SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hello everyone.

I’m wondering if anyone here uses the Internet Speculative Fiction database, or ISFdb? https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi.

And if so, for what purpose? I’ve been a member for a number of years, but recently have become obsessed with trying to rate everything I’ve read. While I can be obsessive, generally speaking, I can’t tell how many people actively use the database (other than the seemingly myriad number of editors), or what value there might be in the site (aside from keeping track of the spec fic I’ve read, plus I like browsing the awards sections & looking up older periodicals).

Really, I'm just wondering if there is a point to my own obsessiveness.

Thanks!

CasualDebris wrote: "Hello everyone.

I’m wondering if anyone here uses the Internet Speculative Fiction database, or ISFdb? https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi (Hmmm... I'm receiving an error when I try to embed a..."

I might be oddman out, but I don't use it.

I use it. Most often to track down where to find an older short story, to see if any of the collections or anthologies that have it are available to me.

It's a very handy resource, but I don't know what you mean by 'being a member' - ?

Cheryl wrote: "It's a very handy resource, but I don't know what you mean by 'being a member' - ?"

Thanks, so you use it as a reference tool.

I mean I am a registered user, so can rate novels & stories & update data.

I also use ISFDB to check out awards and get Table of Contents for collections and anthologies. Just checked and is working for me and I use a VPN.

I’ve used it. It’s a great resource for more obscure stuff like poetry.

I've tried using it to help with mod business but it didn't have the sorting and filtering capabilities that I hoped it would. I've had no need of it as a humble reader. Yet.

I use it on occasion. It's great for checking where certain short stories have been published. And has been helpful in informing of a misprinted title, as well.

Oh, and it's good for checking on how many 'volumes' are in certain short story series, and in which collections to find them.

So people use the site mostly as a resource. Does anyone rate the books & stories they've read? The site has a Top Novels and Top Short Fiction sections which are potentially great resources for reading suggestions but with so few users rating, the lists are limited to the most popular books & stories.

Novels: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/stats.c...
Short Fiction: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/stats.c...

Ryan wrote: "I've tried using it to help with mod business but it didn't have the sorting and filtering capabilities that I hoped it would. I've had no need of it as a humble reader. Yet."

Are you a casual or registered user? There is advanced filtering for registered users which I find useful since the standard filtering is too broad.

I've been using it for many years. Here's some of the value it provides:

1. Finding short stories by authors you like. A great deal of short fiction is still not yet collected or anthologized, so original publications must be acquired in some cases. As an example, I decided to collect all of the short fiction by Daniel F. Galouye and ISFDB helped me find each obscure item.
2. Deciding which edition of a book you want based on cover art. Some books have many printings, with many choices of cover art. If a book has a lot of printings, I'll typically go with the cover that I like the best, and ISFDB can often help with this.
3. Finding out what type of printings a book has, such as softcover, hardcover, or even serial. This can help give you an idea of the amount of money needed to acquire a book. If it strictly has hardcover editions, then it's probably going to be more expensive than one that has options. If a "book" has a serial printing only, then you'll know which magazines or digests to acquire.
4. Finding out what years the book you want has been printed. This can also help give you an idea of the money needed. If the book has one printing from 1932 and no reprints, then you might need to save your money for a while.
5. Revealing pseudonyms. It has helped me keep works by the same author in one place, which I had previously kept separated, since I thought they were two different authors.


CON of ISFDB:

It does not always list all the works for each author in the database and is not consistent about "non-genre" works. Sometimes it is exhaustive when listing non-genre titles and other times it omits them. Thus, when really trying to grasp the true output of an author, one must use sources beyond ISFDB, such as SFE and Wikipedia. In my years of collecting, I have numerous times thought I found all the works of a writer, only to find out years later that they wrote much more outside of science fiction, since ISFDB sometimes omits those titles.

I’ve used ISFdb to confirm data about Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. I collect the issues of IASFM and appreciate the entries about authors’ pseudonyms and artist names. I have also searched by an author’s name to see if the author has published any other works.

Gary wrote: "... authors’ pseudonyms and artist names. ..."

Oof, yes, good idea!