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D'Ammassa, Don, "The Library of Lost Art"
As a youth John Cosgrove lived with his uncle Dan. The library in the adjacent barn contained all the works that should have been written and/or published but weren't. These included Love's Labour Found (William Shakespeare), When You Care, When You Love (Theodore Sturgeon), The Wonderful Journey to Mars (Jules Verne), Potpourri Planet (Stanley Weinbaum). After his uncles dies, John goes to live at his home. One morning John's unpublished novel Dangerous Dreams appears on the shelf.
Tomorrow Speculative Fiction 1:5 October 1993 (pp14-17)
Dane, Lisa, Diamonds and Denim [Romance]
Kristine Jackson is a New York publicist. Her latest assignment takes her to Utah to talk best-selling SF writer Roidan Ryder, whose Klakith books are being made into a film by Starburst Pictures, into a publicity tour. Ryder turns out to be a pseudonym of Adam Chaney. Jackson just happens to resemble Embling, the heroine of the book he is currently writing. Naturally, they fall in love. Judging from his library, Cheney has good taste in both SF and mystery. The Chronicles of Klakith (a cross between Burrough's Barsoom and Norman's Gor) are published by Asteroid Books. Eight of the twenty titles are mentioned.
Berkley Different Worlds 13300-1, June 1992
Daniel, Tony, "Barry Malzberg Drives a Black Cadillac"
At age 13 Daniel is sent to retrieve Malzberg from a black hole in the center of the galaxy. This is mostly a tribute to Malzberg and his influence on the writings of Daniel.
Talebones 23 Winter 2001 (pp.4-11)
Daniel, Tony, "Death of Reason"
This is a marginal item. The viewpoint character is a policeman, Meander Harco, who also writes about a time traveling detective Minden Sibley (of the U. S. Time Company). Harco has constructed the Three Temporal Laws upon which his stories are based. Harco has returned to Birmingham, Alabama to track down the murderer of the man who taught him how to write.
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine 16:10 September 1992 (pp120-167)
Danvers, Dennis, “Here’s What I Know”
Dennis Danvers, an SF writer, meets his father in a used bookstore. This is somewhat unusual because his father died 23 years ago. There is a plethora of family background but the important issue for the story is that the author has a half-sister in Philadelphia. She attends a science fiction convention there—with his dead father—and meets her. Together with their father they head off to recover a trove of collectables.
Realms of Fantasy 14:5 June 2008 (pp.74-79, 94)
Scarlett Shade has written a number of successful vampire novels about Countess Showery and Count Downe for Dark Descent Books. One of the reasons for their realism is that Shade herself is a vampire. (It's unusual in the publishing field for a writer to be considered a "blood sucker.")
Zebra 0-8217-4566-2 May 1994
Darlington, Andrew, "Derek and the Vampires"
Derek's flatmate Pete has acquired an old (July 1954) sf magazine, Science Fantasy Adventures #3. It contains stories by John Wyndham and Richard Matheson, among others, and the cover depicts a future city in a bleak, furnace-hot burning desert. Moreover, an ad on the back age contains a website address—decades before such things existed. After Pete logs in to the address, both he and Derek are visited by erotic dreams/hallucinations of women (or parts of women) and are tempted to produce orgasms. The premise suggested is that males of the far future (presumably the one on the magazine cover) have become sterile from radiation, and that the time link and erotic sendings are a method to steal sperm from healthy males of the past. [Dennis Lien]
Supernatural Tales #10, 2006 (pp.100-112)
Davidson, Avram, "Hark! Was That the Squeal of an Angry Thoat?"
Surreal is one description of this item set in Greenwich Village of the 1950s—but a Greenwich Village that did not exist in our world or, perhaps, any world. It is more a description of the characters living near Avram Davidson (for he is one of the characters, here) than of any planned story. One writer is identified by name; this is Calvin M. Knox, a pseudonym used by Robert Silverberg, who was living in New York at that time. Wendell Garrett may be Randall Garrett. Near the end of the story John Carter shows up looking to send a message to his nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Finally, a Thark astride a thoat rides through the streets, seen by a small boy.
Fantastic Stories, 6:4 December 1977 (pp.76-83) [Title misspelled as "Throat"]
The Years Best Fantasy Stories: 4, (edited by Lin Carter), DAW UE1425 (no. 318), December 1978 (pp.103-113)
Inside the Funhouse, (edited by Mike Resnick), AvoNova 76643-4, August 1992 (pp.220-230)
DeBaun, R. F., "The Astounding Dr. Amizov"
Herein it is revealed that there are a number of clones who write the Good Doctor's works. This is easier to believe than that one person could do so much work of such high quality.
Analog SF/SF, January 1974 (pp. 85-92)
de Camp, Catherine Crook, "The Million Dollar Pup"
This is a marginal item. Sally-Ann Turner lives in a future New York where private ownership of pets is banned. She wants a dog and convinces a famous inventor to let her help him build a robotic one. Specific mention of Isaac Asimov and the Three Laws of Robotics are made. Sally-Ann learned them by heart in fifth grade socioscience class.
Creatures of the Cosmos, Westminster Press 32621-8, October 1977 (pp.40-60)
Footprints in Sand, Advent 25-2, June 1981
de Camp, L. Sprague, "Balsamo's Mirror"
Using the powers of an old Albanian mystic woman, H. P. Lovecraft and a companion are transported into the bodies of two Englishmen of the 18th century. Lovecraft realizes that the past was not as he thought and that fantasy worlds are the only proper locales for a true gentleman.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1976 (pp.143-156)
Purple Pterodactyls, Phantasia Press, December 1979
Ace 0-441-69190-0, April 1980 (pp 9-24)
de Camp, L. Sprague, "Far Babylon"
W. Wilson Newbury is camping with his wife and children in Texas. Wandering from camp one evening he comes across a man building a model of ancient Babylon in the earth. This native Texan would like to travel but is not allowed to leave the county because he broke certain regulations. The next day Newbury puts all this together with some knowledge he got locally and from Providence, RI, and realizes that this was the ghost of Robert E. Howard.
Fantasy Crossroads May 1976
Purple Pterodactyls, Phantasia Press, December 1979
Ace 0-441-69190-0, April 1980 (pp 106-111)
de Camp, L. Sprague, "A Skald's Lament" [Song]
A science fiction writer complains that, although he dutifully follows all the trends and fads in the field, that his work is not appreciated by the readers.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, 8:1 January 1955 (p.111) [as "Lament by a Maker"]
Best from Fantasy &Science Fiction, Fifth Series, (edited by Anthony Boucher),
Doubleday, January 1956
Doubleday SFBC, March 1956
Ace F105, March 1961, G714, 1968
Demons and Dinosaurs, Arkham House, 1970 (p.51)
Phantoms and Fancies, Mirage V-114, 1972 (p.43)
Laughing Space, (edited by Isaac Asimov & Janet O. Jeppson), Houghton Mifflin 30519-5, March 1982 (p.357)
de Lint, Charles, The Little Country
William Dunthorn, of Mousehole in Cornwall, had written two novels. One, The Hidden People, had become a classic children's fantasy. The second, The Lost Music, was more adult and less popular, although well-respected. Then, while going through her grandfather's attic in Mousehole, Janey Little comes across a third novel The Little Country, printed in an edition of one, and never intended to be published nor even its existence made known.
Morrow 10366-9, January 1991
Science Fiction Book Club (Morrow) 18125, April 1991
de Lint, Charles, Yarrow: An Autumn Tale
Toronto fantasy writer Cat Midhir finds that she is caught up in a fantasy world considerably different from the Canadian norm.
Ace 94000-5, October 1986
DeChancie, John, Castle Murders
This book, along with the other four in the series, appears magically in the library of Castle Perilous, one of the venues of the book's plot. The Royal Librarian writes a preface and foreword to the Castle Edition of the book. He is suitably appalled that he is quoted in a blurb on the back cover of the book lending his approbation to the volume. The framing is the recursive element here, although books such as Foundation's Robots and I Remember Rama keep appearing in the Library.
Ace 09273-X, May 1991
DeChancie, John and Bischoff, David, Dr. Dimension
Dr. Demetrios Demopoulos is the archetypal mad scientist, complete with beautiful blonde female and a dull football-playing assistants (one each). He builds a spacetime machine and goes off into space, meets good and bad aliens, etc. Midway through his adventures he finds that this is all a round-robin space opera being written at a poker game by John Campbell, A. E. van Vogt, Robert Heinlein, Edmund Hamilton, Jack Williamson, etc. At present the writer is E. E. "Doc" Smith who may (or may not) be Dr. Demopoulos.
Roc 0-451-45252-6, June 1993
Dedman, Stephen, "Amendment"
Robert A. Heinlein, 73, is Guest of Honor at the World Science Fiction Convention being held in Texas. Charles Manson and his "family" have hitched to the convention. There, at an autograph session, they try to kill Heinlein. They are foiled by a heroic ex-Marine, Lee Harvey Oswald. This is in an alternate universe. Heinlein was born 7 July 1907 and this would make it the 1980 Word Science Fiction Convention Noreascon 2, held in Boston, Massachusetts, not Texas. Heinlein was Guest of Honor at MidAmeriCon, Kansas City, Missouri, 1976.
Science Fiction Age 6:6 September 1998 (pp. 60-64)
Dedman, Stephen, "Foreign Bodies"
This is the first chapter of the complete novel.
Aurealis 8 June 1992
Dedman, Stephen, Foreign Bodies
Part of this novel takes place at a science fiction convention. The hero is an SF fan who helps a "have-not" woman get her story published. Later he is switched into her body by a time traveler and most of the story involves his attempts to get his own back. The short story above is the first chapter of this book.
Tor 0-312-86864-2 December 1999
Dee, Ron real name of David Darke
del Rey, Lester, "A Code for Sam"
A new series of robot has been built on Earth. The population's fears has caused them to be constructed with rules derived from ancient SF stories - the Three Laws of Asenion (Asimov). It turns out that a code of ethics is preferable in robots, as in organic beings, to a rigid set of programming rules. "Asenion" is a misreading of a sloppy version of the signature "Asimov." It was a standing joke between Del Rey and Asimov. Asimov later incorporated the name into his Robot novels; Asenion robots are built with the Three Laws - no others have ever been built (see Asimov's The Caves of Steel for details).
Worlds of If, November 1966 vol. 16 no. 11 (pp. 78-94)
del Rey, Lester, "Vengeance is Mine" [aka "To Avenge Man"]
Sam is a robot abandoned on the Moon while mankind destroys itself. However, Sam cannot believe that mankind did this and, based upon his reading of SF books, he decides that mankind was done in by alien invaders. He manages to return to Earth where he begins to built robots to avenge humanity. Over the eons the robots search the galaxy but find only bucolic civilizations and the ruins of technological ones. A long study of Earth reveals the truth but Sam suppresses it to allow the robots to still have a purpose.
Galaxy 23:2 December 1956 (pp.156-194) [To Avenge Man]
The Ninth Galaxy Reader (edited by Frederik Pohl) Doubleday 1966; Pocket Books 1967; Gollancz 1967
Gods and Golems Ballantine 03087 February 1973
The Best of Lester del Rey 1978 Ballantine; New York: Ballantine 2000 0-345-43949-X
Those Amazing Electronic Thinking Machines (edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh) Franklin Watts 0-5410-4667-2
Delany, Samuel R., "Aye, and Gomorrah"
In the future astronauts are altered to neuters ostensibly to prevent the generation of malformed children. These spacers are in demand by a type of sexual pervert called frelks (who may be either male or female). The frelks fascination with spacers extends to astronomy and the collection of old science fiction (which has become a sort of pornography in retrospect).
Dangerous Visions, (edited by Harlan Ellison), Doubleday, January 1967 (pp.510-519)
Nebula Award Stories No. 3, (edited by Roger Zelazny), Doubleday, December 1968;
Pocket Books 75420, February 1970; 1971
Driftglass, Nelson Doubleday SFBC 3381 24M, July 1971; 40M November 1971
Signet Q4834, November 1971; W7415, March 1977; 12092-2, April 1983; 14424-4, 1986
Gregg Press 2395-9, December 1977
Gollancz 02477-1, April 1978
Panther 04916-9, 1980
Modern Science Fiction, (edited by Norman Spinrad), Anchor Press, 1974
The Road to Science Fiction #3, (edited by James E. Gunn), Montor, December 1979
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume III, (edited by Arthur C. Clarke & George W. Proctor),
Avon 79335-0, March 1982
Avon SFBC N11, April 1983
The Complete Nebula Award-Winning Fiction, Bantam Spectra 25610-6, February 1986
The World Treasury of Science Fiction, (edited by David G. Hartwell), Little, Brown 34941-0, February 1989 (pp.885-894)
The Best of the Nebulas, (edited by Ben Bova), Tor 93184-0, April 1989 (pp.142-150)
Delaplace, Barbara, "ApeCon"
The 1945 Worldcon is being held at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia. The fans are sharing the hotel with a convention of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. To add to the fun, RKO, to publicize their new movie, Tarzan and the Leopard Women, has loaned the convention an ape. One of the guests is John Caldwell, Lord Bloomstoke who was invited to the convention, but who doesn't understand just what sort of a convention it is. Later, he discovers a simian friend of his, locked in a cage in the basement, and finds it necessary to free him. Unfortunately, the dum-dum never occurs.
Alternate Worldcons and Again, Alternate Worldcons (edited by Mike Resnick), WC Books, September 1996 (pp.157-170)
Deming, Richard, "The Shape of Things That Came"
George Blade uses his uncle Dr. Ezekiel Herkimer's invention the time-nightshirt to travel from 1900 to 1950. He reports his adventures in the form of a love story The Time-Nightshirt to his editor, Thomas Grayson. Grayson rejects it because of its implausibility—he cannot believe the inhabitants of 1950 would take a world of marvels for granted.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 2:5 October 1951 (pp.18-23)
Derleth, August joint author with H. P. Lovecraft
Derleth, August, "The Remarkable Dingdong"
J. Rufus Thwing Dingdong took over the editorship of Remarkable Science-Fiction and built its circulation while improving its stories and articles. He often gives ideas to his writers; for example, he had one of them write a story with the details of the atom bomb. This caused F. B. I. agents to visit and threaten him. However, it did not stop there as he made prediction after prediction and used them to prime his authors. Finally, he was arrested, tried in secret, and sentenced to prison for twenty years. There he became editor of the prison magazine, Uplift Stories. This is based upon John W. Campbell's Astounding which published the famous Cleve Cartmill story "Deadline" which did detail how to build an atomic bomb.
Spaceway 1:3 April 1954 (pp.94-104)
Dern, Daniel P, "For Malzberg It Was They Came"
A large alien spaceship comes to [Teaneck] New Jersey. Many aliens leave the ship and proceed to the home of Barry N. Malzberg where they ask him the kinds of questions one would only get from college English teachers. Malzberg declares that he is not Malzberg at all; Malzberg is at a symposium receiving an award. The aliens sadly leave to seek the true Malzberg.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 104:6 June 2003 (pp.48-52)
DeWeese, Gene and Coulson, Robert, Charles Fort Never Mentioned Wombats
The second of the Joe Karns books. Karns fills in for the travel editor of his newspaper and winds up on a flight for Australia in the company of a number of SF fans heading for the Worldcon there. Although we never do get to the Worldcon, Karns and the fans manage to thwart some sort of an attempted alien invasion of Earth.
Doubleday 12111-3, 1977
Hale 6647-8, April 1978
DeWeese, Gene and Coulson, Robert, Now You See It/Him/Them
Yet another murder at a World SF Convention—this one is in the Midwest. The murderer appears to be invisible and a number of the characters turn out to have a variety of esp. The protagonist, Joe Karns, is a reporter for the local newspaper, The Clarion. There are a number of other in-group fannish jokes and references.
Doubleday 05624-9, October 1975
Hale 5849-1, October 1976
G. K. Hall 6358-8, 1976
DeWeese, Gene & Coulson, Robert, "Queen of the Timies"
The Time Tunnel fans meet to honor the "Queen of the Timies", the Time Fleet Admiral, Bjo Trimble. The creator of the show, Gene Roddenberry shows up to present a special cut of "The Trouble with Trimbles." Many parallels to Star Trek fandom and many in-group jokes.
Alternate Worldcons (edited by Mike Resnick), Pulphouse Publishing 1-56146-448-1, September 1994 (pp.39-46)
Alternate Worldcons and Again, Alternate Worldcons (edited by Mike Resnick), WC Books, September 1996 (pp.39-46)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Campbell's World"
In an alternate universe, it is Jospeh Campbell rather than John W. Campbell who becomes editor of Astounding in 1937. He uses his knowledge of human myths to completely transform the world through the pages of the magazine. SF becomes Sacred Fiction (or Symbolic Fiction). Later the name is changed to Ananda Mythic Fiction Mythic Fact. Very much a wish fulfillment story of the SF field.
Amazing Stories 68:6 September 1993 (pp.46-51)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Distances"
Seventy five years in the future, the protagonist is looking at a photo of his grandparents taken today and wondering how people could have lived in such primitive times. He decides to write a science fiction story about it. He sets it 75 years in his future and realizes that he is really worried about his future not his past. In the story (or not), his grandson performs a similar analysis of the old-fashioned hologram in which the original protagonist appears and decides to write a science fiction story about his descendants. And so on, into the future.
Pirate Writings 5:1 [February] 1997 (pp.6-9)
Di Filippo, Paul, "The Furthest Schorr: 32 Fugues on the Paintings of Todd Schorr #16 The Spectre of Monster Appeal"
In a world where monsters predominate and humans no longer exist Furry Hackerman, a werewolf, is editing the last issue of his magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. Here the monsters are corporate executives and legislators. The author based the story on 32 paintings Todd Schorr — http://www.toddschorr.com/Gallery/Previous%201/image6.html.
Interzone 203 April 2006 (p.29)
Di Filippo, Paul, "The Great Nebula Sweep"
Harley Prout is an unsuccessful SF writer. He develops and programs a neural network, using the Nebula Award winners as input, to generate a story "Forever Plus!" Since his name is so well-known to editors, he submits it under the name of his new girl friend Amber Max. The short story version is published in the January 1992 issue of Omni; the novelet comes out from Axolotl Press in March; the novella version is published as a Tor double in May; finally it is expanded to a 500,000 word novel, published by Bantam/Foundation in August. The next year it wins the Nebula in all four categories. In addition, Lucasfilms brings out the movie in time to receive the re-established Dramatic Production Nebula. Prout, angered at the attention Max is getting, tells all.
Nebula Awards 25,(edited by Michael Bishop), Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 164933-2, April 1991 [hardcover]
665473-3, April 1991 [trade] (pp218-224)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Little Doors"
Crawleigh is an academic writing a book on classic children's literature, especially Baum and Nesbit. His marriage is unhappy and he's having an affair with Audrey, an ordinary young woman who works at the campus copy shop. Crawleight encounters an obscure (fictional) 1903 children's fantasy novel, Little Doors by Alfred Bigelow Strayham, which is quoted from extensively; the plot of his copy is utterly unlike the description of it he had read in another scholar's work. The book involves Princess Ordinary, who learns about magical Little Doors which will take her away to a happier world. Parallels between the book's story and the affair (deceit, pregnancy, etc.) become evident, until Audrey finds her own Little Door and vanishes.
Night Cry, 2:5 Fall 1987 (pp 63-84)
Little Doors, Four Walls Eight Windows 1-56858-241-2, November 2002
Di Filippo, Paul, "Mairzy Doats"
It is 1948 in an alternate universe. The president of the United States (in Denver; D.C. was destroyed by German V-4 missiles), Robert A. Heinlein has put together a crew for a secret U.S. trip to the Moon. That this is a one-way trip to set up a colony is not revealed to the crew who think their mission is to destroy a Nazi base there. One of the people on the trip is SF writer Henry Gallagher (better known by his pen name of Carter Burrows) author of "Sex Slaves of the Spaceways", "Raiders of the Rings", etc. The entire society is structured like a Heinlein novel in our world. There are many in-group puns and SF references (such as the Hoag-Waldo Act).
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 80:2 February 1991 (pp.34-55)
Di Filippo, Paul, "A Monument to After-Thought Unveiled"
In an alternate world Robert Frost is an embittered failed poet whose wife and children died in a fire. He ekes out a living writing horror fiction for Weird Tales edited by the happily married H. P. Lovecraft. Frost's friends, Clifford and Muriel Eddy introduce him to Hazel Heald, a witch from Somerville, Massachusetts, who is able to reconnect him to the world. He starts writing successful poetry and eventually married Hazel. Many of the titles of the stories are titles and lines of our-Frost's poems.
Interzone 192 November/December 2003 (pp.5-16)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Never Let Them See You Nova"
Curt Boardmender is a script writer trying to recover from his disaster with The Foundation Trilogy With Woody Harrelson as Hari Seldon). He is pitching Olaf Stapledon's now-public domain novels to Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen as a musical. After coming to agreement, he decides he should have a look at Last and First Men and Star Maker.
Interzone 129 March 1998 (pp52-53)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: Adventures in Mishmosh Land"
Subtitled "A. Patchwork Girl, Customizer." A science fiction story made up of extracts from Star Trek, Dune, The Lord of the Rings, Foundation, Rama, Known Space, Riverworld, Skylark, Oz, etc.It is frightening how well it blends together.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 101:4&5 October/November 2001 (pp.107-108)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: And I Think to Myself, What a Wonderful World"
In 1942, Franklin Roosevelt is assassinated by William Burroughs and the government rounds up all the writers, artists, etc. mentioned or referred to in his writings. They are sent to camps in Arizona. There, a huge cross fertilization takes place between jazz musicians and science fiction writers and editors that continues long after the war has ended.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 97:1 July 1999 (pp.99-103)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: Brother, Can You Spare a Hyperlink?"
In the future, when government regulation has basically destroyed the Internet, the streets of San Francisco are filled with begging ex-bloggers. The narrator meets Cory Doctorow and it becomes clear that books are going to be published on paper again (with new terminology).
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 110:2 February 2006 (pp.100-103)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: A Black Hole Ate My Homework"
In the future, students at Intelligent Design University study science fiction stories in order to generate arguments to counter objective science.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 110:5 May 2006 (pp. 75-78)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: Et in Arcadia Superego"
A psychiatrist is treating Mr. Science; the dullness of his life is causing him to slip into ascience fiction universe.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 108:1 January 2005 (pp.94-96)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: Hail to the Hack"
In an interview the President of the United States explains how, in 2016, SFWA won the Presidency and both houses of Congress. The President must cut the interview short as the third volume of his current trilogy is due.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 99:6 December 2000 (pp.131-134)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: Have Gun, Will Edit"
In the future successful, or at least rich, science fiction writers hire assassins to keep down competitors, especially the young ones. Of course, young writers with large advances are also clients.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 91:2 August 1996 (pp.61-65)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: The History of Snivelization"
Ed Ferman turns over to Gordon Van Gelder the "Smith File." These are copies of dreadful stories submitted to F&SF by E. E. Smith, Ph.D. Gordon is warned to keep these secret and pass them on to the next editor.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 97:4&5 October/November 1999 (pp.192-197)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: In the Air"
While visiting New York, the author finds that SF tropes have taken over the Mundanes while all the people in SF writing and publishing are leaving the field for more mundane pursuits. The author decides to buy a Starbucks franchise.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 98:1 January 2000 (pp.192-197)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: The Magazine Chums Vesus the Baron of Numedia by C. J. Cutlyffe Heintz-Ketzep"
Young Ashley bursts into the Club to inform Lord Pringle of the evil plans of Baron Numedia to do away with magazines and replace them with electronic perversions on the web. The Chums are all recognizable as SF editors and writers.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 100:2 February 2001 (pp.89-94)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: Make Love, Not Flab"
In order to present SF writers as "hotties" SFWA has mandated a set of physical and sexual excercises as well as a wordage quota. This relates and incident of a writer with one of SFWA's Consort Bureau employees.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 105:6 December 2003 (pp.58-62)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: My Life—and Welcome to Fifteen Percent of It"
A reorganization of agencies means that Paul's agent, Herman Bundersnatch, must perform menial tasks for Paul and for all the other writers he represents. The agent no longer examines manuscripts nor deals with publishers.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 102:6 June 2002 (pp.86-89)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: The Slan Corps Wants You!"
Science Fiction fans are recruited by the government into the United States Futurological Ambassadors (more commonly known as the "Slan Corps"). Their job is to defuse critical situations and solve international problems using their knowledge of science fiction.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 107:1 July 2004 (pp. 101-104)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: The Unkindest Cuts"
Fragments of a manuscript of a dead famous SF author have been found. They are presented here with missing text where the blanks are represented by categorical nouns, verbs, etc. determined by the context.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 103:2 August 2002 (pp.112-116)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Plumage from Pegasus: Woolpullers, Inc."
Paulfilippo has a block because the "Invisible Critic"—whom he names Edmund Wilson—looks over his shoulder and disapproves of what he writes. A writers' aid company, Woolpullers, Inc., sets him up in a scenario that destroys the "Invisible Critic" and allows him to write again.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 100:6 June 2001 (pp.108-111)
Di Filippo, Paul. "Plumage from Pegasus: You Won't Take Me Alive!"
The narrator, Dorsey Kazin, is a SFWA Griefcom operative. Author Theodolite Sangborn has been dropped by Bollix Books and he has taken editor Sherri Drysack hostage. However, it turns out that all is not as it seems and that this is a ploy to get a better deal for Sangborn's new novel with another publisher.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 94:2 February 1998 (pp.78-82)
Di Filippo, Paul, A Year in the Linear City
Diego Patchen is a cosmogonic (science fiction) writer in a city that is one block wide and millions of miles long. It is lit by a daysun which moves along Broadway and a seasonsun which moves perpendicular to it. Diego's stories are published in Mirror Worlds (Astounding) edited by Winston Compounce (John W. Campbell, Jr.). As in our world CF is not looked upon highly in comparison to quotidian (mimetic or romance) fiction. The Borough mayor, Jobo Copperknob, a read of CF invites Diego to be part of an embassy to another borough 2500 boroughs downtown. In this alien world he finds Cosmogonic Fictioneers with whom he can communicate. There they are imprisoned and later released to leave immediately. Diego returns home to find that his first book Worlds for the Asking has just been published.
PS Publishing 1-90288-036-6 February 2002 [paperback]
PS Publishing 1-90288-037-4 February 2002 [hardcover]
Cities (edited by Peter Crowther) Gollancz 0-575-07504-X, 2003 (pp.1-79)
DiChario, Nicholas A., "Mission 51-L"
SF writers Octavia Butler, David Brin, William Gibson, John Varley, and Lucius Shepard train for the NASA "Writer in Space" program. What they do not know is that Harlan Ellison has already been selected. When the shuttle blows up Shepard remarks that now Last Dangerous Visions will never be published.
Alternate Skiffy (edited by Mike Resnick and Patrick Nielsen Hayden), The Wildside Press 1-880448-54-8, December 1997 [dated 1996] (pp.87-97)
Dick, Philip K., Confessions of a Crap Artist
These are incidents in the life of a science fiction writer. The writer is based heavily upon Dick himself.
Entwhistle Books, 1975 [hardcover edition of 90]
September 1977 [trade edition of 500]
2-7, March 1978
Timescape 44213-9 August 1982 [The cover features New York SF fan Ben Yalow]
Paladin 08725-7, January 1989
Dick, Philip K., The Man in the High Castle
This is a world in which the Allies lost World War II. In this world Hawthorne Abendsen has written a novel, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, in which Roosevelt was not assassinated during his first term in office. Consequently the Allies won the war—but not in the way it occurred in our reality.
Putnam, 1962
Putnam SFBC D45, October 1962
Popular Library SP250, 1964; 60-2289, 1968
Berkley 02543-8, April 1974; D3080-6, 1976; 03908-0, 1978; 04323, 1979; 05051-3, March 1981; 06321-6, December 1983; 08656-9, April 1985; 10143-6, November 1986
Gollancz 01958-1, May 1975
Penguin 002376-3, April 1976; October 1978; 008875-X, March 1987
Gregg Press 2476-9, April 1979
Nelson Doubleday SFBC 3686-3, March 1980
Easton Press, March 1988
Ace 51809-5, 1988
Dick, Philip K., Radio Free Albemuth
This book is tied into Dick's "Valis" trilogy. Here is Philip K. Dick under his own name and other profession as an SF writer. This is an alternate universe rabidly anti-Communist U.S. The hero, Nicholas Brady, is suspected of hiding anti-American lyrics in the records in his music store. This was adapted to a play in 1991 by Lisa Morton.
Arbor House 762-2, December 1985
Arbor House SFBC 01801 Q20, June 1986
Grafton 06936-4, May 1987
Avon 70288-6, June 1987
Here is the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, barely disguised under the Greek/German pun of Horselover Fat. Fat is the central character in a study of reality and God (perhaps Valis - Vast Active Living Intelligence System). This was adapted into an opera in 1987 by Todd Machover.
Bantam 14156-2, February 1981; 20594-3, June 1981; 20594-3, October 1981;
25370-0, November 1985
Kerosina 15-X, November 1987 [special]
Kerosina 16-8, November 1987
The VALIS Trilogy, QPBC, December 1989
Dick, Philip K., "Waterspider"
In the 21st century the Bureau of Emigration sends agents back to the 1954 World SF Convention to abduct Poul Anderson. They believe that the 20th century SF writers were precogs (even if they didn't know it themselves). They need Anderson to tell them how to solve their speed-of-light drive problem.
Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1964 vol. 13, no. 6 (pp 100-127)
The Days of Perky Pat: Volume 2 of The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Underwood Miller 052-5 (and 053-3), 1987
Inside the Funhouse, (edited by Mike Resnick), AvoNova 76643-4, August 1992 (pp.184-219)
Dickson, Gordon R. joint author with Poul Anderson
Dickson, Gordon R., "A Case History"
Bruce Mondamin (real name, Elmer Grudy) is one of the leading writers of fantasy and supernatural fiction. Unfortunately, as he becomes affluent and happy, he can no longer write horrifying stories. His psychiatrist tells him the problem is the aunt who raised him. So, he starts writing stories in which aunts turn out to be monsters. However, he starts to believe that this is really changing his aunt. When, at the advice of the same psychiatrist, he visits his aunt, he finds that he has turned her into a monster. Now, he can only write stories in which monsters turn into aunts—there is no market for that [in the words of W. S. Gilbert: "Great aunts don't count."]
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 7:6 December 1954 (pp. 63-67)
Disch, Thomas M., "The Master of the Milford Altarpiece"
The story is told by a writer, mostly likely Disch. Most of the characters are SF writers, usually called by their first names. The concerns are creation and relationships between creators.
Paris Review, 1968
Getting Into Death, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1973
Getting Into Death and Other Stories, Knopf, 1976
Pocket Books 80926-1, Mar 1977 (pp.164-179)
Fundamental Disch, Bantam 13670-4, October 1980 (pp. 326-341)
Gollancz 02986-2, 1981 (pp. 326-341)
Disch, Thomas M., "On Science Fiction" [Poem]
This is a terse look at the science fiction community and how its members glory in their infirmities. It is not a pleasing look to a member, even though it is written by an insider. The poem is dedicated to British SF fan and researcher Peter Nicholls.
TriQuarterly, 1982
The UMBRAL Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry, (edited by Steve Rasnic Tem), Umbral Press 00-0, Spring 1982 (pp.33-34)
Burn This & Other Essays and Criticism, Hutchinson, 1982
Doctorow, Cory, "Foreign"
A marginal item. There are secret temporal ambassadors whose job it is to keep the present (or future) from leaking into the past. The son of one of these ambassadors finds out that smugglers are selling the works of A. Conan Doyle and H. G. Wells to Jules Verne who is publishing them as his own, before their original authors wrote them. [This is the title in the contents page; it is "A Place So Foreign" on the title page.]
Science Fiction Age 8:2 January 2000 (pp.39-53)
Douglas, Carole Nelson, Cat in a Kiwi Con [Mystery]
This is the twelfth book in the Midnight Louie, P.I. series. Midnight Louie is a large black tom cat who helps solve crimes along with his partner PR specialist Temple Barr. The world's largest science fiction convention (this appears to be mostly media SF) TitaniCon is being held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The kiwis of the title are actually the birds from Aotearoa who have been dyed pink to play the role of alien monsters. Midnight Louie finds the first body high in the rafters of the main hall and proceeds to knock it to the floor to begin the fun. Douglas has been to SF conventions as no outsider could present the convention here as she does. As expected there is a Harlan Ellison analogue, Hanford Schmidt who not only reflects Harlan's attitude on reading, publishers, fans, etc. but who is also a lawyer.
Forge, May 2000
Forge April 2001, 0-812-58425-2
Doyle, Debra joint author with James D. MacDonald
Dozois, Gardnar, "Counterfactual"
In an alternate America where the defeated Confederate forces devoted themselves to decades of guerilla terrorism, Northern journalists including Clifford Simak and (apparently) C.M. Kornbluth travel to Montgomery, Alabama, for a federal ceremony. Simak, a sometime sf-writer in this world as well (but one who specializes in "counterfactuals," alternate history stories considered mainstream fare) tries to plot out a counterfactual story where American history had taken a less grim turn. A passing mention informs us that H.P. Lovecraft accepted the editorship of Weird Tales in this reality.
The Magazines of Fantasy & Science Fiction 110:6 June 2006 (pp. 37–55)
Duane, Diane, My Enemy, My Ally
A marginal item (but, one with extremely widespread use of tuckerization). Jerry Freeman, one of the Enterprise's crew is converting pre-2200 tapes to the current holographic format. Kirk sees one short scene featuring the Tardis and the Fourth Doctor. [Star Trek Novel #18]
Pocket 50285-9; July 1984; 55446-8, 1985; 66921-1, 1987; 70421-4, 1989
Pocket SFBC 2590-8 O42, December 1984
Dubious, Gardner R. pseudonym of Mike Glicksohn
Duncan, Andy joint author with Eileen Gunn, et al.
Dunn, Linda J., "Fritz Leiber: Actor Extraordinaire"
Fritz Leiber drops writing and continues his acting career. To make money, he takes the role of captain in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, thinking it will last a year. However, it continues for over 10 years. David Gerrold, once a towel boy in a Chinese brothel becomes a successful script writer, as does anti-War activist and hippy Joe Haldeman.
Alternate Skiffy (edited by Mike Resnick and Patrick Nielsen Hayden), The Wildside Press 1-880448-54-8, December 1997 [dated 1996]
(pp.36-45)
Dvorkin, David, Time for Sherlock Holmes
This is basically a pastiche with an immortal Holmes and Watson fighting a Moriarty who has stolen the Time Machine from Wells' friend. Holmes recognizes this from the conversations he had had with H. G. Wells during Victorian times.
Dodd, Mead 08175-4, September 1983
Dwight, Jeffry, "Extraction"
Emile Johnson, a science fiction writer has himself tortured in order to produce a 3,500 word story for Mike Resnick's anthology about alternate dinosaurs. Apparently, missing the deadline will result in a fate worse than the torture.
Galaxy 1:3 May/June 1994 (pp.69-72)
Dyer, S. N., "My Cat"
The author's cat takes up the writing of science fiction and becomes more successful at it than her writer. The cat leaves to live with the writer's agent.
Asimov's Science Fiction 25:4 April 2001 (pp.82-84)
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