User talk:Dirk P Broer/Archive-2012

Olivia Howard Dunbar birthplace

Hi. I accepted your edits to Olivia Howard Dunbar, but I changed the birthplace a little. Bridgewater is a town, while Plymouth is the name of both a town and a county. So I added "County" to "Plymouth" (Bridgewater is in Plymouth County). That said, Massachusetts doesn't use counties as a geographic location identifier the way some areas of the United States do. It is not normal, for example, to describe a birthplace as "Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA". In fact, I'd bet that half the residents of Massachusetts couldn't tell you what county Boston is in. And no one from Massachusetts would ever describe a general birthplace as "Suffolk County, Massachusetts" (in contrast with other states; for example, "Macon County, Georgia" would be used as a general birthplace). But including the county is also not wrong -- the detail is accurate -- so I leave it to you to think about. --MartyD 12:56, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Hi Marty. The added county in "Plymouth County" is alright by me.:) --Dirk P Broer 17:11, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Michael Butterworth

I've changed the author credits for your verified pubs, The Time of the Hawklords, and Queens of Deliria, from Michael Butterworth, to Michael Butterworth (1924) per Contemporary Authors. Wikipedia article notes same.--Rkihara 02:30, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

Hi Rkihara, I'm afraid I must disagree with you. If I read wikipedia on Michael Butterworth (the one born in 1947), he is credited with The Time of the Hawklords and Queens of Deliria. On the page facing the title page for Queens of Deliria the Space 1999 books are mentioned as by the same author as Queens of Deliria (and a 3rd and 4th title are mentioned for the Hawkwind series). Reginald3 gives The Time of the Hawklords for BUTTERWORTH, Michael, 1947- (page 144) and also does so for Queens of Deliria (page 143). Same for Clute/Nicholls (page 181). Can you please change it back? --Dirk P Broer 09:24, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

the entry for Michael Butterworth (the one born in 1947) also sees him revise the Space 1999 titles in 2006, long after Michael Butterworth (1924) has died (1986). --Dirk P Broer 14:44, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

It seems the change was a mistake. Reverted per discussion.--Rkihara 18:27, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

It was at least a major update for all Mike and Michael Butterworth entries involved. --Dirk P Broer 20:12, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

The Destroyers of Lan-Kern Peter Tremayne 1983

The cover artist of this pub is Tim White (from this pub) BarDenis 20:19, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

It is even on the back cover! And I had forgotten the price as well. Thanks for reminding me.:) --Dirk P Broer 20:33, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Ben Aaronovitch's middle name

I have your proposed change of Ben Aaronovitch's middle name from "Denis" to "Dylan" on hold. Can you find anything to corroborate the "Dylan"? Google only shows the SF Encyclopedia's entry with that name. The entire cyber universe seems to propagate Wikipedia's entry (which is using "Denis"), but I did find this, which seems to be an about-the-author blurb from a book. It uses "Denis". --MartyD 12:35, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Hi Marty, as I have stated in the Biographic note I emailed David Langford about the discrepancy between Wikipedia (amongst others) and the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and asked whther he knew for sure it was Dylan instead of Denis. He replied "Yes, Ben Aaronovitch told us in personal email that his middle name is Dylan. best, David" . --Dirk P Broer 12:41, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Sounds good, thanks. --MartyD 13:40, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

The contact is good as well, and to mutual benefit. --Dirk P Broer 21:11, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Dick Donovan and J. E. Muddock

Since most of J. E. Muddock's SF -- at least the SF that we have cataloged so far -- appeared as by "Dick Donovan", I have set "Dick Donovan" up as the canonical name and "J. E. Muddock" as a pseudonym. It's a little counter-intuitive, but it's been known to happen in the SF world, e.g. Murray Leinster :-) Ahasuerus 16:17, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

We would indeed be frowned upon if we considered "Will F. Jenkins" a commonly known name for the writer most SF-readers know as Murray Leinster. --Dirk P Broer 21:05, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

P.S. Re: "James" vs. "Joyce", Wikipedia and the Wayback machine claim that he was born "James" and that "Joyce" was a pseudonym, but I don't know whether he changed his legal name to "Joyce". Ahasuerus 16:23, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

The 3rd edition of the Science Fiction Encyclopedia has this phrase: "UK writer, much travelled in early life, who published prolifically under his own name, sometimes giving his surname as Preston-Muddock (though Preston is absent from his birth records), and as by Dick Donovan" Seems -I am not 100% sure, but this looks convincing- he was born as James Edward Muddock, but later styled himself as Joyce Emmerson Preston-Muddock. --Dirk P Broer 21:05, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

Oh well, I guess his legal name will remain "James" until we can find a name change certificate or retain the services of one Anita Blake, animator :-) Ahasuerus 03:07, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

Might want to wait till the CERN laboratories have proved they can travel back in time. Meanwhile I'll assist them through BOINC. ---Dirk P Broer 11:25, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

D. N. Sims

I have approved the linking of D. N. Sims to the Robert Hale article over on SFE3, but it seems to be limited to her full name and the year of birth. Do you think it's worth a link? Ahasuerus 17:37, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

It is definitely more information than what you get under her entry in the Science Fiction Encyclopedia, which actually only refers you to the Robert Hale article (just like page 1111 of the 2nd edition only points you to page 1011 for D. N. Sims). I hope that I can persuade John Clute and his men to provide more detail in the future, I'm in almost daily contact with them now. --Dirk P Broer 23:01, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

The only better information is a very long link: Reginald2 on Google Books. --Dirk P Broer 23:06, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Oh well, I guess we'll take what we can :) Ahasuerus 17:47, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

I'll notify the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction editors that this author deserves a better entry. If she is in Reginald2, she should be in SFE3. --Dirk P Broer 20:22, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

state of birthplace

Hello Dirk, I approved your submission Voltz but changed the state from Hesse into Hessen. Rudam 16:57, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Hi Rudam, I try to keep the information in just one language: English, hence Hesse without 'n'. I know that the correct German is Hessen, but is is also Deutschland instead of Gemany, in't it? And Nederland instead of Netherlands, etc. --Dirk P Broer 23:57, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Sorry my fault and your submission was completely correct! I've noticed how accurate you enter author datas Douglas Percy Bliss. But I really believed that there could not be another spelling of "Hessen" in english and it is only a typo. I will change it back into Hesse! Rudam 10:32, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

It is unbelievable sometimes what other languages will make of you city or province names. Will you believe that The Hague, known to the Dutch as either 's-Gravenhage or Den Haag has a different name in almost all world languages? (La Haye (French), La Haya (Spanish), L'Aia (Italian), Гаага (Russian), etc.). --Dirk P Broer 12:29, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

It seems everything is possible even Hesse. ;-) Rudam 13:46, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Double Planet

Another editor has added a cover image to your verified record. Please check to see if it matches your copy. Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:57, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

A 100% match! --Dirk P Broer 22:59, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

webpage for Cyril G. Wates

Hi Dirk, you added for Cyril G. Wates this webpage [1] but I can't open it. Could you check what is wrong? Thanks! Rudam 18:53, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Must be a temporary error. Link is still mentioned when searching google for "Cyril Geoffrey Wates 1883 Brixton", and a preview is generated as well. The link even mentiones the address of birth: 93 Tulse Hill, Brixton. --Dirk P Broer 22:06, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

You can use this as alternative. Looks like the site just changed the url's. I have already submitted the new one instead of the old. --Dirk P Broer 22:08, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Now I can open it! Rudam 06:32, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

The Exiles Trilogy

Replaced amazon scan and added data (artist, pages) for your verified here. Hauck 17:47, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! --Dirk P Broer 01:09, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Brain Wave Poul Anderson 1977

Added cover artist for this pub BarDenis 17:53, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! --Dirk P Broer 01:09, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Futura ed. of Kinsman

According to Amazon.co.uk this was published in December 1979. Dating the record will make it clear that it wasn't the first publication of the title. Thanks. Mhhutchins 15:54, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Done as suggested. The title is also "A Quantum Science Fiction" book, an originally US series, so the UK Futura edition could never have been the first. The UK Quantum Science Fiction books did not receive a number though, afaik. --Dirk P Broer 18:37, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

The change has been approved. Also, would you like to move "Quantum science fiction" to the Publication Series field? It already has about a dozen pubs, so this pub won't be so lonely. Ahasuerus 21:38, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

I'll do that for all Futura titles with the "Quantum Science Fiction" marking. So far the Publication Series only shows Dial Press and Dell titles. --Dirk P Broer 21:52, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

As long as it retains the series name, continue to use it, regardless of who publishes it. Years ago we decided to call these "publication series" instead of "publisher series" for this very reason. Mhhutchins 03:58, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Gene Stewart > E. R. Stewart

Even though most of his earlier work was published as E. R. Stewart (10 titles, 1990-1995), it seems he's been using Gene Stewart (8 titles, 1999-2009) for the past decade. His website gives his name as "Gene Stewart". It would seem we should use that one as the canonical name. What do you think? Mhhutchins 16:23, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Any choice is fine by me. I had opted for the record with the most publications, but "E. R. Stewart" only won by a few. If he currently is using "Gene Stewart", then let's use that. As long as all his work can be found under one record I am happy. --Dirk P Broer 18:30, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

You can cancel the submissions and resubmit. Or I can reject them and create you submissions. Your choice. Mhhutchins 21:12, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

I cancelled them and have resubmitted. --Dirk P Broer 00:15, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Michael P. N. Sims

Because the one story credited to "Michael P. N. Sims" was a variant for an uncredited story, it was best to change the credit of that story to the author's canonical name, which negated the reason for creating a variant (of a variant). Mhhutchins 17:57, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Found two more for this canonical, Mike and Mick Sims. Michael Sims is an entirely other author though, born in 1958. --Dirk P Broer 20:35, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

The listing for "Mick Sims" turned out to be based on a review which gave the informal names of all of the editors of this anthology. I've made corrections to the pub and title, so "Mick Sims" is no longer in the database. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Mhhutchins 23:02, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Mike Sims

According to the page that you linked to in your submission to make "Warm as Snow" a variant by M. P. N. Sims, the story was written by both Maynard and Sims. So wouldn't "Mike Sims" then be a pseudonym of both? Mhhutchins 21:20, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

But now we have two "Warm as Snow"s. One written by Mike Sims (1987), the other by M. P. N. Sims and L. H Maynard (2002). Could it be that Sims and Maynard are the editors of this publication, containing stories by the two of them, sometimes in collaboration, sometimes not? --Dirk P Broer 10:45, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

There's no way of knowing the source of the contents in that record, because the editor who added them failed to note his source, and the moderator who accepted the submission didn't care enough to ask. According to the OCLC record, all stories were written by the two authors. Again, I'm going back to the webpage that you found that shows all of their work is a collaboration and neither one is given individual credit. I'm going to do more research to find the sources for the collection's contents and that of the 1987 horror anthology. Mhhutchins 16:30, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

I've approved the submission, as it seems in its 1987 appearance "Warm as Snow" was only credited to "Mike Sims". In the process I learned that a story credited to "Michael Sims" is also M. P. N. Sims ("Benjamin's Shadow"). I'm still trying to figure out how the stories in the collection were credited. Thanks. Mhhutchins 17:00, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

John Victor Peterson / John Lawrence Peterson

I'm not sure that an author who published in the sf magazines between 1938 and 1959, and a single 1970 novel, is the same author who wrote "The Littles" series (1967-2003). Do you have any evidence other than the fact that someone linked both authors to a single Wikipedia page? That reference mentions nothing about his science fiction. And he would have been 14 at the time of the first sf magazine appearance. (That's not entirely impossible, I admit.) Mhhutchins 19:01, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Strange thing with these two entries is that when I came across them they hardly differed. John Peterson (full John Lawrence Peterson) vs John Vicor Peterson, both born on the same day, in the same place and died in the same month of the same year (only one of them has a date of death). Okay, and both linked to the same wiki-entry as well. --Dirk P Broer 23:16, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Ah, we're not the first: "Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name", followed by an excellent link with ambiguities. Unfortunately it will not help us in this case. --Dirk P Broer 00:00, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

The problem is an editor updated the author data for John Victor Peterson with information for John Peterson. I'm going to remove the data from the first name and try to find more information on him, maybe ask if any of the magazine verifiers can see if any bio for him is included with any of his stories. Thanks. Mhhutchins 00:23, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Terry Bisson's birthplace

Wikipedia states that he was born in Madisonville, Kentucky, but the author's Web page says "Terry Ballantine Bisson was born in Madisonville, Kentucky, and raised in Owensboro, 1942--1960". Would you happen to know of another source? Ahasuerus 11:53, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Funny: I just checked SFE3, that mentioned Owensboro, then checked wikipedia that mentioned Owensboro, then checked the Owensboro entry on wikipedia, that mentions Terry Bisson. But if he says Madisonville himself...--Dirk P Broer 11:56, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes, very sneaky of him! :) Ahasuerus 12:00, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

I corrected wikipedia and will inform SFE3. --Dirk P Broer 12:05, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Georges Simenon

Was Georges Simenon really born in "Liége, Liège, Belgium "? Ahasuerus 13:33, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes, see the entry for Liège on Wikipedia "Liège (French pronunciation: [ljɛːʒ]; Dutch: Luik, [lœyk] ( listen); Walloon: Lidje; German: Lüttich; Latin: Leodium; Luxembourgish: Léck; until 17 September 1946[2][3][4] the city's name was written Liége, with the acute accent instead of a grave accent)" (Now also in biographic notes). --Dirk P Broer 13:35, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

Ah, I see! You learn new things all the time :) Ahasuerus 13:53, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

Geïllustreerde Encyclopedie van de Science Fiction Brian Ash 1979

Added cover for this pub BarDenis 19:14, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! My copy is hopelessly discolo(u)red. --Dirk P Broer 19:51, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Man Plus

Can you confirm the price and printing statement in this record? An editor just submitted another Panther edition of this title with a lower price and different cover artist. Both have the same ISBN and year of publication. Thanks for checking. Mhhutchins 22:33, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Checked and corrected! (to 0000-00-00). My copy must be a later edition, but doesn't say so on the copyright page. Unfortunately I do not have a case full of Locus magazines to try to date my edition. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. --Dirk P Broer 09:48, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Locus's coverage of British books was rather scant in the 70s and 80s so it wouldn't have helped in this case. Mhhutchins 18:32, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Based upon WorldCat record 16604634 I would tentatively make my copy the 1982 edition. But you only see the 1982 when you ask for all English editions, not upon opening #16604634. --Dirk P Broer 10:05, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

When it comes to reprints, Worldcat has issues that make it less dependable (most librarians are not going to worry about what printing a book is). Let's leave it undated for now. Mhhutchins 18:32, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Judged by the pricing lists on BLongley's page it can't have been later than 1982 (but then again it can be a 1979, 1980 or 1981 printing as well, who knows?). --Dirk P Broer 18:48, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

BCA ed. of The History of the Runestaff

Can you see if the spelling of the name of this record's cover artist is correct and, if so, make it into a variant by Bob Haberfield. Thanks for looking. Mhhutchins 23:47, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes, it was really printed as 'Habberfield' (and not that that occured only once!). I made it into a variant as requested. --Dirk P Broer 01:21, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Habberfield variant submissions

I'm holding these until I hear back from the primary verifier that the records are entered as stated. If he reports they're correctly entered, I'll accept the submissions to make variants. Thanks. Mhhutchins 19:05, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

I bet you all my double novel titles on this! --Dirk P Broer 19:06, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

I wouldn't take that bet. :) I just don't want to create variants until we're sure the credits are correct. Mhhutchins 19:10, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

It's not all that bad a bet. I have, amongst others, Stalking the Unicorn double since I bought a mass of PYR books. The 'Arrow' now awaits a new owner. --Dirk P Broer 19:18, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

That remark was based on the odds of winning, not the quality of the titles in the wager. I only bet when the odds are in my favor. Mhhutchins

And so do I! Bet you have some good titles double too. --Dirk P Broer 00:32, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Very true. Back when I was a reader I could only afford paperbacks and book club editions. Most of my favorites I replaced with hardcovers (most first editions) that I've never read. I've even bought the same edition that I already had, because I'd forgotten I had them until I started entering them here on the ISFDB. Now that I'm a collector, I barely have time to read at all. 'Tis a pity. Mhhutchins 01:28, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

OCLC linking

FYI: Usually in searching OCLC for titles, the URL gives a full string of your search, but you can easily condense the URL. So http://www.worldcat.org/title/secret-people/oclc/16375219&referer=brief_results can be given as http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/16375219 and still link to the same record. Mhhutchins 01:19, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, didn't knew that! I suspected the part after '&' was superflous, but that title/secret-people/ can be left out is entirely new for me. --Dirk P Broer 09:35, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Indeed! When you open any OCLC record there is a little icon at the top right with 'Permalink' beside it. Click on that and an inset opens with the truncated bare bones link. Easier to copy that than use the full URL and trim it. Avoids unfortunate excessive trimming that might lead to an unusable link. --~ Bill, Bluesman 00:32, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

Mor Jokai

Hi. For your proposed edits to Mor Jokai, you left the last name "Jókai" but have the legal name using "Jókay". Should they both be using i/y? Thanks. --MartyD 12:53, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

I always thought that 'Last Name' was to reflect which part of the canonical name was the surname. There are lots and lots of entries where the 'legal name' is totally different from both canonical and last name. --Dirk P Broer 12:56, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

As an example I edited A. Den Doolaard for you, making clear by editing 'Last name' to Den Doolaard that Den Doolaard is the last name, and 'Den' is not a middle name. The man's legal name however (Spoelstra) bears no relation to both the canonical or last name. --Dirk P Broer 14:22, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

The "Last Name" field is only used to build the Author directory, which can be accessed via the navigation bar. The field is first populated automatically when a new author is entered, but sometimes the software guesses wrong, especially when the last name consists of two or more words, e.g. "van Vogt". Ahasuerus 14:36, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

I've edited more than 5500 authors, and seen more than 10.000 author records, but i've yet have to see one where the field 'Last name' holds different content from that of the last part of 'Canonical name'. There are plenty of entries, and I think especially about pseudonymious authors, where the field 'Legal name' holds an entirely different content than both 'Canonical name' and 'Last name'. I know that 'Last name' is used to build the author directory, but where do you want James Tiptree, Jr., at the "S" of Sheldon, the "B" of Bradley or at the "T" of Tiptree? I see no need to have a last name Jókay for an author that has as Canonical name Jokai, just as I do not see the advantage of having Sheldon as last name for Tiptree. Should Jörg Liebenfels be given as last name von Liebenfelß because his legal name ends with von Liebenfelß? (and is at the moment wrongly entered Liebenfelß, Georg Felicetti von)--Dirk P Broer 16:25, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

Easy, guys! I was only asking in case there was a typo or choice-of-transliteration of the "ai" / "ay" at play, nothing more. I didn't get a direct answer to my question, but I'm going to assume from the above that "ay" is as intended and will accept the submission. Thanks. --MartyD 16:58, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

But why didn't you just ask whether I made a typo? I might have pointed at the added wikipedia link containing just what you would have needed. --Dirk P Broer 18:46, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

(unindent) Sorry about the confusion! I wasn't referring to the Legal Name field, only to the relationship between the Canonical Name and the Last Name fields.

There are cases where the last name consists of two words, e.g. Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Theresa Nielsen Hayden should be listed in the Author Directory under "N" rather than under "H". Originally, the software set their last names to "Hayden" and the value had to be changed to "Nielsen Hayden" so that they would appear in the right place in the Directory. Ahasuerus 07:59, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

I know about 'double names'. These things tend to confuse both software and people. Most Dutch collectors/bookshops will already have Lester del Rey under the "R" of Rey and Van Vogt under the "Vo", because both the 'del' and the 'van' are seen as not belonging to the 'sort name'. Aa author like Roger MacBride Allen on the other hand is mostly found under "M" in Dutch shops -if they have in in stock at all-. Since I have the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (the 1981 Granada edition), I use its sorting as leading on my shelves, freaking out Dutch collectors who visit me and can't find their favourite authors at the places they expect. Speaking about double names: we have a secretary of transportation called Melanie Schultz van Haegen-Maas Geesteranus, in short Melanie Schultz. No software can cope with the likes of these... --Dirk P Broer 11:04, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Exactly! And that's why Al added a special field for "Last names" so that humans could correct the software when it fails to parse monstrosities like "François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac" correctly :-) Ahasuerus 17:00, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

In my private opinion titles should not be in names anyway. Above person should be François de la (small 'l') Rochefoucauld, if it were up to me. Saw a Rev. Canon Edmund Gill Swain lately as well. --Dirk P Broer 17:54, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

We had a big debate about this a few years ago. There were various arguments on both sides of the divide, e.g. there are authors whose canonical names include titles as an integral part, e.g. Sergeant Saturn, which would look weird if we entered it as just "Saturn". In he end we decided to go with the "enter it as it appears in the pub" rule, although it leads to more pseudonyms and variant titles for people like [Sir] Arthur C. Clarke. Ahasuerus 09:38, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Sergeant Saturn, when 'alive', was a pseudonym for Mort Weisinger (and later Sam Mines when he took over from Weisinger). He was 'killed' by Sam Merwin, when he took over as editor for those magazines where the Sergeant drank his Xeno. --Dirk P Broer 10:21, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Oh, I know, I have a complete set of the Standard Twins sitting right here :-) I seem to recall that our magazine editors decided not to create pseudonyms and variant titles for Weisinger and Mines because it wasn't clear whether some of the articles may have been written by editorial assistants.

Anyway, whether we treat "Sergeant Saturn" as a pseudonym or not, we still have to enter the name in some fashion and it was felt that "Sergeant Saturn" was a better choice than "Saturn". Similarly, it was felt that it was better to enter Ex-Private X rather than just "X", in part because we have other "X"es on file. And once you do that, it becomes hard to argue against entering Capt. S. P. Meek, Colonel S. P. Meek, etc. Ahasuerus 11:03, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Untechnological Employment

The addition of this Web page has been approved, but I moved it from the CHAPTERBOOK record to the SHORTFICTION title since it applies to the text itself rather than to its standalone appearance. Ahasuerus 16:57, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Perfect. --Dirk P Broer 17:51, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Desolation Road

What is the title as given to the afterword on page 356 in this publication? If it's titled, then you don't add the name of the book to it. Thanks. Mhhutchins 17:43, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

It is named "Author's Afterword- The Last Train to Kajiado Junction".--Dirk P Broer 17:47, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Please update the record when you get a chance. Mhhutchins 18:09, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Consider it done, with an em-dash (—) after Afterword, as in the book. --Dirk P Broer 21:28, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Leigh Eddings

I approved the submission, but changed the Wikipedia link from the Finnish version to the Swedish version of the page since the latter has more data. Ahasuerus 17:46, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

You are right. Even the Bulgarian Wikipedia is more complete (but harder to read). --Dirk P Broer 20:50, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Imago

Hi, could you please check if in this verified pub author's name indeed have middle initial. Cheers, P-Brane 00:19, 1 March 2012 (UTC).

I checked the complete VGSF Xenogenesis series: No, they have not. Not on the cover, nor on the title page. --Dirk P Broer 10:24, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Ships to the Stars

Please have a look at [this] discussion/note. Thanks! --~ Bill, Bluesman 00:24, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

Yury Olesha

Just a quick note that I have changed "Cherson" to "Kherson Governorate" in Yury Olesha's record. Ahasuerus 18:08, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Just a matter of transcription method. No problem. --Dirk P Broer 16:29, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

Eberhard David Hauber

When you get a chance, could you please double check that the data that we have for Eberhard David Hauber is correct? TIA! Ahasuerus 22:41, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Hohenhaslach, Württemberg, Holy Roman Empire seemed to me more likely for 1695 A.D.--Dirk P Broer 16:43, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

Looks good, thanks! Ahasuerus 00:46, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

The Best of Eric Frank Russell

Changed cover attribution for this verified pub. Hauck 07:59, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

Ah! I thought as much about the wrong attribution when I selected the book in Goodreads and found out that the two Del Rey/Ballantine editions were both attributed to H. R. van Dongen. Thanks for finding Barclay Shaw as the real artist!. --Dirk P Broer 16:27, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

H.Beam Piper's Empire

I've added Michael Whelan as artist, his sigil is on the top left side of the throne. Thanks.--Teddybear 18:11, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks to you! --Dirk P Broer 20:12, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Katharine Beutner

I have approved the submission, but are we sure that her legal first name is "Katherine" rather than "Katharine"? Ahasuerus 20:53, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

You are right: Katharine with two 'a's. My fault. Corrected it. --Dirk P Broer 21:02, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Gerald Bishop and Google Books links

Hi. I accepted your Gerald Bishop edits, but I had to remove the link to the Google Books search of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Volume II. I personally think linking to interior book search contents as "web page" is going a little too far -- that sort of reference might better be put on the author's Wiki page -- but my personal preferences aside, Google is reporting that the limit on the number of views of the book's interior has reached its limit. So this specific link is not reliable, and it appears links to Google scan contents may generally run into this sort of problem. --MartyD 11:22, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

Shame on Google....--Dirk P Broer 13:04, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

Pat Calif[i]a

Hi. I took a closer look at "Pat Califa". The only reference is in one unverified publication. There, the notes on Locus1 omit the "i". OCLC, on the other hand, includes the "i". An Amazon Look Inside of a different edition shows it with the "i". I think that is enough to go on to consider the original entry incorrect. I'm going to reject your pseudonym submission and correct the spelling, which will get rid of that entry entirely. --MartyD 11:30, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia talks about a name change. Whether from Pat Califa to Patrick Califia or from Pat Califia to Patrick Califia remains unclear though. --Dirk P Broer 13:04, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

Bloch introduction to The Best of Fredric Brown

Can you confirm that the title of Bloch's introduction is correctly recorded in this record? Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:18, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes it is. to be precise:

Introduction: A Brown Study
Robert Bloch ix
But what is the problem? Do I smell a pun that so far eluded me, having English as second language? --Dirk P Broer 22:25, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

No problem. It's just that the first edition did not include "A Brown Study" in the introduction's title. So now I can create a variant because you've confirmed that the title as recorded is exactly as it appears on the title page (not the contents page). Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:27, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

First sentence: "I Hope they don't misspell his name" ;)--Dirk P Broer 22:30, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

BTW: the 'A Brown Study' can be found on the copyright page, the TOC and the title page.--Dirk P Broer 22:32, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

BTW, "A Brown Study" is indeed a pun -- see this page -- as you would expect from the famously pun-prone Bloch :-)

Also, when you get a chance, could you please check our Pieter Bruegel the Elder record and add his place of birth? It looks like he may have been born in Son en Breugel, but I am not sure which state it was a part of in 1525. Ahasuerus 05:26, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

According to some sources he was born in Breugel near the (now Dutch) town of Breda. There are however also records that he was born in Breda (Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands), and there is some uncertainty whether the (now Belgian) town of Bree (Prince-Bishopric of Liège, Habsburg Netherlands), called Breda in Latin, is meant. There is no mentioning of Pieter Breug(h)el in either the English or the Dutch wiki about Son en Breugel.--Dirk P Broer 10:30, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Only Breda claims Pieter Brueugel the Elder.--Dirk P Broer 10:32, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Hm, so it sounds like the only thing that we can be more or less sure about is that he was born in "Habsburg Netherlands", right? Ahasuerus 20:50, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Neither Breugel (of present Son en Breugel) nor Bree claim to be the birthplace of Breughel (the Elder). Breda does. --Dirk P Broer 09:17, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Semi-colons in URLs

Our underlying implementation of multiple web page links (in author data, title data, etc.) stores all of them as one long string, using semi-colon ";" as the separator. So if you have a URL with a semi-colon in it, such as http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowAgent&agentId=A$;C, the semi-colon needs to be encoded or you end up with two links (one ending in "A$", the other simply "C"). I changed it to http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowAgent&agentId=A%24%3BC. --MartyD 10:34, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, didn't see it while pasting. darn &agentId=A$;C --Dirk P Broer 10:36, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Paradox Men

Scanned in a new image and expanded the notes for [this]. --~ Bill, Bluesman 22:36, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Excellent. To the best of my knowledge the NEL SF Master series underwent only one printing, so this is a first printing, afaik.--Dirk P Broer 23:54, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Herman Vestal

According to pulpartists.com, Herman Vestal's middle name was "Beeson" rather than "Beesom". Would you happen to know of another source to cross-check? Ahasuerus 15:43, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

As far as I could search, I couldn't find a single reference to "Beesom". I think it is a typo for "Beeson". --Dirk P Broer 19:11, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Fixed, thanks! Ahasuerus 22:40, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

The Power of Time

Making a couple of corrections to your verified pub The Power of Time. This is the tp edition, but I think the corrections will also apply to the hc, which I also have to hand (somewhere). Will let you know. PeteYoung 07:18, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

Hello Pete, what changes do you have in mind? Apart from some capitalized words in the titles that are not in the TOC or titlepage I cannot see anything wrong.--Dirk P Broer 08:44, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

Found one. If you had by any chance already changed the number of pages, I have changed it back to the 222 it is in my copy. Otherwise it might be of of your upcoming edits, sorry!--Dirk P Broer 08:48, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

I'm holding PeteYoung's submission to change the title of the book. Please confirm the title as given on the title page. According to the OCLC record, the title is The Power of Time (no "and Other Stories") Mhhutchins 15:18, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

He's right: On cover, title page and copyright page there is no mentioning of "and Other Stories".--Dirk P Broer 15:26, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

Hazel Townson

I see that at some point in 2010 Wikipedia changed this author's date of birth from 1950-04-02 to 1928-04-02. 1928 does sound much more plausible given everything else that we know about Townson, but almost all of their links are broken and I can't find another source on the Web to confirm it. Would you happen to know of one? Ahasuerus 01:43, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

I found an obituary here, confirming both year of birth 1928 and year of death 2010.--Dirk P Broer 08:33, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Looks good, thanks! Ahasuerus 15:45, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Weirdbook 14

When you get a chance, could you please take a look at this pub? The Note field currently says:

• "The Way Back Home" originally published in German in 1973 as "De Doodkist in de Zee"

but "De Doodkist in de Zee" looks like Dutch rather than like German to me. TIA! Ahasuerus 17:09, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Eddy C. Bertin is a bit of an enigma. He is a Belgian who mainly writes in Dutch, but who was born in Germany. You are quite right is thinking that "De Doodkist in de Zee" sounds Dutch, but I think it should be "De Doodskist in de Zee", with a 's' between Dood and kist. I haven't yet found it between his stories though.--Dirk P Broer 23:04, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

It is indeed "De Doodskist in de Zee", and it appeared in the magazine Apollo #11.--Dirk P Broer 23:30, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! I have set up a VT, updated the pub and notified the verifiers, so we should be all set for now. Well, until we start entering these Apollo issues, that is :) I did notice that "Doodskist" seemed to be the preferred Dutch spelling, but some online sources suggested that "Doodkist" was a valid alternative, so I wasn't sure if it was a typo.

The beauty/horror of Dutch: there is often more than one way of writing a word. And when there isn't, a commitee of Dutch and Flemish comes together and decides to change the rules (look for 'tussen-n'). This has happened so much last 40 years that I have stopped entering dictation contests. Fortuntely nobody takes offense when I try to hold onto the rules I was taught at school and that follow the 1954 way of writing things.--Dirk P Broer 09:34, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Earlier tonight I was changing a couple of Russian pubs to test the latest patch and discovered that Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky has been translated as both "Тоннель в небе" and "Туннель в небе" :-) Ahasuerus 06:15, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

Also, I see that deboekenplank.nl lists the title as "De Doodskist in Zee" here and here. Is there a way to tell if there is a "de" between "in" and "Zee"? Ahasuerus 02:25, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

This Dutch source has the 'de', as has this Estonian. In Info SF Fan 27 the author says "Mijn eigen verhaal, De Doodskist in de Zee".--Dirk P Broer 09:34, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Moderator?

Your submissions have been quite clean for a long time, so I wonder if you think that you are ready to become a moderator. At the very least you will be able to approve your own submissions which will make the process run smoother. What do you think? Ahasuerus 17:11, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

While I am not adverse to become a moderator -quite honored even- I have some (but not that much) moral objections as to approving my own submissions, from a methodological point of view.--Dirk P Broer 22:57, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Well, ideally all submissions would be cross-checked prior to approval. However, that would slow down the editing process for everyone involved, so we have to compromise and let moderators approve their own submissions. It really speeds up the editing process quite a bit, especially when dealing with multi-step changes.

Here is the Help page for moderators -- Help:Screen:Moderator -- if you want to take a look. Ahasuerus 02:06, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

So, what do you think? Also, you may want to take a look at Moderator Qualifications before you take the plunge. Ahasuerus 23:23, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

As I wrote above, I feel honored by the request. So yes, I am willing -if the other moderators can agree about it of course.--Dirk P Broer 09:02, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

Great! The nomination has been posted on the Community Portal. Ahasuerus 15:11, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

Based on the Community Portal feedback so far, it looks like it would be best to try a mini-project to make sure that you get exposed to various and sundry areas of ISFDB design. Would you like to give it a shot? If so, what would be a good task to undertake? Perhaps some Dutch magazine that you would be well qualified to handle, e.g. Galaxis, including setting up VTs? Or how about the "Doc Savage" series that I mentioned earlier? Ahasuerus 06:11, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

Lol, My present concentration upon authors and artists is already a self inflicted 'mini'-project, when a previous proposal for giving me moderator rights didn't even make it to the 'let's vote for it' round. But I will gladly try to enter "Galaxis", I don't think it will give more problems than finding out which Portuguese Bob Shaw titles are VTs of the existing ones. --Dirk P Broer 11:09, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps giving Dirk access to the clean-up scripts would show him some of the problems we deal with? BLongley 16:44, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

I am interested in what problems you are talking about, as I encounter some problems in the database myself, e.g. How to enter a date of birth before 0 A.D.? --Dirk P Broer 21:25, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

Unfortunately, our database software doesn't support dates before 1 AD. BTW, there was no year 0 AD :-)

Unless the birth of Christ took a year. But indeed: it is a point in time 0 A.D., not a year. Ovid is the guy who brought the problem to light.--Dirk P Broer 09:37, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

As far as giving Dirk access to the cleanup scripts goes, that's probably doable. I will take a look tomorrow. It will certainly be educational! Ahasuerus 05:22, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

Helen Hollick birthplace

Hi. I have on hold your proposed changes to Helen Hollick. According to her autobiography on her own website, she was born in "Walthamstow, North East London, in 1953". What makes you think we should change that to Chingford, Essex? It looks to me like Chingford and Walthamstow are adjoining-but-different places. Thanks. --MartyD 22:12, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

So much adjacent even that we need to know the streetname and house number of the place of birth to be certain whether it was Chingford, source 1 source 2 (citing 1) or Walthamstow. What is certain though, is that in 1953 both were Essex, and not yet London.--Dirk P Broer 20:44, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

I've send her a mail, asking whether she knows the exact location.--Dirk P Broer 01:15, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

I don't think she is going to answer, but I will settle for Walthamstow, Essex as correct place of birth and name of the location at that time.--Dirk P Broer 10:34, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

"Jack Limekiller" series question

Hi. I have on hold a pair of submissions that would remove the "Jack Limekiller" series membership from Manatee Gal, Won't You Come Out Tonight and Sleep Well of Nights, both of which appear in your 2-verified Avram Davidson: Collected Fantasies. What do you think? I asked Willem, who is primary verifier of that, but he has been ill, so if you'd care to offer an opinion, I'd appreciate it. Thanks. --MartyD 10:20, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

Never mind. I figured it out. The submissions are removing the variants from the series. Not enough coffee yet. --MartyD 10:23, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

I was just about to point you to Limekiller!. Besides, only Manatee Gal, Won't You Come Out Tonight appears in Avram Davidson: Collected Fantasies.--Dirk P Broer 10:32, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

Mag ik Nina even?

A question about this pub. Is it OK to change the author's name to "Kiril Boelitsjev" and the titles to their Dutch equivalent (as recorded in Notes)? Ahasuerus 05:53, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

It certainly is! It was never my intention to enter it as it has been done.--Dirk P Broer 08:18, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, I have made the change -- could you please confirm that everything looks OK and, if it does, edit the Note field? (And I am so glad that we can now enter translations "as is" instead of following the old rules. Now I just need to find some free time to fix the rest of the bugs in language support...) Ahasuerus 06:30, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Looks good on title-level and publication level. On author level though, only the English version is shown as variant title at the moment. No doubt one of those bugs.--Dirk P Broer 12:44, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Have you not yet set your language preferences? These can be found on the homepage, under logged in as - my preferences - my languages. --Willem H. 13:56, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! That helped! I changed the default settings to 'show all translations' and there they were..--Dirk P Broer 14:21, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

We really must announce the software improvements more loudly - that feature went in months ago! I wonder how many people have missed that? There's more language-related improvements in the queue too, it'd be a shame to test and implement them if nobody notices.... BLongley 21:53, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Author data for J. M. Smith

Your submission changes the legal name of J. M. Smith to "Maynard Smith, John", but it also wants to change the last name from "Maynard Smith" to just "Smith". Seems contradictory to me. If "Maynard" is his part of his legal last name, why remove it from the last name field of the ISFDB record? Mhhutchins 18:41, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

I see you kept "Fagundes" as part of the last name field of Lygia Fagundes Telles. Wouldn't "Maynard Smith" follow the same format? Mhhutchins 18:44, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

The difference is in the field 'Canonical name'. In the case of Lygia Fagundes Telles 'Fagundes' is in the canonical name. In the case of J. M. Smith 'Maynard' is not.--Dirk P Broer 18:49, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

I quote the Help: "Last Name - This field is used to build the Author Directory. When an author is added to the directory, the software parses the canonical name to determine the author's last name. For example, Robert Heinlein = Heinlein; L. E. Modesitt, Jr. = Modesitt. There are cases where the automated parsing fails, for example, R. Garcia y Robertson should be filed in the directory under "Garcia," not "Robertson." Similarly, Ursula`K. Le Guin should be filed under "Le Guin", not "Guin". The Last Name field allows the editor to supply the correct last name in these instances. The field should contain the only last name (surname) of the canonical name."--Dirk P Broer 20:41, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Yes, so if "Maynard Smith" is the author's last name, why change it to Smith. --Willem H. 20:49, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Because 'Smith' is the last name (surname) of the canonical name. There is no 'Maynard' in the canonical name. If you were to search for J. M. Smith you expect him to turn up under the 'S' of 'Smith'. Using 'Maynard Smith' as last name will let J. M. Smith turn up under the 'M'.--Dirk P Broer 21:16, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

That's right, the "last name" field is only used to build what we call "Author Directory". Basically, it's the name that you would expect to have an author's books shelved under in a bookstore. Thus, if it says "J. M. Smith" on the cover, a clerk will shelve it under "Smith". Perhaps we should call this field something other than "Last name"... Ahasuerus 21:23, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

I'd vote for 'Sort name'...But when you have lots of clerks you can bet on varying sorting methods. We Dutch will search for Lester del Rey under the 'R' and A. E. van Vogt under the 'Vo'...--Dirk P Broer 21:37, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

We've noticed the weaknesses in "Author Directory" and there is an outstanding change to allow for last names with an apostrophe as the second character to work. There are still going to be problems with names like "Peadar Ò Guilin" and probably with a lot more non-ASCII surnames - and the auto-creation of entries will still only deal with a subset of entries, so disambiguating authors by date of birth or country still needs a manual author edit afterward. But there's some hope for improvement still. BLongley 21:59, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

[unindent] I see your point. The "last name" field is not a visible part of the record, and its name should probably be changed. I'll accept the submission and let those who design the software "sort" out the rest of it. Mhhutchins 22:04, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

If you make puns like that, we might make you wait a bit longer! ;-) But I see from the "Authors with Invalid Last Names" cleanup script that this is beginning to become a bit of a problem. I'm afraid that my human language (or rather, human alphabet) skills are a bit too weak to take on the task - what we really need is somebody skilled in MySQL, Python, English, Cyrillic, Kanji, and a few other things like knowing which countries put "surnames" first. Moderating Hungarian edits tonight reminded me of my incompetence... BLongley 22:24, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Hungarians have the habit of putting the surname first as I know of my speedskating statistics.--Dirk P Broer 22:34, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

I think Japanese and Chinese may have that problem too. I encountered those languages today as well, while finishing off my attempt to get Urania data up-to-date: there were Italian issues dedicated to them. It just goes to show that even after five years here, I'm not 100% competent and never will be. BLongley 22:43, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

You're forgetting Koreans. With all these names you have to check whether the names already exist in your database in another sequence, e.g. Young Ha Lee is the same person as Lee Young Ha. The surname is Lee (btw: North Koreans would use Li) and Koreans themselves usually have their surname first, as do Chinese and Japanese amongst themselves. Japanese nowadays present themselves western-wise to the outward world, but in the past that certainly was not the case.--Dirk P Broer 09:01, 20 April 2012 (UTC)

I'm not forgetting Koreans - I've just not had to deal with them yet. I'm quite glad that our language improvements are being taken up slowly - if all 94 were actually used from day one, I'd have quit moderating ages ago! Instead, I've taken the opportunity to learn a little more about Western European languages, and hope that others can take up the mantle of moderating the rest or finding new moderators for such. BLongley 13:15, 20 April 2012 (UTC)

Theodore Pratt

Hi. I accepted your Theodore Pratt modifications but removed the proposed web page: http://fauarchon.fcla.edu/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=109&q=&rootcontentid=34920#id34920 -- there's no information viewable there. It's only an index of the materials they have, and all you can do with them is register to view them at the library. --MartyD 10:22, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

I had included it because it is a rather official website that makes mentioning of his date of death occuring in 1969, and not 1970 as we had previously. Later I also found the IMDb page, but that is not always 100% accurate.--Dirk P Broer 10:26, 26 April 2012 (UTC)