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Author page update
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Administrator
Posted 2013-11-19 7:51 PM (#5767)
Subject: Author page update



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Location: Dallas, Texas

We've just updated the author page "Works in the WWEnd Database" section to show the books in series order so you can see which books belong together at a glance.  It's not a huge update but we are absurdly pleased to finally get that done.  It just makes it so much easier to browse through.  Take a look and let us know what you think.

C. J. Cherryh has a lot of series to give you a good look at the improved display.

 

 

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justifiedsinner
Posted 2013-11-20 10:02 AM (#5769 - in reply to #5767)
Subject: Re: Author page update



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Looks very cool.
I have to quibble with Poul Anderson though. Nicholas van Rijn and David Falkayn are major figures in Anderson's work - they and Dominic Flandry occupy the same fictional universe generally known as the Technic Civilization series. The Flandry novels are part of the Terran Empire series within the Technic Civilization series and van Rijn/Falkayn are in the Polesotechnic series (People of the Wind and Trader to the Stars).
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Administrator
Posted 2013-11-20 10:34 AM (#5770 - in reply to #5769)
Subject: Re: Author page update



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Location: Dallas, Texas

One of the great things about the new display is that it will show us where we are missing books and the books that we don't have tagged as being part of a series.  One of the worst things about the new display is that it will show everyone where we are missing books and the books that we don't have tagged as being part of a series.

We'll have to start editing these bibliographies as we find problems and Paul Anderson is a good place to start.  If you find anymore please let us know!

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justifiedsinner
Posted 2013-11-20 2:18 PM (#5771 - in reply to #5770)
Subject: Re: Author page update



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Poul Anderson is a bear since he was such a prolific author there are about 9 Flandry books and 7 van Rijn/Falkyn. A lot of them are short story collections. On top of this a lot exist as omnibus editions.
There were some advantages to seeing the books in chronological order too. Is it possible to switch between sort orders or is that a major pain?
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justifiedsinner
Posted 2013-11-20 2:29 PM (#5772 - in reply to #5771)
Subject: Re: Author page update



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The Terran Empire series (most of which contain Flandry) are:
Ensign Flandry (1966)
A Circus of Hells (1970)
The Rebel Worlds (1969)
The Day of Their Return (1973)
Agent of the Terran Empire (1965),
Flandry of Terra (1965),
A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows (1974)
A Stone in Heaven (1979)
The Game of Empire (1985)
The Long Night (1983)
Let the Spacemen Beware (1963)

Some of which you have already.

The van Rijn/Falkyn are:

War of the Wing-Men (1958)
Trader to the Stars (1964)
The Trouble Twisters (1966)
Satan's World (1969)
The Earth Book of Stormgate (1978).
Mirkheim (1977)
The People of the Wind (1973)



Edited by justifiedsinner 2013-11-20 2:33 PM
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justifiedsinner
Posted 2013-11-20 2:39 PM (#5773 - in reply to #5767)
Subject: Re: Author page update



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There are also omnibus editions which contain some of the previous material and perhaps additional short stories:
The van Rijn method
David Falkyn: Star Trader
Rise of the Terran Empire
Young Flandry
Captain Flandry
Sir Dominic Flandry
Flandry's Legacy
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Administrator
Posted 2013-11-20 7:41 PM (#5774 - in reply to #5771)
Subject: Re: Author page update



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Location: Dallas, Texas

justifiedsinner - 2013-11-20 2:18 PM Poul Anderson is a bear since he was such a prolific author there are about 9 Flandry books and 7 van Rijn/Falkyn. A lot of them are short story collections. On top of this a lot exist as omnibus editions. There were some advantages to seeing the books in chronological order too. Is it possible to switch between sort orders or is that a major pain?

Bear is right!  It can be a real pain to identify the novels in each series with so many short works and collections and omnibus editions mixed in over the years.

At this time we don't have any plans to toggle the display but we may circle back around to that later.

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Administrator
Posted 2013-11-20 7:49 PM (#5775 - in reply to #5773)
Subject: Re: Author page update



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Location: Dallas, Texas

justifiedsinner - 2013-11-20 2:39 PM There are also omnibus editions which contain some of the previous material and perhaps additional short stories: The van Rijn method David Falkyn: Star Trader Rise of the Terran Empire Young Flandry Captain Flandry Sir Dominic Flandry Flandry's Legacy

We're divide up the Anderson books as you suggested above.  We tend to ignore the omnibus editions as they just add to the confusion.  Do I tag the 3 volume omnibus or the 3 separate volumes as read etc.

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justifiedsinner
Posted 2013-11-21 11:54 AM (#5779 - in reply to #5767)
Subject: Re: Author page update



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I'm not sure how you would handle series set in the same universe e.g. Alaistair Reynolds has the Revelation Space trilogy but Chasm City and The Prefect are both set in the same universe but with plots not directly connected to the trilogy.
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Administrator
Posted 2013-11-21 12:33 PM (#5780 - in reply to #5779)
Subject: Re: Author page update



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Location: Dallas, Texas

That has been the subject of much discussion over here.  I think at minimum we need to have 2 levels: Universe and Series so in your example for Reynolds we'd have a Revelation Space Universe with the Revelation Space Trilogy and the other two books outside the trilogy:

  • Revelation Space Universe:
    • Revelation Space Trilogy:
      1. Revelation Space
      2. Redemption Ark
      3. Absolution Gap
    • Chasm City
    • The Prefect
  • Poseidon's Children:
    1. Blue Remembered Earth
    2. On the Steel Breeze
  • No-Series Works:
    • Century Rain
    • House of Suns
    • Pushing Ice
    • Terminal World

The case could be made for more levels of course but those 2 levels would work for the majority of cases I should think. I'm not sure how much is involved but I suspect it will be a bit of a big deal to restructure the data but we need to do it. It won't be anytime soon but in the mean time we'll clean up what we've got and fill in some gaps etc.

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theman
Posted 2013-11-27 7:40 AM (#5789 - in reply to #5767)
Subject: Re: Author page update



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A neat feature you've added, making it much easier to identify and navigate. Well done.

Just a suggestion for improving the appearance: Since the works listed under a series are listed in chronological order from earliest to most recent, the non-series work should be listed the same way, from earliest to latest.
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justifiedsinner
Posted 2013-11-27 10:41 AM (#5790 - in reply to #5767)
Subject: Re: Author page update



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There are times when the chronological order of when books are written differs from the internal chronology of the series. Bujold's Vorkosian Saga is a case in point - the authors suggested order is different in several places from the order written. Another is Asaro's Skolian Empire which is even more complex since her timeline branches into two parallel sequences.
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