ESSAY title, it is displayed in the "Essay Series" section.
            • OTHERWISE:
              • If it contains at least one COVERART title, it is displayed in the "Cover Art Series" section.
              • OTHERWISE:
                • If it contains at least one INTERIORART title, it is displayed in the "Interior Art Series" section.
                • OTHERWISE:
                  • If it contains at least one REVIEW title, it is displayed in the "Review Series" section.
                  • OTHERWISE:
                    • If it contains at least one INTERVIEW title, it is displayed in the "Interview Series" section.
                    • OTHERWISE:
                      • If it contains at least one title of some other type, it is displayed in the "Other Series" section. (This should never happen because CHAPBOOKs cannot be added to series.)

Once all eligible titles have been placed into series, the displayed order of sections is as follows:

• Fiction Series
• Standalone novels
• Standalone collections
• Standalone omnibuses
• Standalone serials (should never happen because SERIAL titles are supposed to be turned into variants)
• EDITOR series
• Anthology Series
• Standalone anthologies
• Standalone chapbooks
• Nonfiction series
• Standalone nonfiction
• Short Fiction series
• Standalone short fiction
• Poem series
• Standalone poems
• Cover art series
• Standalone cover art
• Interior art series
• Standalone interior art
• Review series
• Standalone reviews
• Interview series
• Standalone interviews

If we decide that we want to fold the "Short Fiction Series" section into the "Fiction Series" section, it would be easy to add "SHORTFICTION" to the list of title types which trigger placement in the "Fiction Series" series, then delete the "Short Fiction Series" section. It would also take care of the NONFICTION issue since series with a mix of NONFICTION and SHORTFICTION titles would appear in the "Fiction Series" section.

As to whether combining "Fiction Series" and "Shortfiction" would be a desirable change, I'll have to think about it. Annie's example is a good argument in favor of making the change, but then non-series short fiction, which appears below magazines, anthologies, chapbooks and non-fiction, would be treated differently than the other title types which drive inclusion in the "Fiction Series" section. I guess we could move the "[standalone] Short Fiction" section up the page, but then it would be above book-length works like magazines and anthologies. Ahasuerus (talk) 15:43, 9 February 2023 (EST)

What a blast from the past! I remember working on that code.... The organizational thought behind that evaluation chain was that "books" should be the primary driver of the series type. But perhaps that's a mistake when it comes to NONFICTION. It seems reasonable to suppose there might be a NONFICTION work about any series of works, and if we want to put that NONFICTION work into the series, it shouldn't affect the series type, whatever that may be. So maybe it would be best to move NONFICTION to the bottom of the chain. just before the "Other Series" catch-all. Then Nonfiction Series would only contain NONFICTION. --MartyD (talk) 19:04, 9 February 2023 (EST)

Currently, a series with a mix of NONFICTION, ESSAY, COVERART, INTERIORART, REVIEW and INTERVIEW titles is displayed in the "Nonfiction Series" section. Would you say that it should be displayed in the "Essay Series" section instead? Ahasuerus (talk) 17:24, 13 February 2023 (EST)

The one gotcha I see with that is a nonfiction series that happens to contain an OMNIBUS as well (do we allow that?); we wouldn't want that to end up in Fiction Series. So that evaluation might need a tweak of some sort. --MartyD (talk) 19:04, 9 February 2023 (EST)

The official rule is: "A publication may be classified as an omnibus if it contains multiple works that have previously been published independently, and at least one of them is a NOVEL, ANTHOLOGY, COLLECTION, or NONFICTION." So technically - yes, an omnibus can contain 3 NONFICTION items. In practice it is rare but it happens. Annie (talk) 19:10, 10 February 2023 (EST)

H. P. Lovecraft's Collected Essays: Complete, which collects HPL's essays originally published as 5 NONFICTION volumes, would be one example. Ahasuerus (talk) 16:45, 13 February 2023 (EST)

Maybe the easiest way will be in the omnibus line to have a secondary check if there is at least one SHORTFICTION or POEM title - everything else on the fiction side is before the Omnibus so we will only reach that case when there are no novels and collections/anthologies.

I won't insist on moving short fiction series higher but... I still think that having fiction series in two different places on the screen is confusing, especially for authors who write on the border between novella and novel and that end up with their series split in weird ways. :) Annie (talk) 19:10, 10 February 2023 (EST)

Outcome

I have changed the software to display series with a mix of NONFICTION and SHORTFICTION/POEM titles in the "Fiction Series" section. We may want to start another discussion about merging the two "Fiction Series" sections. Ahasuerus (talk) 17:35, 13 February 2023 (EST)

Embedded HTML is now displayed correctly

After close to a hundred patches over the course of many months, embedded HTML is now displayed correctly on all ISFDB pages. If you come across any irregularities or bugs, please let me know. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:51, 9 February 2023 (EST)

What does embedded HTML mean? --Username (talk) 19:01, 9 February 2023 (EST)

Consider this record whose title is "<sarcasm>Adventures in Gaming</sarcasm>". It could just as easily be "<b>Adventures in Gaming</b>". Angle brackets like "<" and ">" are the building blocks of HTML tags, so browsers interpret them as HTML commands to use bold, italics, underlining, etc. Or, in the case of "<sarcasm>" just stand around looking very confused :-) That's what "embedded HTML" is.

In order to prevent browser confusion, the ISFDB software needs to do something special to tell the browser that these particular angle brackets should be simply displayed "as is" instead of being interpreted as HTML commands. It took me a while to get everything updated, but I think I am finally done. I think I'll go have a tankard of non-alcoholic Klingon ale to celebrate :-) Ahasuerus (talk) 19:45, 9 February 2023 (EST)

<clanks tankard/> For the Empire! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:29, 10 February 2023 (EST)

MV of SK

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5579477; It says 19.95 on back, librarian typed 21.95 on first page like ISFDB says, Locusmag says 19.95 but also says 1989 is the date yet they didn't see it until Aug. '90 for some reason, after this is approved someone more hip to these tangled Starmont/Borgo things may know more about if this is a 2nd printing, if they suddenly decided to raise the price before the 1st printing, etc. --Username (talk) 18:44, 10 February 2023 (EST)

HELP! A Bear Is Eating Me!

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL9881165A/Mykle_Hansen; English edition just uploaded to Archive.org, I added a link, but French version uploaded back in 2021 in case anyone wants to enter that. --Username (talk) 11:13, 12 February 2023 (EST)

SFE Clute

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5581010; Why is this happening now? Did they change again? --Username (talk) 13:09, 12 February 2023 (EST)

This is the first "clute_uk" URL that I have seen. I am going to ask the SFE administrator whether it's a typo or a new part of their URL structure. Thanks for reporting the issue. Ahasuerus (talk) 13:31, 12 February 2023 (EST)

It turns out that "clute_uk" is a new publicly "linkable" subdirectory. I have updated the software to recognize it as legitimate. Thanks. Ahasuerus (talk) 16:48, 12 February 2023 (EST)

Bradbury's Twice Twenty-Two

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?38262; Search on Archive.org only brings up 1 copy but as can be seen at the OL link, https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5981610M/Twice_twenty-two, there's 1 of those weird "preview" copies; it doesn't really have the cover art like the thumbnail shows, just red cloth binding like the other copy, but it's a different copy. So if anybody knows which edition they belong in, if it's one of those later ones mentioned in the ISFDB notes, etc., then link(s) can be added; note also that OL mentions a 1994 Buccaneer edition. Also, Mugnaini's cover art was missing the month and his frontispiece was only included and dated based on the book club edition, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=twice+twenty&type=All+Titles, so I've fixed all that in (pending) edits; note also the last entry with a month that matches neither edition and is from a Virgil Finlay book. What's that about? --Username (talk) 10:47, 14 February 2023 (EST)

Tainaron

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1440471; https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=13630&recCount=25&recPointer=3&bibId=3359893; The original Finnish edition is not on ISFDB but it is on the Library of Congress site in case anyone fluent wants to enter it. I just added an Archive.org link to the Prime Books edition. --Username (talk) 12:17, 14 February 2023 (EST)

Grindhouse

https://archive.org/details/grindhousethesle0000unse; Would the inclusion of the entire screenplay for Planet Terror qualify this for entry here? I've been wanting to find something with Tarantino's name on it so I can add his bio and find the most unflattering photo of him possible. --Username (talk) 11:57, 15 February 2023 (EST)

Richard Morris

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?147497; Interview is with this guy, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0606889/, not the guy from the 1800's, but does that interview about a movie really belong here? If it does, some addition to interviewee's name is needed to differ him from the dead guy. --Username (talk) 15:50, 15 February 2023 (EST)

I'll differentiate the name: thanks for finding this. The interview does belong here because it was published in a genre magazine. Christian Stonecreek (talk) 01:36, 16 February 2023 (EST)

Whimper of Whipped Dogs

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=whipped+dogs&type=All+Titles; Today is the anniversary of 911 calls here in America, starting in 1968 and prompted by the murder of Kitty Genovese a few years earlier which was the inspiration for this story by Harlan Ellison. I was looking for an online PDF and found this, https://xpressenglish.com/whipped-dogs/. I'm going to add the link but I'm curious where that drawing came from. Anyone recognize it? also, at the link above, the 2 essays seem like the same thing but there's no variant. Are they the same? --Username (talk) 13:24, 16 February 2023 (EST)

Lester Dent Bibliography

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=lester+dent+bibliography&type=All+Titles; https://archive.org/details/lester_dent_bibliography; 1996 date doesn't match either version on ISFDB and it seems to have been published as an e-book or something. Lots of Doc Savage work done recently here so maybe somebody wants to enter this or at least knows where it originally came from. --Username (talk) 13:52, 16 February 2023 (EST)

Squires Knight

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?834417; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?173963; I added an Archive.org link to the Leisure edition by Knight and checked his real name and found that he originally published What Rough Beast under that name. What's the variant rules here? Who's the parent? --Username (talk) 00:45, 17 February 2023 (EST)

Where it's only one title under each name, it doesn't matter much. But I found an archived copy of his website http://www.harrysquires.com/ in the Wayback Machine, and in a 2012 version there is: "Now writing horror as H.R. Knight, Harry...". So it seems he deliberately changed his horror-writing identity from Squires to Knight. So I'd make Knight the canonical (which also works well because the publications under that name are more recent and more plentiful). --MartyD (talk) 10:01, 17 February 2023 (EST)

Post-submission display of Contents sections improved

The way Contents sections are displayed on post-submission pages is in the process of being changed. At this point NewPub and AddPub submissions have been upgraded. Their Contents sections now properly display multiple yellow warnings when warranted. They also indicate which submitted author name is new, which one is an alternate name or which one is a disambiguated name. Ahasuerus (talk) 16:55, 17 February 2023 (EST)

Filaria

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1258490; A copy was uploaded a few months ago on Archive.org; it revealed that the page count and the price here were wrong, I fixed those and added the link, but the review at Strange Horizons calls this the first book from Chizine and says 2008, as do all copyrights in the book itself. Why it has a late 2009 date here I don't know, and I also don't know why there's such a big gap between the first Chizine book here, January 2009, and the rest of their 2009 books. So real date is needed for this book and probably others from this publisher. Also, while researching this I saw an expired eBay sale for a 100-copy HC, which I believe Chizine did for many of their books, often including extra material, but very few seem to have been entered here, so there's that, too. --Username (talk) 09:42, 20 February 2023 (EST)

Earthman, Come Home

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?229485; I noticed a M. Ayme Mayflower edition said Dell on cover and Google Books had it with Mayflower-Dell on copyright page so I fixed that but this isn't on Google. It says Dell on cover, both PV haven't been around for years, but knowing these old paperbacks I hesitate to fix it without someone seeing a copyright page. So if anyone owns this edition can you check and see what it says inside the book. --Username (talk) 16:17, 20 February 2023 (EST)

Come Softly, Come Sweetly...

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?362038; I added info to the only issue of D. Sutton's British Shadow fanzine, from 1971, that's on ISFDB and Eddy C. Bertin has a story, "Come Softly, Come Sweetly", in it which isn't on ISFDB but his 1971 Dutch collection, linked above, has a title which translates to the English title, just with added words, so any Dutch people who are familiar with his extensive bibliography will probably know which came first and can variant as needed. --Username (talk) 16:36, 20 February 2023 (EST)

Mark

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?325553; Does that seem right? It should be other people named Mark Williams, shouldn't it? --Username (talk) 20:04, 20 February 2023 (EST)

Two things: (1) That "Mark (Wills) Williams" is matched up with forms of "Mark" is a bug. I would bet the issue is the "(". The ambiguity matching logic probably isn't paying attention to whether the parenthesized expression is at the end or is embedded in the middle. (2) That "Mark (Wills) Williams" is not matched up with forms of "Mark Williams" is a limitation/feature of the current matching, which doesn't consider names containing middle names (or initials, etc.) to be ambiguous vis-a-vis the same combination of first and last name without any middle name. I don't think we'd want "Mark XYZ Williams" to be shown as ambiguous with "Mark Williams", but I guess I could see showing "Mark Williams" as ambiguous with "Mark ABC Williams" and "Mark XYZ Williams". You'd have to lobby Ahasuerus on that one. --MartyD (talk) 09:41, 22 February 2023 (EST)

Good catch. Bug 827, "'Same name' logic fails for records with embedded parentheses", has been created. Ahasuerus (talk) 09:50, 22 February 2023 (EST)

It should be fixed now. Thanks for reporting the problem.

Re: showing "Mark Williams" as ambiguous with "Mark ABC Williams" and "Mark XYZ Williams", that's a whole different can of worms. If you do a name search on "John%Smith", you'll get a list of a dozen names, including:

• John Claude Smith
• John D. Smith
• John Hirschhorn-Smith
• John Smith

First we'd have to decide which ones are considered ambiguous. Ahasuerus (talk) 20:04, 2 March 2023 (EST)

Created By Matheson

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?8191; The advance reading copy, https://archive.org/details/createdby00math, says 352 pages on the first page, it's actually 344, ISFDB says 324. Anyone own a copy who can verify what the actual page count is? There are also Roman numerals at the front; no editions here have them. --Username (talk) 08:30, 21 February 2023 (EST)

Brutarian

https://archive.org/search?query=brutarian&sort=-addeddate&and%5B%5D=mediatype%3A%22texts%22; Heads up that someone, after uploading 3 random issues years ago, started uploading more issues recently. This was not strictly a genre magazine but included some genre fiction/non-fiction, especially in later issues, some of it by big names. ISFDB only has a few late issues entered; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=brutarian&type=Magazine. I distinctly remember seeing issues on the newsstand at some store in New York City back in the 1990's or maybe a bit later, so it got some distribution, I guess. I got an R. Crumb vibe from it, though, probably due to the type of cover art they used, and didn't really peruse it. Crumb's art always made me nervous for some reason. --Username (talk) 19:27, 21 February 2023 (EST)

Bonus fiction in novels

Why is a 'bonus' short fiction title allowed in a novel, but a serial installment is specifically excluded? There are a number of publications, example 1, example 2, example 3, where we're forced to misclassify what is clearly a serial installment. I don't see a downside to lifting the exclusion. John Scifibones 19:05, 22 February 2023 (EST)

Because allowing SERIALs in books at all is a relatively new development. It used to be magazines and fanzines only. Then we allowed chapbooks. I think we should allow it in anthologies, novels and collections as well - especially because Magazines reprints are added as anthologies/collections AND because in our digital world, serials are used as bonus almost anywhere. Post over on R&S and we can hash it out and change the rules for serials. One thing to make sure we clearly separate - excerpts vs serials (it is intent that separates them essentially) :) Annie (talk) 19:13, 22 February 2023 (EST)

Moonchasers TP

I've done a lot of Ed Gorman edits recently and this, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?284334, is a problem because the HC is & on the title page but no photos of the TP title page can be found. Does anyone own the TP? I've got a half-dozen edits on hold because mod won't change unless I show that it's & in the TP title, too. --Username (talk) 19:09, 23 February 2023 (EST)

Sword & Fantasy

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?33789; Some weeks-old edit of mine was finally approved, fixing an artist's name in one of these issues, but now that I look at the series page something's not right. Why do only the last 2 issues have a comma after the issue #? Also, is the # really supposed to be in any of them instead of in the notes? Isn't that magazine policy there? --Username (talk) 19:13, 23 February 2023 (EST)

The title records reflected the individual publication titles since they hadn't been 'rolled up' by year. I took care of that.

Regarding the comma:

• The placement of the comma, in a periodical title, controls what is displayed in the issue grid. Basically, everything after the first comma appears in the grid except the year as long as it matches the date field. If the year differs, it will also be displayed. Notice how the issue number doesn't appear in the two titles you question.
• Yes, current policy is to show the issue number in the publication notes. 21:57, 23 February 2023 (EST)

Flashing Swords! Help

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?8495; I've just added Archive.org links in (pending) edits to #1 (2 Doubleday), #2 (Mayflower), #3 (2 Dell), #4 (2 1977 Doubleday), and #5 (Doubleday). Now there are some issues. Some people unnecessarily entered the series title in the book title, others didn't; some people entered Roman numerals in the page count, others didn't; some people entered the book title as it appears on the title page, others didn't. Also, #3 doesn't have the Doubleday book club edition entered; #'s 1, 2, and 4 have the book club dates as earlier than the Dell PB dates but #5 has both as the same date, so it's possible that the story dates for #3 are wrong because the book club edition was probably published earlier. There are many PV for all volumes so if any of them would like to add/fix anything it would help. EDIT: The only thing I fixed was importing Carter's essay in #1, "A Last Word", to the Doubleday edition; it was only entered here in the Dell edition. --Username (talk) 11:30, 25 February 2023 (EST)

Backward(s)

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?93690; I just stumbled across a copy of Mitchell's Crystal Man which was uploaded in June of 2022 so I added a link and the missing page numbers to the many stories included in that book, but I noticed 1 story, "The Clock That Went Backwards", is actually "Backward". According to ISFDB the only instances of the singular title are the original, uncredited appearance in a newspaper and reprints in various books starting in 2013. So when my edit is approved that story needs merging with the singular or removing/adding the singular or whatever needs doing; the question now is if it really was the plural in the many books it appeared in between the above collection in 1973 and 2013. --Username (talk) 13:16, 25 February 2023 (EST)

Thanks, Pwendt. --Username (talk) 22:23, 10 March 2023 (EST)

Secret Asia's Blackest Heart

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?855765; Something in the recent edits accidentally led me to this and some of those titles are already on ISFDB, specifically the Webb which was published in 2014 as "U-PAO. The Black Sutra", the Blackmore which is in 3 separate books on ISFDB starting in 2007, not 2009, and the Carter/Cornford story which is under the same title in 3 merged publications but its appearance in this book wasn't merged even though the editor did at least date it correctly as 1997. Person who entered it hasn't responded to anything for a long time so if anyone owns a copy a lot of re-dating/re-titling/merging is probably in order. --Username (talk) 19:21, 25 February 2023 (EST)

Borgo Question

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5592414; One of those annoying situations where they include both editions but don't specify which it is. Was it Borgo's style to print the correct barcode in red as it appears on the back cover in the Archive.org copy or is that totally unrelated and somebody just felt like coloring it? --Username (talk) 20:40, 25 February 2023 (EST)

O.J.'s Nightmare

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1706087; Willem and Bob PV separate editions, pretty sure it should be David, also could be related to other artists named Bowers, first name starts with D, here. --Username (talk) 18:18, 26 February 2023 (EST)

Maelstrom

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5593175; A challenge to anyone who can find a bigger cover image and replace mine. This anthology has been on ISFDB for years and there are a few online mentions of it including Locus where the contents came from but, as can be seen in the notes, it seems to have either been barely published or not at all. While on an archived author's site I was trying to get info from there was an image in her bibliography of this book so I uploaded the .jpg, but it was very tiny and after blowing it up as big as allowable here the author names are illegible. The title and cover art still come through nicely, though. Maybe someone here actually owns a copy (HA!)? --Username (talk) 20:56, 26 February 2023 (EST)

Further Adventures of Batman Printing Dates

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?34733; https://archive.org/details/furtheradventure00gree; There's a bit of confusion here. The original printing was July, PV Vasha77 did the 2nd printing but made an error by entering the month based on an ad on the last page which says 10/87 when the book was obviously published in '89, Archive copy above is a 3rd printing not on ISFDB with that same ad but 2 pages before it is an ad for G.R.R. Martin's Wild Cards with 7/89 on it. So since PV is gone and it was transient anyway I suggest we change month of 2nd to July also and then enter the 3rd with that month, too. --Username (talk) 23:38, 27 February 2023 (EST)

Goldstrom

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?25621; My edit making R. Goldstrom an alternate of Robert was just approved but I see there's 2 separate credits for Skeleton-in-Waiting. I think they need merging or something. --Username (talk) 11:23, 28 February 2023 (EST)

Merged, as you correctly pointed out. John Scifibones 11:05, 1 March 2023 (EST)

Davis Grubb Stories

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?5783; I've done a few edits for his rare 1978 collection Siege of 318 and recently stumbled on the fact that the title story was a retitled reprint of "Cry Havoc", which is why both have a 1976 date here. I've made a variant but I am suspicious that "The Idiots" from the 1976 horror anthology Frights and "The Idiot" are the same, too. Does anyone own a copy who can compare the 2 stories? Frights has an Archive.org link so story is readable. --Username (talk) 17:12, 28 February 2023 (EST)

Content sections of Clone/Import/Export upgraded

The Content sections of Clone/Import/Export Publication post-submission pages have been upgraded. Rows can now display multiple yellow warnings per row. Yellow warnings are now more specific, telling you which authors they refer to. Auto-merge rows no longer warn you about disambiguated/alternate author/artist names. Ahasuerus (talk) 19:44, 28 February 2023 (EST)

The Changing

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?36975; I added LCCN ID and noticed 244 pages which is a lot different than 320. No online copies I can see so if anyone owns this can you check page count and fix if needed. --Username (talk) 08:52, 1 March 2023 (EST)

Derek Neville

https://kylerader.net/2014/12/30/ghost-box-a-discussion-with-author-derek-neville/; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?161858; I suspected the short story was not by the old Neville; there's a guy with the same name who self-published Ghost Box, which isn't on ISFDB but should be, but the only mentions of that name and the short story's title are our site and this, https://kristipetersenschoonover.com/2015/01/12/shitty-almonds-now-available-in-bugs-teaser-toc-here/. So story author should probably get a (I) after their name or something to differ them but unsure whether the same Neville wrote Ghost Box, although it seems likely. --Username (talk) 10:56, 1 March 2023 (EST)

Done. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:57, 1 March 2023 (EST)

Needs space after 1st period of artist to make it the same as artist already on ISFDB. --Username (talk) 18:35, 1 March 2023 (EST)

Looks like that was handled as I can't see what you mean. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 11:41, 2 March 2023 (EST)

Scifibones fixed it today. --Username (talk) 11:46, 2 March 2023 (EST)

1995 SPGA Showcase

http://www.locusmag.com/index/t742.htm#A37177; The Goldman story has the right original date on ISFDB but no mention of where it came from so I entered the info that it originally came from this anthology; the Everson story has the wrong date (2007), a different title ("Warming the Women"), and no mention of where it came from, so I added where it came from but didn't change date or title because it may have the same title in the anthology and should be merged or it really is different in which case it would be a variant; the Jacob story already has a note here about where it first came from. The Danley work being a story is suspicious because all his works (as Robert C. Danley) on ISFDB are poems; it's also weird that Locus listed all the poems after the stories instead of listing everything in order. So on the very slim chance that anyone owns the anthology some fixes would probably be needed after entering it. --Username (talk) 13:27, 1 March 2023 (EST)

I've added that anthology here. If it turns out the Danley work is actually a poem, we can easily change it. In the meantime, it's listed now. I also varianted the Everson story. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:37, 1 March 2023 (EST)

Phantom Fango Edit

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5595657; I'm confused about something. I haven't looked at any Fangoria issues for a long time, while doing Drake Douglas edits I noticed he had 1 review for a book by himself, I knew he probably wouldn't review his own book and found it was just an entry mistake and it was actually Stanley Wiater, who did the other reviews in that issue; I asked PV about it and they responded but didn't indicate they were going to fix it themselves, but now I see that it was changed to the correct reviewer but I don't see where that was done by anyone in the review record or issue record. Am I missing something? I assume I can just cancel my edit now, right? --Username (talk) 19:43, 1 March 2023 (EST)

Look at the last edit to the publication containing the review. Yes, go ahead and cancel your submission. John Scifibones 20:11, 1 March 2023 (EST)

Anthony Izzo Titles

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5597760; I'm not sure what's going on here. I thought this novel was not on ISFDB because the title was not in the author's record but after entering a new record the ISBN is a duplicate of this, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?99881. Izzo mentions the title change here, https://www.anthonyizzo.com/post/author-anthony-izzo-s-latest-thriller-novel. So the existing record seems to have been entered from pre-release info on Amazon, maybe, before the title was changed. So what's to be done? Delete Unforgiven? It has a "P" cover image, wrong format, old ISBN-10 instead of ISBN-13 for a 2007 book, etc. (also see my note in Evil Harvest about confusion with ISBN-13, too). Or leave it and make the 2 titles alternates? --Username (talk) 09:06, 3 March 2023 (EST)

Evil Harvest edit was just approved; still awaiting reply on what should be done here. Anyone? --Username (talk) 11:29, 6 March 2023 (EST)

Beehive Book Award

The Beehive Book Award given out by the Children's Literature Association of Utah in the following categories:

• Children's Fiction (chapter books)
• Picture Books
• Informational Books
• Poetry
• Graphic Novels
• Young Adult Fiction

The books nominated and awarded are not limited to those by Utahns, though. It's voted on by children in the state of Utah from a list of nominees submitted by volunteers. It covers more than just speculative fiction works, but there are quite a few speculative fiction authors whose works have been nominated and/or won over the years. See the lists here. I'll be happy to populate the award if it's added. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:54, 3 March 2023 (EST)

I see all the usual suspects: Le Guin, Lloyd Alexander, Jane Yolen, Ursula Vernon, Brandon Mull, etc. Looks legitimate to me. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:31, 3 March 2023 (EST)

Done. Sorry, I forgot all about it. Ahasuerus (talk) 08:47, 18 March 2023 (EDT)

Roofworld Arrow Edition

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1282; In tribute to Christopher Fowler, who just died, I started to add as much info as I could to his books and almost immediately ran into trouble. I added an Archive.org link to the original Ballantine edition but there's also an Arrow edition; however, there's 2 records here with one being entered in the very early days of this site and PV by a long-gone person while the other is much more fleshed out but not PV. Which should be kept and given the link? --Username (talk) 17:21, 3 March 2023 (EST)

They look like they are probably duplicates of each other. Anyone else have any different thoughts? ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 18:51, 3 March 2023 (EST)

The "September 1989" pub was verified against the Locus Index, which says:

• Roofworld (Legend 0-09-962340-4, Sep ’89 [Aug ’89], £3.99, 396pp, pb) Reprint (Ballantine/Legend 1988) sf novel.

It would appear that "September 1989" comes from Locus. Ahasuerus (talk) 19:45, 3 March 2023 (EST)

What The F

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=fer+ward&type=Name; Unusual situation here where one would assume the second name is wrong but that's actually her name; the first name only has 1 credit and searching Amazon Look Inside it does say Jennifer on contents page but typing Jenniffer gets 1 hit, so possibly it's spelled correctly at the head of the story in case anyone who has an Amazon account can verify and fix/variant. --Username (talk) 13:04, 4 March 2023 (EST)

In Dreamless, it's "Jenniffer Wardell" on the cover, on the copyright page and on the title page. The "Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data" section says that she was born in 1981. Ahasuerus (talk) 17:30, 4 March 2023 (EST)

A full view on Amazon inside the book in which her name was entered here as Jennifer is needed because her real name per online info is Jenniffer and while contents page of that book says Jennifer a search inside gets a hit for Jenniffer, so I don't want a false variant name created (there's already way too many of those here) if it really should just have an "f" added to it. --Username (talk) 18:53, 4 March 2023 (EST)

Searching the Amazon Look Inside for 100 Worlds shows that the "Object Lesson" title page uses "Jennifer Wardell". The "About the Author" does list her as "Jenniffer", but we enter per the title page. I have created an alternate name and varianted the story. -- JLaTondre (talk) 08:10, 5 March 2023 (EST)

Baen vs. Baen Books

We have separate publisher listings for Baen and Baen Books. The top of both these records has "Do NOT merge this with [other version], there are two completely different timeframes and three different logos". However,

• Baen has books from 1984 - 2023
• Baen Books has books from 1985 - 1992, 1995 - 1996, 2004 - 2006, 2022 - 2023

So we are not separating them out as per the note. I don't see the need to have separate versions as we already normalize minor changes in publisher names and that information can easily be handled in a note. However, if we are going to have separate versions, then the time ranges should be added to the notes and the relevant books updated appropriately. The editor who added the note is no longer active so cannot ask them about it. -- JLaTondre (talk) 08:22, 5 March 2023 (EST)

I would draw a parallel to Ace Books, with multiple addresses and ownership detailed in a separate ISFDB wiki page. I also see no reason beyond whether they care credited differently in the books (Baen vs. Baen Books) ../Doug H (talk) 13:00, 5 March 2023 (EST)

A couple of thoughts. First, spot-checking some recently published Baen books, I see that they apparently use "Baen Books" and "Baen" interchangeable. For example, the copyright page of Dead Man Walking, which was published on 2023-02-07, says:

• A Baen Book
• Baen Publishing Enterprises
• First Baen Printing
• Electronic version by Baen Books

The copyright page of What Price Victory?, which was published on the same day, says:

• A Baen Books Original
• Baen Publishing Enterprises
• Electronic version by Baen Books

Note the use of "A Baen Book" in the first case and "A Baen Books Original" in the second case. The lack of the word "Original" in Dead Man Walking is due to the fact that it's a US reprint of a UK book, but otherwise "Baen" and "Baen Books" are used interchangeably.

Second, in an ideal world, we would capture two separate values: "publisher name as stated in the publication" and "canonical name of the publisher"; it would be similar to the way we treat variant titles and canonical names. Since we don't have this functionality implemented, I think it would be best to merge the two publisher records. Updating Notes would be nice, but, given the mixed use of the two names (as seen above), it may be more hassle that it's worth. Ahasuerus (talk) 19:43, 5 March 2023 (EST)

What does it state on the title page, though? We generally go with that over what it states on the copyright page. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 13:31, 6 March 2023 (EST)

Unfortunately, Amazon.com's Look Inside tends to use e-books' data for paper editions and e-books don't always have clearly defined title pages. I have many older Baen books in my paper collection, but nothing recent, so I can't check. For what it's worth, Look Inside shows that the two pubs linked above do not mentions the publisher in the "title page" sections. The sections immediately below them say "BAEN BOOKS by [author name]: [list of titles]", but that doesn't clarify things. Ahasuerus (talk) 16:13, 6 March 2023 (EST)

All of the recent ones I have just have the Baen logo at the bottom of the title page, so I'd go with "Baen". ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:35, 16 March 2023 (EDT)

Post-submission pages for AddPub and ClonePub submissions tweaked

Post-submission pages for AddPub and ClonePub submissions have been adjusted to display more information about the title record that the new publication will be merged with. The "auto-merge" line now displays the same title information, including variant/translation data, that is displayed in the Contents sections of Publication pages. Ahasuerus (talk) 19:19, 5 March 2023 (EST)

Dash or 00

https://isfdb.org/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Rtrace#Dark_Carnival_Date; Re: this discussion, do any experts here know of a way to automatically change all LCCN entered on this site, pre-whatever the date was when they changed from using a dash to zeros, from zeros to dash? I just enter them as they are on their site but, even though it makes no real difference because links lead to the records whether they have dashes or zeros, it would be better, I suppose, to have them as they appear in the books. Now all this is assuming that all pre-change LCCN had dashes and all post-change LCCN have zeroes, which I'm sure isn't true, but anyway I thought I'd ask. --Username (talk) 19:33, 5 March 2023 (EST)

Vuk

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=kostic&type=Name; Vuk Kostic and Vukkostic are the same, I assume, 1 says Serbian and the other English, in case anyone wants to decide which should be the parent and which the variant. --Username (talk) 08:51, 6 March 2023 (EST)

Day Khrus(h)chev Panicked

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1618562; Did some edits a long time ago, came across it again today and added cover images and LCCN ID to both HC, Brits spelled name in title without a middle H, Yanks with a middle H. I fixed that for Cassell (title page seen on Cracabond Books, a site I don't think I've ever heard of before), Random House title page on Google confirms the middle H, Macfadden in Google Images confirms the middle H, if Digit title page can be seen then we'll know all and main title can be changed and American editions' title can be a variant (there's also a UK Ensign edition on AbeBooks without the middle H on the cover, so I think it's safe to say American H, British no H). --Username (talk) 18:03, 6 March 2023 (EST)

Stained-Glass World

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?232309; I added a bunch of Kenneth Bulmer edits yesterday, and this, the last one, was just adding an Archive.org link, but then I noticed the month doesn't match the one in the note. I asked RTrace since I saw his name at the top of the edit history but he was no help, and of the PV the first guy's dead, the next 3 are gone (probably), and the last guy is still around but doesn't seem interested much in this site these days, so maybe Glenn is the only one who may respond helpfully; why is the month, which does say July in the book, April on this site? Fix needed IMO. --Username (talk) 09:42, 7 March 2023 (EST)

AddPub/NewPub/ClonePub post-submission pages enhanced

Post-submission pages for AddPub/NewPub/ClonePub submissions have been enhanced.

AddPub/ClonePubs pages now display a yellow warning if the title type of the associated title record has been changed since the submission was created. The "Title Data" section of NewPub/AddPub pages has been standardized to use the same fields, field names and field order as EditTitles' post-submission pages. Ahasuerus (talk) 12:08, 7 March 2023 (EST)

"Disambiguated author" yellow warnings upgraded

Post-submission yellow warnings for disambiguated authors have been upgraded. They now use the same algorithm as "There are other authors with the same name" displayed at the top of Summary pages.

This means that "A" will no longer be erroneously reported as a disambiguated name based on the existence of "A (W) Hendry". It also means that "Stephen King (I)" or "G. S. (artist)" will generate yellow warnings informing the reviewing moderator that they are disambiguated names. Ahasuerus (talk) 13:00, 7 March 2023 (EST)

Self-Moderation Request

Hello,

with around 10.000 changes to ISFDB since 2013 and also lots of source-code contributions I did really a lot for ISFDB and very seldom my edits have been rejected. As nowadays it takes extremely long to moderate submissions I'd like to have Self-Approver state. Hopefully that also leads to me adding a lot of my own books which I skipped until now.

As is probably known I'm not 100% happy with the way ISFDB works but adhere to the given rules. Thus I'll not use any additional rights I get to do more than now, but restrict my Self-Approver privilege to situations which I think consensus exists (misjudgment in individual cases included :-). For changes which could be troublesome I'd leave these submissions for other moderators to review (I assume that's still possible?).

--Stoecker (talk) 07:33, 8 March 2023 (EST)

Hi, Dirk! Alas, I do have some reservation about that privilege: while you did quite a lot of valuable source-code contributions, I have the feeling that many (if not all) of your publication additions to the database lack the quality we usually try to achieve, especially in sourcing the data (that is: giving the sources for the date of publication and the art credit; I personally think that also statements for the edition - first [language, tp, pb, hc, ...] would be welcome).

Here is a quite recent example (this one also has a seemingly wrong format, since the vast majority of publications by this publisher with the same format are defined as pb). Many of your added / verified publications have stub notes or none at all, like this one. (Also, many verified pub.s have missing or erroneous publication series, like this or this, the first example being again a stub record).

On the whole, most seem somewhat hastily added, and I'd like to see some more quality in added and especially PV'd publications. Christian Stonecreek (talk) 09:42, 11 March 2023 (EST)

Yes. I usually only add the minimum amount, because it's simply to much hassle to get it correct with a turnaround of multiple days for a change. It takes weeks to enter a single book correctly, especially as there is no preview feature yet and I have to redo everything when I make an error. Thus I only add the information which is required and important, nothing else. I certainly don't add all the information which it seems you find is necessary in the notes, but I add all the relevant information and I don't add wrong information. In the examples you showed there is no error: The example books you choose are tp and not pb. The publication series for Bastei is still a somewhat strange thing and not really visible in the books. The older books I added thus wont have them right simply because this "right" changed over the years. For new entries I try to follow whatever seems currently used in ISFDB. P.S. As already said multiple times - ISFDB has a large amount of errors in non-verified and verified publications (also errors which have been introduced to my verified books which have been correct when I entered the information). When the threshold to participate is too high that also wont change. I tried to help fix the software for this but the attempt didn't work out. I see that a small part of my ideas have be implemented in the last years, but nothing game-changing. Maybe to give you a note what I actually talk about: I own ~2300 SF and F books, 825 of these I verified in ISDFB, 787 more exist in ISFDB often with missing information or missing the exact copy I have. 685 are missing totally. I simply did not add them yet and instead do my own database. BTW Some errors also come from different moderators of the time: One moderator forced me to do one thing, the next exactly the opposite. And I always complied even if it did not make sense. --Stoecker (talk) 10:28, 11 March 2023 (EST)

Comment: I haven't done much work on the submission queue lately, so I'll abstain. To answer the question raised in the last sentence, if a self-approver leaves a submission in the queue, it can be reviewed and approved/rejected by a moderator. However, submissions by self-approvers are color-coded and moderators tend to leave them alone because the presumption is that the self-approver is taking a break and will be back later. Of course, a self-approver can create a submission, leave it in the queue and then ask about it on the Moderator Noticeboard. Ahasuerus (talk) 09:52, 11 March 2023 (EST)

Maybe there should be a flag "please review" to turn off the color code? I actually appreciate in other environments when you have the chance to let somebody else review your stuff even when you yourself could approve it. For the easy cases you approve directly wheres for others you seek per-review. It's a concept which I e.g. are very happy with in software update submissions for openSUSE Linux distribution. --Stoecker (talk) 10:33, 11 March 2023 (EST)

You have my vote, user Stonecreek, who was demoted for entering incorrect data has no right to criticize you.--Wolfram.winkler (talk) 15:48, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Wolfram: While you're free to share you opinion on whether Stoecker should receive this ability, please refrain from attacking other editors here. Thank you. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 16:46, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

It's just facts and you have no right to criticize it.--Wolfram.winkler (talk) 17:11, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Fixed Story Titles

https://www.isfdb.org/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Rtrace#Great_Disciple; Maybe I'm not being clear or something, but I'm not getting the answer I'm looking for so maybe someone else can help me. I did a bunch of edits for Bruce Publishing books and this one required more work, using the copy on Google Books, because story titles, I assume taken from Locus, were wrong in 6 cases (and 1 was missing entirely), from missing articles to completely wrong. I fixed them but now that it's been approved the 6 parent stories still have the wrong titles. That can't be right, most of the author's obscure religious stories didn't appear in any genre works and the 2 that did had the right titles (although 1 of them, "The Hound of Cullen", isn't in this collection so now I'm suspicious because it has a 1951 date on ISFDB but appeared in F&SF in 1953, so I wonder if the missing story I entered, "The End of Coo-Cullen", is that story retitled) so there's no variant, so how can I get both author names to show the correct titles? --Username (talk) 12:29, 8 March 2023 (EST)

You would have received the answer you were looking for had you told the reviewer; "The titles were only published under an alternate name so there is no reason the canonical name titles should differ." To correct, simply edit the canonical name titles and make the same corrections. However, I question whether William Bernard Ready should even be the canonical name. I don't see a single title published using that name. I would make W. B. Ready the canonical name with William Ready an alternate. This would obviate the need for the above edits. John Scifibones 13:39, 8 March 2023 (EST)

Which Henry Holt?

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5601242; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5601243; This is the 2nd time recently that this moderator has rejected edit(s) of mine while telling me to ask PV first when I clearly did that in both cases. This one, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5597731, was asked about here, https://isfdb.org/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Swfritter#A_Month_of_Mystery, but I just decided to cancel it because trying to fix the countless verified editions of books that are clearly book club editions but not identified as such by the PV is too much for me to handle so I've decided to not do those kinds of edits anymore, but as for the 2 edits at the top of this message there's no reason for them to be rejected because as I explained here, https://isfdb.org/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Rosab618#Henry_Holt, this publisher on ISFDB, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/publisher.cgi?60311, only has a few entries including those 1990's books entered recently by the same PV, while this publisher, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/publisher.cgi?86, has almost all their books including pretty much everything published between 1986 and 2023, as is clearly explained in the note at the top of the page where it says they reverted back to that name in 1986. The 2 PV books say Henry Holt and Company on the title page so if we're going by what they actually say it wouldn't match any publisher currently on ISFDB. Standardization, right? Isn't that what mods are always saying, don't enter multiple publisher names? I think those 2 should be un-rejected. If not, I'd hate to see how many of the hundreds of "Henry Holt" books currently on ISFDB would need to be changed to "Henry Holt and Company". --Username (talk) 20:48, 8 March 2023 (EST)

You're mischaracterizing this a bit. In both cases, you submitted the edit before receiving a response from the primary verifier. Changing the name of the publisher is a major change to a publication record and should not be done without the prior assent of all active verifiers. Worse, this submission would have replaced the record for the trade edition with one for a book club edition, effectively deleting the record for the trade edition from the database. I explained this in the rejection note, and again when you objected on my talk page and I am explaining it for a third time here. I also explained in all these places that you need to get a response from the verifiers before submitting the original edit. Now, whether a title page stating "Henry Holt and Company" should be reflected as Henry Holt, Henry Holt & Co. or a new publisher is an open question. However, it is still necessary to have a dialog with the verifiers before changing those records. --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 21:58, 8 March 2023 (EST)

FOCUS

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pubs_not_in_series.cgi?37441; I believe we have 4 separate publishers here: A German one, a British one (reprint of HC de la Mare book), an imprint based in Massachusetts who did Shakespeare, and a kid's book which maybe should have a different publisher, Tyndale, because it says "Focus on the Family" on the cover so Focus is more likely to be a series. In case anyone cares to differ them in some way. --Username (talk) 10:50, 10 March 2023 (EST)

Amazon UK

In this case, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?312797, is it OK to replace the price and enter a link to this, https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22560761M/The_monsterologist, since there's no UK price and editor just entered the price from Amazon? This happens a lot. --Username (talk) 12:20, 10 March 2023 (EST)

For those interested in Lovecraft and Winnie the Pooh

I ran across this Kickstarter which combines the two. The anthology won't be out for about a year, but it's something to look forward to (I backed it). ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:24, 10 March 2023 (EST)

R. Dickerson

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=dickers&type=Name; Russell has many interviews, Russ has 1 which has an alternate because of a language note or something. So 1 of those should be a variant of Russell. --Username (talk) 09:47, 11 March 2023 (EST)

Karloff the Editor

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?35824; A copy of Avon was just uploaded on Archive.org so I added a link, also added C to the price for the other (Canadian) Avon, added the month to the regular title since Avon was first edition, added other countries' prices to Corgi from back cover seen on FantLab, but most significantly added introduction to Souvenir based on photo on FantLab. It's not in Avon so it seems they added it for British editions; however, the only evidence here is in that Portugal edition where it says Introdução. So when my edits are approved that probably should be made a variant of Introduction and if anyone owns the British paperbacks the introduction is probably in those, too, and should be imported. --Username (talk) 09:16, 12 March 2023 (EDT)

De Grote Horror Omnibus

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?175406; Just uploaded is this, https://archive.org/search?query=grote-horror, which seems to be a German edition of the Signet omnibus, in case any German/German-fluent person wants to enter it. --Username (talk) 09:28, 12 March 2023 (EDT)

C. Anderson

[3]; I added OL ID to Science Fiction Films of the Seventies some time ago and today came across it again and added Archive.org link; I noticed cover artist might be the same as the author and there's another similar name, all linked above, in case anyone knows if they're all the same. --Username (talk) 12:26, 12 March 2023 (EDT)

Maureen F. McHugh's The Cost to Be Wise - novelette or novella?

This is categorized as a novelette, but it was nominated for 3 different awards in the novella category. If I look at the page counts in The Mammoth Book of Best Short SF Novels, it shows as 45 pages, which is the same as the following story - Greg Egan's Oceanic - which is categorized as a novella. (The rest of those "short novels" are all categorized as novellas, but they have longer page counts.) Google search results for 'mchugh "the cost to be wise"' followed by "novella" or "novelette" also indicate it is considered to be the former.

There are over a dozen verified pubs containing this story (which distill down to the 1996 Starlight anthology it appeared in, the 1997 Dozois Year's Best, a 2005 author collection, a Lightspeed mag special issue, and the aforementioned Dozois "short novel" anthology), so I'm wary of changing the type without some sort of discussion or second opinion. ErsatzCulture (talk) 17:42, 12 March 2023 (EDT)

I happen to have one of the anthologies as an ebook. After converting it to TXT and removing the other stories, the table of contents, etc, I see that the text contains 19,500 words if you count the title. Ahasuerus (talk) 16:45, 13 March 2023 (EDT)

Thanks. If there are no dissenting voices here, I propose to make the novelette->novella switch in a couple of days. ErsatzCulture (talk) 15:11, 14 March 2023 (EDT)

With a confirmed length, noone can object :) Add a note on the approximate length and change it. Annie (talk) 16:02, 14 March 2023 (EDT)

Just to close this off, the switch to novella has now been done. ErsatzCulture (talk) 18:31, 17 March 2023 (EDT)

Derleth's Sleeping

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5606597; Almost missed this rare one uploaded on Archive.org because they're doing something weird where the upload date is different than the added date which is causing a lot of confusion; anyway, PV is a bit...testy judging by my last contact with them, so I'm dry-running this here before letting them know of my changes. Does anyone see anything wrong with my edit? Title as it is on title page, spurious subtitle moved to notes, FantLab ID because it shows cover that coverless copy doesn't, etc. Also, I checked the Four Square abridgement on Dalby's site and it says "AND", not "&", on title page, so variants needed? EDIT: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?33526; I see I added copy link and FantLab ID recently but now I've added LCCN ID, while noticing intro is dated with signed date instead of book date, something I've seen many times before, probably done by a specific editor who thought that's how it was supposed to be, so if it's not right one of the PV should fix the date. EDIT: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5606943; More title fixing; PB edition was recently uploaded so I made an edit adding link for that and title is "AND", not "&", on title page, so more variants needed? --Username (talk) 12:29, 13 March 2023 (EDT)

EditPub yellow warnings upgraded

All yellow warnings displayed in New Cover Art, New Regular Titles, New Reviews and New Interviews tables within the "Content" section of EditPub post-submission pages have been upgraded. They now use the same enhanced functionality already available on other post-submission pages.

At this point the only tables still using the old functionality and table layout are the 4 "Modified Cover/Regular Titles/Reviews/Interviews" tables in EditPub. As always, if you come across anything unexpected or erroneous, please post your findings here. Ahasuerus (talk) 16:37, 13 March 2023 (EDT)

There was a flaw in the last patch. The 4 "New" tables no longer display a yellow warning if the publication date hasn't been changed and the new title date is after the publication date. I am working on a fix. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:39, 13 March 2023 (EDT)

It should be fixed now. Ahasuerus (talk) 19:06, 13 March 2023 (EDT)

When you get a moment, please take a look at this submission. Thanks, John Scifibones 08:07, 14 March 2023 (EDT)

Thanks for reporting the problem. It happens when magazine pubs are cloned. Working on it... Ahasuerus (talk) 11:53, 14 March 2023 (EDT)

It should be fixed now. Ahasuerus (talk) 12:44, 14 March 2023 (EDT)

Hauck

https://isfdb.org/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Hauck; I came across this, https://archive.org/search?query=%22compagnie+des+fees%22, and since many of these foreign editions have page counts off by a page or two on ISFDB because of unnumbered final page(s) I checked this one; page count was correct but the note about names on back cover was not. Heading off to ask the editor who entered the book I see that he's totally done with this site judging by the big red message on his board. So does anyone else own a copy? I think I'll do an advanced search and see what other books they PV; since they're not going to answer any questions maybe I can improve things a bit myself, add some links, etc. I'm sure some people here know what went wrong, so if anyone would like to give any details I'd be curious to know what caused Hauck to leave. --Username (talk) 18:23, 14 March 2023 (EDT)

User:Hauck left the project in June 2018 after this discussion. Ahasuerus (talk) 20:00, 14 March 2023 (EDT)

Wow. The comparisons to Nazi Germany may have been a bit much. I asked because he responded to 3 messages from 2 editors last June to tell them not to bother because he's un-verifying his PV's. --Username (talk) 20:11, 14 March 2023 (EDT)

"the note about names on back cover was not", perhaps should yo try a bit harder... ([4]). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hauck (talk • contribs) .

I think you meant "you should", not "should yo". If you look at the back cover of the Archive.org copy you'll see no names, so it's likely tight framing on the right side that cut them off rather than it being some variant without the names. Also, I put brackets around your image link because the giant image was taking too much space. --Username (talk) 09:22, 15 March 2023 (EDT)

Hauck was the best moderator ever and ended his job based on what I believe due to false allegations.--Wolfram.winkler (talk) 17:00, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Skeleton Crew Editions

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?36904; There is the original hardcover at the top and at the bottom there's another by Putnam (should probably be G. P. Putnam's Sons like the original) which says it's from the Stephen King Library. The PV of that edition, AnimeBill, entered it in the very early days here and has been gone for many years, so no use asking them about this, https://archive.org/details/skeletoncrew0000unse. I thought it might be PV edition but now I'm thinking it may actually be a book club edition of the original since there's no number line. Is anyone here familiar with these editions who knows if there's some way to identify which edition the Archive.org copy is so it can be entered? --Username (talk) 12:21, 16 March 2023 (EDT)

Dawn of the Dead

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5609977; I recently added the original Sphere edition with no A. in author's name but looking further I see it wasn't there in the original, either. Also, the price was wrong, and the title date is 4 months earlier than the book date while Open Library says December. I thought I had trouble fixing all the later editions some time ago but this is ridiculous. So let's try to find out which, if any, editions use A. on the title page and what the real month of publication was so that can be fixed. --Username (talk) 13:34, 16 March 2023 (EDT)

H(elmut) Wenske

FantLab has a page for this artist and they say he did cover art for Night Chills, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?23919, but besides a Flickr page nobody else credits him online and there's no credit in the book or signature on the cover that I can see. Another 1975 Avon book, Harvest of Fear, does have a Wenske cover which is a variant of an older cover for something else, so either FantLab confused the 2 books or the Night Chills cover is another variant of some older cover. Anyone recognize it? --Username (talk) 18:41, 16 March 2023 (EDT)

New Infinities

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=new+inf&type=Publisher; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5611320; One of the few from this publisher with no PV, I changed publisher to what it says in the book, this was discussed long ago but I think now would be a good time to decide on standard names, there are some books published just by New Infinities with BSM on cover (Berkley), who were just the distributor, while later ones have the Ace symbol on the cover and they're also mentioned on the copyright page. So, assuming all books say New Infinities Productions on title page and not just New Infinities, I think older ones should be New Infinities Productions (like the 3 Swycaffer books already are) and later ones should be New Infinities Productions / Ace. What do you think? EDIT: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5611351; Some of their books didn't even have the publisher on the title page. Also, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sea-Death-G-Gygax/dp/044175676X, which has some ID number on the upper left; British edition or something else? --Username (talk) 11:08 and 11:28, 17 March 2023 (EDT)

This section divided in two, by reference to Differences between revisions 11:28 and 11:33 (personally unfamiliar with these coverart archives). --Pwendt|talk 14:08, 18 March 2023 (EDT)

SFE-hosted images at /nicholls/

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5611356; Is it possible to get "nicholls" images supported at SFE? Peter Nicholls passed away a few years ago. --Username (talk) 11:33, 17 March 2023 (EDT)

It's my understanding that the reason that SFE-hosted images are stored in different subdirectories like "nicholls" is that they were donated to SFE with different stipulations and caveats attached. Some of the stipulations may persist after the death of the person after whom the subdirectory was originally named. Last time I checked with the SF administrator, which was just a month or two ago, "nicholls"-hosted images were still off-limits. Ahasuerus (talk) 15:21, 18 March 2023 (EDT)

Link for uploading author picture

Publications have a handy link that allows uploading of a new cover image. Can we have one of those for people, too, and have it preload the fair use author image template? ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 12:33, 17 March 2023 (EDT)

I can't think of a reason not to add one. Ahasuerus (talk) 08:41, 18 March 2023 (EDT)

Can we make it an official feature request? ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:24, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Done -- FR 1563. Sorry, I forgot all about this conversation :-( Ahasuerus (talk) 22:28, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Thanks! There've been a lot of things going on, so no worries. I forgot about it, too, until I saw this section when scrolling through looking for something else. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:16, 6 April 2023 (EDT)

Contents Question

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5613311; Should those 2 collection titles in the contents be removed after approval? --Username (talk) 12:18, 18 March 2023 (EDT)

No, they belong. Pipes will be needed to ensure they remain in the proper positions. John Scifibones 12:24, 18 March 2023 (EDT)

Oops. Sorry, pipes. --Username (talk) 12:41, 18 March 2023 (EDT)

Chapbook: Non-genre, juvenile, etc

Replying to my userspace inquiry last fortnight, Rtrace observed that the Non-Genre flag for CHAPBOOK title records has an important function governing layout. All chapbooks flagged "Non-Genre" are listed below the line at the bottom of an author's Summary Bibliography. Juvenile, Novelization, and Graphic Format probably have no such function.

There is a cleanup report "CHAPBOOK/SHORTFICTION Juvenile Flag Mismatches", maintained at length near zero; by inference I have flagged a few chapbooks Juvenile, and probably missed a few. This feels like a good time to ask about all four flags {Non-Genre, Juvenile, Novelization, Graphic Format}. Should all four be aligned for chapbook and its shortfiction content? And, anyway, does the guideline do what we think it should?

Advanced Title Search shows that we do not currently set chapbook length. We have more than 100 chapbooks, but less than 200, for each of Non-Genre, Novelization, Graphic. --Pwendt|talk 15:30, 18 March 2023 (EDT)

The numbers are not unexpected-- non-genre and graphic chapbooks will be here ONLY if they are from above threshold authors and even for them, we don't really go out of our way to find and add them. Same applies for noveliazations - most are either novels or not published on their own - most of the ones we have as chapbooks are the current "juvenile" ones of various movies.

I tend to align them completely when I am adding them - a new (and sometimes not so new) user of the system don't necessarily understand that they need to scroll down to the short stories section OR click on the short story in the search results so not setting these on the chapbook is counterproductive. So having both entries carry the flags makes it easier for a user to find what they are looking for. Annie (talk) 11:48, 20 March 2023 (EDT)

As I recall, we had this discussion on the Rules and Standards page a few years ago. The consensus seemed to be that our "chapbooks" are basically single-story collections, so the same rules should be applied. Since we would flag a collection as "juvenile", "novelization", etc as appropriate, we should do the same to chapbook titles. We also discussed creating additional cleanup reports to reconcile the flags between chapbook containers and their short fiction titles.

Re: "Advanced Title Search shows that we do not currently set chapbook length", that is because the ISFDB software won't let you specify a "length" value for anything other than SHORTFICTION titles. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:18, 20 March 2023 (EDT)

Grant Allen, Backslider

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=backslider&type=All+Titles; I just imported 15 stories into 100 Menacing Little Murder Stories, one of those reprint Barnes & Noble anthologies, and while doing that noticed something else. The uncredited "Backslider" (issue's on Google Books) and the story by Grant Allen are the same story! So what's the procedure, which I'm never clear about: Make the uncredited a variant of Allen and make both the same date? --Username (talk) 21:13, 18 March 2023 (EDT)

Yes, variant the uncredited version to the Allen version and give the parent the date of first printing. -- JLaTondre (talk) 08:49, 19 March 2023 (EDT)

Davies Reborn

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?3342; I did a bunch of edits for books in F. Paul Wilson's Adversary Cycle, and while Reprisal and Nightworld used the same art for HC and PB Brit editions the first book's Brit HC used the same art as the American Jove PB which was published first according to ISFDB, but that doesn't make sense because Davies was a Brit illustrator (and nobody's credited in the Jove, anyway), so I suspect Brit HC was published first, in case anyone can figure this out. --Username (talk) 10:07, 20 March 2023 (EDT)

An Account Above Burnside Park

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=burnside+park&type=All+Titles; Someone entered Farah as Farrah incorrectly, as a check of the TP on Amazon reveals it's Farah, but a search of the title on ISFDB also reveals that the author published the story originally under another name in a magazine she edits. So if anyone wants to decide what to do with all this. --Username (talk) 10:24, 20 March 2023 (EDT)

Bookscans HTTP, HTTPS

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5614823; I thought the recently uploaded Archive.org copy would just be the original of the fully-readable one uploaded some time ago but no, it's 2 distinct copies, so I added a link and while doing so noticed the cover image had the old "Fatcow" URL which Bookscans used to use, of which there are 8 still on ISFDB (7 when my edit is approved), and also the fact that the old URL is https while the new one is http but new cover shows just fine unlike, say, Galactic Central where all their http images are broken. What's the difference? --Username (talk) 12:12, 20 March 2023 (EDT)

Unlike Galactic Central, Bookscans has a valid HTTPS certificate. This is why you can connect to https://bookscans.com/Database.htm, but if you try to connect to https://www.philsp.com/ your browser will display an error like "Secure Connection Failed".

That said, once a Web site has a valid HTTPS certificate, it still needs to be configured to support HTTPS. Ideally, it will transparently redirect HTTP URLs to their matching HTTPS counterparts the way we do. Bookscans' HTTPS configuration appears to be incomplete, but I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Sometimes a Web site's data is spread across multiple computers and/or multiple domains, which makes it harder to get everything to work transparently. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:06, 20 March 2023 (EDT)

LAF

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?139537; The first one has a couple of active PV so I'm going to ask about this; I recently added cover artist in a pending edit to Without Warning by Fern Michaels, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?139537, with the same initials on the cover. So the King monkey art was also done by Lisa Falkenstern. EDIT: A copy of Fantasy Annual III was just uploaded and while adding a link in an edit I noticed she did the cover for that, too, but signed it L. Falkenstern. Also, #5 has no art credit so I wonder if she did that, too. --Username (talk) 12:25, 20 March 2023 (EDT)

Star SF Stories #3

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?32089; 6 PV, 5 active, none noticed the cover is wrong and is actually from a later edition, any objection if I replace it with the right cover, 96, here, http://bookscans.com/Publishers/ballantine/ballantine02.htm? --Username (talk) 12:47, 20 March 2023 (EDT)

Talk to the 5 active PVs. If you submit a replacement, it will be held until you talk to them or it will be rejected with an advice to talk to them. If you want, point them to this topic but don't expect people to monitor CP about their verified books. Annie (talk) 13:49, 20 March 2023 (EDT)

You can talk to them individually if you want. I don't plan on fixing anything until at least 1 of them responds; if it was 2 I probably would do it on their boards but not for 5. Most don't respond to anything or have the same answer about going to hospital/coming out of hospital, I can't check because I'm about to move/just finished moving, or some variant of "how dare you imply that I did something wrong". So if 1 or more of them see it here, the board most people check, great, if not, who cares, the book's been here for years and years and nobody besides me noticed the very obvious fact that the cover isn't for this edition because it has a totally different price and ID, most are too busy working on ephemeral e-books and don't care about the old print books anymore (besides me and a few others) judging by how much info here is wrong that I've had to fix over the last 2+ years. Try responding to one of my many questions on these boards with something useful that I can use to fix or add info with instead of coming out of the woodwork once in a blue moon so you can complain about something trivial. --Username (talk) 15:07, 20 March 2023 (EDT)

It would have taken you less time to post to the PVs pages and point them here than to write this. But everyone chooses how to spend their own time on the project.

You asked about objections, I posted an objection, explaining clearly that such a change cannot be approved and a recommendation on how that objection can be overcome so a submission can be approved. It may not be useful to you because it does not agree with your thinking but it is how the project works. Annie (talk) 15:18, 20 March 2023 (EDT)

I'm not here often, but I try to respond to whatever's on my page. I did not notice the cover was off when verifying, but can upload a fresh scan of my edition now when it's been pointed out. --Spacecow (talk) 05:33, 22 March 2023 (EDT)

Done. Waiting for approval. --Spacecow (talk) 05:55, 22 March 2023 (EDT)

Approved. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 10:31, 22 March 2023 (EDT)

Song of the Earth

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5617672; It's Royo as cover artist in both, Luis is wrong, in case anyone wants to fix that. --Username (talk) 14:24, 23 March 2023 (EDT)

McBride Cover Artists Of Thorne Smith

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?709359; [5]; SFE just upped cover of 1926 edition of Topper, I added artist C. V. Farrow, this is the other McBride Thorne Smith book, signature in the grass on right corner that looks like F. Rogers, can't nail it down anywhere, someone here may know who it is. --Username (talk) 15:17, 23 March 2023 (EDT)

Tomato Cain

I was just about to sign off for the night when I saw a new edition of Nigel Kneale's collection Tomato Cain on SFE, https://sf-encyclopedia.com/gallery.php?filter=link:kneale_nigel&slide=6, but OL only has this, https://openlibrary.org/books/OL38018073M/Tomato_Cain_and_Other_Stories_Hb, by Gratis Kneale (?!?) Was this ever published? --Username (talk) 22:08, 23 March 2023 (EDT)

Marcy/Dean

https://hellnotes.com/interview-with-dean-italiano-author-of-the-starving-queen/; I've been adding lots of author photos and other stuff from the old Cosmos Books site and this one is a bit tricky, because he used to be she, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?34089. Whatever the rules are for that here; I vaguely recall some discussion about this months ago. --Username (talk) 13:44, 24 March 2023 (EDT)

Self-Moderation Request - Welo

Hello,

i'm asking for self-moderation privileges. Actually i wouldn't need it, i'm usually happy with the mods work and timing. But edits often need a follow up (cover, variants, merges etc.) and lately approvals take some time and that's hard to track for an editor. As my edits are mostly fairly basic, self-mod privileges would be very helpful. Werner Welo (talk) 11:05, 25 March 2023 (EDT)

Support work I've seen looks goodKraang (talk) 00:00, 2 April 2023 (EDT)

You have my vote--Wolfram.winkler (talk) 18:04, 4 April 2023 (EDT)

Peter Cartur/Roger Flint Young/Peter Grainger/Forrest J. Ackerman

I recently submitted this note to the entry on Peter Grainger:

"I don't know how properly to comment on this. Forrest J. Ackerman was "Peter Cartur's" (or Peter Grainger's) agent. That's why he gave permission. There is NO WAY that Ackerman could have written that story, and no reason to suppose he did. As for the copyright, at that time, the magazines that originally published the story often bought the copyright, and only paid the authors for reprints out of the goodness of their heart (or perhaps if the contract specified such a payment.) So Fantasy House (publishers of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction) held the copyright. Gordon van Gelder, now the owner/publisher of F&SF, states that the contract for the story "The Mist" was signed by Peter Granger (no "i".) I would wonder about the source for the spelling "Grainger", given that he apparently never published under his own name. Incidentally, in the Redd Boggs Science Fiction Newsletter for July 1950, Ackerman reports on some of the "up and coming" writers he is representing, mentioning Roger Flint Young separately from Peter Cartur. However, that doesn't mean much, as he also mentioned both Kris Neville and "Henderson Starke" as new writers in his fold, and there is no question that "Starke" was a pseudonym for Neville."

My objection was to the existing note on the author Peter Grainger, who is not credited with any stories under his own name, but with stories as by Peter Cartur, Roger Flint Young, and Max Dancey. This note reads:

"Pseudonym sources: Roger Robinson (his source: McGhan), Contento/Locus.

Note that ISFDB lists Peter Cartur as a pseudonym for Peter Grainger. However, the copyright/acknowledgments for Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales includes: Peter Cartur The Mist. Copyright 1952 by Fantasy House, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Forrest J. Ackerman. Usually something like this would indicate that Peter Cartur is a pseudonym as copyrights need to be filed under the author's real name. It's not known if Forrest J. Ackerman bought the rights to this story or if Peter Cartur is one of Forrest J. Ackerman's pseudonyms."

My "edit" -- not really an edit but a comment on the note, though I probably should have suggested an edit -- objects to the (pardon me, but I must say, preposterous) suggestion that perhaps Forrest J. Ackerman wrote the "Peter Cartur" stories. The rational given -- that Ackerman gave "permission" to reprint the story, so therefore he must have been the real author, is ludicrous. The copyright was actually held by "Fantasy House" (which is to say, the publishers of F&SF) -- a common practice in that era. Ackerman was the agent. The Redd Boggs Science Fiction Newsletter citation I made supports this claim. Also this long list of Ackerman's clients, which includes Cartur, Young, and Dancey: https://archive.org/details/internationalsci00coli/page/190/mode/2up?q=%22roger+flint+young%22&view=theater

The statement that "copyrights need to be filed under the author's real name" may be true NOW (I don't know) but it was manifestly not true in 1952, when the copyright was held by "Fantasy House".

What I think should be done is to cut the note off after the credit to Roger Robinson's pseudonym list. The whole thing about Ackerman is meaningless -- he was the agent, so authorize to give permission for the reprint.

Also, the credit to "Grainger" is in question, though I don't know how to resolve it, as Gordon van Gelder, in correspondence, tells me the original contract for F&SF publication was signed by "Peter Granger". There is a British author, much later, named "Peter Grainger". Could he be the source of the confusion? - —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hortonwho13 (talk • contribs) .

Yes, the later author is possibly the source of the confusion - we use differentiation and they need to be done manually when needed - and some of them may be missed occasionally. Let me look through these pages later today and see what I can untangle. Annie (talk) 12:57, 2 April 2023 (EDT)

Dawn Burdett vs. D. M. Burdett

I think that Dawn Burdett and D. M. Burdett are the same person as mentioned on this site. What does anyone think? MLB (talk) 00:18, 27 March 2023 (EDT)

Possibly, but the publisher page you linked doesn't mention anything about her doing art. Since all of them under "Dawn Burdett" are cover art, and because the author bio doesn't mention doing cover art (or any art), there's not enough evidence to suggest they are indeed the same person, at least to me. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 12:50, 27 March 2023 (EDT)

Fine, but it does mention D. M. Burdett's first name is Dawn. But, until further evidence turns up, I guess I'll leave the matter alone. MLB (talk) 00:51, 29 March 2023 (EDT)

J. E. Thomas

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?15278; "Doom in the Room" actually by famed author Jeffrey (Edwin) Thomas, very early story so maybe he used that name at the start of his career, but that other story in the Valancourt anthology is likely by some old-time author. --Username (talk) 12:15, 27 March 2023 (EDT)

Post Mortem Print Vs. E

https://isfdb.org/wiki/index.php/ISFDB:Community_Portal/Archive/Archive50#Post_Mortem; An old message of mine finally becomes relevant as this, https://archive.org/search?query=9780615452623&sort=-addeddate, was just uploaded. Editor has a middle initial, 1 story title is different, dates are obviously wrong, etc. Amazon links to reprint e-book are dead, so if anyone can find a preview copy of it we can compare it to the original print edition and fix a bunch of stuff. --Username (talk) 19:14, 28 March 2023 (EDT)

Bauman CaCE Cover

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?916930; FantLab shows Bauman did Dark Harvest cover, she signed it on lower right, copyright page of Tor credits her, too, she also signed it on lower right, but covers are totally different, art should probably be unmerged and made 2 distinct credits, she signed it differently between editions, Dark Harvest is name on left, date over copyright on right, Tor is name over date on left, copyright on right. --Username (talk) 22:35, 28 March 2023 (EDT)

Dillon LANBSM

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?527617; I just added a link to the PB and noticed those covers are different. Why are both under the same cover art record? --Username (talk) 10:04, 29 March 2023 (EDT)

Terratoo

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=terratoo&type=All+Titles; Hard to say what should be done with these, title pages would need to be seen to determine correct author names, if anyone can find out then maybe a merge or variant will be in order. --Username (talk) 12:43, 29 March 2023 (EDT)

Star Short Novels Covers

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?35073; I added an OL-only non-preview link to the '54 PB and fixed the month in all dates to 10 in a pending edit, but I think the HC credit for Powers is wrong; art on PB is in his usual trippy style, art on HC is just random lines. I think PV of HC or someone else just trusted the info they got, as mentioned in their note. I think Powers credit should be removed from HC. --Username (talk) 17:37, 29 March 2023 (EDT)

Post-submission pages for Edit Publication submissions updated

All "Modified Content" tables displayed on EditPub post-submission pages have been updated. Table cells which used to say "Current" now display a link to the Title ID about to be modified. Multiple yellow warnings are now displayed correctly and include the names of new/alternate name/disambiguated authors.

This pretty much completes the cleanup of post-submission pages. As always, if you come across errors or anything unexpected, please let me know. Ahasuerus (talk) 18:30, 30 March 2023 (EDT)

The software has been tweaked to display a yellow warning if a non-existing series, publication series or publisher matches a disambiguated record of the same type. For example, this yellow warning will be displayed if a submission uses "The Rules" in the "Series" field because we already have The Rules (F. T. Lukens) and The Rules (Aaron Oster) on file. Ahasuerus (talk) 12:26, 2 April 2023 (EDT)

Several Problems

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5590099; I was going to cancel this since nobody came to an agreement about what the publisher should be but when I looked at it I realized the note makes no sense because it describes a 1977 date for this 1983 book, also edit history's 2014 entry is offset from the rest so there seems to be a problem there, too. --Username (talk) 08:36, 1 April 2023 (EDT)

Resurrected Holmes

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?33870; I made some edits, still pending, adding March to the title date, correcting the title to "The Resurrected Holmes" since whoever entered info here went by the cover title and not the title page plus I imported the "Giant Rat" story in the HC into the TP. The contents are on OL and there's an Archive.org copy of the TP; if anyone knows which of the contents are genre or were written by authors above-the-threshold they may want to flesh the records out, but be aware that 1 story, R. Lupoff's "The Adventure of the Boulevard Assassin", was reprinted in his collection Claremont Tales II as "The Adventures of the Boulevard Assassin" so a variant will be needed; unlike the few other non-genre stories in that collection nobody entered a note saying where it originally came from even though it says so on the copyright page. --Username (talk) 16:25, 1 April 2023 (EDT)

Introduction Title Question

An editor submitted this edit changing the titles of the two introductions in this publication. For each introduction, there is the word Introduction in a large font over an author credit (e.g. "by China Miéville") in a significantly smaller font. Each essay is also signed with the author's name at the end of the text. I had originally considered the byline to be a simple author credit and thus titled each essay simply "Introduction (The Left Hand of Darkness)". However, the signature at the end gives me pause. I think I still agree with my original title, but I see how it could be interpreted differently. Also if we include the byline as part of the title, should we still disambiguate. What do other folks think? --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 08:00, 2 April 2023 (EDT)

I consider the byline to be just an author credit as well. We already have the author in the author field, adding “by author” to the title feels like an overkill. If we decide to keep it in the title, it still needs disambiguation IMO - it is as generic as Introduction on the author’s page after all. Annie (talk) 12:37, 2 April 2023 (EDT)

If I may explain how I arrived at the proposed titles. Usually there is only one novel introduction and where that is the case, it is simply titled "Introduction" and may or may not be signed. Here, we have two introductions (the Miéville one being added for this Masterworks II edition). To make it clear to readers whose introduction each is, the publishers have extended the title to include the author's name (probably for the first time) and, for our purposes, have created a variant title. In the notes I have tried to make it clear that the title is as it appears above the work (as the titling rules require) and not just a whim on my part. That we also have the author in the author field I consider as just a system function. I added the disambiguation for the purposes of the author's page, as noted above. Hope that helps. Kev. --BanjoKev (talk) 15:16, 2 April 2023 (EDT)

I still do not think we should add it as part of the title - we never add the author name to the title unless it is incorporated cleanly and a byline is not an incorporation for me. I understand how you came up with the titles but I just do not think that we should be doing that. Two introductions or an introduction and a foreword are essentially the same thing from our perspective - but you are proposing we handle one of these differently from the other because they happen to both be called introductions. Annie (talk) 13:55, 3 April 2023 (EDT)

I agree with Annie. It's not part of the title. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 16:38, 3 April 2023 (EDT)

Thanks for those answers, but I'm left unclear as to what you mean by "unless it is incorporated cleanly and a byline is not an incorporation". I think I get the meaning but can you expand on that a little. Does it follow that if the author's name appears above the essay it should always be treated as a byline and therefore ignored? Thanks, Kev. --BanjoKev (talk) 22:23, 3 April 2023 (EDT)

Unless it is part of the title organically, the author name does not get added to the title regardless of where it is on the page - below, above, in between the two lines of a title, led or not led by “by”. Otherwise as most title pages out there have the author name, one can take your argument to the extreme and make a case that we always add the author name to the title of stories, books, essays and so on because it is on the page after all; your case is not different from that really even if you are restricting it to a limited usecase in your mind - there is no reason to mad an exception here. So “Isaac Asimov Presents” keeps the name as part of the title because it cannot be separated. Or “Neil Gaiman Talks About Things”. Similarly to how we do not keep a series title inside of a title for example. We are not ignoring it - we just have a different place for it in our record so we use that. Just like we do with series names. Annie (talk) 00:26, 4 April 2023 (EDT)

Thanks for taking the time to explain that clearly. As I couldn't find anything in the help pages, it's been nagging at me :) Kev. --BanjoKev (talk) 19:46, 4 April 2023 (EDT)

F. Cantor

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?26927; People here have been working on Silverberg's anthology Mirror of Infinity, cover artist Fred(erick) Cantor only has credits for that and The Exorcist, cover image of which has been used countless times on later editions, but he also has 1 interior credit for a cover of John Farris novel All Heads Turn... but there's no cover credit on any edition on ISFDB. So which cover did he do? Also, there's 1 credit here for Frederik Cantor for a reprint edition of Exorcist that he didn't do the cover for, it being just an image from the film, so that is something to look into, too. --Username (talk) 12:04, 2 April 2023 (EDT)

Conan

https://archive.org/details/conan00howa; https://archive.org/details/conan0000unse; One very old Archive.org upload, one fairly new, I'm not sure about the Ace edition because there's no updated date on the copyright page, whether it's the '77 or '79 (with illustrations) edition, neither is PV so if anyone wants to do something with them, also that British edition's notes are unclear, long-gone PV says reprinted 1977 but wrote reprint line from copyright page below that so I don't know if they had an edition that actually said 1977 because the Archive.org copy doesn't, I don't know the history of these endless Conan reprints at all but I know others here do so they may want to do something with this, too. --Username (talk) 12:38, 2 April 2023 (EDT)

Brian Williams

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?8790; I just made an edit adding link to copy of Vampirium, one of those Lone Wolf game books, and the cover artist, Brian Williams, was also the interior artist but that wasn't entered so I did it. Now the problem is he died in 2010 but there are multiple entries on ISFDB after that date; I believe this guy, https://fantlab.ru/autor13980, wrote those series novels while the deceased was the artist, but the problem with that is the last 3 interior art credits are for books written by the novelist, implying that he illustrated some of his own books. Then there's the question of which Williams wrote the 2 70's letters and the 5 short stories spanning early 80's to 2013. Who knows which one did those 3 computer magazine stories but "Tie Your Own Rope" was done for a White Wolf anthology, a well-known gaming company, so maybe the artist wrote a story now and then, but then the last story was written for a disturbing sex anthology that I remember writing about on these boards once before, and I can't picture either one of these Williams writing a story for that, especially since the artist died a few years before it was published, so that's possibly a third Williams. There's also the fact that while the first 4 cover credits are gaming-related as is Vampirium, 2 others are for gay-themed anthologies and the last is for an obscure American horror magazine. Note also another Brian Williams, a comic artist, is on ISFDB being interviewed (possibly the same guy as the above artist except the interview is dated more than 6 months after he died; different guy or long lag time before publication?) and there's another Williams who wrote a dragon fantasy novel in 2018 from a UK self-publisher so not likely to be by the above novelist whose books are from major publishers. So untangling is needed if anyone is interested. EDIT: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5627339; This one was missing both cover artist and interior artist so whenever the artist is separated into his own record I have a feeling there'll be a lot more books than the 2 I edited that are missing his credits here. --Username (talk) 21:29, 2 April 2023 (EDT)

Lost story, no title, no author, only rough memories of the plot

This is set WAY WAY WAY far in the future. The location of Earth has been lost in time. Horses and dogs are coequals with humans in society. A horse approaches a young and wealthy woman and offers her something amazing if she'll help him find and restore old Earth. To cut it short, he lets her have a horseback ride. She falls in love with it, and becomes INSANELY wealthy, sends out scout ships, finds Earth, terraforms it, and hands it over to the non-human members of society. The horse gives her another ride and they all live happily ever after. Sorry to not be more eloquent. I just finished a 12 hour shift at the ambulance company's dispatch center where I work. Thank you very very much. Sak1776 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sak1776 (talk • contribs) . 20:39, 2 April 2023‎ (EDT)

If no one can answer your question here, we have a few other sites that can help listed at ISFDB:FAQ#I need help finding a book. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:00, 3 April 2023 (EDT)

I checked around with a few people and they suggested it was "Dreams Done Green" by Alan Dean Foster. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 16:25, 3 April 2023 (EDT)

Yes this is definitely "Dream Done Dream" by Foster.Zybahn (talk) 23:14, 3 April 2023 (EDT)

Nordon

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=leisure+b&type=Publisher; Many of the books on ISFDB as by Leisure Books are actually by Leisure Books / Dorchester Publishing so when I come across them I fix them, but for some reason 5 books on ISFDB are under the Nordon name. The problem with that is all the early Leisure books before they hooked up with Dorchester in the mid-80's say published by Nordon on the copyright page (93 of them were found by doing a text search on Archive.org); the Dorchester name is used here to differ the later books from the earlier ones so there's no need to do that for the early books. Would there be any objection to me changing those 5 to just Leisure Books so they merge with all the hundreds of other books by that publisher here? Only 1 of the Nordon books is PV (by MLB). --Username (talk) 08:30, 4 April 2023 (EDT)

Wasteworld

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?19205; 4th one's a chapbook but 1st one has same page count so shouldn't it be so, too? --Username (talk) 19:11, 4 April 2023 (EDT)

Expired Link

This publication has a note regarding the cover art followed by a link. The flickr page being directed to no longer exists--in such a case can I simply remove the note or is it customary to notify a PVer? I do not know which one had left the note. Thanks. Zybahn (talk) 22:18, 4 April 2023 (EDT)

It's Mavmaramis's link - I've notified him. Kev. --BanjoKev (talk) 23:22, 4 April 2023 (EDT)

Before deleting a link, see if you can find if archived in the web archive. If not, then all we can do is to delete it. Annie (talk) 11:07, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/markfullerdillon/52607643318; Is that what you're looking for? Also, if you replace old link can you also correct the 2 misspelled words in the note? I've done so for many of this editor's notes. --Username (talk) 11:11, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Thanks to all. I've made the corrections & submitted. Zybahn (talk) 21:55, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Throat Sprockets

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?8169; A copy of the rare American edition was just uploaded so I added a link and a bunch of other stuff, including correcting the month which was off by a couple of months, but the 2 even rarer British editions seem to have disappeared almost entirely, with no eBay copies I can see or any online scans of anything besides the cover. The one review I could find, https://criminolly.com/2021/10/27/throat-sprockets-review/, has a different page count than either edition and a month that neither have. So if anyone owns a copy or can actually do better than me and find online info it would help. Poor Mr. Lucas lost his wife recently so it would be nice to flesh out and correct his info here. --Username (talk) 08:02, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Leviathan Awakes (excerpt) (sic) by James S. A. Correy (sic)

I stumbled across this by chance the other day, with both the title and author name incorrect. It's strikes me that 2 errors is perhaps more likely to be down to data entry here than mistakes by the publisher, but it's from a 2011 pub transient verified by an editor who has not been active for several years. Any thoughts on whether the appropriate varianting and note-adding is the best course of action, or instead to correct the title and editor fields?

FWIW, some cursory Googling threw up a library entry that indicates the correct title and author name was used. ErsatzCulture (talk) 09:15, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25033756M/Degrees_of_freedom; One of those OL-only non-preview things; search inside says Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey. --Username (talk) 13:16, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Thanks, I have now updated title and author name, and made a parent title for the real authors Franck and Abraham. ErsatzCulture (talk) 18:26, 12 April 2023 (EDT)

E. Borgese

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5623541; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=borgese&type=Name; Will my rejected edit be un-rejected if my fixing of her name in the original Brit edition is made a variant or variant is deleted or whatever it is that needs to be done? I'm confused. --Username (talk) 11:15, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

That won't fix the issue. The problem is that the add publication submission was made to add a publication to the title by Elizabeth (with a moderator note that you were adding it with the incorrect name). Your subsequent submission updated both the existing title and publication records to Elisabeth. I was not aware of your second submission until after I rejected the first, but it wouldn't have mattered. Changing the source record does not update any pending submissions (e.g. your rejected edit). Had you done these two submissions in the opposite order, and waiting until the name change was approved before submitting the add publication, you would have been fine. The other way you could have done it, was to submit your first edit as a new publication. Then, when both were approved, you could merge the title records. At this point you can submit a new Add Publication from the updated title record (Elisabeth). By the way, there is a second step that is still required for your change of the existing title record from Elizabeth to Elisabeth. Since you changed it to a variant name, you need to make the altered record into a variant of the canonical name. Hope this helps. --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 13:56, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

But her real first name is spelled with an S, so that should be the parent name. There's nothing on ISFDB that was published as by "Elizabeth Mann Borgese". --Username (talk) 14:23, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Well, we currently have 11 title records that have been published as by Elizabeth Mann Borgese. We have no concept of "real name", we only reflect how things have been published. The canonical name is the name by which the author is best known in the field. You'll note that her legal name, as Elisabeth, is reflected in the legal name field. --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 14:57, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

They weren't really published as by Elizabeth in her collection, whoever entered the original Brit edition here (Chris J? He's first in edit history) incorrectly wrote her name that way and thus she's credited that way. Her American edition also says Elisabeth so it's not like they changed the spelling due to some British/American differences, it's just wrong. So her name needs to be changed to Elisabeth for all those stories and then when everything says Elisabeth my edit adding the American edition can be un-rejected, re-added, whatever. I just saw a full wraparound cover online so that'll be something extra to upload that wasn't in my rejected edit. --Username (talk) 15:10, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

There are two issues that you are talking about. First, you submitted an edit to add a new publication, but you submitted incorrectly. I don't think your edit could be unrejcted even if all instances of "Elizabeth Mann Borgese" were changed to "Elisabeth Mann Borgese" (i.e. the two authors are merged). Even that is impossible because there are publications where the author is credited as "Elizabeth Mann Borgese" (e.g. here). Regardless, there is nothing that can be done to change the author's name in your rejected edit that you submitted as Elizabeth. Even if "Elizabeth Mann Borgese" was deleted from the database, your edit would re-add the name as a new author were it approved. I've mentioned above the best way to proceed. I noticed that you did not include the content in your rejected edit. The content from the other record cannot currently be imported because the title records have the incorrect name. There are two ways to bring these records into shape.

1. You could edit the existing collection and change the author credit for those stories that appear only in that collection. You would also need to remove any stories that are published elsewhere from the collection, then re-add them with the correct credit. There is a further step in that variants need to be made, but I'll discuss that below when covering the second overall issue.
2. Alternatively, you could manually add all the stories, with the correct credit, when you re-add the George Braziller publication. You could then remove all the stories from the MacGibbon & Kee publication and import the ones with the correct author credit from the other pub. Again variants will need to be made to finish the process.

The second issue is what name needs to be canonical for this author. Absent evidence to the contrary, I would assume that all other publications are correctly credited. That leaves us with 6 titles in 13 publications credited to Elizabeth. There are 10 titles appearing in 3 publications as Elisabeth. I'm not counting translations which are all variants anyway. You could argue that the canonical name be changed to Elisabeth, but I'd recommend proposing that in a separate thread. Also, would you be volunteering to do this work (it's many edits)? You would need to move all the author data from the current canonical record to the new one; Break all of the parent child author name relationships; Make all new alternate names variants of the new canonical name; Merge any titles with the new canonical name where the former parent name appeared in no publications, deleting the parent title relationship; Change the author credit of any titles with the former canonical name that appear in no publications to the new canonical name. Break any remaining parent child story relationships; Make any remaining titles by alternate name variants of the new canonical name. If you don't want change the canonical name and can't find someone else to do it, or the community decides to keep it as Elizabeth, you'll need to finish the above edits by making the new Elisabeth titles into variants of Elizabeth. Again, I hope this helps. --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 19:09, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Dude, as I've mentioned somewhere on the message boards before, I was hit in the head a few times when I was a kid, many years ago, so I'm a little slow, and my mind has been rapidly deteriorating recently due to personal and external issues, which shows in the occasional misstep I've made here lately which is highly unusual for me, so I don't have a clue what it is you're asking me to do; you and others here seem to forget that I've said more than once that I'm a total amateur with no background in anything literary who just started doing this a few years ago to pass the time (which makes the fact that I have one of the largest number of non-moderator edits in the history of this site even more remarkable). I'm just about done doing this, anyway, for many reasons, and am mostly doing simple stuff these days, so I have a suggestion; you mentioned recently that you're still in contact with this Chris J, so maybe you can ask him if he's the one who entered the name wrong and, if so, why. If it was him, maybe you can convince him, now that I have brought the American edition to everyone's attention, to do whatever it is you said above. I notice that the Archive.org copy was uploaded in September, 2015 and his first entry in the edit history was November, 2015, so the correct spelling of her name was available at the time. If nobody wants to do any of this, it won't bother me. I've done hundreds of edits since this one and can barely remember it, anyway. I'm sure, though, that the ones here who like to variant every name and title difference would want to see it entered; people who've searched for her on this site over the years may have come away disappointed because her name has been wrong for so many years. --Username (talk) 19:48, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

I'm not going to contact another editor on your behalf. Chris J's talk page is here. However, there is no point in contacting Chris. None of the edits in the history added the content to the record. Even if we could determine who added the records incorrectly, what would be the point of contacting that person? They could have been working from a secondary source that was incorrect, but in the end, it doesn't matter. You've discovered an error in a record and you've fixed only part of that error. That's good, but the job isn't finished. The bare minimum to fix this record is:

1. Go to the title record where you changed the name and use the Make This Title a Variant tool to make it a variant of the canonical name. Use Option 2 and enter the canonical name, "Elizabeth Mann Borgese" and click Create New Parent Title.
2. Go to the publication record and use the Edit This Pub tool to edit the record. For each story where the edit fields are not disabled, change the author's name to "Elisabeth Mann Borgese". For all other stories, add "delete" to the page number, use the add title button to add a new row and copy the title of each story to the new title field, enter "Elisabeth Mann Borgese" as the author for the new author field. You can enter this edit at the same time as the one above.
3. After the above edit is approved, go back to the publication record and use the Remove Titles From This Pub tool. Mark each title with delete in the page number.
4. For each title that does not have a parent title (you can find them all at Elisabeth Mann Borgese after the above edits are approved). You need to go to each title and use the Make This Title a Variant tool to link the title to the appropriate parent. At this point, the parent titles should exist. Find each matching title at Elizabeth Mann Borgese. Take note of the Title Record # at the top right of the screen. In the make variant screen, use Option 1 and enter the title number to link the titles.

Making variants when an alternate name is used is not something that is optional or done only when people like to. It's a data integrity issue that needs to be resolved. As it stands, this record will show up on several cleanup reports until it is fixed. Also, there is no problem in searching by an alternate name. If set up correctly, each alternate name has a link to the canonical name, as does all 4 of Ms. Mann Borgese's alternate names. By the way, when you being one of these multi-step edits, it is generally a good idea to let the moderator know that you intend the next steps by adding it to the moderator note. I've tried to give you complete instructions, but if you have any questions when attempting this, please reach out either here or on the Help desk. --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 21:31, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Number Line

https://archive.org/details/nailedbyheart0000clar_p5s1; What printing is this? It's 3rd, isn't it? --Username (talk) 14:49, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Yes, the 3rd - the lowest number on the list gives you the current printing (with a special note for some number lines that contain a year as well as a printing number). That specific configuration of numbers is a pretty common one. Annie (talk) 19:48, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

OK. I asked because of this, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5625372, where either I goofed or there was some hiccup when I entered it, so I made a new edit with the right cover, but the 2002 edition on Archive.org matches the ISFDB note which says "third printing" yet the mod who rejected this said 4th printing, which I had a feeling was wrong. I'll now add a link in that record. --Username (talk) 19:53, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

The Heaven Maker

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1518099; I recently added the 2014 TP and a link to the Archive.org copy which was recently uploaded; why page count is different between all 3 editions is unknown, someone entered them for the HC and they seem accurate, final essay starting on p. 249 and page count being 254, while TP is 20 pages longer but doesn't seem to have any extra material, but more importantly is while importing HC contents into TP and adding page numbers I now notice that the foreword, which is actually titled Forward in the book, is by Janis McKay, who is actually Janis Mackay per signature, an author with several credits on ISFDB, while the intro is actually by Herbertson. So if anyone can get a hold of the original HC edition and verify it's the same then those can be corrected. --Username (talk) 15:30, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Magnus Fin

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?30867; Print editions are all same price, one says TP, one PB, and one "unknown", in case anyone knows which they should all really be. --Username (talk) 15:33, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

They are all the standard B format in UK (a few mm under 20 cm) - which is a tp in our DB. I've fixed the 2 that were added in error. Annie (talk) 19:51, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Tenth Time (A)round

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?74425; I randomly came across that Venture issue on Archive.org, a Brit magazine that apparently reprinted F&SF with added illustrations, if I'm understanding it correctly, and I immediately noticed a problem; McIntosh's story, which ISFDB claims is only "Tenth Time Round" in Venture, is the same in F&SF, too; it's not "Tenth Time Around". There are some active PV so I'm not touching it but this seems like a fairly big change so I thought I'd mention it. --Username (talk) 20:36, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

I updated the title in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1959 based on the Internet Archive scan and notified the active verifiers. I will also expand Venture Science Fiction, October 1964 based on its Internet Archive scan. -- JLaTondre (talk) 19:34, 6 April 2023 (EDT)

https://archive.org/search?query=%22venture+british+ed%22&sort=-addeddate; I think these are all the issues available, in case anything else needs fixing. --Username (talk) 10:54, 8 April 2023 (EDT)

Thank you. Searching for Venture Science Fiction only returned the one hit and Venture too many. I appreciate you finding a good search term. I will add the links to the magazines and make updates as needed. -- JLaTondre (talk) 11:08, 8 April 2023 (EDT)

Pranks

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?17626; I've been trying to fix publisher Leisure as many of their old books here as by Leisure Books were wrongly entered here with Dorchester in the publisher; with this book I have a vague memory of working on it last year, trying to get all the cover images to match price/ID entered here, and after adding an Archive.org link to the 3rd one I noticed the 1st one, entered by ChrisJ in 2014, is the same as the 3rd one (which I entered last year) except he used the original edition's 1983 date instead of the reprint's 8/89 date which is on the copyright page, so I think the 1st one can be deleted. The 2nd one has a broken image and a Not Found message when it's clicked; I see that I made an edit some time ago for that, too, but obviously if the image was broken back then it would have been noticed. So does anyone have any ideas about that? --Username (talk) 21:58, 5 April 2023 (EDT)

Plus qu'humains

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19267614W/Les_plus_qu%27humains?edition=key%3A/books/OL26778119M; Full cover, which none of the images on ISFDB show, with a date that's earlier than other editions with that cover, so French-fluent editor may want to add it, re-date the cover art, etc. --Username (talk) 18:45, 6 April 2023 (EDT)

Robert Wise

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?4333; Cover of J. Rovin's UFO Movie Quiz Book says intro by Wise (who was a famous director) so I added that here and put (director) after his name to differ him from the Wise on ISFDB who wrote Christian novels; interview is also by the other Wise, https://www.ebay.com/itm/371173025862, as the seller mentions in his description. Now that it's an interview about films should it be deleted or should (director) be added to that, too? --Username (talk) 08:52, 7 April 2023 (EDT)

My edit was finally approved; how about that interview? --Username (talk) 13:48, 20 April 2023 (EDT)

Ad Astra's analysis of our data

In "James Gunn's Ad Astra" #12 (the current issue), René Walling writes an essay on "Report: Books, Creators and Series, 1800-2018", in which he does a statistical analysis of books published in the genre during the specified period. He analyzes 168,012 genre books, of which 162,140 come from isfdb, and another 5,872 come from "The Locus Index to Science Fiction" and the "SFBooklist". He focuses his attention on (1) Number of books and creators; (2) Number of books published by an author; and (3) Number of series published. And, of course, how these numbers vary over time. If you're interested, the article is online at https://www.adastrasf.com/report-books-creators-and-series-1800-2018/. Chavey (talk) 12:47, 7 April 2023 (EDT)

Of course there are lots of question about the data he generated, e.g. Did he count translations as different books? Did he use our non-genre flag? Did he correctly process our "variants" of a title? etc. Nevertheless, it may still be slightly interesting to some. Chavey (talk) 12:55, 7 April 2023 (EDT)

Curious. Comparing Percent of Titles in Series by Year generated by our weekly reports and the "ISFDB" column in Table 6: Percent of books in a series per year, 1891-2018, I see that the numbers are somewhat different. It makes sense since we count "novels" and "short fiction" separately while René Walling apparently consolidated everything that he considered "books":

• Novels, chapbooks, collections, anthologies and nonfiction books related to the genres of fantasy, horror and science fiction, i.e. found in one of the above mentioned lists, were all included.

Moreover, our chapbook records do not have "series" information, which will inevitably affect the stats. Ahasuerus (talk) 14:03, 7 April 2023 (EDT)

Doubleday and The Crime Club

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=crime+club&type=Publisher; I did an edit for the Gores/Pronzini Tricks and Treats anthology and made Doubleday into Crime Club / Doubleday, but ISFDB has a jumble of different ways that people added the publisher, with the Crime Club / Doubleday one also having Doubleday Crime Club as a pub. series with many more books than the publisher has, some of which are from the Doran era which has its own separate entry here, Crime Club / Doubleday Doran, while I think none of the ones as by Doubleday / Crime Club make sense because Doubleday was the publisher. So if anyone wants to take a look at this some merging/standardization would probably help. --Username (talk) 12:28, 8 April 2023 (EDT)

Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems

Hi,

Joshua Gage's speculative fiction poem, "Penrose process . . ." has been long listed for the 2022 Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems by The Haiku Foundation.

I would like to have this award added to those supported by the ISFDB software, as the award does recognize poetry in the speculative fiction genre.

The Haiku Foundation, as part of its mission to expand possibilities for English-language haiku, created the Touchstone Awards Series in 2010 for individual haiku and senryu (The Touchstone Award for Individual Poems) and books (The Touchstone Distinguished Books Award). In 2022, the Touchstone Award for Individual Haibun was added to recognize individual haibun.

All awards seek to reward excellence and innovation each calendar year. Results are determined through a year-long nomination and selection process and are released the following year on April 17, International Haiku Poetry Day. Award recipients are selected by independent panels comprised of authorities in the field.

https://thehaikufoundation.org/touchstone-poem-awards/

https://thehaikufoundation.org/2022-touchstone-awards-for-individual-poems-long-list/

Thank you. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by SillyWilly (talk • contribs) .

Thanks for bringing this award to other editors' attention. It appears to be legitimate and I see no reason not to create an Award Type record for it. Ahasuerus (talk) 09:10, 10 April 2023 (EDT)

Utopia Awards

Hi,

Several ISFDB titles have been nominated (or won) the inaugural 2022 Utopia Awards. Considering their website, it appears to be legitimate.

https://www.android-press.com/2022-utopia-award-nominees

Would it be possible to add it to the database?

Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Alittlebook (talk • contribs) . 09:52, 10 April 2023‎ (EDT)

I suggest waiting to see if they are awarded a second time. I can't find much about them outside of that one site. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:00, 10 April 2023 (EDT)

Richard Hill

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=richard+hil&type=Name; This falls under the category of "never assume anything". So I randomly found a copy of Squane's Journal #4 (1997) on eBay, a special Ramsey Campbell issue, and took the time to enter the extensive essays included, 1 of which was by a Richard Hill. Something seemed familiar about that name and, being fairly common, I checked to make sure there weren't others with that name here. It turns out that there's a Richard Hill from the USA who wrote a few SF stories in the early 70's, but he had 1 story that was dated many years after he died in 1999. Turns out that story belonged to Richard Hill (I), who wrote a few recent stories in horror publications. However, under this (I) was a 1980 anthology, Hot Air, which I entered in 2021, although I have very little recollection of doing so and apparently just did it so I could enter the original appearance of Ramsey Campbell's story "Out of Copyright" in this obscure British publication. Thinking I was clever, I added a (II) to the editor of Hot Air and also added it to the poem's author since that was written for an early 90's anthology, Now We Are Sick, edited by 2 Brits and so was almost certainly by the same Hill. However, after these edits were approved, I clicked on the Horror Zine bio under Hill (I) and discovered that, I think, the Hill who's written a few recent horror stories is the SAME GUY as the Brit Hill, since it mentions him being from Liverpool and he's obviously an older guy judging by his photo; there's also another bio I found, http://www.thehorrorzine.com/Fiction/June2012/Hill/RichardHill.html, which describes him as a widely published poet, and I notice that in the first bio there's a poem reproduced from who knows where; the title of it, Slick Jack Brady, is completely unknown to Google. So it seems a guy who edited an ultra-obscure mainstream Liverpool travelogue that's only remembered today because Campbell had a story in it decided after 30 years to suddenly write short stories in mostly American magazines (although his last story on ISFDB was in a Brit anthology). So I think I should change the 3 entries as (II) to (I) unless anyone can tell me that the recent Hill is a totally different guy who just happens to also come from Liverpool. Anyone? Hey, I just noticed something; 2 of the Hills have 1941 entered as their birth date. I assume the USA Hill was verified but I have a feeling the Brit Hill's date may be a mistake, although it's certainly possible that they both just had the same birth date. --Username (talk) 13:20, 13 April 2023 (EDT)

Snow Fury

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?258899; [6]; Shouldn't the date be March? --Username (talk) 08:17, 14 April 2023 (EDT)

Yes. The verifier (who is no longer active) added the pub note stating March so I updated the pub date to match. -- JLaTondre (talk) 08:36, 15 April 2023 (EDT)

Fekete

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=feket&type=Name; First name probably the same guy as Joe with Jr., Joe without Jr. wrote a story in 1965, could be the same guy or his dad. I noticed this when adding story links to stories in Gateway Magazine; most now have links although a few were dead or couldn't be found. Most of them are terrible, but that's besides the point. --Username (talk) 14:31, 14 April 2023 (EDT)

Russell Miller

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?21117; I added a link to an edition of Bare-Faced Messiah; the short story is by some lawyer, https://www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com/?p=1111, bio at bottom. I don't see anywhere online that mentions Miller stories in those other publications mentioned, 2 of which are genre and 2 of which sound like mainstream magazines. Differing needed. --Username (talk) 18:56, 14 April 2023 (EDT)

The two authors have been separated. I also updated the story with the link you provided. -- JLaTondre (talk) 08:39, 15 April 2023 (EDT)

FK Young

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?165423; The poem and first 2 stories are by some old pulp writer; the new guy is the subject of a recent post on Wormwoodiana. --Username (talk) 08:52, 17 April 2023 (EDT)

They've been separated. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:17, 20 April 2023 (EDT)

Rare Ligotti Story

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5641814; Ligotti.net, according to an article I read, existed in several incarnations and the early ones are lost, but someone got parts of it from somewhere so, while trying to get a link for "Teeth" by Matt Cardin (his first story), the link to which just defaults to the modern Ligotti site and a "not found" page, I saw there were other stories listed, including a few from the man himself. 2 sounded familiar but "Ghost Stories for the Dead" didn't, and it turns out it's never been collected. It was reprinted in Crypt of Cthulhu in '89 but it turns out it's from '82. The index on philsp.com is wrong; E. M. Cioran is not a pseudonym of Ligotti but a real poet, and this article, https://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=527&page=2, mentions his admiration and that he used a quote to introduce "Ghost Stories", which is probably why the index is confused. I mention all this in case anyone ever enters the missing issues of Grimoire here, only 1 and 4 currently, because as usual online info is not to be trusted. EDIT: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5641848; The feoamante.com site, still online but dead, gave me a link to the old Ligotti site, when they were using a totally different URL, www.longshadows.com, so I've replaced the archived link since this one says 1999 while the previous one said 2019 (although the earliest links are May and October 1999 but when you click on them they refuse to go to those archived pages and instead go to November; spooky). Also, I found Cardin's story "Notes of a Mad Copyist"; it's also on the 2019 archived site but while the old site shows it just fine the new one is completely black and the text needs highlighting to read it; sadly, "Teeth" is missing on the old site, too, and Cardin revised many of his stories for his collections, so it would be good to read the original; if anyone can find it on some other old site I don't know about that would be great. I also discovered that Ligotti's story "Allen and Adelaide" is on ISFDB twice, the 1981 original and the 1989 Crypt of Cthulhu reprint, the difference being & vs. and, so I've made them variants. One I'm not sure about is "Three Scientists", https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?2702155, which actually contains the first 3 titles here, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?360640, with their 1985 dates being because, according to online info, they originated in Songs of a Dead Dreamer, problem being the earliest edition on ISFDB is 1986 and no edition contains any of them. I also notice the first title was in a 1986 poetry best-of, so 1985 is likely correct, except it's actually from 1982, so this is a problem. How to variant the 3 titles to the original umbrella title is the question I have. Also, anyone who can further clean up Ligotti's info would be appreciated. Just now I found his poem "Envoi" on some obscure site and added a link. EDIT: I see that Cardin has several stories which are in his record twice, with one being spelled differently (Theater vs. Theater), so variants likely needed there. I also found a link to his recent huge collection To Rouse Leviathan, https://archive.bookfrom.net/build_in_search/?q=matt+cardin, on a site which probably shouldn't be linked to in his record so I'll just leave it here in case anyone just wants to read the stories. EDIT: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?2749745; 3 titles mentioned in note are also individual stories on ISFDB. --Username (talk) 11:33, 21 April 2023 (EDT)

Balefires

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?215571; 2009 PB on Archive.org, I added a link in a pending edit, I think 2008 PB is redundant and can be deleted. --Username (talk) 19:04, 21 April 2023 (EDT)

Duplicate deleted. -- JLaTondre (talk) 19:16, 21 April 2023 (EDT)

Saxton Stories

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?124321; The variant for "Woe..." is correct, I checked, but "Heads Africa...", as confirmed from PV of Orbit edition where it first appeared, has no comma after Africa but it does in Saxton's collection; also, is it correct that "Gordon's Women" is dated '76, French date, but "Pollyanna Enzyme" is dated '86, collection date, and not '80, German date? --Username (talk) 10:04, 24 April 2023 (EDT)

Razar

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5644587; Bewildering Stories, which only has recent issues indexed here, has many stories in old issues that are here and while adding some links I saw a story, "Groomed", by Chris Bartholomew that jogged my memory. It's in this weird anthology but the problem is 2 of his stories were jumbled together so it's here as "Ante Up Groomed"; I also noticed some of his other stories don't have exactly the same titles as here. So if anyone can access the full issue a lot of fixes can be done, along with page numbers, etc. --Username (talk) 16:31, 24 April 2023 (EDT)

Novelization for Unfilmed Screenplay?

I'm holding this submission. The help template specifies that the novelization flag is for "novelization of a movie, TV show, game or other non-written work" (emphasis mine). I may be splitting hairs here, but it strikes me that this work is an adaptation of a screenplay (a written work which would be eligible itself were it published), rather than a novelization. Do we want to include this sort of thing in the novelization flag? --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 10:39, 25 April 2023 (EDT)

If a film using the screenplay had been made, wouldn't this be a typical novelization? To my simple mind, the act of filming the screenplay has no bearing on the nature of novel. It seems to me novelization should be adaptation-as-a-novel of any work produced for delivery via a non-"reading" medium. --MartyD (talk) 11:14, 25 April 2023 (EDT)

Perhaps a rewording to something like "novelization of the screenplay or script of a movie, TV show, game, or other non-written work" (emphasis added to show the new wording). ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 13:00, 25 April 2023 (EDT)

Don't replace the word movie. See Luana for a reason. The fact the movie was not filmed (or distributed or shown) seems irrelevant. I'm more in agreement with MartyD's approach, but why limit it to non-"reading"? A play has a script delivered via a non-"reading" medium - acting - so should novels produced from them should be novelizations? Play scripts have been published, though rarely. But do we allow for novelizations from short stories? or poems (Beowolf?)? ../Doug H (talk) 16:30, 25 April 2023 (EDT)

I didn't replace the word "movie" in my suggested rewording, so I'm not sure what you mean. Also, I wouldn't call Luana a novelization since he just made up a story based on the poster and watching a movie in a language he didn't understand. That's not novelizing. That's making it up wholesale, with a little inspiration from visuals. It's a completely different story.

As for play novelizations, I'd consider those covered under the "or other non-written work" part. Expanding a short story into a novel is not so much novelization as it is making up entirely new scenarios and plots based on the short content of the original story. Same with a poem. For me, a novelization is an adaptation of a similarly-lengthy (so not short stories or poems) visual medium such as television, movies, games, plays, and the like. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:11, 25 April 2023 (EDT)

If it helps, Wikipedia defines it as "a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game." ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:15, 25 April 2023 (EDT)

FWIW I tagged the Pat Cadigan adaptation of the William Gibson attempt at Alien 3, which seems to be a similar scenario to the edit in question here, as a novelization, and that edit was approved by Annie back in 2021 when I didn't have self mod privs. ErsatzCulture (talk) 17:18, 25 April 2023 (EDT)

(unindent) One of the challenges here is that -- in most cases -- we don't know how much the "novelizer" relied on the written script/plot outline that the media work was based on. Chances are that the author watched/played the media work in question at least once, but it's also likely that the author was familiar the script/plot outline. It's entirely possible that some novels/stories which we list as "novelizations" and which say "Based on [media work]!" on the cover were primarily based on script/plot outlines as opposed to on actual media works. (I say this in part because that's how some novelizations read.)

Because of this uncertainty I would be inclined to use the "novelization" flag and then add a note explaining the gory details. Even if we don't use the flag, we'll want to add notes.

After reviewing the linked Help template I am also thinking that we could profitably clarify the text in other ways, but that's a separate issue. Ahasuerus (talk) 20:25, 25 April 2023 (EDT)

I think the clarification should consider what ISFDB wants to consider 'novelization' to be, as opposed to relying on external definitions. Interestingly we have a Note saying that Peter Pan is a novelization of a play, but the Novelization flag is not set. ../Doug H (talk) 08:22, 26 April 2023 (EDT)

The flag is relatively new -- we used to use the contents field with specifically designed strings before and these were not set as often as the flags are now. I often find such obvious omissions... :)

I think that if something claims to be a novelization, we put the flag up and add a note with all the details we know - until more evidence is found that makes that incorrect (then we change the note and explain why it is not a novelization). Annie (talk) 11:25, 26 April 2023 (EDT)

This may be more of a Rules and Standards topic, but here are my thoughts:

• A novelization must follow the same plot as the "media work" being novelized. If a work of written fiction is set in a media universe but has an original plot, it is not a novelization. This rule excludes original novels and stories set in media universes like Star Wars, Star Trek, Warcraft, etc.
• A single work of written fiction which follows the plots of multiple TV episodes can be entered as a novelization if the plot is close enough to the original plots. Borderline cases are left to the editor's discretion provided the specific are explained in Notes.
• If a script, a screenplay, a libretto or a plot outline (e.g. for a game) which was used to produce a "media work" is subsequently published in written form without alteration, it is not considered a novelization.
• An expansion or amalgamation of pre-existing works of written fiction into another work of written fiction (e.g. fix-ups) is not considered a novelization.

Ahasuerus (talk) 16:32, 26 April 2023 (EDT)

Portuguese Jedi

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?852871; I think this should be a variant of an English-language novel, right? Also, it's Kahn who wrote Star Wars novels, not Khan, so that might be wrong (and James Khan has a recent story in his record, so there may actually be a Khan totally unrelated to the Star Wars guy). This, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1394010, seems to have been done correctly. --Username (talk) 12:36, 26 April 2023 (EDT)

Varianted. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:17, 26 April 2023 (EDT)

The Fire Worm

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?5223; I just added a link in a pending edit to the Grafton edition; it mentions "Jingling Geordie's Hole" on copyright page, a 1986 Interzone story that (I think) is used for one of the chapters and seems to be mentioned elsewhere in the novel. No edition on ISFDB mentions this fact, so should it be noted somewhere or should the story be imported? Also, and I have a vague memory of asking this before, but the e-reads edition says 1988, which is wrong because that company wasn't founded until 1999. It's 1 of 6 with a too-early date on ISFDB, none PV, so fixing shouldn't be a problem if anyone knows what dates they really should have. --Username (talk) 15:40, 27 April 2023 (EDT)

It might be 1998-12-01, which would work okay. That's around the dawn of ebooks. Also, this listing on Abebooks states the novel is based on the "Jingling Geordie's Hole" short story, so that's what the mention was likely referring to. The short was apparently expanded into the novel. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 16:10, 27 April 2023 (EDT)

I've changed the year based on the assumption 1988 is just a typo. I added a note about it, too. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 16:13, 27 April 2023 (EDT)

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3691729W/The_Fire_Worm?edition=key%3A/books/OL8007597M#editions-list; 2002 e-book and 9/2004 PB, so there's probably several releases for each book by the company. Also, I think the complete short story is in the novel, copyright page says the story "first appeared" in Interzone. This, https://archive.org/stream/interzone-26/Interzone26_djvu.txt, says "constructed around" the "originally self-contained" story, so someone more familiar than I with Watson's work would need to see if the story is in the novel complete, spread among the chapters, etc. Likely importing the story would be incorrect but certainly a note could be added mentioning the novel's based around the story. --Username (talk) 18:41, 27 April 2023 (EDT)

New SFWA "Infinity Award" category

https://file770.com/sfwas-inaugural-infinity-award-honoree-is-octavia-e-butler/

Looks to be the same sort of thing as the Grand Master Award. ErsatzCulture (talk) 18:37, 27 April 2023 (EDT)

Cool. She's a great author. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 22:22, 27 April 2023 (EDT)

The official press release is here. As near as I can tell, the first Infinity award will be presented at the 2023 "Annual Nebula Awards® Ceremony", but it will be separate from the Nebula award. Unlike the Bradbury award and the Norton award, the Infinity award is not mentioned on the Nebula Rules page. Ahasuerus (talk) 00:48, 28 April 2023 (EDT)

FWIW the Grand Master Award isn't listed on that rules page either. Looking at their page for last year's awards, Grand Master, Solstice and Service to SFWA are all in a "Other Awards" list on the right, separate from the main "Nebula Awards" list.

In passing, I note a couple of potential other issues that might need resolving:

* Some of the category naming is inconsistent: the YA, dramatic and service awards have a person's name before them, but we don't have Damon Knight Grand Master Award or Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. Looks like these were renamed after their inception - [SFE says] 2002 for Damon Knight and 2016 for Kate Wilhelm. I know from the likes of Campbell / Astounding and Tiptree / Otherwise that the main award records try to capture name changes, I dunno if there are official rules and standards at the category level

* The Nebula note says "Note that the "Andre Norton Award" and the "Ray Bradbury Award" are awarded at the same time, although they aren't strictly Nebulas", but this is contradicted by the SFWA rules page which references "The Andre Norton Nebula Award" and "The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award", and that on the 2021 results page, they are listed alongside the other Nebulas, rather than the "Other Awards" sidebar. I have a vague recollection that they might have become "proper" Nebulas - Wikipedia says this happened in 2019.

Anyone with more insight or opinion on these? ErsatzCulture (talk) 07:04, 28 April 2023 (EDT)

I think we discussed the SFWA Grand Master Award at some point after its name was changed to "Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award". If memory serves, we considered renaming it to "Grand Master Award / Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award", but it felt awkward. Now that we have more experience with changing award names, I think expanding the award name would be a good idea.

As to whether the Norton and Bradbury awards are technically Nebula categories, I have reviewed the 2019 blog post that the Wikipedia article links to and I am still not sure I understand how it works. It would be best to find an official announcement before we start changing things.

In the meantime, I have created a new Award Type record, a new Award Category record and a new Award record for Octavia E. Butler. Ahasuerus (talk) 22:10, 29 April 2023 (EDT)

Clint Smith

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5648349; SFE says it's not the same guy as the later horror writer; https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/smith_clint. --Username (talk) 10:02, 28 April 2023 (EDT)

I sent a message to the SFE editors asking about that since their bio says to not confuse the Clint Smith they list with the one who did the Gholjaw collection, but they list the Ghouljaw collection in that same bio. In the meantime, I've added a Clint Smith (I) entry until we know more. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 20:08, 28 April 2023 (EDT)

The SFE entry has been fixed and I have added notes to the ISFDB record. Ahasuerus (talk) 22:12, 29 April 2023 (EDT)

Carl (J.) Hoffman

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5648405; Here's a weird one. This rare book was uploaded recently so I made the above edit, checked afterwards for Carl J. Hoffman, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?2144766, I think it's a mistake and should be this, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?945236. Mistake by editor here or Italian editor in the Horror Story anthology? --Username (talk) 11:09, 28 April 2023 (EDT)

Third Alternative #6

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?61651; I fixed a poem title ("Latest Things") and there's a story that's dated March here, there's 2 mentions in the zine of March, I propose all contents and issue itself be dated March. Yes or no? --Username (talk) 11:59, 28 April 2023 (EDT)

I think if you could find a scan of #5 and it had an "In March" section on the TOC page (as this one has "In July"), you could use March and cite that as the source of the date. Unfortunately, there's no source cited for the March date on "The Bee Keepers", so we can't tell if there was something ascribing a March date to this issue and how authoritative that source might be. Otherwise, the standard treatment for issues with timing specified by season is to use just the year, so we're stuck. --MartyD (talk) 08:42, 30 April 2023 (EDT)

Dom and Va

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5648943; ISBN trouble. --Username (talk) 19:19, 28 April 2023 (EDT)

That's what shows on the copyright page as well as the LOC entry, so that's what we go with. I added a couple additional notes based on the Archive.org copy that's linked there. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:56, 28 April 2023 (EDT)

Flexi-Disc?!?

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5649045; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5649045; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5649045; Related to my mention here somewhere a while ago that magazines uploaded years ago on Archive.org aren't always complete, I took a look at these since there were only a few issues published. The first 2 had a few things fixed/added, but the 3rd is most interesting. According to front cover, contents, and intro something called a "flexi-disc" with music from The Bridge, an old Skipp & Spector horror novel that apparently was made into a film or something, was included in this issue. Now I'm certainly no youngster but I don't have a clue what that is; was it some pre-Internet music format or something? Was it like a CD? Anyway, the uploader, Sketch the Cow, who added a metric ton of old genre zines years ago, likely removed the disc but it seems to have screwed up the pages because there are several missing. Most alarming is the supposed JK Potter art for the Ray Bradbury poem, a little bit of which is on the contents page but nowhere to be seen in the zine itself. So I think the starting page entered here may be off for at least the poem, possibly others, too. Any chance someone owns a mint copy who's willing to unseal it and respond here? Also, there's always the possibility I missed a few other mistakes in these issues; there's also movie reviews and such that someone may think are worth entering, etc. --Username (talk) 23:38, 28 April 2023 (EDT)

Hi, Username!

Flexi disc is phonograph record made of thin, literally flexible :) piece of vinyl.

Those discs used as a means to include sound (speech or music) with printed magazines or sometimes books before CDs.

For an example, look at the popular Soviet literary and musical magazine "Krugozor" (the article is in Russian, but it should be clear from the photos). --Zlogorek (talk) 04:50, 29 April 2023 (EDT)

Thanks. I see that I've never left a message on your page in all the years you've been here, so welcome. This Bridge flexi-disc thing is bugging me because there's literally almost no mention of it online that I can find except on discogs.com and a random comment on Goodreads where a guy named "Tom" says "At least I have a flexi-disc of one song from the soundtrack". Highly unusual when every minute detail of almost everything is mentioned somewhere. Skipp and Spector were once 2 of the most popular horror authors around so you'd think this item would be hot stuff but no, nothing. The important thing, though, is finding a complete issue of Iniquities #3 so we can see exactly how the contents are. --Username (talk) 10:53, 29 April 2023 (EDT)

Nina A.

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?328172; These are both by Nina Allan. --Username (talk) 10:23, 30 April 2023 (EDT)

I have fixed the Strange Horizon review, as that can be clearly seen to be correctly attributed on the SH webpage.

The story is a bit more of a pain, because it's in a PVed pub, and there are some other related issues. I'll message the editor in question. ErsatzCulture (talk) 11:21, 2 May 2023 (EDT)

Jewish Fiction Award

The Jewish Fiction Award has been given by the Association of Jewish Libraries to works with significant Jewish themes each year since 2018 (first year they were awarded). It looks like these are the types of awards:

• Winner
• Honor Book

This is a general fiction award for novels or collections of short fiction by a single author, with genre works winning or receiving honors on occasion. It doesn't appear to be a poll (I can't find details on exactly how the winner is decided each year), there's no fee to enter, works published only as ebooks are not eligible, reprints of previously-published work are not eligible, and the full guidelines are here. Should we add it? ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 12:45, 30 April 2023 (EDT)

The organization behind the award has been around for generations and they have given awards to SF works like Atomic Anna. Looks eligible to me. Ahasuerus (talk) 13:03, 30 April 2023 (EDT)

Hearing no objection, I have created a new award type, two award categories and two award records. Ahasuerus (talk) 10:36, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

Thanks! Those are the only two I could determine are genre. None of the others seemed like genre works. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:03, 24 May 2023 (EDT)

Lovecraft Studies

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5650639; A dozen random issues of this magazine were uploaded on Archive.org in 2016 but today, while looking for something else, I stumbled on a single issue that was uploaded by a completely different person in 2021. Surprisingly, there was quite a bit that needed added/fixing; I tried my best, but I'm sure someone can improve on a few things after it's approved. Dirk B. entered it here in 2019 so he might want to look at it. Also, I made a follow-up edit merging "More Chain Lightning" by Lovecraft, keeping 1915 date and essay format. --Username (talk) 20:23, 30 April 2023 (EDT)

Mr. Murphy

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5651017; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5651022; There's a note by someone discussing Jim/James A. Moore's name in the anthology but it turns out Murphy's name was wrong here; however, in their novel he really was credited just as Kevin Murphy. There's also a story, "Awake", published in old British horror zine Peeping Tom, many 90's/early 2000's cover art credits (some for books by Moore and so very possibly by the same Murphy who wrote with him), an interview with a guy from the old MST3K show, and a (II) who wrote a letter to Analog in the late 70's. So when my edits are approved the Murphys need separating if anyone can figure out who's who. --Username (talk) 11:33, 1 May 2023 (EDT)

Tinmey

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=tinm&type=Name; Same person, probably. --Username (talk) 08:49, 2 May 2023 (EDT)

Peter Tate

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?11147; Note in his first story says it's slightly different version of the second story. Should they be made variants? --Username (talk) 09:36, 2 May 2023 (EDT)

Looking for 90s e-zine Cosmic Visions

Good afternoon. I am trying to find any information about the late 90s ezine 'Cosmic Visions' that was put out by John Fultz for several years. I spoke to the editor myself, and he said he had no records or copies remaining. Specificaly, I am trying to find the September '97 edition which included a story by Stanley C. Sargent called "Synopticon of Fear". Does anyone have a lead re. any collectors or archivists out there that may be able to point me in the right direction? Thank you! --MagusManders (talk) 15:24, 2 May 2023 (EDT)

Was it published on a website? If so, do you know what the URL was? Was it published as an ebook? ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:46, 2 May 2023 (EDT)

It was an ebook, distributed via PDF from cosmicvisions.com. The website went down in 1998, but there's some archived pages here. The editor told me that becase the copyrights were donated, each issue had an "expiration" date, but it wasn't clear to me if this meant he would stop distributing it, or if the files actually deleted themselves. And thanks for fixing my posting error. --MagusManders (talk) 15:59, 2 May 2023 (EDT)

https://web.archive.org/web/19970416090028/http://www.cosmicvisions.com/html/cvse.pdf; Only PDF in the archived pages as far as I can tell. None of the contents are on ISFDB. Whoopee. --Username (talk) 16:34, 2 May 2023 (EDT)

https://web.archive.org/web/20111119172143/http://www.stanleycsargent.com/bibliography.html; Looks like he had 5 stories in Cosmic Visions and an interview with Bruce Campbell, star of the Evil Dead movies (evidence of that seemingly nowhere online at present). So I think a lot more than the story you mentioned above are elusive; the only evidence of it I see is your comments on Reddit. EDIT: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/note_search_results.cgi?OPERATOR=contains&NOTE_VALUE=cosmic+visions; famed author Brian A. Hopkins had a bunch of stories in the zine; non-famous author Sean Rodgers had at least one. --Username (talk) 17:30, 2 May 2023 (EDT)

Well, I'm working my way through the archived pages and trying to add what I can find. You can see the issue grid here for what I've entered so far. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 12:38, 3 May 2023 (EDT)

It looks like a lot of big names were in this zine and it seemed to run for a long time. I keep finding random mentions in online bibliographies and such (even on LYSATOR, for God's sake), but I'd be happy if I could just find the Campbell interview. At least we now have that PDF linked here. Even the guy who ran the zine didn't seem to mention it; he probably forgot it was there. Websites in the nineties are like fossils now. --Username (talk) 12:52, 3 May 2023 (EDT)

Based on what I can find, it appears the magazine folded shortly after the January 1998 issue. I can't find anything in the archives about any issues beyond that one. So, it appears to have lasted about 1.5 years. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:17, 3 May 2023 (EDT)

It looks like Robert Silverberg, Thomas Ligotti, Lin Carter, and Brian Lumley all contributed based on the entry on this page. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:31, 3 May 2023 (EDT)

I'm curious how you know "Synopticon of Fear" was in the September 1997 issue. I can't find that information anywhere, though I may not be searching for the right information. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:23, 3 May 2023 (EDT)

Ah, it's on the bibliography page archive linked by Username, above. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:27, 3 May 2023 (EDT)

I think I've gotten the Stanley C. Sargent bibliography as far as I can with the current sources I've found. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:28, 5 May 2023 (EDT)

Wow, thank you Nihonjoe and Username! You jumped on this faster than I could have imagined and did more than I could have myself! I am going to try to reach Robert M. Price to see if he has anything in his archives he's able to share, and I'll reach out to you if there's anything to be found. --MagusManders (talk) 14:22, 8 May 2023 (EDT)

You're welcome. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:01, 8 May 2023 (EDT)

Atwood's Dancing Girls

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5653645; Nobody ever entered original Seal PB so I did from recently uploaded scan but got ISBN trouble. Only site in Google Search with the ISBN without the dashes is Open Library which of course links to Archive.org, but there's also 1 lonely site that has the ISBN with the dashes, https://leavesandpages.com/2012/07/03/review-dancing-girls-by-margaret-atwood/. So somebody out there has a copy with the same ISBN. --Username (talk) 22:00, 3 May 2023 (EDT)

Changing the checksum digit did not result in a valid ISBN. In these cases, we move the ISBN to the catalog field and make a note that it has an invalid ISBN in the pub notes. I have taken care of that. -- JLaTondre (talk) 08:34, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

Added another link to a copy and replaced cover. --Username (talk) 09:25, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

[7]; Bluesman moved ISBN to ID like you did for one of his PV and left some notes in both PV about ISBN; apparently spines need to be seen to get the real ISBN. I just added the month to the 3rd printing using eBay and the ISBN on spine doesn't match that on copyright page, so Seal books were a mess, it seems. --Username (talk) 10:16, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

Constable

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?532472; While adding a bunch of edits for Jonathan Aycliffe books I discovered a lot of the recent editions had wrong covers with somewhat different text. Constable & Robinson is the publisher for most on ISFDB but I also got a Corsair. Problem is most were actually published by the Constable imprint, with that publisher being on the title page and the copyright page mentioning it's an imprint of Constable & Robinson, but there's only a handful on ISFDB with imprint/publisher being entered correctly (I've fixed the few I've come across in my edits). However, Corsair is also an imprint of theirs and yet there are nearly 200 books on ISFDB by them but none as an imprint. That's a separate issue, but I'm only interested in this particular case where Constable is on the title page but copyright page now says it's an imprint of Little, Brown. There doesn't seem to be any combination of those on ISFDB so how should this imprint/publisher be entered? A text search on Archive.org revealed that the copyright text about Little, Brown for Aycliffe books only finds this one. There's several Little, Brown publishers on ISFDB, ISBN 1-4721 leads to several British ones. --Username (talk) 09:43, 4 May 2023 (EDT)

From the 3 Constable anthologies I have print (*) pubs to hand for, it looks like something changed around 2014/5:

- Dozois' Best New SF 26 has "First published in the UK by Robinson, / an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd., 2013", and no mention of Little, Brown anywhere on the copyright page

- His Best New SF 29 by contrast has "First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Robinson"; there's no mention of Constable anywhere on the page, but down at the bottom it does have "Robinson / An imprint of Little, Brown Book Group". I note also that the address is the Hachette UK HQ at Carmelite House, whereas the previous 2013 book has Russell Square.

- The Mammoth Book of Kaiju is also 2016 and has the same details as Best New SF 29.

(* I also have a bunch more of their anthologies in ebook that presumably have similar details, but as I'm led to believe that some people don't think there's any value in keeping records of them, I was disinclined to spend time digging them out and investigating further.)

Re. how these should be entered, I'll let someone more experienced speak to that, but my reading of Template:PublicationFields:Publisher is that whilst "Foo / Bar" may be preferable to "Foo" or "Bar", neither of the latter are intrinsically "incorrect"? ErsatzCulture (talk) 15:59, 4 May 2023 (EDT)

OK, thanks. Except for the sarcasm. --Username (talk) 16:07, 4 May 2023 (EDT)

Machen Merges

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?55418; Person who entered contents, J.D. Cowan (has their own record on ISFDB) didn't merge anything in the 2nd and 3rd volumes and a few things in the first may not be merged, either, from what I can tell. They seem to have generated a lot of messages on their page about not entering things properly but never answered any of them so it's pointless to leave a message there; if anyone wants to merge all of that I'm letting you know. Machen's stories were published under a mess of slightly different title variations so it probably won't be easy. Also, looking at his ISFDB page I see that stories jump from 1937 to 3 1987 Italian titles, a 2019 Italian title, and a 2022 Portuguese title; the 2019 story, Un frammento di vita, capitolo IV, is possibly the same as the last poem on his page, Un frammento di Vita, so that's another issue. Is it a story or a poem? --Username (talk) 10:57, 4 May 2023 (EDT)

Duplicates merged. -- JLaTondre (talk) 07:50, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

FIRE

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5654147; Judging by edit history the title changed back and forth, with Stonecreek, I believe, entering the full title, but shouldn't all words be capitalized? ISFDB doesn't care how it's entered in the book, words should be capitalized, I seem to remember reading that somewhere? Also, Hand's ISFDB author image is the cover of this book; it would be nice if someone could find a good one to replace it with. --Username (talk) 11:51, 4 May 2023 (EDT)

Dutch Tilly

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?542210; I have a few suggestions. There's a copy, https://archive.org/details/tillyroman0000pere, which is 111 pages, not 112, unless that last unnumbered page is in some way a part of the novel, in which case a note should be added about last page being unnumbered. Also, the subtitle Roman is not needed because it just means novel and those kinds of things aren't included in titles per ISFDB rules. Most importantly, this is some later edition judging by copyright page and 13-digit ISBN. By the way, there must be other genre-related books from this publisher, right? Because this is the only one on ISFDB. EDIT: I discovered something interesting while adding a link to the English-language edition; it says "a novel" on the cover but "the novel" on the title page because apparently it was originally an audio drama in 1986. So I don't know how exactly English translates to Dutch but if it's "the novel" then possibly that was meant to delineate between this print edition and the original spoken word. In which case subtitle "The Novel" should be added to the English and "Roman" left as is in the Dutch. If anyone cares about something so minor. --Username (talk) 21:11, 4 May 2023 (EDT)

Bill Prosser

https://archive.org/details/horrorshorrorsho0000unse/page/181/mode/1up; A rare British edition of one of Helen Hoke's thousand or so anthologies was just uploaded on Archive.org, I added a link and fixed the ISBN (which was incorrectly the same as the American ISBN) somebody entered from WorldCat, I think (I have a feeling a lot of stuff is wrong in these books considering how many different editors here entered them over the years and the insane mess of multiple printings, interior art being re-used between USA and British but often totally different cover art, etc.). However, in this case what I want to know is if there's a way to extract an image from the back flap, because there's actually a clear photo of Bill Prosser, who did interior art and British covers which are pretty awesome (sometimes re-used for USA, sometimes not). Date is 1978 but he looks like a dirty hippie who just crawled out of a commune in Haight-Ashbury or whatever the British equivalent of that was so I'm assuming this was an old photo that probably is in other British Hoke editions if anyone could actually find the damn things. --Username (talk) 21:47, 4 May 2023 (EDT)

If you could update this page with the appropriate template variables, it should serve. ../Doug H (talk) 08:08, 5 May 2023 (EDT)

I'm a moron. I have no idea what that means so if you could explain further. Also, should I click on the image link and add it to his record in an edit? I think probably yes. --Username (talk) 08:22, 5 May 2023 (EDT)

And I'm a maroon. I didn't know where or how to connect it up and this was the best I could do as it was just graphics. ../Doug H (talk) 22:15, 5 May 2023 (EDT)

I have filled in the license template. Each template page has the instructions for completing the template. -- JLaTondre (talk) 07:37, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

Masterless Swords

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5654953; Obscure NZ newspaper article has revealed the contents, the titles of which seem to be nowhere on the web. However, I'm assuming the first 2 should be marked non-genre after this is approved. The article doesn't explicitly state the 3rd story's title but it's implied; there's a copy on eBay which shows title page but not contents page, so if anyone here has a copy that could help with possibly identifying the cover artist, verifying the title, and determining story lengths (I'm guessing it's 3 novellas). EDIT: I thought of searching newspapers.com and got 1 hit in an English paper but sign-up is required so I searched Google, verbatim, and got nothing but searching non-verbatim got 1 hit, https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/issue/straitstimes19480422-1, which shows a little bit of a review on p. 9 which seems, from the text, like a different review than that above, so if anyone has a subscription or whatever then possibly this review may verify the 3rd story's title, which is the only genre one and the most important. --Username (talk) 08:18, 5 May 2023 (EDT)

This author is not above the threshold IMO so their non-genre content would not be eligible. While the newspaper review implies the title is the same as the collection title ("third story explains the title"), but it is not explicit. We need a better source for the title. -- JLaTondre (talk) 08:21, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

Jack Red Bear

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5655023; I think the right thing is making original a variant of the more common name, right? If so, shouldn't the date of Strete title be 1977-10-00, date of his collection it appeared in under that name? Also, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=nocka&type=All+Titles, where Strete supposedly wasn't even co-credited in the original and apparently it was by Strete under an alternate title and then the original title in his collection. I'm passing the baton on that one. --Username (talk) 10:56, 5 May 2023 (EDT)

I varianted both stories to being by Bear and Strete. Due to how ISFDB works, if they were varianted to just Strete, they would disappear from the Bear page & we'd be left with an empty author page. It seems quite possible Bear was an alternate name for Strete so I added that to the Jack Red Bear author page, but without a source, it will have to remain speculation. -- JLaTondre (talk) 08:12, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

Selkie Questions

https://isfdb.org/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Willem_H.#Signet_Selkie; I tried discussing things with this guy but he's giving me his usual attitude so I'm going to ask further questions on this board. So I see from edit history that back in my early days here I entered the exact HC date using a clear photo of a review copy slip that's on FantLab. Recently I entered a later printing of the Signet PB but things were messy because the map date said March due to somebody messing with the date long ago, although he claims it was in 2010 but I don't see that anywhere, I think he meant 2009. He fixed the map date so now it should obviously be imported into the HC since that's where it comes from. So do others here see, as I do, that the map is also on p. [6] of the HC like it is in the PB? PV of HC doesn't respond except by e-mail which I'm definitely not sending. He PV it in 2007, prehistoric days in terms of this site, so maybe people weren't entering things like maps back then. Also, if anyone thinks the page count really needs [6] added to it like this guy did for his PB PV they can always add it to the HC and my PB entry, you have my permission, although there's still the case of the mysterious 1990 12th printing entered, possibly, by Bluesman who's long-gone and also where printings 2, 4-11, and possibly more are and whether they all included the map. --Username (talk) 11:29, 5 May 2023 (EDT)

See this submission from April 2010, scroll down to Modified Regular Titles and you see the date change of the map to 1982-03-00. That was not messing with the date, but aligning it with the date of the hardcover edition, (1982-03-00 since this october 2009 edit. I pointed to the edit that changed the date to 1982-04-16 in May 2021. I also pointed to the helptext that explains why the pagenumber should be [6] for the first paperback printing. Is there anyone else who thinks this has anything to do with "attitude", or is this simply the same editor complaining whenever someone disagrees with anything he does? --Willem (talk) 15:13, 5 May 2023 (EDT)

You also advised me that you skipped an edit I made for the HC of this book because I didn't leave a note on the PV's page even though it wasn't changing anything but just importing the map credit which either PV didn't think needed entering or maybe entering map info wasn't a thing here back in 2007, and whoever entered the map info in the PB forgot/didn't know or care to import it themselves (I see from edit history that the map was likely entered by Bluesman and APPROVED BY Mhhutchins, the same person who didn't enter it in the original HC that they PV, so why after approving it in the PB he didn't just import it himself to his own PV is a mystery that maybe you can ask him/her). Plus the fact that the PV has pretty much given up and doesn't respond to much of anything these days, requesting people send them an e-mail which I'm not going to do because the last thing I want is anyone on this site knowing my e-mail address. After our initial encounter a long time ago where you threw a fit because I told you I changed a few things in one of your PV and a few later unpleasant discussions we had you actually seemed to be responding professionally for a while to several of my messages without giving me much of a problem but I guess your meds ran out or something because you're back to your old self. You were the only active PV of the PB so I was trying to sort out the mess as I've done for thousands of other books but apparently your personal problems, whatever they are, are more important. Who cares, 50,000 edits done so far, losing 1 here or there doesn't bother me. --Username (talk) 16:10, 5 May 2023 (EDT)

Please note that "your meds ran out or something" is a personal attack. They are not allowed as per ISFDB:Policy#Blocking_Policy. A warning has been left on User:Username's Talk page as per the Policy. Ahasuerus (talk) 16:56, 5 May 2023 (EDT)

F&SF Sep/Oct 2022

I noticed on the F&SF series page that the Sep/Oct 2022 issue isn't part of the 2022 record. I only have a vague understanding/recollection of how magazines work, so I'll let someone more familiar with them work out if this should really be like that, and if not, how it should be fixed. (FWIW that standalone issue is PVed, but by an editor who hasn't been around since the start of the year.) ErsatzCulture (talk) 08:54, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

I merged the two title records together. -- JLaTondre (talk) 09:09, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

Thanks. (I'm currently in the middle of adding the remaining 100-odd Locus Award finalists, and didn't want to get sidetracked spending a bunch of time looking into that tangentially related issue.) ErsatzCulture (talk) 10:05, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

A pricing anomaly

If we ever get into codifying multiple prices, here's an oddity to keep in mind - a book with two prices that are date dependent. "£19.99 until 31 December 1998" / "£24.99 from 1 January 1999". (The Silmarillion) ../Doug H (talk) 12:09, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

RVT

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=ray+van+tilb&type=Name; Very likely the same person, problem is 2 of the publications are scarce zines and the Dragon issue, which I checked on annarchive.com, says Raymond Van Tilburg. --Username (talk) 14:17, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

This explains (and lets us correct) the Tilberg here. It's "Ray van Tilburg" on the cover and several mentions, but the artwork credit list below the TOC says "p.20 Ray van Tilberg". The artwork is credited on p. 20, however, with "Ray VanTilburg". The text associated with that begins "Ray Van Tilburg has a niche...". I am going to change it. --MartyD (talk) 15:55, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

One follow-up on all of this: A little Googling reveals "VanTilburg" is correct, not "Van Tilburg". See the litany of Pinterest, Facebook, Etsy, and his OffWorld Designs Art site. Per ISFDB standard, spacing is normalized when recording the credit, so I am going to remove the space from the canonical name and note that an extra space is sometimes included in credits. --MartyD (talk) 08:36, 7 May 2023 (EDT)

Brown's Brightest Day

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=the+brightest+day&type=Fiction+Titles; While adding links to stories that were on the old House of Pain horror site I added a link to Eric S. Brown story "The Brightest Day" but according to ISFDB it was published in a 2002 issue of Black Petals as Eric Brown, which means that is lumped in with the well-known Eric Brown who wrote a lot of SF. So if anyone knows how to get that issue of Black Petals and verify what his name is then either it can be variant or merge. I suspect there are other stories on Eric Brown's page here that belong to Eric S. Brown. --Username (talk) 21:07, 6 May 2023 (EDT)

Shumate Story

https://www.isfdb.org/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Biomassbob#Time_To_Scare_Gramma; I suppose titles should be merged since they're the same but the lengths are totally different, so what do you suggest? --Username (talk) 10:27, 7 May 2023 (EDT)

Le James Bond

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?260470; French edition, https://archive.org/details/jamesbondchassea0000otfi, if anyone wants to enter it. --Username (talk) 13:07, 7 May 2023 (EDT)

Leokum

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5657866; While doing this I saw an Arkady Leokum on Wikipedia with different birth/death dates but at the bottom of his credits is a book with Posnick (it's on Archive.org). Just thought that was weird. Maybe dad and son? Wiki mentions "pulp fiction" (doesn't list any, though) so maybe they're confusing Leonard with his dad, except that Wiki mentions a son but his name is Peter. --Username (talk) 14:13, 7 May 2023 (EDT)

Linton Christmas Story

http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/n04/n04934.htm#A181; 2 separate titles that don't match the title here, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?2851147. EDIT: I made these 2 edits, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5658281, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5658282, but there's a problem with "The Veiled Portrait" because it was given the wrong name and the date doesn't match either of these, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1359048, so I think somebody with a copy of this book needs to correct info somebody entered here; it seems to be Toff, who judging by the few entries on their page also entered some other Valancourt anthologies, so a look at those may be needed, too. --Username (talk) 20:16, 7 May 2023 (EDT)

Asimov's Essays: The Hugo Winners

On Asimov's summary page we have the series Introductions for 'The Hugo Winners'. This excludes his other essays - afterwords, postscripts and appendices - and so I propose enabling their inclusion by renaming the existing series to "Asimov's Essays: The Hugo Winners". What do others think? Kev. --BanjoKev (talk) 21:48, 7 May 2023 (EDT)

The existing series has only Asimov's essays, and is missing the introduction by Charles Sheffield. Not including it suggests the title is wrong, but including it keeps it from being Asimov as your proposed title suggests. Also, prefixing it with "Asimov's Essays:" suggests that there are, or should be, other collections of his essays. Given how many he has written and how often they are reused, it may be difficult to categorize them. I think the series adds little value and don't care if it's changed, but I do think that a hierarchy of titles (e.g. "The Hugo Winners", "Essays for 'The Hugo Winners'") should be considered. ../Doug H (talk) 08:24, 8 May 2023 (EDT)

Author DJ Tyrer

I have been working on a number of publications involving DJ Tyrer, as an editor or a contributor. In the actual publications, he is always credited as DJ Tyrer not D. J. Tyrer. Despite this, the ISFDB only showed separate initials. A quick check of the canonical record's edit history shows three merges. I contacted DJ and he confirms his first name is David-John, one name. He only goes by DJ. Separate initials are wrong. I intend to merge the two author records and all the appropriate title records. David-John Tyrer and David John Tyrer (one title each) will remain alternate names unless I can verify an error. I will add a note to the new canonical record so there will be no question in the future. He was also kind enough to review his summary bibliography and only found 4 errors, which I will correct. John Scifibones 19:59, 8 May 2023 (EDT)

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5659503; There are at least a few other thehorrorzine.com Tyrer poetry pages currently online spanning several years where they printed several poems on each page, including "Afraid of the Dark" which has a 2021 date here but it's on a 2018 Horror Zine page. --Username (talk) 23:15, 8 May 2023 (EDT)

Sounds good to me. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 11:26, 9 May 2023 (EDT)

Gruft

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?495335; While doing edits for F. Paul Wilson books I saw this; that looks like a Les Edwards cover, doesn't it? If so, someone who can ID it can also variant it to the original. --Username (talk) 12:00, 9 May 2023 (EDT)

Lincoln Hunters Date

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?9373; I just added a link to the Rinehart 1st ed. and I think the dates are wrong because they're from the club ed. which usually comes later; anyone know original date? 3 PV of club ed., 2 long-gone and 1 with a very odd name has zip on their discussion page. --Username (talk) 13:16, 9 May 2023 (EDT)

Butterfly Revolution Questions

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?20540; Some more editions of Butler's books recently uploaded on Archive.org, I've been making some edits, I noticed someone (Don Erikson?) wrote a note about where they got cover artist from for the original American PB but didn't actually enter the artist. So if anyone has the book he got it from they may want to enter it. Also, the most recent American PB on ISFDB is a 20th printing but there's a 1984 19th printing uploaded with the same cover, so if anyone knows which edition was the first to use that cover they can fix the art date. --Username (talk) 14:16, 9 May 2023 (EDT)

Bloch's Second Coming

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1222802; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?97532; Might be the same thing. This, https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2017/04/ffb-eighth-stage-of-fandom-by-robert.html, describes it as articles about Jesus; this, https://cthulhuwho1.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/2256_inventory_4.pdf, says it was in an obscure periodical, Osgledaren, foreign I'm guessing. So some obscure things here, Taboo, Eighth Stage of Fandom, and that periodical are not anywhere I can see, so help if you can. --Username (talk) 16:03, 9 May 2023 (EDT)

Joan D. Vinge's Heaven Chronicles and Vernor Vinge's Zones of Thought - same series?

Per a James Davis Nicoll piece published today on tor.com, "Finally, there is the curious matter of Joan D. Vinge’s 1978 Outcasts of Heaven Belt, which shares a setting with Vernor Vinge’s Zones of Thought stories... Vinge explained the genesis of her novel and the connection to the Zones in a 2008 letter to her readers. Until I read that letter, I had no idea there was a connection" and there's a link to an archive.org copy of that letter (which I've only skimmed over).

There are a fair number of PVs of both the Joan and Vernor Vinge novels, any thoughts on whether those series could/should be merged, one made a subseries of the other, just have linking series notes, etc? I don't have any personal opinion or insight on this, as the only one of them I've read was A Fire Upon the Deep, which I have to confess I DNFed a third of the way through... ErsatzCulture (talk) 10:53, 10 May 2023 (EDT)

The linked article says:

• ...the "Heaven Belt" stories are linked to the "Zones of Thought" series created and written by my former husband (and still friend), Vernor Vinge.

I would turn the two series into sub-series of a super-series. Ahasuerus (talk) 14:12, 10 May 2023 (EDT)

Thanks - I've created an unimaginatively named superseries with some brief extracts from that letter, and a link to it. ErsatzCulture (talk) 18:13, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

We Are All Legends

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5661090; My note is in addition to notes that other editors wrote for the other 2 editions on ISFDB. I assume ISFDB rules state that this should be a collection as opposed to a novel even though it's called a novel on the copyright page. --Username (talk) 12:40, 10 May 2023 (EDT)

Trek: The Lost Years

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5661789; James Van Hise is on title page regardless of what cover and Archive.org note writer says, so what's the procedure? Shouldn't it say James Van Hise (in error) and variant to Edward Gross? Assuming, of course, that Van Hise didn't actually write it. EDIT: Cover artist has an extensive record without their middle initial; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?133578. --Username (talk) 18:40, 10 May 2023 (EDT)

RWH

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?175902; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?58684; Someone added link to one of Hedge's poems years ago so I just added link to the other poem even though 1990s Nightscapes issues are somehow still online and not hard to find; however, I think this is a pseudonym for Ron Goulart because that essay (not short fiction as ISFDB calls it) from F&SF is clearly a fake bio. EDIT: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5662212; I found another poem by "Hedge" hiding in that HPL issue. This page, http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/nightscapes/NS04/hplindex.htm, lists all the letters and other stuff that The FictionMags Index didn't list in case anyone thinks those need entering. The date is fishy, too, because it was published in October judging by the production dates but it's called "April-October". --Username (talk) 09:36, 11 May 2023 (EDT)

Sargent Review

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?395035; Title is wrong, it's Lost Cities, note makes no sense with the dates vs. book date, non-genre series book with many other Lost Cities volumes, only here because of review, delete? --Username (talk) 11:04, 11 May 2023 (EDT)

Book deleted. Review turned into an essay. -- JLaTondre (talk) 14:06, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

I just fixed a short story in Sargent's record, turning it into an essay; I think it was this one so mistake was made when entering, I guess. I also added a few more story and poem links and think that I've done pretty much all there is to be done with him for now, at least until someone uploads one of his hard-to-find books, which will probably open a can of worms because I see at least one problem with 2 of his stories probably being the same but one having a subtitle in his collection. --Username (talk) 12:40, 16 May 2023 (EDT)

Hitler Art

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5649674; Someone familiar with the foreign editions, tell us which cover Hoffmann really did. SFE, as so often before, has wrong info, but it was obviously wrong anyway because it's a tinted photo of Adolf H. who didn't come to power until long after Hoffmann died. I tried to explain that in my note but it didn't help. So when someone identifies which cover is his this can be un-rejected. --Username (talk) 16:53, 11 May 2023 (EDT)

I see JLaTondre just updated the book with notes and mentioned the Hoffmann credit that's on the flap; however, this can't possibly be the Hoffmann on ISFDB because he died decades before Hitler came to power and so clearly isn't the artist here, especially since it's just a photo, anyway. So either book has wrong info or there's someone else with the same name who's responsible. --Username (talk) 09:07, 14 May 2023 (EDT)

(edit conflict) SFE was correct. It is credited on the back flap of the book. The photograph is by Heinrich Hoffmann (1885–1957), Adolf Hitler's official photographer. I have disambiguated this Hoffmann from the other one. -- JLaTondre (talk) 09:11, 14 May 2023 (EDT)

Investigations of Avram Davidson

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5663113; Fixed this up but there's another record, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?35403, which has an award nomination, so I think the award should probably be moved to the record I just edited and the other record deleted. --Username (talk) 09:01, 12 May 2023 (EDT)

Fixed. -- JLaTondre (talk) 14:02, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

John Stewart

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?27454; I just had author image approved and noticed that short story is likely not by the artist because he died several years earlier. There's also an alternate name for the story which was also an alternate name for a few interior pieces by the artist. --Username (talk) 14:32, 12 May 2023 (EDT)

The publisher's website and the title verso of the publication containing the story agree the authors name is Jeff Stewart, not John Stewart. I'm hoping it's this Jeff Stewart. John Scifibones 14:52, 12 May 2023 (EDT)

C. Armitage Harper

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5663571; Death date very different, mother's name slightly different, verification needed. --Username (talk) 19:14, 12 May 2023 (EDT)

External ID template additional wording needed

In the Template:PublicationFields:ExternalIDs here, for the Audible-ASIN entry, could something like "If the Audible ASIN is an ISBN-10, convert the ISBN-10 value to ISBN-13 and place the ISBN-13 value in the ISBN field." be added after the sentence that reads "Also note that, unlike regular Amazon ASINs, we record Audible ASINs even when they match the ISBN-10."? Thanks! Phil (talk) 08:30, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

I think I must have put this in the wrong discussion group so I just copied this to Rules & Standards. Phil (talk) 06:54, 22 May 2023 (EDT)

Harry O

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?273603; I randomly came across a non-fiction book by R. Matheson, Mediums Rare, that was never entered here but after doing so it said Harry O. Morris was a disambiguated name because of that 1 wrongly-entered cover credit; do I have permission to merge with this, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1282130, since PV with wacky name never responds to any messages sent to them on their page? --Username (talk) 09:42, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

I merged them. That was an obvious error (entering the cover illustrator & interior designer and labeling them with their roles). -- JLaTondre (talk) 13:47, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

Crispino Cover

https://fantlab.ru/art9850; Says he's Italian but credits on ISFDB are for German books, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?244341; cover on FantLab is the same as this, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?603133. Also, the note on FantLab about the artist (RIGHT-CLICK AND CLICK TRANSLATE TO ENGLISH), if I understand it correctly, says he's wrongly credited as D. Crispino in that book. --Username (talk) 12:33, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

Martin H.

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=martin+hof&type=Name; I think the 2 German artists are the same person. --Username (talk) 13:04, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

There is an English artist, a German artist, and a German essayist. If you question the credit on any of these, they all have active verifiers whom you can ask to double check. Otherwise, you would need a source that shows any of these are the same person in order to create an alternate name. -- JLaTondre (talk) 13:56, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

John Craig

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?19264; None of those are by the guy who died before any of them were written/drawn, and likely none have anything to do with each other, although it's slightly possible the guy who wrote the stories wrote the essays, too. --Username (talk) 13:08, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

Tipped-In

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?815229; Book is 1920, preface is 1930, this page, http://wormwoodiana.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-revels-of-orsera-query.html, says it was tipped into leftover copies of the 1920 edition, link someone provided here to Harvard copy doesn't seem to have the preface, this copy does, https://archive.org/details/b29826123, what do you suggest? Add Archive.org link and mention preface in notes? Clone edition? --Username (talk) 19:06, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

I would make a second pub, 1930, for the one on Archive.org, with that dated pre-TOC preface in the contents as the differentiator (note it also has a "By the same author" list not seen in the other copy, and the "v" number on the first TOC page no longer aligns with the physical page count). The linked Harvard copy has the library's date stamp "Dec 6 1920", which pretty much guarantees it is an edition published before that date and can't possibly have a 1930 preface. --MartyD (talk) 07:51, 14 May 2023 (EDT)

DW and the Genesis of the Daleks

https://archive.org/search?query=dicks+daleks+pinnacle; According to edit history I added Archive.org link to Day last year although I have absolutely no recollection of doing so. However, the recently-uploaded Genesis is problematic; it says second printing, May 1982 with a $1.95 price but the only ISFDB edition with that price says 1-1981 and the 1982 edition is $2.50. So someone who knows the complex history of these Who books can add the link if they can decide which edition it belongs to. I assume it should be the 1981 because that has the right ISBN in which case the date would need changing, but then the 1982 would need a new date because it's a third printing. There's no note in 1983 that it's a fourth printing, either (and no price), although there is for the fifth and sixth printings. --Username (talk) 20:08, 14 May 2023 (EDT)

French Dark Channel

https://archive.org/search?query=garton+alliance; I've been doing a lot of Ray Garton edits and came across this in case anyone wants to enter a French edition. --Username (talk) 10:14, 15 May 2023 (EDT)

Ronald Fraser Art

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5666000; Unusual last name of artist, he's on ISFDB, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?373087, Desert title page photo online says E. while signature can't be found on Flower Phantoms cover but few online mentions use Eric; I also added a link to Fraser's Landscape With Figures and the artist there is also on ISFDB twice, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=lucchesi&type=Name, with 1 cover clearly signed E. and the other Edmund. So I mention these things in case after approval someone decides which names are parents and wants to variant the other ones. --Username (talk) 19:59, 15 May 2023 (EDT)

Saga Press Dates

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?576157; I just did an edit adding Archive.org link to this; I don't often deal with such recent books so I'm not familiar with Saga but is it normal for their print books to have one date, in this case 0816, on the flap and another date, in this case November 2016, on the copyright page? One of the bios at the back says a book from one of the authors "will appear in August 2016". --Username (talk) 23:45, 15 May 2023 (EDT)

E. Gornall

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=gornall&type=Name; While adding some M. John Harrison edits I was going to add a link to Ice Monkey but it was already there via RTrace last year, but I noticed artist Eddie Gornall is also on ISFDB as Eddi; PV of that book, Jlassen (Jeremy Lassen?) is gone and never responded to any messages, copy on eBay shows everything except back flap where I assume cover credit is, and Archive.org copy of Ice Monkey is coverless. I can't get a handle online about what his real name was so if anyone knows they can variant one to the other, assuming they're really spelled differently. Being older fantasy books I assume some people on here have their own copies they can check. --Username (talk) 00:15, 16 May 2023 (EDT)

Zombie Apocalypse

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?36612; I made a bunch of edits to a few of the anthologies; I'll just mention that they don't really say "Mammoth Book of" on US title pages, just on the cover, so there's really no variant titles. --Username (talk) 11:29, 16 May 2023 (EDT)

Jagendorf

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5666413; "Demon and the Rabbi" was the only title I couldn't fix, appearing in one of Helen Hoke's anthologies (one of several by him in her books) as M. A., in his collection as Moritz A., and ISFDB saying it first appeared in 1968 somewhere under some unknown name; anthology says it comes from his collection Ghostly Folktales (not on ISFDB) but gives no date. So take a look at that after approval if you wish. --Username (talk) 12:36, 16 May 2023 (EDT)

Hoke Horrors

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5654666; I've made another edit simply adding the Archive.org link, but someone more versed than I in technical stuff can help explain what should be done with this. SBN is for Brits, ISBN is for Americans, why SBN gets no hits I have no idea but that's clearly the number on the copyright page. Why did Helen Hoke have to edit so MANY books and why did the American publishers change so much but not change other stuff and confuse everybody? A good assignment for someone with a lot of patience would be to go through her entire ISFDB list and double-check everything; they re-used British covers for American editions sometimes but other times they were completely different, both editions of each anthology would need to be seen side-by-side to verify if the Bill Prosser illustrations are the same between editions, British spelling of certain words in story titles that may or may not have been used for American titles, multiple printings of certain books of which very few have been entered here, etc. Someone keeps uploading ex-library copies on Archive.org but the titles of some of her books are so similar it's hard to keep track of them or remember if I added links or not. On a side note I discovered that at least a few of her books were part of a pub. series called Terrific Triples but that's only mentioned on their copyright pages; I have a couple of pending edits adding the series but hell if I can remember which ones they were; many more out there, it seems, some for her many non-genre books not on ISFDB. --Username (talk) 10:46, 17 May 2023 (EDT)

Brief server downtime at noon

The server will be down for maintenance between 12pm (noon) and 12:05pm server time (Eastern Daylight Time). Ahasuerus (talk) 11:10, 17 May 2023 (EDT)

The server is back up. Ahasuerus (talk) 12:01, 17 May 2023 (EDT)

If that was related to the many messages by Alvonruff lately, what is the hoped-for outcome of his behind-the-scenes work? Will it improve anything on our, the editors, end? --Username (talk) 12:12, 17 May 2023 (EDT)

The downtime was unrelated to the project that Al is currently working on. It was simply to free up some disk space.

Al's work will update what's happening behind the scenes and -- eventually -- improve our multilingual support. For example, it will let our searches recognize that the Cyrillic letters "А" and "а" are the same for search purposes.

More generally, we need to update the underlying software that we are using. At this point it's so old that it's no longer supported by the vendor. It can cause a variety of security and compatibility issues. Ahasuerus (talk) 12:41, 17 May 2023 (EDT)

Quanta

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?54005; Chris J entered all issues on ISFDB but there are several missing; this page, https://web.archive.org/web/19990224223357/http://www.etext.org/Zines/Quanta/issues.html, seems to have all of them, in case Chris is still around and wants to finish them or someone else is interested. I noticed this because the serial by Vassilakos is missing several parts on ISFDB (it also says 17 parts but archived page ends at 16 so that's odd). --Username (talk) 11:16, 17 May 2023 (EDT)

He's still around because he just made a ton of edits adding/fixing stuff. Thanks. --Username (talk) 12:25, 18 May 2023 (EDT)

All done.--Chris J (talk) 17:08, 18 May 2023 (EDT)

Pertwee's Whodunnit?

https://archive.org/details/whodunnit0000radn; I came across this randomly, seems to be a murder mystery anthology but some of those titles (especially "A Curse on the Pharaoh's Rod", hee hee) sound like they could be genre. Anyway, a Who is on the cover so that may push it over the line. Older Brits here may have read this in their youth and remember details. --Username (talk) 12:24, 18 May 2023 (EDT)

Merge Titles -- more error checking added

"Merge Titles" has been enhanced to perform additional checks before creating submissions. You can no longer create Merge Title submissions which would result in "circular" variants, i.e. variants whose parent record ID is itself. If you come across any issues, please let me know. Ahasuerus (talk) 16:37, 18 May 2023 (EDT)

Non-Genre Stories

After recently printing contents not available elsewhere (which is most of them) from the 1935 British anthology My Grimmest Nightmare at a local library I've finally started reading them and discovered that several are non-genre so I've been marking those and giving brief synopses. This is a common issue here with collections/anthologies both old and new; I think it would be helpful if editors who come across non-genre stories mark them and write a synopsis so people will know which are genre and which aren't. I also want to mention that this anthology is nuts. I read the rare A. Blackwood story long before the others and it was pretty creepy, as expected, but besides the several ghost stories there are a philosophical discussion of the afterlife with what seems to be an atheistic ending (probably raised a few eyebrows back then), a slice-of-life about a sad old guy in a top hat who gets hit by a bus, an account of 2 hikers lost in the mountains that seems like it strayed in from National Geographic, a shopkeeper who apparently gets punished because he didn't donate enough money to charity, and my favorite, a jungle tale of an explorer who encounters spiders, were-hyenas, and a giant half-spider/half-were-hyena which ends with what I think was meant to be a nasty joke about his bride-to-be's looks (no #MeToo in 1935). Least favorite so far? Probably the one about the guy who likes SOS messages on the radio and decides to visit some old guy looking for his long-lost son; the old guy's Irish maid is drawn so broadly I'm surprised she wasn't chewing on a potato when she answered the door. --Username (talk) 20:49, 18 May 2023 (EDT)

Reginald-3

I got a sudden urge to know what is entailed when someone makes a Reginald-3 verification, I think it's called. I know RTrace does a ton of them and I see a few others doing it occasionally, but where do you go to check that and what exactly is it? Maybe I'll try some. Are secondary verifications considered something important here or do people just do them because they want to? Does anyone find them useful? Are there any rare ones people have been looking for? --Username (talk) 23:08, 18 May 2023 (EDT)

When you're viewing a publication page, click on "Reginald-3" in the Secondary Verifications section and it will take you to this page. It's a big case-bound book that has tons of author, titles, awards, and such in it. It's a very useful thing to have , but only for works published between 1975-1991. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 00:09, 19 May 2023 (EDT)

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?4975; Did it for Seth Pfefferle's 2 books since I entered 1 of them early last year. Is this something people have been doing since 2006 when public editing started here or is it recent? Because it seems weird that those books had never been verified before someone like me did them. Are there, like, tens of thousands of books still not verified or have most of them been done already? What's the criteria for not verifying something in that book? Is it known to have lots of mistakes? --Username (talk) 00:32, 19 May 2023 (EDT)

It's generally considered reliable, but unless you have access to the book (Reginald-3) itself, you shouldn't be verifying anything with it. It's got around 1500 pages (if I'm remembering correctly), and it's always possible it's missed some books that were published in that period. However, for the books it does have, it's considered very accurate. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 13:26, 19 May 2023 (EDT)

It's easy to verify with it because I'm using the Archive.org copy that I added a link to 6 months ago. --Username (talk) 13:46, 19 May 2023 (EDT)

Awesome! Have fun adding the verifications. I don't think those even require a moderator to approve them. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 14:52, 19 May 2023 (EDT)

Honestly, as soon as I added those 2 verifications I lost all interest. Half the "fun" of editing here, for me, is waiting for a mod to look at my edits and then decide whether to approve them (50,000 and counting, in the top half-dozen all-time for a non-mod/non-self-approver and the only one who still edits regularly except for "Fixer" which is a robot and doesn't really count), especially when they claim something was wrong when it actually wasn't and then think they can argue with me. If I'm lucky sometimes they even apologize when they find out they made a mistake. Doing Reginald seems entirely pointless if there's no approval needed. I only mention my adding the link so that others here who actually want to verify those ID know that the book is readily available. It seems to me that one of the computer geniuses who are on this site should have figured out a way by now to trawl the book and automatically add ID to all books that don't have them yet, but maybe it's not easy/possible to do. --Username (talk) 15:23, 19 May 2023 (EDT)

Adventures Of The Adventurers' Club

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5669128; https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/9339400; I think the edition on ISFDB should really be paperback because of the cover and price; Stanford copy linked above is clearly hardcover and notice that it doesn't mention drawing on title page like Archive.org copy does. So what do you think? Change to PB and maybe clone a HC edition with Stanford link? --Username (talk) 13:44, 19 May 2023 (EDT)

Phenix

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5669692; Story seems never to have been reprinted in English but it was in a French gaming magazine for some reason, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?39139, https://www.amazon.com/Phenix-n45-magic-jeux-role/dp/2871535426, in case anyone wants to enter it. I'm guessing there's more translated stories in the other missing issues. --Username (talk) 08:19, 20 May 2023 (EDT)

French Potter

https://www.google.com/search?q=potter+scalehunter+ebay; I just added an Archive.org link to Scalehunter in a pending edit and I don't see that art so I don't know if it's in a limited edition or what but I noticed it's also here, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?727762; French cover art should be a variant, I think. --Username (talk) 08:46, 20 May 2023 (EDT)

L. Ron Hubbard's Colon

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?8224; I've been adding links to copies of this series including several that are only Open Library non-preview and I noticed that editors over the years entered the title randomly with it being almost evenly divided between commas after Future or not. So a standard should really be decided on and titles fixed so they all match, although I think going by ISFDB rules they should all have a colon after Future, right? --Username (talk) 09:28, 20 May 2023 (EDT)

Boom! Comics - Firefly/ Serenity

Is there anywhere a list of the stories Boom! Comics have produced for the Firefly/ Serenity series? The usual artist is Greg Pak.

The company's website is a mess and they don't seem to announce anything. —The preceding unsigned comment added by Femmefan1946 (talk • contribs) 14:35, May 20, 2023‎

They're likely all listed over on the Firefly Database. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:27, 20 May 2023 (EDT)

Canonical name Amir Zand

There is an canonical author Amir Zand (San) but only one title is credited to him. 10 titles are credited to his alternate name Amir Zand. Wouldn't it be useful to change the canonical name? --Zapp (talk) 16:11, 20 May 2023 (EDT)

Fantasist Anthology

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5670646; This book, even though it has a PV, had a lot of stuff missing/entered wrong, so after approval please take another look to make sure I caught everything or didn't make a few mistakes myself. --Username (talk) 10:21, 21 May 2023 (EDT)

Since Don is no longer present, I will accept the edit and make some other updates based on the Internet Archive scan. But first, I'm going to point out the existing bad page number to Ahasuerus as it seems like the clean-up report should have caught that, but it is not listed. Thanks. -- JLaTondre (talk) 12:28, 21 May 2023 (EDT)

Rebecca M.

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/publisheryear.cgi?40797+2012; I added image to Sparks; cover artist is obviously the same person for both books but spelled differently, Amazon previews don't reveal anything helpful, so if anyone knows a way to see how she's credited that can be fixed. Also, while looking for the publisher I saw there's another Earthbound, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?354536, which may or may not be the same, but there's a problem in that the book is called 3rd in a series but the first 2 on ISFDB were published years later by a different author. So that might be a mistake. EDIT: 1 of Mr. Lobe's books available and entered here by me, https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5670781. --Username (talk) 11:57, 21 May 2023 (EDT)

Darker Places

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?66822; I'm sure there aren't many Matheson collections that don't have numbered contents here so I thought I'd found something special when I saw FantLab's page, https://fantlab.ru/edition117836, until I saw the note (RIGHT-CLICK to translate) which is kind of unclear. So if anyone has a copy maybe they can say what the numbers should be and enter them (unless someone understands what the FantLab writer was trying to say). --Username (talk) 21:18, 21 May 2023 (EDT)

Earthsea numbering

Gollancz are putting out a new hc of the Tales from Earthsea collection this week, and I noticed that a few places such as Amazon UK and Gollancz are listing it as "The Fifth Book of Earthsea". However, the series page here has this collection unnumbered, with The Other Wind as #5. In turn, Amazon UK and Waterstones have The Other Wind listed as book 6 of the series.

Now, I appreciate that the often crappy data that appears on retailer sites doesn't necessarily count for much when determining what gets recorded in ISFDB. However, I do see that the Gateway ebooks of these titles - not currently recorded here, although I'll try to rectify that shortly - do have "The Fifth/Sixth Book of Earthsea" as subtitles on their title pages, which perhaps lends more weight to that numbering scheme?

I've double checked my Orion UK tps of these, and neither has any such subtitle. I also have the UK ebook of the collected Vess illustrated edition, and whilst I haven't spotted anything that explicitly says either book is numbered 5 or 6, there's an afterword that states (my emphases): "Here at last, for the first time, is Earthsea, in English, all together in the right order. .... The six books of Earthsea ... and in England one publisher calls it a quartet, and another reversed the order of the fifth and sixth books as if it didn't matter." This also makes me think that 5=Tales/6=Other Wind might be the more correct/author-approved numbering.

(FWIW, the Wikipedia page doesn't number them; it does state "the fifth and last novel of the series, The Other Wind", but obviously that's qualified by "novel" rather than "book".) Template:TitleFields:SeriesNum doesn't indicate anything about collections being treated differently to novels when it comes to series numbering.

Despite owning duplicate copies of these, I've never actually read any of them, so I don't have a dog in this fight, but wondering if there might be consensus for a change? ErsatzCulture (talk) 07:58, 22 May 2023 (EDT)

I've read the first four novels so far only, so I can't comment on the contents of Tales from Earthsea and The Other Wind. But I own the German edition of the collected Vess illustrated edition, which contains an introduction by Le Guin, written by her in 2016 and which should be this one in the English edition. In this introduction, she's mentions the "six Earthsea volumes" and explains, how Tales from Earthsea and The Other Wind came into life. She stresses that Tales from Earthsea, "the fifth book" (!) has been treated as marginal, but, according to her, is essential for the series. As a result I'd say you are correct: 5=Tales/6=Other Wind. That's also the order the works are printed in the illustrated edition. Jens Hitspacebar (talk) 15:04, 23 May 2023 (EDT)

BM

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5671406; https://www.amazon.com/Beastmaster-Myth-Richard-Knaak/dp/1439144176; I can just make out "51600" in archived copy's back cover barcode through the sticker but that Amazon page linked above has a much higher price but the same ISBN and look inside has the same number line, so if anyone knows if there were later printings or something let us know. --Username (talk) 16:31, 22 May 2023 (EDT)

Ayan(n)a Mathis

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/se.cgi?arg=na+mathis&type=Name; I added a link to the Times supernatural issue and it is Ayana, but I can't get a clear idea of how Ayanna is credited or which is her real name because she's called both all over the web, plus a Christian website I came across congratulated her on getting married and changing her name from Ayanna Thomas. So does anyone know more about her? --Username (talk) 11:28, 23 May 2023 (EDT)

I have absolutely zero knowledge of this author or their works, but the impression I get from Google results (and the photos next to the various results) is that there are 2 different people, with the single-n one being an author who's the most likely candidate to be the one of interest here, based on author website and publisher site. The double-n one seems to be some sort of influencer/self help guru?

The two titles associated with the double-n author name are from the same fairly recent PVed pub by Gzuckier, so I'll post on his page to look at this item. ErsatzCulture (talk) 19:05, 23 May 2023 (EDT)

Ace Books / Ace Fantasy Books

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?18305; All 3 Ace editions are on Archive.org so I added links but while they all say "Ace Fantasy Books" on title page only 1 edition says that here. There's over a hundred here as by that name so I just thought it was odd; I wonder how many other books here as by "Ace Books" are actually by the longer name and whether it would matter to anyone to fix those; did they officially change their name to the shorter version at some point after 1986? --Username (talk) 11:43, 23 May 2023 (EDT)

Pyramids

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?697334; I was fixing a few Zebra Books from 1986 and on that should have had Kensington as part of the publisher; I got most of them except a few romance junk novels that were reprinted like a thousand times so I didn't even bother with those because I'm not even sure if they belong here. However, I was disturbed to discover afterwards that many of the old 70s-early 80s Zebra Books have Kensington as part of the publisher (?) I suspect I know who entered many of them so I will now start fixing those but the first one I looked at wasn't entered by that person but rather by Artisan, who I don't believe is around anymore. Not sure why it was accepted because the author is not above threshold in the slightest and this book is seventies paranormal non-fiction nonsense. So it should probably be deleted, but if not at least the regular date should be changed to March because editor mentioned that in their note but didn't actually make it so. EDIT: After further investigation I think, unlike Leisure Books and their later separate history with Dorchester, Zebra Books used Kensington even in their older books. So I think I've finished cleaning up (except for Death Screen, can't find info on that one) but this book still doesn't belong here, I believe. --Username (talk) 17:45, 23 May 2023 (EDT)

Italian Valancourt Edition

https://archive.org/search?query=blackburn+beastly-business&sort=-addeddate; Italian price on back cover and notice on last page about being printed in Italy in 2022; does this require a separate record here or can I just add the link to the current edition? --Username (talk) 18:50, 23 May 2023 (EDT)

The Witch Book

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5672915; https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/view_submission.cgi?5672916; If anyone owns a copy or knows where one can be seen online most of the page numbers need entering and author/title verification is needed for most of the stories; also, I replaced the cover because new cover has the price sticker or whatever it is on the top corner but it's not a great image so if anyone can replace it with a better one with that sticker after my edits are approved that would be great. --Username (talk) 23:13, 23 May 2023 (EDT)

Macbeth

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?582305; Macbeth link leads to B. Coville version published many years after J. Blackburn review. --Username (talk) 23:53, 23 May 2023 (EDT)

Alex Ebel

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?25577; Short story isn't by the artist who died years before it was published but this person, https://sites.google.com/view/alexsebel. The archived story link seems missing, however, so it's possible story header says "Alex S. Ebel" since that's the name in his site's URL. --Username (talk) 14:02, 24 May 2023 (EDT)

Bruce Campbell Biography

I'm holding this submission to add what looks like a biography of the actor Bruce Campbell. I see that we have an earlier biography already in the database, but it appears that it was added by virtue of being nominated for Stoker and IHG awards. My sense is that the new book would not be in our scope, but I wanted to put the question out to the community first. Thoughts? --Ron ~ Rtrace^Talk 14:57, 24 May 2023 (EDT)