User talk:WolfMan90

BLongley 01:53, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

A good start
I've approved a couple of your submissions and made a few adjustments: see and. I've added a comma to an author name's suffix, added the bindings, sourced cover images from Amazon, regularised a publisher name, maybe a few other minor details that I do automatically but a new editor usually doesn't. Have a look at the results and let me know if any changes I've made do not match your intentions. BLongley 02:16, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

I'll let another moderator look at your next two, I'm not familiar with the authors or works at all and suspect they are borderline for inclusion here - but believe me, this has been a good start and I for one welcome you aboard the good ship ISFDB! BLongley 02:16, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

The Shell Game -- speculative fiction or political thriller?
Hi, and welcome. I have your submission that would add Alten's The Shell Game on hold. I poked around a little bit, and it looks to me like this book is a political thriller. Does it have some speculative fiction aspects? See ISFDB:Policy and the section after it for definitions and rules for the scope of what is to be included in the database. Let me know what you think (you can reply here by editing this section; indent your response by putting a colon at the beginning of the line). Thanks, and thank you for contributing. --MartyD 02:49, 17 September 2011 (UTC)


 * May I butt in? I don't think this user has found his talk page, so I thought I'd put my two cents in. (The submission in the queue brought this to my attention.)
 * The author is considered an sf writer, at least according to this Wikipedia article. According to the rules (#9 of the Rules of Acquisition), any non-genre work by a writer whose work is primarily considered to be sf (above a "certain threshold" and almost all of his novels are in the db) will be eligible for inclusion.  We just have to make sure it's typed as NON-GENRE if we determine this novel has no spec-fic content. According to the rules, spec-fic does not include "techno-thriller, political thriller and satire works set in a future indistinguishable from the present".  This pretty much describes the book, according to the blurbs and Amazon reviews. I would opt for accepting the submission and typing it as NON-GENRE. Mhhutchins 20:42, 4 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Butt of course! :-) I was waiting to see if there's any other activity from WolfMan.  But do you really think Alten's above a "certain threshold"?  That was my secondary hang-up.  --MartyD 10:24, 5 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Well, it depends upon your definition of the term. If the threshold is based on the author's individual work, it would qualify (most of his work is sf).  If the threshold is based on his reputation within the field, then it wouldn't (I've never heard of him). The definition given in #9 of the stated policy can be interpreted either way: IN - Works (both fiction and non-fiction) which are not related to speculative fiction, but were produced by authors who have otherwise published works either of or about speculative fiction over a certain threshold. BUT, it goes on to say (in #10) the purpose of establishing this "certain threshold" is not to exclude the NON-GENRE work of SF authors, but to exclude the NON-GENRE work of authors who are better known for their work outside the field (e.g.  James Fenimore Cooper, Robert Louis Stevenson, Honoré de Balzac).  That would tend towards inclusion of this NON-GENRE work by an SF author. Or do we need a new "Supreme Court ruling" to make the definition of "certain threshold" more clear?  Mhhutchins 17:51, 5 October 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm fine if "certain threshold" remains discussed on an author-by-author basis if needed. It would be useful to know if previous discussions have led to a Yay-or-Nay decision on such though - I don't think we've established a consensus on how to record such against an author. The obvious place is the author's Wiki Biblio page, with a link to the discussion, but such links do break after archiving. BLongley 19:04, 5 October 2011 (UTC)


 * It didn't occur to me to think about "certain threshold" in terms of both S-F volume and S-F density (as it were). No objection from me.  I will accept the submission and change it to NONGENRE.  Thanks for the input.  --MartyD 22:37, 5 October 2011 (UTC)