View source for Fix-up

{{Short description|Novel created from published short stories}}
{{about|the literary form|the real estate concept|Fixer-upper|fixup in the context of executable formats on computers|Relocation (computer science)|other uses|fix-up (disambiguation)}}

{{Lead rewrite|date=January 2023}}

A '''fix-up''' (or '''fixup''') is a [[novel]] created from several [[short fiction]] stories that may or may not have been initially related or previously published. The stories may be edited for consistency, and sometimes new connecting material, such as a [[frame story]] or other interstitial narration, is written for the new work. 

The term was coined by the [[science fiction]] writer [[A. E. van Vogt]],<ref name=Weinberg-1980/> who published several fix-ups of his own, including ''[[The Voyage of the Space Beagle]]'',<ref name=liptak20130805/> but the practice (if not the term) also exists outside of science fiction. The use of the term in science fiction criticism was popularised by the first (1979) edition of ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]'', edited by [[Peter Nicholls (writer)|Peter Nicholls]], which credited van Vogt with the term’s creation. <ref name=Nicholls-1999/><ref name=SF-Encl-fixup/>
The name “fix-up” comes from the changes that the author needs to make in the original texts, to make them fit together as though they were a novel. Foreshadowing of events from the later stories may be jammed into an early chapter of the fix-up, and character development may be interleaved throughout the book. Contradictions and inconsistencies between episodes are usually worked out.

Some fix-ups in their final form are more of a [[short story cycle]] or composite novel, rather than a traditional novel with a single main plotline. Examples are [[Ray Bradbury]]'s ''[[The Martian Chronicles]]'' and [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[I, Robot]]'', both of which read as a series of short stories which may share plot threads and characters, but which still act as self-contained stories.<ref name=Luscher-2012/> By contrast, van Vogt's ''[[The Weapon Shops of Isher]]'' is structured like a continuous novel, although it incorporates material from three previous van Vogt short stories.

Fix-ups became an accepted practice in American publishing during the 1950s, when science fiction and [[fantasy]]—once published primarily in magazines—increasingly began appearing in book form. Large book publishers like [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] and [[Simon & Schuster]] entered the market, greatly increasing demand for fiction. Authors created new manuscripts from old stories, to sell to publishers. [[Algis Budrys]] in 1965 described fixups as a consequence of the lack of good supply during the "bad years for quality" of the mid-1950s, although citing ''The Martian Chronicles'' and [[Clifford D. Simak]]'s ''[[City (novel)|City]]'' as exceptions.<ref name=budrys196510/>

==Examples==
<!-- In ascending chronological order -->
===Science fiction and fantasy===
{{Div col}}
* ''[[Slan]]''{{r|budrys196510}} (1946)  by [[A. E. van Vogt]]
* ''[[The Book of Ptath]]'' (1947) by [[A. E. van Vogt]]
* ''[[The World of Null-A]]'' (1948) by [[A. E. van Vogt]]
* ''[[Triplanetary (novel)|Triplanetary]]'' by [[E. E. Smith]]
* ''[[The Voyage of the Space Beagle]]'' (1950) by [[A. E. van Vogt]]
* ''[[The Martian Chronicles]]'' (1950) by [[Ray Bradbury]]{{r|budrys196510}}{{r|liptak20130805}}
* ''[[The Dying Earth]]'' (1950) by [[Jack Vance]]{{r|liptak20130805}}
* ''[[I, Robot]]'' (1951) by [[Isaac Asimov]]{{r|budrys196510}}<ref name=latham2009/>{{r|liptak20130805}}
* ''[[Foundation (Asimov novel)|Foundation]]'' (1951) by [[Isaac Asimov]]
* ''[[City (novel)|City]]'' (1952) by [[Clifford D. Simak]]{{r|budrys196510}}
* ''[[The Mixed Men]]'' (1952) by [[A. E. van Vogt]]{{r|liptak20130805}}
* ''[[Foundation and Empire]]'' (1952) by [[Isaac Asimov]]
* ''[[More Than Human]]'' (1953) by [[Theodore Sturgeon]]
* ''[[Mutant (collection)|Mutant]]'' (1953) by [[Henry Kuttner]] and [[C. L. Moore]] (as [[Lewis Padgett]])
* ''[[Second Foundation]]'' (1953) by [[Isaac Asimov]]
* ''[[The Weapon Shops of Isher]]'' (1954) by [[A. E. van Vogt]]{{r|liptak20130805}}
* ''[[Earthman, Come Home]]'' (1955) by [[James Blish]]
* ''[[Men, Martians and Machines]]'' (1955) by [[Eric Frank Russell]]
* ''[[Bibliography of Damon Knight#Novels and fixups|Hell's Pavement]]'' (1955) by [[Damon Knight]]
* ''[[Lest We Forget Thee, Earth]]'' (1958) by [[Robert Silverberg]] (as Calvin M. Knox)
* ''[[The Outward Urge]]'' (1959) by [[John Wyndham]]  (as John Wyndham and Lucas Parkes)
* ''[[A Canticle for Leibowitz]]'' (1959) by [[Walter M. Miller Jr.]]
* ''[[The War Against the Rull]]'' (1959) by [[A. E. van Vogt]]{{r|liptak20130805}}
* ''[[The Great Explosion]]'' (1962) by [[Eric Frank Russell]]
* ''[[Hothouse (novel)|Hothouse]]'' (1962) by [[Brian W. Aldiss]]
* ''[[Savage Pellucidar]]'' (1963) by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]
* ''[[Stormbringer (novel)|Stormbringer]]'' (1965) by [[Michael Moorcock]]
* ''[[Rogue Ship]]''{{r|liptak20130805}} (1965) by [[A. E. van Vogt]]
* ''The Beast'' (1965) by [[A. E. van Vogt]]
* ''[[The Eyes of the Overworld]]'' (1966) by Jack Vance
* ''[[Counter-Clock World]]'' (1967) by [[Philip K. Dick]]
* ''[[Pavane_(novel)|Pavane]]'' (1968) by [[Keith Roberts]]
* ''[[The Silkie (novel)|The Silkie]]'' (1969) by [[A. E. van Vogt]]
* ''[[The Ship Who Sang]]'' (1969) by [[Anne McCaffrey]]
* ''[[Quest for the Future]]'' (1970) by [[A. E. van Vogt]]
* ''[[Half Past Human]]'' (1971) by [[T. J. Bass (author)|T. J. Bass]]
* ''[[Operation Chaos (novel)|Operation Chaos]]'' (1971) by [[Poul Anderson]]
* ''[[Puzzle of the Space Pyramids]]'' (1971) by [[Eando Binder]]
* ''[[To Your Scattered Bodies Go]]'' (1971) by [[Philip Jose Farmer]]
* ''[[The Fabulous Riverboat]]'' (1971) by [[Philip Jose Farmer]]
* ''[[The World Inside]]'' (1971) by [[Robert Silverberg]]
* ''[[334 (novel)|334]]'' (1972) by [[Thomas M. Disch]]
* ''[[The Godmakers (novel)|The Godmakers]]'' (1972) by [[Frank Herbert]]
* ''[[To Ride Pegasus]]'' (1973) by [[Anne McCaffrey]]
* ''[[A World Out of Time]]'' (1976) by [[Larry Niven]]
* ''[[In the Ocean of Night]]'' (1977) by [[Gregory Benford]]
* ''[[The Prince (Pournelle)|The Mercenary]]'' (1977) by [[Jerry Pournelle]]
* ''[[If the Stars are Gods]]'' (1977) by [[Gregory Benford]] and [[Gordon Eklund]]
* ''[[Born to Exile]]'' (1978) by [[Phyllis Eisenstein]]
* ''[[Space War Blues]]'' (1978) by [[Richard A. Lupoff]]
* ''[[Catacomb Years]]'' (1979) by [[Michael Bishop (author)|Michael Bishop]]
* ''[[Bibliography of Damon Knight#Novels and fixups|The World and Thorinn]]'' (1981) by [[Damon Knight]]
* ''[[Windhaven]]'' (1981) by [[George R. R. Martin]] and [[Lisa Tuttle]]
* ''[[The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger]]'' (1982) by [[Stephen King]]
* ''[[The Crucible of Time]]'' (1983) by [[John Brunner (novelist)|John Brunner]]
* ''[[Icehenge]]'' (1984) by [[Kim Stanley Robinson]]
* ''[[Emergence (Palmer novel)|Emergence]]'' (1984) by [[David R. Palmer]]
* ''[[The Postman]]'' (1985) by [[David Brin]]
* ''[[Saturnalia (Callin novel)|Saturnalia]]'' (1986) by [[Grant Callin]]
* ''[[Tuf Voyaging]]'' (1986) by [[George R. R. Martin]]
* ''[[Life During Wartime (novel)|Life During Wartime]]'' (1987) by [[Lucius Shepard]]
* ''[[A Different Flesh]]'' (1988) by [[Harry Turtledove]]
* ''[[Prince of Mercenaries]]'' (1989) by [[Jerry Pournelle]]
* ''[[Mirabile (novel)|Mirabile]]'' (1991) by [[Janet Kagan]]
* ''The [[Sword of Destiny]]'' (1992) by [[Andrzej Sapkowski]]
* ''[[Crashlander]]'' (1994) by [[Larry Niven]]
* ''[[Amnesia Moon]]'' (1995) by [[Jonathan Lethem]] (fix-up of all previously unpublished stories)
* ''[[Vacuum Diagrams]]'' (1997) by [[Stephen Baxter (author)|Stephen Baxter]]
* ''[[Kirinyaga (novel)|Kirinyaga]]'' (1998) by [[Mike Resnick]]
* ''[[Rainbow Mars]]'' (1999) by [[Larry Niven]]
* ''[[From the Dust Returned]]'' (2001) by [[Ray Bradbury]]
* ''[[Coyote (novel)|Coyote]]'' (2002) by [[Allen Steele]]
* ''[[Sister Alice]]'' (2003) by [[Robert Reed]]
* ''[[Roma Eterna]]'' (2003) by [[Robert Silverberg]]
* ''[[The Carpet Makers]]'' (2005) by [[Andreas Eschbach]]
* ''[[Accelerando]]'' (2005) by [[Charles Stross]]
* ''[[From the Files of the Time Rangers]]'' (2005) by [[Richard Bowes]]
* ''[[Lavie_Tidhar#The_.22Central_Station.22_story_cycle|Central Station]]'' (2016) by [[Lavie Tidhar]]
* ''Driftwood'' (2020) by [[Marie Brennan]]
{{Div col end}}

===Other genres===
{{Div col}}
* ''[[Scenes of Bohemian Life]]'' (1851) by [[Henri Murger]]
* ''[[Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town]]'' (1912) by [[Stephen Leacock]]
* [[The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu]] (1913) by [[Sax Rohmer]]
* ''[[The Inimitable Jeeves]]'' (1923) by [[P. G. Wodehouse]]
* ''[[The Big Four (novel)|The Big Four]]'' (1927) by [[Agatha Christie]]
* ''[[The Pastures of Heaven]]'' (1932) and ''[[The Red Pony]]'' (1937) by [[John Steinbeck]]
* ''[[The Unvanquished]]'' (1938) by [[William Faulkner]]
* ''[[The Big Sleep]]'' (1939), ''[[Farewell My Lovely]]'' (1940) and ''[[The Lady in the Lake]]'' (1943) by [[Raymond Chandler]]<ref name=Bruccoli-1979/>
* ''Report on England, November 1940'' (1940) by [[Ralph Ingersoll (PM publisher)|Ralph Ingersoll]]<ref name=ingersoll1940/>
* ''[[Go Down, Moses (book)|Go Down, Moses]]'' (1942) by [[William Faulkner]]
* ''[[Dandelion Wine]]'' (1957) by [[Ray Bradbury]]
* ''[[Three for the Chair]]'' (1957) by [[Rex Stout]]
* ''[[Lives of Girls and Women]]'' (1971) by [[Alice Munro]]
* ''[[Who Do You Think You Are? (book)|Who Do You Think You Are?]]'' (1978) by Alice Munro
* ''[[The Things They Carried]]'' (1990) by [[Tim O'Brien (author)|Tim O'Brien]]
* ''[[Green Shadows, White Whale]]'' (1992) by [[Ray Bradbury]]
* ''[[Trainspotting (novel)|Trainspotting]]'' (1993) by [[Irvine Welsh]]
* ''[[Throat Sprockets]]'' (1994) by [[Tim Lucas]]
* ''[[Haunted (Palahniuk novel)|Haunted]]'' (2005) by [[Chuck Palahniuk]]
* ''[[A Visit from the Goon Squad]]'' (2010) by [[Jennifer Egan]]
* ''The Seven Wonders'' (2012) by [[Steven Saylor]]
{{Div col end}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Novels}}
* [[Clip show]]
* [[Retroactive continuity]]

==References==
{{reflist|25em|refs=

<ref name=Bruccoli-1979>
{{cite book
 |last=Bruccoli |first=Matthew J. |author-link=Matthew J. Bruccoli
 |year=1979
 |title=Raymond Chandler: A descriptive bibliography
 |series=Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography
 |publisher=[[University of Pittsburgh Press]]
}}
</ref>

<ref name=budrys196510>
{{cite magazine
 |last=Budrys |first=Algis
 |date=October 1965
 |title=Galaxy Bookshelf
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=142–150
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v24n01_1965-10#page/n141/mode/2up
}}
</ref>

<ref name=ingersoll1940>
{{cite book
 |last=Ingersoll |first=Ralph
 |year=1940
 |chapter=Publishers' foreword
 |page=v
 |title=Report on England, November 1940
 |publisher=Simon and Schuster
 |location=New York, NY
 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/ReportOnEngland#page/n9/mode/2up
 |via=Archive.org
}}
</ref>

<ref name=latham2009>
{{cite book
 |last=Latham |first=Rob
 |year=2009
 |chapter=Fiction, 1950-1963
 |page=82
 |editor1-last=Bould   |editor1-first=Mark
 |editor2-last=Butler  |editor2-first=Andrew M.
 |editor3-last=Roberts |editor3-first=Adam
 |editor4-last=Vint    |editor4-first=Sherryl
 |title=The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction
 |publisher=Routledge
 |isbn=9781135228361
 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7CNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80
}}
</ref>

<ref name=liptak20130805>
{{cite magazine
 |last=Liptak |first=Andrew
 |date=2013-08-05
 |title=A.E. van Vogt and the fix-up novel
 |magazine=Kirkus Reviews
 |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/e-van-vogt-and-fix-novel/
}}
</ref>

<ref name=Luscher-2012>
{{cite book
 |last=Luscher |first=Robert M.
 |year=2012
 |chapter=The American short-story cycle
 |editor-last=Bendixen |editor-first=Alfred |editor-link=Alfred Bendixen
 |title=A Companion to the American Novel
 |series=Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture
 |volume=80 |page=370
 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons
 |isbn=9781405101196
 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5WyidbsLaxQC&pg=PA370
}}
</ref>

<ref name=Nicholls-1999>
{{cite book
 | first1 = Peter | last1 = Nicholls
 | first2 = John  | last2 = Clute
 | year = 1999
 | title = New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
 | page = 432
 | publisher = Orbit
 | location = London, UK
 | isbn = 1-85723-897-4
}}
</ref>

<ref name=SF-Encl-fixup>
{{cite web
 |title=Fixup
 |website=Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
 |edition=Third
 |url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/fixup
}}
</ref>

<ref name=Weinberg-1980>
{{cite web
 |last=Weinberg |first=Robert
 |year=1980
 |title=A.E. van Vogt  <!-- prev: "A.E. van Vogt: The Weinberg Interview (1980)" -->
 |type=interview
 |website=Icshi.net
 |publisher=Isaac Walwyn
 |url=http://www.icshi.net/sevagram/interviews/weinberg.php
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115125318/http://www.icshi.net/sevagram/interviews/weinberg.php
 |archive-date=2020-11-15
 |access-date=2016-12-27 <!-- most recent successful access? -->
 |url-status=dead    <!-- fail-date=2021-07-19 -->
}}
</ref>

}} <!-- end "refs=" -->

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