Talk:Miracle Science and Fantasy Stories/GA1

GA Review
The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.''

Reviewer: Protonk (talk · contribs) 00:47, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

images

 * I didn't ask this on the other reviews but how do we tell when copyright hasn't been renewed for a specific work? Does the LOC track that? Is there some database somewhere which records it?
 * This is how I search; I don't think there's anyway to confirm it except to do the search again. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 01:40, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

style/layout

 * I won't ask you to make a "contents" section, but I think the flow of the article would be much improvded by moving some of the issue details out of the second paragraph. Right now they're alongside statements about who wrote for the magazine, the artwork and the confusion over Douglas Dold's role. Are we mentioning Douglas's credit as the editor after the first sentence because it was the first issue some sources claimed he edited? The text doesn't make this clear to me. Near as I can tell we talk roughly about publication history for the first half of the paragraph and the quality of the fiction (and who wrote it) for the second half. But I had to read the paragraph twice to get that division.
 * You're right, that was kind of a mess. I moved the date-of-issue statements to the bibliographic details section, and left the rest more or less in place.  You're right about the intended division of focus, and the issue details obscured that, so I hope it reads better now. Mike Christie (talk - contribs -  library) 01:46, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

content

 * "The second issue was dated June−July 1931. It proved to be the last: Elliott Dold fell ill and was unable to continue working on the magazine." I feel this could be re-worked to flow better. Also I have the same question as I did for that FAC, why is there a colon here?
 * Reworked in response to another comment above. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 01:57, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
 * "The fiction" we say this twice, presumably referring to the content of the magazine. Were there non-fiction stories published? Other features?
 * I don't think so, but I can't be sure. DeVore doesn't mention any, and a review of a reprint on Amazon, here, says there wasn't anything but fiction and ads, assuming that it's a facsimile reprint.  The ISFDB pages  and  don't mention anything but fiction and artwork, and since one of them was verified by a reader with a copy at hand, it seems likely it was just fiction.  I don't think any of that is citable though. Mike Christie (talk - contribs -  library) 01:57, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Is "the fiction" a turn of phrase which appears in sources? Protonk (talk) 01:59, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Definitely. If you bring up the Tymn/Ashley in Google Books, and search for the phrase "the fiction was", you'll get 13 hits, for example. Mike Christie (talk - contribs -  library) 02:03, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Ok, cool. What if we said "Miracle included stories by Victor Rousseau and John Miller Gregory." just so we don't end up repeating "the fiction" within 2 sentences? Protonk (talk) 02:17, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes, better; done. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 02:25, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
 * "Douglas Dold contributed the lead novel to the first isuse, and his brother..." Instead of "his brother" maybe say "Elliott"
 * Done. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 01:57, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
 * "The fiction included stories by Victor Rousseau, John Miller Gregory." looks like this was a list of three that got cut short.
 * Oops. Fixed. Mike Christie (talk - contribs -  library) 01:57, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
 * "Both issues were in pulp format..." "printed in" still works here, even though it's part of a litany and "144 pages long" would break the rhythm :)
 * Yes, done. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 01:57, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

other sources
You got me on this one. I've only found 2 other sources so far.

Overall I think these should be easy fixes. I've convinced myself that you've covered the preponderance of sources out there and that given those limitations this is about as good as the article is going to get. I think adding at least the Bleiler book for some context on the Dold brothers is worthwhile. Whether you choose to cite The Shudder Pulps on Hershey is up to you. Once my questions about sourcing and my comments on copyediting are resolved I can pass this. Thanks! Protonk (talk) 00:47, 18 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Science-fiction, the Early Years (Bleiler & Bleiler, ISBN 0873384164)
 * p. 97 talks about Douglas Dold, though doesn't offer much detail.
 * p. 98 talks about Elliott a bit and also notes that it is likely they collaborated on a story, though the wording in the text indicates this is a bit 2nd hand
 * Good find; I added a bit from this. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 03:08, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
 * The Shudder Pulps: A History of the Weird Menace Magazines of the 1930s by Robert Kenneth Jones (ISBN 1434486249)
 * pp. 68-69 gives some background detail on Hershey, though nothing on Miracle directly aside from a trivial mention.
 * If you wanted an distinct cite for the "thrill book" publication, that's in there.
 * Done; when I checked DeVore he didn't explicitly say Hersey edited eight issues of The Thrill Book, so this was nice to add. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 03:19, 19 September 2014 (UTC)
 * 2/2! That's my best record so far! Protonk (talk) 03:20, 19 September 2014 (UTC)