User talk:Mike Christie

Welcome to my talk page.

Welcome :)
Welcome aboard! I think we have all the "hot" topics linked from the Main page for your browsing convenience. If you have any questions, just post them on that page or its Talk page. If you have general questions (e.g. "what the heck are we doing here anyway??"), feel free to post them either at ISFDB:Community Portal or on my or Al's User page any time :) Ahasuerus 20:44, 22 May 2006 (CDT)

A note from T. Jackson King
Hi Mike! This is T. Jackson King (Tom) logging in here to say thanks for the 6/27 welcome note on my talk page, and to ask you for guidance on how I can modify the listing of my short and long works that key to my author name (above). I've put in a third person biography here and on Wikipedia, but I'd like to update my short fiction listing, the awards category, and then link the biblio stuff to the bio page on Wikipedia. I've read through the How Tos and other stuff, but every time I try to "edit" anything other than my bio, I get a screen message saying editing is presently limited to moderators. Having read the main page stuff and info on new software, etc., I guess that explains that. Any suggestions on how I could gain moderator status solely for my writing info stuff? Or can you or Al or who knows? open up my biblio section so I can do as above? Anyway, thanks much for all the work you and others do to maintain this site. While I have my own website, I love Wikipedia (newbie enthusiasm) and have found the ISFDB to include a lot of fellow writers I've known since the early 1980s. My personal email address should be listed on my login data, or, if not, then you can find it on my web site at www.sfwa.org/members/tjacksonking The email address there doesn't work to link to me, but the address is accurate. Enough chatter. Thanks for your time. Tom

Budrys
Responses posted on ISFDB:Community Portal :) Ahasuerus 09:39, 23 May 2006 (CDT)

Vacuum tubes
Thanks for the heads up about transistors! Normally, I am not a fan of new and unproven technologies, but spare parts are getting harder to get these days... Ahasuerus 23:35, 25 Jun 2006 (CDT)

Welcome template
Oops! I knew I was missing something! :) Ahasuerus 07:53, 7 Jul 2006 (CDT)

Thanks for the welcome
Howdy Mike and thanks for the welcome. I certainly hope to be able to help out with fixing that which needs it and the verification process (I almost called it an effort but that implies there is an end to it whereas a process can be never ending . . .) PortForlorn 00:02, 19 Oct 2006 (CDT)

Collection
Answered on my Talk page to preserve context, continuity, etc :) Ahasuerus 18:58, 9 Nov 2006 (CST)
 * Answers updated on my Talk page. We may want to move the last part of the discussion to the Portal since it may have broader applicability. Also, we may want to revive the Bibliographic Rules page at some point since the Community Portal is getting crowded. Ahasuerus 20:22, 9 Nov 2006 (CST)

Dropped Text
Yes, I saw a big chunk of text seemingly disapper about an hour ago. As far as I can tell, the text is still there and you can access it if you pull up the whole page in "Edit Page", but it is not displayed any more. Probably some special characters and/or formatting messing it up. I'll see if I can unscramble it, thanks :) Ahasuerus 13:42, 20 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * The problem with the Community Portal page was the "p" template which was messing it up for some reason. I took it out for now and the page is back in business :) Ahasuerus 13:51, 20 Nov 2006 (CST)

Vithaldas Hattopadhyaya O'Quinn
Mike,

FYI, "Vithaldas Hattopadhyaya O'Quinn", "Vithaldas O'Quinn", "Vithaldas H. O'Quinn", etc were all pseudonyms used by Santesson -- see Contento and http://www.trussel.com/books/pseud_o.htm Ahasuerus 19:06, 27 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * Aha. Thanks for that.  I wonder what his source is?  I just checked Who's Hugh (should have done that before), and it gives Contento and McGhan as sources for this; McGhan predates Contento but I'm not familiar with it.


 * I wonder if it would be a good idea for us to eventually have a "sources" table, with a way of citing a source for any non-obvious connection -- primarily assigning pseudonyms. E.g. the variant titles connection could have a secondary table with a key of parent title, child title, and an attribute of source id, pointing to the source which attests the connection. Mike Christie 19:26, 27 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * It's probably a good idea to formalize the pseudonym attribution process, which is currently effectively undefined. However, I am not sure what the best approach would be. Something for the Community Portal, perhaps? Ahasuerus 19:38, 27 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * Yes, but I think I'll hold off on that for now -- it's not going to happen before beta testing, and I'd like to avoid any red herrings. I think we do need a couple more features to go live effectively, but not much, so I plan to be minimalist about non-go-live-related issues for a bit.  Mike Christie 19:41, 27 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * Certainly understandable. I have been reluctant to start a discussion of my top secret LIAM module for pretty much the same reason. My biggest concern is that although the software is currently largely functional, it has enough built-in gotchas and twists to discourage all but the most dedicated editors. And once a potential contributor is discouraged, he may not be easy to lure back. Ahasuerus 19:48, 27 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * Good point; hadn't really thought about it that way. I think one goal of the beta is to identify what can be improved along these lines.  However, to me the main implication is that usability and workflow enhancements are the main thing to look at between now and the beta, since we can actually *do* most things now.  That's why, for example, I think award editing is low priority, but an ISFDB watchlist is high priority.  I can't see a Heinlein project team member getting very far without the ability to keep an eye on "his" data. Mike Christie 19:53, 27 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * It's entirely possible that the majority of the ISFDB activity will be eventually Author-centric, but it's hard to tell ahead of time. In the past, the ISFDB had two primary categories of editors: authors and bibliographers. Authors tended to be highly author-centric (not entirely surprisingly, one might add) and their activity was sporadic, based on random factors like the appearance of new stories/books, writer's block, insomnia, etc. I can certainly see how a returning author may want to see a list of changes to his biblio since his last visit.


 * Bibliographers, on the other hand, tended to be much more thorough and much less author-centric. Some would concentrate on magazines, others on first editions, yet another category would be interested in certain publishers (e.g. DAW and Baen as can be seen elseWiki), etc. They would be much less likely to benefit from this proposed tool unless it could be made highly configurable and track many different fields in various clever ways, which I consider unlikely given our limitations.


 * Finally, there are two other categories of editors from years past: unpublished writers who would try to sneak their work undercover, as it were, and regular genre readers, who typically come and go at random intervals. Having said that, the Internet has grown so much and the idea of user-editable databases has become so widespread in recent years, that it's hard to tell what kind of audience we will draw this time around. Oh well, time will tell :) Ahasuerus 20:38, 27 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * That list of likely editor types is very illuminating. I guess I was thinking that some authors have such a following that they would draw interested editors, but I suppose the list of authors that would have a sufficiently dedicated following is quite short.  On the other hand, my watchlist at Wikipedia has a high overlap with the pages I've edited; I think a lot of editors would like to work that way.


 * There are good-to-excellent single author bibliographies on the net (Bramah, Farmer, Leinster, Vance, etc) that are maintained either by individuals or by small groups, but I don't think we had a whole lot of luck getting them to update the ISFDB. Or, if we did, they were not as visible as the other types of editors. Perhaps we will have beter luck this time. I suppose that "struggling writers", who tended to be more visible, saw the ISFDB and similar outlets as a way to get free publicity. Clearly, Stephen King didn't need the ISFDB to maintain a decent standard of living :) Ahasuerus 22:23, 27 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * The key point seems to me to be that we have to have a way to watch data being degraded, so we can stop it. You're putting in many hours of work doing consistency checks.  How do you know they are still consistent?  (Well, there's not many people editing right now, but you know what I mean.)  I spent a long time on the "Ace Books" article in Wikipedia, and I have it watchlisted.  I go check every single edit that's done to it, because I have an interest in keeping it high quality.  If I can't do that for, e.g., the Fantastic Universe issues I've been entering, I won't really want to enter any more of them.  I recently noticed that a title in one of the issues had been changed for an editorial, for example.  I'm pretty sure that Al did it, in verifying against Contento2, so I asked him about it.  If 20,000 changes had gone by while I was on vacation, I'd have no way of knowing if those issues were still in good shape.


 * This is definitely a major concern, but I am not sure that the proposed software solution is as easy to implement as all that -- see below. Ahasuerus 22:23, 27 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * I realize that moderators are going to be eyeballing changes, and we can have rules about not approving changes to records that are verified, without some justification given in the notes. That's actually pretty strong protection, but I don't think it's quite enough.


 * To get back to your editor types, I think the pure bibliographers will want to know that their work is not just going to get corrupted, otherwise they won't want to enter data. They may not watchlist everything they enter, but they may watchlist most of it.


 * Finally, I don't think it's necessarily that hard to do. To watchlist a title, for example, you need a userid/titleid cross reference table; pretty straightforward.  Then you need "for each title: list approved submissions that affect this title, get all publications; for each publication: list approved submissions that affect this title".   The user could click on the submission to see the original update request.  That would be the equivalent of a diff.  Mike Christie 21:31, 27 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * Well, that may be easy to implement in a static environment, but Title IDs and Publication IDs get merged and deleted all the time. I really don't know how much work it would take to get even to the low hanging fruit, so I would need to defer to Al. Ahasuerus 22:23, 27 Nov 2006 (CST)


 * Yuck. Merged ids changing the id of what you're watchlisting; hadn't really considered that.  I can think of answers, but fundamentally you're right that there are some gotchas -- though I still suspect we need to do it, or something like it.  Anyway, I've started a beta discussion on the community portal, so let's wait and see what comes out of that -- maybe nobody else will agree we need the watchlist function.  Mike Christie 09:28, 28 Nov 2006 (CST)

Regularized Case
I noticed that Template:PublicationFields:Title and related pages do not include "on" in the list of words that should not be capilized in titles. For example - The DAW list has the following and they look "correct" to me but don't follow ISFDB's conventions and I'm wondering if the conventions should be updated or the DAW titles. Marc Kupper 02:07, 28 Nov 2006 (CST)
 * Incident on Ath
 * Monday Begins on Saturday
 * Ocean on Top
 * One on Me
 * The Darkness on Diamondia
 * The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
 * Walkers on the Sky
 * You're right; "on" looks correct. I'll fix this in the templates -- thanks. Mike Christie 07:46, 28 Nov 2006 (CST)

Bug 10009
Looks plenty fixed to me! :) Al rolled out a number of fairly major changes today, so I would guess that he also zapped 10009 as a "ah heck, might as well do it now" kind of thing. Ahasuerus 19:12, 7 Dec 2006 (CST)

"Nevile Shute"?
Mike, does http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?FANTUNIVSEP1959 reflect the spelling of Nevil Shute's name in the magazine correctly or is it a typo? Ahasuerus 18:17, 15 Dec 2006 (CST)
 * Oops. Fixed.  Thanks!  Mike Christie (talk) 18:26, 15 Dec 2006 (CST)

Templates for magazines
I think the conservative thing to do for now is to "just make the template available so that projects that get going can use it". That way we won't forget about it and can always go back and propagate the template if it becomes popular.

As far as "author-centricity" goes, it's the natural way to organize projects and keep track of them. It's not that we will necessarily have all that many author-centric editors, but rather that I can't think of a better way to record what has been done and where things stand. On any given day I may jump between a dozen different Authors and two dozen Series, merging things, deleting, adding, checking secondary biblios, etc, but at the end of the day I go back to the respective Author (and sometimes Series) pages in the Wiki to record what has been done. Ahasuerus 18:37, 17 Dec 2006 (CST)

Collections contents
I'll happily add the contents, it's just I couldn't see a way to do it from the create page.

I'll try the clone options page next time. I'm only going to be touching any books if I've got them in front of me. Unapersson 08:48, 22 Dec 2006 (CST)

One possible beta bug, I entered years (xxxx-0-0) for all the stories in scared stiff but they've all come through zeroed.

I'll correct those and see if they go through this time.

--Unapersson 09:59, 22 Dec 2006 (CST)

Cold print answer
It is a collection, with a second expanded edition, so the initial verification as a novel is a mistake. --Unapersson 11:44, 22 Dec 2006 (CST)

Recent Hayford Peirce edits
Hi Mike, I see you're online approving my edits. I seem to have done some things wrong, however. When I go to the Hayford Peirce article it doesn't show Der Zeit-etc. as a foreign edition of Napoleon Disentimed. And now there are two entries for Dinosaur Park -- I was just trying to add the month of publication (May 1994) to the original entry of 1994. Sorry for screwing things up! Hayford Peirce 12:17, 25 Dec 2006 (CST)
 * No problem. You might find this help page useful -- your data entry was fine, but now you need to tell the ISFDB that "Der Zeit . . ." is actually a variant of "Napoleon Disentimed".  When you entered "Der Zeit" it created a publication record, and a title record, both saying "Der Zeit" was the title.   Pub records track physical books, so that record doesn't need to change.  Title records are the things that connect multiple publications of the same work.  So you need to connect the title record of "Der Zeit" to the title record of "Napoleon Disentimed"; the help page link should help you figure it out.  If it's not clear, ask again.  Mike Christie (talk) 12:25, 25 Dec 2006 (CST)


 * A couple of things to keep in mind. One is that we have a display bug in the current version of the ISFDB software. It causes Variant Titles to appear twice, once as a "Variant Title" under the parent title and once by itself. The bug used to be limited to short fiction titles, but now that Al is trying to integrate short fiction and novel length data on the same page, it has spread to novels as well. That's why Dinosaur Park is displayed twice. It's just a display issue, there is no need to adjust the data -- I am sure it will be fixed soon.


 * The second thing to keep in mind is that we are currently listing foreign language translations of English language books as Publications under the main English language title. The reason for it is to avoid clutter on the main Author page for Authors that have been translated into numerous languages. I have already merged the German language version with the English langiage original, so we are all set for now. In the future, you can simply use the "Add Publication to this Title" link on the Title's page to avoid the need to merge the newly entered title with the parent. Ahasuerus 12:44, 25 Dec 2006 (CST)


 * Regarding Zeit-etc. Yes, the first entry I made I had the date structure wrong (according to a warning), so I went back and corrected it, or so I thought. Evidently that led to two different entries being made.  There should only be one.  In any case, the date of publication should, correctly, be 1992-00-00 -- I guess! Hayford Peirce 12:20, 25 Dec 2006 (CST)
 * OK -- have a go at deleting the incorrect one; it should be easy to figure out how. I know the warning message you're talking about; it's just informative, and doesn't stop the data being entered.  The format for unknown dates is zeroes, so you can just enter 1992 and ignore the warnings if it's going to be zeroes anyway.  Mike Christie (talk) 12:25, 25 Dec 2006 (CST)
 * Righto -- it's easier to have the discussion going on at a single page. I have already deleted one of the Zeits. I started to delete Dinosaur Park from my list of novels, since it's now shown as a variant title of Thirteenth Majestral.  But then I was afraid that deleting it would also remove it from the variant status.  Is a puzzlement! Hayford Peirce 12:33, 25 Dec 2006 (CST)


 * Yup, it's that bug mentioned above raising its ugly head :( Ahasuerus 12:44, 25 Dec 2006 (CST)


 * Ah, so you're saying that I *can't* delete that second listing?! That sounds like a pretty major bug to me! Hayford Peirce 12:57, 25 Dec 2006 (CST)


 * Well, it's just a display bug: if you look at the URLs that the two displayed titles point to, it's the same location, http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?15751 This bug only popped up the other day, so it's presumably due to the software overhaul that Al von Ruff is currently in the middle of. I will re-report it again on the Bug page just to make sure he is aware of it :) Ahasuerus 13:03, 25 Dec 2006 (CST)


 * And thanks for the on-going tips -- I'm sure that I'll get up to speed on this eventually. I do have, for instance, other foreign edition info to put in for various books. Hayford Peirce 12:33, 25

Dec 2006 (CST)


 * Hi Mike, it's actually a trade paperback, I guess, the big glossy pb -- I should have realized that there was a different entry for that. Hayford Peirce 14:23, 25 Dec 2006 (CST)

Pence and pounds
Hi Mike, thanks for the tip on the pound sign -- I use the character set from time to time for other things, so I'll remember to use it here also. Regarding the price of the Canning book, however, we've gotta remember that it was a 1973 book, before the pound had a hundred units of whatever it is.

1971 was the changeover: a pre-decimal pound was the same as a post-decimal pound though. BLongley 23:06, 13 Jan 2007 (CST)

In those days (and I just checked it in my big old Websters) the pound had 20 shillings and each shilling had 12 pence. So a pound consisted of 240 pence. Which means that a book that sold for 50p (or 50 pence, I'm pretty sure) was not the equivalent of £0.50 -- it would actually be the equivalent of £0.208 (50 divided by 240). Or so I think. Maybe I should go back to the Canning item and change the "p" to "pence"? Hayford Peirce 16:20, 30 Dec 2006 (CST)

A pound still has twenty shillings in it, but no youth will know what a shilling was. (It's 5 new pence rather than 12 old pence.) You'd never see a pre-decimal price in pence alone, though, unless it was less than a shilling: and those would have been labelled "d" rather than "p". So "6d" would be half a shilling, or "£0.025" in current parlance. I forget when we lost the half-penny, but I'm pretty sure we don't need to go to three decimals after the mid 1980s.... For pre-decimal prices though, 50p didn't exist, we'd call half a pound "10 shillings" or "10 Bob". If it was really 50 pennies, then it would be "Four shillings and tuppence" or "4/2". I apologise for my country's weird currency shift,but all I can do now is resist joining the Euro and making it THREE currency systems in my lifetime... BLongley 23:06, 13 Jan 2007 (CST)

Burr by Gore Vidal
Hi, Mike, and Happy New Year! I see that Burr is listed as a novel by Gore Vidal -- he did indeed write, although not on that date, and it is NOT possibly SF or anything associated with it. I just tried to delete it completely from the list but evidently one has to be a moderator to do so. So, would you be kind enough to do so when you have a moment? Thanks! (It's a *great* book, by the way!) Hayford Peirce 12:11, 1 Jan 2007 (CST)
 * Hmmm, that's very strange -- I just looked at the Vidal biblio summary and Burr is still there. Plus, when I tried to delete it, there was a message across the top of the screen that only a moderator could do so.... Hayford Peirce 12:34, 1 Jan 2007 (CST)

Charles McCarry
Sorry, I just saw why you had rejected my edit -- *after* I had redone it. I thought that maybe I had forgotten to hit the submit button. I'll redo it, correctly, this time, as Non-Fiction. Hayford Peirce 12:24, 1 Jan 2007 (CST)

The "pre" tags
Hi Mike, I'm using them because someone put this info in the Jonathan Gash discussion and suggested that I use the phrase I've been putting in. I myself thought it looked "awful" once it showed up but I figgered he knew more about it than I did! I wish this Wiki had a preview feature in it so I could see what the changes are gonna look like! I'll go back and remove all the "pre" if you think that's what I should do. Or I'll do whatever you suggest to make things look better.... Hayford Peirce 12:02, 5 Jan 2007 (CST)
 * Okie, thanks. I copied the tag from "Edit" mode, and maybe there were some formatting things in there that were only for the note he wrote to me and that shouldn't have been copied into the Lovejoy stuff.  I'll clean it up, but bear with me if it turns out to be a trial and error process.... Hayford Peirce 12:20, 5 Jan 2007 (CST)

Bad ISBN
It's impossible to edit this title as it has a # at the start of the ISBN and it makes it throws a Python error.

--Unapersson 14:23, 6 Jan 2007 (CST)

As I've just added a few entries with '#' at the start of the ISBN (as they are old books but have internal publishers numbers) I'm worried I may be causing you problems.

Although I see no problem with THAT particular entry. BLongley 23:10, 13 Jan 2007 (CST)

Birthday
Danke! I've been seeing that birthday thing for a while now and wondering if I wuz gonna show up -- now we know that at least *one* thing works! And most of the rest, too, for that matter. It's a wonder that there aren't *more* bugs -- my mind is boggled by how much info there is in here and how it's already so structured.... Hayford Peirce 11:27, 7 Jan 2007 (CST)

British Currency
Thanks for the note on this. Is there a standard for the pre-metric prices? Pounds, shillings and pence. Or is it okay to write them as they are on the books, i.e. 3/6 = three shillings and six pence.

--Unapersson 13:38, 7 Jan 2007 (CST)

I've been told that if there are no pence, we should use a dash - e.g. "three shillings exactly" is "3/-". I don't own any book that would give me an example of POUNDS, shillings and pence. I think there must have been a few, but those were no doubt luxury editions, and would probably need an explanation of "Guineas" too. BLongley 23:16, 13 Jan 2007 (CST)

Check outcome of discussion on use of # in ISBN field
Hi Mike - I saw you added this but am not sure what page the discussion is on. I saw that you had edited the ISBN help to asking that people not enter the hyphens. That surprised me as I thought we wanted the hyphens as it makes it easier for humans to verify that the ISBN is correct. As moderators, hyphens work to our advantage because right now the moderator/approval page shows the raw data meaning that if I see a hyphenated value I know that an editor entered it with hyphens and ISFDB did not recognize it as an ISBN otherwise it would have stripped out the hyphens. Marc Kupper 00:28, 14 Jan 2007 (CST)

Here's an update since I can't find the ISBN discussion. I just entered/verified a book (Starship by Brian W. Aldiss...) using an ISBN of V2321. ISFDB set up links to Amazon, etc. in the navbar as though this was a valid ISBN. I edited the pub to prefix the catalogue code with # and that got rid of the links to Amazon. I suspect it's a bug but might as well include this with the ISBN discussion.) Marc Kupper 01:59, 14 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Thanks for the update -- I guess I misunderstood the outcome of that discussion. I had previously been entering ISBNs exactly as they appeared on the books, with the hyphens; this led to ISBNs that were truncated and incorrect.  I rather suspect that's what's going on with this pub, for example; if you look at the title reference you'll see there's something odd going on with the ISBN.  I entered that from my copy; it's in my daughter's room and she's asleep right now, so I can't check it, but I'm willing to bet I entered that ISBN with hyphens and if I reenter it without hyphens it will fix the problem.


 * What have you been doing for data entry of ISBNs? Are you using hyphens successfully?  I know it displays them on output, but I'd like to know how to use them on input if that can work.


 * For the "#", I take the point about the Amazon link -- hadn't noticed that. However I really dislike that "#" because it isn't actually on the publication. I would rather enter the real data and treat the Amazon link problem as a bug or feature request.  Did we have a discussion on this somewhere about the pros and cons of the "#"?  I am afraid we did, and it was agreed to use it, but I can't find that discussion now.  I really want to suggest we make it optional, at least.  Mike Christie (talk) 07:17, 14 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Regarding the pub with the odd ISBN. I did an edit-pub and change the page count from 40 to 40x so that on the mod-screen I could see what the DB value was for the ISBN. The approval screen said
 * {| border="1"

! align=left|Column!! align=left|Current [Record #100841]!! align=left|Proposed Changes
 * Isbn:|| bgcolor="#ffc0c0"|0-590-42833-0|| bgcolor="#d0ffd0"|0590428330
 * }
 * It looks like the ISBN had been entered with hyphens before Al started removing them. It seems like there’s a lot of outstanding project requests but yet another one will be to do a DB scan and for all of the publications with valid (good checksum) hyphenated ISBNs we need to remove the hyphens. I believe I have already reported the display bug where the code is inconsistent in its interpretation of valid vs. invalid data.
 * }
 * It looks like the ISBN had been entered with hyphens before Al started removing them. It seems like there’s a lot of outstanding project requests but yet another one will be to do a DB scan and for all of the publications with valid (good checksum) hyphenated ISBNs we need to remove the hyphens. I believe I have already reported the display bug where the code is inconsistent in its interpretation of valid vs. invalid data.
 * It looks like the ISBN had been entered with hyphens before Al started removing them. It seems like there’s a lot of outstanding project requests but yet another one will be to do a DB scan and for all of the publications with valid (good checksum) hyphenated ISBNs we need to remove the hyphens. I believe I have already reported the display bug where the code is inconsistent in its interpretation of valid vs. invalid data.


 * Yes, I am entering hyphens successfully. At the moment when you enter a publication the code looks at the ISBN and if it looks valid, including the checksum, the code will remove the hyphens. Thus had you reentered or just edited your book it would work. There is a bug in this area where if the checksum is not valid then the hyphens are not removed but some of the display code does assume it’s a valid ISBN and that leads to messy results. The good news is that on the moderator screen if you see hyphens then you know it’s an invalid ISBN. If the hyphens are gone then we know it’s either a valid ISBN (editor entered it with hyphens and they were stripped) or it’s an invalid ISBN entered without hyphens). I already have a feature request in for ISBN to better explain it’s interpretation of the data rather than us needing to rely on non-obvious (and unreliable) clues like hyphens in the mod-screens or if the link to Amazon is there.


 * I agree with you about the “#” stuff and that it’s not stated and don’t particularly like the # prefix but also see that it helps makes the edit/display logic very clean and also easy to understand for the humans. Right now the code is getting messy as it attempts to allow for or to deal with human error when entering data into ISFDB, publisher errors, codes that look like ISBNs but are not (SBNs for example), etc. Marc Kupper 14:12, 14 Jan 2007 (CST)

Genre authors in non-genre periodicals
Hi Mike! I found where my "talk" page is accessed (I am a brand NOOB about wiki) and read your note about The Universe Well Lost. What is policy regarding stories that we want to index, because they are SF or are by an SF writer (like Sturgeon), but first appeared in a non-SF magazine? Should we add a note to the title record for the story? Chenrich 16:36, 15 Jan 2007 (CST)

Re: recent edits (a little late)
Mike: you left a note for me which included the following puzzle:

"One is you've been deleting the "jvn" that is found in some of the Story Length fields. In fact this is intended to be there; I just realized it's not documented properly."

I hate to say this but, I've never even SEEN "jvn" on an entry let alone removed it.

It would seem that either something I'm doing is triggering an automatic removal or some error in a script is removing it. Where does the info show up?? I'd like to help track this down if I can... Dave Sorgen 20:54, 17 Jan 07


 * As I dealt with one of these dropped "jvn"s today I took a look into what I had approved/edited and then was able to replicate the issue with one of my test titles. It's an ISFDB bug. See Open_Editing_Bugs 10090 Minor dataloss – Edit-pub wipes out title storylens for novels. Dave is right in that he's never seen a "jnv" and I filed a bug report about that too at Open_Display_Bugs 20092 Display of storylen for novels. Marc Kupper 01:42, 18 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Marc, thanks for figuring this out. Dave, I hope that clarifies it; let one of us know if not.  Thanks.  Mike Christie (talk) 10:50, 18 Jan 2007 (CST)

Aldiss/Non-Stop
Mike, on User_talk:Thomas_conneely you wrote "I could have sworn he'd entered a variant title for "Non-Stop, by Brian Aldiss" at one point, but it's not there now." That's one of the few times where I decided to just leave it as a variant publication. The title record is for Brian W. Aldiss and the publications under that title are by both Brian Aldiss and Brian W. Aldiss. Had it been a pseudonym rather than a small variation in the author's name I would have added a variant title. Do you think I should add the VT every time? Marc Kupper 01:21, 18 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * I think so; I understood that to be current policy. Let's take it to Bibliographic Rules or the Community Portal if you think it should be revisited.  As with other issues like this, I think the difficulty with your approach would be where to draw the boundary.  What about "U. K. Le Guin", which Le Guin agreed to for "Playboy" (I think it was) at one point, only to later discover that the reason was they wanted to conceal her gender from their readers?  Is that a significant enough difference?  I'd say it was.  Rather than make judgements, my preference would be to make 'em all vts unless they are identical in every respect -- punctuation, everything.  Mike Christie (talk) 10:54, 18 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * It turned out there was already a title record (two of them in fact) for Non-Stop under Brian Aldiss and so I merged them and made the result a VT of Non-Stop by Brian W. Aldiss. In looking at the main title record it's painful as you can see that the Millennium publication must be one or the other, or maybe both.  Marc Kupper 22:51, 18 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Publications listed "as by Brian Aldiss and Brian W. Aldiss" or "Robert Heinlein and Robert A. Heinlein" etc are (unfortunately) not uncommon in the database. They mostly come from Amazon.com, which frequently mishandles middle initials. Have I mentioned the dope smoking penguins lately? Ahasuerus 13:27, 19 Jan 2007 (CST)

Magazine Tags
Mike, when you wrote "All pubs have tags; for everything but magazine the tag is generated automatically, and the uniqueness is ensured by the ISFDB scripts. I believe the reason that the magazines don't do this is to make it easier to build the magazine index pages", were you basing it on the documentation or on your editing experience? I don't recall manually adding tags for any of the magazines that I entered in December and they seemed to be auto-generated just fine, so I wonder if this issue was resolved a while back. Ahasuerus 09:23, 19 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Wow. I never even thought of just leaving the field blank and letting it do the work!  I assumed that the reason it was exposed in the New Mag screen was to ensure the human entered it.  I'll update the help to correspond.  Thanks for the heads up! Mike Christie (talk) 10:10, 19 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * I think it goes back to the ISFDB1 days when we had a separate magazine editor who had his own locally hosted database and had to do some magic with tags to get the two databases to talk to each other. Al would probably remember more about it. Ahasuerus 13:30, 19 Jan 2007 (CST)

More on sigs
Marc, I forgot to mention that you need to check the "raw sig" checkbox to make the sig I gave you work. Also, when you sign on your own talk page, it's smart enough to unlink the talk link (since that's to the current page), so testing it on your own talk page is a bit misleading. Hope that helps. Mike Christie (talk) 07:17, 19 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Thank you Mike - I knew it would be misleading to test on my own pages but for some silly reason I got distracted and failed to test on some other page. The signature should be ok now. Marc Kupper (talk) 12:59, 19 Jan 2007 (CST)

Adventures in the Far Future/Tales of Outer Space
Mike, I noticed that you have verified Adventures in the Far Future/Tales of Outer Space. Is the editor's name spelled Donald A. Wolheim or is the last name Wollheim in your copy? The contents are a bit tricky to read given it looks like you have both the A and B side stories. Maybe it would work if you create a new publication called Tales of Outer Space/Adventures in the Far Future Each pub would then list the title of the other on an unnumbered page and would only list the numbered stories for that side. Marc Kupper (talk) 15:38, 20 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Good catch; it was a typo on my part. I've fixed it.


 * As for the two pub records approach -- I think this particular pub is the trickiest one I've entered. I don't really like the two pubs idea, because it really is just one pub.  The anthology records are part of what's confusing -- they don't really correspond to a single physical pub, as one would expect.  I think the right answer is to permit titles within a pub to have a hierarchical relationship to each other, so that the stories could be put inside the anthologies, but I think that's a big change with lots of coding difficulties.  So for now I'm inclined to leave it as it is -- at least there are not very many of these omnibuses with anthologies inside them, so it's not a big problem.  Mike Christie (talk) 09:57, 21 Jan 2007 (CST)

Hello, printings & other thoughts
Hello mike. Still learning how to use site. Discovered enter key works like submit button.
 * 1) Printings:Dated printings like ballantine seem straight forward to enter, but what about line numbers 1,2,3, etc.where printing 1-4 lets say are all identical, they raise price of book & printings run 5-9. Should the 1st book have a note saying printings seen 1-4 & 2nd book a note saying printings seen 7-9 & so on with new priced books.Than adjust note for newly discovered printings?
 * 2) Older books with letter & number codes. Should i place "#" in front like #F-123 or enter F-123. I see it both ways which is preferred?
 * 3) Instead of using "L" how do i get the pound sign?
 * 4) I see you have a separate site for DAW books. I have about 200, most from 1-350. Where would this information be of most use?Kraang 21:12, 21 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Howdy; yes, it takes a while to learn your way around. I hope I can help.  Some answers:


 * Printings: Currently the plan is to have 9 publications in the situation you describe. Each might differ only by printing date (which might not even be determinable) but they are physically different, if only by the number line.  In some cases you can derive information about some printings from information in the later printings, and it's OK to enter this information.  However, it would be good to explain the source in the notes, and also of course these printings should not be marked as verified unless you have a physical copy to hand.
 * The "#" sign is preferred. I personally dislike this approach, but there are good reasons for it.  I think the debate is likely to come up again in the future, but it is complicated, since that field is used for ISBN, which brings a variety of issues with it.
 * If you're using Windows, you can go to Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Character Map, which permits you to copy all kinds of special characters into the clipboard, whence you can paste them into the price field. The other character I find I use it for is the em dash.
 * Marc will probably notice your comment and respond to you directly, but if not, post a note to User talk:Marc Kupper. Marc is the DAW expert, and if you're willing he can send you a spreadsheet you can edit with your information.  I did the same thing, and sent him about 150 verifications.  He'd be glad of any offers to verify, I know.


 * I hope that's useful; ask if there are more questions. Mike Christie (talk) 21:30, 21 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Printings: Note that if you add extra publication entries that you should note very carefully the source of the record. I normally also leave the price and ISBN fields blank to that people don't mistakenly believe a publication may exist with that particular price or ISBN. BTW Mike - I did not realize the plan was to have one publication record per printing. I had assumed one per ISBN/Price pair and that the notes field would have a list of the printings found. One record per printing though makes it much easier to deal with verification. As there is no printing field maybe we should adopt something like "Bantam (16th)" for the publisher name.
 * On the price field and getting the £ sign. You can also use the numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard. Hold down either ALT key and on the numeric keypad enter 0163, and release the ALT key. A “£” will appear.
 * That's excellent about your DAW collection. Yes, I can e-mail you the spreadsheet. My e-mail is on http://marc.kupper.googlepages.com/contact --Marc Kupper 03:03, 24 Jan 2007 (CST)

11th printing of A Wizard of Earthsea
Hi Mike - I see you have verified A Wizard of Earthsea using 0000-00-00 for the publication date. The printing history table in my 16th printing says the 11th printing was January 1979. Do you want me to update your record? I see that the 7th publication was not dated and someone "back-filled" in the date using the 11th printing as the source and assume that practice is ok with you. Marc Kupper 02:42, 24 Jan 2007 (CST)
 * That would be great -- in fact I'll go ahead and make the change now. Could you also update the printing history information at the Le Guin biblio page?  Thanks. Mike Christie (talk) 05:37, 24 Jan 2007 (CST)
 * Aha. I see you have.  Thanks!  Mike Christie (talk) 05:37, 24 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Mike - I see you added 5-552-89816-8 to Author:Ursula_K._Le_Guin - That's a Russian Federation ISBN meaning this may be a translated work. Here's a summary of the ISBN prefixes. --Marc Kupper 00:07, 26 Jan 2007 (CST)
 * 0- English (language - Primarily USA, UK, and Canada but also Australia to Zimbabwe)
 * 1- English (language - Primarily USA, UK, and Canada but also Australia to Zimbabwe)
 * 2- French (language - Primarily France but also Canada, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Belgium)
 * 3- German (language - Primarily Germany but also Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein)
 * 4- Japan (country)
 * 5- Russian Federation (Primarily Russia but also Azerbaijan to Ukraine)
 * 6- Unassigned
 * 7- China (country) (Taiwan uses the 957- and 986- prefixes. Hong Kong uses 962- and 988-)
 * After 7 we get into two to five digit group prefixes.


 * Group codes 0 to 7 are one digit leaving eight digits for the publisher/title codes
 * Group codes 80 to 94 are two digits leaving seven digits for the publisher/title codes
 * Group codes 950 to 993 are three digits leaving six digits for the publisher/title codes
 * Group codes 9940 to 9989 are four digits leaving five digits for the publisher/title codes
 * Group codes 99900 to 99999 are five digits leaving four digits for the publisher/title codes


 * Mike - After I shut down last night I realized I should have said that a publication being in a particular language or country group is no guarantee that the publication is printed in that language. For example, I have several English language publications printed in Japan that have "4" series ISBNs and am sure that most foreign language books printed in the USA/UK/Canada are using the 0 or 1 prefix.  Thus all we can say about that copy of Earthsea with a "5" prefix is that if the ISBN is accurate that the book was probably printed in one of the Russian states. A Google search for the ISBN only came up with English language pages implying that if it's a valid ISBN that the book is printed in English.  It could also be bogus data being replicated from site to site. Marc Kupper 17:58, 26 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * The big Z39.50 search engine at http://www.sigla.ru (click on the tiny Union Jack in the corner to get the English language version of the interface and keep in mind that some functionality is appararently only supported under IE) returns zero hits on 5-552-89816-8. Since the engine is based in Russia and has a good coverage of Russian libraries, it's comewhat unlikely that none of them have this edition, but stranger things have been known to happen. On the other hand, it looks like this particular Pub record comes from Amazon.com and is supposedly a "Spectra" book. I am willing to bet dollars (rubles?) to donuts that Amazon.com screwed up and the ISBN should have been our old friend "0-553-26250-5" -- see http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?7653 Ahasuerus 19:58, 26 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Hmmm. So you think we should just delete it? Mike Christie (talk) 20:00, 26 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * Well, what are the chances that any book published in the USSR (note the 1991 date) was priced in dollars? :) It's just another bogus Amazon.com ISBN; unfortunately, there are thousands of them and many have migrated to the ISFDB. Ahasuerus 20:20, 26 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * You convinced me; it's gone. Mike Christie (talk) 20:23, 26 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * I'm catching up on random things. Deleting seems fine - I had stared at the ISBN for a bit trying to see if it was a transposition error, someone who shifted a column or row while keying, etc. and did not see anything where I could say "this looks like that ISBN over there."  Maybe the verification logic should check to see if an ISBN is in Amazon and refuse to accept any publications that that match Amazon's data? :-) Marc Kupper 22:54, 29 Jan 2007 (CST)

Where was the thread about vt display?
Hi Mike - I'm trying to find the thread, and I'm not sure if its one you or I started, about when there is just one VT that it can be confusing and when there's more than one it looks good. I just added a couple of [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?John%20W.%20Campbell,%20Jr. John W. Campbell] books and used VT to get them linked to John W. Campbell, Jr.'s page. At first the bibliography looked pretty terrible as it showed and it was not clear the title was available under both Campbell and Campbell, Jr. I did a hack in that from The Mightiest Machine Campbell, Jr. I used "Make This Title a Variant Title or Pseudonymous Work" to make a new title called The Mightiest Machine by Campbell, Jr. Now there more than one VT record and the display looks like The first one is not really a "Variant Title" but it seems clearer that the story was published using both "John W. Campbell, Jr." and "John W. Campbell."
 * The Mightiest Machine (1965) [as by John W. Campbell ]
 * The Mightiest Machine (1965)
 * Variant Title: The Mightiest Machine (1965)
 * Variant Title: The Mightiest Machine (1972) [as by John W. Campbell ]

I wanted to add this to the original thread for comment but now I can't find it. Marc Kupper 18:52, 24 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * I had an outstanding action to make that thread into a feature request, which I've now done at Feature:90115 Enhance vt display to show both canonical name and pseudonym. For the moment I've just redirected the feature link to the original edit-bug link.  Mike Christie (talk) 06:40, 25 Jan 2007 (CST)

Oops!
Oops! Sorry, Mike, I have accidentally approved one of your changes instead of mine. It looked like a simple correction of the "first name - last name" order in an author's legal name, so hopefully no harm done! Ahasuerus 15:05, 26 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * No problem, I realized what had happened. Good thing I wasn't testing an Author Merge submit of Le Guin and Asimov!  Mike Christie (talk) 16:09, 26 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * My thoughts exactly :) Ahasuerus 16:38, 26 Jan 2007 (CST)

Re:"The Moon Maker" by A. Train
Mike- There is also a second author "Robert W. Wood" but when i used the add author button no  2nd author box turned up, so i entered what i could. also the book lists seven other books on the dust jacket as available from publisher or bookstore, none are in your DB. Should i enter them with cautionary note about there source? They list then as SF & Fantasy.Kraang 21:15, 26 Jan 2007 (CST)

Danke!
Just a quick note to say thanks for the tips and info about merging records. Gracias. -- Mike Arnzen

The Land of Laughs
Yes, it was a slip of the mouse. The merged title should be "The Land of Laughs".

Sorry it took a while to reply, I kept checking my user page but didn't realise I wasn't actually logged in.

--Unapersson 12:23, 29 Jan 2007 (CST)

Cover design/Illustrator
Mike, the cover illustrator is listed as an artist, but what about the cover designers? Should they be listed as artists or separately in the notes?Kraang 20:29, 29 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * I think the best solution here is to list them in the notes. Marc suggested using an INTERIORART record with a location of "cv" for "cover"; that works too.  I use the notes myself. Mike Christie (talk) 09:48, 30 Jan 2007 (CST)

Moorcock/DAW question
Marc, can you answer a DAW question for me? I was about to enter Moorcock's "Warriors of Mars" and "Barbarians of Mars", which I have in the Compact pb editions from 1965. The title listings, here and here each show a DAW edition dated 1965. This is obviously nonsense, but I was wondering if there were any DAW editions at all that you know of. If not, I'll overwrite these with the Compact data; if so, I'll leave them and change the dates to unknown. Thanks -- Mike Christie (talk) 08:07, 30 Jan 2007 (CST)


 * http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?188458 - I have corrected the DAW publication.
 * Barbarians of Mars - I have corrected the DAW publication.
 * --Marc Kupper 16:28, 30 Jan 2007 (CST)

Messiah at the End of Time
Mike - please take a look at User_talk:Ahasuerus --Marc Kupper 14:12, 1 Feb 2007 (CST)

Front cover images
Thanks, I should be more careful with paste & copy :-) A.kesrith 11:04, 3 Feb 2007 (CST)

Moving misidentified titles ie:Novels to Collections.
Mike, this may have an obvious answer but if i want to move a title from novel to coll. or the other way, is there an easy way? Also moving title or titles from novel to serial & the other way? Example Schroeder's Permanence is a stand alone novel but Lady of Mazes should be in Ventus? series.Lady is a loose prequel to Ventus, per conversation with the author.Kraang 21:49, 3 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * Changing the type of a title requires at least one step; one for the title, and then one for each publication that needs to be changed. First display the title, then choose "Edit Title Data" and change the pulldown data type to be whatever it should be.  When that's approved, display the title again and look at each publication to see if it has the right type; you can display and edit each in turn to change it to suit.  Remember that not every publication may need to be changed -- if the novel has appeared in an OMNIBUS, for example, the OMNIBUS doesn't get a NOVEL type.


 * Re your second question: I assume you mean "series", not "serial"; ISFDB uses the latter term to refer to serialization in a magazine. The way to change series data is covered in Help:How to work with series.  Briefly, what you do is go to the title page -- here is the title page for Permanence -- and choose "Edit Title Data".  You'll see a "Series" field and a "Series Num" field; these should be blanked out to make the title a standalone. Mike Christie (talk)

dos-a-dos collections
Mike = please take a look at this publication and see if how I handled the pagination works for you. Marc Kupper (talk) 12:16, 5 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * That's a pretty neat way to do it. I certainly don't like the alternative, which comes out like this.  I don't like hacking fields to make them do something different, but there are very few dos-a-dos collections and anthologies, so I think this is fine as a workaround.  You might post a note to Al or at the CP to see if anyone can think of a reason not to do this.  Mike Christie (talk) 12:28, 5 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * ok - I may propose it as a standard where instead of author names we use "A" and "B" with a note to explain which side is which. The reason is the page # field is 8 characters long. I knew that going in and was happy that both Carr and Shaw are short names. Marc Kupper (talk) 12:30, 6 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * Oops - I just did a test where I changed one of the page #s from Shaw-35 to Shaw-3 and it did not sort up. The logic must look at the page # field and if it's not obviously a number to not sort the record meaning the entire list is not sorted at the moment but instead we are looking at the MySql record order. Well, back to the drawing board on that one.  I thought about creating two standalone publications for the collections and making the dos-a-dos an omnibus. I'd need to add notes explaining that the publications are placeholders and that it's 1/2 of a dos-a-dos.  If I want to get sneaky I make both of the collection titles variant titles of each other and they will vanish from the author bibliograpies leaving just the dos-a-dos... Marc Kupper (talk) 12:46, 6 Feb 2007 (CST)

Variant help question
Mike, at Help:Screen:MakeVariant is the sentence "In this case it is generally best to make the canonical form of that title the one with the pseudonym." It's the second sentence of the second paragraph and is throwing me for a spin cycle. I believe the first sentence states there is no canonical form yet and so I'm not sure what you were trying to add to the explanation with the second sentence. TIA. Marc Kupper (talk) 12:28, 6 Feb 2007 (CST)
 * Marc, sorry for the delay on replying on this. That text dates from before I understood how canonical forms controlled bibliographic displays.  What I meant was that if, for example, Asimov wrote a story called "Obscure Story" as by "Fred Bloggs", and it had never been published as by Isaac Asimov, then the canonical form would be "Obscure Story" by "Fred Bloggs".  My assumption now is that we want every title by author X to use the canonical form of author X in the canonical title.  In the example, that would be "Obscure Story" by "Isaac Asimov" and there would be a variant for the version with the pseudonym.  I've changed the text in the help to correspond to this but let me know if you think this is not correct. Mike Christie (talk) 05:28, 10 Feb 2007 (CST)

Re:Betancourt/Dawn of Amber series
Mike, i entered a new series title for two books and ended up with two series with a book each. they should be under one series title only. Did i miss a step somewhere? Also with regards to SFBC is it okay to use the codes on the back page for dating books, or list them as 0000-00-00 and put a mention in notes about the code? Like Foster's Midworld L25 p.178 translates into 1981-06-00.Kraang 21:48, 7 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * Re the series: can you tell me the titles you were working on? From what you say, it should have worked; the only requirement is that the series name matches.  For the SFBC, I would use the codes to date books but add a note explaining the source, as not everyone will understand this -- I wouldn't know how to do this myself, for example, though I know that the book clubs have periodically used codes that are traceable to dates.  If you can find a reference to a date in another source, such as Locus1, which is pretty good about dating SFBC editions, there's no need to add the confirming note in that case as your verification against the Locus1 source will show where you got the data.


 * Would you consider posting a note to the community portal about the translation of the codes? It would be useful to others; no doubt some people know about it, but not everyone.  We might add a note about it to the helptext for the date field.  Mike Christie (talk) 21:58, 7 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * John Gregory Betancourt - Series-Roger Zelazny's the Dawn of Amber.Have a look at www.bookthink.com/0005/05sfb.htm (Collecting the SFBC)they have a good overview and table.Kraang 22:50, 7 Feb 2007 (CST)

A Wizard of Earthsea
Marc, you added this pub of "A Wizard of Earthsea". I noticed you didn't add the "About the Author" and "About the Illustrator" sections -- can you check and see if they're there? Thanks. Mike Christie (talk) 11:28, 11 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * Hi Mike - Yes, they are there on an un-numbered page that's just after page 183. I added these to the publication. There is also an exerpt/blurb at the very front of the book just after the cover titled The Great Spell. The first and last lines are
 * The words of the enchantment hissed and mumbled on Ged's lips, and then he cried out aloud and clearly, "Elfarran!"
 * ... breach clambered something like a clot of black shadow, quick and hideous, and it leaped straight out at Ged's face.
 * Google finds the text in the middle of http://www.isibrno.cz/~jakl/genesis/index.php?Thera/book_3.html though the text in the book has been edited down with strategic dot-dot-dots. I don't even know what to call this and thus am not sure if it's in or out per Help:Screen:NewPub. Marc Kupper (talk) 14:08, 11 Feb 2007 (CST)

The Time Dweller
First, I'm back up and running again now (with my MTU tweaked from 1500 to 1458). So hopefully it'll be permanent this time.

As for the Time Dweller, I did miss this one, but had listed a few others I wanted to go back and look at. I assume I just need to add a new title to the publication, remove the old one from the publication, and make the new record a varient of the original one.

Your mention of the comic strip in My Experiences in the Third War also reminds me of the ones in New Nature of the Catastrophe (which also contains a music score). I put them all as interior art, but could change them to fiction. Comic Strip might be a sensible option to have, there's also one in Mieville's Looking for Jake. I suppose they could be entered as a short story against the author, with interior art set to the artist.

--Unapersson 12:54, 12 Feb 2007 (CST)

Cornelius price checks
I'm looking at some Moorcock books you've already verified so thought I'd double check before I go adding duplicates.

I changed the price of The Final Programme, Quartet 1976 from 75p to 70p. I've got a copy of The English Assassin Fontana/Collins which only lists the 1979 date but is priced at £1.50

--Unapersson 17:29, 22 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * Hi -- on The Final Programme, this is the one I verified -- did you mean a different title? My one is definitely 40p, but it's a Mayflower.


 * My "English Assassin" does seem to be the 1979 date. The copyright page says "First published in Great Britain by Alison and Busby Ltd 1972.  This revised edition first published by Fontana Paperbacks 1979.  Copyright Michael Moorcock 1972."  The cover is green and black, with white and yellow lettering; it shows what seems to be a bowl of some sort covered by green cloth.  It says "Cover illustration by Bill Sanderson" on the back.  Pricing is "U.K. £1.00; Australia $3.50; New Zealand $3.75; Canada $3.50".  Does that sound like your copy?  Mike Christie (talk) 20:02, 22 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * Sorry I meant A Cure for Cancer for the Quartet edition.
 * I've definitely got £1.50 on the back of The English Assassin, with a black block underneath and then the other prices are the same. Exact same text on copyright page. It must have been an undated stealth reprint. --Unapersson 01:22, 23 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * I agree -- your "English Assassin" must be a reprint; that black box is a giveaway.


 * For "A Cure for Cancer" I think we are also looking at a stealth reprint; presumably mine this time, since my copy definitely says 75p. Here's the copyright page text: "Published by Quartet Books 1976 . . . Copyright (C) 1971 by Michael Moorcock.  ISBN 0 704 31".  The ISBN really is chopped like that.  The back cover says "SCIENCE FICTION/ISBN 0 704 31256 5" then U.K. 75p; Australia $2.45; New Zealand $2.30   Canada $2.25".  The title page says "Quartet Books", but the logo on the front and spine is the Futura logo, with "Futura" on the front next to the logo. Mike Christie (talk) 10:42, 24 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * I think these should be sorted out now, though the ordering is unfortunate. I realised I couldn't re-verify one you'd already done so have put yours back to 75p and created a clone for the 70p version. --Unapersson 19:18, 19 Mar 2007 (CDT)

Other Days, Other Eyes
Hi Mike - Can you check your Pan edition of Other Days, Other Eyes and see if there is any evidence of
 * Mar 1974 publication date - you verified 1974.
 * Cover by Mark Harrison - you did not credit anyone
 * Is there a note about "First British Paperback Publication?"

What happened was I did not realize there were two title records for Other Days, Other Eyes and via scanning Amazon/AbeBooks constructed publication records for all of the editions I could find. When I was done I saw the other title record and merged them. My constructed record lists the extra details but I have no idea how the sellers came up with them. Also, does your cover have the lady with the glasses or the lady in the window? Marc Kupper (talk) 22:07, 22 Feb 2007 (CST)


 * Can't see any evidence of March; it just says "First published 1972 by Victor Gollancz Ltd. This edition published 1974 by Pan Books Ltd" on the copyright page.    The cover is the lady with the glasses; no credits for the cover that I can see anywhere.  Googling Harrison finds some evidence he's a cover artist so I think this is probably not by him -- the lady in the window is art but the lady in the glasses is a photo.  There's no note about "first British paperback publication" anywhere. Mike Christie (talk) 10:55, 24 Feb 2007 (CST)

Dancing at the Edge of the World
Mike, I see that you verified the Grove Press hardcover edition of Dancing at the Edge of the World with a date of 1990-00-00. My copy, which is otherwise identical in terms of the data shown, anyway, has a date of 1989; is your copy a later printing by chance? Since it's verified, I didn't want to just change it, and I'm wondering if I should enter my copy as a new edition.Jefe 15:36, 5 Mar 2007 (CST)


 * I'll check; I am only going to be home about a day between Singapore (where I am now) and Colorado (where I'm going skiing 10-17 March), so if I don't get to it at the end of this week it will be another week or two. By the way, has "Brave New Words" started shipping yet?  I checked Amazon and it still shows pre-order status. Mike Christie (talk) 17:09, 5 Mar 2007 (CST)


 * Have fun skiing! I haven't seen any copies yet, so I'm not sure what the status is.  My editor stopped working for the press a couple months ago, so my flow of information has also been somewhat disrupted.Jefe 22:14, 5 Mar 2007 (CST)


 * You have not been to the Singapore markets yet to get a bootleg "Brave New Words"? :-) 02:21, 9 Mar 2007 (CST)

Infinity Science Fiction, January 1958
Mike, there is what appears to be a duplicate Silverberg article in Infinity Science Fiction, January 1958. Jan has submitted a "Title Removal" request, which I then put on hold. Since you did most (if not all) of the work on Infinity earlier this year, it would probably be best if you could take a look at the issue when you get back. Thanks! Ahasuerus 23:40, 8 Mar 2007 (CST)
 * I'm back from Singapore; off to Colorado tomorrow. Yes, approve it; it's debris from an earlier incomplete clean-up.  As I recall, another editor created this using the EDITOR type, so when I followed up I added the ESSAY and then realized the error.  Don't know why I missed deleting it, but it can go now.  Thanks.  Mike Christie (talk) 04:40, 9 Mar 2007 (CST)
 * Done, thanks! Ahasuerus 10:34, 9 Mar 2007 (CST)

Imagination - wrong year
Should be April 1951 Beyond the Fearful Forest cover --Swfritter 16:36, 9 Mar 2007 (CST)

Thanks. The pages in my woeful copy were loose from the spine so there could be some other explanation. I'm going to try to track down another copy for my own personal collection before I make such a notation. --Swfritter 19:59, 9 Mar 2007 (CST)

Reference book adoption
It's yours, Mike, and there's no charge. Just give me a snail-mail address and I'll send it. (Scott Latham 13:02, 10 Mar 2007 (CST))


 * Thanks! It's 2511 Great Oaks Parkway, Austin, TX 78756.  I appreciate it -- I've been meaning to buy that book for about twenty years now.  Mike Christie (talk) 10:13, 18 Mar 2007 (CDT)


 * Shipped out today via media mail, so you can expect it in 7-10 days. Enjoy! (Scott Latham 16:39, 21 Mar 2007 (CDT))

Dissolute Diplomat
Mike, can you check your copy of "Dark Night in Toyland" and see if "Walt Willis" is credited on "Dissolute Diplomat"? My paperback doesn't, which seems strange: British pubs usually stay quite consistent between hc and pb editions. BLongley 14:00, 24 Mar 2007 (CDT)
 * No credit to Willis at all. I checked copyright statement, title page, ToC, and story heading.  Mike Christie (talk) 14:19, 24 Mar 2007 (CDT)
 * Cheers: I finally got around to making the edits, let me know if anything looks wrong. Or if you just wanted the variant the other way round. BLongley 15:55, 2 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Omni or Coll.?
Mike I have a Jules Verne novel(1958) "From the Earth to the Moon -and A Trip Around It(Round the Moon) described as "Modernized Abridgment". From Earth.. is 80 pages and A Trip... is 125 pages. What do you think would be the right classification?Kraang 22:20, 27 Mar 2007 (CDT)
 * I think I'd call it a novel, still, but I'd put a note on the publication explaining the situation. Using alternative titles (e.g. " (abridged)" has been discussed, but that brings other problems. Mike Christie (talk) 22:34, 3 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Brin1
Just a heads-up that you may want to be even more careful with Brin1's edits: I suspect he's constructing publications from reviews, or something equally strange. :-(

The one that caught my eye was "Judge Dredd: Wetworks" - the publication title is debatable as to whether the "Judge Dredd" is part of the title, but the author is definitely "Dave Stone" rather than "David Stone". (I used to know him quite well, I even used to stay at his house when I was dating one of his house-mates: he's definitely not the older David Stone that we have as a cover-artist that Brin1's edit ended up with.) I've put the title and author back to the correct ones (Brin1's edit at least gave us a pub with a different price) but to keep the review link I've also edited this magazine - that may not be correct, but we'd need another "David Stone" even if that's the way it's printed in the magazine. :-/

I'm not sure if Brin1 has any more surprises up his sleeve, but he's not responding to his talk-page so all it seems I can do is warn the reviewers. :-/ BLongley 14:27, 2 Apr 2007 (CDT)


 * OK, thanks for the note. I know I'm not the most thorough moderator we have, so reminders to be extra careful are worth it.  Thanks.  Mike Christie (talk) 17:23, 2 Apr 2007 (CDT)


 * I sure wish there was a way to pop-up a message as I just held few more Brin1 but if s/he is not reading the talk I'm not sure how useful it is to add more notes. Overall, I believe many of the brin1 edits are good and in fact just approved one where I did a double-take as it was a book I have and s/he added a note very much like one I would have added. I had to go look and see if s/he was adding a duplicate pub but it turned out I had not added the book to ISFDB yet. 13:58, 3 Apr 2007 (CDT)


 * I have been thinking about requiring an e-mail address at account creation time, but then again, it may scare away potential casual contributors, e.g. published authors... Ahasuerus 00:42, 4 Apr 2007 (CDT)


 * The DB side of things could check for "new messages" and link to the user's talk page. 11:35, 6 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Amazing-The Rain of Fish
Mike The essay is included in the contents page but is nowhere in the magazine. My original edit did not include it. Did you read my question about the omni or coll. If a novel has been abriged(severly) is it still a novel or short story?Kraang 22:26, 3 Apr 2007 (CDT)
 * I think the best thing to do is to put in a note as you have done, but not to add the content record, as the entry does not actually exist. If you agree I'll reject the submission; or if you prefer I can accept it and do a remove-title on the added record.  Otherwise let me know how else we might approach this one.  Sorry about the slow reply on the other question; I've answered above -- hope that helps.  Mike Christie (talk) 22:36, 3 Apr 2007 (CDT)
 * I thought it best to include what was in the contents page, because the essay maybe referenced somewhere else and if someone was looking for it they would find the note about it not being in the magazine. Although if you think its best than delete the submission. On the other question i'll treat them as novels and enter it as an omni, but not tonight have to go to london tomorrow, will be gone for a couple of days.Kraang 23:00, 3 Apr 2007 (CDT)

The Visionary: The Life Story of Flicker of the Serpentine/Wonders Hidden
Mike, you verified The Visionary: The Life Story of Flicker of the Serpentine/Wonders Hidden: Audubon's Early Years by Le Guin and Sanders back in December. Would you say that, at 79 pages, Sanders's piece is a novella (as Locus describes it)? And do we want to change "Authors: uncredited" to Le Guin and Sanders? Thanks! Ahasuerus 02:49, 6 Apr 2007 (CDT)


 * Aargh. I hate estimating lengths.  I'll do a rough word count on a page, and multiply, and see what I get.  Re "uncredited": this format was based on an approach discussed on the CP, though I don't think there was a consensus.  The idea was that a dos-a-dos book should be done as an anonymous omnibus, since placing authors at the pub level implied collaboration.  The contents then get appropriate attribution at the title level.  The discussion was really about Ace doubles, but of course it applies here too (these are dos-a-dos).  So if you want to change them, that's fine, but I'm not sure it's worth it till we get a consensus on the definitive approach to doubles. Mike Christie (talk) 09:00, 6 Apr 2007 (CDT)


 * Thanks for the clarification! I do remember the dos-a-dos discussion, alhtough it occurred while I was mostly busy elsewhere, so I may not have done it justice. Personally, I am inclined to enter dos-a-dos Authors at the Publication level as well since I tend to think of "uncredited" as something that we would want to use exclusively for anonymous authors and editors. However, it's not a huge deal and I can certainly wait until we sort it all out. Thanks! Ahasuerus 00:51, 7 Apr 2007 (CDT)


 * Well, I don't think that others are necessarily entering dos-a-dos works in the same way. Personally I think the right answer is a change in the software to permit special handling for this kind of book, but that will have to wait. Mike Christie (talk) 08:19, 7 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Aldiss/Starswarm
Mike, can you check and see if your copy has "Sector Grey" spelled with an "e" or "a" my copy is spelled "Gray" if yours is "e" than mine is a variant, thanks. I see my Rain of Fish is still on hold(to keep or not to keep that is the question?):-)Kraang 21:46, 7 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Always Coming Home
Do you think this should be classified as a collection? Some of the stories/songs appeared in other works but as there are so many publications it'll be a pain to add all of the stories to each one.

re: pub which you verified - I just added a cover image from Amazon and am pretty sure it matches your edition as I have a copy.

re: pub which you verified - I just added a cover image from Amazon but am unsure if it matches your edition.

re: pub which you also verified - You have the ISBN as 0-575-038555-1 but that's one digit too long though ISFDB does not complain about it. I guess the only clue is the header is "Catalog ID:" and not "ISBN." I believe the ISBN should be 0-575-03855-1 as in and  and so updated the publication record.

19:08, 17 May 2007 (CDT)
 * I think of it as a novel; a reverse fixup, if you like -- bits are easily publishable elsewhere. Yes, both images are right; and I rechecked the ISBN and you are correct on the fix -- good catch.  Mike Christie (talk) 21:47, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

Mankind Under the Leash, Thomas M. Disch
Mike, you verified the first Ace publication of this title, but did so showing the author(s) as "Uncredited." Did you mean that about the cover artist or the writer(s)? I was scanning an eBay auction today, and saw a copy with Disch's name on the cover... (Scott Latham 21:04, 27 May 2007 (CDT))
 * Hi, Scott -- it's uncredited because of the approach I was taking at the time, which is that an Ace double is an omnibus with an anonymous editor. The individual books get credited to the authors, but the overall title is not credited to either.


 * The alternative is to credit the book to both, which just seems ugly to me. I think that the right answer, long-term, is to have special display logic for anonymous omnibuses or dos-a-dos books.  For now, deal with it however you think best -- we never reached a consensus to use this approach, though there was no agreement on any other representation of dos-a-dos books either.  Mike Christie (talk) 13:58, 29 May 2007 (CDT)


 * I personally credit both authors though know the help says to state it as "N/A" though shows that that only one person read and followed that bit of help implying the help page should be updated to drop the reference to "N/A" but I'm not sure if people-consensus is that they use "uncredited" or state the author names.   15:00, 30 May 2007 (CDT)

Welcome back
Mike, I see you must have had more than two consecutive minutes for ISFDB recently and so figured I'd welcome you back and may even send you some DAW verifications to look into though not until the weekend. 14:46, 30 May 2007 (CDT)


 * Yes, welcome back! I know I've added some DAW stuff recently (from Josh Kirby cover-art references mostly, I think, and all the pages they led me to) so there is probably work to be done fixing up my and/or my publications errors. :-/ BLongley 17:04, 30 May 2007 (CDT)

Page numbers for artwork
I want to modify the help on interiorart so it explicity states what was relayed to me by Ahasuerus, namely, "Listing the first page on which a piece of art appears". The magazine used as an example is the December 1956 issue of Infinity. The first piece of artwork for the Lesser story is actually on page nine although the database entry lists it as page five. Since it is also acceptable (though not mandatory) to print the page number for each piece of art (and help should reflect this more explicitly) it seems like the actual page number where the art appears should used. Clarification?--swfritter 11:14, 16 Jun 2007 (CDT)
 * I think there has been some debate on where to enter the artwork page number. If I recall correctly, I was arguing for making the page number the same as that of the story.  The reason was that I thought it was likely we would not enter every single illo for a story; we would only record the fact that story X was illustrated by author Y.  In that case, the page number couldn't in general reflect the page number of the artwork, so it seemed sensible to use the page number on which the story started.


 * I don't think we ever got complete consensus on it, but we did agree that if you're entering every illo, you obviously do put the artwork in with page numbers referring to each illo in turn. The problem with that approach, for me, was that there were no titles for the illos; it didn't really seem to me that the multiple illos were separate delivered artefacts, any more than we index the chapters in a novel separately.  But there was no consensus, so I suggest you do something consistent and reasonable and document it in the help.  Does that make sense? Mike Christie (talk) 21:55, 16 Jun 2007 (CDT)


 * I am going to change it to say that the first page where artwork is found should be used. Al and Ahasuerus intended this. It will save editing time if an eventual consensus is reached that all pages should be entered, which is what Al would like to do. Artists like Virgil Finlay and Hannes Bok take my breath away every time I come across a piece of their work; I consider each piece they do a seperate masterpiece.--swfritter 08:13, 19 Jun 2007 (CDT)


 * I haven't been entering every illustration, but may eventually: as usual Marc keeps raising the bar. I notice that even he doesn't enter it all as Interiorart though, e.g. see what he did here. The titles are paraphrases of text in the main novel. BLongley 12:43, 19 Jun 2007 (CDT)


 * There ya go - makin'un 'ple of me 'gin. :-) The publication I entered should be viewed as an exception rather than as a "standard" on how to treat illustrations.  In that case I entered the illustrations as the publication was unusual in several ways. 1) It has a list of illustrations page. 2) DAW books rarely have interior art. 3) The drawings are cool. I started to the enter the illustrations in the ISFDB contents but then realized they were titled using paraphrased text and did not have actual titles and so went with the publication notes.


 * FWIW - I don't have a strong opinion on if and how illustrations should be entered. In one case I carefully described the illustrations for a Ursula Le Guin book, including the little dohickies at the start of each chapter and top of each page as the story had been reprinted by several publishers and I wanted other editors to be able to title-merge illustration credits if possible or if they cloned the publication to know if they should delete the illustrator credit. Usually though I just note the artist's name and either no page #, the first page of a story if there is more than one illustration, or the page # of the illustration if there's just one. The primary goal is to acknowledge that the person did the work so that if someone wants to collect a particular illustrator's work they will know where to find it. 22:07, 19 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Change to verified pub Infinity, October 1956
Changed Infinity's Choice from short story to essay because it is book review column.--swfritter 07:40, 26 Jun 2007 (CDT)

The Runestaff
Just a heads-up that I added the cover-art to your verified pub if you'd like to check it. BLongley 11:15, 8 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Warriors of Mars
Another heads-up that I added the price to your edition based on the review I found. Are the notes clear enough for your taste? BLongley 07:28, 20 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Poul Anderson's After Doomsday
Mike, can you check this verified edition of Anderson's novel and see if the catalog number in the db is correct? Tuck shows the catalog number is 1798. Thanks. Mhhutchins 15:25, 22 Jul 2007 (CDT)
 * Tuck's right; don't know why I made that mistake, but I'm glad you spotted it. I've fixed it.  Thanks.  Mike Christie (talk) 11:19, 28 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Behold the Man
I've added a cover image --Unapersson 16:47, 30 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Star Prince Charlie
Added a cover and artist update to your verified Star Prince Charlie. Does it match? Dana Carson 07:31, 9 Aug 2007 (CDT)

Poul Anderson, The Warriors From Nowhere
Copied from verification page.

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 22:41, 13 Aug 2007 (CDT)


 * Mike, I've added cover-art to that pub as I believe I have the identical edition. I'll respond to the verification request as well. However, I also corrected the "Honourable Enemies" entry back to the British spelling it actually has, so please double-check that too - I'm beginning to worry about US printings being overstamped for the UK market, although I've not seen that in Coronet yet. BLongley 13:10, 14 Aug 2007 (CDT)

Home page protected
Mike - your home page has turned into a target for OamTra. I protected it as it looks like the only people who normally edit it are moderators but did not add. Your user-talk page is still unprotected. 23:50, 22 Aug 2007 (CDT)

Lord of the Spiders
Just a heads-up that I added cover-art to your verified pub and standardised the ISBN. BLongley 11:38, 27 Aug 2007 (CDT) And cover-art for this pub. BLongley 11:30, 9 Sep 2007 (CDT)

The Merman's Children
I've added the cover art plus a note about the printing.Kraang 21:51, 11 Sep 2007 (CDT)

Caviar
DGeiser13 added art to your verified pub, please check. BLongley 10:49, 13 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Planet of Exile / Mankind Under the Leash
I've added covers to Planet of Exile / Mankind Under the Leash if you'd like to check. BLongley 09:39, 28 Oct 2007 (CDT)

The Butterfly Kid
I added cover art to your verified copy of this novel. As I have the same edition I can safely assume it has the same cover as yours. Mhhutchins 17:38, 7 Dec 2007 (CST)

The Sword and the Stallion
Can you please check your verified pub - the Publisher and ISBN don't seem to match up. (Panther would normally be an 0586 prefix.) BLongley 14:29, 24 Dec 2007 (CST)

change to title in pub you verified
I'm changing an author's name in this omnibus (Ace double) from "Avaram Davidson" to "Avram Davidson". I think everything in the pub itself, which is what you're listed as having verified, actually had it correctly. Please let me know if this is a problem. Thanks! -- Dave (davecat) 16:07, 27 Dec 2007 (CST)


 * Mike is on an extended ISFDB vacation, so we may want to repost this request on the Verification board in case somebody has a copy. Ahasuerus 16:44, 27 Dec 2007 (CST)


 * Oh, I see that you have already posted on the Help Desk! Never mind then :) Ahasuerus 16:53, 27 Dec 2007 (CST)

Fantastic Universe, December 1956
Could you please check this pub you have verified; I would like to know if 112 • Strictly Confidential • shortfiction was by Gordon Dickson or Gordon R. Dickson. Something wrong happened to the author's record and we are trying to recover the missing info. Thanks. I'm also posting this on the Verification board. --Roglo 15:16, 11 Jan 2008 (CST)

The Star Fox
I have uploaded an image for your verified publication plus added a couple of notes. 04:49, 23 Jan 2008 (CST)

Note to the outside world
It would be great if we could co-ordinate our work with yours. I would be glad to re-prioritize some of the tasks I am likely to do if they are consistent with your goals. I think I have pretty much exhausted my collector's budget for a lifetime but I do have nearly all of the mags from the 50's and the major titles from the 60's. My collection is quite accessible so if I have a pub that is not in your collection feel to ask questions.--swfritter 21:23, 14 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't think I'll have much need for you to reprioritize data entry -- I have good index references, as well as having a decent collection (if not as good as Ahasuerus's). If I do have a need to look at a 50s or 60s issue that I don't have, I'll definitely ask you.  That could come up if I have a question about something that the indexes don't cover, such as circulation figures, in an issue I don't have.  Thanks for the offer.


 * One thing that the ISFDB doesn't do well, though the data is there, is to look at a magazine over a period of time. For example, in the bibliographic details for each magazine, I like to be able to list the changes in page count and size, and the use of different internal features like letters, or science articles.  There's no easy way to do most of this in the ISFDB, though you can look up this information issue by issue.  At least it's there. Mike Christie (talk) 10:36, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

Circulation figures
Mike Ashley's Gateways to Forever which covers the sf mags of the 70's also has tables in Appendix 5 which list magazine circulation figures for 1962 through 1980.--swfritter 15:57, 3 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Outstanding! Thanks for letting me know; I have that book but hadn't noticed.  Much appreciated!  Mike Christie (talk) 10:54, 4 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Just stopping by to say "Hi!" and point out that your signature link to the Talk page seems to be broken :) Ahasuerus 16:43, 4 July 2008 (UTC)


 * A link to the page being displayed always shows as bold rather than a clickable link. That is a feature of the MediaWiki software. Look at any of my sigs on my talk page. DES Talk 17:06, 4 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Oh, very devious! :) Ahasuerus 02:12, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Fox versus H. Fox
I've taken the liberty of adjusting several of your verified pubs to reflect the cover-artist as I read the signature. There's an H. Fox that seems to have done many of the Badger Books and Magazines, but I don't think it's the same person as Fox (no "H". If you've got a magnifying glass handy, and some spare time for ISFDB, can you please check to see if there's a little "H" under the "Fox" on your Badger covers? The "Fox" probably also has an underline coming off the "X". The most dubious edit I made was probably to which has a slightly different signature to my eyes, see here. But I'm working from secondary sources so a good Primary re-check would be good. BLongley 20:43, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Added date to verified
I added a printing date to your verified THE TOMBS OF ATUAN (THTMBSFTNS1980). from a later printing.Don Erikson 17:54, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Barbarians of Mars
User:Bluesman added the artist J. Cawthorn to your verified . Marc Kupper (talk) 06:47, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Ground Zero Man
Added $AUS & $NZ prices to --Bluesman 22:39, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Orion Shall Rise
This. . My copy matches yours except the copyright pages says "First Pocket Books printing December 1984". Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 22:51, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Cosmic Rape
Hi, Mike! Just did a Currey and Transient on and there is a signature on the bottom left corner of the cover (not Powers') but I can't quite make it out. Maybe you can recognize it?--Bluesman 22:43, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

The Telling-cover artist not Vaughn Andrews
This. . My copy matches your verification. This is the cover. . In checking the backcover inner flap I found this in my copy. Jacket art (figures) copyright Hulton-Deutsch Collection / CORBIS (over) Jacket design by Vaughn Andrews. As I understand it, Andrews was not the cover artist. Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 23:47, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Pan edition of Case and the Dreamer
Locus #199 (February 1977) gives a January 1977 publication for your verified edition of this title. Does your copy show a publication date or the copyright date of 1974? Thanks. MHHutchins 21:24, 20 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I own the same edition I believe (that's my cover, with the sticker damage). The copyright page only gives copyright date of 1974, no clear printing date. It's also erroneous in that it gives "Case and the Dreamer"'s original printing as Galaxy January 1972 rather than 1973. I'm happy to move this to 1977-01-00 if the rest of you are. BLongley 21:48, 20 December 2008 (UTC)


 * That was one of the very first verifications and Mike hasn't been active here in over a year, so I think it's safe to correct the record and take over the verification. I believe that Mike is still active on Wikipedia, so if you want to be 110% sure, you can drop him a note there. Ahasuerus 03:43, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Barefoot in the Head
Added some prices and a note about no credited artist to your verified pub. Mant of the verifiers have said they don't need to have a note if all I am adding is various prices. Please let me know your preferences. Thanks & cheers! ~Bill, --Bluesman 17:36, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Same additions to. --Bluesman 18:14, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Same additions to. --Bluesman 19:01, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Dialogue With Darkness
Added some notes to your verified pub re: first printing, CDN ISBN shown as well, $C price. Cheers! ~Bill, --Bluesman 04:30, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Star Prince Charlie 2
Massaged the notes of as, with a small magnifying lens, the signature is quite legible. Not sure if all or part of the original notes were yours or DCarson's. ~Bill, --Bluesman 19:18, 1 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Do note that two sections of a talk page with the same title (e.g. "Star Prince Charlie") will misdirect those of us checking Recent Changes. It's always good to make the section name unique. BLongley 23:23, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Wasn't aware of that! I haven't checked previous contents of a talk page before, but now I will. ~Bill, --Bluesman 18:08, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Manifold: Origin
Added some notes to about first PB edition and printing; no artist; $c price and that there is an excerpt in the back. Cheers! ~Bill, --Bluesman 00:38, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Planet of Exile/ Mankind....
Added the two interior artworks (both by Gaughan) to the contents of with notes and some for cover statements, page counts, etc. --Bluesman 04:14, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Roccanon's World/Kar-chee Reign
One of the two interior art pieces (Kar-Chee half) has Gaughan's "JG" on it. Amended the notes. Also added Wolheim's introduction to Rocannon's world to the contents. ~Bill, --Bluesman 04:57, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

The Mars Monopoly/The Man Who Lived Forever
Added cover images and some notes to. ~BIll, --Bluesman 23:23, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

The Cosmic Rape
Found Powers' signature on (rmpowers) on the bottom left corner of the front cover. Added that to the field and amended the notes. --Bluesman 04:06, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

City of Illusions
User:Bluesman added a cover to your verified. --Marc Kupper|talk 03:35, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Four Ways to Forgiveness
Added a cover image and notes to --Bluesman 18:46, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

The Telling [2]
Added a cover image and notes to --Bluesman 19:05, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

Orphan Star-added cover image/notation
This. . I added the cover image and notation. Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 01:01, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Flinx in Flux- added cover/notation.
This. . I added the cover as per my copy compared to your ver. I added notation and deleted map to change it to "The Blight"(space map)(Flinx in Flux). I took the titling from the upper left corner, which explains the extent under the title. Note the two current space empires appear below it. Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 20:59, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Bloodhype-- added cvoer image/ notation.
This. . I added the cover image as per my copy's match of your ver and notation. Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 21:19, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Plus the note "Stated 3rd printing of March 1973 Del Rey edition." was expanded. Approved. --Marc Kupper|talk 21:23, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Changing Planes
Added notes and the interior illustrations to --Bluesman 18:11, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Eye of the Heron
Added a cover image and notes to --Bluesman 18:31, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Hoka
This pub appears to be an amalgamation of two different pubs: the Wallaby trade paperback first edition and the Tor paperback edition, both of which are already in the database. Thanks. MHHutchins 21:45, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

The Left Hand of Darkness
Added a cover image to THLFTHNDFD1976. Stumbled across it while looking for one for my later printing. --MartyD 11:26, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Midworld
Added a cover image to your verified MDWRLDFFCD1976 that matches my copy of the same 1st edition. --MartyD 20:47, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Content titles in Mission to Moulokin
Hi. I added my 1st printing Mission to Moulokin by cloning your 2nd printing entry. I noticed that the bare "About the Author" and "Map" content titles don't conform to the current practice of embedding the containing work title parenthetically. Of course, there's also this discussion about titling maps, but be that as it may.... I was thinking that while I noticed it I would change the title records. If I understand correctly, I would edit this About the Author title and this Map title. And then since I don't know how it all ties together, I'd go check the pubs with content using those titles and verify that the change was reflected in them. :-)

Do you agree, and, if so, is the above the right way to go about it? Thanks. --MartyD 12:09, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
I added coverart and some notes on your verified pub - Thanks Kevin 17:07, 8 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I added Wilson McLean as coverartist (credited on the copyrightpage). Thanks Willem H. 15:43, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

The Golden Barge
I added a cover image and notes to your verified pub --Rtrace 02:59, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

City of Illusions -- notes and interiorart
I added a Jack Gaughan INTERIORART credit and some notes to your verfied based on my copy of the same edition. --MartyD 10:30, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

The Other Wind
I added a cover to your verified pub. Thanks. --Rtrace 03:33, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

A Wizard of Earthsea
I added a cover to your verified pub. Thanks. --Rtrace 00:40, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

The Wind's Twelve Quarters
I added a cover to your verified pub. Thanks. --Rtrace 00:51, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

Changes to user rights
Just to let you know that there was a discussion of the best way to handle inactive moderators over on ISFDB talk:Policy. The executive summary of the discussion is that a moderator who hasn't been active for a over a year will have a hard time keeping up with all the policy and software changes that we have been going through. ISFDB:Policy has been updated accordingly and, since you haven't been active since mid-2007, I have turned your "moderator" flag off, so when you come back, you won't be able to approve submissions. No need to panic, though :) as we have a list of Moderator Qualifications and you can reclaim the ability to approve submissions once you go through the process. Hope to see you again when you have time for the ISFDB! Ahasuerus 16:18, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Adventures in the Far Future / Tales of Outer Space (Ace Double D-73)
I added a cover to your verified pub. Thanks. --Rtrace 00:31, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences
I added a cover to your verified pub. Thanks. --Rtrace 03:22, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Le Guin's Always Coming Home
Are you certain about the date for this pb edition of the title? That is very close to the hardcover edition, and before the UK edition. There is a record almost identical dated January 1987. Thanks. MHHutchins 17:07, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

Warriors of Mars [2]
Added cover images to [this] and the other two Compact pub records. The price is clear in the image if you want to adjust the notes. ~Bill, --Bluesman 04:34, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Sundered Worlds
Added a cover image to []--Bluesman 20:19, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe, October 1956
Added cover photo to your verified pub: -- Phileas 09:06, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe - August 1958 - Cover
I Added a cover image to you pub - Thanks Kevin 02:57, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe - Cover Photos
I added covers to your verified pubs:   --Phileas 18:13, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

A Touch of Strange -- cover image
I added this image to your verified. --MartyD 10:46, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

Planet of Exile / Mankind Under the Leash - Publication Month
I identified the month of publication for as October based on the information in the third printing of. Thanks Kevin 04:09, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

The Cosmic Rape -  replaced cover image
Afternoon! This. . I matched your ver and found the image url broken. I replaced it matching my copy. Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 20:47, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Added cover credit
I added cover credit for verified from the book THE ART OF RICHARD POWERS by Jane Frank.Don Erikson 19:27, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Beyond Fantasy Fiction #9 -- Queen's Mate questions
In your verified is a Jean M. Janis shortstory, Queen's Mate, and on the same page an inteview by Ashman, also titled Queen's Mate. Is this correct, and, if so, what author is the subject of the interview, Janis? Thanks. --MartyD 10:53, 10 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Never mind. I found a scan and know it should be INTERIORART instead of INTERVIEW.  I will submit a change.  --MartyD 12:50, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Added artist credit
I added cover credit for verified from the book THE ART OF RICHARD POWERS by Jane Frank and made a note of it.Don Erikson 17:28, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

Orion Shall Rise
I added a cover image to your verified pub. I also changed the publication date from 11/84 to 12/84 as is listed on the copyright page. If you have additional information that indicates the earlier publication, let me know and I'll change it back. Thanks. ~Ron --Rtrace 01:17, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

The Broken Sword
I added the roman numberd pages and the introductory essays to your verified pub. Thanks. ~Ron --Rtrace 04:43, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Added artist credit
I added cover credit for verified from the book THE ART OF RICHARD POWERS by Jane Frank and made a note of it.Don Erikson 05:22, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Ace Double D-162 [2]
Added artist credits for both covers courtesy of the ACE Image Library to [this] ~Bill, --Bluesman 23:10, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

U. F. O. 517
I added to this verified pub. Thanks, Willem H. 15:12, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

What Entropy Means to Me
I added to this verified pub. Thanks, Willem H. 12:14, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Cachalot
I added to this verified pub. Thanks, Willem H. 20:36, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

Medusa's Children  -    added cover image/start page number
Morning! This. . I added a cover image,, and start page number after matching my copy to your ver. Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 12:26, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

One Million Tomorrows
Added a cover image and expanded the notes for [this] ~Bill, --Bluesman 20:18, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Catalog ID
I've uniformated this CatalogID--ErnestoVeg 17:40, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

M. D'Antona
The cover of this publication is not credited, but the artist is M. D'Antona: see Urania #213--ErnestoVeg 18:06, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Badger Books
I've modified for this publication the publisher in Badger to make uniform the publisher.--ErnestoVeg 07:53, 2 November 2009 (UTC) I've modified the title of this publication as Out of This World: Supernatural Stories, No. 15 and added a cover--ErnestoVeg 12:04, 2 November 2009 (UTC) I've modified editor, add note, add month, artist, cover at this publication SN38--ErnestoVeg 17:06, 2 November 2009 (UTC) I've modified editor, add note, add month, artist, cover at this publication SN46--ErnestoVeg 18:49, 2 November 2009 (UTC) I've modified editor, add note, add month, artist, cover at this publication SN50--ErnestoVeg 19:19, 2 November 2009 (UTC) I added artist, month, cover at this publication SN60--ErnestoVeg 12:47, 3 November 2009 (UTC) I added month and cover at this publication SN66--ErnestoVeg 13:09, 3 November 2009 (UTC) I added artist, month, cover at this publication SN70--ErnestoVeg 14:21, 3 November 2009 (UTC) I added month, cover, lenghts at this publication SN73--ErnestoVeg 14:36, 3 November 2009 (UTC) I added month at this publication SN98--ErnestoVeg 22:16, 3 November 2009 (UTC) I added month, cover, artist at this publication SN102--ErnestoVeg 23:06, 3 November 2009 (UTC) I added month, cover, lenghts at this publication SN105--ErnestoVeg 23:06, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Volteface -- cover image
I added this image to your verified. --MartyD 13:55, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

The Bull and the Spear
I added the cover artist to your verified pub after having verified it at this site. I noted my source and added the non UK pricing while I was in there. Thanks. --Ron ~ RtraceTalk 02:07, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

The Fireclown
I added to this verified pub. Thanks, Willem H. 20:41, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Searoad
Added an image and expanded the notes for [this] ~Bill, --Bluesman 02:01, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

The Rainbow Abyss
Added a cover scan to. Dana Carson 08:20, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

The Canopy of time
Added a cover scan to [] Hauck 16:34, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Equator
Added a cover scan to Equator but the copyright page of my book states "first nel paperback edition june 1973" and below "Reprinted june 1973", two printing for the same month ? Do you think I must create a new publication ? Hauck 17:03, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Helliconia spring
Added a cover scan and note to Equator Hauck 17:10, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Report on probability A
Added a cover scan and note to Report on probability A Hauck 17:32, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

The corridors of time
Added a cover scan to Hauck 16:33, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

Mirkheim
I also have a 1986 version of this book here but the price is £ 2.50 and it is stated "reprinted 1983,1986 (twice)" on copyright page, which suggests a fourth printing overall. Can you verify your copy so that i can eventually add this printing. BTW, the artist if Peter Elson (see PE on the ship bottom left). Hauck 11:20, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

No world of their own
Added a cover scan to here Hauck 11:33, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

For Love of Mother-Not
Added cover for Dana Carson 04:22, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

The Canopy of Time - artist added/confirmed/notation
Afternoon! This. . I added Bruce Pennington as artist after confirmation in "Ultraterranium" by Bruce Penningtion, page 20. Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 21:37, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe Dec 1959 -   added cover/notation
Morning! This. . I added a cover image,, and notation of cover/artist match in "Emshwiller Infinity X Two". Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 13:09, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe Mar 60 -  added cover image/notation
Morning! This. . I added a cover image,, and notation of cover/artist match in "Emshwiller Infinity X Two", page 68. Thanks, Harry. --Dragoondelight 13:58, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

The Incorporated Knight
Added a cover scan to Dana Carson 19:28, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

The Broken Sword
I added The Broken Sword to the Ballantine Adult Fantasy pub series. Thanks. --Ron ~ RtraceTalk 11:23, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

The Left Hand of Darkness
I added The Left Hand of Darkness to the Ace SF Special 1 pub series. Thanks. --Ron ~ RtraceTalk 02:38, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

A Wizard of Earthsea
I added A Wizard of Earthsea to the Ace SF Special 1 pub series. I also added a cover scan link. Thanks. --Ron ~ RtraceTalk 02:16, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

One Million Tomorrows
I added One Million Tomorrows to the Ace SF Special 1 pub series. I also added a cover scan link. Thanks. --Ron ~ RtraceTalk 02:23, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

The Man Who Lived Forever / The Mars Monopoly
I added The Man Who Lived Forever / The Mars Monopoly to the Ace Double pub series. Thanks. --Ron ~ RtraceTalk 04:08, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Without Sorcery
I added an interior art credit for Tschirky to your verified pub. Thanks. --Ron ~ RtraceTalk 12:45, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

cover for Gloriana
Dsorgen has added a cover to your verified. --MartyD 10:31, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

The Norton Book of Science Fiction: North American Science Fiction, 1960-1990
Add a cover image and a note on the printing line to. Thanks. --JLaTondre 14:34, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Note on "Eye of the Heron"
I added a note to your verified pub that the artist's signature is on the front cover. Chavey 21:42, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Buffalo Gals, by Ursula K. Le Guin
The anthology Buffalo Gals has 5 different verified editions. Three of those include a content listing for "Come Into Animal Presence", poem by Denise Levertov, on p. 14. Two publications, including your verified edition does not include that content listing. Could you check your copy to see if that belongs in there? Chavey 01:35, 24 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, it's there; page 14. Sorry I missed it. Mike Christie (talk) 04:28, 24 January 2011 (UTC)
 * I think the original TOC must have been pulled from Locus (or somewhere), and they missed it, since three versions (2 verified and 1 unverified) had that item omitted. I've added that poem to this collection, and the other two have been updated similarly. Chavey 21:11, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Cover for Tehanu
Bgibbard has added this cover to your verified. --MartyD 11:58, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

Hoka!
There appears to be two records for the same pub, and they've been verified by two different editors. Yours is dated 1983, and I'm pretty sure the mass-market edition wasn't published until 1984. It also gives the publisher as Wallaby, who only published the trade paperback edition. The other verified record has the same ISBN, price and page count as the record you verified. Can you check them out when you get a chance? Thanks. Mhhutchins 00:48, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

Shadow on Heaven
Found artist for your verified here. Hauck 13:13, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Tales from Earthsea
I've added a cover image, from Amazon, to your verified copy of this edition. Chavey 14:55, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

"Among Out Contributors"
Hi, I assume this should be "Our" instead of "Out" here Jonschaper 01:13, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

Virgin Planet (Mayflower-Dell 1966)
Hi, I've found a scan saying the price is 3/6 on SF Reviews.--Dirk P Broer 10:54, 19 June 2011 (UTC)


 * I added the price and the scan I used for the price. You remark in the note field coul;d therefore be dropped.--Dirk P Broer 12:13, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

The Compass Rose, by Ursula K. Le Guin
In keeping with what has become the current standard, I've updated the page count in your verified copy of this publication from "271" to "xii+271". Chavey 22:55, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

More than Human
Hi, I've made part of the Corgi SF Collector's Library series. I also added the ISBN number.--Dirk P Broer 08:58, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Treshold
Hi, I've changed the publisher of into Panther / Granada on account of the name Granada being the sole publisher named on the cover (to be more exact: on the spine) and also being named on the title page (as was already stated in the notes). --Dirk P Broer 12:15, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

The Palace of Eternity
Found artist for your verified here. Hauck 15:25, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Enemies of the System
Hi, I've added a coverscan and notes (there weren't any) for. --Dirk P Broer 14:17, 15 August 2011 (UTC)


 * And he also added a cover scan and note to your verified . --MartyD 10:44, 17 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I've also changed the complete title to "Enemies of the System: A Tale of Homo Uniformis" to reflect the information given on the title page. --Dirk P Broer 14:50, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Starswarm
Hi, I've changed the publisher of from Panther Books - imprint of Granada into Panther / Granada, added a coverscan and elaborated the notes, especially about the confusing mentioning of publisher names on this book (Grafton, Panther and Granada al being mentioned at some place). --Dirk P Broer 11:50, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows
Hi, I've added a scan for. --Dirk P Broer 22:31, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin 1983
Could you check a cover from this pub? I think it may be the same cover from 1st and 3rd editions by Tim White. BarDenis 16:05, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

The Quest for Tanelorn
I've added a cover scan and artist attribution to The Quest for Tanelorn Nimravus 23:05, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Phoenix in Obsidian
I've added a cover scan and artist attribution to Phoenix in Obsidian Nimravus 00:18, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Hi, I have submitted cover and artist for this pub. --Pips55 20:56, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Ursula K. Le Guin cover images
I've added a cover image to your verified Eye of the Heron and The Compass Rose. Chavey 04:30, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

"The Word for World Is Forest", by Ursula K. Le Guin
I added the cover artist for your verified publication, based on the "Powers" signature at the bottom right corner, and the identification of this in our collection of artists' signatures. Chavey 18:19, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

I have added all the notes to. Syzygy 19:05, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe, April 1956
I linked to a cover scan for the April 1956 issue of Fantastic Universe. Thanks. --Ron ~ RtraceTalk 12:15, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe, May 1954
I've linked to a cover image for the May 1954 issue of Fantastic Universe. Thanks. --Ron ~ RtraceTalk 23:20, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

DAW Collectors publication series
In filling out the DAW Collectors Books publication series, I have a question about a book that you verified. C. J. Cherryh's Fires of Azeroth, 3rd printing, has a note with the "DAW Collector's Number". Since many reprint editions didn't actually list this number, I was hoping you could tell me whether this note was "inherited" from other editions of the book, or whether it actually appears on this edition of the book, and if so, where -- e.g. on the cover, the spine, or the copyright page. Thanks much, Chavey 20:34, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Added additional international prices
I added the other prices to your verified Don Erikson 19:50, 9 September 2012 (UTC)

I added the Canadian price
I added the Canadian price to your verified Don Erikson 18:58, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Unlocking the Air and Other Stories
Expanded the notes for. -- JLaTondre (talk) 23:20, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

The Malacia Tapestry by Brian W. Aldiss
Only chimera was used for this cover from art by Peter Goodfellow (from The Flights of Icarus). Denis 20:30, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

E Pluribus Unicorn
Added scan and notes for your verified here. Hauck 17:49, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

The Lathe of Heaven
Added cover image and notes to. Cheers, Patrick -- Herzbube Talk 17:07, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

"Solomon Leviathan", by Ursula K. Le Guin
I added a cover image, and a couple of minor notes, to your verified copy of this publication. Chavey 00:48, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

Cover artist for "The Dispossessed" (first printing of Gollancz SF Masterwork edition)
Hi. You did a Locus1 verification of, which is why I am contacting you. I believe the pub you verified has the wrong cover artist (Jim Burns), and I would like to fix this. Some background: I own a of the book where Chris Moore is credited as the cover artist. Rtrace owns a of the book where Jim Burns is credited. In addition, Locus1 (current link) has a credit for Chris Moore for the first printing. This leads me to believe that the first few printings of the book miscredited the cover art (to Chris Moore), and that the publisher fixed the credit in either the 4th, 5th or (at the latest) the 6th printing. I propose the following changes to the first printing you verified (and will implement them if you agree): Sorry for being so verbose, I didn't know how to explain this in less words. What do you think about the proposal? Cheers, Patrick -- Herzbube Talk 15:06, 7 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Set the cover artist to "Chris Moore". Even though we know the attribution is probably false, it is the name that appears in Locus1, and thus probably also on the physical book
 * Add a note to the pub record (similar to the one in my verified pub) that explains the situation to future editors
 * Unrelated, but while I am already editing the pub record: Remove the "volume 16" note, since nowadays the publication series is recorded in a dedicated field

Frankenstein Unbound
I believe that is the exact same printing as  that you PV'ed, and that the two records could therefore be merged. To confirm (or disprove) my theory, could you please have a look at the copyright page of your book and check the printing history that you find there? For comparison, in my book it says I am not sure how Panther records same-year reprints, but I believe it is rather unlikely that they made two reprints of that book in 1985. Thanks for your time, Patrick -- Herzbube Talk 22:40, 7 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Published by Triad/Panther Books 1982
 * Reprinted 1985
 * Hi -- yes, the copyright page matches exactly, so I think you're right. Re The Dispossessed above: I would suggest you go ahead on the basis of your judgement.  I don't have that edition, and have no memory of whatever I did to do the verification via Locus.  Mike Christie (talk) 11:44, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

"The Visionary: The Life Story of Flicker of the Serpentine", by Ursula K. Le Guin
I added a couple of notes to your verified publication, i.e. everything after the first note. Chavey 09:35, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Cachalot
Re: Cachalot

Clarifying no number line in notes, adding LCCN from copyright page. Notifying all verifiers.--Astromath 14:48, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
Is [this link] the cover for ? I also have the 11th printing, same ISBN, and that is the cover on mine. BungalowBarbara 23:39, 11 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, that's the same cover as on mine. Mike Christie (talk) 17:20, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I have added it to the publication. BungalowBarbara 03:28, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

I would also like to make the following changes/additions: change Pages from 354 to 354+{16} to include unnumbered pages at the end, change page for The World of Terry Pratchett from 355 to [355] to indicate it is un-numbered, add note that cover artist is not credited in book. Is that OK? BungalowBarbara 20:35, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I count ten leaves after 354 in my copy; the last two are just advertising, so perhaps you're not counting them? The other changes are fine. Mike Christie (talk) 16:32, 20 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I thought it was ISBDB policy not to count the ads in the back of books, but now that I look at the Help:Screen:EditPub I don't see that. Not sure what is "standard." I was just counting the pages that have "The World of Terry Pratchett" on them. BungalowBarbara 20:40, 20 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I think I wrote the first draft of that help page, six or seven years ago; I have no memory of any discussion on that point. How about asking at the community portal to see what others do? Mike Christie (talk) 21:35, 20 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Will do. I was thinking of the "contents" area, where we definitely do not include ads. BungalowBarbara 21:55, 20 January 2013 (UTC)

The Language of the Night
I see you did a Locus1 verification of the first US revised edition of {P|42684|The Language of the Night.} Did Locus1 give the publication date as 1992-05-00? My copy in hand has only one indication of the publication month, which is a small code of "0692P" on the inside flap of the front cover. I'm thinking I should note the discrepancy in the Notes. Amazon.com says 1992-05-00 for the date, too, but I don't know how reliable that is. Can't find any info on HarperCollins website (too long ago, no doubt). BungalowBarbara 00:49, 21 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Sorry, haven't really been active here for years, so whatever verification I did I have no memory of. I do have a copy of Language of the Night but don't recall which edition it is; I can pull it and take a look if you like. Mike Christie (talk) 01:48, 21 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Actually, more interested in seeing the Locus1 information -- or is that available on-line somewhere? BungalowBarbara 02:16, 21 January 2013 (UTC)
 * OK, found it on-line Locus1 but now I am not sure how to interpret what I see. The line for this book says " +The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction (HarperCollins 0-06-016835-8, May ’92 [Jun ’92], $20.00, 250pp, hc, cover by Steve McLeod) Non-fiction collection of 24 essays and other non-fiction pieces about fantasy and sf, with introductions to each section. This edition has been extensively revised by the author; the original was published by Putnam in 1979 and edited by the late Susan Wood. First American edition of the revised edition (Women’s Press 1989)."
 * So, what do I make of the "May ’92 [Jun ’92]" business? BungalowBarbara 02:20, 21 January 2013 (UTC)
 * That's also something that someone at the Community Portal might know. My best guess would be that the two dates are the official publication date and the date the book actually first appeared; they're certainly not always the same.  I remember seeing a 1998 copyright book on a station bookstall in late December 1997. I don't know which would be which, though the later one is more likely to be the official one. Mike Christie (talk) 03:49, 22 January 2013 (UTC)
 * The date in brackets is given as being [Date first seen] in the physical copies of the Bronw/Contento indexes. For me, when this date is only slightly later than the Publication Date, it doesn't have any bibliographic meaning(only that Locus' mail was peraphs delayed). Hauck 08:19, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Diana Wynne Jones' Changeover
When a work such as this one is borderline, we tend to err on the side of inclusion. I've added a description to the title record which would lend credence to the work being speculative fiction, but perhaps not science fiction. Mhhutchins 03:25, 11 February 2013 (UTC)
 * OK. Thanks for the note. Mike Christie (talk) 12:45, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe
Hello, have added covers (from galactic central) for several of your verified issues of "Fantastic Universe". Thank you. ForJohnScalzi 00:23, 14 February 2013 (UTC).

The Garden on the Moon
Hello, I accepted your submission. There are a few open questions left, however: 1) Well, the English translation is from 1965, so the date for the introduction should be also 1965 (we handle translations as substantially different texts). 2) Maybe it'd be better to rename the Introduction as 'Introduction (Garden on the Moon)'. As at this point we only have one Introduction by Boulle, but it seems possible if not likely that there will be others (and we differentiate same titles by giving the information in parenthesis). 3)If it's really 'The Garden on the Moon' and not 'Garden on the Moon' this would really have to be made into yet another variant title. Do you already know how to unmerge and variant? Thanks for your submissions anyway! Stonecreek 14:44, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, it's really "The Garden on the Moon" on the title page. I used to know how to unmerge and variant, but have forgotten.  Looking at the help pages it seems the first step is an unmerge while displaying the parent title, so I'll submit that to start with.  Thanks for the other fixes. Mike Christie (talk) 02:08, 21 February 2013 (UTC)


 * I accepted the submission to unmerge the UK edition, and because I was aware of what you were doing, went ahead and made it into a variant of the original French title. Mhhutchins 02:35, 21 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I went ahead and verified it. Mike Christie (talk) 02:45, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

The Dancer from Atlantis
Hello, I've added some notes and replaced the amazon scan for your verified here, I've also changed the price from £0.70 to £0.75 as per my copy. Can you have a look at yours to see if it's correct? Thanks. Hervé Hauck 15:48, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe, January 1957
Hello, I added a cover image to this magazine for Chris DeVito. Stonecreek 09:05, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

The Intruders
Added to the Note for Fane/Fanthorpe's The Intruders, re the availability of a facsimile PDF of this edition. PeteYoung 01:54, 9 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Also Unknown Destiny. PeteYoung 02:00, 9 August 2013 (UTC)


 * And U.F.O. 517. PeteYoung 02:10, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

The High Crusade
Hello, the cover artist for this publication is Jack Faragasso, see faragassoart.com. Horzel 11:00, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe, September 1959
A cover image has been added to your verified Fantastic Universe, September 1959 and Fantastic Universe, March 1959. Ahasuerus 02:51, 27 October 2013 (UTC)

About the Author (The Tombs of Atuan)
Please see this discussion regarding the About the Author which appears in your verified. Thanks. -- JLaTondre (talk) 14:03, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

The Earth Book of Stormgate One
Have replaced Amazon link with scan of verified copy here http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?118521 Prof beard 10:44, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

Lord of the Spiders
Have replaced Amazon image with a scan of my verified copy http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?127811 Prof beard 12:51, 15 December 2013 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe, March 1958
Have added a a cover scan of my verified copy to http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?91931 Prof beard 11:04, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

Fantastic Universe, September 1959
Have added a note regarding Miller-Contento listing to http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?99921 Prof beard 15:35, 14 January 2014 (UTC)

The Rebel Worlds
Have replaced the Amazon link with a scan of my verified copy in The Rebel Worlds http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?117841 Prof beard 14:51, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

"Generic" content titles
Hi, and welcome back. You might want to edit the notice at the top of this page....

I don't know if it's a change, but current practice for generic (I think the help calls them "standard") content titles, such as "Introduction", "Foreword", "Preface", etc. -- just about anything you could easily imagine appearing in other publications over completely different text -- is to disambiguate them by including the publication's title in parentheses, at the end. I did this to "Preface", "About the Editor", and "Notes on the Authors" in. Thanks. --MartyD 13:49, 1 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Makes sense; I recall that now. It's been a while!  I'm selling a few hundred of my books and thought I'd do some verifications and updates on anything not yet verified before they leave my hands.  I'll make sure I do that from now on.  Thanks! Mike Christie (talk)

Snow White, Blood Red
A couple of questions/comments about. I accepted the submissions, but: Thanks. --MartyD 13:59, 1 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Should the "Ellen Datlow" piece at the end be ESSAY instead of SHORTFICTION? I'm guessing it's a bio?
 * With the page count as you've supplied it, I think the pieces on p. 412 and beyond should have their page numbers in brackets per Help:Screen:EditPub.
 * See my previous note about disambiguating content titles. I'd consider that for "Recommended Reading", and it might be appropriate for the two author bios.
 * Got it. Will go do that now; thanks. Mike Christie (talk) 15:15, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

Clipper of the Clouds
I accepted the submission adding this publication, but changed the publisher to "Scottie Books" to match the current publisher in ISFDB records. (If that's not correct, please change it back.) A question: what is on the 2 unnumbered pages at the end of the book? Unless there is significant text, such as the last two pages of the novel are unnumbered, or there's an afterword, etc., then recording them in the page count isn't usually done. We don't record pages that include advertising or catalog lists, a usual practice for paperbacks. Thanks. Mhhutchins 20:11, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Same question for the [6] pages added to the page count field of this record. Mhhutchins 20:27, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Changing data fields of primary verified records
It is ISFDB policy to discuss changes in the data fields of primary verified records with the editor who verified it. I'm holding your submission to add [5] pages to the page count field of this record. Is there significant text on these pages? Otherwise, I'm certain the verifier would have included them in the original record. Thanks. Mhhutchins 20:24, 3 February 2014 (UTC)
 * I knew that rule, so I apologize; I should have asked the verifier. There is no significant text on those pages, so I'd guess that the verifier simply ignored them.  I take it that that's standard practice, then?  Even if there are clearly unnumbered pages before or after the main text block, one doesn't indicate that with "[n]" unless there are content entries to be made from those pages?  The help text doesn't specify, so I wasn't sure. Mike Christie (talk)
 * And I now see you've answered my question above. OK if I change the help text to say that? Mike Christie (talk) 20:32, 3 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Before making changes to help documentation, you should post a message on the ISFDB:Rules and Standards discussions page. If there is no objection, and no debate is generated within a couple of days or so, feel free to update the documentation. Thanks. Mhhutchins 20:48, 3 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Will do. I made a couple of other edits recently to the help text and will add links to those there too so they can be discussed.  Thanks. Mike Christie (talk) 20:54, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Airmont edition of Round the Moon
I'm holding your submission to change the publication date of this record. The price would indicate that it was published several years after the original 1969 printing, probably circa 1980. (Look at the prices of other printings from this publisher.) Airmont sometimes indicates the printing date as a code on the last page or so of text. Perhaps your copy has such a printing code? Thanks for checking. Mhhutchins 20:33, 3 February 2014 (UTC)
 * There's a "3-77" at the foot of the last page; is that a date? It's perfect bound so doesn't appear to be a signature identifier. Mike Christie (talk) 20:37, 3 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Yes, that's the printing code. You can update the record and provide the source for the date in the Note field. Thanks. Mhhutchins 20:44, 3 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Done. Mike Christie (talk) 20:53, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Assassin's Apprentice
I accepted the submission adding this record, but it wasn't sourced. I assumed you're working from a copy but didn't indicate that with the proper bullet (the default indicates that you would be providing your source in the Note field, but it's not there.) Also, if you include the excerpt from the end of the book as a content record, then the page count field should indicate that as well. Fifteen unnumbered pages would be entered as "435+[15]". It seems that none of the ISFDB records for other printings of this edition have the correct page count either. (Don't know how they got through moderation, and one of them is primary verified by a moderator. Oh, well.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 15:17, 4 February 2014 (UTC)

Same situation with the page count field of this record and this one. Mhhutchins 15:19, 4 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Ouch. I knew that.  Sorry, was careless there.  Unfortunately I can't do an accurate page count now because I had to ship the books to a buyer.  The 15 page addendum starts on 439 so goes through 453, but I don't recall if that's the last unnumbered page or if there were more blank pages after that.  What's the best thing to do now? Mike Christie (talk) 01:08, 5 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Since you stated in the notes that the excerpt was 15 pages long, there's no need to record any of the blank pages or pages of advertising. So "435+[15]" should be fine. It doesn't matter what page it started on. The page count field gives the page count, not the pagination, which is a whole kettle of fish that we don't deal with here. A "stick-up-the-ass" bibliographer would give the pagination, for example as "[1-8],9-435,[436-438:blank],[439-453],[454-462:blank]". You can see now why we just give a simplified page count! Thanks. Mhhutchins 01:38, 5 February 2014 (UTC)