I searched for “Gully Foyle”, the hero of Alfred Bester’s “Tiger, Tiger!” (later republished as “The Stars My Destination”). The most interesting hit for this name was in “Reading by Starlight: Postmodern Science Fiction”. In this passage, the author is saying that Samuel R. Delany references Gully Foyle’s ship, the Vorga, when he names his character “Korga”. I believe this because “The Stars My Destination” was on the required reading list in Delany’s “Intro to SF” class I took at UMass Amherst.

This type of full-text search is gold for all sorts of researchers, especially in topics for which there is no comprehensive index. I hope they continue to build their index.

Amazon seems to have a strategy where they keep adding interesting features just to get people on their site, even if it isn’t exactly clear how they are going to make money from it. Google does the same thing. Early indications are that it is working for both of them.