The FictionMags Index Family
Detailed Entry Format

Overview

A detailed sample entry might be along the lines of:

Short Stories [v188 #6, whole number 930, September 25, 1944] ed. D. McIlwraith (Short Stories, Inc., 25¢, 144pp+, standard pulp, cover by Benton Clark)
Details taken from scan of Table of Contents.
6 * The Story Tellers' Circle * [The Readers] * lc
_6 * [letter] * William R. Cox * lt
_107 * [letter] * George Armin Shaftel * lt
10 * Job on the Beach * Richard Howells Watkins * nv; illus. Andre Castaigne
37 * From the Neck Up * William R. Cox * ss; illus. Charles Henry White
45 * In the Devil's Wigwam * George Bruce Marquis * ss
53 * Curioddities * Irwin J. Weill * ia
54 * Winged Firebrands * Neil Martin * nv
81 * A Proved Crook * Ray Palmer Tracy * ss
88 * The Thousand Deaths of Burma [Part 2 of 4] * H. Bedford-Jones * sl; illus. Elizabeth Shippen Green
108 * Wotta Spot! Wotta Spot! [Clarence Goode] * Frank Richardson Pierce * ss
112 * Dry Rot * James B. Hendryx, * nv; illus. William Hurd Lawrence * Short Stories, Nov 1912
128 * Cargo of Show Business * George Armin Shaftel * ss
140 * The Shooter's Corner| The New .45s * Pete Kuhlhoff * cl
145 * The Big Man * Mike Tomkies * ex (r) [John Wayne]; condensed

Where:

• The first line describes the magazine being indexed and contains the following (fields which are not known can simply be omitted):
  • The magazine title. If there are different versions of the title given in different parts of the magazine then the convention is to use the title given at the top of the Table of Contents, with a note to indicate the variations.
  • The volume/issue number and date of the magazine, specified in square brackets as above. Some magazines also have a "whole number" which may be specified as above.
  • The editor(s) of the issue.
  • The publisher of the issue.
  • The price of the issue.
  • The number of pages in the issue. If the magazine has multiple, separately paginated, sections then the pagecount may, if desired, specify the individual pagecounts separated by "+" (e.g. 10+128+10); if one of these sections is numbered with Roman numerals then the pagecount may be specified the same way (e.g. ix+128). If the pages are numbered from "page 1" after the front cover then a trailing "+" may be specified to indicate that the pagecount does not include the covers.
  • The type of magazine being indexed. This is a fairly complex topic that is discussed in more detail here.
  • The cover artist for the issue (but see the discussion of the cv item type for an alternative mechanism if the cover has a formal title and/or is a reprint).
• The second line is optional but can be used to indicate where the contents were taken from (e.g. an eBay listing; a scan of the Table of Contents; a physical copy; etc.). Further lines may be used to add any further notes that are felt to be appropriate or useful (e.g. variant titles, special themes for the issue).
• The remaining lines then list the individual items in the magazine which should, in general, be specified in the order in which they appear in the magazine. How extensively you index the magazine is your choice (e.g. whether you list just fiction or all contents and whether or not you list the illustrators or not) but each line should contain at least the first four fields below separated by an asterisk (or similar divider):
  • The page number, if known, on which the item starts.
  • The author(s) of the item. This can become fairly complicated if there are multiple authors, or a translator, or similar, and is discussed in more detail below. At times the author name specified in the Table of Contents (or on the cover) is not the same as that specified on the front page of the item. In such cases the name used should be the one specified on the front page of the item with a following note to discuss variations.
  • The title of the item. Typically this is straightforward but, again, there are more complicated situations (such as when the item is part of a serial) and is discussed in more detail below.
  • If the item is part of a series featuring the same lead character (or similar) then the series may be specified after the title, enclosed in square brackets, as for the Frank Richardson Pierce item above (on p108). Note that series are generally only valid for fiction (or poetry) but may be specified if they relate to an existing (fiction) series.
  • The type of the item. At its simplest this is "ss" for a short story, "nv" for a novelette, "na" for a novella and "sl" for a serial segment, but a more extensive and detailed discussion can be found here.
  • If the item has been reprinted from elsewhere, the original appearance may be specified if known as shown for the James B. Hendryx item above (on p112) or may be indicated by "(r)" if not known as shown for the Mike Tomkies item above (on p145).
  • If the item is about a particular person (e.g. an interview or a biographical piece) then the subject of the item should be specific in square brackets after the item type, as shown for the Mike Tomkies item above (on p145).
  • If the illustrator(s) for the item is known, this may be specified next after the prefix "; illus. " as shown above.

One exception to the guideline about listing items in the order in which they appear in the issue is when you are listing subsidiary items in a "container type" such as a letter column or a group (see the discussion of the lc and gp item types). In this case an underscore (_) is prefixed to the page number of each subsidiary item (as shown in the example above) and all such items should be listed consecutively, even if the letter column or group is split across multiple sections of the issue.

Conversely, there are times when a single item is spread across multiple pages in the magazine, or where another item (such as a poem) is embedded in the middle of an item, in which case you may, at your discretion, extend the description of the page number to be more detailed, as in:

45-53 * In the Devil's Wigwam * George Bruce Marquis * ss
51 * Cowboy Sal * S. Omar Barker * pm
54-67, 94-96 * Winged Firebrands * Neil Martin * nv

although there is no requirement to use such detailed formats as a general approach.

One common problem that might arise in any part of the issue is the specification of "accented characters" such as é, ö and ç as these are coded in different ways in different systems and will not necessarily survive being sent by e-mail (technically these are "8-bit" characters and e-mail, and the Internet in general, is basically a "7-bit" medium). To address this a series of three-character trigraphs have been developed to identify such characters such that, for example, é is represented by ^e' and ç by ^c, – a full list of such trigraphs can be found here.

Specifying Author Names

If an item is written by multiple authors, the author names should be separated by "&" in the usual way as in:

22 * Partly Primitive * Luther Davis & John Cleveland, Jr. * ss

If it is written by a husband and wife (or two other related authors with the same surname) it would be helpful if the surname is repeated on each name, thus:

22 * The Way Out West * Bob Smith & Sue Smith * ar
rather than
22 * The Way Out West * Bob & Sue Smith * ar

even though the latter is the way it will be displayed in the index itself.

Quite often an item is written by one (or more) author(s) and translated by a different author. In this case it is desirable to indicator the translator as follows:

22 * Partly Primitive * Luther Davis, tr:John Cleveland, Jr. * ss

In such cases it is desirable, if possible, to add some details about the original appearance of the item in an added note such as:

translated from the French ("Stan Le Tueur", {Police-Roman}, December 23, 1938)

Similarly, some items are by-lined as being by "XXX, as told to YYY" or, less commonly, "XXX, as told by YYY". These may be specified in much the same way:

22 * Partly Primitive * Luther Davis, as told to:John Cleveland, Jr.* ss

There are also a number of "special" author names that may/should be used as follows:

• [The Editor] for any item that it signed as being by "The Editor" or is clearly presented as unnamed editorial material, even if the actual name of the editor is listed elsewhere; similarly [The Publisher].
• [The Readers] for any item that is (mainly) written by the readers of the magazine.
• Anon. (or Anonymous) for any item that appears to have been written by a single person but where no name is given (e.g. an unsigned filler).
• [Various] for any item that appears to have been written by multiple people where either the people are not identified or the indexer does not wish to index the details of the item (e.g. a column of book reviews or a collection of humorous anecdotes).
  

Specifying Item Titles

As mentioned above, if an item is part of a serial then this should be indicated in the title inside square brackets, such as:

The Thousand Deaths of Burma [Part 2 of 4]

where either (or both) number may be replaced by "?" if it is not known. As a special case, if an item is known to be the conclusion of a serial, but the number of parts is not known, it may be specified as:

The Thousand Deaths of Burma [Part last of ?]

Another case where a special format may be used is where the issue contains an instance of a regular column which also has a formal subtitle, as in the Pete Kuhlhoff column in the example above. As shown there, the column title should be specified, followed by a vertical bar ("|"), followed by the subtitle, as in:

140 * The Shooter's Corner| The New .45s * Pete Kuhlhoff * cl

This may also be used for a series of items that are identified with an overall "series prefix" and individual item names. As an extension of this, if the series numbers the items in a particular order, then it is useful to isolate the "numeric part" and provide a 4-digit numeric equaivalent for it so that the items are sorted into order correctly. This uses an additional double vertical bar to identify the numeric sequence, with the title constructed as follows:

• The series prefix
• A double vertical bar
• A 4-digit numeric equivalent of the part number
• Everything in the original title between the series prefix and the item title (so that it can be displayed exactly as in the magazine)
• A single vertical bar
• The item title

Thus, a story by Richard H. Hart called "The Exploits of a French Detective No. 13, The Man from Guiana" would be coded as:

37 * The Exploits of a French Detective||0013 No. 13, |The Man from Guiana * Richard H. Hart * ss

One complication that arises with titles in particular relates to capitalisation. The way in which titles are presented in a magazine are generally the result of the magazine's "house style" and these vary dramatically from magazine to magazine – some put all titles in upper case; some put all titles in lower case; some use one approach for fiction and another for non-fiction; and so on. As such, attempting to replicate the precise capitalisation used in a magazine is rarely necessary and can be undesirable. Instead, as with the magazines themselves, the FictionMags Format has its own house style which is based on traditional guides like The Gregg Reference Manual. Put simply, the FictionMags house style says that, except when used at the beginning of a title:

• Articles (a, an, the) are specified in lower case
• All conjunctions of fewer than four letters (e.g. and, but) are lower case
• All prepositions of fewer than four letters (e.g. to, in) as well as "from" and "with" are lower case
• Other words, regardless of length, are capitalized

Note that some attention must also be paid to the exact syntax of the title. For example:

• A semi-colon, colon or em-dash in a title is treated as if a new heading started afterwards (e.g. "Ashenden: The Traitor" or "Edgar Wallace^--The Man and the Legend")
• Where alternate titles are given in a single title, each is capitalised separately (e.g. "The Labors of Hercules: The Nemean Lion, or The Case of the Kidnaped Pekinese")

A similar guideline is used for hyphenated words for which, again, many different styles exist. The FictionMags approach is to capitalise the hyphenated word exactly as if it wasn't hyphenated, thus:

48 * Four-Foot Frameup * Jack Archer * ss
15 * Little-Girl-Afraid-of-a-Dog * Mary E. Wilkins Freeman * ss

Generally speaking these guidelines are only to resolve any queries an indexer might have – in general just entering the title as shown in the magazine will suffice for most purposes.

There are two exceptions to these guidelines. Firstly, when the author has a clear intent for the capitalisation of an item (e.g. Don Marquis' Archy & Mehitabel poems, or Fred Saberhagen's "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO TO PROVE IM HUMAN STOP") then that capitalisation should be followed.

Secondly, if the item has no formal title, it may either be indicated by the item type, in lower case, enclosed in square brackets, or by the word "untitled" (or similar), in lower case, followed by the first part of the item in bracketted quotes – the former is most commonly used for letters and such-like and the latter for poetry. Thus some examples might be:

_6 * [letter] * William R. Cox * lt
44 * untitled ("The wind from the Mediterranean^._") * Robert E. Howard * uw
29 * untitled ("I will tell you what always has frightened me most") * William Fryer Harvey * pm