Usenet 1994 January/usenetsourcesnewsgroupsinfomagicjanuary1994.iso/answers/books/faq

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From: [e-mail] (evelyn.c.leeper)
Subject: rec.arts.books Frequently Asked Questions
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Archive-name: books/faq

Last change:
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Copies of this article may be obtained by anonymous ftp to rtfm.mit.edu
under /pub/usenet/news/answers/books/faq.Z.  Or, send email to
[e-mail] with "send usenet/news/answers/books/faq" in the
body of the message.

This FAQ is in digest format.

Questions include:
    1) Where can I find book X by author Y?
    2) What is BOOKS IN PRINT?
    3) What is the answer to the Lewis Carroll riddle, "Why is a raven like
       a writing desk?"
    4) What Sherlock Holmes novels (stories) are there besides the ones by
       Arthur Conan Doyle?
    5) What is Project Gutenberg?  How can I access various electronic
       information databases?
    6) Who wrote the horror story "The Monkey's Paw"?
    7) Where can I find books on audio tape?
    8) What English-language authors learned English as a second language?
    9) What books or plays have been written about scientists?
   10) Is there really an S. Morgenstern, listed as the author of THE
       PRINCESS BRIDE and THE SILENT GONDOLIERS?  And what is the reunion
       scene?
   11) Does anyone have a list of female mystery writers?
   12) What is the difference between the male and female editions of
       DICTIONARY OF THE KHAZARS by Milorad Pavic?

[There are also several other FAQs posted separately: bookstore lists for
various cities, Arthurian lists, Holmesian lists, catalog lists, and
probably lots more.  --Evelyn Leeper]

                  Frequently Asked Questions List
               (Quarterly Posting to rec.arts.books)

First of all, a few suggestions:

DISCUSSIONS: If you want a discussion on a particular topic, start one
by posting something yourself.  Asking "Why isn't anyone talking about
books here" is not likely to get you much (useful) response.  Asking
"Why isn't anyone talking about the latest book by I. B. A. Writer"
is slightly better, but posting your opinions and asking for comments
would probably be more successful yet.

SPOILER WARNINGS:  Many people feel that much of the enjoyment of a book
is ruined if they know certain things about it, especially when those
things are surprise endings or mysteries.  On the other hand, they also
want to know whether or not a book is worth reading, or they may be
following a particular thread of conversation where such information may
be revealed.  The solution to this is to put the words SPOILER in your
header, or in the text of your posting.  You can also put a ctl-L
character in the *first* column, though this only works if your readers
are using rn.  Some people think that spoiler warnings are not necessary.
We don't understand why, and do not want to discuss it.  Use your best
judgment.

REVIEWS:  Many people seem to be interested in reading book reviews.
Unfortunately, not nearly as many people are interested in writing them.
If you do review a book, please try to say more than, "THE RETURN OF
AHAB THE SAILOR was a great book!"  Unless you are a well-known
net.personality, this sort of comment tells the reader little about
whether s/he would like the book.  Reviews may also be found in
alt.book.reviews and rec.arts.sf.reviews.  Which brings us to...

SCIENCE FICTION:  Some people think science fiction should be kept in
the sf hierarchy.  Other people think that "books" includes "science
fiction books."  This is one of those issues that will never be
resolved, so arguing about it is a waste of time and bandwidth.
If you object to reading about science fiction in this newsgroup,
put the string "/rec.arts.sf/hj" in your KILL file.

But for those interested in science fiction, there are archives of
interest currently stored on GANDALF.RUTGERS.EDU (128.6.7.26) in the
directory pub/sfl.  The archives are currently available to anyone with
FTP access to this machine.  (These are SF-LOVERS archives.)  Text files
of interest to readers include:
    alternate-histories.txt
    amber-timeline.txt
    gender-swapping.list
    hugos.txt        (awards)
    nebulas.txt        (awards)
    prometheus.txt        (awards)
    transformation-stories.txt

Also in the archives: the author lists provided and maintained by John Wenn
are available in the directory pub/sfl/authorlists.  The list for each
author is contained in its own file with the filenames being in the form:
Lastname.Firstname, e.g. Niven.Larry (Please remember, unix filenames are
case sensitive).  Many of the authorlists have recently been updated.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: 1) Where can I find book X by author Y?

1) Where can I find book X by author Y?

The United States's most complete bookstore is the combination of BOOKS IN
PRINT and the U. S. Post Office.  BIP will tell you the price and the
publisher's address.  Send them a check for the price and they will be happy
to send you the book.  We do it all the time.  Some publishers grudgingly
send a note with the book saying "Next time please include N% for postage
and handling," or even a bill for the additional amount.  You can always call
and ask first.  At least once they sent a check with the book because if
ordered direct, they gave a discount.  We rarely order through a bookstore
because it is so much easier to order the book and have it sent to us
directly.  (This is probably not true for mass-market paperbacks where the
handling charges would be more than the book!)

In addition, Cindy Tittle Moore ([e-mail]) maintains a list of
book catalogues and book clubs which is posted to rec.arts.books and
news.answers every thirty-five days.  Copies of this list may be obtained by
anonymous ftp to rtfm.mit.edu under /pub/usenet/news.answers/books/catalogues.
Or, send email to [e-mail] with "send
usenet/news.answers/books/catalogues" in the body of the message.

If, on the other hand, you just want to borrow the book, ask your library
about inter-library loans--chances are good they can find it for you in
a library they have reciprocal agreements with even if they don't have
it themselves.

------------------------------

Subject: 2) What is BOOKS IN PRINT?

2) What is BOOKS IN PRINT?

Just about every public library and every bookstore in the country has, for
public use, a multi-volume reference work called "Books in Print."  It is
just about what the title claims it is.  It is a listing by title, by
author, and by subject of every book currently listed by publishers as being
currently in print in the United States.  (There may be editions for other
countries as well.)  It tells you the list price and the publisher.  It also
has a volume of out-of-print books and a separate volume that lists the
mailing addresses of the publishers.  The local B. Dalton keeps it at the
information desk.  Almost bookstore or public library will have a set that
they would be happy to have you look at.

Also, "Books in Print" is available as file number 470 in Bowker's Online
Databases on DIALOG.  Bowker can be reached at 800-323-3288 and
DIALOG at 800-334-2564.

There is a similar reference set called "Paperback Books in Print."  I am
not sure what it would list that would not be listed in its bigger cousin,
but that reference might also be of interest.  In Britain, there is "British
Books in Print."  At this time, there is no public site that provides "Books
in Print" on-line.

(For used books, there is BOOKMAN'S, the used book trade magazine.  Lots
of books are advertised there that haven't been in print for decades.
You may be able to find the annual bound copy of BOOKMAN'S PRICE INDEX
(the used book dealer's pricing bible) in your local library.  There's
no guarantee that the book you want will still be for sale if you go
that way, but it is a good way to plan your budget.)

One way of getting out-of-print titles is to get in touch with
University Microfilms, Inc. (or other such companies).  They'll print a
copy of a book from microfilm, generally within 3 weeks of your order.
They take care of the copyright issues & royalty payments, and you get
the book (although the printing quality is what you'd expect for a
photoreprint from microfilm).  They're a standard resource for
librarians.

A 106-page book was recently quoted as US$30.00, with a US$6.00
surcharge for cloth binding.  (The default is paperbound).  And of
course,not all books are available for reprinting--they've obviously
specialized in academic books.

University Microfilms, Inc.
300 North Zeeb Road
Ann Arbor, MI
48106
313-761-4700
800-521-0600
800-343-5299 (works in Canada)

(Most of this and the preceding entry were contributed by Mark Leeper
([e-mail].  Thanks to Barry Meikle ([e-mail])
for the UMI info.)

------------------------------

Subject: 3) Lewis Carroll

3) What is the answer to the Lewis Carroll riddle, "Why is a raven
like a writing desk?"

According to Martin Gardner, Carroll had no answer in mind which he first
wrote this.  However, Carroll did gave a solution himself, in an 1896
edition of "Alice": "Because it can produce very few notes, tho they are
very flat; and it is nevar [sic] put with the wrong end in front."  Gardner
has recently added another: "Because there is a 'b' in 'both.'"

    In a brief preface that Carroll wrote for an 1896 edition
    of ALICE IN WONDERLAND, he said he had no answer in mind
    when he gave this riddle.  Many answers have since been
    suggested, including one by Carroll himself, some of which
    you will find in my AA note.  In 1989 England's Lewis
    Carroll Society announced a contest for new answers, to be
    published eventually in the society's newsletter,
    "Bandersnatch."

    Aldous Huxley, writing on "Ravens and Writing Desks"
    (Vanity Fair, September 1928), supplies two nonsense
    answers: because there's a 'b' in both, and because there's
    an 'n' in neither.  James Michie sent a similar answer:
    because each begins with 'e'.  Huxley defends the view that
    such metaphysical questions as: Does God exist?  Do we have
    free will?  Why is there suffering? are as meaningless as
    the Mad Hatter's question -- "nonsensical riddles,
    questions not about reality but about words."

    "Both have quills dipped in ink" was suggested by reader
    David B. Jodrey, Jr.  Cyril Pearson, in his undated
    TWENTIETH CENTURY STANDARD PUZZLE BOOK, suggests, "Because
    it slopes with a flap."

    Denis Crutch ("Jabberwocky," Winter 1976) reported an
    astonishing discovery.  In the 1896 edition of ALICE,
    Carroll wrote a new preface in which he gave what he
    considered the best answer to the riddle:  "Because it can
    produce a few notes, tho they are *very* flat; and it is
    nevar put with the wrong end in front."  Note the spelling
    of "never" as "nevar." Carroll clearly intended to spell
    "raven" backwards.  The word was corrected to "never" in
    all later printings, perhaps by an editor who fancied he
    had caught a printer's error.  Because Carroll died soon
    after this "correction" destroyed the ingenuity of his
    answer, the original spelling was never restored.  Whether
    Carroll was aware of the damage done to his clever answer
    is not known.

Another answer is that Poe wrote on both.

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes also suggested the variant that both have inky quills.

In chapter 39 of THE SHINING, Stephen King says,
"The higher the fewer, of course!  Have another cup of tea!"


------------------------------

Subject: 4) Sherlock Holmes

4) What Sherlock Holmes novels (stories) are there besides the ones by
Arthur Conan Doyle?

See accompanying posting of non-canonical Sherlock Holmes works.  The
list includes all known works using Sherlock Holmes as a character,
though the individual stories by Conan Doyle are not listed, just
the book titles.  It includes hundreds of non-Doyle works (many of
which are out of print).  (This list was compiled by me over a period
of years from suggestions from many people.)

------------------------------

Subject: 5) What is Project Gutenberg?

5) What is Project Gutenberg?

Project Gutenberg is planned as a storage- and clearing-house for making
books available very cheaply.  Clearly, this can only be done for books
where the copyrights have expired, or when authors have permitted free
redistribution, so that effectively much of the work has focused on
classic literature.

Current available titles include Lewis Carroll's ALICE IN WONDERLAND
and THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, and Alexander Hamilton, James Madison,
and John Jay's FEDERALIST PAPERS.  Currently Project Gutenberg releases
4 etexts a month, which vary from classic fiction to nonfiction to
large numerical calculations (like the square root of 2 to 10**n
decimal places).  Releases are announced on bit.listserv.gutnberg.
Project Gutenberg is available by anonymous FTP from
mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu in directory /etext, and also from oes.orst.edu
under /pub/almanac/etext.  There are also other mirror repositories at
quake.think.com, and at Washington University, among other places.
It's possible that these sites have other etexts other than the
Gutenberg ones.  (The ftp site at mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu should only be
used between 6PM and 6AM Central time, by request of the maintainer
there.)

Another similar directory is held at info.umd.edu, in directories under
info/ReadingRoom/Fiction.  Found there are books by 14 authors including
Mark Twain, H. G. Wells, and F. Scott Fitzgerald .  They also have the
Bible, Book of Mormon and Koran in ASCII format.  Also available from
info.umd.edu is a collection of economics time series data from the
Federal government, as well as daily and long-term weather forecasts.

(I am told info.umd.edu allows you to telnet in and use an intelligent
front end to browse the files on line, and transfer them back using
ftp, tftp, or kermit?  Simply telnet info.umd.edu, and login as "info",
then follow the instructions on the screen.)

cwdynm.cwru.edu has the Bible, the Book of Mormon (and other Mormon
texts), and the Koran available via anonymous FTP.

world.std.com also has a lot of texts; check ~ftp/obi/ls-lR for a list.

And someone else says, "Probably the best available Bible depository and
concordance type program that I've seen on the net is the Online Bible,
available in the doc/bible subdirectory on wuarchive.wustl.edu.  This is
freeware and includes several different English translations of the Bible
as well as Greek and Hebrew texts, concordances, etc.  I spoke to one of
the developers yesterday, and a major upgrade is coming (in August, I
believe).  There are also plans for foreign language Bible editions in
the works."

There is also a huge archive available from Oxford, but most of the
texts here require a physical letter of request be sent to England --
still cheap, but anyway -- if you want the address/catalog, send a
'help' message to [e-mail].

And if you're looking for general electronic information, try telneting
to consultant.micro.umn.edu and logging in as 'gopher'.  It is
menu-driven and you can access the library catalogs of many
universities, as well as lots of other neat stuff.

Other sources for etexts include the Online Book Initiative at
world.std.com (available through Gopher or FTP), and the Internet Wiretap
Gopher server at wiretap.spies.com.

Users of the World Wide Web can find pointers to these and other
collections at
http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/DataSources/bySubject/Litterature/Overview.html
(the double t in 'Litterature' is *not* a typo on my part).
and there is also a page of pointers at
http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/Web/books.html
which partly overlaps the page above.  It's less "official," but does have
some pointers the other page doesn't have.

[Thanks to John Ockerbloom ([e-mail]) for updating this info.]

------------------------------

Subject: 6) Who wrote the horror story "The Monkey's Paw"?

6) Who wrote the horror story "The Monkey's Paw"?

William Wymark Jacobs (1863-1943), an English writer of sketches of
seafaring and rural life, mostly comic.  He wrote a few other horror
stories, notably "The Toll-House."  For more information see E. F.
Bleiler's THE GUIDE TO SUPERNATURAL FICTION, Kent State Univ., 1983.

------------------------------

Subject: 7) Where can I find books on audio tape?

7) Where can I find books on audio tape?

Duane Morse (duane@anasaz) suggests several sources:

Books on Tape
P.O. Box 7900
Newport Beach, CA 92658
To order: 1-800-626-3333
Comment: very large selection of unabridged books on tape.  Rentals
available for just about everything in the catalog.  Good readers.

Recorded Books
270 Skipjack Rd.
Prince Frederick, MD 20678
1-800-638-1304
FAX: [phone]
Comment: unabridged books on tape.  Rentals available for just about
everything in the catalog.  Not nearly as large a selection as Books on
Tape, but rentals are cheaper.  Generally outstanding readers.

Audio Editions
P.O. Box 6930
Auburn, CA 95604
To order: 1-800-231-4261
Comment: primarily abridged books on tape, but some poetry and plays;
readers usually professional actors or acting companies.

The Olivia and Hill Press
905 Olivia Avenue
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
To order: 1-313-663-0235
Foreign language tapes, primarily French, German, and Spanish, but some
Russian, including stuff for kids.

Reddings Audiobook Superstores
2302 N. Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona 85257
To order: 1-800-REDDING
Comment: Produces nothing of its own, but rents and sells what they have
purchased from Recorded Books, Books on Tape, and others.

Dercum Press
P. O. Box 1425
West Chester, PA 19380
Comment: Has some unabridged short stories on cassette under the label
"Active Books," notably some SF collections.  Readers are average.

Blackstone Audio Books
P.O. Box 969
Ashland, Oregon 97520
1-800-729-2665
Comment: lots of unabridged classics on tape.  Often faulty cassettes --
very low audibility or one side with no audio at all.  Readers not as
good as other companies.

Some libraries have audio tapes available for loan as well.

The United States federal government also has a (free) program to
provide tapes to people who are blind or who cannot physically
manipulate a book.  Contact the reference librarian in your public
library for information.

------------------------------

Subject: 8) What English-language authors learned English as a second language?

8) What English-language authors learned English as a second language?

    AUTHOR                FIRST LANGUAGE
    Arlen, Michael (Dikran Kouyoumjian) Armenian?
    Asimov, Isaac            Yiddish*
    Bellow, Saul            Yiddish, French?
    Brodsky, Joseph            Russian
    Bronowski, Jacob        Polish
    Broumas, Olga            Greek
    Codrescu, Andrei        Romanian
    Conrad, Joseph            Polish
    Dinesen, Isak (Karen Blixen)    Danish
    Heym, Stefan (Helmut Flieg)    German
    Ishiguro, Kazuo            Japanese*
    Kakuzo, Okakura            Japanese
    Kerouac, Jack            French
    Kingston, Maxine Hong        Cantonese
    Koestler, Arthur        Hungarian
    Kosinski, Jerzy            Polish
    Lewis, Saunders            Welsh
    Limonov, Eddie            Russian
    Lin Yu-tang            Chinese (Mandarin?)
    Lowe, Adolph            German
    Malinowski, Bronislaw        Polish
    Milosz, Czeslaw            Polish
    Nabokov, Vladimir        Russian*
    Nin, Anais            French
    Rand, Ayn            Russian
    Sabatini, Rafael        Italian
    Skvorecky, Josef        Czech
    Smirnov, Yakov            Russian
    Soyinka, Wole            Hausa? (from Nigeria)
    Stoppard, Tom            Czech*
    Sucharitkul, Somtow        Thai*
    Traven, B.            German?
    Tutuola, Amos            Hausa? (from Nigeria)
    van Gulik, Robert        Dutch
    Vincinzey, Stephen        Hungarian
    Wertenbaker, Timberlake        French
    Wongar, Banumbir        Arnhem Land aboriginal language
    Zukofsky, Louis            Yiddish

*Learned English as a child.

B. Traven is a pseudonym for someone of uncertain national origin, who
went to great lengths to obfuscate his past.  German was probably his
first language, despite his disclaimers that it was English.  (More detail:
His works were mostly originally published in German, and usually
translated into English by someone else, but the US edition of THE
TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE was edited for word order from B. Traven's
own translation.  (And we know he was faking the bad word order, since
his letters and diaries are in proper order.)  He did sometimes publish
in English first a few times, and that part of a pre-publication English
manuscript for THE DEATH SHIP (originally published in German) is
known.)

Other possible candidates include Timothy Mo, who grew up in Hong Kong
and was later educated in England.  There are numerous Indian and
Anglo-Indian writers, like Vikram Seth (Hindi/Punhabi/Hindustani),
R. K. Narayan (Tamil/Kannada), Raja Rao (Kannada), Bharati Mukerji
(Bengali), Gita Mehta (?), Anita Desai (?), Markandaya (?), Tagore
(Bengali), and Salman Rushdie (Hindi/Urdu), for whom English may very
well be their second language.  Some of the modern Soviet expatriates
write in English now (see Smirnov, above).  Also Guneli Gun (Turkish),
Wole Soyinka, Ayi Kwei Armah (Yoruba?), Ngugi wa Thiong'o (Kikuyu),
Dambudzo Marechera (Ndebele?), many other African writers, Waguih Ghali
(Arabic), Walter Abish (German), Apirana Taylor (Maaori), Albert Wendt
(Samoan).  Other possibilities include a number of Chinese and East
Asian authors.  Also possibly Mavis Gallant, who spoke French as a child
in Montreal.  Jan Willem van de Wetering wrote in Dutch and then
translated his books into English.

How about switches to other languages?  French has Samuel Beckett
(first language English), Camara Laye (Dahomey), (possibly) Julien Green
(English), Leopold Senghor (Senegalese?), Leon Troyat (Lev Tarassov,
a.k.a. Lev Tarossian) (Russian?  Armenian?), and Elie Wiesel (Magyar and
Yiddish).  Russian has Fazil Iskander (Abkhaz) and Chingiz Aitmatov (a
Central Asian Turkish dialect).  Leonora Carrington wrote several short
stories in French or Spanish, before their translation into English.
Was Paul Celan's first language was Hungarian?

Then there are bilingual-from-birth writers, such as Liam O Flaithearta
and Sean O Faoilean.  Many authors have also written novels in Esperanto.

------------------------------

Subject: 9) What books or plays have been written about scientists?

9) What books or plays have been written about scientists?

(Given that science fiction would expand this list beyond the disk limits
of most systems, this question is restricted to non-SF only.)

Plays or theatrical performances:
Albee, Edward: WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF (biologist)
Bentley, Eric: THE RECANTATION OF GALILEI GALILEO--SCENES TAKEN FROM
    HISTORY PERHAPS
Brecht, Bertolt: GALILEO
Bronowski, Jacob: THE FACE OF VIOLENCE
Darion, Joe and Ezra Laderman: THE TRIALS OF GALILEO (opera)
Duerenmatt,Friedrich: THE PHYSICISTS (physicists in an insane asylum)
Eisenberg, Mike: HACKERS (computer scientists)
Emanuel, Gabriel: EINSTEIN: A PLAY IN TWO ACTS
Esst, Garrison: UNCERTAINITY (Einstein and Heisenberg)
Heimel, Cynthia: A WOMAN'S GUIDE TO CHAOS
Ibsen, Henrik: AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE (although main character is a doctor)
Johnson, Terry: INSIGNIFICANCE (Einstein and Marilyn Monroe)
Kaiser, Georg, THE GAS TRILOGY
Kingsley, Sidney: MEN IN WHITE (1930s Pulitzer-prize winning play about a
    young/old doctor)
Kipphardt, Heinar: IN THE MATTER OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER
Leonard, Jim: GRAY'S ANATOMY (about a MD who has to deal with contaminated
    water that kills off a town)
MacLeish, Archibald: HERAKLES (a play in verse about the power of
    scientists--that of a god--and the meagerness of their imagination)
Mighton, John: SCIENTIFIC AMERICANS (physicist and computer scientist)
Rice, Elmer: THE ADDING MACHINE
Schenkar, Joan: FULFILLING KOCH'S POSTULATES (microbiology)
Shadwell, Thomas: THE VIRTUOSO (late 1600s parody of the Royal Society)
Socolow, Elizabeth: LAUGHING AT GRAVITY: CONVERSATIONS WITH ISAAC NEWTON
    (poetry)
Stavis, Barrie: LAMP AT MIDNIGHT (1940s, about Galileo)
Stoppard, Tom: HAPGOOD (physicist)
Stoppard, Tom: ? (about Stephen Hawking)
Whitemore, Hugh: BREAKING THE CODE (about Alan Turing)
Wilson, Robert: EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH
Wilson, Robert: THE LIFE OF SIGMUND FREUD (?)
?: PARTICULAR MEN (about J. Robert Oppenheimer)
?, PICK UP AX (engineers and engineering managers)

Novels:
Asimov, Isaac: A WHIFF OF DEATH
Banville, John: DOCTOR COPERNICUS
Baring, Maurice: CAT'S CRADLE
Borges, Jorge Luis: short story in LABYRINTHS about Averroes
Boyd, William: BRAZZAVILLE BEACH (mathematician and social biologists)
Brod, Max: THE REDEMPTION OF TYCHO BRAHE (astronomers Brahe and Kepler)
Chekhov, Anton: (many stories with doctors)
DeLillo, Don: RATNER'S STAR
Djerrasi, Carl: CANTOR'S DILEMMA
Levi, Primo: (several semi-autobiographical books)
Lewis, Sinclair: ARROWSMITH
McCormmach, Russel: NIGHT THOUGHTS OF A CLASSICAL PHYSICIST
    (professor of physics)
Powers, Richard: THE GOLD BUG VARIATIONS
Pynchon, Thomas: GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
Pynchon, Thomas: V.
Rand, Ayn: ATLAS SHRUGGED (physicists)
Rosenthal, Erik: THE CALCULUS OF MURDER
Rosenthal, Erik: ADVANCED CALCULUS OF MURDER
Shute, Nevil: NO HIGHWAY (structural engineering)
Smith, Kaye Nolte: MINDSPELL (genetic engineering)
Snow, C. P.: THE NEW MEN (building the British atom bomb)
Snow, C. P.: THE SEARCH
Stone, Irving: THE ORIGIN (a biographical novel of Charles Darwin)
Trollope, Anthony: THE CLAVERINGS (engineers)
Thomas, Walter Keith and Warren U. Ober: A MIND FOR EVER VOYAGING:
    WORDSWORTH AT WORK PORTRAYING NEWTON AND SCIENCE
Yourcenar, Marguerite: THE BLACK WORK

Short stories:
Chappell, Fred: "Ladies from Lapland" (about  Pierre-Louis de Maupertuis)
Chappell, Fred: "Linnaeus Forgets"
Chappell, Fred: "The Snow That Is Nothing in the Triangle"
    (about Karl Wilhelm Feuerbach)

------------------------------

Subject: 10) S. Morgenstern

10) Is there really an S. Morgenstern, listed as the author of THE PRINCESS
BRIDE and THE SILENT GONDOLIERS?  And what is the reunion scene?

No, it's really William Goldman.  When you write for the reunion scene, this
is what you get (or what Mary Margaret Schuck, [e-mail],
got anyway):

=======
Dear Reader,

Thank you for sending in, and no, this is not the reunion scene, because of
a certain roadblock named Kermit Shog.

As soon as bound books were ready, I got a call from my lawyer, Charley --
(you may not remember, but Charley's the one I called from California to go
down in the blizzard and buy _The Princess Bride_ from the used-book
dealer).  Anyway, he usually begins with Talmudic humor, wisdom jokes, only
this time he just says, "Bill, I think you better get down here," and before
I'm even allowed a 'why?' he adds, "Right away if you can."

Panicked, I zoom down, wondering who could have died, did I flunk my tax
audit, what?  His secretary lets me into his office, and Charley says, "This
is Mr. Shog, Bill."

And there he is, sitting in the corner, hands on his briefcase, looking
exactly like an oily version of Peter Lorre.  I really expected him to say,
"Give me the Falcon, you must, or I'll be forced to keeeeel you."

"Mr. Shog is a lawyer," Charley goes on.  And this next was said
underlined: "_He_ _represents_ _the_ _Morgenstern_ _estate_."

Who knew?  Who could have dreamed such a thing existed, an estate of a man
at least a million years dead that no one ever heard of over here anyway?
"Perhaps you will give me the Falcon now,"  Mr. Shog said.  That's not
true.  What he said was, "Perhaps you will like a few words with your client
alone now," and Charley nodded and out he went, and once he was gone I said,
"Charley, my God, I never figured --" and he said, "Did Harcourt?"* and I
said, "Not that they ever mentioned" and he said, "Ooch," the grunting sound
lawyers make when they know they've backed a loser.  "What does he want?"  I
said.  "A meeting with Mr. Jovanovich," Charley answered.

*_The Princess Bride_ was first published in hardcover in 1973 by Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich.

Now, William Jovanovich is a pretty busy fella, but it's amazing when you're
confronted with a potential multibillion-dollar lawsuit how fast you can
wedge in a meeting.  We trooped over.

All the Harcourt Brass was there, I'm there, Charley; Mr. Shog, who would
sweat in an igloo he's so swarthy, is streaming.  Harcourt's lawyer started
things: "We're terribly terribly sorry, Mr. Shog.  It's an unforgivable
oversight, and please accept our sincerest apologies."  Mr. Shog said,
"That's a beginning, since all you did was defame and ridicule the greatest
modern master of Florinese prose who also happened to be for many years a
friend of my family."  Then the business head of Harcourt said, "All right,
how much do you want?"

Biiig mistake.  "_Money_?"  Mr. Shog cried.  "You think this is petty
blackmail that brings us together?  _Resurrection_ is the issue, sir.
Morgenstern must be undefiled.  You will publish the original version."  And
now a look at me.  "In the _unabridged_ form."

I said, "I'm done with it, I swear.  True, there's just the reunion scene
business we printed up, but there's not liable to be a rush on that, so it's
all past as far as I'm concerned."  But Mr. Shog wasn't done with me:
"_You_, who _dared_ to _defame_ a _master's_ characters are now going to put
_your_ words in their mouths?  Nossir.  No, I say."  "It's just a little
thing," I tried; "a couple pages only."

Then Mr. Jovanovich started talking softly.  "Bill, I think we might skip
sending out the reunion scene just now, don't you think?"  I made a nod.
Then he turned to Mr. Shog.  "We'll print the unabridged.  You're a man
who's interested in immortality for his client, and there aren't as many of
you around in publishing as there used to be.  You're a gentleman, sir."
"Thank you," from Mr. Shog; "I like to think I am, at least on occasion."
For the first time, he smiled.  We all smiled.  Very buddy-buddy now.  Then,
an addendum from Mr. Shog: "Oh.  Yes.  Your first printing of the
unabridged will be 100,000 copies."

            ****

So far, there are thirteen lawsuits, only eleven involving me directly.
Charley promises nothing will come to court and that eventually Harcourt
will publish the unabridged.  But legal maneuvering takes time.  The
copyright on Morgenstern runs out in early '78, and all of you who wrote in
are having your names put alphabetically on computer, so whichever happens
first, the settlement or the year, you'll get your copy.

The last I was told, Kermit Shog was willing to come down on his first
printing provided Harcourt agreed to publish the sequel to _The Princess
Bride_, which hasn't been translated into English yet, much less published
here.  The title of the sequel is: _Buttercup's Baby: S. Morgenstern's
Glorious Examination of Courage Matched Against the Death of the Heart_.

I'd never heard of it, naturally, but there's a Ph.D. candidate in Florinese
Lit up at Columbia who's going through it now.  I'm kind of interested in
what he has to say.

(signed) William Goldman

P.S.

I'm really sorry about this, but you know the story that ends, "disregard
previous wire, letter follows?"  Well, you've got to disregard the business
about the Morgenstern copyright running out in '78.  That was a definite
boo-boo but Mr. Shog, being Florinese, has trouble, naturally, with our
numbering system.  The copyright runs out in _'87_, not '78.

Worse, he died.  Mr. Shog I mean.  (Don't ask how could you tell.  It was
easy.  One morning he just stopped sweating, so there it was.)  What makes
it worse is that the whole affair is now in the hands of his kid, named --
wait for it -- Mandrake Shog.  Mandrake moves with all the verve and speed
of a lizard flaked out on a river bank.

The only good thing that's happened in this whole mess is I finally got a
shot at reading _Buttercup's Baby_.  Up at Columbia they feel it's
definitely superior to _The Princess Bride_ in satirical content.
Personally, I don't have the emotional attachment to it, but it's a helluva
story, no question.

Give it a look-see when you have the chance.
                        -- August, 1978

P.P.S.

This is getting humiliating.  Have you been reading in the papers about the
trade problems America is having with Japan?  Wll, maddening as this may
be, since it reflects on the reunion scene, we're also having problems with
Florin which, it turns out, is our leading supplier of Cadminium which,
it also turns out, NASA is panting for.

So all Florinese-American litigation, which includes the thirteen lawsuits,
has been officially put on hold.

What this means is that the reunion scene, for now, is caught between our
need for Cadminium and diplomatic relations between the two countries.

But at least the movie got made.  Mandrake Shog was shown it, and
word reached me he even smiled once or twice.  Hope springs eternal.

                        -- May, 1987

=======

------------------------------

Subject: 11) Does anyone have a list of female mystery writers?

11) Does anyone have a list of female mystery writers?

Aird, Catherine
Allingham, Margery
Ames, Delano
Babson, Margery
Baxter, Alida
Brand, Cristianna
Braun, Lilian Jackson
Brown, Rita Mae
Butler, Gwendoline
Cannell, Dorothy
Cau[l]dwell, Sarah
Cheyne, Angela
Christie, Agatha
Clarke, Anna
Cody, Liza
Craig, Alisa (a.k.a. Charlotte MacLeod)
Crane, Hamilton
Cross, Amanda
Dale, Celia
Daly, Elizabeth
Davidson, Diane Mott
Davis, Dorothy Salisbury
Davis, Leslie
De La Torre, Lillian
Dominic, R. B. (see Emma Lathen)
Douglas, Carolyn
Duke, Madelaine
Dunnett, Dorothy
Elkins, Charlotte
Elrod, P. N.
Emmuska, Baroness Orczy
Ferrars, E. X.
Ferrars, Elizabeth
Fleming, Joan
Frankel, Valerie
Fraser, Anthea
Fraser, Antonia
Fremlin, Celia
George, Elizabeth
Gilman, Dorothy
Gosling, Paula
Grafton, Sue
Grimes, Martha
Hambly, Barbara
Hampton, Sue
Hardwick, Mollie
Harrington, Joyce
Hart, Anne
Hart, Carolyn
Hess, Joan
Heyer, Georgette
Hitchman, Janet
Hogarth, Grace
Holt, Hazel
Hughes, Dorothy
Jackson Braun, Lilian
James, P. D.
LaPierre, Janet
Lang[s]ton, Jane
Lathen, Emma (pseudonym for Mary Jane Latsis and Martha Hennisart)
MacLeod, Charlotte (a.k.a Alisa Craig)
Mann, Jessica
Marsh, Ngaio
Matera, Lia
McCrumb, Sharyn
McMullen, Mary
Meek, M.D.R.
Michaels, Barbara (see Elizabeth Peters)
Mitchell, Gladys
Moody, Susan
Morice, Anne
Moyes, Patricia
Muller, Marcia
O'Marie, Sister Carol Anne
Orczy, Baroness Emmuska
Papazoglou, Orania
Paretsky, Sara
Paul, Barbara
Perry, Anne
Peters, Elizabeth (a.k.a. Barbara Michaels) (Barbara Mertz; a now-retired
    archaeologist specializing in Egypt.  Peters is the name she uses
    for stories dealing with Egyptology somehow, and Michaels for the
    rest.)
Peters, Ellis (Edith Pargeter)
Pirkis, Catherine Louisa
Radley, Sheila
Raskin, Ellen
Rendell, Ruth
Rinehart, Mary Roberts
Sayers, Dorothy
Shannon, Dell
Simpson, Dorothy
Smith, Joan
Stacey, Susannah
Tey, Josephine
Truman, Margaret
Weber, Thomasina
Wells, Tobias
Wentworth, Patricia
White, Ethel Lina
Yorke, Margaret

(from [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], and others)

------------------------------

Subject: 12) DICTIONARY OF THE KHAZARS

12) What is the difference between the male and female editions of
DICTIONARY OF THE KHAZARS by Milorad Pavic?

Page 293

FEMALE:

And he gave me a few of the Xeroxed sheets of paper lying on the table in
front of him.  As he passed them to me, his thumb brushed mine and I
trembled from the touch.  I had the sensation that our past and our future
were in our fingers and that they had touched.  And so, when I began to read
the proffered pages, I at one moment lost the train of thought in text and
drowned it in my own feelings.  In these seconds of absence and
self-oblivion, centuries passed with every read but uncomprehended and
unabsorbed line, and when, after a few moments, I came to and re-established
contact with the text, I knew that the reader who returns from the open seas
of his feelings is no longer the same reader who embarked on that sea only a
short while ago.  I gained and learned more by not reading than by reading
those pages, and when I asked Dr.  Muawja where he had got them he said
something that astonished me even more.

MALE:

And he gave me a few of the Xeroxed sheets of paper lying on the table in
front of him.  I could have pulled the trigger then and there.  There
wouldn't be a better moment.  There was only one lone witness present in the
garden -- and he was a child.  But that's not what happened.  I reached out
and took those exciting sheets of paper, which I enclose in this letter.
Taking them instead of firing my gun, I looked at those Saracen fingers with
their nails like hazelnuts and I thought of the tree Halevi mentions in his
book on the Khazars.  I thought of how each and every one of us is just such
a tree the taller we grow toward the sky, through the wind and rain toward
God, the deeper we must sink our roots through the mud and subterranean
waters toward hell.  With these thoughts in my mind, I read the pages given
me by the green-eyed Saracen.  They shattered me, and in disbelief I asked
Dr. Muawja where he had got them.

====================================================================

(Contributions for addition to this FAQL gratefully appreciated.
Suggestions for things *I* should write to add to this FAQL are not so
gratefully appreciated.)

Evelyn C. Leeper | [phone] | [e-mail] / [e-mail]