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SEARCH
THIS SITE:
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©
1998 - 2020 by
Zacharias L.A. Nuninga
(Netherlands)
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Cover again by Manchu |
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23 Feb
2020
 French publisher Le Livre de Poche released in 2012 the 8th reprint of Le labyrinthe magique (The Magic Labyrinth).
The cover illustration of that one was from National Geographic/ Getty
Images, a total different one than the earlier printings. Usually the
publisher uses the same cover illustration on all printings.
I just discovered the 9th printing, published in 2015. In this case the
original illustration by Manchu has been used again. See left.
It's hard to find online the different printings of a title. Book
dealers often only give the publication year of the first printing,
even with reprints.
The newly discovered book has been added on the book page.
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Finally my own copy |
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16 Feb
2020
For a very long period of time I still was missing a first hardcover edition of The Green Odyssey. It
was published by Ballantine Books in 1957, many years before I started
reading science fiction, and even more years before I started
collecting all the novels and stories written by Philip José
Farmer.
I started collecting the US publications in 1973 with snail mail orders
to Richard Witter (F&SF Book Co.) in New York. One of my first
orders were copies of the original hardcover editions of To Your Scattered Bodies Go and The Fabulous Riverboat (1971).
I received the second one, but Scattered Bodies was just out of print, alas. I bought it several years ago for more than hundred times the original price.
Once there was internet one could check the online dealers, and I saw
the book at Abebooks for about a thousand times the original price,
from 2000 till 2500 dollars and more.
The last time I checked Abebooks the prices ranged from $2.250 till the
huge amount of $9.500 for a clean copy. Most of the small print-run of
the hardcover went to (military) libraries. Clean copies are very
scarce also, and very expensive. This particular book is one of the
scarcest titles in the Ballantine hardcover series.
But recently I found online a copy for sale for a very reasonable
price. Not a clean copy, but an ex-library one in a reasonable good
condition. See the picture above.
Finally my collection of Farmers first editions is complete, I now can stop collecting...
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Japanese sience fiction magazines |
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5 Feb
2020
Last November I ordered and received seven books from a Japanese web shop. That went very smoothly. So I looked again but did not see yet any of the other missing books in my collection.
But I discovered that the web shop also has a huge collection of
Japanese magazines for sale. It took me a while to check them all, and
I found eleven science fiction magazines that I wanted. Most of them
are issues of the S-F Magazine (S-F マガジン).
The issues, and the stories in it are:
I added and corrected some data with these publications.
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Up from the Bottomless Pit |
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1 Feb
2020
 A new announcement from Meteor House of a forthcoming book:
«Philip José Farmer’s Up from the Bottomless Pit, originally written in the late 1970s with the working title The Dragon’s Breath, is a near-mainstream novel about the ultimate ecological nightmare. Set in an alternate/near future 1970s, Up from the Bottomless Pit
tells of a world so ravenous in its desire for oil that it has thrown
caution to the wind. Using an experimental deep-water laser drill off
the California coast, humankind burns a hole through the ocean floor
only to unleash a deadly torrent that initially threatens the greater
Los Angeles area, but quickly escalates to a catastrophe of worldwide
proportions with the potential to wipe out all life on the planet.
This is the Farmer novel you’ve heard about but never got to
read! Now, available for the first time ever in a trade paperback
edition, you can get Up from the Bottomless Pit for only $20 (+shipping).»
This novel was published before in ten issues of the fanzine Farmerphile (2005-2007). In 2007 it was included in the collection Up from the Bottomless Pit and Other Stories, published in expensive hardcover ($125 or $300) by Subterranean Press.
The above illustration is one of many by Keith Howell, used in these publications.
Go to the website of Meteor House to preorder your copy. Books will be shipped to you in August 2020 right after FarmerCon XV.
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La
odisea de Green |
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1 Feb
2020
 In
October 2019 the Spanish publisher 'La biblioteca del laberinto'
released the first Spanish translation —62 years after its
original
publication— of The Green Odyssey. It is
published in their series Delirio Ciencia Ficción, #130,
with the title La odisea de Green.
The cover illustration is the same uncredited one as with the first
hardcover publication by Ballantine Books in 1957.
The book starts with an essay
by David Pringle and John Clute, that was published before in The Encyclopedia of Science
Fiction. It is also publshed with permission of the
authors on this website, as "The
Most Anarchic SF Writer".
In the Spanish edition the same, translated, title is used: "El
excritor más anárquico de la ciencia
ficción".
The essay is illustrated with some photos of Phil and also with several
book covers.
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Philip
José Farmer Day
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26
Jan
2020
Unknown
artist.
January
26. 1918
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Latest
additions to my PJF collection |
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24 Jan
2020
In
December
2019 and this month, January 2020, I received three foreign
publications with stories by Philip José Farmer. They were
mentioned earlier on this page, but I did not have the publications
myself yet. I try to buy every publication worldwide for my already
very huge Farmer collection.
Often I get very nice responses from the sellers when I explain the
reason why I want to buy the book or magazine, in a language I do not
understand. Always referring to this website. From a Czech book shop I
got: «Your website is fine and interesting.»
The new publications are:
- Japan: Dangerous Visions 1 (危険なヴィジョン 1)
- Romania: Dangerous Visions (Viziuni periculoase)
- Czech Republic: The Magazine of Fantasy
& Science Fiction
The first two books, from Japan and
Romania, contain "Riders of
the Purple Wage". The Czech version of The Magazine of Fantasy
& Science Fiction contains the novelette "A Scarletin Study",
published under the pseudonym Jonathan Swift Somers III.
I had to correct some of the information that already was included.
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Tying
the world together |
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31 Dec
2019
 «Philip
Jose Farmer was tapping into something powerful when he had Doc Savage
and Tarzan literally cross cocks that one time, and we're not just
talking about the obvious throbbing members.
Farmer's A
Feast Unknown
brought together the two pulp heroes under legal-friendly aliases and
is still a ridiculously entertaining action romp, 45 years after it was
published in 1970. It's just a tiny slice in Farmer's massive
bibliography, but it's one of the most crucial, and most fun.
The fun is self-evident, with the adventure icons racing through a
fevered fight against the usual mysterious and vast global conspiracy,
while all their clothes fall off. But the importance is seriously
under-stated, because Farmer was playing around with some big,
culture-defining ideas decades ago, and the mainstream pop world is
only just catching up.»
The above intro is by Bob Temuka in his very interesting blog posted
some years ago on the website "The
Tearoom of Despair", where you can read the full essay.
Bob also mentions Farmer's other work.
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Dangerous
Visions in Romania |
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9 Dec
2019
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Dangerous
Visions in Japan |
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20 Nov
2019
 The Japanese publisher Hayakawa
published in December 1983 the first part of the collection Dangerous Visions
(1967), edited by Harlan Ellison. The Japanese title is 危険なヴィジョン 1.
Parts 2 and 3 were not published in Japan at that time.
The original book and the Japanese translation in book 1 contain
Farmer's story "Riders of
the Purple Wage" ("
紫年金の遊蕩者たち").
After nearly 36 years, in June 2019, Hayakawa published the first book
again, in a revised version with new translations. This time Hayakawa
will also publish books 2 and 3 of Dangerous
Visions.
The story is now titled "紫
綬褒金の騎手たち、または大いなる強制飼養".
If you wish you can order
the book from Amazon (ISBN 978-4-15-012234-8).
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Seven
books from Japan |
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17 Nov
2019
Last
week I
discovered a Japanese web shop that had several Phil Farmer books for
sale. I ordered seven of them and received the books within a week.
Till now I had only been able sparsely buying single books
from Japan,
if at all.
The seven books shown above are:
When I received the paperbacks I
discovered
that five of them are not first printings, although they look the same.
That are the first five of the above list. These are later, undated
reprints. The copyright pages are the same as with the first printings,
they only mention the publication date of the first printing.
The only difference between the printings is the new price, printed on
the spine and the back cover.
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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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Up From the Bottomless Pit
Meteor House, August 2020.
---
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 2020 - 2021 (?).
---
Christopher Paul Carey will write a trilogy about Kôr, son of
Hadon of Opar. Might be published in 2020 - 2021 (?).
---
Read
more >>
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 "click to enlarge")
 "click to enlarge")
 "click to enlarge")