SYKM


Frequently Asked Questions

Goggles  

Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich share the work of maintaining Stop You’re Killing Me!

We both love to read and noodle around on our computers when we aren’t out terrifying the trees.


  1. How do authors get listed on SYKM? Why don’t you list a certain author?
  2. Do you list self-published authors?
  3. What do the abbreviations mean?
  4. How do I find the author/character I am looking for?
  5. I’m traveling to (wherever). Can you suggest some books set in that locale?
  6. I like (this author/style), can you recommend another author I would like?
  7. When is (author) going to come out with a new book?
  8. The title I was waiting for disappeared. Where did it go?
    Why does the date on the release keep changing?
  9. The author I’m looking for has vanished. Where did that page go?
  10. Why do you list a book as published in (one year) when everybody knows it was published in (another year)?
  11. Why all the links to Amazon?
  12. Why aren’t all the titles linked to Amazon.com?
  13. Where can I find videos, DVDs, e-books, and audio books?
  14. Do you list mysteries for children and young adults?
  15. What’s the difference between a short story and a novella?
  16. Where do you list uncollected short stories and anthologies?
  17. How can I find out-of-print books?
  18. Have you read all the books listed on the website?
  19. What is that crazy logo?
  20. How can I support the Stop, You’re Killing Me! website?
  21. Who is Bonny Brown?
  22. Who are Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich?

How do authors get listed on SYKM? Why don’t you list my author?
   The genesis of SYKM was the desire to read books in order, series or non-series, so we focus on authors who have several books to list. Generally we put authors with only one or two books on a “watch list” until they have more titles scheduled for publication.

We get many suggestions by email, from authors, readers, publishers, and publicists. The more information you provide, the more likely it is that a new author will be considered — while we add a few hundred authors each year, we get a thousand or two suggestions annually. There are thousands of historical authors we don’t have listed, and with the burgeoning self-publishing options in recent years, there will continue to be thousands and thousands of living authors we don’t list.

When requesting that we add an author, please put the author’s name in the subject line, and tell us why you like her/him. It helps if you can give a cite to the author’s webpage, tell us about the books you’ve read, and flesh out the series characters and why you like them.

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Do you list self-published authors?
   Yes, a few, but the vast majority of self-published titles listed at SYKM are written by already established print authors.

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 What do the abbreviations mean?
  
CSI:
crime scene investigator
 
DI:
Detective Inspector
 
PI:
Private Investigator
 
nln:
character with no last name
  
APA:
also published as
  
AKA:
also known as
 
[SS]:
short stories, including novellas
 
[NS]:
non-series, stand-alone
 
[YA]:
young adult
 
[r]:
reprint from hardcover or earlier paperback
 
[s]:
simultaneous hardcover and paperback release
 
post:
posthumous, published after the author’s death

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How do I find the author/character I am looking for?
   At the top of each page is the alphabet. Click the letter for the last name of the author or character you are looking for. Use the -nln- link for characters with No Last Name. Or you can try our Search page.

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I’m traveling to (wherever). Can you suggest some books set in that locale?
   Use the Location Index to find books set in locations all over the world.

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I like (this author/style), can you recommend another author I would like?
   Visit our Read-Alikes section. You will find suggestions arranged by similar authors and categories.

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When is (author) going to come out with a new book?
   We continually check for new releases and post them on the New Releases in Hardcover and New Releases in Paperback. Sign up for our Newsletter to receive information about new books by email.

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Why do you list a book as published in (one year) when everybody knows it was published in (another year)?
   For your convenience, sort of. For example, Barnard’s “Death of a Literary Widow” was originally printed in the UK in 1979 as “Posthumous Papers”; the US edition was printed in 1980 as “Death of a Literary Widow”. Our general practice is to list US titles first and indicate other titles following “APA” (also published as). However, to maintain the correct order of the titles, we list the earliest publication date, regardless of the original title. When there are two (or more) titles for an item, you can assume that the first one is the US title, although there are exceptions. If the gap between publication dates is two or more years, the date after the US title will be in square brackets: [date].

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The title I was waiting for disappeared. Where did it go?
Why does the date on the release keep changing?
   No, you haven’t lost your mind. They really are changing or disappearing. We report anticipated publication dates based on information at Amazon.com, publisher and bookshop newsletters, and author websites — we don’t just make this stuff up. But publication schedules change. We usually won’t list a title unless it has an ISBN assigned to it and is set for publication within the next nine months. On rare occasions, just to keep things interesting, we’ll list a forthcoming title based on an author’s statement, even if there is no ISBN yet. And sometimes a book shows up in print while we still list it as forthcoming, but who’s going to complain about that?

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The author I’m looking for has vanished. Where did that page go?
   In an effort to make the Author Index pages easier to use, we have started a “Dormouse” section for authors who published only one book at least five years ago. The author pages are still there, accessible by clicking the at the end of the Author alphabetical index at the top of each page.

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Why all the links to Amazon?
   When you use one of our links to make purchases at Amazon.com, we get a very small percentage of the sale price, which helps support the maintainance of this site. So if you don’t buy directly from your local independent bookstore, please use our links! Also, Amazon provides a brief synopsis of most books as well as reviews to help you decide which books are right for you.

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Why aren’t all the titles linked to Amazon.com?
   We usually don’t provide links for books that are out-of-print and/or very expensive on the used book market. And, of course, we don’t link to books that haven’t been printed in English yet, although in the interest of completeness, we like to provide the full list — for example, see Anne Holt or Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson. Also, sometimes we are way behind and don’t want to delay uploading a page until the links can be added. You don’t need them anyway, if you are heading off to the library or your local mystery bookstore.


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Where can I find videos, DVDs, e-books, and audio books?
   We list mainly books and audio books. If you are interested in Kindle books, you can find many of them at Amazon’s Kindle Book Page or by following book links and looking for other “editions.” It would be fun to list movies made from the books we catalog, but that is a project for another day (or year).

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Do you list mysteries for children and young adults?
Bookworm
Not really. We do list some Young Adult titles on pages of authors who mainly write adult mysteries. Visit Lucinda’s Bookworm for Kids website for recommended mysteries for children and young adults.
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What’s the difference between a short story and a novella?
   We mark novellas and short stories based on a somewhat fluid dividing line. Generally, a short story won’t be longer than 50 pages, and a novella up to about 100 pages. Of course, words per page vary, and we can’t sit around counting words, so generally we rely on the publishing information. We don’t distinguish between novelettes and short stories, however. Sometimes a title may be characterized as a novella of up to 120 pages or so, if it is included in a collection, whereas if it were published separately, we’d list it as a novel.

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Where do you list uncollected short stories and anthologies?
   We don’t. It would be a wonderful thing for the completist, but we focus on books. It is said that Edward D. Hoch has written nearly 1000 short stories — we leave those catalogs to others. On rare occasions, we’ll list a novella relating to a series character, but not otherwise.

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How can I find out-of-print books?
   Amazon.com has a out-of-print service. Just search on the title in a search and often there is information about their service on the title’s page. We almost never provide an ISBN1 link to an out-of-print book, although a book may go out-of-print without us knowing about it. Here are some other online resources we’ve used: Abebooks and Alibris.


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What is that crazy logo?
DeadFool Our logo is Lucinda’s version of an Aztec calendric glyph—Malinalli (Grass). We call it the Dead Fool. We first encountered this cute guy on a National Geographic map showing Aztec ruins, and then numerous times in the amazing Codex Telleriano-Remensis: Ritual, Divination, and History in a Pictorial Aztec Manuscript.

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How can I support the Stop, You’re Killing Me! website?
   Tell all your friends about us! Print our flyer and take it to your book group or local library. Email us when you find errors so that we can fix them. If you use one of our links to make purchases at Amazon.com we get a very small percentage of the sale price of anything you buy.

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Have you read all the books listed on the website?
   No, but we are trying — if only we had more time. As a long-time SYKM user, Stan tended to latch on to an author’s series and doggedly read everything in order, which, with the likes of Rex Stout, Ed McBain, and Arthur Upfield, can take a while. Since we assumed responsibility for the website, Stan has gone from a “vertical” reader to a “horizontal” reader — typically reading the first books of a whole bunch of different authors before even thinking of reading the second in a series. Lucinda reads two or three times faster than Stan, so she can read a lot more of them, but still not over 60,000 titles, at least not right away.

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Who is Bonny Brown?
   Stop, You’re Killing Me! was created by Bonny Brown in 1998. She had to give up maintaining the site in April 2006 because of health reasons. Here is Bonny’s description of the site: “I love a good mystery! When I find new authors, I want to read everything they’ve written. I like to go back to the beginning title and follow the development of a writer’s work. With the exception of Sue Grafton and her alphabet series, it can be difficult to find an author’s first book. So I have searched online and in reference books to list the books featuring series characters in the order written.”

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Who are Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich?
   We were introduced to Stop, You’re Killing Me! by Lucinda’s father Floyd Surber and found it an invaluable resource for exactly the reason Bonny created the site. We both love to read and noodle around with our computers. We’ve been responsible for Stop, You’re Killing Me! since April 2006.

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