Difference between revisions of "ISFDB:Community Portal/Archive/Archive50"

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This archive includes discussions from January - June 2021

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Expanded archive listing

Naming of maps

I see we have Grishaverse (map) and Map (Grishaverse). What's the preferred nomenclature? TAWeiss 17:38, 5 January 2021 (EST)

I would say the former: Grishaverse (map) unless the map is not titled at all. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 18:45, 5 January 2021 (EST)

So the map is untitled. I know the map is shared across multiple books so presumably it should be named based on the series? TAWeiss 19:34, 5 January 2021 (EST)

Is it named in any of the books? If so, any that aren't named could be titled "untitled (map)" and varianted to the named one. I can see two maps using Look Inside on this pub on Amazon. One is a map of Ketterdam, and the other is likely the one you mean. Based on how every other place name is simply text, and the words "The True Sea" are in a special frame, I'd name that map "The True Sea (map)". If the other maps are the same image, I'd use that name. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 12:20, 6 January 2021 (EST)

Looks like the same map is split across two pages in this pub. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 12:23, 6 January 2021 (EST)

And in this one. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 12:24, 6 January 2021 (EST)

An enigmatic David J. Schow short story

My regular search on Twitter for any mentions of "isfdb" threw up this today - it's in Japanese, but the Google Translate functionality built into the Twitter web client makes it comprehensible. TL; DR: the David J. Schow collection DJStories appears to include a story with a gibberish title, that's not listed in the contents here.

What I've been able to find so far:

The publisher's web page for this collection doesn't give any indication of this gibberish-title story being included, so it's hardly surprising it's not logged here either
There's no preview or contents on the Amazon UK page for this collection
Searching for the first few words of the story - as visible in the second photo attached to the tweet - found a match on Google Books, but (a) the text there doesn't appear to be the start of a story (maybe a bad Google Books scan?), and (b) the contents, copyright, intro etc pages aren't any help either. (The collection isn't in ISFDB, although it may well not be genre.)
I suspect the "missing" story may well be what is logged here as "(scribbled graffiti)", although there's a 1-year disparity in the pub date vs what's shown on the contents page in the Twitter photo. Unfortunately the only PVer of a pub containing this story hasn't been active on ISFDB for the best part of a decade, and whilst I've traced an ebook version of one of the other Schow collections that might contains it, I don't see a atch in the Amazon or Kobo previews of the contents page.

At this point, it feels like I'm fighting a losing battle, but does anyone know more about this author's work, or can think of another approach to try to resolve this mystery? ErsatzCulture 10:26, 8 January 2021 (EST)

UPDATE: a bit more Googling uncovered a photo of the contents page of another collection on fantlab.ru that appears to confirm that this missing story and "(scribbled graffiti)" are one and the same; I'll try to update the records to explain this as best I can, but any thoughts/assistance appreciated... ErsatzCulture 10:42, 8 January 2021 (EST)

Publishers - Edit History

Publisher pages have been updated to include a standard "Edit History" link. Ahasuerus 17:51, 9 January 2021 (EST)

Series and Publication Series - Edit History

Publication Series pages have been updated to include a standard "Edit History" link. Ahasuerus 11:29, 10 January 2021 (EST)

Ditto Series pages. Ahasuerus 16:01, 10 January 2021 (EST)

Author records - Edit History (moderator-only)

Author pages have been updated to include a standard "Edit History" link. Note, however, that the link only appears if you are a moderator. The reason is that our Data Deletion Policy states:

If a living author (or their authorized representative) requests that the ISFDB remove the author's detailed biographical information, the ISFDB will comply after confirming the requester's identity. The ISFDB will remove as much biographical data as needed in order to accommodate legitimate privacy concerns while preserving, to the extent possible, the work of the editors who have compiled the data. A note will be added to the author's record explaining what type of information has been removed and why.

If we were to make Author Edit History publicly available, it would defeat the purpose of the quoted policy. Ahasuerus 19:07, 10 January 2021 (EST)

Inscribed or Signed ?

I have a copy of Derleth: Hawk...and Dove but can't decide wether it's been signed or inscribed. Normally an inscription is a dedication to a named individual as opposed to a signed copy which merely has a signiature. My copy is signed but has she has written "Enjoy!" prior to signing. So is this a signed copy or an inscribed copy ? --Mavmaramis 10:00, 12 January 2021 (EST)

Well, it does not really make a difference for a bibliography (what we are) if it is hand-signed or inscribed to an individual. I would just call it signed (if I even mention it in the notes). Now - if the whole run is signed (separate cover and/or ISBN and so on), then it is a different story... then I would explain in the notes what the signature has. But if it is just signed during a convention/meeting and so on, it is kinda irrelevant for a bibliography. Annie 10:17, 12 January 2021 (EST)

Thanks. Actually it was more for the bibliographic listing of my collection on my personal home page rather than for a note on the actual entry. I went through my "inscribed/signed" copies adding noyes about whether it was merely signed or inscribed with a transcript of the inscription text. Would there be any objections to me making such a note on the entries of the copies I do own that are "signed" ? If yes then no worries. --Mavmaramis 04:38, 14 January 2021 (EST)

ISFDB server downtime 2021-01-13

The ISFDB server will be unavailable between roughly 6:00pm and 6:20pm Eastern Standard Time. Ahasuerus 15:53, 13 January 2021 (EST)

Everything should be back up. Ahasuerus 18:11, 13 January 2021 (EST)

Edit History changes finished

The last round of Edit History changes was deployed a few minutes ago. All submission types are now associated with Edit History pages. If you come across anything unexpected, please post your findings here. Ahasuerus 17:08, 14 January 2021 (EST)

MARTIN

Hello, all. I'm thinking the novelization of George A. Romero's Martin belongs here, since it's a horror movie about a young man who believes he's a vampire, even if it's implied in the movie that he's really just crazy. Even if it's not strictly supernatural, any Romero work is genre-related. I will create a record if anyone thinks it belong here. Cheers, --Username 16:06, 18 January 2021 (EST)

For this kind of thing, it's better to post over on the ISFDB:Community Portal as more people pay attention to it. I've moved this over there (it was on the Moderator noticeboard). ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 18:02, 18 January 2021 (EST)

I need to look into this specific book BUT non speculative horror is not considered genre in ISFDB (even if it is technically genre for horror DBs and horror awards and so on) and unless we can pass that as above threshold author book, it will not be eligible for addition if indeed the vampire thingie is merely craziness. I wish we actually allowed those books that look like Speculative Fiction on the outside but are actually not when you read them but as the rules stand now, we do not. Annie 18:09, 18 January 2021 (EST)

I entered the 1977 Stein and Day hardcover edition. There's also a 1980 Day Books paperback and a 1978 Futura British edition (which calls him "George Romero" and omits the co-author Susanna Sparrow). --Username 20:05, 11 February 2021 (EST)

N. FOSTER TYLER

So I've been fixing Kealan Patrick Burke's collections, importing titles, finding out where stories were actually first published, etc. 1 story, "Outside", says it was first published in 2011 in his collection Theater Macabre, but digging into his bibliography on archive.org revealed that this story was scheduled to be published in late 2003 or 2004 in a webzine called Necropolis edited by "N. Foster Tyler". There's no mention of Necropolis and that name anywhere on Google, but a comment on Amazon by that name has "Nathan Tyler" at the head of the comment. ISFDB has 2 interviews in Cemetery Dance conducted by Nathan Tyler in 2003 and 2005, so I'm guessing it's the same person. Anyone know more about him or if that webzine ever appeared?--Username 12:43, 19 January 2021 (EST)

José Luis Zárate and José Luis Zárate Herrera

Spotted this and this on the birthday section of the front page. Clearly it's the same person, but:

I don't know which one should be the parent record and which the variant
They have different legalname values, which strikes me as probably wrong, but again I wouldn't know which might be the more correct value

Anyone more knowledgeable care to clean this up? ErsatzCulture 19:19, 19 January 2021 (EST)

The one with the more titles becomes the parent until such a time when that needs changing. :) And yes - same person - look at Wiki. The Legal name was simply not researched - someone just inverted the name. The correct value is the longer one. :) I can clean up that or you can try if you prefer. Annie 23:26, 19 January 2021 (EST)

You also need to do some variants -- not just tidy up the authors' pages themselves ;) Annie 10:25, 20 January 2021 (EST)

Yes, I was just coming here to query that. Is this not something that is automated and/or has tooling to make it less onerous? This particular author isn't too bad as the alt. author doesn't have that many entries, but I could imagine it being a colossal pain if there was a particularly prolific alt. revealed after they'd written a lot of titles? ErsatzCulture 11:04, 20 January 2021 (EST)

Nope - it is done one by one manually. And yes... it can be a pain. Automating it is probably possible but then slightly different titles won't be caught and if someone makes a mistake in the direction, we will have to clean the mess. So when an alt name is created, the variants need to be done manually - to existing titles if they are there or to new ones if not. The DB is complex as it is - adding more things happening without people understanding what they are doing leads to bigger messes. It is a catch 22 sometimes... Annie 11:18, 20 January 2021 (EST)

Absolutely correct! Luckily, this happens not too frequently, but when it does, it hurts! Stonecreek 11:19, 20 January 2021 (EST)

SKELETON CREW (MAGAZINE)

So I read somewhere that "The Reploids" by Stephen King from 1988 was never reprinted in any of his collections because of its similarity to something written by P.K. Dick. Checking ISFDB I verified that was true, but a check online revealed that it WAS reprinted in a British mag, Skeleton Crew, in 1990. Checking further I found out this mag ran for 15 issues (technically 14 since one issue was a double issue) but only one was entered on ISFDB. I am making a feeble attempt with my limited skills to enter fiction from the missing magazines into ISFDB (the non-fiction is mostly outdated interviews). Some of it is by famous authors and already on ISFDB while others are not. The problem is unlike with books you can't assume the length of fiction by looking at page numbers on locusmag.com or philsp.com or wherever because many magazines break stories into chunks and say "continued on page ...". So I would appreciate help entering info from these issues, especially if someone actually owns copies of the originals and can verify lengths of stories.--Username 10:22, 22 January 2021 (EST)

Well, it seems likely that many of the shortfiction pieces published in that magazine are already in ISFDB (either because reprinted there, or reprinted later), so the length should be determinable from the existing entries for those. Stonecreek 10:57, 22 January 2021 (EST)

Fang

This, https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=549271, shows that the Fang magazine info here and elsewhere has been wrong for who knows how long. I wondered why #1 and #3 were entered on ISFDB but #2 was not, and philsp.com says contents for #2 not found, but there's an issue sitting there with a cover and info not on ISFDB. Since that comics site says Issue #1 on ISFDB is actually #2, that other issue is obviously the real #1. I will change issue # from 1 to 2 for the issue currently here and add page #'s, and then I'll enter all that info for the real issue #1. Another winner from--Username 01:29, 24 January 2021 (EST)

We enter publications as they are actually printed. That website says for issue 2, "Misprinted as issue #1". If that is the case, it should remain as entered as issue 1 with a pub note explaining it was actually the second issue. You can enter the other issue 1 as issue 1 also. We would have two issue 1s and no issue2 (and pub notes to explain why). -- JLaTondre (talk) 08:37, 24 January 2021 (EST)

This, http://www.atomicpulp.com/?page_id=10, refers to the issue where his story appears as #2, possibly the only place where someone actually knows which issue was which. I've corrected # of pages and added page #'s and an author name the previous editor missed, but I'm still figuring out how to enter that missing issue. Another winner from--Username 12:33, 24 January 2021 (EST)

Frightmares #2

Holy Jesus! This phantom issue of Frightmares has been bothering me for a long time because ISFDB and elsewhere say contents of Issue #2 are missing, but online sleuthing revealed a listing for Frightmares from Spring 1998 on the jamesdorrwriter.wordpress.com bibliography section under Poetry. None of the 3 poems are in any of the issues on ISFDB and the date of the Dorr issue fits neatly between Frightmares #1 and #3, so I've identified the missing issue and will now create a record for it and enter these poems. If anyone knows any other contents of this damned issue feel free to share. Another winner from --Username 22:51, 24 January 2021 (EST)

The ISFDB FAQ and creating test submissions

While adding a new section to ISFDB:FAQ, I noticed that it currently says:

Where is a safe place for me to experiment with creating and modifying ISFDB records?

Just create new records and use them. It’s a good idea to use “Testing Your Name” for the author name and titles such as “Test Novel” to make it easy to find the records and also so that others know that you are experimenting with things. For records with Notes fields it's a good idea to include a note so that the moderators will understand what you are doing and are likely to approve your changes. When you are done you'd then delete the records.

This seems like a really bad idea and I don't think it has been our policy since the beta phase of the ISFDB 2.0 project, i.e. since early 2007. I propose that we delete this FAQ section. Ahasuerus 20:03, 25 January 2021 (EST)

Agreed MagicUnk 20:57, 25 January 2021 (EST)

I also agree. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 13:00, 26 January 2021 (EST)

And it's gone. Ahasuerus 19:54, 30 January 2021 (EST)

Christopher Woodforde

So among my fixing and adding on ISFDB I stumbled on the fact that records for this author's collection A Pad in the Straw were a mess. First, 1 story, "Mirror of Man's Damnation", was entered as "Mirror of Mavis Damnation" in the original 1952 ed. and the 2012 ed. but entered correctly in the 1962 ed. Also, the 1962 ed. was actually from 1964, so I changed the date and added # of pages which was previously blank. Then I decided to delete the cover that was already there and replace it with a better one only to be told that the image was already on file. Checking further, I found out it was on file because someone had entered 2 other editions of this book under the name John Woodforde even though both had covers with the correct name on it. 1 of those covers matched the one I had just tried to enter, hence the "already on file" message. I was shocked, let me tell you, and I've seen it all in my short time here. So I'd like someone who is familiar with Mr. Woodforde to check and make sure that everything is as correct as possible now. Another winner from --Username 00:54, 26 January 2021 (EST)

Please be sure to include links to each item you're discussing. It makes it a lot easier to help you if we are sure we are looking at the same entry you are. You can find assistance on using wiki markup here.

Let's address your concerns one at a time:

It's not uncommon for there to be typos in titles. When that happens, the incorrect spelling should be varianted, the same as if a story title was released under a different name.
Are you 100% sure there isn't both a 1962 and a 1964 printing of that title? Before deleting or correcting something, you need to be absolutely sure, and also include good notes to the moderators so we can verify the information.
We use the information on the title page for verification. This can sometimes differ from the cover (I have a few books where they don't agree, myself). Typos do occur on the title page, as well as on the cover, and even on the copyright page. If the title page has a typo, the information should be entered as printed, and then the incorrect name can be varianted to the correct name.
Everyone who enters stuff here is a volunteer. While we do our best to make sure things are entered correctly, we are all human and we all make mistakes here and there. There's no reason to be shocked about anything, and I would encourage you to review the information regarding Woodforde yourself, even if you aren't as familiar with his works. You'll learn something, and it will likely get done more quickly than with you making demands all over the place. We appreciate your hard work and enthusiasm, but we need to work together in a cordial manner in order to accomplish things here. As Annie noted elsewhere, you aren't the only one doing work here. If you're interested, you can see some of the stats here to see just how much work the many contributors have put into ISFDB. We appreciate everyone who contributes, even if they contribute only a single thing. Every little contribution goes toward making this site better and more useful as a resource. Thanks! ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 13:15, 26 January 2021 (EST)

Koontz

Hello my friends. So I've been correcting issues of 1980's mag The Horror Show, fixing incorrect titles and names, etc. and 1 work by Dean R. Koontz, "Weird World", confused me. It's listed as an essay on ISFDB, but is under the Fiction section in the mag ("https://richarddalbyslibrary.com/products/the-horror-show-an-adventure-in-terror-summer-1986-volume-4-issue-3-phantasm-press?_pos=14&_sid=b2f959b55&_ss=r"). It seems to be a fictional piece presented as fact, not non-fiction. Does anyone think anything should be changed? --Username 16:36, 27 January 2021 (EST)

If it's discussing the fictional world from a non-fictional POV (like an encyclopedia entry, but not written as if in the fictional world), it's an essay. If it's discussing the fictional world from the POV of someone within the fictional world (such as an encyclopedic entry written by a character within the fictional world), it's short fiction. I hope that makes sense. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:07, 27 January 2021 (EST)

Quay

So I saw on philsp.com that this mag, [1], had a cover by [2], but there's no credit for a cover artist in that record. Then I stumbled across the fact that there's multiple records for these 2 men, as The Brothers Quay, The Quay Brothers, The Quays, and they're credited by their full names, Steve Quay and Tim Quay, too. Last time I tried an edit to bring 2 related artist names together, I got an unpleasant response from someone telling me I did it wrong, so I'll just leave this info here for anyone who wants to merge all the records together for these very well-known and influential artists. --Username 09:59, 30 January 2021 (EST)

Alternate name relationships have been created. Thanks for finding this. -- JLaTondre (talk) 10:46, 30 January 2021 (EST)