The Eternal Question
People ask me all the time, “Greg, what sources do you use to compile the information on your lists?” Well . . . actually no, no one has asked me that yet. Possibly this is because only five people in the whole world have visited my site so far. However as that number increases, I’m sure more people will begin to wonder about the authenticity of the information. Probably.
Of course, this may be a mental aberration on my part as the result of working in a library for so many years. A librarian always wants to identify the source of the information they’re about to impart, be it in person or over the phone. That’s why I’m blathering on about information sources. You can skip the rest if you like.
The Finite Answer
I cull most of my information from a combination of two or more of the following resources:
1. The Author’s Website: Usually my first inclination is to visit the author’s website or websites. This can include the official website, and/or MySpace, Facebook, Blogger, LiveJournal, any number of blogs or even on-line experiments such as Muy Mal.
Some authors provide a detailed bibliography page while others only highlight their major works — still more eschew a bibliography all together. I’ve encountered a variety of bibliography pages, from completely confusing to one that was so crisp and detailed it made me question my hack job of a website.
2. The Locus Index to Science Fiction: Site Directory: a free service from Locus Online, The Locus Index to Science Fiction lists every science fiction, fantasy, and horror book published between 1984 and 2005.
The caveat is that the book had to have been sent to Locus for review in order to be included. The amount of information in those entries is staggering, although the site itself is not very easy to use. There do tend to be holes where horror is concerned, very few chapbooks get listed, but overall the quality is very high.
A librarian always wants to identify the source of the information they’re about to impart
3. Online Bookstores: Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble can be great sources of information if you’re careful. Many times they’ll have records for the bulk of an author’s work, but miss one or two items. They also offer access to special features like book reviews, author interviews, links to booksellers who might have out-of-print copies of a book, as well as providing site visitors with the chance to leave their own review. Sometimes their search engines get a little tricky, as when I discovered that Brett A Savory pulled up some books — chapbooks actually — that Brett Alexander Savory did not.
4. Publishers Websites: Book publishers both large and small are realizing the value of keeping a web presence complete with a catalogue of books and the means to sell their wares to the public. This can be a rich source of information. I’ve discovered a few chapbooks on publisher websites that were mentioned nowhere else. The best ones keep an on-line record of books they’ve published even after they’ve gone out-of-print and out-of-stock.
5. The Literature Resource Center: This is a Thompson-Gale on-line database. If you’re lucky, your library subscribes to this product. If they don’t, ask for it. If they can’t afford it, see if they at least have a subscription to Contemporary Authors which is one of the print sources that contributes to LRC.
The Literature Resource Center generally has a complete bibliography, although the list might be a couple of years old and awaiting an update. It often has a summary of the author’s life and/or writing career, sometimes an interview, and a list of resources to consult next. The biggest drawback is that many of the authors I need help with have no record in this database.
In Closing
Well, that’s the list. What do you think? Am I forgetting something? Is there a resource I should be using? I’m open for suggestions. Just drop me a comment and let me know.
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