I'm a new librarian & need advice

[Cheryl]

Hello, I'm a new librarian. I hope I'm posting in the correct place. If not, I'm sorry.

The Second Generation-Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Dragons of the Summer Flame-Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

I think the title of these two books needs to be updated but I want to check to see what you guys think first.

These are both part of the Dragonlance series but within Dragonlance, there are many sub-series. (Is that what you call it?) I believe that "Dragons of a Summer Flame" is listed with the wrong sub-series name and "The Second Generation" doesn't mention any series in the title (not even Dragonlance).

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/DL_G...
According to this link at the publisher's website, these two books are are in the series called "The New Generation", but the book covers don't mention a series name other than Dragonlance.

How do you guys think they should be listed?

Thanks in advance.
Cheryl

[rivka, Former Librarian Moderator]

Cheryl wrote: "Hello, I'm a new librarian."

Hi! :)


I hope I'm posting in the correct place.

Looks good to me.


I'll leave actually answering your question to someone with experience with the series/author.

[Dori]

Okay, I had always considered "Dragons of Summer Flame" part of Chronicles, but then again, that's when I pretty much stopped reading the books, so no clue. I can check my copy, if I can find it, to see if it has any information in it. I'm pretty sure I bought it in hb when it first came out, but I only remember seeing my pb's of the books on the shelf...not sure what became of DoSF.

[Cheryl]

I've heard that "Dragons of Summer Flame" is not part of the Chronicles even though the title is similar to the three in that trilogy. ("Dragons of Autumn Twilight", "Dragons of Winter Night", & "Dragons of Spring Dawning") Also, "Dragons of Summer Flame" is not included in the "The Annotaded Chronicles" or the "Chronicles Trilogy Gift Set".

[Cait]

Hi, Cheryl! This is a great place to post. :) The only thing I'd suggest differently, posting-wise, is that it's usually quite useful to post a link to the editions or books in question, if you have a question about something specific (or a good example of something general).

As for Dragonlance, there's a confusing set! I admire you for tackling it. :) I had understood that Dragons of Autumn Twilight was in the Chronicles, even though it was published so long after the others -- all of the references to it that I've seen have put it as Chronicles #4. Then again, there's a far more complete fan site which also lists these books as Dragonlance: Second Generation. Perhaps it's one of those series which, like our old pal Narnia*, has been issued at different times with different series markers? Or maybe it had publicity one way and actual printing another?

* "Our old pal Narnia" is the Chronicles of Narnia series, which is perpetually being renumbered by every publishers who comes by, and which is therefore a nightmare to catalog since book #1 cannot always be combined with book #1.

In short, I have no answers, but I am fighting a strong urge to go and re-read the Chronicles, so, er. That probably wasn't helpful, but hello and welcome anyway! :)

[Cheryl]

Cait, I think you typed the wrong title in your reply. "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" is in fact the first book in the Chronicles trilogy. The books I have questions about are listed below. I'm adding direct links as you suggested. I should have thought of that.

The Second Generation This edition doesn't list any series name but some of the other editions have several different formats.

Dragons of Summer Flame This edition doesn't list any series name but some of the combined editions say "Chronicles, #4". (But is there really a such thing?)

[Carolyn]

I say go with what the publisher's website is saying. Seems like the most authoritative site, unless the authors have a different website...

[Cait]

Cheryl wrote: "Cait, I think you typed the wrong title in your reply. "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" is in fact the first book in the Chronicles trilogy."

*facepalm* Yes, you're absolutely correct -- I meant Dragons of Summer Flame. Sorry!

[Cheryl]

The librarian manual says...

Some books belong to more than one series. When that happens use two different sets of parentheses to note the series information.

Example of a book with multiple series:
His Only Obsession (The Protectors, #28) (Silhouette Intimate Moments, #1455)

So how about I do this...

Dragons of Summer Flame (Dragonlance) (The New
Generation) (Chronicles #4)

The Second Generation (Dragonlance) (The New Generation)

Would that be ok?

[Carolyn]

Looks good, except need to add a number inside the New Generation parentheses, ie. (The New Generation, #1)

[Cheryl]

I don't think they have a particular order. If a number is absolutely necessary, should I go by order of publication?

[Cait]

A number isn't absolutely necessary (although the series information won't always be visible in lists without it -- it'll always be visible on the book page, though, so don't worry about that).

I know I've seen some of the Dragonlance series listed as "Dragonlance: series name". I don't think there's a consensus on that format, but another option to consider would be:

Dragons of Summer Flame (Dragonlance: The New Generation) (Dragonlance: Chronicles, #4)

Assuming you trust me after I already mixed up the titles once. ;)

[Carolyn]

I got the numbering idea from looking at the publisher's website you supplied in your OP. Not being familiar with the series at all, I don't know the book order. Certainly you can have a connected series without a number order, but if there is a number order I'm tremendously in favor of putting it on there.
I'm one of those peculiar types that absolutely will not read a series out of order... = )

[Cheryl]

Carolyn, I agree with you. I don't like to read a series out of order either. I too am not very familiar with this series. The only reason I'm bothering with it is because my husband is a huge fan. I came across this problem while helping him populate his goodreads shelves. With the Dragonlance saga, there are several core series and then tons of supplemental series. There is great debate about what order they should be read. Here is a link to a site that has a complete list of titles and suggested reading order if anyone is interested.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions.

[Dori]

Thanks Cheryl, I bookmarked that link...I think I have some re-reading to start...

[This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For]

I wish I could have jumped in here earlier, but I just temporarily moved to North Carolina and am just getting my bearings back.

I tried to clean up most of the Dragonlance books a few months ago but never quite completed them all, thus most of the format that does exist is my doing, one way or the other (I mostly concentrated on those not authored directly by Weis and Hickman, but did try to get the Weis/Hickman books as well). They are a somewhat complicated case, in that there are a number of books that have been considered parts of multiple series, sometimes because of lack of information and sometimes because the publisher changed the series name and/or association from one printing to another. For example, many of the early anthologies were published as trilogies, meaning you'd get Tales, #1, #2, or #3, followed by a second trilogy called Tales II, #1, #2 or #3. In later printings, these were integrated into a single series called Tales, #1 through #6. There is also at least one case where a book was originally #1 from one series and then later became #2 for a different series (or some such oddity).

In cases where a single universe has many subseries, I've found it most convenient to use the : notation as mentioned in message #12. Thus (Dragonlance: Series name, #X) rather than (Dragonlance) (Series, #X). You'll see similar setups with (Star Wars: xxxx, #x) and (Star Trek: xxx, #x) and (Dr. Who: xxxx, #x) and (Hardy Boys: xxx, #x) and (Nancy Drew: xxx, #x) to name a few.

As for this specific case, I'm pretty sure that Dragons of Summer Flame has never officially been considered part of the Chronicles, but there has been a lot of confusion because of the similar naming convention. When in doubt, I've usually relied on the Wikipedia Dragonlance books page (which is pretty thorough) for series names and orderings, although there are a few minor errors (usually with author names) sprinkled throughout it.