Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Novels/Science fiction task force

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels/Science fiction task force page.
Novels
Literature Portal
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Novels, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to narrative novels, novellas, novelettes and short stories on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit one of the articles mentioned below, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and contribute to the general Project discussion to talk over new ideas and suggestions.
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Contents

[edit] Documentation

This is talk page associated with the WikiProject Science fiction task force belonging to Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels. It is used as a discussion forum for the task force.

[edit] Notifications

[edit] AFD: The Silent War (The Asteroid Wars III)

The Silent War (The Asteroid Wars III) at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Silent War (The Asteroid Wars III) (2007-10-18 –)

--User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 00:21, 24 October 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Discussion for the Science fiction task force

[edit] Graphic

  • Please, please, please, make us a different label for WikiProjectNovels banners! I'm trying to fight editors who deny that "sci fi" is anything but witless UFO crap, and what do I get if I tag a novel as science fiction? A green UFO alien!
Above copied from main page
I'm not sure I can find a better one at present - does anyone have a better recommendation. I have been looking in here [[1]] for samples. :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page)/(Desk) 08:15, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
The planet Saturn? Even a simple "SF" (in Caslon Bold, perhaps) would be less embarrassing. --Orange Mike 13:54, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
How about as an alternative. :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page)/(Desk) 14:33, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
I'm down with that. I have a somewhat similar image on the "I read SF" userbox for my userpage, crafted at my request so fans could proclaim their SF readership without any UFO alien imagery. --Orange Mike 14:51, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
I have changed the main template and also the Userbox image to suit. Hope that answers the question. Would you like to signup to the WikiProject and the Task force and get more envolved.! :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page)/(Desk) 15:26, 20 April 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Anthology category?

Looks like you could do with an anthology category.--Pleasantville 13:18, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

  • There is one, here: Category:Science fiction anthologies. There is a lot to be done to improve the anthology pages though. - Reaverdrop (talk/nl) 01:30, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
  • I have covers for some of our books on Flickr, though not all in resolutions desirable for WP. Also, for purposes of author and novel entries, there are many author photos and cover scans in my Ascent of Wonder site. The cover scans we did ourselves from books in our own collection and the photos are also scanned from our own pix. (There is a photo and a cover for each author in the book.) I can license those under the GFDL. --Pleasantville 12:12, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
Sounds like a good idea, when you talk of resolutions, do you mean too high or too low. :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page)/(Desk) 08:06, 27 July 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Categories

Should there be a category for science fiction books by subgenere? --Pleasantville 19:40, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

First we need to get the "science fiction books " one sorted out so that novels, short stories etc are distributed. but yes you are probably right. What had you in mind and we should debate this as widely as we can get across the Novels Project to get comment. :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page)/(Desk) 07:23, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
Frankly, no; it's hard enough when many Wikipedia editors won't accept that a book is SF at all. I think it would be a vast waste of our time, as we'd inevitably end up arguing over whether a given book is "hard SF" vs. "cyberpunk" vs. "space opera" vs. "feminist SF"; after all, are we not fen? --Orange Mike 16:37, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Winston Science Fiction

Hey all! I'm working on creating a parent article for the Winston Science Fiction set and a corresponding complete set of articles for each novel in the set. Most of you probably remember the "Winston Classics" from your early days as SF fans. I do believe this is a notable encyclopedic entry given the following facts:

  • The Winston set served as an introduction to SF for a lot of future fans
  • The set includes works by many famous authors
  • The first edition of the set was illustrated (dust jackets) by many famous SF artists
  • The set has become a fairly rare collectors item and now has significant monetary value

Please check out my user page where you can find drafts of these articles. I will continue to plod along on my own, but some enthusiastic help from the SF task force would be appreciated! Thanks! FusionKnight 16:35, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Subgenre definitions

It seems to me that there could be a productive discussion on how to better structure entries on literary subgenres. Most of such pages are pretty bad and devolve into ongoing skirmishes on what computer games do and do not fit the marketing label or on how long lists of representative works or writers should be.

Though I have some substantial expertise on subgenres such as hard sf and space opera, I gave up trying to contribute a few months ago because of what are essentially structural problems with how genres get defined when an ad hoc group does it without guidance.

Could we make it better? Is this worth a discussion? Should there be a project on the subject? Or is this a lost cause? Or am I just way off-base? Thoughts? --Pleasantville (talk) 19:57, 6 December 2007 (UTC) aka Kathryn Cramer

Personally think this is highly worthwhile - not that I have any particular expertise in this area. One observation I have is that the naming of these genres appears haphazard and often against the natural meanings for the words used. "Science fiction" itself is a case in point. Often writing considered SF may have no "science" elements at all. :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page)/(Desk) 09:34, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
Never mind the naming of New Weird . . . --Pleasantville (talk) 22:49, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Donald Keith

I just created a very stubbish article for Donald Keith, author of Mutiny in the Time Machine and Time Machine to the Rescue. Would it fall under the purview of this task force, or would it be better over at the Biography WP?--uɐɔlnʌɟoʞǝɹɐs 22:33, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Strickly speaking our scope ends with the prose itself - so it would go to the Bio project.:: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page)/(Desk) 11:39, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Richard C. Meredith

Hello, does sbdy have more info than what I could find? I did not know about this writer, then I just read At the narrow passage and I think it is a great sf story, and suggest you read it. Then I discovered he died when he was only 41... --Frankesko (talk) 20:05, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Is anybody from the Task Force still alive? --Frankesko (talk) 23:44, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes but consider no one might have a comment to make on your question. Most are focused on the business of editing the articles. :: Kevinalewis : (Talk Page)/(Desk) 09:06, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, sure, to be honest I was not talking of my question only. --Frankesko (talk) 13:25, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

If you check the contributions for the members of the task force, you'll find that many of us have been busy on SF stuff (I had to create an article on Virginia Kidd from scratch, for example), but don't hang on this page much. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:37, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Collaboration of the Month: Cities in Flight

The new Novels Collaboration of the Month is Cities in Flight, by James Blish. However, the novel currently redirects to the author's article. Please help to create and develop an article on the novel. Cheers. – Liveste (talk • edits) 01:19, 5 June 2008 (UTC)