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SEARCH
THIS SITE:
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©
1998 - 2019 by
Zacharias L.A. Nuninga
(Netherlands)
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The
Alley God, cover by Richard Powers |
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16 Oct
2019
Online
I saw this picture on the website '70s
Sci-Fi Art'. It is the cover art by Richard Powers for Philip
José Farmer's collection The Alley God, a paperback
published in 1962 by Ballantine Books.
It is typical cover art for that period
of time, and I liked it —and still like it— very much. It is not
illustrating any of the three included stories, "The Alley Man" , "The
Captain's Daughter" and "The God Business", as far as I remember. But still a dark and strong picture.
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The
Stone God Awakens in Normal
Bean |
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8 Oct
2019
The
first part of Farmer's novel The Stone God Awakens was
drawn and published as an underground comic in the 1980s. The artist
was Roland Trenary, and he published the serialization in the issues #1
till #5 of his fanzine Normal
Bean. In the Preview issue he published a poster, as he
did also in the last issue, Number 6, of Normal Bean.
With part five of the story we see at the end "To be continued...in Normal Bean".
But further installments were not published. The fanzine was
discontinued.
It's a pity Trenary never finished the story.
 It took me several years to find and
buy the seven published issues of Normal
Bean. Finally I could buy them from the publisher, Roland
Trenary,
himself.
When I received them, many years ago, I didn't have the time to add the
information in this PJF Bibliography. The issues were laid aside for
later inclusion, but —much to my shame— I did
forget to do just that.
It was an email from Dan Getz (US) that reminded me recently of my
omission. He asked me if I needed scans of the seven covers. I had to
search for the issues where I had stored them in my huge Farmer
collection. Of course I found them and added the missing information on
the page Miscellany.
Many thanks for the reminder Dan!
If you want to read a recent, September 30, 2019, and interesting
review of the novel The Stone God Awakens you
can go to MPorcius
Fiction Log:
«...So, I've got a lot of complaints, but the idea of a guy
being
turned into a statue and being revered by a long succession of
societies is a cool idea, and Farmer does serve up some fun monsters
and weirdos, so I'm giving this one a mild recommendation...»
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Edgar
Rice Burroughs Universe |
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20 Sep
2019
 Farmer's Tarzan novel, Tarzan
and the Dark Heart of Time, entered the 'Edgar Rice Burroughs
Universe'.
Meteor House,
the publisher, had this news on their website:
«We were so thrilled when Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
announced at
the ERB panel at San Diego Comic-Con on July 19, 2019 that certain
previously published authorized Burroughs novels by other writers
—specifically Philip José Farmer’s Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time
and Fritz Leiber’s Tarzan
and the Valley of Gold— are considered official
canonical novels in terms of the Edgar
Rice Burroughs Universe™ (ERBU), that we
immediately asked ERB, Inc. if we could add the ERBU logo to our next
printings of Tarzan and
the Dark Heart of Time.
With an enthusiastic “yes” from ERB, Inc. in
response, we
quickly ordered a new run of hardcovers. Softcovers won’t
have
the new logo until we sell through our current stock, and ebooks will
be updated with the new logo soon.»
The second state dustjacket has been added on the book page.
The Edgar Rice
Burroughs Universe will be expanded with a new series of
canonical novels in 2020. See the ERB
Universe website.
We see new novels by the well known names Win Scott Eckert and
Christopher Paul Carey for instance!
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FarmerCon
XIV program book |
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8 Sep
2019
 Every
year Michael Croteau makes a small program book for the FarmerCons.
They are for free for the attendees. And like the previous years Mike
sent me a copy too, this time of FarmerCon XIV,
held on August 15-18, 2019 in Pittsburgh, PA. Thanks Mike!
Every year there are some new items and reprints of older and rare
material.
New this time are some anecdotes by Garyn G. Roberts, two drawings of
R'li by Don Simpson, and an essay about Farmer's heroes by Paul Spiteri.
Reprints are a foreword and an afterword, both by Philip
José
Farmer. One of them is also included in the collection, mentioned in
the previous entry.
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The
Mad Fokker Struck Again |
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7 Sep
2019
 The above title is the first line in
the Greatheart Silver
stories. Thus starts a very funny series of stories, full
with action and old great pulp heroes.
I loved the stories very much when I read them back in the 1970s, and
again when they were published in novel form, as Greatheart
Silver, by Tor Books in paperback in 1982.
It was high time to have these stories printed again!
And that is what Meteor House
did with the new collection in a very beautiful hardcover, Greatheart
Silver and Other Pulp Heroes.
Not only the three Greatheart Silver stories were included, but also
two other 'pulp' stories, "Savage
Shadow" and "Skinburn".
Both these stories were intended to be the first in their own series of
stories, but, alas, Farmer never came to write more.
Garyn G. Roberts, Ph.D. wrote a very interesting introduction for this
book, "Fibers of
Pulpwood Ran in His Blood"
(subtitled: "Philip José Farmer in the 1970s"):
«...Farmer
consumed pulp fiction from the time of his childhood between the two
world wars until his passing in the early twenty-first century. At the
end of the pulp era, Philip José Farmer was a bright light
in
the fading medium...»
Enough said, I think it is time to read and enjoy these stories again!
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The
Spirit of Science Fiction by Roberto Bolaño |
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30 Aug
2019
 "The
most significant Latin American literary voice of his generation" wrote
The
New York Times
on 20 December 2012. Roberto Bolaño was praised for the
eleven
novels he wrote. He was only 50 years old when he died on July 15, 2003.
The
Spirit of Science Fiction (El espíritu de la
ciencia-ficción
in Spanish) was completed by Bolaño in approximately 1984.
It
was published posthumously in Spanish in 2016 and in English in 2019.
The novel is seen by many as an ur-text to The Savage Detectives,
another of his novels, "populated with precursory character sketches
and situations" and centering on the activities of young poets and
writers living in Mexico City.
 In
the novel Bolaño published several letters of admiration to
American science fiction writers, one of them to Philip José
Farmer. He shared the same ideas about the use of sex in science
fiction. Bolaño proposes several ideas about this in his
letter:
«In each story, there should be at least one sexual
act.»
Alas Farmer never saw this letter, although he would have liked it very
much in my opinion.
But Fred Fischer (US) bought and read the book and did see the letter.
It prompted him to write an interesting essay about this, with the
complete text of the letter to Farmer for which Fred and I got
permission from Penguin Press. You can read the essay here on the
site.
(The shown covers are of the first
Spanish edition, 2016, and of the English translation, published in the
UK by Picador, 2019.)
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Campbell
Award Renamed |
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29 Aug
2019
Locus, the Magazine
of the Science Fiction Field, had on August 27, 2019 a news item about
the renaming
of the Campbell Award.
Jeannette Ng, winner of this year's Campbell Award, started a
discussion about its name:
«John W. Campbell, for whom this award was named, was a
fascist. Through his editorial control of Astounding Science Fiction,
he is responsible for setting a tone of science fiction that still
haunts the genre to this day. Sterile. Male. White. Exalting in the
ambitions of imperialists and colonisers, settlers and industrialists.
Yes, I am aware there are exceptions.»
The award's name changed to "The Astounding
Award for Best New Writer".
 In
1954 Farmer already was very critical about Campbell. He calls to Mr.
Campbell to dare to publish more interesting and literary stories as he
was publishing at the time in Astounding.
And to open up Astounding
to new types of ideas and for allowing his writers to use more
mainstream techniques.
Farmer wrote this in his essay "Parables
are Pablum: A Reply to Mr. Farmer, a Letter to Mr. Campbell" in
the fanzine Skyhook
#23.
«Farmer is applauding from the grave», writes Fred
Fischer (US) in his e-mail to me. I fully agree!
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FarmerCon
XIV / PulpFest 2019 |
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11 Jul
2019
Only
a
month away and FarmerCon XIV will take place. And as in the previous
years again in conjunction with PulpFest. The convention will be held
in the weekend of August 15-18, 2019 in Pittsburgh.
I won't be able to attend.
Of the program in this weekend (see here
or here)
is only one item for the FarmerCon attendees: FarmerCon XIV: Farmer of the
Pulps: A Harvest of Influences (panel, moderated by Paul Spiteri).
See more information about this item on the PulpFest
2019 site.
If you want to join FarmerCon XIV you have to send an email to
Mike Croteau, and also register
with PulpFest.
Everyone who attends, have a great time!
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Cover
announcement for Greatheart Silver |
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12 Jun
2019
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Four
more books from France |
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28 May
2019
Online
I
discovered the following publications, and ordered them. Three covers
for four books? Of the first I found two printings, both from 1975,
with the same splashing cover.
La
jungle nue (A Feast Unknown)
The first publication of this edition was in April 1974. But, as it
turned out after nearly forty-five years, was reprinted twice:
- Champ Libre, January 1975, 2nd printing,
- Champ Libre, October 1975, 3rd printing.
Les
amants étrangers (The
Lovers)
The first printing of this book was published in January 2007, and it
was reprinted with the same cover:
- Gallimard, July 2007, 2nd printing.
Le
bateau fabuleux (The Fabulous Riverboat)
The publisher keeps this novel in print:
- Le Livre de Poche, November 2018, 10th printing.
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Nice
photo of the Farmers |
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27 May
2019
I
was very much surprised some days ago to receive an envelop with a
photo of Philip José Farmer and his wife, Bette Farmer. The
photo is signed by both on the back. There is no information about the
photographer, or the reason why, where, or when this picture was made.
It is
not dated, but my guess is —based on comparing it with other
photos of the two— that it is from about 1993.
The sender of the photo, Fred Fischer (US), neither has any information
about the picture. He received it a while back from someone who sold
him a Farmer book online.
Many thanks for this nice photo Fred!
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Farmer
Sales on U.S. EBAY |
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20 May
2019
From
Fred
Fischer (US) I received an e-mail with a link to a web page on 'Euro
Sports Network', with a blog entry of May 1, 2019 called: "Voices Against Time, Ebay
Nationalism Part 3". The blog was written by GithYankee.
Fred writes: «My notion is that the author of the chart is
trying
to use it as an example of proof that the new movement towards
diversity in science fiction authorship is doomed. I guess
this
argument is part of the brouhaha that the Hugo Awards or perhaps their
nominations and the nomination process were embroiled in a few years
ago. Maybe it continues?»
The chart shows the Pringle Science Fiction 100 list of bestselling
authors. Given are the names, ethnicity, orientation, gender, top 10
sales, and finally 'Last 90 days units'.
I'm not interested in the diversity issue of this blog. That's why I
only took part of the chart with the first 16 names. The 16th is that
of Farmer.
| Author |
Top
10 Sales |
Last
90 days units |
| Herbert, Frank |
$11,796.00 |
981 |
| Orwell, George |
$7,941.00 |
1368 |
| Bradbury, Ray |
$7,410.00 |
1374 |
| Wolfe, Gene |
$7,122.00 |
199 |
| Moorcock, Michael |
$5,612.00 |
421 |
| Asimov, Isaac |
$5,068.00 |
1304 |
| Dick, Philip K. |
$4,796.00 |
980 |
| Heinlein, Robert |
$4,645.00 |
681 |
| Vonnegut, Kurt |
$3,917.00 |
1039 |
| Clarke, Arthur |
$3,261.00 |
545 |
| Burgess, Anthony |
$3,037.00 |
203 |
| Burroughs, William S. |
$2,692.00 |
288 |
| Le Guin, Ursula |
$2,389.00 |
407 |
| Leiber, Fritz |
$1,994.00 |
191 |
| Gibson, William |
$1,931.00 |
229 |
| Farmer, Philip Jose |
$1,540.00 |
183 |
The only reason to show this chart is to give you an idea how PJF is
doing in comparison with the other authors of the Pringle Science
Fiction 100 list.
If you are interested in the blog or the complete chart follow this link.
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History
of the Hugos |
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30 Apr
2019
 Jo
Walton's earlier posts for Tor.com about the Hugo finalists have been
gathered in the book An
Informal History of the Hugos (A Personal Look Back at the
Hugo Awards, 1953-2000).
As Farmer had won three Hugo Awards and three Nominations during his
career I was curious what Jo Walton, or any of the other contributors,
had to say about him. It is less than I expected, and hoped for.
1953 - Winner: Best New
Author or Artist
A very short piece, about that Farmer wouldn't have been eligible by
today's Campbell rules. He had been publishing for longer
than
two years. (That was only one non-sf
story in 1946.)
1960 - Nominee: "The Alley Man"
A comment by Rich Horton that this story was quite good.
1961 - Nominee: "Open to Me,
My Sister"
Rich Horton: «The Farmer has a good reputation, but I've
never
read it, and I don't usually like Farmer as much as others
do.»
1966 - Nominee: "Day of the
Great Shout"
Jo Walton about all the nominees in the 'Best Short Fiction':
«Great selection, good choice.»
1968 - Winner: "Riders of
the Purple Wage"
Jo Walton: «You couldn't ask for two more different winners,
but they are both wonderful in their own ways.»
Gardner Dozois: «...I never liked either the much-overhyped Riders of the Purple Wage
or Weyr Search.»
(the other winner).
Rich Horton: «I enjoyed the two novella winners in their way,
Weyr
Search probably more back then, and I don't think they are
bad stories, but neither would get my vote.»
1972 - Winner: To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Jo Walton describes in short the story line, and writes:
«It's a
great book, and if the sequels are less great, it's only because no
explanation can possibly live up to that premise. I loved this book
with wild enthusiasm when I was a teenager, and it will always have a
place in my heart. I think it's a fine Hugo winner.»
With most of the nearly 50 years there is review of the
winner's novel, but that is not the case with To Your Scattered Bodies Go.
A bit disappointing.
Nevertheless, it's a great reference work if you're curious about the
Hugo Awards history, and you might read in it about an interesting work
you've not yet read. Publisher is Tor, ISBN 978-0-7653-7908-5 and the
price $31.99.
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Announcement
from Meteor House |
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5 Apr
2019
 The
small publisher Meteor House, owned by Michael Croteau, brings since
2010 every year new collections of stories, new books, or new editions
of previous published works. Nearly all of these works are by or in
relation to Philip José Farmer.
And as always these books are released at the FarmerCon of that year.
That will be no different this year, with the new collection Greatheart Silver and Other Pulp
Heroes.
The cover at left is that of the first Greatheart Silver
collection in 1982. The new cover is not yet shown.
From Meteor
House:
Philip José Farmer had a life-long love affair with the
pulps he
read in his youth. They influenced nearly everything he wrote, but in
the 1970s he paid special tribute to them with several stories. Greatheart Silver and Other Pulp
Heroes
collects these stories for the first time in hardcover! This collection
also features an introduction by college professor and pulp historian,
Garyn G. Roberts, Ph.D., and artwork by Keith Howell!
Table
of Contents:
- Introduction
- Greatheart Silver
- The Return of Greatheart Silver
- Greatheart Silver in the First Command
- The Grant Robeson Papers
- Savage Shadow
- Skinburn
Greatheart
Silver and Other Pulp Heroes will debut at FarmerCon XIV
this coming August. The hardcover price is $33, but if you preorder
it now you will get a $5 discount.
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New
Publications
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| Forthcoming Books |
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The following are not yet confirmed, but these
titles are mentioned in the past years. All from Meteor
House:
The
Monster on Hold, written by Farmer & Win Scott
Eckert, in
2019-2020 (?).
---
Christopher Paul Carey will write a trilogy about Kôr, son of
Hadon of Opar. Might be published in 2019-2020 (?).
---
Up
From the Bottomless Pit
No further info yet.
---
Read
more >>
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