Cosmopolis 21

COSMOPOLIS Number 21 December, 2001 Contents One Year of TI 1 One Year of TI by Steve Sherman by Steve Sherman Howlers in the published texts TI Assignment Administration As you read this, it will have been just one year since 3 Work Tzar Status Report some of the members of the Textual Integrity team met by Joel Riedesel at Chinon, France, for the European TI Conference. Wave 1 text progress Two months later, the rest of the team met at Oakland, 4 Composition Update California, for the American conference. It was my by John A. Foley privilege to attend both: to meet my fellow team members, not to mention the Vances, whose legendary 5 Publicity Update hospitality did more than live up to its reputation. by Russ Wilcox 5 You Have Done It! There have been numerous articles on the subject by Hans van der Veeke of TI in previous issues of Cosmopolis, which can be Volunteer work credits for completed texts: The downloaded from the website http://www.vanceintegral.com/ Last Castle and to which I commend your attention. I don’t want 6 Project Report to repeat what others have already written, but I do want to give subscribers a feel for what has been by Paul Rhoads accomplished so far. 7 More on Textual Integrity 11 Letters to the Editor Each text presents its own particular set of Alain Schremmer, Michael Miller, Till Noever, problems to the restoration effort, depending on the and Derek Benson degree of editorial intervention and the quality of available evidence. In some cases we have only a single 12 Closing Words published edition and no other evidence. In some cases 13 VIE Contacts we have multiple editions that differ among them- selves in more or less interesting ways. In some cases 13 The Fine Print we have manuscript evidence, which is not always un- problematic, or even setting copy, which shows what went to the publisher and what the publisher did with it. I recently received a photocopy of that for the Berkley edition of Suldrun’s Garden, which documents nicely the slash-and-burn job done to Chapters 25 and 26 (see Cosmopolis 17). From that, I could restore the text as Vance wrote it, even if I did not also have the more faithful Underwood-Miller edition. In the case of the most recent work, we have the author’s original WordStar files, but even these are not without their challenges. In the case of Madouc, there were instances of text that differed identically in the published editions. This might have been parallel edit- ing, but what were the chances that two different editors would generate exactly the same reading? Fortu- nately, there existed in Oakland additional sources of evidence: holographic and typewritten errata sheets; a 30-page Lyonesse Index, compiled by Norma Vance (probably after the publication of The Green Pearl, natural pigments could adequately depict natural with holographic additions to cover Madouc); a list of objects; and, further, that synthetic substances, proper names not recognized by Tim Underwood’s being bogus and unnatural, subconsciously spellchecker; and most importantly, a printout of the influenced the craftsman and inevitably falsified file with holographic corrections. This made it clear his work. Jantiff found the argument convincing that the WordStar file was not the last word. We have and began to collect, grind and blend umbers and had similar experiences with other texts (notably ochers, barks, roots, berries, the glands of fish Night Lamp) that demonstrate conclusively that the last and the secretions of nocturnal rodents, while his round of changes typically does not get added to the family looked on in amusement. file on disk. Jack actually wrote ‘bemusement’ as the final word—a Is the TI enterprise going to make a difference? very different flavour. The answer is emphatically affirmative. Some of the editorial interventions have been documented in pre- And also: vious editions of Cosmopolis, and I won’t bore you by repeating them. But I would like to cite a number of Tonight we are bombahs for sure! I see wines other examples. from four different worlds, a noble assortment of meats, pastas, rissoles, salads, cheeses, and all One of our important discoveries has been that, manner of miscellaneous confections. A far more even in the absence of manuscripts or setting copy, elaborate meal than is my usual habit, I assure the original appearance of a text in a pulp magazine you! But tonight let us revel in the ignobility of can be a valuable TI resource. It must be used with it all! caution—the pulps were notorious for shortening paragraphs and introducing section breaks to fit their —where an editor has substituted ‘pastas’ for Jack’s bicolumnar format—but they are frequently more original ‘pastes’. reliable in the actual words. Kurt Harriman came up with this howler in Dover A prime example is this passage from the Ballantine Spargill’s Ghastly Floater: edition of Marune, spotted by Tim Stretton: Marvel SF Magazine: A spectacular location for a planet, among such a frolic of stars! Maddar and Cirse swing close Mr. Offbold would have sweat in Gehenna before around each other; Furad, with Marune keeping crossing the street at Dover Spargill’s bidding. its monthly orbit, curves around Osmo; the four stars dance a fine saraband down the Fontinella U-M (Dark Side of the Moon): Wisp. Mr. Offbold would have sweated in Guyana Tim’s comment: before crossing the street at Dover Spargill’s bidding. A characteristic Vance passage; but Ballantine have in fact substituted ‘curves’ for the magazine’s The replacement of the perfectly acceptable participle ‘curvets’. Curvet is a new word to me, which sweat is pedestrian enough, but substituting a South means to prance or frolic. All too much for the American nation for the site of the ancient Hebrews’ lummoxes at Ballantine, who rather than use a sacrifices to Moloch (which in the New Testament dictionary settle for a quotidian replacement… becomes Hell) is simply risible. Tim has come up with a couple of equally interesting Gold and Iron has famously been revised by editors. examples in Wyst, this time from the setting copy: Dave Kennedy describes the overall effect: From Wyst: (the lengthy extract is necessary to show The worst thing I can think of is Gold and Iron. the context) Everyone knows of the infamous elimination of the child. What may not be so widely known is The DAW edition has: that this is merely one brief passage that has been edited. In fact, Ace abridged the entire story, so Jantiff listened with dutiful attention, but soon there are massive changes done to the whole text, thereafter he chanced upon an old manual of with entire characters and scenes excised, and landscape painting, which insisted that only sentences revised to cover up the changes. Cosmopolis 21 • 2 Audry cultivated the company of his favorites, of —and Richard Chandler cites one specific passage, both sexes, Casmir knew no intimates and kept no illustrating the case: mistresses. Once each week he paid a stately visit to the bedchamber of Queen Sollace, and there Ace (1958): How would I feel married to a woman addressed himself to her massive and lethargic who would be ashamed to introduce me to her white body. On other less formal occasions, he own friends? made shift to ease himself upon the quivering body of one of his pretty pageboys. Space Stories (1952): How would I feel married to a woman who’s ashamed to introduce me to my Ace made one tiny change: the last word of the pas- own son? sage became pages. But what a significant change in meaning! Ron Chernich made a discovery in The Dragon Masters that is probably not editorial intervention but typeset- When Madouc first makes the acquaintance of her ting error (thanks to Derek Benson for passing Ron’s mother, the fairy Twisk, she is made a present of a mail on to me): spell she will find useful throughout the story. The text, as it appears in Vance’s file and U-M: The end of the first paragraph on page 12 of your Ace F-185 is the culprit. It reads: “You have worked the spell correctly,” said Twisk. “See how he twirls his feet, as if dancing? The Heavy Troopers blundered forward to The spell is known as the ‘Tinkle-toe’, or attack, halting only when Kergan Banbeck would sometimes ‘Hobgoblin’s Hopscotch’.” be the first to die. In subsequent scenes, Twisk will never refer to the Eh? The Heavy Troopers are the Basics’ shock troops: spell by any other name. Madouc, however, clever the bad guys. Kergan Banbeck is their enemy; the good and creative as she is, will variously refer to it as the guy, so why should they give a rat’s if he was to die? Tinkle-toe, the Tinkle-toe Impspring, and the Impspring Something is obviously very, very wrong here and Tinkle-toe. All of this cleverness was too much for wrong it has been and remained in all Ace editions and Ace’s editors, who changed every single reference to derivatives (i.e., all UK editions) since F-185 came out Tinkle-toe Impspring. They also omitted the delightful in 1963. Hobgoblin’s Hopscotch entirely. In the original Galaxy story, as reprinted with only two Anybody out there still wondering why we need the minor differences in The Hugo Winners Volume 2 and VIE? TOR, the sentence reads: The Heavy Troopers blundered forward to attack, halting only when Kergan Banbeck performed an unmistakable pantomime to make it clear that the Work Tzar Status Report Basics would be the first to die.

Load more