User talk:Ruadhan

Hello,, and welcome to the ISFDB Wiki! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:
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I hope you enjoy editing here! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~&#126;); this will insert your name and the date. If you need help, check out the community portal, or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! --Bluesman 19:36, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

Year's Best Fantasy
I have your submission for this publication on hold, as there is already [this] in the database. Since there are no notes in the submission, I can't tell if this is a later printing? Also, if it is a different printing, it is better to clone the existing record and add/change it, otherwise all of the contents would have to be manually merged. Cloning automatically copies the contents and merges them also. Check out the links above for how to do this. Welcome aboard! ~Bill, --Bluesman 19:41, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

Test: is this the correct way to reply to a comment? --Ruadhan 21:18, 2 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Test2: Answer to first reply: nope. --Ruadhan 21:25, 2 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Hello, Bluesman.

I suspect the version I submitted is a duplicate; I did a search, but further noodling around (after posting that) tells me that I probably did the search wrong, which is why I thought the book wasn't added. I imagine that I could verify it...

I was trying to enter information for the August 2006 Realms of Fantasy issue, and ran into a couple of problems, most notably with the interior illustrations. I have the artist names, but not the titles to the works (which may be different from the titles of the short fiction they accompany). I left the titles blank... and the db ate the post whole. I wasn't able to return to the entry page and do edits. Grr. Will re-type. What is the format/accepted method for this sort of situation? And what about the columns in the same issue? Should they be listed as 'non-fiction'?

Thank you for any help you can give. --Ruadhan 21:10, 2 February 2010 (UTC)


 * If the illustrations do not have a specific title, something has to be assigned to them for the DB to accept the edit. Just put the story title in. If some source turns up later that does give that piece a title it can always be updated. If there is more than one piece of art for a story, enter each separately but number them, using square brackets around the number, [1], [2], [3], etc, placing this after the title but on the same line. Columns are generally listed as essays. If the column is a recurring one then that issue's date should go in brackets after the column title: Column Name (Jan, 1950) for example. Magazines are not my strong suit, and they have different rules/practices than books. Another moderator who is very proficient with them is [Swfritter], he's written many of the help pages for them. If you do have the book above, by all means verify it. Also, when answering a post on this page, just continue from the end of the existing post, using a colon to start, which indents the reply. Multiple replies get an extra colon for each one so they appear as steps. Makes it easier to follow a thread as sometimes one initial post can lead to a number of responses. I've adjusted this thread so you can see what I mean. Again, welcome, and thanks for editing! ~Bill, --Bluesman 21:42, 2 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Ah, much better. :) --I do indeed have a copy of the book in hand. Just need to figure out how to do the verifications now. Looking for the help page... Thanks! --Ruadhan 22:04, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

Submission for Dreams of Decadance #12
Bluesman has this on hold right now and asked me to take a look at it. Magazines can be a little trickier than books. I will approve it tomorrow, do some fix-up, and make some recommendations. Hope you've got some more issues. Thanks.--swfritter 23:24, 2 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Approved. I do not know what information was placed in the Year field (perhaps Autumn?) but it came out as 0000-00-00 because it was an invalid entry. Changed the dates to 2000-00-00 for all entries. See the Realms of Fantasy entry for comments which may also apply to this pub. I also added a link to the cover scan. Please note that Philsp.com where the cover resides is an approved site for cover linking. We have blanket approval from a number of sites. It is also possible to upload your own scan. Page counts: the page count for magazines also includes four pages for the covers. Some magazines start the page count with the cover and others with the first internal page. In the first case add two to the last page number; in the second case add four. My guess, based upon the value entered, is that it does not include the covers. You will also want to add a link to the issue in the wiki page of the magazine. The address is comprised of an address which includes either the tag of the magazine (which can be viewed by editing the pub) or the publication id (which you may have to use and advanced search to find). Please feel free to ask questions about this process.--swfritter 18:11, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Realms of Fantasy submission
The following issues which I have fixed:
 * This appears to be the August 2006 issue. The title should have been entered as "Realms of Fantasy, August 2006" using the date on the cover.
 * Since this is a dated issue the information in the year field should have been entered as "2006-08-00". Please note that the date entered here will be carried down to new contents; this is the only place you have to enter the date if the pub is the first one where a story is printed. In some places you entered only the year; those were converted to "0000-00-00" because a full date must be entered.
 * Generic column titles: When an essay has a title like movies it should be modified to make the tile unique. "Movies", for instance, should be entered as "Movies (Realms of Fantasy, August 2006)".
 * Story lengths: According to the Contento entry all of the fiction entries are short stories (less than 7,500 words). It is not required that you enter a length but it is recommended. I have gone with Contento. If any of the stories appear to be longer you can change them. Novelettes are greater than 7,500 words. Novellas are greater than 17,500 words. If you come across anything greater than 40,000 words and complete in one magazine you will want to consult Help for special processing instructions.
 * Reviews: When reviews are encountered in a submission they are lexically matched with titles in the database. If a title/author match is found the reviews are automatically linked to the titles. That way the link is automatic. Otherwise, the reviews have to be linked manually. Here is an example of how to do a manual link: First bring up the title record for a book from the author page. Copy the number at the end of the web address, in this case 180733. From the pub with the review bring up the title record for the review. Under Editing Tools to the left you will see the option "Link Review to Title". Click that which will bring up this screen where you will paste or enter the number you copied from the title record of the book and then submit. This might seem a bit confusing right now, but give it a try. Feel free to let me know if you would rather have me do this.
 * Reviews: If the item being reviewed is something that should not in our database (movies, comic books, etc.) you can document the review with an essay entry or, as I normally do, in the Notes. Thanks.--swfritter 15:30, 3 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Thank you the the info; I'll try to keep it all in mind, the next time I do a magazine entry. I don't have many magazines, though, so that may be a while. Cheers! --Ruadhan 00:11, 7 February 2010 (UTC)


 * A good progression for learning is to become first proficient with novels followed by collections, anthologies, and magazines. A lot of little things to remember with magazines.--swfritter 16:06, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

Leaning curve
The learning curve is high at first but it get's easier. I might note that Bluesman gives me a little too much credit for the Help pages on magazines. They were there when I arrived and my additions have been mostly incremental.--swfritter 18:52, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Crooked Timber
I have your submission on hold, for a number of things. First is the title: regardless of how the title is printed in the book (and always use what is on the title page, not the cover) all the words should be capitalized. See the help page [here] for 'Case', which also lists those few words that do not get a capital. Second is the binding, which has been left blank. Further down the same Help page from above is a section 'Pub-Format' which gives all the short-forms for the various bindings. Since Magpie is a small press, I would assume it's an over-sized soft-cover which would be a 'tp' = 'trade-paperback'. The 'Artist' field should contain the name only. By entering (photograph) and (painting) after the two names, an artist record is created with those descriptives attached, in essence becoming part of the artist's name. Such descriptives should go in the notes. I am assuming that the photograph is part of the cover art? Since the author is a pseudonym it's not usual to have a picture, but if that is the case then the photographer may be credited in the notes but not in the field. The first item in the contents, an interior art piece, should, by default if it is not specifically titled, use the entire title as in the title field at the top of the record. In this case that would be "Crooked Timber: Seven Suburban Faerie Tales" [note that I'm using quotation marks to highlight only, they don't go in the record]. The second entry is the "Foreword". As Swfritter said above about generic columns in magazines, the same applies to generic contents for books. Things like Forewords/Afterwords/Author's Notes/etc. if not specifically titled should have the book's title added in brackets. Thus here the correct title would be "Foreword (Crooked Timber: Seven Suburban Faerie Tales)". That way the Foreword stays linked to the proper publication. Last, is the map. If it is titled as shown, then the entry is fine, but if it is a map titled "Seven Suburbs" then it should be recorded as "Seven Suburbs (map)". Read over the Help page from the link, but remember that the DB is a work in progress, and rules do change/evolve. Don't be shy about asking questions, we're all here to help. Thanks for editing! ~Bill, --Bluesman 18:20, 7 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Hmm... The title appears on the title page without capitalization, exactly as I put down in the entry. Is this an exception? As for pub format, you are correct: it is a trade paperback. I'm not familiar with the forms so I left that space blank. Does there need to be a size added to the 'tp'? Mea culpa on the artist names... but yes, there are two artists. One did the cover painting, and the other did the artist photo on the rear cover (but don't ask me why Randy is wearing a blond wig in it. I think he mentioned why at the book launch, but...) Titles for interior items: mea culpa on the first art item. I couldn't find a title, so I gave it the main book title, without subtitle. Date was taken from the signature at the bottom. Also mea culpa on the foreword; I'll try to remember that next time. The map is called 'Seven Suburbs Map' on the reverse of the title page, which appears to serve as both table of contents and publishing data page, all in one. The above mentioned interior illustration is listed as 'Illustration by Linda Bunn' in the same place. One question from me regarding dates on the short stories: I know that several of them were published elsewhere. Those dates and places are not mentioned in this edition. Should they be looked up and the dates adjusted? Thanks! --Ruadhan 01:47, 8 February 2010 (UTC)


 * It doesn't matter that the sub-title is in lower-case, we still capitalize the words. On the 'tp' that's all you need to put. Since the 'author' photo is so unique I would mention it in the notes, but we don't include the photographer in the field as a cover artist. Sounds like an interesting photo!! The inside art items: the first just needs the full title but the date should be the publication date of the book (assuming this is the first place it's been published). Lots of times the art could be several years old before publication, so we use the publication date of the book. Sounds like the map is entered correctly. As to the other publication dates for the stories: I am going to approve the submission so you can work on it. Since the author A. M. Arruin already exists in the database, all of the stories will appear [here] to start with. A page for Randy Schroeder also exists [here]. As yet the pseudonym link has not been established. One of the stories does appear on his page, but none of the others appear on either page. Once you get the pub in order, I'll help you do the pseudonym and show you how the stories can be placed under the canonical (the author's real name). As Swfritter said, the learning curve is steep at first, but only because everything is new. When I first started it felt like scaling Everest. But I had lots of help. ~Bill, --Bluesman 03:06, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * There are actually two entries for the Arruin pseudonym in this database--A. M. Arruin, and A. Merry Arruin. Both belong to Randy, and both have short stories on their pages which are listed in the collection. I think a third story was published elsewhere, too, but I can't find the reference right now, so... that'll wait. Meanwhile, I'll do the fixes on the entry. Been poking links trying to find the edit screens... will get them all eventually. Meanwhile, watch me look at my shelves, wondering what else you folks don't have yet... Cheers! --Ruadhan 06:52, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * And... here's another question. When someone is in the database under several versions of the same name (as with A.M. Arruin/A. Merry Arruin, above), is there a merge function available to collect them all in one place? I've checked several entries for people I know and it appears that most of them have some version of this happening--A.J. Onia/Al Onia; Barb Galler-Smith/Barbara Galler-Smith/Barbara J. Galler-Smith; ... I've also noted a pseudonym that is not connected to the real name, but I know in this case the author does not wish her work under the pseudonym associated with her real name due to subject matter. How is a case like this handled? Thanks! --Ruadhan 16:28, 8 February 2010 (UTC)


 * First, let's get the names linked. Go to either of the pseudonym's bibliographic page. In the Editing Tools, click on Make/Remove a Pseudonym. For A. M. Arruin, [this] is what you will see. Type in Shroeder's name, exactly as it appears on his page, and submit. Do the same for the other pseudonym. That now links the three names. And you always do this towards the canonical name, don't go to Shroeder's page and try to make the pseudonym link from there. Next, you want to link all the stories, books, essays, whatever is there. These all have to be done manually, one at a time. Click on any one item to open it's bibliographical page. For the collection [this] is what you see. From the Editing Tools click on "Make This Title a Variant Title or Pseudonymous Work" which will show you [this] page. In the line that has the Author A. M. Arruin, delete that name and type in Randy Shroeder and submit. This will need to be done for every item on both of the pseudonyms pages. Once that is done there might be a couple of duplicate items that will need more work, but we'll handle that once all the variants are done. I noticed that there is no biographical data on Shroeder. If you can add anything there, please do. Web-page, birthdate, whatever field you can fill out. Links to Wikipedia if there are any, etc. From his page [here] select Edit Author Data from the Editing Tools which will give you [this page] and fill in the blanks you can. As for the unwanted pseudonym you mentioned above, I'll ask on the Rules and Standards page what the consensus is. Not sure this has come up before. I know we've tried to accommodate writers as to name spellings but this certainly isn't like that. Are both 'subject matters' speculative fiction? If the lady writes Romance and has a Horror side-line, or Childrens as opposed to Paranormal, then it's likely the non-spec-fic wouldn't be listed here anyway. I'll get back to you. ~Bill, --Bluesman 17:17, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Re: pseudonym deliberately not connected to author. In this case, the author writes speculative fiction (SF, fantasy, horror...) and under the pseudonym, she writes speculative porn (specifically, vampire erotica). I note that, despite her success at the latter, none of those works are mentioned here, which may be her reluctance to list them. Oh, and while I'm thinking about it: my own name is in this database under a variant spelling (I have an accent in my name; I most often publish without the accent, because it's a pain to typeset.) How would I go about making that correction? --Ruadhan 18:48, 8 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm surprised that the 'vampire erotica' isn't on here, as our data-mining robot Fixer certainly digs up a lot of it. As for the accent in your name you can correct that on your own data/biography page, making with-the-accent the canonical name. If your name has been spelled without the accent, I think the software kind of ignores it, as "variants" only apply to books. Is the accent easily done on your computer? I know some of them are a real pain with a PC. I have a MAC and can do about a hundred different ones with a keystroke if you have a problem getting the correct on on your page. Have approved the two pseudonyms and will be around for awhile to get all the variants approve as well. ~Bill, --Bluesman 19:04, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Barbara Galler-Smith
Hi. I took a look at Barb Galler-Smith, Barbara Galler-Smith, and Barbara J. Galler-Smith and the new variant titles you submitted. One thing to keep in mind about "canonical" authors (i.e., the main author entry) is that it's not necessarily the most complete or most formal name, but rather the most widely-used/most likely-to-be-recognized name. I did a little searching, and it seems to me that "Barbara Galler-Smith" is the most widely used form of her name, not "Barbara J. Galler-Smith". So we would make "Barbara Galler-Smith" be the canonical name, and the other two be pseudonyms for that. The titles under those two names would have variants by "Barbara Galler-Smith". (The legal name in the "Barbara Galler-Smith" entry can be set to "Galler-Smith, Barbara J.").

To that end, I set up the pseudonym relationships as I've described them above, I changed the "Barb Galler-Smith" variants you submitted from "Barbara J. Galler-Smith" to "Barbara Galler-Smith" instead, and I made a "Barbara Galler-Smith" variant for the sole "Barbara J. Galler-Smith" story. See for the current result.

I've put your submissions that would make "Barbara J. Galler-Smith" variants of the "Barbara Galler-Smith" titles on hold, as under the above arrangement they wouldn't be necessary or appropriate. All that said, I'm open to the argument that the "J." form should be the canonical entry, in which case we'd rearrange the above and I'd let those additional variants go throuh. So let me know what you think. Thanks. --MartyD 12:20, 11 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Hi, Marty. I believe you are correct. I tend to default to the most formal choice in circumstances like this. Your way makes more sense, though. Thanks! --Ruadhan 20:15, 11 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Ok, then I rejected the three submissions that would have added "Barbara J. Galler-Smith" variants of "Barbara Galler-Smith" titles, since they're not needed with the non-"J." name as the canonical entry. We can always decide it should be different later and put those in place if need be.  Thanks.  --MartyD 11:04, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

Talebones
What is "perfect bound"? Does the magazine not fit one of the standard formats listed


 * Digest -- includes both standard digest size, at about 7" x 4.5", and also large digest, such as recent issues of Asimov's, which are about 8.25" x 5.125".
 * pb -- For magazines published in a paperback format.
 * Pulp -- the common pulp size: 6.5" x 9.5"
 * Bedsheet -- e.g. early issues of Amazing; or the 1942-43 version of Astounding: 8.5" x 11.25"
 * Tabloid -- e.g. the British Science Fiction Monthly: 11" x 16"
 * A4 21 × 29.7 cm or 8.3 × 11.7 in -- Used by some UK and European magazines
 * A5 14.8 × 21 cm or 5.8 × 8.3 in -- Used by some UK and European magazines

~Bill, --Bluesman 03:02, 12 February 2010 (UTC)


 * 'Perfect bound' is what it says on the editorial page, to whit: "We mentioned being a little later than usual because of the slowdowns with a new printer and the new perfect bound format." And... checking for definitions, it appears that it refers to the way the cover is attached. Mass market paperbacks use the same method. So I guess the format should be 'pb' for that reason. The size of these issues (I have #19 and #36) are both 8.5" x 5.5", which makes them a bit larger than the large digest size mentioned above. And... tangentially, I have issue #2 of New Horizons by the British Fantasy Society. I don't see the magazine mentioned anywhere on the site--does it qualify to be indexed here? It's also perfect bound, and near the large digest size. And... back to the Talebones issue: the 41 short reviews. Should I write them all up? I could, but... 41. Oy. --Ruadhan 03:38, 12 February 2010 (UTC)


 * It's your choice to write them up or not. Sometimes one just has to 'do' a nasty one. Good practice??? ;-) I remember doing the interior art for a few Destinies mags that ran 30-40 entries per issue. Not something I would want to do all the time. I have asked other Mods opinions on the format issue here and also about the British magazine. Depends what's in it. Even if there are just reviews of spec-fic/fantasy pubs/stories then the mag with those contents should be here. See what the others have to say. ~Bill, --Bluesman 16:38, 12 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Swfritter: [on the format issue]. Seems a reasonable approach. ~Bill, --Bluesman 18:24, 12 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I went ahead and accepted the submission and at least for now put the binding as 'tp'. I'll leave it up to you as far as any notes to that end, or if you think 'digest' might be a better descriptive. I accepted another submission "Neo-Opsis" and then realized one of the contents has "Houston" spelled as "Huston"... a typo? ~Bill, --Bluesman 20:42, 12 February 2010 (UTC)


 * If 'Huston' is a typo, it's Karl Schroeder's typo--that's the way it shows up in the issue. I noticed the same thing and decided to go with what was actually there. Also speaking of typos, though: In the Year's Best Fantasy, above, Terry Goodkind is listed as 'Tery Goodkind' on the Table of Contents page, tho' his name is spelled correctly on the title page of the individual story. Is this worth noting on the anthology entry? --Ruadhan 05:01, 16 February 2010 (UTC)


 * since it's spelled correctly on the story's title page, it's your call whether to mention it in the notes. It might be a good idea just to prevent some future editor from creating a pseudonym if they didn't look at the title page. ~Bill, --Bluesman 22:20, 17 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, New Horizons would be in - fiction, articles and interviews in the Fantasy/Horror/Science-Fiction genres probably mean all contents are desired. BLongley 18:34, 12 February 2010 (UTC)


 * And 41 reviews isn't that bad - take a look at a typical . OK, I won't be doing them all at once, but I'll normally do one or two in a session. BLongley 18:41, 12 February 2010 (UTC)


 * OY! I think I mentioned that already... all right. Will enter them when I have time. Cheers, --Ruadhan 05:01, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

"Dressmaker to the Princess"
Hi. I've put on hold your submission that would make "Dressmaker to the Princess" 826137 by "Robin" Herrington a variant of the 952054 by "Robyn" Herrington. There is nothing wrong with your submission, but I noticed the first title does not appear in any publications. So I would delete it instead of making it a variant. "Robin" Herrington has no other titles, and a quick search with Google did not turn up any authoritative-looking sources citing a book using that spelling. Do you happen to know where that first title came from? If not, is there any reason you see not to delete it instead of making the variant? Thanks, --MartyD 10:51, 20 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi. I do not know where the first title came from, and hadn't noticed that it was not completely entered on the Robin page; I do know that Robyn consistently spelled her name with a y, so making the connection was needed. Deleting the item from the Robin page strikes me as the best choice, since it shows up in more complete form on the Robyn page. Incidently, Robyn's middle name was Meta (talk about an appropriate moniker!); I don't believe she ever used it in her published work, but am wondering if it should be included in her biographical details here. Cheers! --Ruadhan 19:51, 20 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Ok, thanks. I will reject your submission (since it will not be needed) and delete the title.  That seems best to me.


 * As for "Meta", yes, we have a "Legal Name" field in the author information. So while her canonical name might be "Robyn Herrington", you could record her Legal Name as "Herrington, Robyn Meta".  This field is also very useful if the author or artist goes by a nickname.  The canonical name would use the nickname but the legal name would record the full/proper name.  --MartyD 10:42, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

New Horizons
I'm holding the submission adding an issue of this magazine. Question is, which issue? Is there any kind of dating at all? If not month, at least year and perhaps the issue number? Thanks. Mhhutchins 04:14, 21 March 2010 (UTC)
 * After some research, I discovered that your submission was for the second issue and that it appeared in January 2009. I accepted the submissions, changed the title and date, and added the cover image. Here's a link to the record.  If anything is incorrect, please submit an update. Mhhutchins 21:30, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

Talebones, Spring 2008
I accepted the submission adding this issue, but because the date field was empty, all records remain undated. Being the Spring 2008 issue, it could have been dated as "2008-00-00" unless you know the month it was published. If not, you can edit the record, giving simply "2008-00-00" as the date. You'll also have to date each of the contents as they are automatically given the date in the date field only upon first submission. All dating afterward has to be done manually. Thanks. Mhhutchins 04:19, 21 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Forgot to ask: is "1084-7197" the ISSN? If so, it should be placed in the notes field, not the ISBN field.  (It can also be added to the periodical's wiki page.) At one time, some editors were entering the ISSN in the ISBN field but it was determined to be in the best interest of the field not to overburden it with one more function (it still can be used for catalog numbers for pre-ISBN publications.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 04:22, 21 March 2010 (UTC)