ISFDB:Research Assistance/Archive 04

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This is an archive page for the Research Assistance page. Please do not edit the contents. To start a new discussion, please click here.
This archive includes discussions from February - November 2008.

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Alan Dean Foster's "Mission to Moulokin"

Does anyone have a copy of this publication http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?MSSNTMLKNN1981 and if they do can they verify the printing date, ISBN#, price & country printed US or Canada.Kraang 22:08, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

I have just verified this publication, which looks like either the same or a very similar pub. The one I verified was "Manufactured in the United States of America". -DES Talk 20:31, 10 Feb 2008 (CST)


Poul Anderson, The Warriors From Nowhere

In Agent of the Terran Empire Ace, 0-441-01066-0 it's The Warriors From Nowhere. In the other four publications of that title it's Warriors from Nowhere. Can someone with one of those pubs please check. The Coronet edition was verified by Mike Christie, I'll ask on his talk page also. Thats a British edition, so I'd still like to know about the other US editions. Dana Carson 22:40, 13 Aug 2007 (CDT)

I have the same Coronet edition as Mike (I hope, as I've just added the cover-art to his verified pub), and it's definitely "Warriors from Nowhere" on first page of story, and on the copyright page. There is no contents page. Copyright page also confirms it's a variant of "The Ambassadors of Flesh". BLongley 13:15, 14 Aug 2007 (CDT)
I've also taken the liberty (but asked afterwards) of correcting "Honourable Enemies" back to the British spelling that edition actually has. BLongley 13:17, 14 Aug 2007 (CDT)
Before I make that pub any messier - the same copyright page says "Hunters of the Sky Cave" was published in shorter form as "A Handful of Stars" in Amazing Stories, and reprinted in Ace as "We Claim These Stars!". So that would make it a "Novel" type, as you already have it, Dana - but it's Shortfiction for the other pubs with entries so far. Any other sightings of the variant claims? BLongley 13:31, 14 Aug 2007 (CDT)
I confirm that it is "The Warriors from Nowhere" in the 1980 Ace pb, and that the copyright page of that ed mentions earlier printings both as "Warriors from Nowhere" and "The Ambassadors of Flesh", and also the different past titles of "Hunters of the Sky Cave" as given above. -DES Talk 17:33, 28 June 2008 (UTC)


R. Clayton a pseudonym for Pete Bogg?

Does anyone know of a source that credits this pseudonym? I can't find it in Rock, Robinson, Tuck, Day, AKA, and no information has been entered in either of the bibliographic comments for the authors.--swfritter 23:06, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

No answers so I went ahead an approved the submissions for this insignificant filler material and made Bibliographic Notes to the effect that the source is not known.--swfritter 01:32, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Astounding Science Fiction, November 1949

"Editorial: Scienc-Fiction Prophecy" or "Editorial: Science-Fiction Prophecy" in Astounding Science Fiction, November 1949? Ahasuerus 03:54, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

It's the latter, "Editorial: Science-Fiction Prophecy."--Rkihara 04:26, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, fixed! Ahasuerus 16:27, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Hammer's Slammers - At Any Price

My Arrow edition I'd call a collection, with two short stories and an essay covering the last 73 pages. But they're not mentioned in a ToC of any sort. The other editions look as though they may be the Novel alone, judging by cover-blurb, but pagination suggests otherwise. Can anyone with the Baen or Pocket version (if it exists) please check how many individual entries there are included please? The titles in mine have been republished individually it seems, although an "Interlude" prefix on some complicates matters. (And yes, I know my edit puts a Collection into the "The Complete..." instead of a Novel, that's why I'm asking before it gets any messier.) BLongley 19:33, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

Specifically, "[Interlude: ]The Interrogation Team" and "Code-Name Feirefitz" get republished in The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 1, whereas the novel is in Volume 2. (I think: and although those haven't been verified, I know I entered those from publisher's info.) BLongley 19:40, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
I have the Baen pb edition of this, i am pretty sure, and i will check. -DES Talk 21:13, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
I have verified the Baen 1st printing. It contains the same contents as the Arrow ed. Indeed it has the same pagination, adn the same lack of any ToC. It looks like the Arrow ed just put a new cover on the Baen ed. As Baen was, in a sense, created as a replacement for the Pocket SF line, I am inclined to doubt the existance of a separate pocket edition, particularly as it has the same ISBN as the Baen edition. But who knows. -DES Talk 02:55, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
Is it possible to put the novel into "The Complete..." rather than the collection? -DES Talk 03:00, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
Yes. Done. BLongley 04:10, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
P.S. Worldcat lists the Arrow and Baen eds, but does not list a non-baen pocket edition. -DES Talk 03:07, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
Unless anyone has an objection, I'll delete the Pocket version. It appears to be a phantom duplicate entry. BLongley 04:10, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
I agree. -DES Talk 04:12, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
A quick search of a few dozen online catalogs has found 8 records for this ISBN and all of them listed Baen as the publisher, so I agree that the Pocket record is likely in error (an early Amazon.com import?) and should be deleted. Ahasuerus 04:25, 28 June 2008 (UTC)


Noel, Noel, Noel and Noel

As I wrote re: "Atanielle Annyn Noël" over on rec.arts.sf.written the other day:

According to http://www.trussel.com/books/pseud_n.htm, her legal name is Ruth Helen Swycaffer Noel and she was born in 1947. A "Ruth S. Noel" published 2 books about Tolkien, _The Languages of Middle-Earth_ and _The Mythology of Middle-Earth_ (later reprinted as _The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth_), in 1974 and 1977 respectively, and it appears likely that it was the same person.

Would anybody happen to have further insight into this person(s) before I create variant titles and a pseudonym? And speaking of Noels, I suspect that our Scott Noel is actually a misspelling of Scot Noel, but the verifier of Pandora, Winter 1992 is no longer active. Would anybody happen to have this issue? Ahasuerus 23:42, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

I think I have The Languages of Middle-Earth I will check and see if ther is anythign relevant in an "about the author" section.
According to Wikipedia:The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth, "Ruth S. Noel, also known as Atanielle Annyn Noel, is the author of The Mythology of Middle-earth". -DES Talk 00:31, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
Nope, no "about the author" at all. -DES Talk 01:08, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
Oops, missed the back cover where it says only that she "teaches remedial and developmental reading in Riverside, CA" plus info about her other books on JRRT. -DES Talk 02:58, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
I have entered and verified my copy of this book. -DES Talk 01:22, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
I have also entered records for her other works on JRRT, for what sources I coulkd find. In any case Ruth S. Noel now exists for you to make into a pesud. -DES Talk 03:00, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
Thanks! I see other references to the "Noel/Noel" relationship on the Web, including on Tolkien Gateway, so I think it's reasonably safe to assume that they are the same person. Interestingly, the Locus Index says that "Atanielle Annyn Noël" is "legalized from Ruth Helen Swycaffer Noel". Ahasuerus 02:51, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
OK, everything has been linked now. The non-fiction section of the page looks iffy, but that's how the software works at the moment. There is also that perpetual question about linking revised/expanded/abridged/etc Titles, but that's fodder for another Wiki page. Ahasuerus 00:47, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Bob Parkin and/or Bob Larkin

Locus seems a bit confused over which of these guys illustrated some Babylon Five covers, and having looked at some now I can see why.

This sig Bob_Parkin_Sig.jpg could be interpreted with a P and B sharing a loop, or an L below a B. I lean toward the latter explanation, and Parkin may not exist. I've looked at some credited Bob Larkin covers though, and can't find a similar sig. Does anyone else have any definite Bob Larkin covers they can check for such? BLongley 22:06, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

I knew these were by Bob Larkin but now I proof. The cover of David A. Kyle's Z-LENSMAN has this signature and is credited on the copyright page.Don Erikson 19:11, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
Thanks Don! I'll correct the Parkins. BLongley 19:17, 14 August 2008 (UTC)


"My Son, the Physicist" by Asimov

In this pub of The Complete Stories, Volume 1, the story is listed as My Son, the Physicist, and there is a note (unsigned, unfortunately) confirming this on the title record. But all other appearences, including several verified ones, and several UNverified ones in other pubs of The Complete Stories, Volume 1, list this as "My Son, the Physicist!" (with an ! mark). Can anyone confirm that a version without the ! was actually published?

Yes, my UK "Nightfall Two" has it without exclamation mark on contents page or start page. Possibly Brin1's edition has the same. There's a few more variations that should be recorded, there's a lot of single/double quote variations too. I'll go check a few while I can still reach them - they were early verifications of mine before I realised quite how pernickety we should be. I'm not going to go as far as angled quotes though, you'll get normal ones. BLongley 18:40, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
OK, I did the part of Complete Stories I own as well - still no exclamation mark. Note that it's Volume 2, not 1 - the British Volumes don't seem to match the US ones with contents so far. There's a few British entries obviously cloned incorrectly already. And it's actually Volume Two on title-page, rather than 2 so should technically need a variant title overall. But we're already differing from the practice we adopted for "Nightfall and Other Stories" so I'm going to leave any more punctuation/numerals differences for a bit, until a few more people do some more edits/verifications (and hopefully not merges, as I'm sure I'm correcting some stuff I entered correctly before). But there's still room for ellipsis quibbles ("space required before a final question mark?"), and I will admit now that I DIDN'T add the space before the final single-quote on some others, if anyone finds that important. Spacing is something I think we can usefully regularise, and indeed the documented ellipsis spacing rules have already been challenged a bit. Not something I really want to get into at the moment though. BLongley 20:18, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
And I've now verified a third version here without the exclamation mark. I'm obviously buying too many books. BLongley 20:03, 21 August 2008 (UTC)


T. O'Conor Sloane

Tuck gives this 1930s editor of Amazing the name Terence, but Wikipedia names him Thomas. Any more definite source of the true name? MHHutchins 15:59, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Ashley in The Time Machines and Carter in The Creation of Tomorrow both give Thomas O'Conor Sloane.--swfritter 18:08, 3 August 2008 (UTC)


Jane Gaskell: The Serpent and The Dragon

My Tandem 1975 copy of The Dragon states that it is the second part of the original hardback entitled The Serpent & that the story begins in the paperback volume The Serpent, the first part of the original hardback edition. My copy of The Dragon starts with a chapter titled "The Bed in Southern City" & end with a chapter titled "The Possession".

The original hardback is Hodder & Stoughton (1963 (?)) which isn't in ISFDB, though there's enough in the British Library catalogue to create a basic entry.

Looking at the ISFDB entries for The Serpent, it looks like (based on number of pages), that the Sphere & Paperback Library are the full Serpent, and the St Martin's, Pocket & DAW are The Serpent (Part 1). My Futura edition (1985) that I'm about to enter also seems to Part 1. My Futura finishes with a massive Chapter V "The Kitchen at H.Q." (unless I've missed a chapter heading).

If anyone has a copy handy of any editions of The Serpent, would you please look at whether your edition is full or Part 1. ... and any copies of The Dragon to see if they start in the same place as mine.

I'm also interested in confirming that the full edition was first published 1963 (from British Library). ISFDB currently has 1966. My Futura Part 1 gives copyright 1963, but first published in GB in 1966. Thanks --j_clark 06:53, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

Half the records in the MELVYL catalog list 1963 as the copyright year and the other half list 1966. OCLC record 11674543 for the 1963 Hodder and Stoughton edition states "First printed 1963"--Verso of t.p./ Wrapper design by Denvil./ Followed by Atlan; The city; Some summer lands./ Issued in the U.S. in 1977 by St. Martin's Press in two volumes as The serpent and The dragon." Locus says:
  • The Dragon (DAW 0-88677-021-1, Mar ’85 [Feb ’85], $2.95, 240pp, pb) [Atlan] Reprint (St. Martin’s 1977) of the second half of The Serpent (Hodder 1963), now the second book in the “Atlan” fantasy saga.
  • The Serpent (DAW 0-87997-990-9, Jan ’85 [Dec ’84], $2.95, 320pp, pb) [Atlan] Reprint (St. Martins 1977) fantasy novel, the first half of The Serpent (Hodder 1963), now the first book in the “Atlan” saga.
I will check Reginald-1 and my collection tonight, but it looks like it first appeared in 1963. Ahasuerus 13:37, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
The 1967 Sphere "The Serpent" certainly continues beyond Chapter V "The Kitchen at HQ" (which is 80 pages, 212-291) but there's another 34 pages of Chapter VI "The Bed in Southern City" before it starts Part 2 ("The Beloved" - Part 1 was "The Hostage"). Strange place to split it I think, but it evens up the sizes. It claims to be a reprint of the Hodder 1963 edition, not an abridgment or subset. BLongley 14:42, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
Thanks. I propose to unmerge the shorter The Serpent pubs & reorder the series as follows:
1. The Serpent
1. The Serpent (Book 1)
1. The Dragon (Book 2 of The Serpent)
2. Atlan
3. The City
4. Some Summer Lands
Any better solution / solution more consistent with similar series in ISFDB? --j_clark 23:20, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
I don't think we ever resoled the issue of "subsequently split novels" -- see this recent discussion and the one immediately below it for an example. I think your proposed solution should be OK for now since the numbering scheme will make it easy to find the series later on if/when we have a more comprehensive solution in place. Ahasuerus 03:00, 12 August 2008 (UTC)


Edwin L./Lester Arnold's Gullivar / Gulliver Jones

Hi, Re this title's publications & vts: Various reputable sources (including 1979 Nicholls & Clute Illustrated) indicate that the original 1905 is Lieut. Gullivar Jones : His Vacation by Edwin Lester Arnold; and that some later publs have ... Gulliver ... (or the variant, Gullivar / ... er of Mars) by Edwin Lester Arnold or Edwin L. Arnold. (My 1977 NEL is Gulliver / Lester [and no period after Lieut] & is unmerged already, ready for a vt to ?? of 1905.)

ISFDB has all as Gulliver. I'd like to tidy this up. Anyone have copies of the other entered pubs handy for this? ... and other sources re the original version of the title and author. Thanks --j_clark 01:08, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

The Project Gutenberg test is online, and is now linked to from our record. It does not mention the "vacation" title, but says that the "original" title was "Lieut. Gullivar Jones" I have verified it, as our record matches the PG text online exactly. -DES Talk 03:13, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
I believe that I have the Ace edition in my collection. I will add it to my list of things to check this weekend. Ahasuerus 02:49, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
I have now verified my Ace "#30600" edition. It lists the original title as "Lieut. Gulliver Jones" three [sic] times and there is no sign of "Gullivar". Also, Tuck uses "Gulliver" as well and gives the subtitle as "His Vocation" as opposed to "His Vacation". "Vocation" is used twice, so it's somewhat unlikely to be a typo. Ahasuerus 23:47, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
Clute/Nicholls; Clute/Grant and Reginald3 all say "Lieut. Gullivar Jones" for the 1905 edition...--Dirk P Broer 02:21, 15 May 2011 (UTC)


"Wrong-Way Street" vs "Wrong Way Street"

I added and verified the second Ballantine printing of Niven's Convergent Series earlier today but noticed that the last story in my copy is called "Wrong Way Street" while all other publications on file list it as "Wrong-Way Street". Unfortunately, half the verifiers in this case are inactive, so instead of notifying everybody individually, I decided to post the verification request here and to point the affected parties to this page. Ahasuerus 23:14, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

A lazy edit on my part (or someone regularised it). No hyphen in mine. Fixed now. BLongley 00:19, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
I suspect that the hyphen originally came from Contento and has been merrily cloned by everybody and his dog. Ahasuerus 02:02, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
Galaxy appearance: hyphen both TOC and title page entry.--swfritter 17:05, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
First Ballantine, no hyphen. Fixed Dana Carson 07:44, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
Just a query: Are they all intended to be without the hyphen now? ... even the Galaxy (magazine?) appearance noted by swfritter? ... and including the variant title? (That's how it looks to me at the moment) --j_clark 04:44, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
P.S. My Pan edition of "The Ninth Galaxy Reader" has the hyphen. --j_clark 04:49, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
Looks like somebody accidentally deleted the hyphen from the canonical title. I have restored the hyphen and will check the full edit history later today to see if I can determine what happened. Ahasuerus 15:13, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
Hm, I can't seem to restore the full backup from yesterday night. Hopefully, it's an isolated occurrence (fingers crossed) and I'll try again tomorrow. Ahasuerus 22:36, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
OK, I have figured out how to restore the backup file (note to self: it helps to use the right kind of slashes in MySQL commands!) and I can see the related submissions. It looks like Dana accidentally deleted the hyphen from the hyphenated version of the title when he was editing in the wee hours of the morning on the 18th. The morale of the story is to resist the temptation to edit after 2am :) Everything has been fixed now. Ahasuerus 19:03, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm going to have to dig through some boxes to find my Verified copy of Voyagers in Time, but I can verify that the first Pocketbook edition of The Ninth Galaxy Reader verified by Scott Latham does contain the hyphen as it is on the shelf next to my computer. CoachPaul 13:46, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Initials Help please

The cover artist is credited as "Powers" but don't see an "RP" in these initials. The source is a title page illustration published by Ace in 1968. Thanks. Marc Kupper (talk) 17:15, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

File:Unknown Initials.jpg
Jack Gaughan. Think he did every one of these little drawings for a number of years in the ace doubles. That doesn't mean he did the cover...--Bluesman 05:32, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
JG 1967.jpg Here's what his sig looked like the year before. Not one of the most consistent signers I think. BLongley 20:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)


"Repent, Harlequin!"... title spelling

Alone Against Tomorrow: Stories of Alienation in Speculative Fiction includes a record for "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktokman. Other records are for "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman with an extra c. ("tok" vs "tock"). Can anyone verify Alone Against Tomorrow? Is this actually a varient title? Several of the "tock" publications are verifed. -DES Talk 17:11, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Yes, VT away. When I run into something like this I also leave notes on the publications alerting people to pay attention to that detail and that the publication record may be wrong. Another intent of the note is someone searching with Google can find the page and it'll then help explain why they are seeing both names in their searches and what a particular publication really says. I do the same for publications that have both a catalog # and ISBN for example so that people know that dealer listings for one or the other are likely for the same publication and not different printings. Marc Kupper (talk) 19:21, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
On a second thought - before you VT see if people can confirm tok vs tock as it's so easy to miss one for the other. Marc Kupper (talk)
I have the Macmillan HC (SFBC edition) and it has 'tock'.--Bluesman 05:38, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
I doubt I'd miss an extra/missing letter - punctuation is the usual error I make, when I get it wrong. (See Wrong-Way Street/Wrong Way Street elsewhere). But I checked All the Sounds of Fear (We really DO need a quick search for "Pubs I verified with that title in"! I've probably got it in several other pubs) and it is "tock". It's actually got "Repent, Harlequin!" in single quotes rather than double though. (Which I would prefer we standardised, or agreed to ignore differences in - but I really don't want to have to go as far as mentioning when opening or closing quotes are straight or the 6/9 style ones.) BLongley 21:50, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
There is a title out there with variants because there's an X in the middle with X replaced by one of , ; : and I think something else. I don't think I've seen a variant for - – —... Marc Kupper (talk) 00:06, 4 October 2008 (UTC)
I was reluctant to create a varient not because i thought the difference was too trivial, but because i wasn't sure it was real. The varient (if that is what it is) is recorded in only one unverified publication, and Ellison's wikipedia article says this is his most reprinted story, and one of the most reprinted stories of all time, by any author, IIRC. So it might be an error or change in that pub, or it might be a data-entry error. -DES Talk 13:52, 4 October 2008 (UTC)
That seems reasonable. There are ~20 sellers on AbeBooks that we could ask. Marc Kupper (talk) 06:30, 5 October 2008 (UTC)


"That Hell-Bound Train"

The hugo-winning story "That Hell-Bound Train", by Robert Bloch was published in The Hugo Winners among other places. Harry has submitted an edit in which he notes " 'The Hell-Bound Train' is used on copyright page, contents page, individual author (Robert Bloch) introduction by Asimov, and before the actual story. The story is listed in the ISFDB and Wikipedia as 'That Hell-Bound Train'."

The question before the house is, in which publications was the story printed as "The" and in which was it printed as "that", and were there any revisions worth noting. several of the publicatiosn where this story appeared have been verified, so we ought to get some useful data promptly. Titles where this story was included, according to the current db, are:

Title # Pubs # Verified Notes
F&SF September 1958 1 0
Pleasant Dreams 3 1
The Hugo Winners 9 1 The in the 1964 Avon edition and the 1964 Penguin edition. Changed these. --Willem H. 11:57, 5 February 2011 (UTC)
Twenty Years of Fantasy & Science Fiction 2 0
The Hugo Winners, Volumes One and Two 1 1 The - Either I got unusually careless or a title record changed. The pub-record says "That" but the publication uses "The" on the copyright, TOC, and body. Marc Kupper (talk) 06:54, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Many unrecorded reprints
Midnight Specials 1 0
Alfred Hitchcock's Witch's Brew 2 0
The Best of Robert Bloch"" 1 1 That --Willem H. 11:57, 5 February 2011 (UTC)
A Treasury of Modern Fantasy 3 0 aka Masters of Fantasy. That in the 1981 Avon edition --Willem H. 11:57, 5 February 2011 (UTC)
The Fantasy Hall of Fame 2 2 aka The Mammoth Book of Fantasy All-Time Greats. That in the 1998 HarperPrism edition --Willem H. 11:57, 5 February 2011 (UTC)
The Best Fantasy Stories from the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 1 0
Magical World of Fantasy: Devils 2 0
The Early Fears 2 1
Technohorror 1 0
My Favorite Fantasy Story 2 0

Could anyone with access to any of the above, or to any other printinng of the Bloch story, post what the title is in his or her copy, and other relevant info? Thanks. -DES Talk 17:31, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I commented in Harry's Talk page before I found this. I have what appears to be a copy of The Hugo Winners, Volumes One and Two that Marc Kupper Verified back in March of 07 and it is "The" not "That" in my copy. CoachPaul 18:07, 13 October 2008 (UTC)
I have also found a copy of The Best Fantasy Stories from the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction on my shelf, and that has it as "That", so I have one vote for each. The official Hugo Awards site also has the story as "That" which leads me to believe that "The" should be a variant of "That" unless someone can come up with some sort of proof that "The" came first. CoachPaul 18:14, 13 October 2008 (UTC)
The Signet edition of Isaac Asimov's Magical Worlds of Fantasy #8: Devils uses That in the table of contents and on the title page, but The on the copyright page. Ahasuerus 01:36, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
My verified copy of The Fantasy Hall of Fame is correct as shown. Story is titled "That Hell-Bound Train" on the copyright page, in the table of contents and on the title page. MHHutchins 03:35, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
This version of The Fantasy Hall of Fame, is edited only by Silverberg, and is different then the one listed in the table above that is edited by both Silverberg and Greenberg. There is both a tp and hc version of this book. I can confirm that the hc version contains "That" on the TOC, first page of the story, and on the copyright page. CoachPaul 04:14, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Did someone merge the titles? I fixed my publication and was surprised to see that there was no record for The Hell-Bound Train. I see
I loaded up a db from Apr 22, 2007 and only 65044 with That existed then meaning it's likely I missed it in the March verification. Marc Kupper (talk) 07:29, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
"That Hell-Bound Train" in the original appearance in F&SF on the story title page although it is listed as "That Hellbound Train" on the TOC.--swfritter 15:37, 14 October 2008 (UTC)


Galaxy Magazine, August 1968

Can anybody get their hands on a copy of this magazine? I'm most curious about a story in it called HEMEAC. CoachPaul 03:08, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

A quick look indicates that HEMEAC is a sentient robot. It's name is spelled in capital letters (an acronym of some sort?) throughout the story. From reading the first page and glancing at the last it seems that it is a student in an all-robot university who may think it is human. On the last page it appears that humans break into the fortified university. In pity they refer to students as "living robots" so they may actually be humanoids of some sort. Considering the time frame the story is probably a satiric take on the dehumanizing mechanical aspects of society, especially the educational system.--swfritter 15:50, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Who is the author listed in the Magazine? CoachPaul 15:53, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Now if you had said you were curious about the author...! It is E. G. Von Wald who is nowhere credited as a psuedonym of A. E. van Vogt who is listed as the author in the isfdb. The story should be in all uppercase. I will go ahead and make the changes since I have a copy of the pub.--swfritter 16:15, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Oh, and by the way it's a help if you put a link to a pub when you refer to it. I probably would have taken a look at the pub and sooner realized the problem. But at least you got a nice story summary.--swfritter 16:21, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
The story is not listed in this comprehensive van Vogt biblio, so I assume that "E. G. Von Wald" is not a van Vogt pseudonym. 17:46, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
Thanks for checking this out for me. I would have asked it better, and probably put in a link, had I not been doing it so late last night. It was a great summary by the way. CoachPaul 19:57, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
I should probably paste it into the synopsis section. What I thought at first is that you were trying to decide whether the title should be in all caps or not which required something more than just looking at the title page.--swfritter 20:27, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
The summary was a great help in that it allowed me to realize that the two stories were the same story. I really wonder about von Wald though. I can find no information on him that doesn't lead back to the short stories. No birth nor death dates, no record of the man at all. Maybe he really was van Vogt. You have some of the Ifs and Astoundings that had his works published in them. Do any of them say anything about him as a person? CoachPaul 20:54, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
There was a TV version 10 years ago apparently, search for "HEMEAC" and "Welcome to Paradox" and you might find the people that produced it and presumably checked the person they credited it to? BLongley 19:42, 15 October 2008 (UTC)


The mysteries of Gordon R. Dickson's The Outposter as brought to you by Tor

The Outposter is a 1972 novel by Gordon R. Dickson, which was reprinted by Tor in 1982. It would appear that there were three printings of the Tor edition in the 1980s:

  1. The Outposter, (Jun 1982, Gordon R. Dickson, Tor, 0-523-48530-1, $2.75, 251pp, pb) Cover: Thomas Kidd
  2. The Outposter, (Nov 1982, Gordon R. Dickson, Tor, 0-523-48580-8, $2.95, 251pp, pb) Cover: Tom Kidd
  3. The Outposter, (Oct 1985, Gordon R. Dickson, Tor, 0-812-53564-2, $2.95, 251pp, pb) Cover: Tom Kidd

I have verified the second printing and the copyright page states: 

First printing, June 1982
Second printing, November 1982

However, the Locus Index reports that the October 1985 printing was also advertised as a second printing. Looking closer, I see that the words "Second printing, November 1982" in my copy are printed using a different, shabbier, font. My guess is that when Tor reprinted the book in 1985, they had no record of the second printing in November 1982, so the new printing was stamped "second printing", thus creating two separate second printings. If anybody happens to have either the June 1982 or the October 1985 printings, could you please check your copies and see what they say? Thanks! Ahasuerus 03:38, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

I have the June 1982 edition and it says First Printing, June 1982. This is a 'printed in the USA' edition. Maybe the Nov. '82 was printed in Canada?? Sometimes there is a month difference, but not five...?--Bluesman 22:25, 13 November 2008 (UTC)


Another mystery artist sig

Anyone recognise this? (From Hunting on Kunderer)
Brigman.jpg
It looks vaguely like "Brigman" to me but I could be way off. BLongley 18:56, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm now leaning towards "Bergman". Possibly "Harry", so I've asked Mike Hutchins about his copy of Dr. Futurity / The Unteleported Man. But there's a "Mary" too, so if whoever entered The Three Suns of Amara / Battle on Venus would like to have a look too I'd be grateful. BLongley 19:35, 15 October 2008 (UTC)
I have both of these and it is definitely HARRY BERGMAN on all three covers, and the BERGMAN part matches exactly the partial signature on Kunderer!! Since I started this, it is nice to solve it too. Just wasn't aware of the other covers. Good detective work, guys!--Bluesman 00:29, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
Just added this to the record.--Bluesman 00:34, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
I don't have either publication but assuming the pattern is %b%gman% then both Mary Bergman and Harry Bergman are good fits. See these images which also include
  • The Unteleported Man
  • painting for The Unteleported Man that shows signature well and seems to match the style of what's on this page. The "Harry" looks like a "Mary" which may account fopr that name.
  • Dr. Futurity also shows the signature.
  • this reports Battle on Venus as "Mary Bryman?" while we have Mary Bergman meaning that signature may be fuzzy enough that it is Harry Bergman.
  • There used to be a http://www.harrybergmangallery.com/ but that's been sucked up by scammers with Harry Bergman himself and his gallery being in Finland. Some sites give a DOB of 1903 and some use the name "Carl Harry Bergman". Marc Kupper (talk) 04:11, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
FWIW, Double Your Pleasure says "Cover by Bergman". Ahasuerus 04:15, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
I based my credits for Dr. Futurity / The Unteleported Man solely on the artist's signature, as there is no internal credit given. Both covers of this Ace Double are definitely signed as by "Harry", but this discussion has me concerned about my attribution of the last name. Looking closer made me believe I may have been mistaken. So I took a little stroll through the triple-dubya and found this fascinating interview with illustrator Harry Borgman. Mystery solved. I'm changing my credit. MHHutchins 05:52, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
And this suggests his middle initial is "M" and he was born in 1928. BLongley 12:36, 18 October 2008 (UTC)


John R. Pierce vs. John Pierce, M.S.

It looks like John R. Pierce and John Pierce, M.S. may be the same person, but I can't access Day's Index to check at the moment. Any Day-enabled editors on-line this morning? Ahasuerus 14:18, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

The second link leads to nowhere (the comma?) but this author is indeed John R. Pierce - titles all listed in Day under John (Robinson) Pierce.--swfritter 15:34, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
Thanks! I'll set up the vts (and double check the apparent Perry Rhodan reprint) later today. Ahasuerus 16:48, 16 October 2008 (UTC)


Sig Help again please

Who signs like this? Is it "Bangs"? "Fangs?" "Bom 95"? (Unlikely for a 1983ish pub.) "Romas"? I don't recall seeing anything similar, but then I've only been checking for cover sigs for a few months.

Bangs.jpg

BLongley 21:50, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

It's Romas. When I get a chance later tonight, I'll scan the cover of a book that's identified as by Romas. MHHutchins 22:06, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
Here you go. MHHutchins 22:33, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

Romas.jpg

Mystery sig - McAll...?

Here is another one from The Best of Walter M. Miller, Jr.:

www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/9/94/Mystery_sig.jpg

McAllister, perhaps? Ahasuerus 00:56, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

I'd guess "McAfee". Maybe Mara McAfee, in which case comparison with Communipath Worlds might help. BLongley 16:30, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
Same signature, same style, same publisher - we got us a winner! Thanks! :) Ahasuerus 01:07, 21 October 2008 (UTC)


The House of Many Worlds

The truncated signature in the left corner of this image:

HSMNWRLDS1983.jpg

looks awfully familiar, but I can't quite place it :( Ahasuerus 02:36, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Could it be the end of "Frank Brunner"? BLongley 17:09, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
I can't find anything in my collection to match, but the signature here seems to end with the same capital "R". BLongley 13:26, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, Bill, it does look like Brunner. I'll update the record. Ahasuerus 16:36, 2 November 2008 (UTC)


The Jungle artist

On the paperback edition of The Jungle (by David Drake) the artist is not credited. The HC credits Allan Gutierrez, and this might be his work, but it doesn't look quite right to me, and the HC record is unverified and I suspect is not fully accurate anyway. Here is a link to what might be the sig, but I can't make anything out of it -- I'm not even sure if it is a sig, much less whose. Any thoughts? -DES Talk 13:35, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I am not sure it's a signature either, but according to the Locus Index, the paperback cover was done by Roger Loveless. Ahasuerus 14:21, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, i need to get into the habit of checking the Locus index more often. Data entered into the pub record, and Locus verification done on both the pb and hc versions. -DES Talk 14:47, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
There are all kinds of resources on-line and off-line, but the trick is to know which one to use when looking for a particular data element. Tuck doesn't list minor title variants or anything after 1968, but he does include prices and anthology/collection contents; Reginald doesn't list prices or contents; Contento's original index doesn't list fantasy/horror, but the 1984+ Locus Index does; etc. Ahasuerus 15:47, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
Yes indeed. Tricky. -DES Talk 15:53, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
By the way, I'm not sure I would call this an omnibus. It contains one novel, and one novella in the same setting by a different author, with the novella not mentioned on the cover, but credited on the title page. I suspect it was called an omnibus because it was listed as one of the Tor Doubles -- that listing appears to be incorrect. At least, "Tor Double" is not mentioned anywhere in the pb, nor on the cover of the hc (according to the Amazon image, nor does locus mention it). That is in the grey area, IMO. Any thoughts, anyone? -DES Talk 14:47, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
I guess it can be looked at as a semi-original/semi-reprint anthology, but I am not sure it's worth agonizing over these gray areas. If there is no obvious "anthology editor" listed, the omnibus categorization may make it easier for our users to find the book, but it's not a huge deal. Ahasuerus 15:47, 24 October 2008 (UTC)
Fair enough. I only visited this because of the recent comment on "Tor Double" as a publisher, which led me to the wiki-list of such pubs, which noted that this one ahd not been verified as to its number in the Tor Doubles series. So I checked my copy, and here we are. -DES Talk 15:53, 24 October 2008 (UTC)


Calling all Rowena fans

One of DES's recent projects reminded me that I never finished entering foreign language sequels to various English language series. I have now entered Mikhail Akhmanov's Poslednyaya Bitva (Last Battle), a sequel to Sterling E. Lanier's Hiero Desteen duology. The cover is clearly signed by Rowena, so it was presumably re-used by the publisher, a common practice in Eastern Europe in the late 1990s-early 2000s. The 64,000 dollar question, of course, is which Rowena cover it was based on. Any Rowena experts here? Ahasuerus 23:20, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

It might not have been used as a cover before: that picture is called "Aztec Sacrifice" and was an art card published in 1993 by FPG Cards. It might well have been a cover though (several others in the set are, e.g. "Crystal Line") but as Googling for "Cover", "Rowena Morrill" and "Aztec Sacrifice" leads to mostly Russian sites it might be better if you try to confirm that rather than wait for me to learn Russian. BLongley 19:56, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, Bill! One of the Russian sites had 146 (!) scans of Rowena's work, but there wasn't much explanatory material, so it's not clear if "Aztec Sacrifice" has been used elsewhere. I guess I'll just add a note explaining the origins of the cover. Ahasuerus 03:40, 11 November 2008 (UTC)


Waldrop's Things Will Never Be the Same

Will anyone who has this pub please verify that the title of the story on page 27 is "Flying Saucer Rock and Roll" and not "Flying Saucer Rock & Roll" nor "Flying Saucer Rock n Roll"? Thanks. MHHutchins 02:58, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

It's "Flying Saucer Rock and Roll". The pub shows the right title. Thanks, --Willem H. 20:43, 23 January 2011 (UTC)


Marta Randall's New Dimensions 13

Can anyone verify that this title was ever published? I'm working on the ISFDB's records for Howard Waldrop using the bibliography published in his collection Going Home Again, where he states that his story "Flying Saucer Rock & Roll" was sold to Randall, but the series was discontinued before this number was published (even though review copies went out.) Google returned only 8 hits for the title, and only 2 hits for the ISBN (not counting the ISFDB record.) Anyone know anything definitive about this title? Thanks. MHHutchins 03:07, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

FWIW, it's not in Clute/Nicholls or Reginald-3. Ahasuerus 03:32, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
Google Books has Christopher P. Stephens' A Checklist of Some New Science Fiction Writers which says that the book was scheduled to be published by Timescape, but that the book was canceled after reaching galley form.Jefe 19:12, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
Another 8888-00-00 title then? BLongley 21:17, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
Sounds like a plan! Ahasuerus 21:29, 17 November 2008 (UTC)


Ben Bova's Escape! the same text, novel or novella?

Does anyone have both of the following pubs? The novel Escape! and the novella Escape!. The novella version was published in the collection Escape Plus. And the novel was published in 1970 by Holt and in 1975 by Scholastic. Both novel publications are slim editions (122 and 108) so I suspect the collection version is identical. I just wanted to make sure before we merge the titles. Thanks. MHHutchins 03:00, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

I don't own either version, but according to the Locus Index, Escape Plus simply reprinted the text of the Holt edition. Ahasuerus 05:08, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
I just verified a copy of Escape Plus. In the intro to the story the author writes: "...Escape, which was published originally as a short novel". The copyright page lists a 1970 copyright for the story, and does not list anythign about "Published in a different form", nor does it give a second copyright date, as would be normal for a revised story. The story is divided into "Chapters". Chapter 1 starts "The Door shut behind him". Chapter 3: "Alan looked at Danny in a funny way." Chapter 6: "It was lunchtime the next day before the doctors would let Danny go." Chapter 9: "When Danny got to his first class the next morning, he thought he was in the wrong room." Chapter 13: "Somebody was helping him back to the stool in his corner." Chapter 18: "The party went on well past midnight." Chapter 21: "They all met again in the cafeteria two days later." Chapter 25: "Danny awoke in the hospital." Last line: "I'm part Gypsy, you know." That should be enough to compare if anyone has the separate publication.
By the way, I used swfritter's spreadsheet to estimate the wordcount in this story. The estimate was 25,930 words. Even allowing for inaccuracies, I don't see how it could be clsoe to 40,000 words. -DES Talk 12:10, 16 November 2008 (UTC)


Analog, January-February 2008

There is a python error on Tom Easton's summary page, which I believe is caused by a review of an untitled novel which was published in this issue of Analog. If you have this issue, please add the name of the novel by Alexis Glynn Latner reviewed by Easton on page 228. Perhaps that might fix the error. Thanks. MHHutchins 18:54, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

I first changed None to the title of the book but got errors that would not allow me to approve or reject when I submitted the pub and tried to update it. Then tried removing the review from the pub and then adding it - still the same problem. Cannot find the orphan review that I removed - found it using titles but can't delete it.--swfritter 19:15, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
Problem fixed. Merged the dastardly review with a dummy review and added correct review.--swfritter 19:31, 16 November 2008 (UTC)


Asimov's Science Fiction, November 1994

As per User talk:Jprucher# Merging Swanwick essays, requesting physical verification of Asimov's Science Fiction, November 1994. The question is whether the title of Swanwick's essay "In the Tradition . . ." has quotes around it. TIA! Ahasuerus 03:32, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

The title page displays it with quotes, while the ToC doesn't.--Rkihara 03:43, 18 November 2008 (UTC)
Notes added, thanks! Ahasuerus 03:59, 18 November 2008 (UTC)


Weird Tales, March 1942

According to our Publication record, Weird Tales began serializing Lovecraft's "Herbert West: Reanimator" in the 1942-03-00 issue, which matches Tuck's data. However, our record also states that a complete version of the same novella was also printed in the same issue. I find it unlikely in the extreme, so I would be inclined to Remove it, but it would be nice if someone could check Miller/Contento first. Ahasuerus 04:14, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Miller/Contento actually classifies the components as a series of six short stories, each of which was originally published in the February thru July issues of "Home Brew" - so should probably have the 1922 date. The various segments do not appear in consecutive issues of "Weird Tales" but are scattered through the March 1942 through November 1943 issues - so those isfdb entries are correct and the novella entry should be out.--swfritter 16:57, 18 November 2008 (UTC)
Thanks! Ahasuerus 00:24, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
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