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Post by ohthehorror on Sept 3, 2015 19:56:22 GMT
I've a goodreads account for keeping track of novels I've read/currently reading/planning to read etc., but I'd love to find something similar but specifically geared towards short stories. I've come across many, many, many issues/stories of old Weird Tales Magazines and individual stories on a few different sites( archive.org, pulpgen etc.) and thought I'd begin working my way through some of them(and not just limited to Weird Tales of course either). Goodreads allows you to add books that aren't on their site but their rules state that they'll actively remove entries that are specifically short stories unless they're published as stand-alone type efforts, if you see what I mean. Has anybody found anything like this? If not, how do you keep track? Or do you simply use your various posts here on the vault as a kind of makeshift database? The reason I ask is I've noticed how much information about stories and their authors various members seem to have at their disposal and wondered if you've amassed some kind of database of anthological(is that a word d'ya think?) knowledge. If so, I want in...  |
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Post by mrhappy on Sept 4, 2015 2:29:51 GMT
I've a goodreads account for keeping track of novels I've read/currently reading/planning to read etc., but I'd love to find something similar but specifically geared towards short stories. I've come across many, many, many issues/stories of old Weird Tales Magazines and individual stories on a few different sites( archive.org, pulpgen etc.) and thought I'd begin working my way through some of them(and not just limited to Weird Tales of course either). Goodreads allows you to add books that aren't on their site but their rules state that they'll actively remove entries that are specifically short stories unless they're published as stand-alone type efforts, if you see what I mean. Has anybody found anything like this? If not, how do you keep track? Or do you simply use your various posts here on the vault as a kind of makeshift database? The reason I ask is I've noticed how much information about stories and their authors various members seem to have at their disposal and wondered if you've amassed some kind of database of anthological(is that a word d'ya think?) knowledge. If so, I want in... Years ago I started to catalog all of my short stories (from magazines, anthologies, single-author collections and other sources) on an old Commodore-64. It is a huge word document that I have kept moving from computer to computer. This was the only way I found to keep proper track of everything that I had. I would look to purchase a collection of stories and discover that I already had most of them in various other sources so it saved me money in the long run. It is well over 700 pages long at 8 pt. font and I am woefully behind in updating it. Here is a random page from Ramsey Campbell's entry:  |
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Post by ohthehorror on Sept 4, 2015 9:32:08 GMT
My god mrhappy, 700 pages??, that's almost a work of art at this point then. I had thought of simply opening a word document and having-at-it, and in fact I seem to remember doing just that a year or so ago when I first became interested in pulp magazines but decided that there must be the world of software/websites to do this kind of thing so didn't get very far before giving it up. I obviously didn't find that 'world of' software or websites back then either. I may end up doing exactly this myself then, and it does have it's benefits of course, no internet connection needed, not limited to the software's/websites formatting style etc. I'll definitely have to consider it.
Can I ask also, do you list 'only' those stories you've read from magazines or online etc, or do you include all stories you've ever read including those from anthologies and collections too?
Thanks for the reply anyway mrhappy. Much appreciated.
Edit: ... And I've just seen my answer to the above question in your screenshot. Thanks again.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 4, 2015 11:20:22 GMT
Pre-internet I attempted to list all the titles by hand in this massive hardback notebook, but gave up when I ran out of space on the letter "W" - figured that was the cosmic joker's way of telling me something - so this board really is the only way I can more-or-less keep track. I've nothing but admiration for those like Mr. Happy who have the commitment and self-discipline to catalogue them all. That 700 pager must be some bibliography!
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Post by ripper on Sept 4, 2015 11:38:25 GMT
Mr Happy, I take my hat off to you for that.
I've thought about jotting down short stories I have read in a computer document several times, but it has so far come to nothing. If I do begin one, and I really should, it would be a simple affair: title, author, where I read it and a short description of plot.
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Post by mrhappy on Sept 4, 2015 18:26:42 GMT
Thank you for all of the kind words. I have really enjoyed watching this list grow over time. The design is set up with an author's name followed by all works of fiction that I own in the following format:
Novels or chapbooks
Collections or books featuring more than one work
"Short stories"
{Poems}
Short stories and poems are followed by their location in my collection... frequently multiple times.
I drew the line at fiction only.
I used to have these color coded against Bleiler's Guide to Supernatural Fiction and Ashley's Supernatural Index. This helped me identify stories that I could not find in these sources. I eventually dumped that because a) it was very time consuming and b) those guys didn't miss too much anyway.
With the rise of online databases (such as ISFDB), this list isn't as useful as it once was. However, I do have works listed that I have not found elsewhere so it isn't completely obsolete yet! :-)
Maybe one day I will finish it and print it as a huge checklist that people can keep track of their reading.
But thank you again for your praise.
Mr. Happy
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Post by ramseycampbell on Sept 5, 2015 11:55:58 GMT
Mrhappy, I feel as if I should be mrguilty for putting you to all that work...
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Post by owlofwindward on Sept 10, 2015 2:00:51 GMT
I keep an impromptu list on Google Keep of every short story (edit: clarification, every short story I've particularly enjoyed) I come across in an anthology--but I'm also planning on going through and adding brief summaries to each of them so I can identify at a glance. ISFDB is also a fantastic resource for if you only have the title and can't remember what anthology/collection it appeared in. (Also, ahh--hello, Mr. Campbell! I love your work!) |
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Post by dem bones on Sept 10, 2015 3:51:40 GMT
I keep an impromptu list on Google Keep of every short story I come across in an anthology--but I'm also planning on going through and adding brief summaries to each of them so I can identify at a glance. Any chance of a link (unless, of course, it's private)? ISFDB is also a fantastic resource for if you only have the title and can't remember what anthology/collection it appeared in. ISFDB is perhaps the main reason I never got started on a database - the best you can get is already there! Locus is also very useful. Am loving this thread! |
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Post by owlofwindward on Sept 11, 2015 2:23:57 GMT
I can't seem to link it but here's a screenshot!  It's not as beautifully organized as mrhappy's but I'm looking into putting them all into a spreadsheet eventually. For fun. |
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Post by dem bones on Sept 11, 2015 8:05:16 GMT
That's really the strap-line of this board. Bibliography is fun. This is how I used to do it in the stone age (i.e., pre-internet). Page upon page copied from library loans, with little snippets of info, etc. Even hand-wrote my first fanzine. Then one dark day, a work colleague told me about this extraordinary invention, "the typewriter." Huge celebrations in the domain of dem that night, I don't mind telling you. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2015 8:11:57 GMT
your handwriting is perfection Dem!
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Post by dem bones on Sept 11, 2015 9:02:55 GMT
Ha! Pity the poor recipients of said fanzine didn't share your opinion, especially those deluded souls who actually attempted reading the thing before tossing it in the garbage. Just found one of our photocopied, uh, "promo" posters. It isn't exactly mellow.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Sept 11, 2015 11:37:40 GMT
your handwriting is perfection Dem! Indeed. Good enough to decisively rule out a career in medicine.... |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Sept 11, 2015 16:50:15 GMT
your handwriting is perfection Dem! Indeed. Good enough to decisively rule out a career in medicine.... Why has everyone else seen his handwriting? Do you write letters to each other? |
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