Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!panix!.POSTED.panix2.panix.com!not-for-mail From: jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Re: Today's ISFDB weirdness Date: Thu, 30 May 2024 14:21:15 -0000 (UTC) Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. Message-ID: References: Injection-Date: Thu, 30 May 2024 14:21:15 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: reader1.panix.com; posting-host="panix2.panix.com:166.84.1.2"; logging-data="23883"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@panix.com" X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test77 (Sep 1, 2010) Bytes: 2653 Lines: 47 In article , Chris Buckley wrote: >On 2024-05-30, James Nicoll wrote: >> ISFDB has a "disowned by its author" tag. The books thus tagged are: >> >> The Wind from Nowhere by J. G. Ballard >> Probe by Margaret Wander Bonanno >> The Star Conquerors by Ben Bova >> A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess >> Survivor by Octavia E. Butler >> Rage by Stephen King >> Astronauci by Stanislaw Lem >> Aeneis by Virgil >> >> The Butler is a legit awful book, the only true dud Butler ever wrote >> (very early in her career). The Bova is also from early in his career, >> his first novel, written for Winston. I must have read it but I don't >> remember it. In fact, I thought the book Bova disowned was the sequel, >> Star Watchmen. The others, I don't know the backstories. >> >> Weird so many of them are from authors whose surnames begin with "b". > >Interesting. But no Harlan Ellison? I know he disowned SF TV scripts, >and he bought up copies of his _Doomsman_ novel so he could destroy >them - I don't know if that counts as disowning. > It is almost as though that tag was added by someone who got tired of using it early in the alphabet. The Bonanno is there because Probe was actually mostly written by Gene Deweese. https://fanlore.org/wiki/This_is_the_tale_of_PROBE:_The_Novel_I_Didn%27t_Write Rage is about a Columbine-style school well regulated militiaing. The Ballard was apparently hackwork to get his foot in the book of paperback publishing. The Burgess omitted a vital chapter. The Virgil was not finished. Still isn't, even thought the author has had lots of time. -- My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/ My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/ My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/ My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll