User talk:Swfritter/Archive

Welcome!

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

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I hope you enjoy editing here! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out the community portal, or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! Ahasuerus 18:33, 18 Feb 2007 (CST)

Super-Science Fiction

Re: multiple pieces of interior art for a single story. Listing the first page on which a piece of art appears was the original approach that we took. Some moderators, including Al, our programmer, have an arts background, so they have been more diligent about entering detailed art data. But the ground rule is "if there [are] multiple illustrations a single entry would still suffice". Thanks for editing! Ahasuerus 00:01, 20 Feb 2007 (CST)

Imagination, October 1950

Re: the editor change in the October 1950 issue of Imagination, that was one of the issues that were edited by Hamling anonymously since he was still officially employed by Ziff-Davis, right? If so, then Locus states that "[t]hey do not, however, list an editor, allowing readers to assume that it was Palmer". If that is the case (and I can't check at the moment since I am away from my collection), wouldn't we want to change the editor's name to "uncredited" and then make it into a Variant Title for Hamling? Ahasuerus 01:12, 6 Mar 2007 (CST)

Thanks for the clarification! I haven't read Transformations yet, so it's all news to me.

Take a look at Doc Lowndes' Dynamic Science Fiction, e.g. the June 1953 issue, especially the Notes field, to see how we have handled anonymous and "initials-only" editorials so far. The approach is a bit labor intensive, but it seems to be fairly exhaustive and not very confusion-prone. In this case I think we can attribute the editorials and the "EDITOR" records to "RAP" and then make it into a Variant Title as by Palmer+Hamling+Mahaffey with an appropriate explanation of what various sources claim about this murky situation. That way all three biblios would link to these 2 issues and theit associated explanatory notes. Perhaps we should copy this discussion to the Community Portal and see what other editors think?

As far as letters go, the Rules of Acquisition section of the ISFDB Policy page (item #9) boldly calls it "Debatable" and I tend to agree :) Ahasuerus 18:38, 6 Mar 2007 (CST)

Rainbow's End aka Afternoon of a Fahn

I approved your changes to Imagination, April 1951 a few minutes ago, but then I reverted the "Rainbow's End-to-Afternoon of a Fahn" change. This is a common problem with works that have changed titles and requires some finetuning due to the way the ISFDB software works at this time. Here is what I wrote on another editor's Talk page the other day:

There are really just two things to keep in mind when changing a Title in the Contents area of a Publication. The first one is simple: you can't delete a Title from a Publication by overwriting its data with another Title's data. That will just change the first Title. You will want to use "Remove Title from Publication" option instead.

The second thing to keep in mind is that ANY change in the Contents area will be applied to the underlying Title (story, essay, etc) being changed. This includes the year of publication, the spelling of the title, SHORTFICTION length, etc. The only field in the Contents area that is specific to the Publication is the page number :) So if you change, say, the spelling of "Nightfall" to "Night Fall" because that's how it's spelled in the publication that you are verifying, the change will affect the underlying Title record for the story and from that point on it will appear in all Publications as "Night Fall". If that's not what you want to accomplish, then you will want to remove "Nightfall" first (see above), then add "Night Fall". Finally, you will want to check to see if "Night Fall" already exists. If it doesn't, then you can make it into a Variant Title of "Nightfall". If it does exist, then you can merge the new Title with the pre-existing "Night Fall" Title and make sure that the Variant Title relationship is set up.

Does this make sense? And thanks for all the hard work on Imagination! Ahasuerus 13:32, 9 Mar 2007 (CST)

Robert Sheckley's "Feeding Time" and "The Demons"

I've placed on hold your submission that these are variants of the same story. According to Erwin Strauss's index both stories appeared in the same issue (February 1953) of Fantasy Magazine, but "Feeding Time" was published under Sheckley's "Finn O'Donnevan" pseudonym. This was confirmed in the Sheckley bibliography in Mike Ashley's History of the Science Fiction Magazine, Volume 3. Mhhutchins 16:17, 9 Apr 2007 (CDT)

The Black Stranger by REH

I could find no difference in your submission for a variant title to this story. Perhaps you intended to merge this title with this one? Thanks. Mhhutchins 17:10, 9 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Rocket Stories, September 1953

Tymn and Ashley's guide to the SF magazines confirms that the last and final issue of this magazine was edited by Harry Harrison, still using the "Wade Kaempfert" pseudonym. I'll ask around to see if anyone knows how to assign a house penname to multiple authors. Mhhutchins

You can use the "Make This Author a Pseudonym" option multiple time per Author. See, e.g., Manning Coles for a joint pseudonym example or Alexander Blade for a house name example. Note that we shouldn't use this option when setting up vt relationships for Authors who actually exist(ed) and wrote under their own names, but whose names have also been used by other authors, e.g. V. C. Andrews, Lester del Rey, Ellery Queen and other ghosted writers. Come to think of it, we should probably update our Help pages since this functionality was added only recently. Ahasuerus 14:19, 11 Apr 2007 (CDT)

I think you'd better - I thought I was getting to grips with it, but those last three examples confuse me! V.C. Andrews existed but the name was used by someone else later, and we show that: we don't for Lester del Rey: and I thought Ellery Queen NEVER actually existed! My brain hurts, and I still have to do "Grant Naylor" at some point... :-/ BLongley 16:09, 12 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Sorry, Ellery Queen was a bad example since it was originally a joint pseudonym (which we don't support as canonical names) and then became a house name. And yes, at some point we will need to add the ghosting data for del Rey starting with Clute/Nicholls. I had started a special project page for Grandmaster cleanup, which I had to effectively suspend when beta started. Ahasuerus 23:27, 12 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Toffee

FYI, I have changed the title type for Toffee from Novel to Serial as per our policy re: novels published in a single magazine issue. Also, the submission that attempted to make it into a Variant Title apparently escaped from your keyboard prematurely as the two titles that it tried to link were identical. Could you please explain what you were trying to link this serial to? Thanks! Ahasuerus 15:37, 12 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Thanks for the heads up, I will make sure to update the Help pages shortly! As far as using the record number goes, it should work, but keep in mind that there are two "Submit" buttons on that Web page and you need to click on the top one when using tyhe record number.

Also, re: Robert Bloch's "Black Magic Holiday" in the Jan. 1955 Imaginative Tales, you have changed the title's date to August 1950, but I can't find the publication that it first appeared in. Do you happen to know what it was? Thanks! Ahasuerus 18:32, 12 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Oh, I see re: Bloch! Thanks for the update :) Ahasuerus 19:37, 12 Apr 2007 (CDT)

How to merge Howard's story

Please see Michael's Talk page for an explanation of how to merge Title records. Ahasuerus 12:23, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)

"Nursemaid to Nightmares"

Before we proceed with creating a variant title for "Nursemaid to Nightmares" (currently on hold), could please you take a look at the way "Mr. Margate's Mermaid" is listed in Imaginative Tales, March 1955? It looks like it was entered twice, once as a novella "by Robert Bloch (aka Nursemaid to Nightmares) [as by Robert Bloch ]" and once as "interior artwork by Robert Bloch (aka Nursemaid to Nightmares) [as by Harold McCauley ]", which looks very suspicious :) Ahasuerus 13:16, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Oh, OK, that makes much more sense! :) I have zapped the variant title relationship between the artwork record and Bloch's story by setting the Parent Title number (in the Make Variant screen) to 0. As far as I can tell, verything seems to look fine in Bloch's biblio now. Could you please check to see whether the last variant title submission that is currently on hold is still needed? If not, I will reject it. Thanks! Ahasuerus 13:35, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Done! Next question: In the Imaginative Tales, May 1955 submission you entered two INTERIORART pieces thusly:

• Ladies, has dishwashing become a nightmare in your home?
• Pardon me, but I live up on the hill and there's something I want to talk to you about!

Was the use of lower case intentional or was it some kind of cut-and-paste gone awry? Ahasuerus 15:47, 13 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Keyboard Macro Key

Would you please share where you found the Macro you mentioned on Ahasuerus' Talk page, I'm desperatly in need of it. CoachPaul 17:10, 17 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Thank you very much. CoachPaul 21:57, 17 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Space Science Fiction, July 1953

I have approved Space Science Fiction, July 1953, but I was wondering if "Alan E. Norse" was supposed to be "Alan E. Nourse" and whether "Straight, Place and Show (Mar issue reader poll)" was supposed to be "Straight, Place and Show (March issue reader poll)"? Ahasuerus 17:24, 17 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Sounds good! :) Ahasuerus 22:43, 17 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Looks much better now! I have deleted the "Norse" title, so we should be in good shape :) By the way, if a Title record in the Contents section is in error (like this one was), it is safe to correct it directly instead of going through the remove/add process. The main reason to follow the remove/add routine is to avoid affecting other Publications where the current title may be valid (e.g. a story published under a different pseudonym or under a different/misspelled Variant Title), but with outright data entry errors like this one there is no adverse impact on other publications. Ahasuerus 00:30, 18 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Ralplh Burke

Is this a variant or a typo? BLongley 13:27, 24 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Worlds of Fantasy, Winter 1970-71

There is an entry for this issue, but it doesn't include the artwork. It does includes some book reviews that are not in your submission. Would you like me to approve your submission and then you can add the book reviews, or would you like to update the current entry? I'll place your submission on hold until I hear back from you. Thanks. Mhhutchins 18:40, 30 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Orphan magazine issues

Re: "orphan issues", there may well be more, I am afraid. Old (i.e. ISFDB-1) magazine records didn't have an EDITOR Title, so they can't always be found via the regular Title search. You have to use Publication search (Advanced Search, bottom third of the form) to find them, which can be flaky. We really need to identify all magazines without an EDITOR record and fix them or else we will keep running into these problems. I will see what I can do on Tuesday-Wednesday. Ahasuerus 21:37, 30 Apr 2007 (CDT)

Sorry, haven't had a chance to write that script yet, things are a bit hectic at the moment. Later in the week, perhaps... Ahasuerus 15:53, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

Infinity Science Fiction

I see that you have marked all but one issues of Infinity Science Fiction as "verified" in the Wiki, but they are not marked as physically verified in the database. Do you need help with verifying them? If you do, I believe I have all Infinity issues in my collection and can verify come May 25. Ahasuerus 15:52, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

Ah, I see! Do you want to mark these 3 issues as "verified" in the database as well? I can do the August issue at the end of the month when I have access to my collection, at which point we will be all set with Infinity. Thanks! Ahasuerus 16:17, 8 May 2007 (CDT)

Entries attributed to "swf editor"

Quick question: do you still need swf editor entries for testing purposes or can they be deleted from the database? Ahasuerus 10:20, 9 May 2007 (CDT)

Thanks! :) Ahasuerus 11:20, 9 May 2007 (CDT)

Robert Sheckely

Typo? BLongley 13:13, 10 May 2007 (CDT)

I did a Google for

"Ask a Foolish Question" Sheckely

and it found zero pages. I'm assuming it's a data entry error into ISFDB. I approved the submission but wanted to know the source of "Sheckely" and if we should add a pub-note to 188761 asking whoever verifies the pub to inspect the author's name carefully to see if it's Sheckely or Sheckley. In fact, I started to add the pub-note anyway and then figured I'd check here.

Double check the spelling of the author's name for Ask a Foolish Question as it may be mis-spelled as Robert Sheckely.

Marc Kupper (talk) 23:58, 10 May 2007 (CDT)

I saw Swfritter enter the one variant spelling while approving it, so just thought I'd ask directly. Our shorthand seems to have confused people though! BLongley 15:56, 12 May 2007 (CDT)

Lowndes and George Smith

I'm not ignoring your submissions, I'm just a bit scared of them and would rather leave them to a more experienced mod. :-/ Most of the Lowndes changes look OK, but one is a two-person make-variant of a single person entry: and there's double updates to 'George H. Smith' record 1504 which look as though they'll break the link from Wikipedia - I'm hoping we have a Mod for this site that can also go fix their typo of "Doomday Wing"... BLongley 15:56, 12 May 2007 (CDT)

OK, first George Smith submission rejected as requested... if "Smith, George Hudson" is OK as Legal name rather than Canonical then I can clear a few more too? BLongley 16:25, 12 May 2007 (CDT)

OK, a few more cleared. BLongley 18:18, 12 May 2007 (CDT)

Moderator Nomination?

You're getting to the stage where I'd rather nominate you as a Mod rather than Mod your submissions - I don't know how much of that is due to you knowing more about magazines (my major weakness here) than I will ever do, but I suspect you'd be as wary of stomping on other people's edits in their own field of expertise as I am. (Although I'm not sure WHAT my field of expertise actually is, apart from being pretty sure about spelling both US and UK style, and owning a lot of books to do Primary Verifications from.) Does the idea of becoming a Moderator appeal to you? I must admit it's from MY lack of experience in your field that I suggest the idea, and maybe the other Magazine-Specialist Mods have a different view of your work, but I regard it highly so far. BLongley 18:18, 12 May 2007 (CDT)

I am always on the lookout for potential moderators and Swfritter has been on my short list of editors to ambush and moderatorize for some time now. He (I assume the gender here since the ISFDB seems to be an almost exclusively gentlemen's club for now) has done a lot of good work on the magazine side of the database and understands EDITOR records, variant titles and other beasties quite well. He is also quite familiar with the ISFDB Wiki, which is always a plus.

My only concern is Swfritter's sometimes lapidary communications style. Although not an insurmountable obstacle, laconic messages can be hard to decipher on the Internet where we don't have the body language to provide context and non-verbal cues. As long as Swfritter promises to use subjects and predicates in his messages to ISFDB editors, I am all for it :) Ahasuerus 22:32, 12 May 2007 (CDT)

Ya, gotcha. ;-)

Although strangely, I've never had problems understanding him/her - which tends to add evidence to the "must be male" case, as I don't understand women at all. ;-) BLongley 16:27, 13 May 2007 (CDT)

My goal right now is fill in the gaps of data for the 1950/1960 mags which means filling in my own collection using dollars that are not in great supply. There are about 15 short run titles and the 40+ issues of Other Worlds with no data at all plus about five other titles which are only partially done. I need to enter about 225 issue in all. I am missing about 75 of those magazines. I am also working on a side project that is taking up a lot of time right now and it depends somewhat on the magazine data being as complete as possible. Thanks for the suggestion but perhaps at the end of this year.Yes, just another nerdy guy, a retired computer programmer.--Swfritter 16:52, 13 May 2007 (CDT)

No worries, certainly understandable! I have over 95% of all US pulps and digests published in the 1950s and 1960s (probably 98%+, but I would have to do a bit of housekeeping before I could be sure) and I will have about a week of relatively free time at the end of May when I will have access to my collection. Feel free to post a list of magazines that you are missing on my Talk page and I will see what I can do. Ahasuerus 22:57, 13 May 2007 (CDT)

Remember, the moderator role doesn't mean you have to tackle everyone else's edits - if you just want to do your own, that's fine. I do look at your edits to learn some stuff myself (magazines are not my speciality at all) but so far the only value I've added to your submissions is catching a couple of pretty insignificant typos. Whereas I know me leaving your submissions unapproved might be holding YOU up with getting things done. (OK, this only seems to happen on Saturdays, we have pretty good Mod Cover the rest of the week.) But if you'd approve most of your own submissions, that would help me and some others, and I'm fine if you leave the awkward ones for other Mods. Just drop a message into the Moderator board that you don't mind some help! BLongley 17:32, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

Silverberg/Lowndes' "Last Word" and Lowndes' review of Knight's Hell's Pavement

A couple of questions:

1. You would like to make "The Last Word (Letters to the Editor)" by "The Editor and Bob Silverberg" into a variant Title of "The Last Word (Letters to the Editor) by The Editor and Robert Silverberg". Since the editor in question was Robert A. W. Lowndes, shouldn't the parent title be "by Robert A. W. Lowndes and Robert Silverberg"?
2. You have created two seemingly identical submissions that would make a Review of Damon Knight's Hell's Pavement by Robert W. Lowndes into a variant Title of the same review as by Robert A. W. Lowndes. Was the second susmission an accidental duplicate? Also, the resulting parent Title has a blank "Book Author" field, but as far as I can tell that's a problem with our software, not with the submission. I will experiment a little and create a bug report if one doesn't already exist for this type of problem. Thanks! Ahasuerus 21:40, 12 May 2007 (CDT)

Thanks for the clarification! I have rejected the duplicate Hell Pavement submission and redone the Silverberg letter as "uncredited/Silverberg". I agree that Doc Lowndes was likely the culprit, but it could have been somebody like Bob Madle, who was helping him edit various magazines, so better safe than sorry. Ahasuerus 22:39, 13 May 2007 (CDT)

Variant for the story by Binder

I always though that Earl and Otto Binder used the "Eando Binder" only on collaborative stories. Are you certain that this story was solely written by Earl? Or were you also intending on adding Otto to the variant as well? Thanks. Mhhutchins 18:01, 14 May 2007 (CDT)

You wrote that "Based upon the Locus database, most of the stories were by Otto only. Locus designates which stories were colloborations and which were by Otto alone.--Swfritter 18:44, 14 May 2007 (CDT)" But that particular story isn't listed in the Locus db, or am I missing it? Also, your submission credited Earl only. Did you intend the opposite? Mhhutchins 19:09, 14 May 2007 (CDT)

Science Fiction Stories, November 1958

I'm OK with "The Illustrationists" to "The Isolationsts" but isn't it "The Isolationists"? Or is there a typo? BLongley 15:16, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

Entering 3 missing magazines

I believe I have all 3 magazines that you are missing, so I should be able to enter them some time after May 25. Finding them in my somewhat disorganized collection may be a bit of a chore, but with any luck it should be doable. Ahasuerus 00:21, 21 May 2007 (CDT)

No worries, I should have some time :) I have already entered Space Stories, February 1953 and created a Magazine page for the mag. Ahasuerus 00:37, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

OK, the two missing Space Stories issues have been entered. Let me see if I can find the other two... Ahasuerus 19:44, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

Oh no, Morrison's novel doesn't end with the cartoon on page 55, it goes all the way to page 86 :) Ahasuerus 16:28, 28 May 2007 (CDT)

Sounds good! :) Ahasuerus 17:47, 28 May 2007 (CDT)

I spent some time looking for the other two "missing" magazines in my collection last week while I had access to it. I found 3 Saturn issues, but not the one I was looking for :-( On the plus side, I built two new bookcases, which helped organize another 500 volumes. If I get to spend more time with my collection later in the year -- which looks increasingly likely at this point -- I will probably be able to have the magazine part organized by January, at which point I should be able to enter the "missing" magazines. It's amazing what 10 years of neglect can do to a collection :( Ahasuerus 12:15, 5 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Science Fiction Stories, January 1959

I have approved the latest Virgil change, but I was wondering if it is correctly listed as "shortfiction" -- as opposed to "interior art" -- in the issue? Ahasuerus 12:58, 21 May 2007 (CDT)

No Star Shall Fall

I approved the date change from 1959 to 1941 for this Interiorart record and then wondered if that's what you had in mind. Could you please check the magazine record and see if it looks OK? Thanks! Ahasuerus 11:45, 24 May 2007 (CDT)

Thanks! :) Ahasuerus 12:18, 24 May 2007 (CDT)

Dream World, August 1957

I'll delete one if you like, but you currently want to delete 195157, which seems to have a little more information? Or is that coming in another edit?

195157 	Dream World, August 1957 	Paul W. Fairman 	1957 	132 	DRMWRLDAUG1957 	Digest 	MAGAZINE 	? 	$0.35 	Ziff-Davis Publishing Company
195153 	Dream World, August 1957 	Paul W. Fairman 	1957 	132 	DRMWRLDAUG1957 	d 	MAGAZINE 	? 	? 	Ziff-Davis Publishing Company

BLongley 14:27, 1 Jun 2007 (CDT)

OK, message received and understood. Before I do that though, you may want to look at these links:

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/edit/editpub.cgi?195153
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/edit/editpub.cgi?195157

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?DRMWRLDAUG1957

I only caught it because of the trivial difference shown in the post above: and if you go to the pub via the 195157 link or the 195153 link, you can clearly see the difference. However, if you click on the title instead, you see what that third link gives you - BOTH pubs take you to the "good" data. In which case it might look like a minor change that can be fixed with a "d" -> "digest", add "0.35" price after approving the delete - whereas I'd actually have deleted all the contents. I think I now know why some of my older edits disappeared - I deleted some nearly exact duplicates, and someone approved them. :-( Anyway, just a heads-up - you'll have to look at this sort of thing yourself in 5 days, hopefully! BLongley 15:15, 1 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Oh, and we ought to reach a consensus over whether we play ping-pong discussions or watch each other's pages and keep conversations together in one place rather than two. As the number of moderators increases, things could get a bit complicated. BLongley 15:15, 1 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Moderatorship

Congratulations; you're now a moderator. Mike Christie (talk) 22:15, 6 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Mega congratulations! Feel free to approve, or reject, any of my edits as you see fit. CoachPaul 23:21, 6 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Beyond Infinity page count change

No worries, I suspect these minor tweaks will go on indefinitely and asymptotically :) Ahasuerus 18:21, 7 Jun 2007 (CDT)

Future Science Fiction, No. 47, February 1960

I hope I am doing this correctly. I am new to this and not entirely sure if this is the correct way to respond to messages. And I have been on a learning curve in the right way to edit and contribute data. I appreciate any guidance you can give me.

1. I didn't know about crediting the editor if the editor repsponds to the letters. I'll watch out for that from now on.

2. How do you handle pseudonyms? I've been entering the name as it appears in the publication in the author box. In one or two cases, I have followed up by making the name a pseudonym to the "parent entry" Is that all there is to do?

3. I've currently got about 1,000 science fiction/fantasy issues from about 1933 to July 2007. The bulk is the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s. I've sort of settled into adding or editing about 5 issues a day into isfdb once I saw that there was data I could add. But I am aware that I've been making some unintentional errors through ignorance. (For instance, I added uncredited to some covers, and then found out you're not supposed to do that)

4. What issues are you interested in? Can you give me a list so I can check my holdings?

5. Do new issues added automatically link to the magazine page or do you have to edit that page to add the link? I've started adding the TAG field following styles for other issues, but I think the first two I did I left that field blank.

Thanks for you message. Alibrarian

Heads up on deleting duplicate titles

I approved your three title deletes but I believe it would be better to merge rather than delete duplicate titles as then both you and the moderator get to see the side-by-side diff and can see that they are in fact duplicates. TIA. Marc Kupper (talk) 13:20, 9 Jun 2007 (CDT)

In this case I am both. Another duplicate magazine addition which I caught when moderating a new pub added by someone else. You got there before I could approve my own delete. Agree though that a merge is the best way in most situations.--swfritter 13:26, 9 Jun 2007 (CDT)

oops - I have not had my morning coffee yet and forgot you are moderating now. I'm kinda used to "Swfritter ... auto approve" :-). FWIW - I'm going through the Dissembler's results now and leaving talk as needed on it's page in the theory that Al or Ahasuerus will respond. For the Dissembler things that we do approve we most likely need to edit the pubs, merge the titles, etc. as it's doing things like making narrators into authors, keeping stuff like "Low Price!" in the title, etc. Marc Kupper (talk) 13:33, 9 Jun 2007 (CDT)

1950's/1960's Magazines Needed

These are the magazines we need to fill in the gaps for American mags for the 50's and 60's. I have put my name on issues and complete runs that I own. If you own some of the issues that I don't and intend to enter them in the near future please put your name in the empty () so I will know which issues I need to buy at outrageous prices. My next projects will be entering data for Cosmos, International Science Fiction, Marvel Science Stories, Science Fiction Adventures, Science Fiction Plus, Science Stories, Spaceway, and Universe. Feel free to enter data for any and all issues even if I own them.

Fantastic Story Magazine

1950 Sum()

1953 Sep(swfritter)

1954 Win(swfritter) Fall()

Fear!

1960 May() Jul()

Future Science Fiction(1950-1960)

1951 Nov(swfritter)

1952 Jul(swfritter) Sep(swfritter) Nov(swfritter)

1953 Jan(swfritter) May(swfritter) Jul(swfritter) Sep(swfritter) Nov(swfritter)

1954 Aug(swfritter)

1955 #28(swfritter)

1958 Oct()

1959 Jun(swfritter) Oct(swfritter)

Gamma

1963 #1() #2(swfritter)

1964 #3()

1965 Feb(swfritter) Sep(swfritter)

Monster Parade

1958 Sep() Nov() Dec()

1959 Mar()

Science Fiction Digest

1954 #1() #2()

I believe I own at least one copy of all of these except for Monster Parade. Finding individual issues in my currently rather messy magazine collection may not be easy, though :( If I am lucky, I will be able to spend a non-trivial amount of time with my collection after August-September, in which case I should be able to get organized and enter a bunch of missing issues. If I am not lucky, then it will be another round of wandering for 6+ months. Ahasuerus 19:03, 12 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Thanks! I will be updating this page as I fill in my collection and add titles to the database. I think by the end of this year we will have every issue of every 50's & 60's American magazine listed in Ashley's Transformations.

Which reminds me that I need to grab a few of my magazine checklists next time I have access to my collection (2007-07-28, most likely) and see if I can identify any additional magazines that we may be missing. And then there are foreign language magazines, but that's fodder for another discussion on the Standards board... Ahasuerus 12:40, 16 Jul 2007 (CDT)

It may take a really rich fan to get Monster Parade. I can find only one of the four issues for sale and it goes for about $250. The magazine is only marginally notable as science fiction because it was edited by Larry T. Shaw and had a few pseudonymous Silverberg stories and a John Jakes story.--swfritter 12:53, 16 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Talk page

I see that you are deleting old sections from your Talk page, presumably to make it easier to navigate. Although the deleted exchanges will be still accessible via the Talk page's history, they will be no longer easy to find, which may or may not be a problem. In case you haven't run into it, there is an easy way to archive old discussions -- see the very top of my Talk page :) Ahasuerus 18:25, 26 Jun 2007 (CDT)

I also routinely delete sections of my talk page. I used to archive the stuff but feel there's more value-added in the long run by improving the main help pages based on talk discussion rather than hunting through dozens of user talk pages and their archives. Something we could try is if a policy/help thing does end up being discussed on a user's talk page to archive that into a common archive. Marc Kupper (talk) 20:36, 16 Jul 2007 (CDT)

I would actually like to see an issue-based system with check-points indicating issue progress. It would be nice if there were a central locaton to list numbered issues with links to discussions.--swfritter 09:51, 18 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Well, we have something similar at ISFDB Bug List and ISFDB Feature List, but it's been somewhat inactive since Al's availability took a nosedive earlier this year. Ahasuerus 11:20, 18 Jul 2007 (CDT)

"M. Yemstew"?

I see that you did some work on International Science Fiction (1968) a few days ago. If you have the issues handy, could you please double check whether the name of one of the co-authors of The Last Door is spelled "M. Yemstew" or "M. Yemstev"? Thanks! Ahasuerus 18:55, 12 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Actually it's Yemtsew. But please don't ask whether whether Nathalie Charles-Henneberg should be Nathalie-Charles Henneberg.--swfritter 19:20, 12 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Thanks, I will set up a variant title as part of the Yemtsev/Parnov cleanup. Ahasuerus 19:31, 12 Jul 2007 (CDT)

P.S. While we are on the subject, could you please verify if Wanderers and Travellers was published in International Science Fiction, November 1967 as by Arkady Strugatsky alone? Our other publications have it listed as by both Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, which makes sense since the Strugatsky brothers always used pseudonyms when writing solo. Did Pohl accidentally omit Boris' name? Ahasuerus 19:42, 12 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Arkady only, although the same title was published elsewhere under both names. It does not looks as though I did a merge on the two. It's already confusing enough.--swfritter 11:25, 13 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Thanks, I have set up a Variant Title and added a note to the magazine Publication to indicate that the story was misattributed. Ahasuerus 12:23, 13 Jul 2007 (CDT)

ISFDB Moderator e-mail and availability

Swfritter - I don't have your e-mail handy but am setting up an e-mail account so that people can contact the moderators as a group to help with things such as wiki-blocks. Can you please contact me via http://marc.kupper.googlepages.com/contact and I'll forward the e-mail to you that I've already sent to those moderators for who I know their e-mail address?

Also - could you please add a row for yourself at ISFDB:Moderator_noticeboard#Moderator_Availability though if you want to be a stealth moderator that's fine too. Marc Kupper (talk) 16:49, 19 Jul 2007 (CDT)

George H. Smith

I don't know if you recall this conversation, but I wondered if you could clarify where the "Hudson" legal middle name came from? We've been discussing it again here and are a bit confuzzled. I've just been reading an interview where George Henry explains the difference between himself and another George H. but the Hudson never came up. :-/ BLongley 14:52, 24 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Well, after a look at a.k.a. and Fantastic Fiction websites it looks like it should be George Henry Smith. His use of the George Hudson Smith pseudonym is well documented and it may have been an assumption that he was using his actual name on earlier stories. I will change the legal name to George Henry Smith.--swfritter 20:54, 24 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Orbit SF #2 (1953)

You seem to be the expert when it comes to 1950s magazines, so I've come to ask if you have this issue of Orbit SF. I'm entering the Satellite series published in Australia in the late 1950s, which drew its stories heavily from Orbit. Tuck and Contento both show that the story by H. B. Fyfe is titled "Lunar Escapade", but Strauss (and the person who entered the ISFDB record) say it should be titled "Luna Escapade". Do you have easy access to that issue of Orbit? Thanks. Mhhutchins 11:32, 25 Jul 2007 (CDT)

I'm pretty sure I entered the Orbit issue. Title is "Luna Escapade" on both TOC and title page. I assume variant titles. First line starts "With over an hour to go before he needed...". I think that's the first time I have ever seen a story from Contento listed incorrectly. I have started checking stories with the same title by the same author a little more closely. I have actually found two authors who have published totally unrelated stories under the same title. This issue of Orbit also has Philip K. Dick's "Tony and the Beetles". How did he know the Beatles would be on an album with Tony Sheridan?--swfritter 17:18, 25 Jul 2007 (CDT)

It worries me that I can look at something like this video and still understand most of it. It worries me MORE that YouTube has stuff we can't even make sure of a link to. It's DATA, dammit, we NEED this! BLongley 19:27, 25 Jul 2007 (CDT)

The thing is, we can't be sure that Tuck and Contento are incorrect. Maybe the story is titled "Lunar Escapade" in this pub. I'll go ahead and verify the pub through Tuck, and create a variant for the spelling. Mhhutchins 20:56, 25 Jul 2007 (CDT)

I noticed there are other variant titles in this pub so there is every likelihood that the variant title is valid.--swfritter 11:07, 26 Jul 2007 (CDT)

Who was the second block for?

You cleared two auto-blocks

• 16:07, 20 Aug 2007 Swfritter unblocked "User:#2001"
• 16:23, 20 Aug 2007 Swfritter unblocked "User:#2005"

For #2001 you recorded the details on ISFDB:Moderator_noticeboard#Unblock_log but do you have the details for #2005? Marc Kupper (talk) 20:28, 20 Aug 2007 (CDT)

Sorry, I don't. I'm trying to remember if the system was down when I attempted to document the block but even if it was I should have pasted it locally until I could enter it.--swfritter 09:02, 21 Aug 2007 (CDT)

No problem - lately I have been pasting the block log data directly into the unblock notes. If I see an autoblock in the log then I select/copy it, click unblock, and paste into the comments field. Marc Kupper (talk) 20:06, 21 Aug 2007 (CDT)

The Shadow Out of Space

Apart from the book being by H. P. Lovecraft & August Derleth, there is no mention of authorship or copyright on any of the individual stories. I do find the Lovecraft/Derleth situation a bit annoying, as I'm pretty sure a lot of them should just be Derleth. This was one of the early collections I entered, so I probably just picked up the existing titles in the database and left whatever authorship they had attached to them. There's nothing in the book that suggests they couldn't all be changed to be by Lovecraft & Derleth, so you can make that change if you like. I can see we'll wind up with the odd variant where they're listed as being by Lovecraft in some places and Lovecraft/Derleth in others, but these are always going to be a mess. I suppose we could add notes (where known) to the story title records saying they were written by Derleth from Lovecraft's notes. --Unapersson 04:35, 9 Sep 2007 (CDT)

'Worlds Beyond, February 1951

I just noticed that the review of H. G. Wells' Seven Science Fiction Novels Worlds Beyond, February 1951 is uncredited. Is it, by chance, one of your publications? If not, I can check it in about 3 weeks when I once again have access to my collection. Thanks! Ahasuerus 10:46, 13 Sep 2007 (CDT)

Now credited to Knight - although that may have been a short leap of faith since the review column is not specifically credited to him. I'm fairly certain I put the reviews in. It might have been better to attribute them to 'uncredited' and then made Knight the variant author with an explanation. Fragments of some of the reviews appear in In Search of Wonder.--swfritter 13:21, 13 Sep 2007 (CDT)

Approving other mods holds/Journey Behind the Wind

I had a reason for putting it on hold. I don't question or approve other mods holds.Kraang 13:47, 23 Sep 2007 (CDT)

The Fiend

There are two entries with this title that look to me like they should be merged. One shows the author as "Unknown" and the other as "Editors of Playboy". The contents are the same. I had intended to verify this from the volume I have but was thrown by this duplication. I'm not exactly sure what to do here. Plus the contents listing shows a 'PARENT TITLE ERROR' for Frederik Pohl's Lovemaking. Can you advise me on what to do here or perhaps step in and resolve this one? Thanks. TFRANK 00:07, 28 Sep 2007 (CDT)

The "unknown" entry and the "Editors of Playboy" actually pointed to the same publication. It was perhaps a technically correct method of making "Editors of Playboy" a pseudonym but it was actually more confusing so I undid the association and deleted the "unknown" reference. "The Fiend" was pointed to a record that did not exist. In the Make Variant Title screen I pulled up the variant title and entered a 0 where it says Parent #, making sure I hit the top Submit Data button, to remove the reference to the bogus record. I then had to redo the variant title information with the correct record number. Since Making Love is the most commonly used variant of the title I made it the master title.--swfritter 12:23, 28 Sep 2007 (CDT)

King Solomon's Ring

I've held this submission as it changes the story length of something you've verified. Please feel free to take over and reject or approve as you think fit. BLongley 13:11, 3 Oct 2007 (CDT)

The story is listed as a short story in it's original publication but Contento classifies it as a novelette. So I did a random word count of a couple of pages. I came up with a generous length of 8,100 words but it most probably is almost exactly 7,500 words. I went back and forth and finally classified it as a novelette but I also suggested to Rudam that borderline cases should not be changed without some investigation.--swfritter 14:18, 3 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Thank you! I hope you don't mind me holding submissions like this for your expert opinion: you seem to be the most active Magazine specialist, and when something like this comes up that I have no primary sources for I prefer to leave it to someone else: a verifier at least, a verifying Moderator preferably. I love my shortfiction so do go look at these entries that affect both magazines and collections, but am always happy to give way to an expert on the originals. I suspect there are lazy moderators approving these changes without checking too hard: I'd probably be one of them myself if they were stacking up on the submission queue. We do have a few oddities such as a Short Story (by our standards) getting a Novelette award: and sources like Locus sometimes agree with both categories!

Personally, I think the story-length categories should be "Can you read this on a toilet-break", "Can you read this during a nice long bath", "Can you read this on a train-journey", and "Do you need to read this over a holiday?", but I suspect my preferences won't over-ride those of multiple Awards Committees. ;-) BLongley 15:37, 3 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Both the Hugo and the Nebula awards use the same standards as we do. The confusion comes in when the length is misclassified by the original publisher. I would imagine Contento probably uses the same rules. I do kind of wish we had a vignette ("Can you read it will walking to a toilet break") category. I usually go with the publishers category if it's close and bump it up the next higher length if it's on the borderline and is not categorized. The next time I get one of these I am going to ask the editor for a justification before I start counting words.--swfritter 16:04, 3 Oct 2007 (CDT)

The Crispin Affair

The Crispin Affair has two serial entries here - I presume the second is Interiorart? BLongley 06:50, 6 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Thanks.--swfritter 14:24, 6 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Fantastic Jan. 1960

I've modified your verified pub Fantastic Jan. 1960 to link "Diplomat at Arms" to the Retief series.--Rkihara 13:34, 8 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Thanks for notifying me. I don't mind if you add series information without notifying me. You only need notify me if you modify existing series information.--swfritter 13:49, 8 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Fast fingers, slow brain

Sorry, I just approved one your submissions. Blame it on global warming. Mhhutchins 18:35, 8 Oct 2007 (CDT)

I hope it wasn't one I was going to reject. A quick look tells me no. I hate it when I have to reject my own submissions.--swfritter 20:03, 8 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Brimingham?

Surely it's "Birmingham", or are there typos for cover and page 8 in the magazine? BLongley 14:00, 13 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Sruely it is.--swfritter 15:06, 13 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Hlaf fixed? BLongley 15:50, 13 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Yse! --swfritter 16:18, 13 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Suspense and Mysterious Traveler

Looking at the list of "missing" 1950s/1960s magazines, I wonder if we have Suspense and Mysterious Traveler in the database? You can't search for magazine Titles unless they have Editor records, but a Publication search suggested that we missing both of them. Admittedly, they were borderline for our genre, but still. I think I have all of the issues, but I won't have consistent access to my collection until at least December (more likely January) and my "obscure 1950s digests" are stuffed in a few dozen boxes full of pulps and other things, so it will take a while to sort it out. Ahasuerus 18:56, 16 Oct 2007 (CDT)

They aren't in the list of editorless magazines that I coaxed out with MySQL. I guess my SQL skills haven't totally left me because the results have been accurate so far. I have one issue of Mysterious Traveler which I got on the cheap from Ebay. I have only nine issues of Fantastic verifications left to do and I have managed to track down nearly all the magazines I was looking for. I will likely have all the obscure issues that I own in the databse by December.--swfritter 19:16, 16 Oct 2007 (CDT)

New Magazine Editor ;-)

I've left a Worlds of If Magazine submission on hold for you to look at, if you can spare the time, and would appreciate your comments on how damaging or useful such a submission is. Don't worry, this isn't a test on your Mod capabilities, it's a test of Magazine Entry abilities. And a check on what conventions I perceive there to be, as opposed to what's documented in help so far. BLongley 16:30, 20 Oct 2007 (CDT)

I can see a few problems such submissions would cause already - 4 variant names to start with, only one Interiorart entry listed, the publisher of this edition is actually a subsidiary of the US publisher, some reviews are from a column that isn't entirely based on reviews, do we need an overall title for a review section if the reviews are listed, what series do the regular columns need to go into, etc. There are no intentional mistakes to try and catch you out, any you find are indeed my own. If you like, I'll let you know what I check AFTER such a submission that affects us Book-Side Mods. BLongley 16:30, 20 Oct 2007 (CDT)

OK. I will wait to process it tomorrow and let you know what I find.--swfritter 16:43, 20 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Thank you. There's no hurry on this, and if you want to hide my suggestions about potential problems and use this as a test case for newer Magazine mods, feel free. I picked this as a fairly uncontroversial example, but it's probably best to start with such a title that I THINK is similar on the US and UK sides for now. Other magazines where there is a major time-gap, or stories removed or added due to copyright reasons, and suchlike problems, can wait a lot longer. BLongley 17:06, 20 Oct 2007 (CDT)

This is kind of an interesting issue. Note where you probably have a circle with a star, the American issue has a Special Trial Offer Price of 59 cents. There is a classified section on the last page which has ads with American addresses. There are also a number of other ads which have American addresses. I am curious whether you have British ads in your copy. I am going to have Rkihara take a look at it also.--swfritter 11:50, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

All the ads are US ones, from Star Trek merchandise on inside front-cover to the "Record from the Future" in the Music section of the classifieds. BLongley

That is probably a strong indication that the inside contents are identical which probably means that the publisher of record should be UPD and the price should be the American price with the English price in the notes. I don't think I ever will understand the British money system especially since I think it has undergone a number of revisions through the years.--swfritter 13:55, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Does the US version mention the British publisher? If not, it might be safest to mention the British publisher in notes too, as one issue alone does not prove that it was always printed by a subsidiary of the US corporation. In fact, I suspect it may well NOT have been - from my recollection of looking at Doctor Who books and other British book publications of that time, the distinctions between "Tandem" and "Universal-Tandem" (with "Wyndham" being involved somehow) seem to have been quite important for early 1970s publications. I suspect there was an international publisher take-over at that point, maybe one of the first that significantly affects the ISFDB: it's certainly a major nuisance for RECENT books published as I can no longer necessarily tell a UK book from a US one, it might be priced for several English-speaking markets at once and yet be printed in Germany for instance. :-( BLongley 16:09, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

As to the British money system: there's only one been one significant change, "Decimalisation" in 1971. It was probably the most successful Government project of all time, as it went about with very little fuss (unlike the attempt to make us give up miles in favour of kilometres for instance). And for BIG purchases there was no difference: one old pound was still one new pound. It was done with plenty of preparation too (so a 1968 book with a post-decimalisation price is NOT necessarily an error), and a gentle let-down afterwards (a 1974 book listing pre-decimalisation prices is not necessarily an error either, but the post-decimalisation price should be the canonical one by then) - we dual-priced a lot of things, especially books, for some years. Unfortunately, books were one of the things that the publishers tried to screw the consumer over on: "2/6" was a common paperback price at the end of the 60s, "25p" was common in 1971. I think they tried to fool people, in that when you lose the punctuation marks and currency symbols "25 is less than 26" - some people might have believed they were paying a penny less, when in fact the price had DOUBLED. :-(

There ARE lesser changes that confuse people, but they don't seem to be relevant to the ISFDB. We reintroduced the half-penny at decimalisation (the old one had been retired as worthless a while before) and that was around for several years: but I don't recall that ever being used for a British book, although it was common for the Irish price also printed on the book (which we mostly don't record) as they had a different tax-rate on books that meant they were mostly 2 and 1/2p higher. We kept the old six-penny piece around for years too, which confused visitors that had a coin that clearly said "SIX pence" and was worth two and a half. But again, that's just the coins, the books shouldn't have those problems.

Pre-decimalisation prices might have more problems as there were more colloquial terms for small sums of money: the book might well say "2/6" but if you're trying to research the price and come across someone saying "I bought it new, and it cost me half a crown!" and someone else saying "it was a tanner short of three bob!" you might not realise that they're saying the same thing. I've never come across such a problem while checking prices for ISFDB though - I suspect the only one that MIGHT occur is explaining a "Guinea". I can write the help page for you if you like (I seem to have written half of it here already!) but we haven't actually moved on again to "galleons, sickles and knuts", that's just a vicious rumour put about by Harry Potter fans. BLongley 16:09, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Yes - the British publisher is credited on the left side of the table of contents. How many fingers and thumbs did the English have before decimalization?--swfritter 16:43, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Five fingers and one thumb on each hand, and we each had one finger cut off each hand over over that long weekend in February 1971. No anaesthetic either - I think it was meant to stop us from thinking how we couldn't split a bill for a quid three ways any more: six shillings and eightpence each was easy maths, but the pain of a lost finger made us all settle down to one-on-one dining dates at 50p each. When did the US start stitching on the extra finger to its people? I've seen the cartoons, but the REAL US people seem to have FOUR fingers now, and I'm not sure which work... BLongley 17:20, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

We are a Mickey Mouse society.--swfritter 17:23, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Also a Quentin Tarantino society, to overseas viewers. I suspect the middle finger is real, it seems to be extended often in movies. Probably the index finger too, especially when curved around to meet the thumb. Or pull/squeeze a trigger. That narrows it down to ring finger or little finger. The Australians seem to have a use for waggling the little finger, which leaves ring finger. It stays immobile so you can see the ring - that must be the artificial one. Am I right? BLongley 18:31, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Don't blame us for the violent movies. We are only giving the people of the world what they want. Don't Blame the Pusher.--swfritter 14:21, 22 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Giving artist credit for individual pieces within one story

I wasn't able to find anything definitive in the help pages about this situation, but could you look at this pub that I approved from Davecat? Is there a policy about creating interior art records for each piece or for each story? Thanks. Mhhutchins 15:21, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

In Help under Entry - Interior Art. "An alternate option is to enter the first page where artwork appears. Page 9 would also be acceptable in the above case. It is also acceptable (but not required) to enter all pages where multiple artwork appears in a story." I generally just enter the the first page where artwork appears.

Also in that section: "If an article is illustrated with diagrams, or with photographs, these do not need to be included; they are not "artwork" in the sense that we are indexing." Artwork for "They're Trying to Tell Us Something (2/2)" is not necessary.

If the essays were added they should be using the "(Analog, April 1969)" modifier, Analog being considered the canonical title. "Brass Tacks" has no comma. "The Analytical Laboratory" and "In Times To Come" should have "The Reference Library" should use the format. They are all series data. I don't know which ones DaveCat might have entered. There is a lot of non-standard data. I'm cogitating about methods of documenting these standards. The best place might be on the grid page for the individual magazines.

The illustration for "The Whole World Is Watching" is too trivial too include as artwork. It is actually a graphic title rather than an actual illustration - it is a graphic representation of a TV with rabbit ears and the title of the story inside. It takes up about an eighth of a page. This section of Help does not actually address the issue and probably should.

I see you have already gotten some other input.Remember. Be careful what you ask for - you just might get it.--swfritter 16:37, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Thanks for the taking the time to clear up the several issues involved with this submission. It'll help me give Davecat a more definitive response. Mhhutchins 16:53, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

SQL for newbies

I'd also like your opinion on this. Useful or dangerous advice? (And yes, the "I'll leave explaining those to a Magazine mod" is an invitation for you to add to it.) BLongley 17:59, 21 Oct 2007 (CDT)

I have a tendency to not be able to comprehend schema talk no matter how well it is done. The document looks fine to me but the only way I have ever been able to comprehend schema data is to grab a piece of scratch paper, make data boxes and then draw lines between the linking data elements. And I often have to do it over and over again. I think graphical representations are the best way to document schema data.--swfritter 14:19, 24 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Yes, they're the best way, often. Unfortunately we can't upload graphics here and I don't think I can sneak a database diagram past Amazon. :-/

I'll see what I can do with ASCII-art and suchlike in the short-term, if this documentation-buzz continues. One of my big problems when starting to look at the database was that pub_content has two purposes - one to show "real contents" of a book (SHORTFICTION, ESSAY etc), and one to link to a title that needs no contents as it's a complete book as well (ANTHOLOGY, COLLECTION, NOVEL). As I can't redesign the schema, all I can do is try and explain the differences. Please do shout if I get anything dangerously wrong though.

I've deliberately left "EDITOR" records out so far as whenever I try to explain it in SQL terms I realise I don't fully understand them, and when I do them in "yes, we merge editor records into years because... " English terms I realise I don't fully understand THAT either. Searching for a magazine is so much harder than searching for a book I think there is still something fundamentally WRONG here. Still, it stopped me messing with things I don't understand for a while, that may be good news. BLongley 16:21, 24 Oct 2007 (CDT)

The terms in which I would explain EDITOR records have nothing to do with SQL.--swfritter 18:10, 24 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Hunting Alibrarian down

I think I may have found Alibrarian over at Librarything. I left him a message, so here is to hope! Ahasuerus 08:58, 22 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Nobody can hide in cyberspace.--swfritter 13:58, 22 Oct 2007 (CDT)

I seem to be doing it quite well. One of my other online personas used to get Death Threats from Lithuanians at least 10 times a month, but they haven't tracked me down to here yet. BLongley 14:06, 22 Oct 2007 (CDT)

I have a website devoted to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, which I've not updated in a number of years. It had been awhile since I checked my messages for an email address that I placed on that site. Some internet savvy soul with a couple of questions about Candide was able to track me down through a series of searches all the way to my personal email address (curse you, Wayback Machine). So Bill (if you're the real Bill Longley) someone will eventually track you down and hang you for your evil deeds (maybe the fourth hanging will do the job). Mhhutchins 17:18, 22 Oct 2007 (CDT)

And he is over 150 years old. Now he's probably on the run and we won't hear from him again until he finds another safe house.--swfritter 17:24, 22 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Sometimes it pays to have a lot of decoys. Hanging that guy three times probably saved my great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather :-)

Actually, though, does this mean I'm being set up to save my Dad or vice-versa? Who's still hunting us? Why do I have the right middle initial and my Dad doesn't? (Wherever my next safe house is, it probably WON'T be in Texas.) BLongley 16:58, 24 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Well Bill, are those drabbles you entered into the database really science fiction.--swfritter 13:16, 26 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Yes, they are, although friends there seem to be less forthcoming about their involvement than I hoped. :-( That's a bit of a dead end though, if you're trying to explain the Lithuanian Death threats. There's a much simpler connection. (Which I must try to follow sometime, as even I have forgotten some of the websites involved!) BLongley 15:17, 26 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Series Documentation for F&SF

I saw your series documentation for Analog (I thought it looked pretty cool). I thought I'd try modifying the magazine page for F&SF in the same manner, if you don't think it would give anyone heartburn. I've asked at Rules and Standards about using F&SF to i.d. the series entries, instead of the full canonical name.--Rkihara 17:23, 26 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Great idea. It would look much cleaner and "F&SF" is a clearly recognized alias for the title.--swfritter 18:20, 26 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Jim Baen (Obituary)

Talking of Obituaries with Rkihara made me go search for some, and I found several with this title. Is this a multi-part Obituary or the same one repeated? BLongley 12:52, 27 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Same one repeated. It needs to be merged. I think there is also a best of anthology that I will have to merge with some of the stories, too.--swfritter 13:40, 27 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Randall Garrett's pseudonyms

Are you familiar with Guy Gordon's Science Fiction Authors site, by any chance? It started out as The James H. Schmitz Encyclopedia a few years ago, but he now has pages on Randall Garrett and Howard L. Myers. Garrett's bibliography page is particularly useful if you are working on 1950s magazines since Guy lists pseudonyms for each published story and we all know that Garrett and Silverberg were responsible for well over 90% of the magazine SF published in the mid-1950s :-) Ahasuerus 15:37, 27 Oct 2007 (CDT)

I don't think I have seen that site but I have used this one. I have been meaning to document these links on the bibliographic page but like a million other things I haven't gotten around to it. There is also a good Harlan Ellison site.--swfritter 15:45, 27 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Thanks, I have added the listed URLs to their respective Authors' pages. Ahasuerus 00:43, 28 Oct 2007 (CDT)

I thought only one website could be entered and assumed that the entry should be reserved for the author's personal website. I learn something new everyday but I don't know if that makes up for the five things I forget everyday.--swfritter 09:14, 28 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Checking the Help pages, I see that we cover the issue of multiple URLs, but we don't explain what to do if the author is dead and there is no official site. I think I talked to Al about it a while back and the thinking was that authorized sites were the way to go for living authors, but we didn't have to be quite as careful with deceased authors. Probably something to post on the Standards page and add to the Help pages at some point. Ahasuerus 10:24, 28 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Made the following change while it was in my mind but was wondering if this is significant enough that I should have gotten opinions on the issue before making the change to Help. It is basically a clarification rather than a change in policy. I will still post on Standards to guarantee that is at acceptable.--swfritter 15:26, 28 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Sounds good! Ahasuerus 15:28, 28 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Joseph F. Goodavage's essays

Would you happen to know the status of Joseph F. Goodavage's early 1960s essays in Analog, by any chance? A number of them, e.g. Crucial Experiment #6, Report on Crucial Experiment No. 5--February and Report on Crucial Experiment--March do not belong to any publication. I also wonder if we need two series for these essays or whether one would be enough. Any insights? Ahasuerus 08:40, 29 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Analog, July 1970

In preparing to edit the July 1970 issue, I see listed an essay "Some Like It Hot, Some Like It Cold", said to be by JWCJr. Looking at the magazine I see no such essay. The editorial in that issue is called "The Pot of Message". I suspect a typo somewhere, or conceivably a database issue that got fixed wrong; this probably belongs in some other issue. I don't find another instance of the title in the database. For the moment I'm going to leave it in; but do you (or does anyone) have information on where it should be instead? Thanks. -- Dave davecat 09:36, 29 Oct 2007 (CDT)

It's not in the table of contents. It's on page 120 as by The Editor. I think there may have been a misunderstanding about creating a pseudonym for essays signed by The Editor. The specific line in Help that applies is - "If there is external evidence (such as a collection of editorials from a magazine, making it clear who the author was) that identifies the author, then you can add a variant title to that item". So if the essay does not appear somewhere else with his name it a pseudonym should not be applied. I have made the changes. Notice how I also included the quotation marks and note that the periods in the ellipsis have spaces in between them.--swfritter 14:21, 29 Oct 2007 (CDT)

I have some of your current "The Editor" submissions on hold until the issue is resolved.--swfritter 14:35, 29 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Thank you. It sounded like an editorial's title, & (as you say) wasn't in the TOC. I flipped quickly through looking, but not thoroughly to check every page.
I will stop doing variants on The Editor at least for now, then. --Dave davecat 15:31, 29 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Note that the submitted variants on "Rat Race", "Red Tide", "The Pot of Message", & "Cliff-hanger" are not for The Editor, but for John W. Campbell. (I see they're still pending.) --Dave davecat 15:37, 29 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Yet another question posed by this issue, but actually by most or all of them I've looked at: the cover art attribution in the database says "Frank Kelly Freas", but the magazine says "Kelly Freas". Same for some other artists. If this were a simple title in the contents (an interior art thing), I'd be pretty sure I should be changing to the name from the magazine & then later making a variant. With cover art I don't know. As I go through these things should I be doing something? Thanks. --Dave davecat 15:48, 29 Oct 2007 (CDT)

I was in a bit of a hurry and did not have a chance to approve the editorial submissions. I was pretty sure they were right. I will reject "The Editor" entries. Go ahead and leave the artwork the way it is now. The artwork entries are pretty much in a raw data state now. We couldn't really start making decisions about canonical names, etc. until we had some data to work with. Remember, there will be another pass and probably more through these magazines before final validation. Don't sell your magazines! The only data you are responsible for is the data you enter. If you see any questionable entries it is OK to leave them. And you don't have to enter any more data than you want to. Any valid data you add is a big help. The whole process can get a little addictive.--swfritter 18:19, 29 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Thank you! -- Dave davecat 10:09, 30 Oct 2007 (CDT)

Space Science Fiction, September 1953

I am working on my George O. Smiths and I have just checked his reviews in Space Science Fiction, September 1953, which you verified a few days ago. Aside from reviewing one of his own books (in jest, so I am not even sure that it amounts to a real review), he also reviewed The Sanger-Bredt Report: A Rocket Drive for Long Range Bombers. Our publication record currently lists the author as "Sanger-Bredt", but there is no such animal. The report was written by two German researches, Eugen Sänger (of the Rakatenflugtechnic fame) and Irene Bredt, and sent to the government in August 1944. It was too late to have an impact on the course of the war, but it proved very influential in the late 1940s and the early 1950s, which is why Smith reviewed the full English translation when it finally appeared. Would you like me to change the Publication record? Ahasuerus 21:04, 1 Nov 2007 (CDT)

I would leave the Smith review of his own book. It does have some valid information about the genesis of the book and his very short discourse on magazine vs. book versions. Sanger-Bredt - yes please. If I remember correctly I could not find much information about this book and I kind of threw in the towel. I made a pass through the magazines I have been working on and verified them realizing I would not be shot at sunrise if someone found an error in them.--swfritter 16:37, 2 Nov 2007 (CDT)

Will do! (After I am done with verifications and back on the road, that is.)Ahasuerus 17:23, 2 Nov 2007 (CDT)

P.S. Done while I still have access to the magazine. Ahasuerus 11:47, 4 Nov 2007 (CST)

Amazing Stories, December 1965

Jumping just for a brief moment off Analog. I found in with them Amazing Stories, December 1965, which I think I must have bought at a garage sale at some point. (I have one other issue, I know, no idea where; but this one I don't even remember.) Anyway, I thought I'd enter missing stuff from it, just for a little break, & I ran into a snag right off. The database lists here the editorial as being by Sol Cohen, who is indeed listed on the title page as "Editor and Publisher" (so should I add him as Publisher as well as Editor of the pub, BTW?). But at the end of the editorial it says "—JR", and one Joseph Ross is listed as "Managing Editor". I find Joseph Ross in the database, minimally (4 editorials from Fantastic, & The Best of Amazing), but no indication that he used JR as a pseudonym. I wish to check with you, before I do it, that I should make JR a pseudonym for Ross etc. etc. And (if so) to make sure I should use JR and not J. R. or something else.
(I'd assume that I put Ultimate Publishing Co., Inc. as the publisher rather than Cohen, as I read on through the fine print. I asked in the first place because that field is currently empty.)
Anyway, thanks. --Dave davecat 17:11, 2 Nov 2007 (CDT)

OK, I finally got around to entering additions & changes for this issue. Whenever the submission has been approved, you might glance at it. (My first non-Analog mag here.) Thanks. -- Dave davecat 21:04, 5 Nov 2007 (CST)

Hmmmmmm. I hope I eventually turn up that other Amazing. (It may actually be an omnibus of stories from Amazing or some such; it was a digest-sized thing bound just like this issue, though.) I can recall a couple of the stories, & it looks like it's not in the database at all. (And now I'm getting "Cannot connect to the MySQL database." errors. Does this happen often? How long does it typically last?) (And trying to save this edit right here gets "Sorry! The wiki is experiencing some technical difficulties, and cannot contact the database server. User 'isfdb' has exceeded the 'max_user_connections' resource (current value: 4)") davecat 17:42, 2 Nov 2007 (CDT)

I just made a complete pass through Fantastic and there are many issues from the magazine that are replicated in Amazing. In the early 60's Cele Goldsmith was credited with authorship of the editorials when they were actually signed by Norman Lobsenz. I am probably going to get dinged for this by somebody else but when I find no ambiguity about who wrote the editorials I enter the name of the editor for whom the initials obviously stand. You will also note in the November 1965 Fantastic that I have given the artwork the same date as the original publication date of the story in Amazing or Fantastic. Not only was I able to physically verify a sampling of the pieces of artwork but the artwork is attributed to artists from the same time frame and the art obviously fits the stories. We are in the initial data collection phase for artwork and standards for attribution and determination of canonical names for artists are likely to be in flux. I fully expect to have to go through my entire collection to clean up the artwork entries. One thing - please do not merge any artwork that you enter with the associated artwork from previous printings. That would add one more complication to an area that is currently in the state of development. For right now I would use the issue of Fantastic as a reference point. It's on me if my ideas are wrong. I can guarantee you that Analog is a lot easier. If you find any titles or authors that are entered incorrectly please do some investigation before changing them. Nearly every entry in Amazing is connected to another publication.--swfritter 17:54, 2 Nov 2007 (CDT)

Ok. The question about merging I'd been going to ask (elsewhere) related to artwork (in Analog) & there were complications; then I saw the note in that help page on merging that you'd said (recently added?) something about not merging artwork, so I never asked it. Thank you. -- davecat 18:36, 3 Nov 2007 (CDT)

I guess I may as well ask it, but I don't have the wherewithall to check things out, so I won't merge. In entering Analog for March 1970, I entered artwork for "Ravenshaw of WBY, Inc." (W. Macfarlane). That title is now 801129. I see that there is another illustration, same title, same artist (702145), which is in pubs Analog's Lighter Side (Anthology #4) here, & Analog's Lighter Side here. These pubs are both dated 1982, & the illustration is dated 1970, which suggests that it's the same illustration as in the magazine. But in the magazine there were in fact three illustrations for the story, & there's no suggestion that there are multiple illustrations in the anthologies. If I had a copy of the anthology (either - I'm guessing that the difference is really only binding) I might compare to the magazine, & see if there are 3 illustrations, all the same, or what. Not being able to check, I'm assuming that it's definitely a bad choice for merging artwork. (If you contradict me (or anyone does) I'll be very surprised indeed.) Anyway. -- Dave davecat 21:04, 5 Nov 2007 (CST)

I think you understand now why I made the preemptive decision to put that section in. Once an idea starts swirling around it can be difficult to contain the consequences. The responses to my post about adding the Help are an indication that there needs to be some forethought before instituting such a policy. The hardest part is finding some unique aspect of artwork that will reliably justify a merge. Other than having both pieces of artwork in hand there is no reliable methodology that I can think of.--swfritter 10:06, 6 Nov 2007 (CST)

I think I understand that reasoning, & it's quite weighty as far as it goes. (And the reason I cited the case I'd been wondering about was that I think it goes pretty far.) <rant>But — I'm not sure that the case with stories is really any different, except in degree. (The difference in degree admittedly may often be pretty large.) One example that comes to mind is a sort of fixup, a particularly awful one IMNAAHO: The book publication Strangers in Paradise by Anvil comprised (IIRC off hand) his stories "Strangers to Paradise", "The Dukes of Desire", & "The King's Legions", apparently hacked down to some desired length by crudely chopping out (sometimes seemingly at random) words, phrases, sentences, & paragraphs; longer paragraphs or groups thereof were sometimes summarized by a brief sentence. If the stories, which together do make something of a novel in three main sections, had been given their separate titles in the book, how would anyone without both the magazine & book versions in hand know that these really weren't the same story but variants? (If it sounds like I'm still a bit outraged after all these years at the slash-&-bash editing, I'm afraid that's accurate.) Similarly (but with no cause for outrage whatsoever) many cases where Campbell published a novel as a short story or two plus a serial, the serial often having the same name as a subsequent book publication of the entire novel. If we do ever get an effective way of dealing with this sort of thing, including true fixups, we'll have to worry quite a bit more than we do now about whether two works, same title & author, really are the same. </rant> -- Dave davecat 11:20, 6 Nov 2007 (CST)

Without being able to speak with authority, I would hope that the way this book was published is an exception. Locus/Contento lists it as a collection but then makes the notation that it is a "Fix-up novel". I think in most cases such works are marketed as novels rather than collections. The first reason I can think of is that novels probably sell better than collections. With a fix-up novel the short stories are source material rather than reprints; and it's a true headache for editors working in that area because the only way to document the stories that comprise a fix-up is in the notes field. I think it is less common for a story that appears in a book marketed as a collection to receive substantial revisions. I notice that Dcarson has verified this pub and made some notes that indicate the problems with the collection. If you want to make a more detailed analysis in the bibliographic notes I don't think he would mind but it might be better to ask him if it's OK. I think the ISFDb can support both popular and scholarly usage.--swfritter 13:47, 6 Nov 2007 (CST)

The "Cannot connect to the MySQL database" error usually means that the database server has crashed and is rebooting. It's been happening more often lately, which is one of the reasons why we have been contemplating moving to another ISP. Ahasuerus 17:49, 2 Nov 2007 (CDT)

It's pretty annoying, and quite ironic when I improve Chad Oliver data here and see our link to his Wikipedia entry links back not to here, but the fabulous OTHER tamu.edu resources available... :-/ BLongley 19:36, 2 Nov 2007 (CDT)

(Um. No doubt there's a connection that causes that comment to be here - I just don't recognize it. Unless it's simply Oliver's having a story in this issue of Amazing?) -- Dave davecat 11:20, 6 Nov 2007 (CST)

No, nothing to do with "Amazing", just an example of how we're depending so much on tamu.edu being UP for our ISFDB work. And when it IS, we often fix our links to Wikipedia. Wikipedia doesn't link back to ISFDB in this case, but to OTHER tamu.edu resources. Even when our ISFDB bit of tamu.edu is DOWN. :-( BLongley 17:39, 6 Nov 2007 (CST)

Somebody once told me that "Irony" is something that it's pointless to try to explain to Americans. And sometimes Canadians. Although some Canadians do get it (mostly) right. See "God Is an Iron" by Spider Robinson for instance. BLongley 17:39, 6 Nov 2007 (CST)

Well, it's true that irony, humor, sarcasm and a few other things do not always survive border (or temporal) crossings. Somebody like Stepin Fetchit was considered very funny 70 years ago and appeared in major projects starring the likes of Will Rogers, but within a few generations his appeal became completely incomprehensible. However, in this case I suspect that the problem is not so much with Anglo-American cultural differences as it is with the medium that we use to communicate. The Internet is a notorious sarcasm killer and irony may not fare much better. Ahasuerus 18:45, 6 Nov 2007 (CST)

If you take the "iron" out of "irony" you do get something you bash the other guy over the head with.--swfritter 20:10, 6 Nov 2007 (CST)

I am just thankful that Canadian singer Alanis Morissette was willing to write a song explaining irony. Up until that time Americans had no idea what the word meant. Wasn't even in the American dictionary.--swfritter 13:49, 7 Nov 2007 (CST)

Unfortunately, Alanis Morissette is one of the Canadians that HASN'T understood it, and has endured much ridicule for trying to write about it. (Almost as much as her so-called "singing" has.) BLongley 18:39, 10 Nov 2007 (CST)

Unknown vs Editors of Playboy

Awhile back you fixed the entry for The Fiend for me and briefly described what you did. I've finally come back to look at this again and see that there are four more entries in this same state. I tried to follow your description but I am just not knowledgeable enought to attempt this. Can you look at working these over or give me the step by step so I could do so? Thanks. These are the entries:

The Dead Astronaut, 10 Stories of Space Flight (1971) [as by Editors of Playboy ] From the "S" File (1971) [as by Editors of Playboy ] Last Train to Limbo (1971) [as by Editors of Playboy ] Transit of Earth (1971) [as by Editors of Playboy ]

TFRANK 22:51, 3 Nov 2007 (CDT)

I did the first two to make sure I had the process right but will let you do the other two if you want to. Do a search for "Last Train to Limbo". Click on "The Last Train to Limbo" entry with type "Anthology" and Authors "Editors of Playboy". Click "Make This Title a Variant Title or Pseudonymous Work". Enter a zero for Parent # on this screen. Hit the Submit Data in the TOP part of the screen. After that submission has been accepted you can then delete the "The Last Train to Limbo" entry with type "Anthology" and Author "unknown". If you feel uncomfortable doing this let me know and I will complete the last two. Either way you will have learned a little more about how the system works.--swfritter 14:14, 4 Nov 2007 (CST)

Thanks for the instructions. I've gone ahead with the second pair as you instructed. TFRANK 16:00, 4 Nov 2007 (CST)

I came across one more volume that isn't in exactly the same condition - "Masks" which is attributed to Anonymous rather than the Editors of Playboy. There is only this one entry. Should the author be changed in this case or should the publication be cloned and then changed in the clone, then follow the steps you've outlined? TFRANK 16:43, 4 Nov 2007 (CST)

My opinion would be the change to Editors of Playboy which by usage has seemed to become standard usage.--swfritter 14:18, 6 Nov 2007 (CST)

Hardly common usage though, so feel free to challenge quickly, TFRANK. Some "Editors of Playboy" entries have been forced on people that encountered the "magazines must have an editor" ISFDB rules. "THE Editors of Playboy" seem to come from another (more bookish) angle. There's a few more Playboy editors that have been hunted down and credited: Barbara Nellis, Alice K. Turner, Hugh M. Hefner, and the good old "unknown" and "uncredited" and as you've seen, "anonymous". I know there's various unresolved discussions about editor credits, but I do lean towards these vague terms being kept linked to a small set of works rather than having overlapping but obviously distinguishable authors: but I don't want to have to hunt down every pornographer that published SF either. BLongley 18:01, 6 Nov 2007 (CST)

Magazine example 2

The next controversial Magazine Submission example is here. I found the last one more instructive than I thought it would be (both ways), from merely editing existing contents. Feel free to keep that as an example, but if I add too many more examples then we will need to approve, and fix, some. BLongley 18:05, 10 Nov 2007 (CST)

This one, due to not finding a simple way to clone magazines, is an example of "copy and paste" activity, but also includes having to add reviews that the US magazine hasn't got yet, and may not have had. Many merges will be needed. An extra complication is that the way that the reviews of Ace Doubles are presented may not lead to matching with the books, or even the titles. BLongley 18:05, 10 Nov 2007 (CST)

Again, there are no trick questions here. All typos are my own. Trying to differentiate UK and US editions via suffixes may lead to problems on sub-titles of some contents. Putting certain entries into series obviously cannot be done until approval, so think ahead on how those should/could be done. BLongley 18:05, 10 Nov 2007 (CST)

Cyrano de Bergerac illustrations

Unusually for Analog, this Science Fact article has credited illustrations. I'm entering them as such, but I'd like your opinion if you have this issue (November 1972): should those on pp. 79-82 (that's everything except the first one) be entered as cartoons? If I met any one of them standing alone, I'd have no hesitation in doing so. I'll happily change them, if you concur. Thanks. -- Dave davecat 10:04, 12 Nov 2007 (CST)

"Force Over Distance" - "Jenson's Folly" (Analog, February 1973)

Entering Analog, February 1973. I see "Jenson's Folly" by Tak Hallus in the database, but in the mag it's "Force Over Distance". AFAICS the title is listed only in this one pub; it's listed as a variant of "Jenson's Folly" by Stephen Robinett (whom I know from elsewhere is who Tak Hallus really is). I'm going to change the title back; I'm just checking with you to make sure I'm understanding everything correctly. The pub is this & the title is this. Thanks. -- Dave davecat 16:19, 12 Nov 2007 (CST)

Looks like a variant title by a pseudonym. Your change should work. I also noted that there is an orphan reference to the story without a link to a pub. It should be deleted when you have made the change.--swfritter 17:53, 12 Nov 2007 (CST)

"Missile, Missile, Who's Got the MIssile? (Quiz)" ?

You're down as verifying this pub. Can you check whether it really is "Mlssile" rather than "Missile"?
And there are several similar quizzes attributed to Joseph C. Stacey (including one I entered not that long ago, in an Analog). I got into this because I just found another one (Joseph Stacey, no "C.") in Analog, December 1973. I kind of suspect that we should make Joseph C. Stacey the canonical name (but have no very direct evidence); what do you think? Thanks. -- davecat 11:49, 16 Nov 2007 (CST)

I Fixed the misspelling and cleaned up the temporary note data that someone else left. I think you are right about Stacey as there is also a Joseph C. Stacey who is credited in another issue of Science Fiction Stories. The only question is whether we have collected enough data to determine a canonical name. Since this may be the only time that anyone makes the connection between the two names I think it might be a good idea to make James C. Stacey the canonical name.--swfritter 13:39, 16 Nov 2007 (CST)

Thanks. I've submitted the make-variants, then. I'm hoping that, since the "C." is both more specific & more frequent, that's the way to go. But if eventually someone were to decide that plain Joseph should be canonical, I don't expect there to be a flood of data needing fixing.
I missed the note someone had left about the misspelling; glad you caught it. -- Dave davecat 16:43, 16 Nov 2007 (CST)

Inside Science Fiction (Science Fiction Quarterly, November 1955)

Could you please double check whether Inside Science Fiction (Science Fiction Quarterly, November 1955) in your verified Science Fiction Quarterly, November 1955 is an essay or a story? Bob's articles were generally well regarded and I don't think anybody has called them fiction yet :) Ahasuerus 22:40, 27 Nov 2007 (CST)

Fixed! I was excited to speak to Mr. Madle when I ordered some magazines from him this year. The members of First Fandom seem almost to be gods to me.--swfritter 13:44, 28 Nov 2007 (CST)

Analog, June 1969

If you own it & if it's not too much trouble, would you mind checking this issue? I'm assuming that this is just a glitch in my own copy, but ... I see that after p. 178 (the last interior page), pages 147-178 are repeated. If it's not just my copy, it's certainly worth a note in the pub.
Funny that I don't recall ever noticing this before, either back in 1969 & the 70s, or when I went through this issue a few weeks ago.
Thanks! -- Dave davecat 14:40, 3 Dec 2007 (CST)

My copy is OK. Do you just have extra pages? or are you missing pages also? I have a issues of Imagination and Fantastic with the same problem but I don't think a large number of issues are affected when this happens. Usually just a few sporadic issues when the sections are being combined. I have had it happen with a book too. --swfritter 18:06, 3 Dec 2007 (CST)

No missing pages. I figured it was probably just this copy, but wanted another data point. I too have had books with this problem - & also with signature bound upside down or replaced by something else. (In fact, a library book I am reading has an extra copy of a signature in the middle.) Thanks for checking. -- Dave davecat 09:22, 4 Dec 2007 (CST)

Fantastic, April 1969

There was a Blank reviewer in in your verified pub, made visible now I've redefined blank to literally 'Blank'. Can you supply the correct name please? BLongley 12:17, 25 Dec 2007 (CST)

Removed review and added with Leiber only as reviewer. How did you find this - perhaps you have a future as a ghostbuster since you can see the invisible.--swfritter 16:21, 26 Dec 2007 (CST)

Advanced search for '%' matches all authors - the first record showed up as having no text for the author name (and it does again at the moment, so someone's broken something again). However, it's editable from the record number, so I put in 'Blank' (literally) and then I could search for 'Blank' as a normal author to pick up the individual works. Do you want to try it this time? It's easier and more up-to-date than playing with the backups. BLongley 14:45, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

O'Neil & Adams

There's an unlinked review in here: I'm not sure if you WANT it to link as it would be to a paperback reprint of a comic. However, that publication might be worth recording for its Samuel R. Delany essay, and we have the authors here already - although one is actually an illustrator. The other possible author according to some sources, John Broome, has had comics zapped before. BLongley 13:48, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

Serendipity, I suppose, but I linked it to this just as you were writing this note. Mhhutchins 14:03, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

Fantastic, March 1974

This might have "Screenplays" and "Bergman" in the review section? I've added the pub to link to if so. BLongley

Oddly enough I actually own the book but at the time did not consider it all that important to add non-sf items just because they were reviewed. I cringe whenever I get to an L. Sprague de Camp book review column because he inevitably reviews a half-dozen nonfiction items that are not in the database. I must have added 20 or 30 such books when entering his reviews in various issues of Future Science Fiction magazine.--swfritter 16:12, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

I was dubious, but the title of this essay suggested that better people than me count Bergman as SF, at times. I can't say I've ever seen one of his films, let alone read a screenplay or novelisation. And particularly not in Swedish. BLongley 17:44, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

Some of his films are quite surreal and more or less speculative, but most aren't. Probably better to err on the side of caution/inclusion in his case. Ahasuerus 18:02, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

I'm certainly not going to add any more Bergman just because of this case. At some point we should halt the latest clean-up and look at what's left, and decide how to balance dead-end links with stuff we actually want here. Non-Fiction like Bibliographies of SF Authors is good: Non-Fiction of UFO nuts maybe less so (I've added some on the "older titles lean toward inclusion" basis). BLongley 18:28, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

Ray Palmer will be a particularly tricky case. He mostly abandoned the SF field in the late 1950s to pursue his UFO-paranormal-Shaver-etc interests. And he was quite prolific in those areas, producing dozens and dozens magazine issues in various fields, often with a pseudo-speculative bent. Ahasuerus 18:42, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

Not, fortunately, one of MY problems. BLongley 19:15, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

Reviews of Audiobooks is a tricky standards problem, Graphic Novels by otherwise acceptable authors, too: I'm hoping we can at least eliminate a few hundred typo problems and (ir)regularisations. I doubt we can introduce database restraints to stop duff submissions in this case, but in other news we MAY be close to having a database clean enough to stop people adding authors of pubs that don't match an author already here or in the title being submitted, for instance, or adding duplicate or creating empty Pub Tags: I like a nice clean database: never seen one yet, but it's always something nice to aspire to. BLongley 18:28, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

There are quite a few (thousands of) obviously bad records to fix first, though: bad ISBNs, bad bindings, incorrect dates, missing publications, etc, etc, which should keep us busy for a good long time. And a good thing too! You know how genre bibliographers are: left to our own devices, we might be prowling out there in the dark, making faces at little old ladies and snarling at puppies. Well, maybe few will go so far as to actually snarl, but at least frowning! Ahasuerus 18:42, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

You may be missing my point - we are (in some respects, and IMO) close to cleaning this place up enough to envisage stopping SOME types of bad data being submitted in future. See my "Ghostbusting" comment above - "Blank" should not be an option, but it keeps getting created. Bad ISBNs needs a standards discussion - "record the bad and note the good" or vice versa? (I prefer vice versa, we can add some submission checks then.) Bindings are mostly fixable (but boring to do so, as I found after three days of moving narrators to notes and adding "audio CD" or "audio cassette" as appropriate) - I think we can stop submissions of totally inappropriate bindings for new pubs at least, and if it really IS unknown we can stop submissions like "bit taller than normal, slightly narrower than usual". There'll still be several thousand OTHER tasks to do, but we can stop letting SOME tasks pile up. I LIKE sorting "missing publications" - it's a challenge to find someone selling a book we haven't yet admitted exists... but I haven't yet resorted to prowling the streets kidnapping puppies from little old ladies that daren't admit they own a certain edition of a book. (When that time comes, it's probably my own personal "Nine Billion Names of God" time, and I shall be one of the stars that winks out. And nobody will notice anyway.) BLongley 19:15, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

I agree that at some point we will want to introduce additional (i.e. in addition to the existing date limitations) constraints on what can be entered into the database. IIRC, the original idea was to let editors play with the data and then see what emerges as the de facto standard. We may well be approaching the point when we can say, "Well, after hundreds of thousands of submissions, we are pretty sure that we can limit allowed bindings to the following 10-20 types". However, before we do that, I think we want to do a better job of analyzing where we currently are, cleaning up the obvious messes ("`pb" as opposed to "pb" and such) and merging certain binding codes like "digest"/"Digest". Once that is out of the way, I think we will be in a much better position to establish -- and programmatically enforce -- standards. And yes, repetitive housekeeping tasks can be quite boring :( Ahasuerus 20:11, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

I'm a little concerned that someone has entered "Magazine not book, removed review" for part of this cleanup - I always prefer to add data, or get current data fixed or adjusted to link better (with notes as to what was adjusted) - I hope nobody's deleting stuff that we want for the new Fanzines / Magazines link-ups. Ideally, I'd like all the auto-generated links to go somewhere, if only to a stub that says "Playboy Issue NNN has ONE relevant Bradbury story, and so NO - you can't have cover-art for this pub!" BLongley 17:44, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

Fixed - I would have to say October 10, 2007 was not one of my better days. Screeplays by Begman. Youch!!.--swfritter 16:23, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

Spill-Chuckers are of little use at times... but I think Firefox has helped me cope with my more drunken editing sessions a bit better than Internet Exploder would have. ;-) BLongley 17:44, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

"The Colu[o?]ssus of Maia"

Is "The Colussus of Maia" really spelled that way in Cosmic Stories, July 1941? If not, we may want to merge it with "The Colossus of Maia". BTW, do you happen to have a source for the three "Wilfred Owen Morley" stories that are currently unattributed? It could be any combination of Ackerman and/or Lowndes, I suppose. Ahasuerus 21:14, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

Fixed and merged "Colossus" - including artwork and variant title. According to the Contento/Locus CD: "* Dhactwhu!—Remember? (with Jacques DeForest Erman), (nv) Super Science Stories Apr 1949" is the only story involving this pseudonym that they collaborated on (with Erman being an Ackerman pseudonym, so technically speaking he was not actually using the Morley pseudonym in this case). I find nothing other than generic references for the use of the pseudonym elsewhere.--swfritter 16:01, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

There were two dangling record left, but I have zapped them, so we should be in a reasonably good shape. I hope :) I'll check Wilfred Owen Morley in Rock's "Who Goes There?" when I am on the road again. Ahasuerus 17:14, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

The only Morley story specifically credited to Lowndes by Rock is "A Matter of Philosophy".--swfritter 17:21, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

Future 1941-1943

1942-12-00 and 1943-02-00 done -- take a look when you have a chance. All pseudonyms but one (Wilfred Owen Morley which had been used by Ackerman and/or Lowndes) have been attributed and a couple of series set up, but I may have missed something. Ahasuerus 22:49, 31 Dec 2007 (CST)

The letters in the December, 1942 issue do not have magazine and month qualifiers as the Knight letter does in the February 1943 issue.

Added, thanks! Ahasuerus 17:11, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

The Editor signature in the February 1943 issue - From Help: "If a work is attributed to a role, e.g. "Editor" or "Publisher", then use that name as the author, even if it you have clear evidence as to who the author really is. For example, editorials in magazines were frequently uncredited, or credited to "The Editor"; these should be entered with the Author field set to "The Editor". The intent is that the record made from the publication should reflect what can be found in the publication. If there is external evidence (such as a collection of editorials from a magazine, making it clear who the author was) . . ." I think this is related to the initials issue. The last sentence could be modified to say "external or internal evidence". The internal evidence here would be the fact that the column is signed by the editor and the editor is Lowndes. There are a few mags where there might be a question but definitely not here. Making this change will annoy the editors who have been chided for making a pseudonym out of "The Editor" and will require some cleanup but most editors have had the intuitive sense that, either directly or as a pseudonym, the canonical name of the "The Editor" should be used. I will throw this one out on the community portal.

This is a tricky area since sometimes "The Editor" could mean "Managing Editor" or "Associate Editor". IIRC, Palmer and Browne would do it occasionally in Amazing in the 1940s, but I agree that in most cases it's fairly unambiguous. Ahasuerus 17:11, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

Would it make sense to create a separate Wiki page for the two series. I have been using "Future Science Fiction" as the canonical title for purposes of doing series data in the later run but I'm not sure that would make sense for the earlier run. They don't seem to me to be the same magazine.--swfritter 15:32, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

It gets worse -- the last two issues of the first series were published as "Science Fiction"! We may have to do some cross-referencing here to make sure that anybody who looks at these Wiki pages knows what other related magazines appeared in the same series. However, I am not too worried about it at the moment since we can always rearrange things later. I am just trying to get as many verifications done as I can before I hit the road again on Sunday. I will not be back until mid-February and even then only for a couple of days, so verification time is at a premium at the moment.

P.S. October 1942 entered, verified and linked. No letters of note this time. Ahasuerus 17:11, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

Looks good. Please feel free at all times to defer responses. Instant gratification not necessary for me.--swfritter 17:27, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

Well, I keep bumping into data and policy issues as I enter these magazines, so I figure it's better to take the time to record them in the Wiki rather than risk forgetting about them. Memory is the second thing to go and all that. BTW, August 1942 is ready for review. Ahasuerus 18:48, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

Looks good. Of course, once you put something in the Wiki you have to try and remember where it is.--swfritter 19:36, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

Oops, forgot to mention which story the cover art illustrates! Fixed now. And yes, we may need another Wiki to keep track of our Wiki... Ahasuerus 19:53, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

June 1942 entered and linked. I left it as by "uncredited" since Lowndes wasn't credited in the TOC, but he did sign "Station X", so I am not sure if that's what we want to do. Also, it made the Future Science Fiction Magazine Series listing a bit messy, but we can sort that out once we decide how we want individual issues entered. Ahasuerus 21:22, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

Ashley says Lowndes from 4/41 to 7/43 but Contento says his last issue was 2/43 without listing the editor for the remaining two issues. With his signature on editorial matter I would feel comfortable assigning Lowndes as the editor. Wish I could track down an affordable copy of his autobiography published by Borgi (although autobiographies are often the least reliable source). Found one copy for $180.--swfritter 14:40, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

The last two issues of Futures were published as Science Fiction, so perhaps Contento lists the editor under Science Fiction? Tuck lists Lowndes as the only editor between August 1941 and 1960. And which autobiography are we talking about? Is it Orchids for Doc: The Literary Adventures and Autobiography or Robert A. W. "Doc" Lowndes? If so, I tried tracking it down a while back and after checking a few blind alleys concluded that it must have never come out due to the Borgo Press collapse in early 1999. As I wrote in the Notes field, "First announced in 1993 and then 1997, this book presumably became a victim of Borgo Press' collapse in late 1998-early 1999 and no copies have been seen." If very few copies do exist and they are that expensive, I wonder if Borgo printed just a couple before they went under? Ahasuerus 15:02, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

I give up. They all agree. That's the book - must be a galley or review copy. Wildside Press, the publisher of Weird Tales, now owns Borgo - so maybe there is a chance it will be published.--swfritter 15:30, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

OK, sounds like we are all on the same page re: who was the actual editor of Future in 1942 then. The only problem is crediting Lowndes properly. There was no mention of the editor's name on the TOC page until August 1942 and the only trace of Lowndes' involvement was "RWL" at the end of the "Station X" department. Since "Station X" was the only department in the magazine and combined editorial stuff with letters, comments, etc, I suppose it was clear enough that this "RWL" guy was editing the magazine, but I doubt many people outside of fandom could tell his name just by looking at the initials. After much head-scratching, I ended up setting it up that way -- take a look at the results on Lowndes' page when you have a minute.

Also, the April 1942 issue is now ready for review -- note the complications surrounding Michel's "Futurian Times" in the Notes section. Ahasuerus 15:49, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

P.S. And take a look at the Notes field in this record :-) Ahasuerus 16:05, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

Since there are multiple sources that document Lowndes as editor I would credit him directly and note the specific sources or state that there are multiple sources. That is what I am doing with the SF Quarterly issues I am working on right now. That note for "The Core" is great. That's the sort of thing that will hold my interest once I am on the verge of going insane from entering bibliographical data. You may want to look at issues #2, #3, and #4 of SF Quarterly.--swfritter 16:51, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

See #5 for the way I handled the first issue of SF Quarterly with editorial content. Note that I used Robert W. Lowndes, rather than Robert A. W. Lowndes, to replace the initials RWL. --swfritter 17:58, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

#5 Looks pretty good. The only things added were a pseudonym/vt link for "Hunt" aka Roy Hunt, who did a number of illos for Columbia, and a vt for "Robert W. Lowndes"/"Robert A. W. Lowndes".

As far as the issue of initials and editor attributions goes, the ISFDB is designed to answer two different kinds of questions. The first one is "What has Author X written/edited/painted?". When answering this question, it doesn't really matter all that much whether we list the editor of "Future Fiction" as "RWL", "uncredited" or "Robert A. W. Lowndes" as long as we set up variant titles pointing back to the canonical name and explain our sources in Notes.

However, the ISFDB is also designed to answer a second (and potentially trickier) question, i.e. "I have this book/magazine/fanzine in my hands and I want to know more about this story and/or its author/illustrator". This is where capturing data as it appears in the actual publication becomes important because, after all, you can't expect a naive user (say, a Heinlein completist who has bought the 1942-02-00 issue of Future on Ebay for the Lyle Monroe story) to know that "RWL" stands for "Robert A. W. Lowndes". Naturally, he can do a Title search and find it that way, but ignoring "RWL" deprives this category of users of 50% of their search options.

To use another example, we enter mistyped author names verbatim even if it is an obviously typo for the same reason. For instance, we have a record for Janny Wurtz even though the publisher clearly mistyped her name when attributing Cover: Father to the Stars. If a naive user sees the name "Janny Wurtz" on the cover and wants to find out more about the artist whose name is suspiciously close to the name of the book's author, we want to make sure that s/he can do it with one click.

I am not sure if this makes much sense since I am running on little sleep and fewer calories, so I will take a break and come back for more punishment, er, I mean data entry in a bit. February 1942 is done and ready for review, be gentle with it :) Ahasuerus 18:33, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

I buy in to both concepts. So does the following logic apply - If the editor is credited in the magazine but uses initials for essays it is alright to use his name for essays rather than make his initials a pseudonym - the reader should be able to figure that out. But if he is not credited we need to go the extra mile? In the case where no editor is listed but the editorial is signed with initials then the user will also make the assumption that the initials identify the editor?--swfritter 19:08, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

I like the first part of the proposed approach, but I suspect that we may need to spell out the second part more fully. For example, in Future Combined with Science Fiction, April 1942 there is no editor explicitly stated in the table of contents. "Station X" is signed "RWL", but "Futurian Times" (an occasional Future department) is attributed to "The Editor" in the table of contents even though it is signed "John B. Michel", which can't be right since Lowndes was the editor. I suppose it's possible that Lowndes felt that Michel, the nominal leader of the Futurians, was speaking for all Futurians, including Lowndes, so he didn't mind the attribution. Or perhaps it was just a technical screwup and a segment of an old TOC was reused without thinking.

In any case, I tried to explain this mess in the Notes field, but it goes to show that relying on essays to "derive" the editor can be tricky if the internal evidence is contradictory. I am not even sure that I like the way I did the April 1942 issue any more :( Ahasuerus 20:34, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

At least it's something you can think about on the road. Have added data to #6 with RWL (at least for now) as a pseudonym and no RWL as editor. #8 finally credits cover artist and editor explicitly. #9 has one questionable entry for Burks who is credited as "Capt. Arthur J. Burks, U. S. M. C." which is probably a wartime commission. Not like "Capt. S. P. Meek" who used the title all the time.--swfritter 21:28, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

Actually, he only used "Capt. S. P. Meek" on his original SF stories because that was his rank during the few years that he actively wrote SF. After he left the genre and concentrated on YA stories/books, he published them as "Capt. S. P. Meek", "Major S. P. Meek" and eventually "Col. S. P. Meek", at which point he retired from the military, although his writing career lasted a few more years. The early 1960s SF reprints were as by "Colonel S. P. Meek", but many non-genre books were published as by simply "S. P. Meek", at least as far as I could determine based on various records. I spent some time on his bibliography a couple of years ago as you can probably tell :)

And yes, definitely something to think about. Ahasuerus 23:02, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

(unindent) Future Combined with Science Fiction, December 1941 ready for review. These early issues are rather time consuming to do or at least to do well. Lots of variant titles, collective pseudonyms, series, letters from SF writers, well hidden reviews, small print, uncredited art, etc. Ahasuerus 23:31, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

Contento and Rock both say the Lavond story is a group effort by Lowndes, Pohl, and Harry Dockweiler. Limited editorial content and really long stories make SF Quarterly so much easier.--swfritter 13:23, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

If you would like to maximize your data entry time you can leave the pseudonyms to me. I have Contento, Rock and Robinson's "Who's Hugh" as sources.--swfritter 13:40, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

Thanks for the offer! I think taking care of the bibliographic tasks while you have access to physical magazine issues is more reliable, so I will probably stick with it now. What I really need to (temporarily) stop doing is approving submissions and discussing them (and policy issues) with editors, that's the time consuming part... Ahasuerus 17:55, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

October 1941 looks good. --swfritter 20:09, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

One of the departments didn't have the disambiguating information in the title, but it's fixed now. I have also completed August 1941, but I am hesitant to make "Lawrence Woods"' A million Years and a Day into a variant title of Wollheim/Lowndes because "a.k.a" says that John B. Michel was involved with at least one of the Woods stories. I don't have Rock here, so could you please check Rock and the Contento CD? TIA! Ahasuerus 21:06, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

Looks like your ideas are coalescing. I'm really glad someone else is looking at the Lowndes mags - a great learning ground with every possible issue that could come up. --swfritter 20:09, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

Yes, it has been quite educational! I will let the ideas ferment for a bit and will post a summary of where I think we may want to take our standards some time next week, travel gods and various biblio tasks permitting. Ahasuerus 21:06, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

If I involuntarily disappear for a day or two just check the weather for the Sacramento valley - intensive rain, predicted wind gusts of 60 MPH, and probable power outages. Hope it doesn't turn into a J. G. Ballard or John Christopher novel.--swfritter 20:09, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

On the plus side, Laumer's Catastrophe Planet could be fun :-) but it's probably not a chance you want to take, so buying canned food/water and staying home seems to be the safe thing to do! Ahasuerus 21:06, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

The last missing issue, April 1941, has been entered and linked, although please note my question about another "Paul Dennis Lavond" story on the Community Portal. Also, Tuck's assertion to the contrary notwithstanding, this is clearly a Doc Lowndes issue based on his explicit statements in "Station X". He is also reported as having resigned his "directorship" of the Futurians to become a pro, clearly a reference to taking over the Columbia pulp stable. It may have been a transitional issue, of course. Finally, I noticed that the Hornig issues were set up as a separate series, so I made it into a Future Science Fiction subseries and then moved some issues around. I don't think it was such a good idea after all since we don't have series ordering at this time and the resulting superseries looks messy. Oh well, we will fix it once we have better software support. Ahasuerus 23:40, 3 Jan 2008 (CST)

OK, all 1939-1943 Future issues have been entered, reconciled, merged, linked, verified, etc. The Horning (i.e. 1939-1940) issues were already in the database and were in passable shape. There was one duplicate Essay record that I had to remove and some messed up variant titles, but not too bad. I have also updated the Wiki page for Future with Editor/Publisher/Series/Biblio Tasks information. Take a look at the end result when your power/internet come back. I'll take a break and then try to find the SF Quarterlies that you mention above. Stay dry and warm! Ahasuerus 18:47, 4 Jan 2008 (CST)

P.S. I didn't any of the (numerous) fanzine reviews that were published mostly in 1940-1941. They are often hard to pin down since reviewers tended to review a few issues at a time and sometimes didn't specify the issues at all, especially when reviewing weeklies. We will have to revisit this area if we want complete fanzine coverage. Ahasuerus 18:50, 4 Jan 2008 (CST)

Asteroid 745: Maurit[i]a

I see that you have verified "Asteroid 745: Maurita" in Orbit, #1. According to the Locus Index, it was reprinted by Mike Ashley in Space Stories (1996) as "Asteroid 745: Mauritia". I wonder if it's Contento's typo or Ashley's? Do we have anybody who might have a copy of Space Stories? Ahasuerus 18:19, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

My bad. Story & variants fixed and merged. Artwork changed.--swfritter 19:28, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

P.S. Do we need to keep the temporary note in your verified Science Fiction Stories, January 1960? Ahasuerus 18:23, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

Temp notes are from Alibrarian who I believe was doing some series work. I need to go back through Science Fiction Stories and do some fix up work for series entries.--swfritter 19:28, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

"The Electronic Baby" by Frank R. Paul

Just a note that I have changed Frank R. Paul's "The Electronic Baby" from Shortfiction to Interiorart in Science-Fiction Plus, May 1953. Presumably it illustrates Hugo Gernsback's "The Electronic Baby". Ahasuerus 20:48, 1 Jan 2008 (CST)

Thanks.--swfritter 14:41, 2 Jan 2008 (CST)

Science Fiction Quarterly 1, 7 and 10

Science Fiction Quarterly 1, 7 and 10 have been updated and verified. Moving onto Stirring now. Ahasuerus 22:32, 4 Jan 2008 (CST)

The first 3 issues of Stirring Science Stories done, but I can't find the last (March 1942) one, so I have posted a request on the Community Portal. They are pretty tough issues as well, each one 132 pages of criss-crossed Futurian pseudonyms. I'll see what else I can do before I have to leave on Sunday afternoon. Ahasuerus 20:28, 5 Jan 2008 (CST)

I have the same three issues - and I don't see the last one on Abebooks either. I got a bargain on Ebay. This was going to be my next project - even grabbed the issues before I logged on. Finally something's going right - somebody else got these messy issues ahead of me. When I get my copy of the Kornbluth collection some questions might be answered (it has 56 stories by the way). If nobody pops up with the last issue of Stirring I will be glad to enter the data from the notorious secondary sources. There are at least two Kornbluth stories and I would like to have them in the system before I add the stories from the collection. Research indicates that the last issue was a 68 page 'quarto' edition so I am wondering how professionally and how widely distributed the issue was. It may be available from the same dealer who is advertising the Lowndes autobiography.--swfritter 16:22, 7 Jan 2008 (CST)

Cosmic cross-verification

Inspired by your cooperation with Rkihara, I decided to cross-verify Cosmic Stories. Here are the results:

• March 1941: Added two letters (from Wilson "Bob" Tucker and Graham Conway) and one uncredited essay on page 54. I also attributed the artwork on "The Last Viking" to Roy Hunt based on his signature cleverly hidden in the lower left corner. "Man and the Machine (Editorial)" became "Man and the Machine: An Editorial" to reflect the actual subtitle. Finally, "The Cosmoscope" is a department signed "DAW", so I added the publication month to the title and made it into a series. Ahasuerus 21:52, 5 Jan 2008 (CST)

• May 1941: Added the following note: "Olaf Stapledon's "Star Maker" is reviewed as "The Star Maker"." Set up the "W. P. Cockcroft"/"W. P. Cockroft" pseudonymous relationship, picking "W. P. Cockcroft" as the canonical form somewhat arbitrarily. Added "Worlds Within Worlds", an uncredited essay on page 115. Changed the title of "The Cosmoscope (Cosmic Stories, May 1941)" to fit with the rest of the series and attributed it to DAW aka Donald A. Wollheim. Changed the attribution of the artwork for "The Improbable" from "Hannes Bok" to "Bok" and set up a variant title. Added a letter from E. Everett Evans. Set up pseudonym information for "Edward J. Bellin" (the "unknown" part comes from my screwup earlier today). Ahasuerus 22:30, 5 Jan 2008 (CST)

• July 1941: Changed "Hannes Bok" to "Bok" for "The City in the Sofa" and set up a vt. Added "The Red Death [2]" and "The Red Death [3]" on pp. 89 and 101. (By the way, does the one on page 89 look like it is signed "L. Morey" to you? If it does, we may have to go back and attribute a bunch of drawings to him. And we also need to set "Morey" up as a pseudonym for "Leo Morey", but that's a different story.) Added letters from Joseph Gilbert and Basil Wells. Changed "The Cosmoscope" to be in line with the other two entries in this Essay series. Added John Collier's "Presenting Moonshine", which is reviewed in this issue. Ahasuerus 22:56, 5 Jan 2008 (CST)

Great. These were among my earlier entries. Interpreting the signature as Morey as makes sense since he is also listed on the table of contents. It is common for artists to be listed and not found or found and not listed on the table of contents but the signature certainly does look like it is probably Morey. It would be nice to have a library of scanned signatures.--swfritter 16:43, 7 Jan 2008 (CST)

"It would be nice to have a library of scanned signatures." Exactly what people have been saying here, for instance, and that's not the first time it's been mentioned. I'm quite happy to host such, but such a site lasts only as long as I do: can we appoint an ambassador to Wikimedia or suchlike for something with a longer life-expectancy than I have? BLongley 18:53, 7 Jan 2008 (CST)

Space Science Fiction, May 1952

Is it Howley or Hawley being reviewed? BLongley 16:39, 5 Jan 2008 (CST)

Right you are. Fixed and linking.--swfritter 17:28, 7 Jan 2008 (CST)

1943 "Science Fiction Stories"

I have entered and verified the 2 "Science Fiction Stories" issues that were published in 1943, including the famous Hubbard story ("The Great Secret"). This completes both series of "Future" -- if you count the 1943 version of "Science Fiction Stories" as another incarnation of "Future". We will definitely want to clarify this tangled web of titles in the Wiki or else our users will never find the right issues. Take a look see when your power is back.

I may be able to do some work tomorrow morning before I head out, but if not, I will have a couple of stacks of Most Thrilling to keep me busy on the road this month. Ahasuerus 01:22, 6 Jan 2008 (CST)

Finally back on line - three days without power and heat. I am trying to get myself kick-started. Could have probably hunkered down with my wireless laptop at the local Starbucks but I don't think they provide an AC outlet to keep my battery charged.--swfritter 16:06, 7 Jan 2008 (CST)

Welcome back! 3 days without power and heat is not too bad as long as you are in California and not in the mountains. Roof damage from sustained 60mph winds would be potentially worse since it could cause leaks and damage pulps -- and that would be utterly unacceptable! Ahasuerus 19:26, 7 Jan 2008 (CST)

Analog editor in 1966

Ack!!!!! Someone, sometime, did something that caused features in Analog issues in 1966 (& I'll guess earlier) to be listed as being by Stnaley Schmidt. See for example July 1966 (which, however, I hope will be fixed up in the next couple of days, making that link kind of useless). At a guess, maybe they were entered (somewhere, sometime) as something like "The Editor (Analog)" and someone changed all those, under the impression that Schmidt had been editor forever?
I just started encountering these as I work backward through my collection. These are (just) before the point from which I started working forward - my original criterion being the absence of page numbers. (Pretty complete job of entry of fiction, essays, & reviews, no artwork though, on the couple I've looked at so far. And they show JWC, Jr. for the editorials; those are as usual credited merely to JWC in the actual magazines.)
I'm just needing to complain (better than tearing my hair out, I guess), & alerting you to what I'll apparently be busy with for a while, not expecting you (or anyone else) to do anything. <sigh> Except maybe to watch my submissions where I might miss any of these. -- Dave (davecat) 11:07, 9 Jan 2008 (CST)

Ack!!!! again. I now see that the one I started in working on (August 1966) is verified by Alvonruff (a year ago). I guess I'll postpone future changes on it until I check with him.
And at least some of these issues do have artwork entered; certainly this one does. -- Dave (davecat) 11:19, 9 Jan 2008 (CST)

When I entered these it was as John W. Campbell. Between now and then they were changed to an intermediate form (ala The Editor (Analog)) and then to Stanley Schmidt. If so, we'll need to go back and check the Ben Bova years as well. Alvonruff 16:25, 9 Jan 2008 (CST)

Fantastic, February 1973

Re: the Notes field in Fantastic, February 1973, does "The Fountain of Fear" refer to "Fountain of Change" on page 95? And are the two Finlay illustrations on pages 95 and 96, as the Notes claim, or are they both on page 96, as the Contents section claims? Also, do we want to set up an Essay Series for the Panshins' "Science Fiction in Dimension" articles? Ahasuerus 23:06, 12 Jan 2008 (CST)

The actual title of the one paragraph intro is more accurately entered as it appears in the magazine. The illustrations in question are actually on pages 96 & 97 and each illustration now has the correct page number and the notes section is correct. There are a number of series that need to be done for Fantastic - my number one priority was getting missing issue data for the 50's into the system - but now there are only about 44 issues from marginal magazine that are missing and they are low on my priority list. There actually is a series started for Panshin and a number of others for Fantastic. I started them primarily so I would not forget to do them. I was also hoping that sub-series sorting might be implemented before I started filling in the various series.--swfritter 18:00, 14 Jan 2008 (CST)

"Fireman"

Is it safe to assume that Mel Varga's "Fireman" on page 7 of Fantastic Science Fiction Stories, May 1960 is Interior Art as opposed to Short fiction? Ahasuerus 23:10, 12 Jan 2008 (CST)

P.S. And is it "Cartoon: "When do we get ot meet your Captain Video?" or "Cartoon: "When do we get to meet your Captain Video?" in Fantastic, June 1957? Ahasuerus 15:14, 13 Jan 2008 (CST)

Fixed.--swfritter 18:08, 14 Jan 2008 (CST)

Iron Man

I've cross-checked your reference and that's fine. Makes me wonder whether including first lines in notes would be a benefit anyway. --Unapersson 14:21, 18 Jan 2008 (CST)

Donald H. or M. Menzel?

In the review of Flying Saucers in Science-Fiction Plus, March 1953? BLongley 13:32, 19 Jan 2008 (CST)

Donald M. but it is a typo. Online catalogs list Donald H. Will fix one way or another.--swfritter 16:15, 19 Jan 2008 (CST)

Thanks! He's already got enough variations here (in the same pub, too.) I hoped we'd clean up a lot of Authors but we're still over 46,000 - lots of pseudonyms seem necessary still. :-/ BLongley 16:57, 19 Jan 2008 (CST)

"The Lavender Talent"

Could you please double check if Gerald Vance's (aka Henry Sleasar's) "The Lavender Talent" is really a novelette as published in Fantastic, March 1958? It's only 11 pages long in The Most Thrilling Science Fiction Ever Told, Spring 1968, so I suspect that there is additional material between pages 93 and 123 of the 03/58 Fantastic. TIA! Ahasuerus 23:31, 20 Jan 2008 (CST)

Not only should it be a short story (I will change it) but "The Genie Takes a Wife" is continued on the next page and it should be a novelette - the stories are not categorized by length in the table of contents.--swfritter 17:19, 21 Jan 2008 (CST)

Thanks! :) Ahasuerus 17:44, 21 Jan 2008 (CST)

Varient title from Takeoff Too!

You have a varient title entry I submitted (for one of Garrett's "Reeviews in verse") on hold. We now have the newer title and the older title as separate title record, each with one publication, while I am quite sure that the actual work is the same. What is the best way to handle this? -DES ^Talk 10:44, 28 Jan 2008 (CST)

I went ahead and deleted the submission in the queue and made the variant connection. Look OK?--swfritter 18:11, 28 Jan 2008 (CST)

Looks good. Thanks. Is there a better way that I shopuld have handled this, which would have avoided the need for cleanup afterwards? or is that just what has to be done? -DES ^Talk 18:23, 28 Jan 2008 (CST)

I am not sure what steps you used to create the variant and wasn't exactly sure what would have happened if I approved the submission. Mosf of the time there are no extra steps. What I couldn't figure out is why the variant title did not seem to be in a pub.--swfritter 18:35, 28 Jan 2008 (CST)

Slesar's The Goddess of World 21

Would you say that "The Goddess of World 21" in Fantastic, March 1957 is a novella or a novelette at 40 pages? And would it be useful to add the "standard" word count per page to each magazine's Wiki page (when known)? Ahasuerus 22:31, 30 Jan 2008 (CST)

Actually between 14000 and 15000 words although Contento classifies it as a novella so the designation is probably a carryover from original data entry. I have been developing a spreadsheet template for using sample data to determine word count. I am trying to figure out how little sample data is necessary and intend to check it's validity by using some Project Gutenberg editions against the original printings. Perhaps it could also be used to determine a standardized word count for an issue. Of course, there are many variables including blank lines for paragraphs and even the author's stytle. Harlan Ellison, for one, seemed to use longer words than most other authors.--swfritter 16:13, 31 Jan 2008 (CST)

I for one certainly would like to see a standard words-per-page count. At least for the magazines I'm likely to have. (Of course, illustrations & other things would make using such a count a bit iffy at times.) -- Dave (davecat) 10:52, 5 Feb 2008 (CST)

Even with a standard word count, you still need the magazine in hand.--swfritter 18:09, 5 Feb 2008 (CST)

Agreed - assuming you mean that you can't go from a table of contents or anything like that to a word count even with a standard words-per-page measure. Illustrations, ads, various filler. But that's why I specified "at least for the magazines I'm likely to have". -- Dave (davecat) 10:04, 6 Feb 2008 (CST)

Unfortunately, counting words is a lot of work and very tedious work at that. I suppose the most accurate way would be to scan, OCR and "word count" each story, but that's a metric ton of work... Ahasuerus 10:55, 6 Feb 2008 (CST)

Fantastic Science Fiction - October 1955

Regarding your verified publication

• I've added a sight-unseen cover image though I suspect it's correct as what's on the cover matches your contents.
• One puzzle is Scavengers of Space which you have as "by unknown [as by Clee Garson ]." The title record for the story by "unknown" only points at Fantastic, October 1955 as does the variant title. Why did you set this up as a variant title of "unknown" particularly when the story seems to have only appeared in the magazine and was never reprinted? Marc Kupper (talk) 21:46, 4 Feb 2008 (CST)

Clee Garson is a house pseuodnym used by several authors - the authors of some of the Garson stories are known but no source lists the actual author of this story.--swfritter 18:14, 5 Feb 2008 (CST)

That's right, a number of editors have been making stories published as by "house names" (that haven't been attributed to real writers yet) into variant titles of "unknown". It's not a perfect solution since it makes the "unknown" page hard to navigate and eventually we may be able to find a better one, but it's all we have for now. The default alternative would to leave these stories on the "house name" summary page, which would be rather misleading. Ahasuerus 22:53, 5 Feb 2008 (CST)

Perhaps something like House Name (E. K. Jarvis). That would cause all the stories attributed to a house name with unknown authorship to appear on the same page or possibly E. K. Jarvis (House Name). The listing in a pub for the second would be "Giant Leeches from Arcturus by E. K. Jarvis (House Name) [as by E. K. Jarvis].--swfritter 17:54, 6 Feb 2008 (CST)

Walk Inshaw et al

It looks like Walk Imshaw, Walk Inshaw, Walkinshaw and Wilkinshaw are all different (mis?) spellings of the the same cartoonist's name. Since you have verified 3 out of the 4 cartoons currently attributed to him (and probably have the 4th one too), I wonder if you could pull them out and see whether the signatures could be reconciled? For what it's worth, the reprint of "Small planet, isn't it?" is singed "Walkinshaw" or a close approximation thereof. Thanks! Ahasuerus 22:35, 8 Feb 2008 (CST)

Walkinshaw it is after comparing the various signatures and also a merge for the one in your verified pub. Mine aren't actually singed but perhaps the presses were two hot when they ran the copy of your issue. I don't think the neighbors appreciate it when they hear my curses whenever I am editing a magazine with cartoons. Nothing wears an already fragile magazine out more than trying to hold down the stupid pages while I am entering the captions. And the magazines I have chosen to edit were also trying to attract a juvenile audience with cartoons.--swfritter 18:43, 9 Feb 2008 (CST)

Thanks! And please be careful with the neighbors -- think of the damage to the cause of genre bibliography if they burn down your house! Ahasuerus 19:54, 9 Feb 2008 (CST)

Crawford's Marvel Tales

I began entering biblio data for Magazine:Marvel Tales (the 1934-1935 semi-prozine incarnation) the other night, but my online sources (mostly http://chrisperridas.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html) are somewhat suspect, so I was wondering if you could check the Miller/Contento index and verify the data when you get a chance? I own at least one issue and possibly two, but finding them may not be easy since they are flimsy little things and do a good job of hiding.

Also, my sources for "Anders W. Drake" information are Don D'Ammassa and my master catalog. I suspect that both assign this pseudonym to Lloyd Arthur Eshbach based on John Wenn's bibliographies compiled back in the 1980s. Would you happen to have another source? Ahasuerus 12:07, 23 Feb 2008 (CST)

Magazine pages

I'm going through the wiki pages looking for orphans and found Magazine Reconciliation Project and Magazine Lists. Do you want them linked from Magazines? We'll need to add some sort of explanation to both pages so that someone chancing on them can understand what's happening. Marc Kupper (talk) 23:51, 2 Mar 2008 (CST)

The second is now somewhat redundant and I will probably delete it. I thought I had linked to the first from other weird place but the Magazine page might be a good idea. It is now in fairly decent form as is the equivalent sheet for the pre-50's.--swfritter 20:26, 4 Mar 2008 (CST)

Project Gutenberg author credits

As you know, I've entered two or three PG titles. Maybe I've handled the author wrong; but in any case the logic I've used doesn't apply quite so nicely to the one I was going to do next.

So, for example, I did Randall Garrett's "The Bramble Bush". The PG text is derived from the Analog publication, which was under the name Randall Garrett. If you search on "Garrett" at PG, you find "Garrett, Randall, 1927-1987". Within the pub, the text showing "Randall Garrett" is unchanged. So, notwithstanding the fact that PG's metadata shows the author as "Gordon Randall Garrett", I thought it most reasonable to enter it as being by Garrett & put a note in the pub. (If you don't think that was the right way to handle it, say so here & I'll go fix it & "A Spaceship Named McGuire".)

Now I'm looking at "...After a Few Words...". (Hmm. I'll go fix the ellipses right now while I'm thinking about it, both variant & parent. OK, submitted.) This was, in Analog, as by Seaton McKettrig, & that's reproduced; but again the metadata shows "Gordon Randall Garrett". (If they're going to use a form of the name he didn't use professionally, AFAIK, why not the full legal name, which we at least have as Gordon Randall Phillip David Garrett? But that's another issue entirely. Anyway.)

My tendency here is to enter this as a pub containing the McKettrig variant, as by McKettrig, with a pub note about the metadata. I think that's the right approach here; but I thought I'd check with you before doing it, as that would be just a little messier to fix up. And would the tag be pgg or pgm? Comments? Thanks. -- Dave (davecat) 10:14, 20 Mar 2008 (CDT)

One other weird thing about that particular story. Illustration is credited to "Summer" (not "Summers"). I can't spot any "LRS" signatures; he usually (but not always?) put them in (sometimes they got cropped off (I've seen half-cropped ones)); & these aren't to my unartistic eye obviously his work. I don't happen to have that issue, I think, but I presume PG didn't mess the transcription up on that point. -- Dave Dave (davecat) 10:22, 20 Mar 2008 (CDT)

The text in the PG editions normally reproduces with good accuracy whatever was in the original text, and on those occasions when what the trascribers thought was an obvious typo is the original is corrected, a transcriber's note to that effect is provided. The metadata, however, may derive from other sources, and may use whatever PG thinks an author's canonical or legal name is, which may not match the sources the ISFDB already has. Therefore, i would follow the form of the name in the actual text, and either ignore the metadata (as I have done on several occasions) or add a publication-level note.

As for the tag, i would follow the canonical name, and therefore would use "pgg" for all of Garret's work, whatever pesud may have been used at the original publication. For one thing, the PG edition itself is cataloged at PG under the "real" name, not under "McKettrig".

I am going to copy this discussion to Publisher talk:Project Gutenberg, and I suggest continuing the discussion there. -DES ^Talk 10:31, 20 Mar 2008 (CDT)

Project Gutenberg of Australia

I have begun entering a few works from Project Gutenberg of Australia's SF Project. Do you think we should use the same pga -- pgz tags, or should we create new tags pga_a through pga_z or some such? -DES ^Talk 15:02, 20 Mar 2008 (CDT)

See Publisher:Project Gutenberg of Australia for more on this. -DES ^Talk 15:14, 20 Mar 2008 (CDT)

If the Gutenberg Australia editions are added to the database as ebooks I would say no. I consider the tags a temporary solution now that we have an emerging standard for adding the ebook versions.--swfritter 17:07, 20 Mar 2008 (CDT)

. . . although it will be a lot better when advanced search for publisher works. Hey, though: for Project Gutenberg, at least, I just found a workaround of sorts! I searched (publication search) for an author by name & Ptype "ebook", & it did not crash. (But this is suitable because Gutenberg is all ebooks & we don't really have a lot of them yet.) -- Dave Dave (davecat) 23:48, 20 Mar 2008 (CDT)

Roglo nomination

I see you added Davecat's nomination to the community portal can you also add Roglo's. He accepted his nomination the other day. I'd do it myself but I'm not sure how. Thanks.Kraang 19:06, 31 Mar 2008 (CDT)

Just done. Took me a little work to get it looking half way decent. I am not as familiar with his work as Davecat's so feel free to elaborate on his abilities.--swfritter 19:08, 31 Mar 2008 (CDT)

Health Knowledge magazines of the 60s

Good to see you've moved up to the 60s! I see you added the first three issues of Famous Science Fiction. It's been on my "to do" list for awhile now, but other things seem to pop up before I can get around "to doing". Do you plan on adding Startling Mystery Stories and Weird Terror Tales? If so, I can remove them from my list as well. Thanks. MHHutchins 22:49, 2 Apr 2008 (CDT)

No such luck. I managed to snag a complete run of Famous Science Fiction on ebay at a reasonable price. Getting the others at one fell swoop would be pure chance. Also, a little surprise for Ahasuerus - I have added my three issues of Gamma and hope he has the other two. I may actually be spending some time with my small collection of 40s mags and dinky collection of 30s issues.--swfritter 18:27, 3 Apr 2008 (CDT)

Thanks, I noticed the new Wiki page for Gamma in Recent Changes earlier today :) I'll see if I can find the missing issues in the next couple of days before I hit the road again. Also, I believe I have all the issues of Startling Mysteries and Weird Terror with the lone exception of the Summer 1970 Weird Terror Tales, but I'll be on the road until at least the end of May, so I won't be a good source of verification data for them. Ahasuerus 19:53, 3 Apr 2008 (CDT)

"The Eld"?

Just wondering if "The Eld" in Famous Science Fiction, Fall 1968 may be actually "The Eel"? Thanks! Ahasuerus 21:26, 4 Apr 2008 (CDT)

Nope. I was wondering if "The Eel" should actually be "The Eld" when I did a fuzzy dup check. In the context of the story Eld looks like it is short for Elder.--swfritter 21:45, 4 Apr 2008 (CDT)

Thanks! So much for my idea to have a script that looks for Title pairs where one one character is different :) BTW, I have finished entering and double checking Gamma and posted the results on my Talk page. Ahasuerus 23:11, 4 Apr 2008 (CDT)

P.S. I have double checked and corrected the two issues of Space Science Fiction Magazine which Mike Christie verified a while back. Next, the two perfectly horrid Curtis Mitchell Fantasy Fiction/Fantasy Stories (1950) issues, which are not to be confused with the 1953 incarnation of the same title. Ahasuerus 00:53, 5 Apr 2008 (CDT)

P.P.S. Curtis Mitchell's Fantasy Fiction/Fantasy Stories (1950) done and the Wiki updated. He certainly had a flair for sensationalism, but I guess it was hard to compete with Ray Palmer! Oh well, that's all the verifications that I can do at the moment, back on the road until 2008-04-18. Ahasuerus 12:03, 6 Apr 2008 (CDT)

Book reviewed twice?

George O. Smith has a review of Star Science Fiction Stories in Space Science Fiction, May 1953 and Space Science Fiction, September 1953. You have verified both of the Space Science Fiction issues. In looking at Frederik_Pohl I see

• Star Science Fiction
  • Star Science Fiction Stories (1953)
  • Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2 (1953)
  • Star Science Fiction Stories No. 3 (1954)
  • ...

I suspect the first review was of Star Science Fiction Stories and the second of Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2. Could you please check the September 1953 edition of Space Science Fiction to see if it's a review of Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2? Marc Kupper (talk) 08:54, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Same book although I have the feeling that the first review may have been by editor Lester del Rey. It has the appearance of having been tacked on to the end of the review section but there is no separate credit. I might note that it was not at all unusual in the 50's mags for the same edition of a book to be reviewed twice by the same reviewer within a few months. The first review was often one that just barely qualified as a review. If I remember correctly this happened quite often with Fantastic Universe. I will make a notation in the May issue about possible alternate authorship.--swfritter 00:50, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Avon SF&F Reader, April 1953

Can you take a look at this discussion? We're trying to determine if the current content listing of Avon SF&F Reader, April 1953 has the correct spelling of the Vine/Youd/Christopher story, and that perhaps you might have that issue to verify. Thanks. MHHutchins 02:11, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Fantasy Book completed

Earlier today I found and verified Fantasy Book Vol. 2 No. 2". No major changes, just a clarification of the source of the publication date information (Tuck). This completes our first Fantasy Book saga :)

I have also set up pseudonym relationships for "Garret Ford" and created variant titles for "Ford"'s essays in Spaceway, guessing that they were written by William L. Crawford alone and not in collaboration with his wife (and leaving Notes in my wake). Finally, I have reconciled Crawford's bibliography with Tuck, although a second pass will be needed at a later point. Ahasuerus 01:43, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

"Prisoners in Flatland"

Would you say that the story on page 21 of Science Fiction Yearbook, Number 4 is "Prisoners in Flatland" or "Prisoners in Flat Land"? Ahasuerus 02:30, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

P.S. I have also verified issues 4 and 5 and corrected the Wiki article about this magazine. Ahasuerus 02:48, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

I would say "Flat Land". I will change it but rather than make it a variant title I will make a notation in the Startling Stories issue that it the title needs to be verified.--swfritter 20:32, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

Bizarre Fantasy Tales completed

I have finally found my other issue of Bizarre Fantasy Tales and entered it, so that takes care of yet another title :=) Ahasuerus 03:52, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

Great - I am going through the complete run of If at about three issues a day and one issue a day of the 50's issues of Thrilling Wonder Stories. Even though my verification will be attached to most of the issues of If I can't take credit for the terrific work that was done previously. If the Fall, 1954 issue of Fantastic Story Magazine is by any chance handy, that is the only issue I am missing from the run. After that it is probably on to the 50's issues of Startling Stories and Fantastic Adventures plus the complete run of Galaxy which I believe is also in good shape.--swfritter 20:45, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

I should be able to check Fantastic Story Magazine, Fall 1954 on May 3 when I am back in town. Ahasuerus 04:44, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Fantastic Story Magazine, Fall 1954 has been verified. I assumed that the interior art used on the reprint stories is new because Emsh wasn't active back in 1941, but we may want to state this assumption in Notes. I have also converted an accidental "Editor" record to "Essay" in Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1953, so now we have two Dixon Wells essays on page 9, one with a question mark and the other one without. I have to run to catch my plane, so I will leave it in your capable hands :) Ahasuerus 18:34, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Fixed. Looks like I made the same mistake in April issue - fixed that. Ordered a replacement issue for 6/53 - mine is in dreadful shape - page missing and the whole issue is in one-more-read crumble-mode. Might even cut out the Finlay illos and laminate them. Almost done with the 50's issues of TWS so will probably do 50's issues of FSM after that.--swfritter 21:35, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

You just managed to beat me to Fantasy Fiction/Stories by a couple of weeks. Got both issues one ebay for $14.09. You aren't selling the stuff after you enter it are you?--swfritter 23:09, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

I have unearthed a couple of boxes worth of duplicates as part of my ISFDB data entry efforts (which I am not quite sure what to do with), but other than that all magazines and books go back to their boxes/bookcases. I have been known to donate highly specialized chunks of my collection to research libraries, but that doesn't include my core SF collection. I assume I'll have to make arrangements for the eventual disposition of my SF collection if I ever find myself in the same position that Doc Lowndes was at the end of his life, but I am not quite there yet :) Ahasuerus 04:44, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

I've given some thought to eventual disposition although the actuary tables say I have 20 years. Perhaps the local university but I think I'd really like to see them get into the hands of fans. I've got a number of dupes too - in at least one case I have three copies of a mag. I bought some pulp issues of Amazing Stories from Rkihara off Ebay before he became an editor. For right now they are an investment that I may not try to sell until the economy is better.--swfritter 21:35, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

"How Kank Thad Returned..." by Lumley

In your verified Fantastic, June 1977, the story "How Kank Thad Returned to Bhur-Esh" appears. But in The House of Cthulhu: Tales of the Primal Land: Volume One the title is given as "How Kank Thad Returned to Blur-Esh" (h vs l). Can you double check and make sure that the story was actually published with the "Bhur" title? Thanks. -DES ^Talk 16:12, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Bhur-Esh on TOC, title page, page footers, and internally in story.--swfritter 18:24, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Now we will see what the verifier od the other pub says. This may wewll be an actual variant title. -DES ^Talk 19:27, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Campbell, Jr. vs. just plain Campbell (reprise)

I just noticed (& approved) a couple of submissions by Hall3730, in which he changed the editor credit for old Analog issues from "John W. Campbell, Jr." to "John W. Campbell". I have to admit that I've been held back from doing the same for quite a while now, every time I look at the title page of an issue I'm editing, by nothing more than the thought of how many issues are involved & how many of them are verified by someone other than me.
Nonetheless, I'm in a mood to cheer him on rather than asking him to stop. Am I missing anything? For example, these mysterious EDITOR entries that are all but impossible to see?
Your thoughts? If we shouldn't be doing this, the time to tell him (& me) so is right now. Thanks! -- Dave (davecat) 22:08, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

When you change the editor information in the pub it does not change the Editor Record which is what shows up on Campbell's bibliography page - look at his page - you will see no changes. Also, the Editor records on Campbell's biblio have been merged which means a full year's worth can be updated at the same time but adds the complication of having to remove each group from the series, change the merged editor records for a year to the name as credited, do the pseudonym thing and then add the the merged records back into the series. You might want to play around with Editor records with sample data. For right now I would suggest entering Campbell's name in the pubs as credited. Since no Editor records will be updated you will not affect data elsewhere - unlike merged story and essay data which will change everywhere. I would also make a note in the pubs that the editor name is as credited so you will know which ones have been checked. You can worry about the data on Campbell's biblio page once you have verified the actual credits. When you think you understand Editor records you will learn the secret handshake. When you really understand them you will learn the ultra-secret handshake.--swfritter 22:35, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

If you want to make things simple for right now - I would suggest it is enough just to make an entry in the pub notes stating how the editor was credited. Such a note will not require notifying verifiers. We want to eventually end up with data that is not only accurate but consistently entered.--swfritter 22:48, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

SF Reprise

This series looks to be a mess, judging by the one title I've seen so far. I believe the "anthology" is just two paperback-format magazine's contents rebound, badly (the two index pages are smaller than all the others). As this could be considered an Omnibus of Magazines or suchlike, do you have any suggestions for entry? I know my use of Serial entries could be considered controversial. BLongley 19:07, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Looks fine to me, even the merging of serial entries since they are almost certainly exact duplicates. You might want to make a specific note about the reasoning behind merging the serials since doing so contradicts our Guidelines (aka Rules and Standards).--swfritter 19:46, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

OK, note added. BLongley 20:19, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Emsh Coverart credits

Next question: Ten Years to Doomsday seems to only have a credit to "EMSH" (on back cover) and (thanks to the nifty new magnifying glass Don Erikson's abilities persuaded me to buy) a signature of "EMSH" on the front cover (at the base of the rock by the shooter's back foot). It's currently credited to "Ed Emshwiller" though. I think this artist was one of the examples where you wanted 'as is' credits and the pseudonyms would sort themselves out? If so, I'll talk to the verifier. BLongley 20:19, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes - should be Emsh and it would not seem wise at the time to do any pseudonym assignments. I think in the end we are going to find that probably less than 5% of his art was credited to Emshwiller and those probably mostly by mistake. --swfritter 21:04, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

OK, question asked. BLongley 21:42, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Hey I just got me a new magnifying glass too; it has a little built-in flashlight. I used it twice today. Mine is Made in China so I am hoping I will be able to watch the Olympics with it.--swfritter 21:04, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

My one has flashlight too (well, bright white LED), and has hindered me as often as it has helped me so far, as I keep sliding it open while pointing the wrong way: dazzling myself rather than illuminating the book. Still, once I get used to it, it should stop me replacing the energy-saving light-bulbs in this room which are getting ever more frustrating. Mine is a "Kaiser Schiebelupe" - good Teutonic engineering, should last me for years. Except that it also admits (at the very bottom of the box, in small print) that it is "Made in China". I don't think I'll be watching the Olympics through it - 3x magnification might help with TV viewing, but I don't think competitive literary readings are an Olympic sport, nor gymnastic alien vocabulary: I'll stick with audio SF from the BBC and written SF from my collection. (And anybody else's that passes my way.) BLongley 21:42, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

I think I've set a new record....

... for notes length / actual story-length ratio. Too much? BLongley 21:34, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

It looks reasonable, but we may want to copy the text to the Notes field of the parent Title record and modify based on the way it appears in the other Publication. Ahasuerus 22:06, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

I'd like to know what that one letter is but revealing it would be a copyright violation.--swfritter 22:21, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Summerizing the content of a story doesn't violate copyright,m but in this case it would surely spoil everythign about the story. :) -DES ^Talk 22:32, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Other notes possible are that Forry got paid $100 dollars for that single letter (assuming that Editors don't pay for title words, as they're quite happy to change titles against author wishes), possibly the highest word-rate ever for magazine SF. Obviously, you could do record-equaling sequels with other letters. Maybe "-" or "." for "No Longer Applicable, it's gone". I find it similar to when Douglas Adams listed Earth as "Harmless" in HHGTTG, later expanded to "Mostly Harmless" - perhaps the intervening years when Earth didn't exist would have been a copyright violation of my idea of '-' or '.' or NULL. Although I can't use NULL as A. E. van Vogt's estate might sue... I don't think I've ever seen an edition of the HHGTTG mentioning ISFDB though, maybe we can fall through a wormhole in the space-time continuum before them and sue them for breach of the CCAL first... BLongley 22:56, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Fame at last! (at least?)

I see you've got a pseudonym now! Congratulations! Of course, this finally spurred me into entering my cover-mentioned review, so I guess we'd better do some fanzine work before we get deleted as insignificant authors... :-/ BLongley 22:51, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

I was even thinking about entering the full text of my letter in the title notes. According to the pub the copyrights revert to the authors. I'm not so sure I am that proud of a pseudonym that is a result of a misspelling. Bet that didn't happen to Stephan King very often. Well at least now we have achieved a certain form of immortality and even current notoriety as we can also be Googled.--swfritter 23:11, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

I've been Googleable for some time anyway, but not for that review. Someone might now link me to the review, and then to the fan-club mentioned at the end, and to the demise of that due to my house-mate selling off all our DTP equipment and most of the membership records with it. OK, he did OWN the equipment, I can't really blame him for that. Many years later we got in touch again and my fiancee left me and married him instead, which in hindsight was a blessing. But I don't think I'll add that to my Biographic notes, unless they end up here too. I'm sure I have better SF-relevant topics to add first - e.g. Terry Pratchett likes my Egg and Cress sandwiches. BLongley 01:11, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Verified Pubs, Amazing Stories - March, April, 1951

Changed attributions for two illustrations in your verified pubs from "Enoch Sharpe" to "Enoch Sharp," also left explanation in the notes. TOC lists artist as "Sharpe" but illustrations signed "Sharp." Also, believe "Enoch Sharp," "Henry Sharp," and "Henry E. Sharp" to be the same artist, as signatures are identical.--Rkihara 04:05, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! It looks like both names were used about the same number of times. The explanation may be lost forever.--swfritter 18:34, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

"SF Calender"?

I noticed you'd done some more work on UK Editions of IF and thought I'd have a quick look at how far Magazine entry has changed since I experimented there: looks good (still too detailed for me to want to add any more though) but there seems to be a common typo creeping into ISFDB: I can assure you that "Calendar" is the correct spelling in the UK too, and I've double-checked my copy of Sep/Oct 1974 and that definitely says "SF Calendar". There's a few other instances of "Calender" in ISFDB and I can't say for sure that THOSE weren't printed that way, but most of the "Calender"s seem to be in UK editions of IF and I suspect they shouldn't be. BLongley 22:19, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

Right you are. And something spell checking does not pick up since both spellings are valid which suggests that some of those "Calender" entries are likely correct. There appear to be only 5 instances in If. I will double check those and change them. All the UK editions I have created are clones which I am leaving unverified.--swfritter 01:03, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, they're both valid spellings but for different things. I don't think the article was ever about machines used to give paper or cloth a shiny finish? I'd remove that one from my Firefox dictionary if I knew how.BLongley 17:49, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

I made the dubious assumption that they were variant spellings without checking my dictionary. Guess I should search for any incidences of "Colander", also. Quick check tells me there are none.--swfritter 18:42, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Yes, I checked for "Colander" too. :-) I AM using spill-chuck on the database downloads at times when I feel in a plain old "clean-up" mood - for every 50 SF-speciality oddities that have to be allowed, I catch a typo or two, e.g. a publisher called "Oion" yesterday. It didn't take long to make sure it wasn't "Onion" rather than "Orion". BLongley

I note even while typing this that Firefox wants to correct "Speciality" to "Specialty" - I know we have ONE definite verified "Speciality" here, I wonder if any of our "Specialty" entries have been corrected on computer-advice alone?) :-/ I've never really trusted computers for this since Microsoft released a British Word Dictionary that allowed words like "liase". BLongley 19:11, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Secondary Check: Fantastic 1952

Summer - Added cover image, changed cartoon credit from "Germanitti" to "Germanetti." Found essay but didn't add to pub listing, p.105 untitled/uncredited, about one column in length.

Fall - Added cover image, and cartoon on p.152.

Nov/Dec - Added cover image and cartoon on p. 111.--Rkihara 03:41, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Secondary Check: Fantastic 1953

Added cover illustrations to all.

01/02 - Short essay p. 66, not added.

02/03 - Correct spelling caption p. 55, from "there" to "they're." Correct spelling caption p.121 from "voodo" to "voodoo."

05/06 - added lithograph on p.91

07/08 - Added art p.59.

09/10 - Cartoons added p.37, and p.145--Rkihara 04:34, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Secondary Check: Fantastic 1954 -

1954

Added cover images

01/54 - unable to check

04/54 - fep, added essay and art. p.68, corrected attribution from "Hannah" to "Hanna." p.97, corrected attribution from "Louia" to "Louis." p.101, correct caption from " . . . —no borrowing . . ." to ". . . —no browsing." p.144, added cartoon.--Rkihara 16:06, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Noticed that "Portfolios" are entered in form "A Portfolio" - "Author." I wonder if "A Portfolio: Author" - "Author" might be easier to search for?--Rkihara 16:12, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

It never hurts to have more information. If I remember correctly in other places I have actually credited each page of a portfolio as a unique illustration. That wouldn't work here because there is more of a continuity of images.

06/54 - Added cartoons pp 31, 43, 61, 102, 123, 125, 129. p.7, changed type from "short fiction" to "interiorart." p.19 changed attribution from uncredited to "Kossin." p.46, changed attribution from "Schroder" to "Schroeder." p.56, changed attribution from "uncredited" to "Kossin."--Rkihara 16:44, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

08/54 - p.104, changed "basemant" to "basement" in caption.

10/54 - Added cartoons p.45, 50.

12/54 - Okay--Rkihara 17:12, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

How time flies. It has been nearly a year since I worked on these issues. I actually ended up marking them verified at the same time. My philosophy was that the primary date entry person should not be the one to verify them. It finally made more sense to verify them so that other editors could ask me questions and notify me of changes. One thing you might want to think about doing is checking the transient verification button as a secondary verifier when someone else has done the primary verification. Transient has no technical definition but at least it gives a record of someone else who touched the record. Looking forward to a longer list - anything that makes something with my name on it look better is always welcome. It also looks like some series data needs to be done to. The bar has definitely been raised on that task.--swfritter 20:07, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

1955

Cover images added as needed.

02/55, 08/55 - unable to check.

06/55 - Added cartoon p.55.

1956

Cover images added as needed.

02/56 - Corrected page nos for illustrations from 90 to 91, and 96 to 97.

04/56 - Corrected spelling cover art credit from "Valigurskey" to "Valigursky." Added cartoon p.114.

08/56 - Added cartoons, p.55, p.128, and p.130. Added column "According to you . . .".

10/56 - Added credit (Llew) for illustration p.60.

12/56 - unable to check.--Rkihara 16:34, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Have added cover images 1957-1960. There does not appear to be an image for 7/57 available.--swfritter 18:39, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

08/54 is also not available.--Rkihara 14:22, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

1957

02/57 - Credited illustration on p.56 to Llewellyn. Added cartoons on pp. 80, 107.

03/57 - Added cartoons on pp. 57,76,125. Added essays on pp. 128,130. Moved essay "Superlatives . . ." to book reviews, and changed title to "The Guinness Book of Superlatives."--Rkihara 06:57, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

04/57 - Changed page no. of editorial to p.3 from p.119. Credited illust. on p.47 to Schoenherr.

05/57 - Moved page no illust. from p.88 to p.89. Added cartoons pp. 113,128. Added essay "Scientific Mysteries" p.121.

06/57 - Credited illust. on p.55 to Llew. Added cartoon on p.127.

07/57 - Added cartoon on p.123.--Rkihara 16:12, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

08/57 - Added cartoon p.103. Added illustration p.105.

09/57 - Added cartoons pp. 32,48.

12/57 - Added cartoons pp. 43,72,101.

1958

01/58 - Added cartoons pp. 64,86. Fixed typo "esier" to "easier."

05/58 - Fixed typo "Venusion" to "Venusian."

06/58 - Fixed typo "yu" to "you." Added illustration p.115.

07/58 - Added cartoons on pp. 126,127. Expanded titles on pp. 81,91,105. Replaced triple dash in title with "em" dash p.111.--Rkihara 04:37, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

08/58 - p.5, word "world" replace with "universe."

09/58 - Added cartoon p.119.

10/58 - Page no. of illust. changed from 44 to 45.--Rkihara 14:56, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

1959

05/59 - Added cartoon p.84.

09/59 - Added illustration p. 61.

10/59 - p.78 story titled "Ship Ahoy!" in table of contents, but "ΠΛΟΙΟΝ ΧΑΙΡΕ!" (Greek) on first page of story. Missing illustration. Uncertain about title rules in this situation, so left title for you to change or not.--Rkihara 17:59, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

And we are and international database. The footer is actually "Ships, Ahoy!". Left title as is and listed all three variants in notes.--swfritter 15:51, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

1960

09/60 - Added cartoon, p.76--Rkihara 23:52, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Secondary Check: Fantastic 1961 -

1961

no reference copy for 01/61-03/61, 06/61-09/61, and 12/61.

10/61 - Illustration moved from p.43 to p.42. Changed attribution from "Schelling" to "George L. Schelling" as given below illustration on p.112.

11/61 - Added (bc) illustration.--Rkihara 20:39, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

1962

01/62 - Added circulation figures to notes.

02/62 - Illustration changed from p.107 to p.109.

04/62 - Editorial changed to p.6 from p.5.

05/62 - Editorial changed from p.4 to p.6, "According to you" changed from p.126 to p.124.

06/62 - Added cover illustration title.

07/62 - Added cover illustration title, added bc illustration.

09/62 - Illustration moved to p.9 from p.8.

12/62 - Changed attribution from "Coye" to "Lee Brown Coye" from signature on bc.--Rkihara 02:01, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

1963

01/63 - Added circulation figures to notes.

02/63 - Added title of cover illustration to notes.

03/63 - Added title of cover illustration to notes.

04/64 - Changed page number of illustration from p.51 to p.50.

05/64 - Added title of cover illustration to notes. Added illustration for Devils in the Walls. Changed attribution of illustration of "Anything for Laughs "from Barr to Blair. Changed page number of illustration from p.90 to p.91. Changed story type of "Monologue for Two" from "shortfiction" to "shortstory."--Rkihara 21:30, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Consecutive Circulation Statements

Thought you might find this interesting. The March and May 1975 issues of Amazing both have circulation statements, both with filing dates of Oct. 01, 1974, but showing different circulation numbers. No explanation given. Maybe an amended statement?--Rkihara 04:25, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Probably right. I would assume that there was some kind of legal deadline for publishing the statement and perhaps they would have been fined for not publishing the data in a timely manner. And they probably had to print a revised statement because they might have have been assessed a fine for printing inaccurate. All speculation but this is a pretty good indication of how slipshod the publisher was and how much trouble the magazine was in.--swfritter 18:37, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Tobacco Ads in Amazing Page Count

Starting in the Sept. 1976 issue, the inserted tobacco ads are included in the page count for Amazing. I remembered your post about that occurring in Fantastic. Figures, since they're sister magazines. I guess they justified it by saying that the 10% or so of full-page ads in a most magazines are included in the page count, although I've never seen an insert counted in any other magazine.--Rkihara 19:28, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

They started in the August 1976 issue of Fantastic. It seems kind of weird to document an ad but there needs to be some kind of explanation of such an unusual page count. Virtually all the magazine entries have an inside page count divisible by eight and then four pages are added for the covers. When they don't follow this pattern it's an indicator of a probable data entry error.--swfritter 02:12, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Infinity Science Fiction, October 1957

You have a Verification (Transient) listed for this pub. Can you still get your hands on it? If you can, is there truly an Essay on page 55?CoachPaul 21:29, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

If not, I have all Infinities in a box... somewhere. Ahasuerus 22:07, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Very marginal. A 60 word introduction to the section which has no significant information. It could easily be lost and would probably create less confusion if were removed.--swfritter 16:11, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Would you please check out this Essay from the magazine. I believe that it may be the result of a bad merge. I don't see how it is needed in any of the other pubs that it is listed in excepting one. If you determing that the Essay is not needed in the magazine, I will go and delete it. Thanks.--CoachPaul 18:02, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

The contents of the note on that essay should probably be preserved somewhere if the essay record is to be deleted. -DES ^Talk 18:48, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

This 'essay' and the one in the previous issue serve as a folder for the stories. The TOC uses the 'essay' title and there is artwork with the same title. The same method is used for the first three stories in the previous issues. I have unmerged the one essay and taken the 'essays' from the Sept and October out of the story series. Normally it would not be worth documenting the contents of the 'essays' and their inclusion as titles would be not be necessary. The essays contain no more information than would normally be found in the majority of story intros.--swfritter 18:34, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

accident in wiki edit

In this edit you overwrote another editor's comments. I assume this was not intentional, and I have restored the overwritten text. -DES ^Talk 18:46, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Very curious. Thanks!--swfritter 17:25, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Davis Publications

In my cleanup of publishers names I'm running across publishers of magazines with minor variants to there names, an example of this is Davis Publications & Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. Since your area is mostly magazines do you have a preference on how they are displayed in the database or do you prefer to leave them as they are? If you enter "Davis" in the publishers search you will see all the variants, I was unable to provide a link to this page. The most commonly used and verified are Davis Publications & Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. Thanks.Kraang 00:19, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

A spot check indicates those listed as Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. or Ziff-Davis should have been entered as Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. As far as the Ziff-Davis Publishing Co.; Chicago entries - I suspect we are going to have to loose the publication city aspect which is found on many magazines. Most of these were created upon initial entry of the data and may have to be documented in the individual magazine wikis rather than the publisher field. I would look for a little more consensus on that issue but I figured that data would have to go - especially since we haven't been using that method on newer entries. As far as Davis Publications - Mhhutchins is working on Asimov's right now and is definitely the person to talk to.--swfritter 17:20, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

After thinking about the "city of publication" issue, I think that it could be usefully moved to the Notes section (my current vague preference) or to the Wiki. Of course, we will need to make sure that the Notes/Wiki state things like "Located in Princeton, NJ between 1988 and 1992 and in Portland, OR between 1992 and 1996 based on the copyright pages".

One gray area is the issue of suburbs: a small press may be based in a small town in SoCal, but some of its books (or some library catalogs) may claim that it is based in "Los Angeles". Some kind of free text explanation would be probably best in case like that. Another gray area is publishers who said things like "London - New York: Macmillan" vs. "London: Macmillan" circa 1900. Is this information valuable in some way, e.g. is it possible that "London" suggests a first edition while "London - New York" is indicative of a later edition?

In any event, I think this issue needs to be raised on the Standards page sooner rather than later. Do you want to cut-and-paste this discussion over there, Stephen? Ahasuerus 21:32, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Whenever I adjust a single publication's Publisher details in an area I'm uncomfortable in, I'll record the changes in Pub notes. (Actually, I'll probably leave it for later, there's very few of those examples. I'm a coward when it comes to data-loss risks.) Adding such details to the Wiki AS WELL makes sense, but if we're working on a Pub by Pub basis then all we can hope for is a gradual build up from "was Princeton, NJ in 1988" and "was Portland, OR 1992" to definitive ranges when we have LOTS of examples. I don't particularly care about the address, but recording each variation can help identify when one imprint or publisher moved in with another, and might be an indication of a company merger/take-over or such. Recording the LOWEST level of detail so people can derive a USEFUL level of detail seems to be the best way to advance though. BLongley 23:20, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

As to "London - New York: Macmillan" vs. "London: Macmillan" - I doubt we can derive anything useful from such details. They're mingled with entries that give UK and US publishers for the same title but different books, when they had different publishers: when it became clearer who published what edition (different UK and US ISBNs for instance) it might have been useful: nowadays the big-name authors and imprints and publishers are global and we're duplicating titles here unnecessarily. It's still worth working on the intermediate years though, IMO. We can still stop people confusing totally different publishers and imprints, even if NOW they're actually all owned by the same organisation. :-/ BLongley 23:20, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

This is the new Ziff-Davis Publishing Company[1] for magazines and for the two books I've left it as it was just Ziff-Davis[2]. If you feel the notes could use some improvements or additions then feel free to change them.Thanks.Kraang 01:26, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Secondary Check: Fantastic 1964-

1964

01/64 - Added circulation statement. Changed type of illustration for "A Thesis . . ." from shortfiction to interior art.

02/64 - Added bc illustration.

07/64 - Changed page no. of illustration from 70 to 71.

10/64 - Changed page no. of illustration from 112 to 113.

12/64 - no reference copy for checking.--Rkihara 21:57, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

1965

01/65 - Verified by Brin1, made changes and left note on discussion page.

03/65 - Changed page no. of illustration from 6 to 7. Added missing review for "The Day the World Ended."

09/65 - Added title to cover illustration in notes. Changed editor from Sol Cohen to Joseph Ross. All references I have credit Ross as editor, and Cohen as publisher, so I will be changing all occurrences listing Cohen as editor.

11/65 - Corrected typo, "Space Devestator" to "Space Devastator."--Rkihara 23:06, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

1966

01/66 - Added title for cover illustration.

03/66 - Added totals from circulation statement.

05/66 - Changed page no. of illustration from p. 6 to p. 7. Added "Letters" column.

07/66 - Added note about mis-titled illustration.

09/66 - Added cartoon p. 132.--Rkihara 03:26, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

1967

01/67 - Added trivial essay p. 132.

03/67 - Added circulation figures in notes.

05/67 - Added cartoons on pp. 69, 80, and 153.

07/67 - No reference copy, but added "(reprint)" to reprinted art.

11/67 - Added illustrations pp.70 (That We May Rise . . .), and 86 (Make Room for Me!)--Rkihara 19:23, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

1968

03/68 - Add circulation figures to notes. Add cartoon p. 140.

05/68 - bep illustration change from type "shortfiction" to "interiorart."

08/68 - Needs "primary" verification by you. Have marked transient.

Done.--swfritter 16:14, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

12/68 - Added cartoons to pp. 89, and 93--Rkihara 16:18, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

1969

04/69 - Changed editor from Sol Cohen to Ted White, will change subsequent attributions for Cohen as I come across them. Change attribution for art, p.21, to Bruce Elliot Jones, as signed. Changed story title to "Visit" from "The Visit" as per title page. Added circulation figures to notes.

Glad you caught the White thing. The Editor/Managing Editor issue is problematic. I probably would be justified in crediting Managing Editor L.(Lila) E. Shaffer as the editor of the early 50's Fantastic Adventures rather than Howard Browne.--swfritter 16:14, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

08/69 - Added review for "Swords Against Wizardry."

12/69 - Added illustration for "Big Man."

Fantastic, January 1980

Is the Fabian Feature in this issue titled "Part 2" or "Part 3"? There's a part two in the October 1979 issue, and no ISFDB listing for a part three. Thanks. MHHutchins 22:19, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

Right you are. Fixed. Thanks.--swfritter 16:15, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Damon Knight's review of Reprieve from Paradise

Could you please check if the author of Reprieve from Paradise is listed as "H. Chandler Elliot" or "H. Chandler Elliott" in your verified Future Science Fiction, #29? Thanks! Ahasuerus 14:35, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

Double t - fixed. The review in Galaxy is single t. The review in F&SF is double t but was entered as single t in our database - fixed. All three reviews are linked to single t pub but it looks as though they should be linked to double t review and probably single t book removed - will leave that for you.--swfritter 16:44, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

Super Science Fiction, June 1958

Was the author of "One to a Customer" credited as "Theordore" or "Theodore" in this issue of Super-Science Fiction? MHHutchins 19:40, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

Secondary Check: Fantastic 1970-

1970

04/70 - Added review of "The Prisoner" and "Number Two" (novelizations). Change story length of "The Pulsating Planet" from "shortfiction" to novelette. Added title/date info to "Fantastic Fandom." Added circulation figures to notes.

08/70 - Added title/date info to "Fantastic Fandom."

10/70 - no reference copy.--Rkihara 03:05, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

1971

04/71 - Added circulation figures.

06/71 - Added minor essay p.98.

12/71 - Needs primary verification by you, marked secondary.--Rkihara 16:44, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Done--swfritter 16:15, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

1972

02/72 - Change page numbers for "Exit to San Breta" and illustration from 39, 40, to 38, 39.

06/72 - Reviewed pub "Green Lantern & Green Arrow" is a comic book, will leave to you to retain or delete.

Actually a pb with a compilation of stories with a continuous plot from the comic book so I guess it actually qualifies as a graphic novel. Strangely enough I actually own a copy.--swfritter 16:15, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

10/72 - Changed author of "Dear Ted" to Rich Brown, from Richard W. Brown, as in TOC and first page. Added review of second volume of "Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare."--Rkihara 21:58, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

1973

02/73 - Added circulation figures to notes.

09/73 - Added illustration p.70.--Rkihara 01:47, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

1974

No reference copies for 03/74, 07/74, and 11/74.

05/74 - Page number of "War Baby" changed from p.106 to p.109.

1975

02/75 - Added subtitle to "Fantasy Books."

04/75 - Added circulation figures.

06/75 - Page # of review changed from p. 121 to p. 120.

10/75 - Added two missing hyphens to "The Case of the Mother-in-law-of-Pearl" and made variant of the canonical(?) title "The Case of the Mother-in-law of Pearl."--Rkihara 16:21, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

Milton Lesser's "Drumbeat"

Could you please verify that Lesser's "Drumbeat" in Fantastic, April 1958 doesn't have a space between "Drum" and "beat"? I suspect that it may be the same story as Lesser's 1960 "Drum Beat", which first appeared in Ed McBain’s Mystery Book #2 (1960) according to Contento, although the use of two separate pseudonyms and of two different genre magazines makes me wonder. I don't own the 1972 anthology that it was reprinted in, but a couple of used copies are available online. Also, could you please check if the Fantastic text is a part of the "Chester Drum" series? Thanks! Ahasuerus 23:22, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

No space. And the story is about Johnny the drummer who invokes an incubus when he plays his drums. The cover illustrates the story and the title there is actually listed as "Drumbeat!". If the story had been credited to Stephen Marlowe rather than Adam Chase I would suspect they were trying to trick the reader into thinking it was a Chester Drum story. Most sources credit the Adam Chase stories to Lesser with the exception of two stories written with Paul W. Fairman but it is entirely possible that Lesser did not write the story at all. Will make notations in the mag.--swfritter 17:25, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Also, could you please check whether it's "The Lion's Mouth" or "Lion's Mouth" in Fantastic Adventures, June 1952. According to Contento and OCLC, the following year it was reprinted as "Lion's Mouth" in Looking Forward. Ahasuerus 23:40, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

"The Lion's Mouth" both TOC and title page. It's appearance in one edition of Looking Forward is merged with that title while there is another edition with "Lion's Mouth". I don't have a copy of either.--swfritter 17:25, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! I am 99% sure that one of the Looking Forward pubs (the one without a publisher) started life as a bad Contento import; I spent some time yesterday night cleaning its Titles up. Now that we have a better idea of "[The] Lion's Mouth"'s history, I will delete it and then clone the good pub to cover the UK reprint edition. Ahasuerus 23:24, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Treasury of Great Science Fiction Stories, Number 2

In your verified pub you list "Columbus Was a Dope" as both a short story by RAH, and shortfiction by uncredited. From the structure of the book i suspect that the 2nd entry is an error for interiorart. But I don't want to change a verified pub on an assumption. -DES ^Talk 00:05, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Right. Thanks.--swfritter 16:17, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Secondary Check: Fantastic 1976-

1976

05/76 - Added review for "Stories of Darkness and Dread." Change reviewed author's name from Cooper to Copper (Evil's Pillow). Added circulation figures.

11/76 - Added review for "The Personal Eye."--Rkihara 14:57, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

1977

06/77 - Added illus. p. 7, review of "Alternate Worlds," and circulation figures.

12/77 - Illustration credit for "Visitors" changed from Michael Nally to Tony Gleeson. Page number of illustration changed from p. 84, to p. 85.--Rkihara 16:06, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

1978

04/78 - Added circulation figures, and attribution for illustration of "Here for Just a While." Marked secondary verification, needs primary verification.

07/78 - no reference copy.

10/78 - Added missing page number for "The Collected Poems of Xirius Five."--Rkihara 17:21, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

1979

04/79 - Changed page no. of illustration for "The Beholder's Eye" from 25 to 24. Added bc illustration for "Ooops!," and extra "o" to title.

07/79 - Added illus. for "Hessie . . ." Changed page nos for "The Worm" from 25 to 24. Added illus. p. 84, for "The Non-Existent . . .", also illus. on p. 94 for "Forever." Added essay "Fantastic Facts."

10/79 - Added "Fantastic Facts" pp. 49, 56, and credit for bc illustration.--Rkihara 16:36, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

1980

04/80 - Added circulation figures.

07/80 - no reference copy.

10/80 - Changed page no. of illustration from 68 to 69. Added a second author to "Fantastic Facts."

This completes the secondary check--Rkihara 17:15, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Worlds of Fantasy #1, 1968 - Mack Reynolds story

In your verified publication "Worlds of Fantasy #1, 1968" is a story by Mack Reynolds: What the Vintners Buy (Version 1)". I come across to another Mack Reynolds story by the same name (with version 2 added to the name) on a Sept 1980 Analog. See discussion on my talk page: [3]. I wonder if there is a way to find out if these are the same story? If you don't have that issue of Analog, I wonder if I could send a few first pages as scans to you, or something? Tpi 18:12, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

Estelle Fry(e)

Could you please double check whether "The Face in the Mask" was published in Fantastic Stories of Imagination, June 1961 as by "Estelle Frye" or by "Estelle Fry"? It's the latter in our "transiently verified" record for Perry Rhodan #104: The Man With Two Faces, but I suspect that it may be a typo and will verify my copy tonight. Ahasuerus 18:25, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Frye both TOC and title page.--swfritter 16:15, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Finally found my Perry Rhodan copy and it's "Frye" as well. Fixed and merged; thanks! Ahasuerus 00:22, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Amazing Science Fiction, March 1970

I wonder if "The Future in Books (Amazing Stories, March 1970)" in your verified Amazing Science Fiction, March 1970 is really Interior Art? Also, "Richard Lupoff" is a pseudonym of Richard A. Lupoff and "Hank Stine" is a pseudonym of G. Harry Stine. Ahasuerus 16:27, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Hank Stine is actually a pseudonym for Jean Marie Stine. Gets a little complicated since there was a sex change operation involved and technically they may be considered to be two different people. She knew Edward D. Wood, Jr. towards the end of his life and wrote an interesting biography - available as an ebook which I should probably add. Will make the other changes.--swfritter 18:43, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Sheesh, how did I manage to miss what I guess is the second (?) most important sex change operation in SF?? Good catch, thanks! Ahasuerus 19:07, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Jeff Jones being the first, or did you have someone else in mind? Although I can't really see any sex changes being important, bibliographically. I will go find my single Hank Stine book now though, there might be some interesting data there. BLongley 19:49, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Nothing particularly clear in The Prisoner: A Day in the Life, it seems. Unless the dedication helps: "For the old reality freaks: Hedberg, Sandy and Pippin; And some new ones: Rudolph, Goldsmith and Karen". BLongley 20:15, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I was thinking Jessica Amanda Salmonson actually. And I guess we need to change the Legal Name field to "Jessica Amanda Salmonson". Ahasuerus 21:15, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

The change of name, and thus of perceived identity, may be important. I suppose that in a strict bibliographic sense, this is no different than any use of a pen name, for whatever reason. But in terms of the History of SF, such changes do help document the attitude of readers to the gender of SF authors. I suppose that the case of Andre Norton is more significant bibliographically, as it involved a legal name change, as i understand it. But from a historical PoV it is probably less important, as the "real" identity came out pretty early on, and I don't think it had the kind of shock that Triptree/Sheldon's did. -DES ^Talk 20:09, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I note that we have

• Hank Stine
• Jean Marie Stine
• Jean Stine

Am I correct that these are all the same individual? Which name should be cannonical, do you think? -DES ^Talk 20:30, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I suspect to the person who has such an operation it is almost like a rebirth. I actually considered the possibility that this might have been some kind of urban legend hoax. Jean Marie Stine should be the canonical name. I think it has the most number of titles and it best defines the identity she prefers.--swfritter 15:32, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it can be a very big deal. In this case the number of Titles supports this approach, but at some point we will probably have an author whose personal preference and what makes sense in the ISFDB context will be different. I guess we'll burn that bridge when we get to it... Ahasuerus 19:56, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Amazing Stories, November 1956

Could you please double check whether "The Observatory (Amazing Stories, November 1956)" in your verified Amazing Stories, November 1956 is really shortfiction and not an essay? TIA! Ahasuerus 19:58, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Fixed.--swfritter 18:14, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! Similarly, is "The Observatory (Amazing Stories, April 1952)" in Amazing Stories, April 1952 an Essay or Shortfiction? Ahasuerus 18:23, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Also, is "White Noise (Black Static Horror Magazine, September-October 2007)" by David Gentry in your verified Black Static Horror Magazine, September-October 2007 short fiction or interior art? Ahasuerus 18:33, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Both fixed. Doesn't anyone sleep in on Sunday anymore?--swfritter 18:38, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Not when there are errors to fix and lacunae to fill! :) Ahasuerus 22:03, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

"McCauley On Copyright"

I see that we list "McCauley On Copyright", an essay co-written by Eric Flint and Thomas Babington Macaulay, in your verified Jim Baen's Universe, August 2006. Could you please check the pub to see whether the second co-author is the 19th century historian Macaulay and how he managed to collaborate with Eric Flint from his (undoubtedly comfortable) grave? Ahasuerus 21:17, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

Flint introduces the text of two speeches from 1842 by the real Macaulay. Made the Flint essay, with Macaulay's name misspelled a separate entry, and added the two speeches with the correct dates - at least for the day the speeches were given - have no idea when they were actually published. They all have as page number the index number for the article as given in the HTML version.--swfritter 18:35, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

What i suspect is the same intro to the same speeches is one of the comments to the Baen Free Library, by Flint in his role as librarian. Find "Prime Palaver #4: Macaulay on copyright law" at this site. -DES ^Talk 20:42, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Date for essay corrected and documented. Minutiae Day.--swfritter 23:04, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

story length spreadsheet

I would like to try using your story length spreadsheet: the one at Google. In fact i actually photocopies smaple pages from a story I want to check the length of from a library book. Unfortunately, unless you give me access the Google spreadsheets site only displays the version you last saved, it won't let me (or anyone else) ente numbers, nor download a working local copy into which i could enter numbers. Please either send me a cop (siegel AT acm DOT org) or tell google data to let me have access (same address). Now I could no doubt recreate a spreadsheet uisng the visual design from your google sheet and some obvious logic. But I would like to stay in sync, and i'm lazy, so if it isn't too much trouble, please let me in. -DES ^Talk 23:13, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Got it, thanks. -DES ^Talk 02:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Got your email when you requested access. I don't generally use it unless there seems to be an obvious discrepancy. It's remarkable how much of a variance there can be for two stories occupying the same number of pages in the same pub.--swfritter 20:22, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Fair enough, but it is a nice tool to have at hand when there is a dispute or disagreement, as there recently was over Asimov's "The Ugly Little Boy". The sheet confirmed the Contento listig. By the way, in my local copy I had to change the labels START and END to cell references for the sheet to function correctly. Thanks again. -DES ^Talk 21:44, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

That might be a result of not being able to protect the spreadsheet. I will check it out. I also have a version that I adapted for Documents to Go on my Palm PDA.--swfritter 22:46, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Finished 1952 Astounding.

I've just finished the 1952 Astounding issues, so that takes care of my end. Working backwards through the thirties Astoundings for uniformity. Since you are working F&SF from the first issue up, I will start with the sixties and work backwards.--Rkihara 18:52, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

The spreadsheet with the Astounding Nav Bars for 1937 up seems to have disappeared. Am I looking in the wrong place?--Rkihara 19:25, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Should now be available in Google Docs. I will get an F&SF doc for the 50's and 60's.--swfritter 19:45, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Just noticed that you've entered the Nav Bars down to 1937, so I don't need the spreadsheet now.--Rkihara 19:51, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

I did? I don't even remember doing that. If I ever get around to learning the Web API I could maximum jam the NavBars - although there is the extra added difficulty that the data is stored in the Notes area which is actually a different file than the main pub data and require more data manipulation because I would have to make sure that the existing notes data is not lost - safer to do manually.--swfritter 20:13, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

By Her Hand She Draws Me/You Down

I just noticed Douglas Smith arriving, so thought I'd clean up his bibliography. One that confused me is "By Her Hand She Draws Me Down" that you've verified - which looks similar to "By Her Hand, She Draws You Down". Is this a variant title, a typo, a sequel, or is it impossible to tell with one source alone? BLongley 20:09, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Cut and paste from the ezine so spelling is correct but missed a notice at the end of the story that it had first appeared in "The Third Alternative" in 2001. Determined that it was issue #28; determined the original title was the same as in anthology; added a minimal listing for the mag for which we only have partial coverage; made the "Something Wicked" entry a variant - they obviously made a mistake since there is some verse preceding the story that uses the correct title.--swfritter 21:17, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks - I suspected you'd give a better and faster answer than the Author himself. Even if I have to insert implied personal pronouns in your answer to understand it - I've got used to your style I guess. (I think Ahasuerus called it "laconic" once? I just think of it as "swfritterish" now.) BLongley 23:08, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

It so happens that I e-mailed Doug about something else earlier today and he responded quickly, so he can be a good resource. Turns out that he is not the same person as Douglas Smith the US artist after all. Will teach him to use "Smith" as his last name! [he said slipping into swfritterish...] Ahasuerus 00:07, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Ellison story in August 57 issue of Super-Science

Can you verify that Ellison's story "Invasion Footnote" in your copy of this issue was published as by "Cortwainer Bird"? The more common spelling of this pseudonym is "Cordwainer Bird". Thanks. MHHutchins 04:34, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Cortwainer on (Hey a preposition!) both TOC and title page of story. Credited as a pseudonym of Ellison by Contento/Miller & Rock. One might presume that it was mistakenly credited to Cortwainer.--swfritter 20:08, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the confirmation. I'm going to delete the variant title record for this story as by "Cordwainer Bird". MHHutchins 03:32, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

I also left a note in the pub.--swfritter 19:20, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Amazing Science Fiction Stories, August 1958

"It Began With a Letter from the Russions" or "Russians"? Ahasuerus 01:29, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Russians - fixed.--swfritter 19:12, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Weird Tales (The Magazine that Never Dies)

Added Weird Tales: The Magazine that Never Dies contents from Locus as part of personal project to ensure all interesting anthologies have at least one publication with contents here. Started merges, discovered your verified Weird Tales. Have left merges that would change data in your publication for your perusal. Will continue tomorrow if you have no complaints. Mostly just clarification of Month of original publication rather than mere Year. BLongley 00:01, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

It seems the primary problem is that most of the Weird Tales data was initially entered without a month. I have rectified that in a number of s-f pulps and digests. If the stories initially appeared in Weird Tales hopefully somebody will eventually fix up the entire run and they will be fixed that way. Of course, then the variant title dates and, in some cases story lengths, will then be out of sync since the data which should be in common is not synced automatically the way it should be. Short answer - whatever you do is OK.--swfritter 01:07, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Merges done. Remaining discrepancies:

31: The Sorcerer's Apprentice - ESSAY or SHORTFICTION?

One of the characters is turned into wood so I think fiction is appropriate.

179: The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller - or "Julain"?

Julain - fixed although I did not merge.

At least I am consistent - misspelled it again - JULIAN! JULIAN!.

381: The Mysteries of the Faceless King - or no leading 'The'?

No 'The' in either TOC or title page of story.

467: He - not in your edition?

Missed that one. Added and merged.--swfritter 20:46, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

BLongley 19:17, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Ferdinand Feghoot

Noticed the "Feghoots" were not entered in a series. Do you want to put them in a series "Ferdinand Feghoot" or leave them till later?--Rkihara 03:24, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Made a quick search. There are four Feghoot series, but none of the pub entries that I checked are linked to the series. Puzzling.--Rkihara 03:37, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Reason A) The stories are linked to the canonical author so they won't show up in the mags. Reason B) All except the collection series are short fiction without a book in the series. It will be easier to do them later by doing canonical author searches. I think if they were all placed in the same series they would show as a series on the author biblio page because there would be collections in the series.--swfritter 20:30, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

uncredited104

I think an artist credit and page number have been accidentally merged here? BLongley 20:17, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

And this has a confusing "The Editorsuncredited" author. BLongley 20:20, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes - apparently text was appended rather than overwritten. Thanks.--swfritter 22:09, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Navbars for Analog 2003

Is it possible to get navbar data for Analog 2003? After finishing 1993 this is next year I am going to go through, check everything and ultimately verify. Tpi 19:09, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Went ahead and entered them myself. I will probably start posting them on a wiki where they can be deleted after they have been entered.--swfritter 01:14, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

What about 1977? I my more or less random reading/checking things this seems to be next one. As I am going go whole year again, I might put navbars in their place at the same time. Tpi 19:04, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

I will try to find a central place for them later today.--swfritter 21:59, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Will have to do tomorrow. The month part of the date for most of the 1977 issues was not filled in and I need that to generate the data.--swfritter 00:21, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

See the section after acknowledgments for links to pages with the data.--swfritter 00:26, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Thrilling Wonder Stories, December 1946, photo of Jack Vance?

Hello Swfritter,

I see that you've done a primary verification of the December 1946 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. By any chance is there a photo of Jack Vance in that issue? There's supposed to be a photo of him in an early issue of this pulp. I figured this one might have the photo because it includes an essay by him, "The Story Behind the Story: Phalid's Fate". It seems like a good spot for a photo.

If there is a photo of Vance in there, is there any possibility I could get a copy of it? Scanning the mag might be a risky operation. I was hoping it might be possible to scan it without compromising its condition in any way.

Thanks for your time reading this, Big Al Mintaka 03:48, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, no photo. The column generally is more about the stories than it is about the authors. The most common place to find such photos is on the inside covers - and there is usually some kind of Meet the Author article. There are a couple of pre-51 issues that I don't have that have stories by him. Took a quick look through the post-50 issues with stories by him and found no photos either.--swfritter 22:20, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Hello again, thanks for that verification. I meant to respond sooner with a note of thanks but was sidelined by an ice storm in NH that cut power for 5 days. I've taken this question up with the folks at the Jack Vance Forum (Yuku website version), who have been gradually reporting in with info on other issues of Thrilling Wonder. You're right about the "Meet the Author" article. The forum postings suggest that this is probably why the photo does not appear with his story in the December 1946 issue. Any other issue with such a "Meet the Author" article was just as likely to have that photo. BTW the thread at the Vance forum was actually started over the question of verifying whether or not one of his earlier collections, the Hillman edition of The Dying Earth contained original stories or reprints. That in turn led to the question of where his early photo first appeared. Hey, thanks again for your response & I hope your holiday season is a happy one, Big Al Mintaka 23:22, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Even here in sunny California we were without power for three days last January. Post a notice if you find the photo. I will probably be making another pass through my mags at which time I will try to make sure the photos of authors are documented.--swfritter 01:04, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Fantastic Story Magazine, September 1953

Can you check to see if the story by de Camp in this issue is titled "Hyperpelosity" or "Hyperpilosity"? Strauss's index has it "Hyperpilosity", and that's how it's spelled in one of my anthologies. Thanks. MHHutchins 17:58, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

"Hyperpelosity" on the cover; "Hyperpilosity" on the TOC and title page of the story. Since the artwork entry for the mag is also spelled incorrectly the error is mine and not a result of somebody else making a change to a merged title - at least not since I verified it. I will await further verifications before changing. It is also highly likely that I have some of the other pubs - will also check them.--swfritter 21:10, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Nav Bars for Amazing Stories 1926-1950

Can I talk you into generating a Nav Bar listing for Amazing Stories, 1926-1950? I've finished the Astounding issues back to year zero, and I thought I would move to Amazing Stories, rechecking my previously verified issues and installing Nav Bars while passing through.--Rkihara 06:54, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

You should be getting a Google Docs invitation.--swfritter 19:52, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! I got it. That was pretty fast.--Rkihara 01:18, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

If the date information for the pub is valid it takes about five minutes - if it is not then the pubs have to be updated before I can generate them - as I have had to do for Analog. Oh by the way, thanks for the great work on Galaxy; processing the mag is almost like taking a vacation. When I get done I will be able to create table similar to that for Famous Fantastic Mysteries. Once I figure out an easy way to combine pseudonymous works by author I should also be able to create a similar table by author and then maybe some graphs.--swfritter 01:38, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the compliment. Galaxy was one of the first magazines I edited, so I was probably a lot more careful with my edits with all of the moderators looking over my shoulder. I suspect that now that I'm a moderator, I'm a bit sloppier. I noticed a comment in your talk section a couple of posts back that you are going to be documenting author photos. There are quite a few in the early Amazing Stories. Since I'm making a second pass I could enter those. I assume they should be entered as "interior illustrations", and titled as "Author (photo)?" I've also started working Asimov's SF in parallel from 1998 to the present, could you generate a Nav Bar listing for this span?--Rkihara 20:14, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Galaxy was good place to start. Longer and fewer pieces of fiction. Well documented art. Clearly headed book reviews and few typographical errors.--swfritter 23:37, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

As far as the photos - There's the Galaxy cover that has caricatures of 23 notable personalities. I guess they would be "Author (drawing)" or "Drawing: Author"- but 23 separate entries? or put all 23 names in the title? I think there are some future enhancements in the queue that might address this issue in a less messy manner but I see no problem with single photos/drawings - they quite often illustrate Meet the Author columns. Just a little more entropy to add to the mix.

NavBars for Asimov - there are some months missing in the dates for some 1998 and 1999 pubs. If I can prevail upon you to fix them I can generate the navbars when I have access to the backup on the next day.--swfritter 23:37, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Okay, I've taken care of the dates.--Rkihara 07:09, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

That Galaxy issue is one of my favorite covers! One way of taking care of it would be to scan the inner cover, which has the identifier, and post it side-by-side with the front and back cover scans, thought that wouldn't allow for searches. One of the problems with photos is that they are often attributed to pseudonyms, and there is no photo credit. We could use the author/photographer credit to identify pseudonymous photo attributions, e.g., there's a photo of Ray Palmer dressed in a band costume(?), under one of his pen names.--Rkihara 07:09, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

"Asimov's is ready. One of the things I had in mind when we developed a format for entering letters was that it would be easy to find them if and convert them if they are ever implemented through software. If photos/drawings were entered in a standard format the same would be true. Once that is done I guess it will be time to work up a proposal for community approval.--swfritter 19:35, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks again for the Nav Bars.--Rkihara 03:31, 2 January 2009 (UTC)