ISFDB:Research Assistance/Archive 02

This page is an archive of completed verification requests. Please do not add new requests here. If adding additional responses, please draw attention to the addition on a page more likely to be watched such as ISFDB:Community Portal

See ISFDB:Verification requests for current requests. See ISFDB:Verification requests/Archives for other archives.

Asimov Essay F&SF Feb 1975

In F&SF the title is The Rocketing Dutchman, in "The Planet that Wasn't" it's The Rocketing Dutchmen. I double checked the book it's men, can someone check the magazine. Dana Carson 00:28, 5 May 2007 (CDT)

Another quandary to have to deal with. Both the cover and TOC show "The Rocketing Dutchman", but on the first page of the essay itself, it is titled "The Rocketing Dutchmen". Does one trump the other? Anyone? Mhhutchins 21:16, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

Well, as our help pages state, "For short stories, essays and poems, take the title from the heading on the page where the work begins, rather than from the table of contents, if there is one." Ideally, we would use something like field 246 of the MARC-21 standard (Varying Form of Title) in addition to our support for Variant Titles, but that would complicate database/application design and take quite a bit of time to implement seamlessly. For now, I just document these oddities in the Notes field. Ahasuerus 22:29, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

OK. Will merge and make a note. Thanks. Dana Carson 00:17, 9 May 2007 (CDT)

Asimov Essay F&SF Oct 1965

In From Earth to Heaven The Land of Mu is listed as being from Oct 1965 F&SF which doesn't list it. Can someone check since that issue isn't verified yet. Dana Carson 16:15, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

Pulled my copy of FSF. Title is correct.--Swfritter 19:07, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

Ray Bradbury's "The Jack-In-The-Box"

Does anyone have any of these novels and can they shed any light on the titles in the following discussion? Thanks :)Kraang 19:02, 15 May 2007 (CDT)

Dark Carnival,The Stories of Ray Bradbury & The Small Assassins these collections list it as "The Jack-In-The-Box" but Contento list all of the above as "Jack-In-The-Box". The verified publications also only list it as "Jack-In-The-Box". The only listing i could find was a french web site that lists it "The Jack-In-The-Box" as a stand alone title. The french add Le & La to half there words and if translated back from french the word "The" could easily get left in. What i'am proposing is to delete the title "The Jack-In-The-Box" and list only as "Jack-In-The-Box" with no variant. Also all listings of Dark Carnival on AbeBooks that included a listing of short stories list it as "Jack-In-The-Box". Don't like to delete titles unless there is agreement from higher up. Let me know what you think. Thanks :)Kraang 20:23, 14 May 2007 (CDT)

I have checked WorldCat. The two affected collections that they have ToCs for both list the story as "Jack-In-The-Box" without the definite article, so it looks highly likely that you are right and the "The" is in error.

Just to be on the safe side, do you want to cut-and-paste your question on ISFDB:Verification requests board to see if somebody could verify Dark Carnival? I have The Small Assassin (an abridgement of Dark Carnival), The Stories of Ray Bradbury and The October Country in my collection and I can check my copies around May 25 if nobody else has the books handy. Thanks! Ahasuerus 22:31, 14 May 2007 (CD

Myself and several Mods went round on this on my TALK Page under the heading of "The Stories of Ray Bradbury" back in the beginning of April. At the time MHutchins suggested merging the two titles dropping the "THE" from one of them, but Ahasuerus was hesitant because of the number of titles that had the "THE" as being there, even though nobody has actually seen a physical copy of one yet. No one seems to have come forward with a copy of Dark Carnival yet, but I have seen 4 variations of The October Country, 1 that I have, and three at the library, and none of them have the "THE". A copy of The Small Assassin was Verified by BLongley on 2007-04-13 12:37:35 with the Title missing the "THE". I Verified my copies of October Country, and The Stories of Ray Bradbury, both without the "THE". Maybe Ahasuerus will give approval of the change this time as we have come up with more evidence. CoachPaul 22:34, 18 May 2007 (CDT)

Oh, sure, I don't mind! We can always change it back later if need be.

P.S. I will be away from the internet for the next 48 hours. Ahasuerus 00:37, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

I had not followed this time and space skipping discussion and accidentally rejected Kraang's edit to remove the "The". For the record - here are the publications that will be affected:

• Dark Carnival, (1947 , Ray Bradbury, Arkham House, $3.00, 313pp, hc, coll)
• The Small Assassin, (1962 , Ray Bradbury, Ace UK, #H-521, L2/6, 144pp, pb, coll)
• The Small Assassin, (1962 , Ray Bradbury, U.K., #H521, 2/6, 144pp, pb, coll)
• The Small Assassin, (Aug 1965 , Ray Bradbury, Four Square, 1234, 3/6, 144pp, pb, coll)
• The Stories of Ray Bradbury, (1980 , Ray Bradbury, Knopf, 0-394-51335-5, 912pp, hc, coll)
• The Stories of Ray Bradbury, (1980 , Ray Bradbury, Knopf, 0-394-51335-5, 912pp, hc, coll)

I went ahead with updating title 58396 to remove the "The." and merged it with 99517 and 577997. Marc Kupper (talk) 18:25, 20 May 2007 (CDT)

Amazing Science Fiction, May 1972

Jack C. Haldeman, II story - 'Watchdog' or 'Watchdøg'? Notice the slash in the 'o'. The story with the slash appears in both the hc and pb versions of Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year (1973) pb is listed as 'Second Annual Collection', edited by Lester del Rey. Neither version is shown as appearing as anywhere else by the db. CoachPaul 19:43, 13 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Published in Amazing as "Watchdøg" on the title page and the TOC. Mhhutchins 15:29, 14 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Thanks, guess we better change the db then. CoachPaul 23:02, 14 Jun 2007 (CDT)

I'm having trouble merging the two titles. What do I need to do to merge them without getting a warning that there will then be two stories with this title in Amazing? CoachPaul 23:07, 14 Jun 2007 (CDT)

An attempt to merge a title with its variant title often results in that warning. After breaking the VT relationship, the merge was a piece of cake :) Ahasuerus 01:11, 15 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Thank you, how did you break the VT relationship? CoachPaul 08:02, 15 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Oh, that's easy! To quote our Help pages:

If a title is marked as being a variant title or as a pseudonym when it should not be then enter 0 (zero) in the Parent # field in the upper part of the page and click [Submit Data]. This will change the title record from being a Variant Title to instead being a standalone title.

I don't think we have a way to undo an author's pseudonym yet. Ahasuerus 10:55, 15 Jun 2007 (CDT)

(unindent) I've got to say that most everything I ask about is in the HELP pages, but they're never easy to find. Having to go the the Make Variant help page to find out how to un-make a variant is not the most instinctual thing. It's kind of almost like having to click on Start to turn off Windows. Now after doing it for 10 plus years it comes as second nature, but if you've never done it before... Also having to click on the Make Variant link to un-make the variant... But thanks for showing me how to do this, now this one I'll remember... (Famous last words) CoachPaul 12:49, 15 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Our Help pages are far from perfect (e.g. the paragraph above could benefit from a rewrite), but at least they are editable by anybody. On the other hand, design decisions, e.g. "having to click on the Make Variant link to un-make the variant", are harder to change since Al's time is so limited at the moment. No harm in creating a feature request, of course :) Ahasuerus 14:41, 15 Jun 2007 (CDT)

"how to un-make a variant is not the most instinctual thing" - Actually - the reason it works at all is a minor bug in the code. There is no option to remove VTs and so on a lark I tried zero. It's like Windows - Use the [start] button to shut down. Yes, a feature for editing author pseudonyms is needed though complicated by that an author may have multiple pseudonyms and that a pseudonym may be shared by multiple authors meaning a simple zero out the field will not work. Marc Kupper (talk) 02:21, 20 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection by Isaac Asimov, and/or IASFM Mar-Apr 1991

Any edition of Gold except mine: I think most of our editions with contents are missing an entry for an essay called "Suspense" from that issue of Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine. BLongley 14:32, 14 Jun 2007 (CDT)

I have a Gold, and it contains Suspense. The ToC says that it is on pg. 327, but it is really on pg. 329. I just looked, and mine is just like the one that you verified, except it's a Harper/EOS Tenth Printing. I'll enter it in the db either later today, or sometime in the next few days. I can basically just clone yours with minor changes. CoachPaul 14:21, 28 Jun 2007 (CDT)

The Seven Sexes

A relatively new editor has updated the 1980 edition of William Tenn's The Seven Sexes. I am not sure when he will be able to read his Talk page, so it's probably safer to verify the changes before they are lost in the mists of time. If anybody has the 1968 and the 1980 editions of the book handy, could you please check the newly added Amazon.com cover? If I remember the covers used by Del Rey on the 1980 reprints (they reprinted almost all of Tenn's books at the time), the background was red(dish?), not white. Perhaps the cover URL needs to be moved from the 1980 Publication to the 1968 one? Also, there may be a missing "Author's Note" in the 1980 edition.

If we can't compare the two editions side by side, then the fall back position would be for Scott Latham (who has verified the 1968 edition) to check his copy and for somebody else to check the 1980 edition. If all else fails, I can be that "somebody else" at the end of the month when I am briefly re-united with my collection. Thanks! Ahasuerus 22:17, 10 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Ahasuerus, as you requested on my talk page I double-checked the image. The image I uploaded to Amazon is a scan of my copy that has a publication date of October 1980 listed. I don't see any reddish tones as you describe. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks! Dgeiser13

Thanks for the verification! I suspect that the "reddish" covers that I was thinking of were used on subsequent 1980s reprints. I should be able to check my collection of Saturday and Verify my copies. Ahasuerus 14:44, 24 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Interstellar Empire by John Brunner

Interstellar Empire with ISBN 0-87997-668-3 was Verified by BLongley on 2007-04-13 13:55:09. I just went to verify the DAW UW1252 version, which has the same printing date as is listed on that version. This has a price of $1.50 as opposed to the $2.50 on the verified version. So I think that the pub date on the verified version is wrong. Bill can you double check? Can't ask on your talk page, seems to be locked. Dana Carson 23:05, 10 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Doing some digging on the DAW pages here looks like the one you verified would probably be 5th printing and the actual printing date isn't known. OK if I update it to unknown? Dana Carson 23:30, 10 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Yes, I said it was 5th printing in the notes. I take it you didn't read them closely when you cloned them to your edition? ;-) Mine was in a pretty awful state compared to the level I try to work to now (it was from my early days here) so I've updated mine to the level I try to work to now, i.e. make proper variant titles rather than leave them in notes, put notes in the right places, quote the DAW reference number, add coverart image, go search harder for the cover-artist, etc. You might want to double-check what effect those variants have had on your pub too: your edition might also have some helpful notes on the copyright page. BLongley 13:57, 11 Jul 2007 (CDT)

But I'd rather you DIDN'T update the date to unknown, if you mean "0000-00-00". The reference number UE1668 places it between July 1979 and December 1998 at worst for the moment, and probably a much narrower range than that. As it's a DAW book we may eventually track it down to a publication Year and Month: whether we do or not, I STILL prefer to have the First Printing date and Printing Number recorded on the pub rather than lumping every non-first-printing together at "0000-00-00" - if we go that route, popular titles will have a few definite dates at the bottom and dozens of inseparable unknowns at the top, whereas with First dates within an imprint plus Printing number they should still be reasonably findable. See loads of discussions in "Rules and Standards" and the Community Portal archive. No, they won't sort right for now (although there were creative solutions proposed like putting the printing number in the day part of the date, and there's another method mentioned here), but I'm not going to be party to removing potentially useful data at the moment. Of course, if you submit such a change and the approving mod likes it, I can't stop you. But I'd rather you joined in the discussions on what's best in the long run first. BLongley 13:57, 11 Jul 2007 (CDT)

And yes, I locked my talk page last night during the last Spambot attack: it's unlocked now. BLongley 13:57, 11 Jul 2007 (CDT)

And they say that bibliographers are cold blooded creatures! :)

We can't be - I was sweating most of today, I must be a mammal surely? ;-) Still, the users with the machine-gun-holding guards like what happened, so I'm a bit more relaxed now! BLongley 15:09, 11 Jul 2007 (CDT)

The point about printing numbers is a very good one, we really need better software support for them. I think I'll start a list of "data elements that we really need to collect in a more structured manner" on another page. Ahasuerus 14:07, 11 Jul 2007 (CDT)

The main argument for printing numbers (IMNSHO) is that we're never going to find exact dates for some publications that were reprinted multiple times in a MONTH (remember some of those Man From U.N.C.L.E. pubs?), and even some that were reprinted in the same YEAR just have something like "reprinted 1983 (twice)" in one edition and "reprinted 1983 (three times)" to distinguish them. Of course, there will be pubs out there that don't have number-lines or complete printing histories (I've seen pubs where they just plain ran out of space to list them all!) and maybe we will have to use "0000-00-00" for those, but I'd prefer to look at a "date-range" instead - e.g. "mentions prior publication in 1977, has no record of 1980 edition recorded here" doesn't allow us to decide if it's 1977, 78, 79 or 80, but we can't get vaguer than "YEAR-00-00" currently.

The argument AGAINST "0000-00-00" is as above - popular titles will end up with one good pub for each new edition, and the rest bunched together despite there being a clear history across several imprints and/or publishers. BLongley 15:09, 11 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Printing number will NOT be a final solution, I'm sure. But I think it is a good step forward. BLongley 15:09, 11 Jul 2007 (CDT)

OK, won't touch it. I agree on the bad result of all unknown printings being 0000-00-00, just that is the standard. Yes printing number and a field for which edition it is a reprint of will be a much nicer solution. Dana Carson 15:51, 11 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Thanks muchly! Another free-thinker is always welcome. (Well, by me at least!) So long as we share the common goal of "the data should always improve, rather than be lost" I'm willing to challenge a few editorial conventions in the meantime. Even if it means more bibliographical work in the short term... I'm going to move from primary verifications to "sorting things out" shortly, and we do need to talk about some of the bibliographical stuff. BLongley 16:20, 11 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Back to the original question on Interstellar Empire by John Brunner -

• The 1st printing is $1.50 with catalog # UW1252 in Sep-1976
• The 3rd printing is $1.75 with ISBN 0-87997-362-5. The printing date is not stated but this was probably printed in Feb-1978. This date was determined by sorting the DAW list by ISBN and looking for a first printing just before 0-87997-362-5.
• The 5th printing is $2.50 with ISBN 0-87997-668-3. The printing date is not stated but this was probably printed in Nov-1981. This was determined the same as with 0-87997-362-5.
• I haven't seen a copy but there is a later printing priced at $2.95 with ISBN 0-88677-111-0. The printing date is not stated but this was probably printed in Feb-1986. This was determined the same as with 0-87997-362-5. Amazon.com 0879976683 is also dated Feb-1986 which goes against the grain of what I just wrote. I'm not sure if the error is mine or DAW/NAL's.
• There may be later printings but my DAW list focus these days is locating and verifying the editions with the yellow backs that were printed before 1984.

With the early DAW books each time they increased the price they also changed the ISBN. It means a new printing without a price increase can't be dated but a new printing with a price increase can be dated. DAW ended this practice of changing the ISBN in January 1989 meaning any further reprints use the same ISBN as the last printing before January 1989. The publications can still be dated in a rough sense by looking at points such as how the price is formatted. I was hoping to run down copies of the DAW catalog for each year as those have all of the reprints meaning if I had a full set of catalogs I'd be able pin any reprint down to the month/year. Unfortunately, it seems the catalogs were throw-away items for many people. Marc Kupper (talk) 02:06, 13 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Thanks Marc, I suspected it would be you that could put a date to it! I'm happy to move my printing to Nov-1981 if you're confident, or to 1981 if you're not, or leave it till we have more data. There's another edition we don't have at Amazon.co.uk as well if people want to muddy it further, but let's concentrate on DAW for now: I think that's the publisher we have best data for. BLongley 12:39, 13 Jul 2007 (CDT)

I'm comfortable with the dates but am uncertain on if it should be used in the ISFDB record as it's based on a third-hand source and also may well be wrong as I only know about the 1, 3, and 5th printing but not 2 and 4th. I see nothing wrong with copy/pasting the relevant portion of this thread into the publication's bibliographic notes so that if someone is curious on what the date *may* be then we can show the research. Marc Kupper (talk) 20:29, 16 Jul 2007 (CDT)

"Hide(a)way" in Astounding Science Fiction, February 1951

According to Contento, F._L._Wallace's "Hideaway" was published in Astounding Science Fiction, February 1951 and reprinted in The Edward De Bono Science Fiction Collection. We currently have this Title listed as "Hideway" in Astounding and as "Hideaway" in the reprint collection. Could somebody with a copy of this Astounding double check the spelling, please? Ahasuerus 20:15, 12 Jul 2007 (CDT)

My copy of Astounding has "Hideaway" on both the table and contents and the title page for the story.--swfritter 11:50, 13 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Thanks, merged now :) Ahasuerus 12:12, 13 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Damon Knight's The Earth Quarter/The Sun Saboteurs

It would appear that Damon Knight's novella "The Earth Quarter" was first published in If in January 1955. It was then expanded to (what then passed for) novel length for book publication in an Ace Double in 1961, where it appeared as "The Sun Saboteurs". It was later reprinted as, once again, "The Earth Quarter", in World Without Children and The Earth Quarter: Two Science Fiction Novels and Rule Golden and Other Stories. Given the fact the novel takes up 101 pages in the Ace Double and 100 pages in Rule Golden and Other Stories, I suspect that all post-1961 publications were of the expanded "novel length" version, but I don't have my sources here. Any additional verification, secondary or primary, would be most welcome! Ahasuerus 13:58, 16 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Both The Lancer version and the version in "Rule Golden" are the expanded version according to each copyright page.The Lancer says "A shorter version was published if IF..." and the Rule Golden says "...originally published in IF, January, 1955;expanded version titled THE SUN SABOTEURS (Ace Books)copyright 1961 by Damon Knight".

Actually that isn't all that clear.But why mention the expanded version if this wasn't it?Don Erikson 20:53, 16 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Thanks! It looks like we have enough information to assume that the 1970s collections reprinted the expanded version of the story, so I will go ahead and update them. Ahasuerus 21:16, 16 Jul 2007 (CDT)

"Combat Team"/"Exploration Team" in Spectrum III

Murray Leinster rewrote "Exploration Team" as "Combat Team" when he "fixed up" Colonial Survey (aka Planet Explorer) in 1956. Since "Exploration Team" won the Hugo award and, not entirely coincidentally, happens to be a good story, it has been often anthologized. All of its anthology appearances in the ISFDB list it as "Exploration Team" except for 2 Spectrum III editions which list it as "Combat Team". On the other hand, we have 4 other Spectrum III (aka Spectrum 3) editions (including the only Verified one) and they list the story as "Exploration Team", so I suspect that the 2 unverified editions are in error. Would anybody happen to be able to check them? Ahasuerus

I don't have either of the two entries you listed but added, and verified, an edition of Spectrum 3 that contains Exploration Team and does not mention Combat Team (I checked both the copyright statements and the story.) The copyright page contains the statement "Published by arrangement with Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc." implying that it's identical to that edition. This does not help in weeding out the two pubs that contain Combat Team but it means that of the publications

• Spectrum III, (1963 , Kingsley Amis, Robert Conquest, Gollancz, 21/-, 272pp, hc, anth) (has Combat Team)
• Spectrum III, (1964 , Kingsley Amis, Robert Conquest, Harcourt, Brace & World, $4.50, 272pp, hc, anth) (assume this matches the verified S1784 )
• Spectrum III, (Sep 1964 , Kingsley Amis, Robert Conquest, Science Fiction Book Club [UK], 10/6, 272pp, hc, anth)(has Combat Team)
• Spectrum 3, (Jul 1965 , Kingsley Amis, Robert Conquest, Berkley Medalion, #X1108, $0.60, 254pp, pb, anth) (assume this is verified as I verified the later S1784 edition)
• Spectrum 3, (1966 , Kingsley Amis, Robert Conquest, Pan, #M113, 5/-, 287pp, pb, anth) (assume verified as the later Pan edition is verified)
• Spectrum 3, (Nov 1969 , Kingsley Amis, Robert Conquest, Berkley Medalion, #S1784 / 425-01108-9, $0.75, 254pp, pb, anth) - [VERIFIED]
• Spectrum III, (1971 , Kingsley Amis, Robert Conquest, Pan, 0-330-20113-1, 287pp, pb, anth) - [VERIFIED]

In summary - of the seven publications five of them are either verified or very likely contain Exploration Team and it's only the two unknown ones that are listed as containing Combat Team. There are two Abebooks sellers of the SFBC edition and seven for the Gollancz edition with one of the sellers stating Exploration Team though it's not known if the seller pulled this from another source or entered it from the publication. Marc Kupper (talk) 00:06, 30 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Thanks, Marc, the additional evidence does suggest that "Combat Team" is likely in error! Ahasuerus 16:47, 30 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Or that our friends on the other side of the pond use the Combat Team title. :-) Marc Kupper (talk) 23:23, 30 Jul 2007 (CDT)

I cloned the UK SFBC edition from the Gollancz trade edition so that would explain why *it* has the "Combat Team" title. And since I verifed the Gollancz based on Tuck (which gives the title as "Exploration Team"), I'm going to take it upon myself to change both stories to "Exploration Team". Mhhutchins 17:15, 31 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Thanks for the clarification! I passed up on the opportunity to buy Tuck at 25 pounds per volume (price, not weight! Say 50 US dollars each at current exchange rate) last weekend - it just didn't look worth the money for data that I suspect is mostly here already, or will be, or is used in later reference books. I'm glad a few people here have it, but it just wasn't right for me. Of course, I've spent the savings on books that needed such a reference to date them (thanks again, Mike!) so if anyone DOES feel they're that useful please feel free to tell Fantasy Centre I sent you. (I don't think you get the complimentary cup of tea unless you visit in person though.) BLongley 18:13, 31 Jul 2007 (CDT)

"Bookworm, Run!"

The Vernor Vinge short story which appears as "Bookworm, Run!" (with the quotes) in The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge (CLLSTVV2001) appears without the quotes in many other places (see 44131). Did it appear without the quotes in the original (and thus should be made a variant title), or should all the occurrences be merged and the with-quotes title kept? grendel|khan 11:29, 21 Sep 2007 (CDT)

When both variations have been verified, I don't merge, I'll create variants (or question all active Primary verifiers). Glad to see someone else using "Primary (Transient)"! I wouldn't allow my lack of being able to check easily make me revert a verification over something as trivial as punctuation marks though. I Do merge some obscure non-verified stuff when I think nobody's looking though. BLongley 15:52, 21 Sep 2007 (CDT)

No quotation marks in the (original) Analog, March 1966, publication. Dave (davecat) 15:51, 27 Dec 2007 (CST)

Thanks, VT created. Ahasuerus 16:31, 27 Dec 2007 (CST)

The Man-Kzin Wars

We currently attribute the introduction in The Man-Kzin Wars to Jerry Pournelle, while the Locus Index attributes it to Larry Niven. Could somebody check a copy of the book to see who was the culprit? Thanks! Ahasuerus 23:40, 29 Sep 2007 (CDT)

Fifth printing clearly gives credit to Larry Niven for the introduction (both on TOC and on the first page of intro text. Mgpb 12:22, 23 Dec 2007 (CST)

Thanks, fixed! :) Ahasuerus 13:50, 23 Dec 2007 (CST)

Galaxy Science Fiction, July 1954

Could somebody please check Galaxy Science Fiction, July 1954? Our Verified record indicates that Groff Conklin's review of The Stolen Sphere on page 100 misspells the author's name as "John Kier Cross". Is it really spelled that way in the magazine or is it spelled "John Keir Cross"? The verifier was Alibrarian, who is currently unavailable. TIA! Ahasuerus 15:40, 26 Oct 2007 (CDT)

The name is misspelled. I will put in the correctly spelled name and the title as it is entered in the database. There is also a review of the novel in F&SF with the short title. I will fix that also. This is also a variant title situation which makes it even more fun.--swfritter 18:31, 26 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Thanks! Ahasuerus 18:48, 26 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Richard S. Richardson?

According to our record for Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, February 1971, the author of "Ptolemy's Red Sirius • [Science Fact (Analog)]" is one Richard S. Richardson. Could somebody please check if it's our old friend Robert S. Richardson (aka Philip Latham) instead? TIA! Ahasuerus 22:27, 27 Nov 2007 (CST)

Right you are. I have assigned the corrected work as a pseudonymous work of R. S. Richardson.--swfritter 13:53, 28 Nov 2007 (CST)

Thanks! I have moved the series data ("Science Fact (Analog)") from the variant title under Robert S. Richardson to the master title under R. S. Richardson. It's one of those irritating things that one has to do when setting up VTs since otherwise Series pages display both the master Title record and the Variant Title record. Makes it really tiresome to flip flop canonical names and pseudonyms (which we may want eventually to do in this case) too :( Hopefully, Al will fix the Series page at some point. Ahasuerus 15:30, 28 Nov 2007 (CST)

[A] Rescue From Jupiter

We currently list Rescue From Jupiter as an Ed Earl Repp novel published ib 1941, but there is no associated Publication record. At the same time we list "A Rescue from Jupiter" as a 1930 Gawain Edwards serial. I wonder if it may be the same novel(la), perhaps misattributed to Repp? Could somebody with access to Tuck and/or Reginald (mine are thousands of miles away) please double check? TIA! Ahasuerus 17:42, 9 Dec 2007 (CST)

I'd bet that it's just a matter of mistaken planets. Repp's novel Rescue from Venus published in the Spring 1941 issues of SF Quarterly. Neither Tuck nor Day lists a story by Repp as "Rescue from Jupiter". Mhhutchins 13:01, 15 Dec 2007 (CST)

Tuck says (in the bio section) "One of Repp's last sf novels was 'Rescue From Jupiter' (SFQ, Spr 1941)". Contento's magazine index lists the work in the Spring 1941 SFQ as 'Rescue From Venus' (as does Day). Reginald only tracks Repp's 'The Radium Pool' and 'The Stellar Missles'. The Tuck blurb is most likely incorrect (and may be the origin of our entry), so I'd move to strike the "Rescue From Jupiter" title altogether. Alvonruff 19:00, 15 Dec 2007 (CST)

I have all Science Fiction Quarterlies in my collection and I will have access to it the first week of January (aka the last week of December, I guess.) I can try to find the issue in question and verify it. Ahasuerus 19:45, 15 Dec 2007 (CST)

'Rescue from Venus' in the Spring, 1941 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly. Professor Jarvison, his (presumably buxom) daughter Elizabeth, and young Corwin Trumbull are among seven brave scientist who comprise the first expedition to Venus - where two races are locked in mortal combat. Title page 4 lists it as a 75,000 word story while the facing page 5 lists it as 60,000 words. There will never be another Ed Earl Repp.--swfritter 21:34, 15 Dec 2007 (CST)

We can only hope! :) Ahasuerus 21:42, 15 Dec 2007 (CST)

P.S. Bogus "Rescue From Jupiter" record deleted. RIP! Ahasuerus 14:13, 16 Dec 2007 (CST)

Lord Dunsany's "The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller"

We have two slightly different versions of this story's title on file, "The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller and the Doom that Befell Him" and "The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller, and of the Doom That Befell Him". The former form of the title is Verified and the second matches what Wikipedia has for the Lin Carter reprint, FWIW. I have just added a third version, "The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller", but it comes from OCLC, whose contents level data is not very reliable. Could someone with access to Lin Carter's At the Edge of the World please check the title so that we could decide whether to merge the first two or create a variant, please? Ahasuerus 20:34, 23 Dec 2007 (CST)

My Lin Carter editted collection At the Edge of the World March 1970 has the 2nd version of the title, both in the TOC & as the title of the story. The credits say the story is reprinted from THE BOOK OF WONDER (London: William Heinemann, 1912; Boston: John W. Luce & Co., 1912). The Book of Wonder is on Project Gutenberg, but there's no source information or even original publication date that I can see, so I don't know how accurate the titles of the stories would be. --j_clark 18:27, 29 Dec 2007 (CST)

Fantastic Universe, October 1955

If anyone has a copy of this can you please check page 111 and see what book by F. L. Wallace is being reviewed? Mike Christie verified it, but he hasn't been around lately. The record was originally "F. L. Wallace" by "To Be Deleted". I reversed the author/title, but can't find any record of that title by Wallace. His only book (Address: Centauri) was published in the same year as this review. Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:08, 29 Dec 2007 (CST)

That's right, it was Address: Centauri. I have adjusted the publication, including changing review dates from 1955-00-00 to 1955-10-00, and updated Bill's list. Ahasuerus 22:42, 29 Dec 2007 (CST)

Wow! That was fast enough. Mhhutchins 22:45, 29 Dec 2007 (CST)

Oh yes, verifications tend to occur much faster when the magazine collection is just a couple of floors away as opposed to a few thousand miles away :) Ahasuerus 22:47, 29 Dec 2007 (CST)

Stampede Caution

Could somebody please check if Gallun's "Stamped Caution" was published as "Stamped Caution!" in Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1953? We have both versions in the database, one pub-less. Perhaps the exclamation point is on the title page only or vice versa? TIA! Ahasuerus 17:05, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

"Stamped Caution!" on the TOC, "Stamped Caution" on the title page and story pages. I will delete orphan and make note in pub. Probably one of those cases where the Editor removed the story for fear that it was referenced elsewhere in the system but then did not delete the orphan.--swfritter 17:52, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

"Stampede" ? Dave (davecat) 20:02, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

May have been confused with a story from "Spicy Westerns".--swfritter 20:08, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

Fantastic Universe, December 1956

Could somebody check this pub Fantastic Universe, December 1956 and tell us if 112 • Strictly Confidential • shortfiction was by Gordon Dickson or Gordon R. Dickson? Something wrong happened to the author's record and we are trying to recover the missing info. Thanks. --Roglo 15:22, 11 Jan 2008 (CST)

Gordon Dickson on both TOC and title page.--swfritter 19:16, 11 Jan 2008 (CST)

Infinity Science Fiction, October 1956

There is a piece entitled Tales for Tomorrow in this issue, and unlike others in this Infinity series, this one is typed as SHORTFICTION instead of ESSAY. Can someone verify that this should also be ESSAY? Thanks. Mhhutchins 23:53, 15 Jan 2008 (CST)

Yep. It's a next issue preview column. I just completed my run of Infinity and this, Fantastic Universe, and Venture are high on my list of projects because they probably only need minor touch-ups to complete the Bibliographic Tasks.--swfritter 18:37, 16 Jan 2008 (CST)

Earthman, Come Home

Is anyone familiar with this story and the original works this is based on? My problem is that it's listed in ISFDB as a collection and yet the Avon copy I have look decidedly novelish and Kraang verified two non-Avon copies without assigning page numbers to the components.

I've included the copyright statement in the publication record and you can see there that this looks like more than just a fixup. I'm thinking of converting this to a novel and adding a title notes that explains this is a fixup but wanted some feedback on this. Thank you. Marc Kupper (talk) 23:53, 20 Jan 2008 (CST)

To quote Wikipedia, "Earthman, Come Home, is a series of loosely connected short stories detailing the adventures of a flying New York City." And Contento lists the constituent stories as follows:

Earthman, Come Home James Blish (G.P. Putnam’s, 1955, $3.50, 239pp, hc) [Okie]
* · Okie · James Blish · nv Astounding Apr ’50
* · Bindlestiff · James Blish · nv Astounding Dec ’50
* · Sargasso of Lost Cities · James Blish · na Two Complete Science-Adventure Books Spr ’53
* · Earthman, Come Home · James Blish · nv Astounding Nov ’53

The big question then is whether the end result qualifies as a fixup or as a collection of linked stories. If there are no separate page numbers for individual stories, I think it's safe to assume that it is a fixup. Ahasuerus 00:03, 21 Jan 2008 (CST)

In the Gollancz 2006 ed. (copyright 1970) omnibus, there are no story titles but a 'Prologue' and chapters: 1. Utopia, 2. Gort, 3. The Rift, 4: He, 5. Murphy, 6. The Jungle, 7. Hern VI, 8. IMT, 9. Home. So I recorded it as a NOVEL and someone merged it with the COLLECTION (1955) record. I'm not sure what the date should be for the novel. --Roglo 04:04, 21 Jan 2008 (CST)

My two hardcover editions have the same chapter arrangement as Roglo's Gollancz 2006 ed. The Putnam's copyright page states "The material upon which this novel is built appeared originally as Okie..." and continues on to include the rest of the titles. The Faber & Faber copyright page is silent on the subject. The conclusion one can draw from this is that the title is a fix-up. I'll make the appropriate alterations in the notes section.Kraang 18:12, 21 Jan 2008 (CST)

Gollancz doesn't list the stories on copyright page; in the introduction Baxter wrote: The first set of stories, describing New York's episodic adventures [...] was later combined into Book 3. [...This edition] was compiled in 1970, with inconsistencies ironed out by Blish.. --Roglo 02:43, 22 Jan 2008 (CST)

My omnibus lists the same constituent stories and has the same chapter titles. I think enough of us have concluded "9 into 4 doesn't go!" and this can be a Novel. I only hold out for "collection" status where we CAN (or at least some of us can) match sections or chapters directly to short stories. [e.g. here I own one of the stories in both magazine and collection and can confirm they're 1-to 1 related, so hold out for collection - but in the pub here, I can't defend it but note it in case an owner of the shortfiction and fix-up turns up. So long as we don't LOSE the details of the constituent stories, it doesn't matter TOO much to me, but where possible I like to know how much of a fix-up I've already got, like here. Fix-ups are never going to be a Black and White decision, but I'm getting clearer about which shades of grey [vt: gray] I'm happy with. BLongley 16:53, 22 Jan 2008 (CST)

Thank you everyone for the feedback. I've summarized the discussion on the author's bibliographic comments page. Marc Kupper (talk) 22:12, 22 Jan 2008 (CST)

The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age

The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age 1976 Avon pb edition has an unusual title variant: Altruzine, or A True Account of How Bonhomius the Heretic Hermit Tried to Bring About Universal Happiness and What Came of It (usually it is 'Altruizine' with an extra 'i', 'Hermetic Hermit' and a comma before 'and': here is the alternative title). Was this title really printed like this, or should it be corrected in ISFDB? Thanks. --Roglo 08:48, 26 Jan 2008 (CST)

It is: "Altruizine". It is: "Hermetic Hermit". And there is a coma after "and".

Don Erikson 20:28, 26 Jan 2008 (CST)

Thanks, I've merged it with the regular title. --Roglo 02:58, 28 Jan 2008 (CST)

Psycho Busters: The Novel Book One

Dissembler has created a submission (only accessible by moderators) for Psycho Busters: The Novel Book One (ISBN 0345498828 ). It's based on the SF/superhero manga series Psycho Busters by Yuya Aoki illustrated by Rando Ayamine. Most of the Aoki/Ayamine titles are manga, which we generally don't list in the database (and the existing ones will be eventually deleted), but in this case it looks like it may be a bona fide superhero novel based on their manga series. Sometimes you can tell comic books from novels because the former are priced differently, but it's possible that a manga-based novel is priced at $9.95. Amazon.com wasn't very useful and the book won't appear until April, so I am not sure how we can tell what it's like until it hits the stores in 2 months. OCLC lists this title as a "book" and its contents as follows:

book one. The Ghost girl -- The Fugitives -- The Three psychics -- Psychic battle -- The Boy who was a lot like god -- The one-in-a-million-miracle

FWIW, the original Japanese title is "Saiko basutazu". Is anybody by chance familiar with this manga series or have any other ideas? TIA! Ahasuerus 21:17, 26 Jan 2008 (CST)

I forget the Japanese name for it but it sounds like a packaging of four manga magazine stories into book format. I recently read The Bell Warden[1] which is also priced at $9.95 and was four separate, and unrelated, manga format stories packaged into a book. One downside with this format is that the book was a little smaller than a paperback and was reduced down from magazine size. I ended up reading it using a magnifier lamp. Thus I'd reject/delete the submission unless the author/illustrators are already in ISFDB for specfict. Yuya_Aoki and Rando_Ayamine are in ISFDB but for a single series and in reading the Amazon reviews "manga" get used a lot meaning that everything should get deleted. Marc Kupper (talk) 00:15, 27 Jan 2008 (CST)

Thanks, Marc, I am in the process of deleting these manga records and will reject Dissembler's submission once the last one is gone. There is little doubt that their previously entered titles are manga -- see the cover art and, besides, they were published by "TokyoPop", which is on our list of manga publishers. Ahasuerus 20:54, 27 Jan 2008 (CST)

Nat Schachner's Space Lawyer

We have two identical English language Publication records for Nat Schachner's Space Lawyer, one a Novel and one a Collection. According to Notes, it "incorporates "Old Fireball" and "Jurisdiction"", so it's likely a fixup. Would anybody happen to know more about it before we delete the Collection pub and add notes to the Novel pub? Ahasuerus 20:54, 27 Jan 2008 (CST)

Tuck's lists it as a novel, mentioning that the first half is those two stories and that the rest is new. So I'd place my bets on it being a fixup novel instead of a collection. Mhhutchins 22:13, 27 Jan 2008 (CST)

Thanks! I have deleted the Collection pub and added Tuck's comment to the Note field. Mission accomplished :) Ahasuerus 23:15, 27 Jan 2008 (CST)

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1979

This review is suspect. I'd guess it was a review of (The?) "Miracle Visitors" by Ian Watson, and although we DO have reviews by John Deacon I think that's just a character name in the book. Can someone please check and see how my psychic abilities are doing? BLongley 16:08, 4 Feb 2008 (CST)

Yes, this was a review of Ian Watson's novel, and is credited as such. It mentions "John Deacon" in the body of the review, but as the protagonist of the novel, not the author! Mhhutchins 16:32, 4 Feb 2008 (CST)

Thanks for the swift response! I'll let you correct the review: if I can detect an error in a magazine I've never seen, of a book I've never read, from several thousand miles away and over a quarter of century later, I think I'll go spend some time picking Lottery numbers while my Psi-powers are running this high... BLongley 17:15, 4 Feb 2008 (CST)

Review fixed. Maybe some of those powers will rub off onto me! Mhhutchins 12:31, 7 Feb 2008 (CST)