ISFDB:Research Assistance/Archive 01

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Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction February 1962

Could someone check the Feb 1962 issue of F&SF and see whether the title of the Avram Davidson story is ...the Alley off Eye Street or ...the Alley off of Eye Street? (WimLewis 20:36, 16 Mar 2007 (CDT))

TOC - "The Hovel on the Alley off Eye Street"
Actual title on the story (page 13) - "The Singular Events Which Occurred In The Hovel On The Alley Off Eye Street"
Swfritter 22:14, 16 Mar 2007 (CDT)
Thanks! That's even more confusing than I expected. And I'm guessing that the story The Singular Events.... is also a variant title of this same work. Should ISFDB list all these various titles (TOC plus the story itself)? My inclination would be yes, but I think I'll defer to a more experienced editor at this point.


Fantastic Dec 1977

Could someone check the Dec 1977 issue of Fantastic and see whether the Avram Davidson story is about an angry Throat or an angry Thoat? (WimLewis 20:36, 16 Mar 2007 (CDT))

The title as given in the contents page and on the story is "Hark! Was That the Squeal of an Angry Throat?" but that phrase, as quoted in the story itself (last paragraph) has "thoat" instead, which is clearly an intentional Burroughs reference (he mentions banths, too). So it looks like a misprinted title. I think we'd record this as a variant. Mike Christie (talk) 09:42, 18 Mar 2007 (CDT)


New Worlds March 1952

Since I won't have access to my collection until the end of the month, could someone please check if "The Circle of the White Horse" appeared in New Worlds, March 1952 (Vol 5, No 14 as by "Frank Edward Arnold" or as by "Francis Arnold"? According to Contento, it was eventually reprinted as by "Francis Arnold", but I'd like to double check before we create a Variant Title. TIA! Ahasuerus 14:05, 10 Mar 2007 (CST)

It was as by "Francis Arnold". Mike Christie (talk) 09:44, 18 Mar 2007 (CDT)
Thanks, I have merged/VT'd the Titles and created a pseudonym for the two forms of Arnold's name. Ahasuerus 17:32, 18 Mar 2007 (CDT)


2 Laumer stories

Could somebody with access to 1960s digests check whether "Thunderhead" appeared in the April 1967 issue of Galaxy and whether "The Last Command" appeared in the January 1967 issue of Analog? Contento and "Knight of Delusions" disagree on these points. TIA! Ahasuerus 20:54, 10 Mar 2007 (CST)

My Galaxy April 1967 issue contains "Thunderhead" Rudam 03:17, 11 Mar 2007 (CST)
Thanks! It looks like the Tor reprint was in error, probably due to some kind of curse associated with "Night of Delusions" :) Ahasuerus 13:16, 11 Mar 2007 (CST)
And "The Last Command" is indeed in Analog, January 1967, for what it's worth at this late date. Dave (davecat) 15:26, 27 Dec 2007 (CST)
It's never too late! I have updated the Note field in the story record, thanks :) Ahasuerus 16:51, 27 Dec 2007 (CST)


If September 1963

Could somebody check what this issue of If has to say about the story "The Customs Lounge" and especially its author, E. A. Proulx? The name looks like it could belong to E. Annie Proulx, the award winning writer of various non-SF books in recent years, but it doesn't seem to match her biography. Ahasuerus 02:31, 17 Mar 2007 (CDT)

Sorry, there's no bio information at all. I also checked the July issue, in case there was a note about upcoming stories, but there's no reference there either. That's a fairly uncommon name; I checked the ancestry.com listings for "Proulx" in the 1930 US census, and there are 2,163. So "E.A. Proulx" is likely to be the same person. I also posted a note to the Wikipedia talk page for Annie Proulx to see if anyone knew anything about the story. Mike Christie (talk) 09:57, 18 Mar 2007 (CDT)
According to this bookseller, it's the same person:
136. (PROULX, Annie). "The Customs Lounge" in Worlds of If, Vol. 13, No. 4. (New York): (Galaxy Publishing), 1963. A two-page science fiction story by E.A. Proulx, whose first book (nonfiction) was published in 1980 and whose first collection of fiction was published in 1988, when she was 53 years old. Pages acidifying; spine end chipped; very good in wrappers. An extremely early piece of writing by this Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author, preceding her first book of fiction by 25 years.
I guess we can document it as such in the ISFDB and change the data if new information comes up. Thanks! Ahasuerus 13:28, 18 Mar 2007 (CDT)

Nebula Award Stories 10

This pub contains "If the Stars are Gods" 505871 by "Gordan Eklund" and Benford. Can someone check whether this is a misprint or an entry error? --WimLewis 01:12, 10 Apr 2007 (CDT)

The December 1976 Berkley Medallion paperback has "If the Stars Are Gods" (capital Are) by Gordon Eklund and Gregory Benford. Copyright (c) 1974 by Terry Carr in the acknowledgements. If the Stars Are Gods (no quotes) by GORDON EKLUND AND GREGORY BENFORD on the title page, and GORDON EKLUND and GREGORY BENFORD If the Stars Are Gods at the head of the story on p.11

All of them Gordon, not Gordan —The preceding unsigned comment added by MA Lloyd (talk • contribs) 18:47, 9 May 2007

Miscellaneous suspicious title pairs (1)

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

  • Karen Joy Fowler
    • What I Didn't See: without quotes and with quotes --WimLewis 00:37, 29 Mar 2007 (CDT)
      • The quotation marks seem to be an error. See the story on scifi.com, which is the actual publication for [1]. (Of course, we'd have no way of knowing whether they changed the title on the website or not, if I hadn't printed out a copy to read on the bus when the story first appeared, which also lacks quotation marks....) Jefe 18:06, 15 May 2007 (CDT)
  • Roger Zelazny
    • Unicorn Variation 40831 vs. Unicorn Variations 485891. I can verify it's plural in My Favorite Fantasy Story, and the story introduction implies that it was written in the early 80's (like the singular version). However, the copyrights page in MFFS gives it a copyright year of 1991. --WimLewis 22:23, 7 Apr 2007 (CDT)
      Unicorn Variation, the story, was published in either 1981 or 1982, my copy of Unicorn Variations, the Collection, is from 1983 and has the exact date, but it's currently lent out so I can't check the exact date. It was the Hugo winner in 1982 for novelette. CoachPaul 08:08, 10 Apr 2007 (CDT)
      My copy of My Favorite Fantasy Story has a story named "Unicorn Variations" (about 15 pages)! --WimLewis 00:22, 11 Apr 2007 (CDT)
      According to the Zelazny website "http://zelazny.corrupt.net/". they are the same story. The "Unicorn Variations" is a misspelling, and is misspelled in the following pubs.
      • "Hugo and Nebula Award Winners from Asimov's Science Fiction" Sheila Williams 1995.
      • "The Fantasy Hall of Fame" Robert Silverberg 1998.
      • "My Favorite Fantasy Story" Martin Greenberg August 2000.
CoachPaul 00:39, 11 Apr 2007 (CDT)


"When Time Went Mad"

If anybody has a copy of Science Fiction: The Great Years Vol. II, could you please check what it says about the authorship and attribution of "When Time Went Mad"? According to ISFDB, it was first published in Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1950 as by "Dirk Wylie and Frederic Arnold Kummer, Jr.", but Contento lists it as When Time Went Mad (with Frederic Arnold Kummer, Jr.) [with Frederik Pohl". I would guess that Pohl, who had known Wylie (aka Joseph Harold Dockweiler) and collaborated with him in the early 1940s, helped Kummer finish the story after Wylie's death in 1949, but it would be nice to see what Pohl says in the 1976 anthology. Ahasuerus 14:59, 8 Apr 2007 (CDT)

I have verified my copy of the book and there is nothing in Pohl's brief introduction to suggest that he had had anything to do with the story. I will e-mail Bill Contento and ask why Pohl's name is mentioned in square brackets next to the story. A bug in his software, perhaps? Ahasuerus 19:12, 29 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Imagination, April 1951 - Pages improperly inserted

(moved from Community Portal talk page)

Does anybody else have a copy of this magazine? Pages go to 130 and then repeat again from page 2 to 34. There are stories credited on pages 132 and 146. If all the printed issues are like this that means that the stories were never actually published. --Swfritter 13:18, 9 Mar 2007 (CST)

I have all mainstream 1950s digests in my collection, including Imagination. If nobody else has a copy, I can look it up around March 30 when I have access to the collection. Ahasuerus 13:40, 9 Mar 2007 (CST)
My copy looks normal -- the last page before the back cover is numbered 130 and there seem to be no irregularities. This is the issue with Galouye's "Secret of the Immortals", right? What stories are credited on pp 132 and 146 in your copy? Mike Christie (talk) 15:40, 9 Mar 2007 (CST)

Oops, meant April 1951 with Beyond the Fearful Forest cover. Should not have rushed to lunch. Swfritter 16:39, 9 Mar 2007 (CST)

My copy looks fine -- I see both the Mack Reynolds and the Allen Lang story, intact. Looks like you have a rarity there. I think it's worth adding a publication-level note to say that a copy has been seen in the state you describe. Mike Christie (talk) 19:31, 9 Mar 2007 (CST)
I agree that Publication oddities are worth documenting. Sometimes a significant part of the print run is affected and a warning can serve as a useful heads up to go check your copy. Ahasuerus 14:05, 10 Mar 2007 (CST)
If my copy did not have a loose cover I would feel more confident that this happened at the printers. This could have happened at a later date. I recently purchased a copy of what I thought was Cosmic Stories only to find that the loose cover was concealing a copy of Famous Fantastic Mysteries.--Swfritter 18:44, 11 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Roger Price

A bit vague here: but I suspect my three proposed new pubs are not from the same author as we currently have. Mine are from the "Tomorrow People" guy, here: so can I ask people to UN-verify the current ones or suggest which ones DO match? Or how to deal with multiple authors of same name (I'm sure I looked at a thread like that once, can't recall a resolution though...) :-( BLongley 18:30, 11 Apr 2007 (CDT)

At first we dealt with multiple authors who rudely share the same name (especially by choice -- yes, I am looking at you, Christopher Priest #2!) by adding "[2]", "[3]", etc to the name. However, at some point we realized that it wasn't terribly informative (us are smart!), so we switched to "Robert Frazier" vs. "Robert Frazier (1951-)" vs. "Robert Frazier (active 1954-1955)" or, occasionally, "Steve Jackson (US)" vs. "Steve Jackson (UK)". We would probably benefit from more clearly defined rules, but that's what we have for now. Ahasuerus 22:20, 11 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Well, it turned out there's a good US/UK divide here, so (US) and (UK) it is. BLongley 08:49, 12 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Psi High and Others

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

In the paperback the story is Mirror, Mirror in contents and the first page of the story. Dana Carson 00:58, 12 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Thanks! When you get a chance, could you please also check if the paperback uses hyphens in "Psi-High" (both the story and the collection titles), which the hardcover supposedly does? Ahasuerus 19:41, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)
No hyphens in the paperback in either the story or collection title. Mike Christie (talk) 20:31, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Thanks! Looks like the paperback record is in good shape and Dana has already Verified it. I'll just need to Verify the hardcover when I get back to my collection in 2 weeks and we will be all set. Ahasuerus 21:09, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Turns out that I have both the hardcover and the paperback editions in my collections, so I was able to compare them side by side. There are no hyphens anywhere that I could find, although my hardcover copy is missing the dustjacket. I wonder if that's where the hyphen came from? I have also confirmed that "The Martyr" was first published as "Martyr" in Fantastic Universe January 1957 and created a variant title relationship. I will e-mail Bill Contento witt the corrections.
Finally, I used Jon Warren's paperback guide to confirm that the Ace paperback was published in 1968. Now, if somebody happened to have a copy of the 1968 Faber edition (hardcover, I believe), we would be all set :) Ahasuerus 20:13, 28 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Asimov's Essays

I've been trying to tidy up some duplicates, but there's some where a make variant might be needed. So if you have "Adding A Dimension" can you please check "The Light That Failed!" and "He's Not My Type!": if you have "Fact and Fancy" please check "Stepping-Stones to the Stars"; and if you have "View From a Height" please check "That's Life!". BLongley 12:04, 12 Apr 2007 (CDT)

There's also the problem of a lot of them existing in magazine form with a "Science: " prefix that makes sense in a mostly-Fiction magazine, but not in a non-fiction book. Is that the way there were really titled in F&SF or has that been added as a sort of note? BLongley 12:04, 12 Apr 2007 (CDT)

No response so far - can I take it it's OK for me to merge them all into one big "Boring bits we always skipped over while reading" entry? ;-) 19:23, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Great idea! But seriously, Asimov's column for F&SF was entitled "Science", and each essay had a title. If you're going to do something (and you're gladly welcome to do it) remove the "Science" from the essay titles and place them all into the series entitled "Science Column for F&SF", or something similar. I'd love to see a listing that separated all of his F&SF essays (though I cringe at the thought of doing it myself.) Mhhutchins 19:34, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)
In the intro to Fact and Fancy it says that all but one come from F&SF. Adding a Dimension doesn't even say that much. Same with View From a Height. Those are the exact titles in the books. A Guide to Isaac Asimov's Essays has a list. It's indexed is a strange manner but seems to be pretty complete. From that Dana Carson 21:00, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)

The Light that Failed 

   Subject: Michelson-Morley experiment
   First Published In: Jun-63, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
   Collection(s):
       * 1964 Adding a Dimension
       * 1976 Asimov on Physics

He's Not My Type 

   Subject: blood types
   First Published In: Jan-63, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
   Collection(s):
       * 1964 Adding a Dimension

Stepping Stones to the Stars 

   Subject: comets/cometary planetoids
   First Published In: Oct-60, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
   Collection(s):
       * 1962 Fact and Fancy
       * 1974 Asimov on Astronomy

That's Life! 

   Subject: life and non-life
   First Published In: Mar-62, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
   Collection(s):
       * 1963 View from A Height
       * 1974 Asimov on Chemistry

(Unindent) Thanks for the help! You're now ALL to blame for the longest series we have here (so far)! ;-) BLongley 18:28, 24 Apr 2007 (CDT)

OK. I'll start entering more of his collected essay books than to take advantage of the data. Dana Carson 21:33, 24 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Worlds of If, May/June 1970

Is the Tiptree story in this issue of If titled "The Nightblooming Saurian" or "The Night-blooming Saurian" (which is how it is titled in her collection Warm Worlds and Otherwise)? Mhhutchins 17:47, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)

It's "The Nightblooming Saurian". Mike Christie (talk) 20:34, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Thanks, Mike. I'll go ahead and create a variant. Mhhutchins 21:05, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)

sf Impulse, August 1966

I have the September issue of sf Impulse containing the second part of Harry Harrison's serial titled "Make Room, Make Room!" in the TOC and the title page. All book reprints are titled Make Room! Make Room! (note the first exclamation point.) If anyone has the August or October issues of this magazine can you verify if the spelling of the serial includes a comma or exclamation point? Thanks. Mhhutchins 18:23, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)

October 66: no comma: it's "Make Room! Make Room!", both on the story and the ToC. It's the same in the August issue. Mike Christie (talk) 20:33, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Looks like Bonfiglioli got careless in the last issue he edited of the magazine, and Harrison fixed it in the next issue (since he edited it as well!) I'm not going to create a variant; I'll just correct the spelling of the middle part of the serial. Thanks! Mhhutchins 21:11, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)


Omni, July 1990

This issue OMNIJUL90 contains several stories titled The Latter-Day Matian Chronicles. Typo for "Martian"?

Should be "Martian". I pulled the issue to figure out why each of the authors' stories doesn't have its own title. Turns out they're written in the form of letters back to Earth from Martian settlers. You didn't sign your note, so I'll go ahead and edit the publication. Mhhutchins 18:00, 14 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Sorry, that was me. I keep forgetting to sign my edits. :/ --WimLewis 18:15, 14 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Conan of Cimmeria

Requesting physical verification of the 1969 Lancer edition of Conan of Cimmeria. The spelling of 3 titles in the recently verified 1974 Sphere edition differs somewhat from what we have on file for the Lancer edition and I am trying to figure out if the current Variant Title relationships are OK or if our titles are misspelled and we need to merge them with the Sphere ones. Ahasuerus 21:15, 14 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Should be "The Frost Giant's Daughter", "The Bloodstained God", and "The Lair of the Ice Worm".--Swfritter 22:58, 15 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Thanks, got it! :) Ahasuerus 23:39, 15 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Harlan Ellison - A Prayer for No One's Enemy vs. A Prayer for One's Enemy

I've just finished adding and verifying my collection of Ellisoniana and would like to enlist some general help. I've verified the first title in two publications, but the second appears in two publications I don't have access to. It would be nice to resolve this one: does anyone have the 1966 issue of Cad magazine in which it was first published? (Scott Latham 19:34, 15 Apr 2007 (CDT))

In the Nemo Press edition of The Essential Ellison the piece is entitled "A Prayer for No One's Enemy", so that clears up one. I don't have the Trident edition of "Love Ain't Nothing..." Mhhutchins 21:59, 15 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Michael, if you have a copy to hand, I'd be interested in your opinion about the essays that form the grouping for sections (e.g., Rococco Technology, Heart's Blood). These are uncredited in the book I verified and they sure don't read like anything H.E. ever wrote. I entered them as simply "uncredited," but I'm not too happy with the result... (Scott Latham 18:43, 16 Apr 2007 (CDT))
Those essays that you mention, along with 18 others, are introductions to the twenty sections that make up this collection. Although they are not individually credited, they obviously (at least to me) appear to be the work of the editor, Terry Dowling. He is credited as the main editor (Lamont and Delap have a "with" credit), and writes the book's introduction. Each of these essays address Ellison in the third person, and even Ellison's head isn't so big that he would refer to himself in the third. :) By the way, see my note on the Rules page about editors credited in single-author collections. Mhhutchins 19:59, 16 Apr 2007 (CDT)

I think I've answered my own question. At the Harlan Ellison Webderland site, there's a story finder database. Entering "enemy" into the Title search box gives this result: 

 A Prayer for No One's Enemy     - Short Story, 1966
 First Appearance: Cad, March 1966
 Books where piece appears:
 Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled - Story Collection, 1968
 The Essential Ellison - Story Collection, 1987
 Ensamvark - Story Collection, 1992
 Edgeworks 4 - Book Collection, 1997

So, unless someone objects soon, I'm going to change the remaining occurrences of Prayer to match this. (Scott Latham 18:04, 18 Apr 2007 (CDT))


Avaryan Rising by Tarr

In the omnibus Avaryan Rising is it The Hall of the Mountain King or Hall of the Mountain King? The standalone novel is apparently Hall of the Mountain King but the second omnibus lists the first omnibus as containing The Hall of the Mountain King. And while you're looking what are the page numbers and such. Dana Carson 03:54, 17 Apr 2007 (CDT)

If nobody else has it to hand, I have a copy in my collection and can verify ca. April 30. Ahasuerus 12:39, 17 Apr 2007 (CDT)
I have verified that it's "The Hall of the Mountain King" in the Book Club omnibus edition. Ditto in later non-SFBC editions of this omnibus according to the OCLC cover scan. Moreover, the first Tor edition was also apparently published with the "The" (see our Publication records, Fictionfinder and Worldcat), so I went ahead and merged the two titles. Ahasuerus 01:16, 28 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Thanks. Dana Carson 02:28, 28 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Fantastic Stories, January & February 1964

For "The Lords of Quarmall", is the co-author Harry Fischer or Harry O. Fischer or Harry Otto Fischer? BLongley 14:08, 18 Apr 2007 (CDT)

I have all issues of Fantastic Stories and will be able to check at the end of the month if the request is still outstanding. Ahasuerus 18:44, 18 Apr 2007 (CDT)
Have only the January issue but it lists Harry Fischer as co-author(table of contents and story page, Leiber only cover). According to the editorial Fischer wrote the first 10,000 words in 1937. Sword's Masters omnibus in which the story appears has a dedication to Harry Otto Fischer once again attibuting the first 10,000 words of the story to him.--Swfritter 18:59, 18 Apr 2007 (CDT)

The Man Who ??? Red by Terry Dowling

There's a review in Locus March 1995 apparently, for "The Man Who Saw Red", but the only reliable sources I've checked say it's "The Man Who LOST Red". Any sightings of either welcome. BLongley 16:27, 21 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Here's a link to the publisher's page for the second printing of the book. It's definitely The Man Who Lost Red. The Locus review misprints the title, so the listing for Faren Miller's review in the Locus database is also incorrect. Mhhutchins
WorldCat reports that The Man Who Lost Red (Parramatta, N.S.W. [Australia]: MirrorDanse Books, 1994, ISBN 0646214918) was a collection consisting of 2 stories: "The Man Who Lost Red" and "Scaring the Train". The National Library of Australia chimes in as follows:
Author: Dowling, Terry, 1947-  
Title: The man who lost red / Terry Dowling ; illustrated by Shaun Tan ; foreword by Nick Stathopoulos. 
Publisher: Parramatta, N.S.W. : MirrorDanse Books, 1994. 
Description: 111 p. : ill. ; 20 cm. 
ISBN: 0646214918 (pbk.) : 
Contents: The man who lost red -- Scaring the train. 
Notes: "This first edition ... was limited to 500 copies"--Colophon. 
CIP confirmed. 
Bibliography: p. [107]-111
Note: "20cm." would make it a "tp" on our parlance since the standard "pb" size is 18cm. Ahasuerus 21:20, 21 Apr 2007 (CDT)
re National Library of Australia sizes ... Knowing MirrorDanse, tp is probably correct; however, there are quite a few records in the NLA catalogue that state 19cm for books that are really 18cm. I have no evidence that this is anything other than a librarian's faulty memory as to the height of a "standard" mmpb. --j_clark 20:29, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)
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