User talk:MarkStackpole

Welcome!

Hello, MarkStackpole, and welcome to the ISFDB Wiki! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

• Help pages
• Help:Getting Started
• What the ISFDB Wiki is for
• FAQ
• Wiki editing help - Tips on how to use the wiki-specific features when editing wiki pages.
• Wiki Conventions - How things are usually done on this wiki.
• Help:How to upload images to the ISFDB wiki

Note: Image uploading isn't entirely automated. You're uploading the files to the wiki which will then have to be linked to the database by editing the publication record.

Please be careful in editing publications that have been primary verified by other editors. See Help:How to verify data#Making changes to verified pubs. But if you have a copy of an unverified publication, verifying it can be quite helpful. See Help:How to verify data for detailed information.

I hope you enjoy editing here! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will insert your name and the date. If you need help, check out the community portal, or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! --MartyD 00:08, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

Other Worlds May 1951

You have made a submission to change the record for a reviewed book in this issue of the magazine. This record has been primary verified by two editors. Before making this substantial change in the record you should have left a message on the talk page of the primary verifier to ask him to check his copy again and confirm the listing. Because you may not be familiar with this etiquette, I'll do it for you and keep your submission on hold pending the outcome of the discussion. Thanks. Mhhutchins 16:06, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

A Very British History

I accepted the submission creating a record for this publication, but added the source for the data in the record's "Note" field. It is important that you provide the source of your data if you're not working from an actual copy of the book, and that source must be given in a visible part of the record. The "Note to Moderator" field is not to used to source the data. You will find its purpose explained in this section of the help documentation. I will now proceed to merge the newly created contents of this record with those records that are already in the database. If you continue to contribute to the database, you'll be expected to do this with entries of this sort. It's fairly easy, but we don't expect new editors to be able to perform these tasks until they've had a chance to learn the basic functions. Thanks for contributing. Mhhutchins 00:49, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Jackaroo

Verification that this is a series on the author's blog [1] MarkStackpole 00:30, 25 December 2012 (UTC)

Sourcing data

You must give the source for your data in the record's "Note" field. If you're working from a copy of the book, please let the moderator know this in the "Note to Moderator" field, and then do a primary verification of the record once it's accepted into the database.

A few more things: ebooks should be entered as "ebook" in the pub format field, not "epub". Also, only link to cover image files on approved websites. I've made these changes to the record you submitted for the Paul McAuley collection. Mhhutchins 07:58, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

I've linked to the cover image file on Amazon, and added the introduction as well. Here is the corrected record. Please refer to the links in the Welcome Section above to the Help pages which explain the changes I've made and follow this example for future submissions. Thanks for contributing. Mhhutchins 08:08, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Shepard collection

I've accepted the submission adding this record to the database, but have had to make several changes in order for it to comply with ISFDB standards. Please take these changes into account when you're next creating a record for a forthcoming publication (most also apply for all other publications).

• Added the source for the data in the "Note" field. This is extremely important, and the lack of such a source would ordinarily have been reason to reject the submission. (This info should not go in the "Note to Moderator" field. Please see the Help page to learn how that field should be used.)
• Changed the date of publication to match that given in the source. (April 2013)
• Changed the name of the publisher from "Subterranean" to "Subterranean Press", the canonical name for the publisher in the ISFDB.
• Created a content record for the "Introduction" (from the same source that gave the other contents.)
• (Not mandatory) Uploaded the cover image to the ISFDB server and then linked it to the publication record.

Thanks. Mhhutchins 05:37, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Linking images

We don't have permission to "deeplink" to the Livejournal website, so I've removed the cover image link from this record. I will download the image and then upload it to the ISFDB server and then link it to the record. Please read this page concerning websites for which we have permission to link. Mhhutchins 17:46, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Shadows of the New Sun

I've corrected the title of this publication by removing the space before the colon. Also, please confirm that the foreword is spelled "Forward". Thanks. Mhhutchins 22:59, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

I've also add HTML breaks at the end of each line in the Note field, otherwise the system displays the whole thing in one line. Mhhutchins 23:00, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

One more thing: I changed the title of "...And Other Stories" to ". . . And Other Stories" per ISFDB standards. Mhhutchins 23:02, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

"Forword" was a typo - I submitted a correction MarkStackpole 23:52, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

So it's actually "Foreward" and not "Foreword"? Mhhutchins 23:57, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

Yes - - at least according to the information on Swanwick's blog MarkStackpole 00:00, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

I went to the link you gave in the Note field, and it's spelled correctly as "Foreword". I'll correct the record based on your source. Mhhutchins 00:54, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Forthcoming books

Because of the vagaries of the publishing business, we've learned that it's not a good idea to create records for books that are more than 2-3 months from their official publication date. Titles change, dates change, covers change, and even publishers change. There's relatively little value in records for forthcoming titles that are as tentative as several which you've been submitting, and the further away the publication date is, the more tentative these records become. I will accept the submission for Dangerous Women (formerly Femmes Fatale, see what I mean by tentative?), because of the effort you put into entering the contents, but I will change all of the dates to 9999-00-00. The date of 2013-00-00 implies that it's already published. We can no longer accept submissions for publications that have been scheduled for more than 3 months, and no submissions for work that hasn't been scheduled at all (like this title). Thanks. Mhhutchins 05:04, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

Oz Reimagined

Can I assume your source for the contents which you added to this record is from the Amazon "Look Inside"? If so, you should note the source in the record's Note field. Also, the page numbers could have also been added to the record from the same source. Thanks. Mhhutchins 01:46, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

Limits for image uploads

The file you originally uploaded for this image exceeded the ISFDB standards in both size (150 KB) and dimensions (no more than 600 pixels tall). I've resized the original file from 193 KB and 837 pixels, and then replaced it on the ISFDB server. Keep these limits in mind for future cover image file uploads. There will be a warning for exceeding the 150 KB limit, but not for exceeding the dimensions limit (which are posted on the upload screen.) Thanks. Mhhutchins 19:54, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Eclipse Online

I've accepted the submission to add a record for this issue of the webzine. Ordinarily, webzines are not eligible for the database. Exceptions can be made for certain webzines, and the high profile of this would make it an exception.

I had to made several changes in the record:

1. Added the date of the issue in the record's title field
2. Changed the date given in the submission from 2012-08-12 to 2012-10-08 (where did you get the first date?)
3. Removed the link to the Rowe story from the note field of the publication record and added it to the title record
4. Added the source for the record in the note field of the pub record
5. Removed the Cover Art credit and added an Interior Art record for Jennings illustration for the story
6. Added a content record for editorial which was published on the same date, making it part of the "issue".

Please proceed to add other records for the other stories published on this (defunct) webzine, following the guidelines I've provided here. Thanks. Mhhutchins 01:36, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Best SF & F, Volume 7

I accepted the submission to update this record to add the contents. The information you gave in the "Note to Moderator" field disappeared with the submission's accepted. You should never enter anything in that field which you wish to be part of the permanent ISFDB record. It is a temporary field for the editor to leave messages for the moderator about the submission, not about the publication. I copied the note before accepting the submission, and used the data to update the title record of the story which is where you should enter title specific information (as opposed to publication specific information). Thanks. Mhhutchins 19:47, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Forthcoming publications, again

As I've mentioned in a previous post, we usually don't create records for books which are more than three months away in publication. I'm holding the submission to add the Howard Waldrop collection to the database. I will accept this one, but please keep this in mind for any future publications. Thanks. Mhhutchins 00:54, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

Edge 5/6

I just submitted a huge entry for Edge Autum/Winter 1973 only to have the system reject the entry outright. Is it somewhere in the submission queue where it can be recovered? MarkStackpole 20:26, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

This message should have been posted on the Moderator Noticeboard, not on your own talk page, which is not likely to be read by those who you want to ask. I came here because I thought you'd responded to the previous message. (I keep a watch on pages on which I've posted messages.) Also, it appears you used the "Edit This Page" function to add this topic to the page. It would be better to click on the plus [+] tab to create new topics on a wiki page.

To answer your question: all of your submissions that have reached the queue have been accepted. The system doesn't reject submissions, so there must have been a problem that happened between your computer and the ISFDB server. We're unable to recover a submission that doesn't reach the queue. There are some browsers (like Firefox) in which you can go back to a previous page and all of the entered fields will remain. Most browsers can't do this. It might be best in the future to break publications with a large number of content records into several submissions (I do this myself when a record has 20 or more contents.) Sorry about the lost submission. Mhhutchins 21:03, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Edge, Autumn/Winter 1973

Submission adding this record was accepted. I'll have to make the following changes (keep these in mind for future submissions).

• Title field: changed from "Edge. Autumn/Winter 1973" to "Edge, Autumn/Winter 1973" (a comma separates the title from the date)
• Page count field: changed "120 p." to "120". Only enter the number of pages. For a magazine, the page count should include the covers. Does this number add the covers?
• The title of the piece on page 44 has been changed from "Play and Sleep ..." to "Play and Sleep . . ." following ISFDB standard entry for ellipses.
• The last three generically titled pieces have been disambiguated by adding the title of the publication parenthetically.

I also have a few questions:.

• Is there a stated price?
• Is the uncredited piece on page 3 fiction?
• Is the piece on page 7 credited to "Hunry-Luc Planchat"?
• Is the piece on page 18 credited to "Gardener R. Dozois"?
• Is the piece on page 67 titled "Graphics" and is it a collaboration between the two artists?
• Is the piece on page 73 actually titled "Poem"?

Thanks. Mhhutchins 18:26, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

• Is there a stated price?

No price listed on the periodical.

• Is the uncredited piece on page 3 fiction?

Scanning the "intrada" it could be read as fiction, but it serves as a keynote essay to this SF Directions issue. There is no credit, but I assume that it is by Bruce McAllister. I thought it would be best to tag it as "essay".

• Is the piece on page 7 credited to "Hunry-Luc Planchat"?

Henry-Luc - darn it.

• Is the piece on page 18 credited to "Gardener R. Dozois"?

Gardner - double darn it.

• Is the piece on page 67 titled "Graphics" and is it a collaboration between the two artists?

Graphics is a portfolio of these two artists' works. There are two B&W pictures by each artist.

• Is the piece on page 73 actually titled "Poem"?

Yes - the title is "Poem"

• Page count field: changed "120 p." to "120". Only enter the number of pages. For a magazine, the page count should include the covers. Does this number add the covers?

Sorry, I was following Library of Congress rules for page count. The physical number of pages, plus cover is 132. MarkStackpole 21:04, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

So should the "Prefix" remain as SHORTSTORY or is it closer to ESSAY? Also, you changed the page count to 138. Is that correct? One last thing, I created a separate record for the two artists' work. Thanks. Mhhutchins 16:20, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Looking over "Prefix", I would call it a SHORTSTORY - can we give an attribution to Bruce McAllister even though the Prefix is unsigned. Page count is (counting covers) 132.

MarkStackpole 00:17, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

If there is any interior evidence or a reliable secondary source, you can make it into a variant of a parent record credited to McAllister. Mhhutchins 00:35, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

Sorry, there is no secondary source to give a credit to "Prefix". It should stay "unattributed". MarkStackpole 00:58, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

I'm still confused about the page count. You said it was 132, but changed it to 138. Please make a new submission to update the record if it is incorrect. 17:58, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

The physical number of pages is 138. MarkStackpole 19:36, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

No need to...

...make a pseudonym for Gardener R. Dozois: you just corrected the misspelling in a further submission. Thanks, Stonecreek 14:55, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Kong Unbound

I accepted the submission to update this record, but changed the content record you added from SHORTFICTION to ESSAY. I also added the remaining contents from the same source. Mhhutchins 17:55, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

"The Bravest Girl I know..." is short fiction -- the rest of Kong Unbound is in fact essays. Also ISFDB Title Record # 1025450 and 1604110 should be merged linked. Without seeing a copy of Horse of a Different Color, I don't know if the collection puts the quotes around the title MarkStackpole 19:31, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

I've merged the title records, retaining the quotation marks, until someone comes along to do a primary verification of either record. Thanks. Mhhutchins 02:46, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

Fantastic Stories of the Imagination

What is the source for the dating of the contents in this publication? Any original stories should have the same date of the publication. Also, the introduction should be disambiguated. Mhhutchins 03:57, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

Source for dates was entries in ISFDB. Any without entries I dated as the date of publication. MarkStackpole 00:27, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

If you check again, you'll see that you dated the stories 2012-04-12, while the publication has a date of 2012-04-24. Which is correct? Mhhutchins 04:37, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

Yes that's a typo -- I intended 2012-04-24 MarkStackpole 22:57, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

I'll make the corrections. Ordinarily I'd point out such things to the original editor hoping that they'd make the submission to correct. Mhhutchins 02:33, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Thank you. MarkStackpole 00:36, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Life After Wartime

I've accepted the submission to add this record, but made some changes. There is no stated publisher, so Amazon Digital Services was removed from the publisher field. There are no page numbers in Kindle-formatted ebooks, so I removed that as well. Both of these, along with the cover credit was moved to the Note field. And while I was editing the record, I went ahead and disambiguated the introduction. Mhhutchins 04:44, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

Arc 1.3

Please update the pub type/binding field of this publication to the type used to create the record. Thanks. Mhhutchins 21:33, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Same for this issue. If there is no stated price on the publication or from a secondary source, please indicate that in the Note field. Mhhutchins 21:34, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

I found the pub type, and price on Amazon. I've also changed the publisher to what is stated on the Amazon "Look Inside" (Reed Business Information Ltd.) We give the name of the publishing company and not an individual (unless it is a personal publication by an individual). Mhhutchins 21:45, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Against my better judgment, I was following the pattern in the Arc 1.2 record. MarkStackpole

The End Has Come

Hello, a new contributor wants to change the author of the short story _Acts of Creation_ in this pub from Chis Avellone (as entered) to Chris Avellone. Can you confirm the spelling? Thanks. Hauck 20:02, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

Yes, sorry. I was unaware of the rules. The Amazon page has Chris Avellone for both print and kindle editions. Chris Avellone (who is actually a relatively popular video game RPG writer) also mentioned the book on his Twitter . Woodgod 01:46, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

I've approved the submission, don't hesitate to come back to me if it's a mistake. Hauck 06:57, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

The entry was meant to be Chris but for my bad typing MarkStackpole 03:22, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

The Complete Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak

Re this record: I've been adding the publication dates and prices to these publication records sourced from Amazon. I've also removed the publication series data, as this appears to be a title series. (You've entered it as both.) Thanks. Mhhutchins|talk 23:58, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
Thank you MarkStackpole

Merging Records

To merge duplicate title records, you can use the "Check for Duplicate Titles" link under "Editing Tools". This can be done from a title, a publication, or author's page. In each case, it will look for duplicate titles from the same author. If you need help with a particular function, please post at ISFDB:Help desk. Creating a non-edit edit with a note to the moderator is not the most efficient and can cause some confusion. Thanks! -- JLaTondre (talk) 00:56, 21 May 2016 (UTC)

Women Up to No Good

Hello, I've approved your submission for this collection, but made some changes to conform to our standards : 1) regularized publmhser to "Untreed Reads Publishing", 2) uploaded cover scan inot our system (it seems that we're not allowed to deeplink to the specified site), 3) added currency symbol (USD?). I've alos merged all the SHORTFICTION titles. Result is here. Hauck 10:04, 21 May 2016 (UTC)

The Gods Have Not Died in Vain

Hi. Please check the spelling of this story title in your verified anthology "The End Has Come" http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?514058. In that record it's "... Dies ...", but in Neil Clarke's 'Best Science Fiction of the Year' it's "Died". Thanks. Markwood 05:58, 26 June 2016 (UTC)
Fixed the typo MarkStackpole 22:17, 12 July 2016 (UTC)

The Big Front Yard and Other Stories

Can you check the title of David W. Wixon's essay in this e-book? My paperback edition has it as 'Clifford D. Simak: Learning All the Words' as opposed to your 'Clifford S. Simak: Learning All the Words'. Thanks for checking, --Willem 18:39, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

Posted more than a week ago, and no response so I changed the title. Please check your edition if you have the opportunity. Thanks, --Willem 18:49, 4 October 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for the correction MarkStackpole 18:23, 20 October 2016 (UTC)

Extrasolar

Hi. I accepted your submission of Extrasolar, but I made a couple of changes to it. The ISBN was flagged as bad (I realize it matches what the website says). In investigating that and taking a closer look at the cover scan, I found the check digit is actually 4, which then gives a good ISBN. So I changed that and added a note. Also, we do not have permission to link to PS Publishing's site for images. I downloaded a copy, reduced it to a size the ISFDB's Wiki would tolerate for upload, and used that for now. --MartyD 08:59, 26 August 2017 (EDT)