“What has always been important to me is to tell the stories I wish someone else had written,” Lansdale stated on his Facebook page. “Yesterday I announced THE APE MAN’S BROTHER, a tribute I wrote to Edgar Rice Burroughs and Philip Jose Farmer. It’s a mixture of many things, a lot of my interests.”
About The Ape Man’s Brother: Orphaned by a plane crash, raised in the wilds of a lost world hidden somewhere beneath a constant mist, The Big Guy and his ape-man brother from another mother are living a life of danger amongst rampaging dinosaurs, giant birds, warring ape tribes, and all manner of deadly beasts. It’s a wonderful existence for someone like The Big Guy and his furry brother, except for the flea problem. Then an expedition of explorers from the outside turn his world inside out. Or rather a very blonde beauty called The Woman does. It leads to his and his ape brother being convinced to fly to New York by zeppelin, where they become the toast of the town. They even make Hollywood movies. It seems perfect. At least until The Big Guy does something that comes quite naturally to him in the wild, but leads to public humiliation in this new found world. To make matters worse, his ape brother has grown to not only love the pampered life, meals he doesn’t have to chase down, good cigars, fine wines and statuesque women, he’s come to like the Wrong Woman.
Changes are afoot. They lead to a return to the world beneath the mist, and a deadly and unexpected encounter with a foe that is in many ways far worse than any dinosaur. Envy, jealousy, greed, fleas, and pyramids under the mist, are all part of this rollicking novella of the sort only Joe R. Lansdale could write. And don’t forget dinosaurs.
You can learn more about The Ape Man’s Brother here.
A Feast Unknown (Secrets of the Nine #1 – Wold Newton Parallel Universe) (Memoirs of Lord Grandrith) comes out in a mere four days in the US, in both print and eBook!
The diaries of Lord Grandrith, the legendary Apeman, Lord of the Jungle and bastard son of Jack the Ripper. Blessed with unnatural long life, his power brings with it a gruesome side effect – one shared by his nemesis, the formidable Doc Caliban, Man of Bronze and Champion of Justice.
But these two titans have more in common than they could ever have imagined. Who are the dark manipulators of their destiny?
A brand-new edition of the controversial novel can be found at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Forbidden Planet, or wherever your favorite pulp fiction is sold.
Hello to everyone on the PJF Mailing list. There is a lot going on right now, but you can check the website and facebook for all those details.
This email is just to make sure you are aware of one thing. In the last newsletter (before making this information public online) I told you that if you are one of first 100 people to preorder THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 3: Portraits of a Trickster, you will get a custom laminated bookmark marking the occasion, just like the ones sent out with the first 100 copies of THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 2. Meteor House has not yet reached 100 preorders, so there is still time to do this.
However, Meteor House has now upped the ante with another reason you want to preorder THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 3 right now. It is so you can win a chance to be Tuckerized in a story—and not just any story, but a mind-blowingly-awesome story that Farmer fandom will still be talking about decades from now. That’s right, a character in a story in this book will be named after you. One person chosen at random will win this prize and there are three ways you can enter the contest:
1. Here is the easy one. Preorder a copy of THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 3. If you have already ordered a copy, you are already entered.2. This will require a little more effort on your part, but it gives you another chance to win. If you already own a copy of THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 1: Protean Dimensons, follow that link to Amazon and post a review of the book. It doesn’t have to be a 5 star review, we want your honest assessment of the book, but it must be a minimum of 50 words, not just, “Loved the book, I recommend it!” 3. If you’ve already done the second one, this won’t be any harder. Assuming you own and have read THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 2: Of Dust and Soul follow that link to Amazon and post a review. Same conditions, it doesn’t have to be a glowing review, we really want your opinions, but please put a little effort into it and write 50 words or more.
There you have it, three chances to win a one-of-a-kind prize, and do Meteor House a favor in the process. If you enjoy their books, entering the contest by any of the three methods is a great way to say thank you. However, you only have a week to enter as the deadline is midnight eastern on June 30th. On July 1st, the winner will be chosen and notified.Oops, one more thing I should remind you of: Don’t forget to preorder EXILES OF KHO by June 30th. If you do so, your name will appear in the book on the acknowledgments page. Since only a small number of copies will be printed beyond the number preordered, if you don’t preorder, there is a very good chance you will miss out on the tale of how Sahhindar significantly influenced the course of events in the ancient civilization of Khokarsa. Mike Croteau The Official Philip José Farmer Web Page www.pjfarmer.com
New Pulp Author, Win Scott Eckert shared the following with All Pulp. Win spoke about this project on Earth Station One Episode 114, which you can listen to here.
PRESS RELEASE:
The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 3 – Now Available for Preorder! Includes my novelette “The Wild Huntsman,” the secret origin of the Wold Newton Family! The tale is a direct sequel to “Is He in Hell?” and takes place in Wold Newton on the momentous day the Wold Newton meteor fell, Dec. 13, 1795, spawning the sprawling family of pulp heroes, the Wold Newton Family!
The “Summer of Philip José Farmer” continues — preorder now at $5 off the cover price!
The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 3 Portraits of a Trickster
Preorder volume 3 now! Not only will you save $5 off the cover price, but if you are one of the first 100 people to preorder, you will get a custom laminated bookmark, just like the ones sent out with the first 100 copies of The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 2. It is hard to describe the amount of awesome in this collection: the secrets revealed, the heartfelt tributes, the mysteries you can help solve, the tricks that may or may be played on you, the secrets revealed, the never before seen material by Farmer, the stories continued (with even more secrets revealed)… The most exciting volume of The Worlds of Philip José Farmer yet!
Publication will be in late summer, hopefully in time for FarmerCon VII, August 9 – 12. Here is the working table of contents (subject to change).
Foreword by Frederik Pohl
Peoria-Colored Worlds Missing the Wit and Creativity by Michael Bailey Down in Phil Farmer’s Basement by Steven Connelly Over All, After All by Philip José Farmer
Of Friendships and Influences The Holy Spirit of Science Fiction by Bruce Sterling The Robert Traurig Letters by Philip José Farmer A Box of Influence by Chris Garcia Wild Weird Clime by Philip José Farmer To Be, or Not to Be by Tom Wode Bellman
Worlds in Disguise Trout Masque Rectifier by Jonathan Swift Somers III Kilgore, Kurt, and Me by David M. Harris The Many Dooms of Harold Hall by Charlotte Corday-Marat Desires Denied by Leo Queequeg Tincrowdor
Classic Worlds Osiris on Crutches by Philip José Farmer & Leo Queequeg Tincrowdor The Genuine Imposter by Rick Lai The Long Wet Dream of Rip van Winkle by Philip José Farmer Up, Out, and Over, Roger by Philip José Farmer
Expanded Worlds The Wild Huntsman by Win Scott Eckert Dakota’s Gate by Heidi Ruby Miller The Last of the Guaranys by Octavio Aragão & Carlos Orsi Trickster of the Apes by S.M. Stirling
New Pulp Author Win Scott Eckert shared the following press release with All Pulp. You can read more about it here.
The Titan Books edition of The Other Log of Phileas Fogg by Philip Jose Farmer came out a few days ago, and here’s what people are saying:
Christopher Paul Carey: “I must say, WOW! This is the classiest production of the book that I’ve seen. I was thinking it would be nice, but it exceeds my expectations: a matte finish and raised text on the cover, high-quality paper stock, classy design work on both the interior and exterior, not to mention the new afterword and timeline by Win. I give this edition an A+.”
Art Sippo: “I just read the essay done by Win in The Other Log of Phileas Fogg Titan reprint. A terrific piece of work that actually links Philip Jose Farmer himself to the Wold Newton Universe and to many of the other characters in his stories. The detailed chronology is an extra added bonus. Great job, Win!”
The new edition also has the illustrations by Rick J. Bryant originally included in the early 1980s Tor edition, and is available in trade paperback and eBook.
If you need more info, check out my guest posts on SF Signal and the Titan Books blog for a primer on the Wold Newton Universe and a teaser excerpt of my afterword:
Additionally, a couple sites have posted Chapter 1 and Chapter 4 online. Check ’em out!
Finally, Paul Spiteri and I spent an enjoyable hour discussing all of the Titan Books Wold Newton Series with Art Sippo, co-host of the Book Cave podcast. The podcast includes breaking news about previously unannounced titles coming in Titan’s Wold Newton and Grandmaster series!
For more information on Win Scott Eckert, visit his website.
One of the great things about being part of the all pulp staff is the ability to read great pulp.The Black Centipede was given to me generously by Chuck Miller, and the book is a fascinating read.This doesn’t have a very one dimensional approach to it.Heroes could very easily be villains, and even the staunchest villain has some heroic qualities to them.The dark side of humanity is made commonplace, and Chuck Miller does it seamlessly.The characters are believable and they feel human, much more so than many other stories.
Chuck himself is a fascinating man. I discuss with him Black Centipede, his other projects and the nature of man.
All Pulp: Who were your writing influences growing up?
Chuck Miller:I guess comic books would be a major one, since i’ve been reading them since literally as far back as I can remember. When I was 8 years old, I was given a copy of the Complete Sherlock Holmes, which made a huge impression on me. I’m a die-hard Holmes fan to this day. And not just the Conan Doyle stories– I really love a lot of the pastiches that have sprouted up, beginning with The Seven Per-Cent Solution and The West End Horror by Nicholas Meyer. I loved the way Meyer involved Holmes with genuine historical persons and events, and I do the same thing with the Black Centipede. In Creeping Dawn,he has encounters with Lizzie Borden, H.P. Lovecraft, Frank Nitti, and William Randolph Hearst.
I also started reading the paperback reprints of the Shadow and Doc Savage stories when I was still a pre-teen, and those stuck with me. I very much preferred the Shadow, because he was so mysterious and had an air of the supernatural about him, though there was never any hint of the occult in any of the stories. Later on, I got into the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout, and those would become a major influence in terms of narrative voice. I was really captivated by the way Archie Goodwin’s personality came across in the writing, and I try to do the same thing myself, as best I can. Just about everything I do is in first person. I like to get really deep inside a character’s head, and I’m really not very comfortable as an omniscient third person.
There have been a huge number of influences on my writing, in terms of both style and content. Hunter S. Thompson, Philip Jose Farmer, Flannery O’Connor, William S. Burroughs, Dorothy Parker, Raymond Chandler, Philip K. Dick… it just goes on and on, really. I have taken a little something from each of them. And not only books, but movies and music as well. I bring in a lot of very diverse elements. It has been said that my work is very unique and original. The fact is, the Centipede is very derivative character, but he is derived from so many wide-ranging sources that he appears to be completely original.
AP: Why pulp?
CM:That happened sort of by accident. About 20 years ago, I came up with an idea for a comic book calledThe Optimist.It never went anywhere, but I had a huge cast of characters I had created for it, and they continued to simmer in my head after the project was finally abandoned completely back in 2001.
A couple of years ago, I decided to really get serious about the writing. I’d always wanted to do it, and I was in a position where I could devote a lot of time to it, so I did. For subject matter, I went back to The Optimist. The original concept was a post-glory-days superhero saga, vaguely similar to The Watchmen. I didn’t want to do a comic book– and had nobody to draw it even if I had– so I just did it as an ordinary prose piece. The protagonist, Jack Christian, was a grown-up superhero kid sidekick whose mentor had died under dodgy circumstances 12 years earlier. Jack, a down-on-his luck alcoholic by this time, returns to the city of Zenith, where the tragedy took place. He encounters a number of retires heroes and other oddballs. Among these was the Black Centipede, who was originally intended to be a fairly minor character. I wanted him to be a genuine oddball– he is based in part on William S. Burroughs– and he was the only character cast in the mold of a traditional pulp action hero from the 30s.
So, anyhow, I wrote this novel, and the Centipede started stealing scenes. He ended up with a much bigger role. When I finished, I started promoting it myself on the web, making it available for free in hopes of attracting a publisher. It really didn’t stir up much of anything, though.
At one point a friend of mine told me she didn’t think many people would want to sit and read an entire novel online, and suggested I do some shorter pieces if I really wanted to get noticed. Since The Optimist didn’t lend itself to that, I decided to explore the past of one of the supporting characters. The Centipede was the obvious choice for this. I wrote a story set in 1957, “Wisconsin Death Trip.” I enjoyed doing it, so I went ahead and wrote a novella called Gasp, Choke, Good Lord, an homage to the EC horror comics of the 1950s, guest-starring the infamous Doctor Fredric Wertham, author of Seduction of the Innocent, and EC publisher William M. Gaines. And I posted all of this for free on a blog I put together. I created a rather elaborate history for the Centipede, which included him being not only a “real-life” crime fighter, but also the star of a highly-fictionalized pulp adventure magazine published by William Randolph Hearst.
Well, to cut a long story short, I got noticed by Tommy Hancock of pro Se Press, who was very enthusiastic about my work. After a bit of back and forth, it was decided that I should write a novel for Pro Se, which I did. That novel was Creeping Dawn: The Rise of the Black Centipede.
AP: What did writing Creeping Dawn teach you as an author?
CM: I’m not entirely sure. I guess I learned to tell a story with a specific word count. Now that it’s published, and I have read it in book form, I noticed several things I really didn’t like about it, and i have tried to avoid those while writing the next one.
AP: One of the things that I really found fascinating with Creeping Dawn was how you write about the more monstrous parts of people.From Lizzy’s past to William’s own acceptance of things.You make it seem so normal.I’m kind of jealous, but also wondering where those ideas came from.Is this something you’ve always thought?Or did it just fit the context of your story?
CM: All of that comes from my own life. My mother died when I was very young, and my father just sort of went nuts after that. He deteriorated mentally and emotionally for about five years, and then ended up killing himself. And I had a front row seat for the whole thing. So I have always been conscious of this darkness in the world, that seems to be just under the surface of everything. That is somewhat analogous to what the Black Centipede refers to as the “Dark Power,” though in his fictional world, it is more literal and manifests itself in more overt ways. But, in my own life, I’ve always been aware that things and people are not really what they seem to be, not exactly. And if you look even just a little way beneath the surface, you’re apt to find a nasty surprise.
But I don’t think you have to give in to it. I think there is good in the world, too, but sometimes you have to wade through some pretty toxic sludge to find it. In “Creeping Dawn,” the young Centipede seems to believe that the darkness is the true power, the only thing worth striving to understand. But, being the kind of person he is, he doesn’t want to give himself over to it. Instead, he decides to oppose it, as a way of measuring its scope and capabilities. In the beginning, he isn’t motivated by a desire to see justice done. He is simply curious. He wants to understand the world in a way nobody else ever has. Quite a bit of hubris on his part, really.
In the second section of “Creeping Dawn,” which is set six years after his experience with Lizzie Borden, we see how he becomes a crime fighter, and how he goes about establishing himself in the city of Zenith, in a series of events that revolve around the rise of a shadowy new crime lord called Doctor Almanac. In the beginning, the Centipede is very ruthless and reckless and he ends up in trouble with the law and the press. But his cause is taken up by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Hearst is a fascinating historical figure, whose public and private life make him a great cast member for the Black Centipede series. Through some devious and underhanded maneuvering, Hearst transforms the Centipede– in the mind of the public, anyhow– from a dangerous, psychotic vigilante into a national hero. In addition to this, Hearst launches a Black Centipede pulp adventure magazine, featuring highly fictionalized accounts of our hero’s adventures. This is another example of how things appear to be a certain way, but are really something entirely different. The real Black Centipede is not the Doc Savage-style paragon the public perceives.
The Centipede is a celebrity akin to Doc Savage and other classic pulp.
Nothing is black-and-white. But there is right and wrong, I believe. Sometimes it takes even a good person a long time and a lot of mistakes to make the distinction and choose one or the other. Most of my villains have some heroic qualities, and most of my heroes are criminals at heart. They do kind of believe they are somehow above the rest of society, and have a right to disregard the rules. Life is a process, a constant parade of choices. A villain can choose to be noble, a hero can choose to act deplorably.
In “Blood of the Centipede,” the next book in the series, the Centipede gets a bit of a moral compass in the form of Amelia Earhart, who has been asked by President Roosevelt to keep an eye on our hero. I don’t want to go into any more detail about that now, except to say that, as the series progresses, we will see our hero evolve in some interesting and unexpected ways.
AP: If you had to pick just one scene, what was your favorite in Creeping Dawn and why?
CM: I guess the one I had the most fun writing was the Centipede’s accidental invasion of doctor Almanac’s secret headquarters. I got a kick out of describing his sort of gleeful approach to lethal violence. And then, of course, that whole episode led up to his first encounter with Stan Bartowski, a Zenith police officer who becomes a friend. He’ll be an important mainstay character throughout the series. He’s also sort of a comic foil, since a lot of things the Centipede says to him sail right over his head. I put a lot of humor in the stories, and strive to strike a good balance.
AP: Can you tell us a bit of where you want to take the Black Centipede. He’s gone from supporting character to a mainstay.Would you be happy to continue writing him or are there are other things you like to work on?
CM: I don’t think I’ll ever tire of the Centipede. He’s pretty versatile, and I have lots of plans for him. But I do have a number of other characters I want to develop into their own series. “The Incredible Adventures of Vionna Valis and Mary Jane Kelly” is one of these. http://theblackcentipede.blogspot.com/2011/09/their-first-adventure.html
It deals with a peculiar pair of “psychic detectives.” I’ve done a couple stories that I posted on my blog, but they have yet to be officially published. However, they live in the same world as the Black Centipede, and they appear briefly in the second Centipede novel. So does Doctor Unknown Junior, a very businesslike sorceress whose adventures I want to get out there one of these days.
AP: Are you working on anything else at the moment?
CM: I have something coming out in February from Pacific-Noir Press. “The Bay Phantom Chronicles Episode One: The Return of Doctor Piranha” is the first tale of the Bay Phantom, a 94-year-old, retired pulp-era masked hero based in my old home town of Mobile, Alabama. In this one, he is befriended by Janie Marie Colson, a young college student who is helping him write his memoirs. Complications arise when the Phantom’s arch-foe, 98-year-old Doctor Piranha, is released from federal prison after serving a 70-year sentence.Piranha, of course, swore revenge– no matter how long it took…
And I am involved in the Pulp Obscura project from Pro Se and Altus Press, which will be coming out throughout 2012.
TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews of All Things Pulp by Tommy Hancock
THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSE FARMER, VOLUME TWO-OF DUST AND SOUL Written by Various Edited by Michael Croteau Published by Meteor House 2011
First, yes, this one is a bit late, a day or two past Wold Newton Day, my apologies.
And I sort of have to apologize a second time because this review is going to sound familiar as it is similar to the review of the two books I did discuss on December 13. But when great follows great, there’s not a lot else to say.
OF DUST AND SOUL is the second volume of THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSE FARMER series from Meteor House. Founded in essence to share Farmer’s works and his insights with today’s readers and to commemorate an imagination like no other, Meteor House strove to put together in these volumes tales indicative of Farmer’s wide swath of genres, storytelling techniques, and just an almost omniscient grasp of the literary form on several levels. Also, Meteor House brings into these volumes essays, mostly scholarly in nature but some very personal reminisces of Farmer the man himself as well as his influence. Now, that is my interpretation of Meteor House’s mission and such from observation and conversation with others. IF I’m anywhere near right, then OF DUST AND SOUL is yet another triumphant step toward that goal in a big way.
OF DUST AND SOUL explores Farmer’s Worlds in a couple of interesting ways. To sum it up best, this collection looks at what makes a being a being and why what beings believe in drive them the directions they go. This collection contains quite a bit of Farmer’s own work, including pitches to publishers and stories. This is a really solid look into the inner workings of this literary icon, how he functioned in his own philosophy and how he survived the philosophies of others.
This collection also brings together people who have an affinity for Farmer, but also skills of essaying and fiction crafting in their own rights. That’s one of the strengths of Farmer’s prolific production. It’s inviting to others, its a universe of many worlds that other talented people want to play and work and thrive in. By far the best piece in the book, Kwasin and The Bear God by Farmer and Christopher Paul Carey illustrates that better than anything I’ve ever seen.
THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSE FARMER: OF DUST AND SOUL is not only a commemoration of a man and his impact, but its the doorway into the myriads of his imagination.
FIVE OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF HANCOCK’S HAT-Most excellent indeed.
Every item in the Philip José Farmer Estate Sale is now 20% off and 25% of all sales through December 15, 2011 will be donated to Magick 4 Terri!
Four days ago we announced here that 25% of all sales through December 15, 2011 would be donated to Magick 4 Terri. So far the response has been. . .underwhelming to say the least. But we think we know the problem. When you go to the Estate Sale page, the first item you see, a rare signed hardcover of A Feast Unknown costs $450, and the next book is a $100 paperback!
So we’d like to take a moment to point out that while there are very expensive books: $4,500 for The Lake Regions of Central Africa: Volumes 1 and 2 (1860) by Sir Richard Francis Burton, or $1,500 for a signed harcover first edition of Farmer’s The Fabulous Riverboat for examples, there are many affordable books as well.
There are over forty different titles under $50, many of them signed paperbacks, and other cool stuff like this:
Charles M. Doughty. Travels In Arabia Deserta. Heritage Press, 1953. Hard Cover. Near Fine hardcover in slipcase. Decorated beige linen cloth binding, pictorial endpapers, map, illustrated throughout by Edy Legrand. Introduction by T.E. Lawrence. $40.00
Nothing Burns in Hell. Advance Uncorrected Proof. Trade Paperback. Near Fine From the estate of Philip José Farmer. Advanced Uncorrected Proof in Near Fine condition. One of three author copies. These copies are NOT signed. $30.00
Dark is the Sun. Blackstone Audio, Multiple copies of this new audio book were sent to Philip José Farmer’s heirs. This unabridged audio book is 14.5 hours on 12 cds. We’re selling these for about half of the list price. Five author copies are currently available for $30 each.
There are almost another seventy titles between $50 and $100 that would make a great gift for any science fiction fan:
Forrest J Ackerman (ed), Best Science Fiction for 1973. Very Good+ Signed by Philip José Farmer on page 56. Contains a reprint of the short story “Seventy Years of Decpop.” $50.00
Byron Preiss (ed), Weird Heroes Vol 1. Very Good+ Signed by Philip José Farmer on page 194. Contains the first publication of the short story “Greatheart Silver in Showdown at Shootout.” $60.00
Robert Frazier (ed), Burning with a Vision: Poetry of Science and the Fantastic. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good+ Signed by Philip José Farmer on page 52. Contains a reprint of the poem, “The Pterodactyl.” $75.00
Fritz Leiber, Ervool. Roanoke: Chapbook. Very Good+ Pictorial wrapper. First edition. Number 158 of 200 numbered copies signed by Leiber on special limitation page. This publication was prepared for distribution at the Sixth World Fantasy Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, October, 1980. $75.00
Brian Ash (ed), The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Oversized Paperback. Very Good+ Signed “Property of Philip José Farmer” on the first page and signed again on page 223 at his entry on Religion and Myths. $85.00
You get the idea — and don’t forget, now everything is 20% off! — but only through December 15th.
So, do yourself, and more importantly Terri, a favor, and spend a little time browsing the list. There is bound to be something you suddenly realize you can’t live without.
TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews of All Things Pulp by Tommy Hancock
THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSE FARMER:PROTEAN DIMENSIONS Edited by Michael Croteau Written by Various Meteor House 2010
“The world is not such a lonely place as it once was.”
This, the opening sentence to Paul Malmont’s foreword to Meteor House’s THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSE FARMER: PROTEAN DIMENSIONS, expresses a sentiment that many of us feel because of Philip Jose Farmer. A man who took the stories he loved and not only wrote his own tales inspired by what he loved, but took the characters he cherished and added, molded, and in many cases breathed brand new life into them, making them viable, visible, and exciting to those of us eating up his stories like pigeons on breadcrumbs.
PROTEAN DIMENSIONS is the perfect expression of Farmer’s impact on the world as well as proof that Farmer truly proved that we, people who enjoy fiction and academic discussion and theorizing and world building, are not alone in this world. The book features works by Farmer as well as those inspired by him, even some who had the opportunity to work with him during his career. Lost essays, long missing pieces of fiction, and even new tales inspired by the wonders Farmer rendered fill each page of this simply and nicely designed volume. As previously stated, I’m not enough of an academic to criticize scholarship, but based on my experience as a historian, the work put into the essays is sufficient and successful. The fiction is also top notch, both what Farmer produced and what he inspired.
If this review seems to be filled with adoration, then you’re reading it the right way. But it’s as much adoration for the work that went into it as it is for the man it’s about. I have seen no volume, except for maybe the sequel to this one and its predecessor, MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE, dedicated to any creator that does such a good job of pointing out the whole picture of the man, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of his work, and most assuredly putting the best people possible on paying dedication and tribute to who and what Philip Jose Farmer was.
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