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SEARCH
THIS SITE:
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©
1998 - 2020 by
Zacharias L.A. Nuninga
(Netherlands)
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Riverworld box 1980 |
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31 Jul
2020
It took me many years to get a copy of the box Philip José Farmer's Fabulous Riverworld (09/1980) with the first three novels of the Riverworld series and the collection with one Riverworld story.
 When
I finally found a copy for sale of the box I also saw a second copy
offered to my big surprise. I almost tended to order them both, but I
could just hold back.
Publisher Berkley filled the boxes with copies of To Your Scattered Bodies Go, The Fabulous Riverboat, The Dark Design, and Riverworld and Other Stories.
The contents of the boxes are the same, but the printings of the included books may vary.
The box has no ISBN or price printed on it, but I received from someone the ISBN 0-425-04820-9.
The contents of the second Berkley box, The Complete Riverworld Novels (10/1981), may even more vary. It also caused some confusion. because there is no 20th printing of Scattered Bodies and no 19th printing of Fabulous Riverboat
to be found. My guess is that an extra print run was made of the 19th
of the first and of the 18th of the second title for inclusion in the
boxes. The printing number and date was not changed, but these extra
print runs were counted with the new printings after that. Of The Dark Design is one of the two 8th printings with different dates included.
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Two more older fanzines |
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25 Jun
2020
As I wrote
before several more items were on its way to me. Two of the items are
older fanzines, one from 1957 and the other from 1964. They were
received this week.
Two also ordered books were sent back. One back to France by me,
because I got the wrong printing as was advertised by the book dealer.
The other was sent back to Germany by the post office, because my
address was not complete on the envelop. That seller will send it to me
again, with the full address this time he promised.
I still have to receive more books, but the shipments take longer than usually because of the Covid-19 problems.
Brian McCabe |
Richard Bergeron |
The fanzine Skyhook #24, Summer 1957, contains a long letter
by Philip José Farmer. In it Phil praises the previous issue and
its contents, and made a remark on an error made in Farmer's in that
issue published poem "Black Squirrel on Cottonwood Limb's Trip".
You can read this letter online at The Official Philip José Farmer Web Page.
In the fanzine Zenith Speculation #7, December 1964, Charles Platt wrote a critical essay, "The Strange Relations of Philip José Farmer",
in which he explores the biological ideas Farmer used in some
novels and stories. The cover by Brian McCabe illustrates Farmer's
novel Flesh.
By the way, the editor of Zenith Speculation, Peter R. Weston, changed the fanzine's title in 1966 to only Speculation.
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Newly
received books and a fanzine |
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13 Jun
2020
Some
time ago, in February this year, I wrote I could stop collecting as
I had received the last missing first printing in my collection, that
of The
Green Odyssey (1957). Yes, it was the last first printing I
was looking for, but not the last item of his work.
The past couple of weeks I received these books and a fanzine, and more
are still on its way to me. Most of the newly received ones were
already included in the
bibliography, but two are 'new' on these pages.
The items are
as follows.
A Czech book from Slovakia:
From
France:
From
Germany:
From
Israel:
From
Italy:
From
Lithuania:
An
UK fanzine from the US:
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A
letter in The Patchin Review |
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10 Jun
2020
Charles
Platt published in the period 1981-1985 seven issues of his fanzine The Patchin Review (The inside guide to science
fiction).
«Because I lived in New York City, and knew all the editors,
and
also knew most of the writers in the United States and Britain, I felt
I was in a position to publish a small magazine of commentary that
would be frank about the changes that were occurring and could agitate
against some of them. That was my intention in The Patchin Review.
I also decided to have some fun by publishing a self-satirical gossip
column.», writes Charles Platt in his new introduction for The Complete Patchin Review
(2019).
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«Right from the start, it caused endless trouble for
me.» he writes in the same introduction.
In The Patschin Review
Issue #7,
the Final Issue, of March 1985 Philip José Farmer wrote a
letter, about some of his 'guilty pleasures', his favorite writers, and
about the outline he wrote for a novel titled Wild
and Weird Clime.
In Issue #5 came the announcement «Also coming up, I hope,
will
be an article by Philip José Farmer in defense of
fantasy», but this one wasn't published, alas.
Ansible Editions published in 2019 all seven issues in The Complete Patschin Review
as a free ebook.
Thanks Willem Hettinga for sending me this information!
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More
ebooks in the US and Germany |
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27 May
2020
Meteor
House, a publisher's name which you can see regularly on
these pages, recently released the ebook of Dayworld:
A Hole in Wednesday. This novel is written by Philip
José Farmer and co-authored by his grand nephew Danny Adams.
Originally published in a limited hardcover edition, and in a trade
paperback, the novel is now available for $ 2.99 via Amazon or BN. If
you haven't the printed version yet, then I recommend you to buy the
ebook. It is a great novel!
Publisher Heyne in Germany released in December 2016 the ebook of the
omnibus Fleisch.
The omnibus had seen eight printings from Heyne since its first
publication in 1989. It contains three novels: Die Verkörperung des
Bösen (The Image of the Beast), Außer Atem
(Blown)
and Fleisch
(Flesh).
The price for the ebook is € 9,99 or $ 11.99 in the US.
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Alan
Green visits Duchess Zuni in Poland |
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24 May
2020
 Earlier, in October 2019, was the
Spanish edition released. This time there will be a Polish edition of
Farmer's first book, The Green Odyssey (1957).
Publisher Stalker Books will publish in August 2020 the Polish
translation, Odyseja
Greena, in their series 'Klasycy amerykańskiej SF'
(American SF classics).
The paperback with 240 pages will sell for Zł 33,99 (about €
7,50), and has ISBN 9788366280601.
This novel is in the public domain and it has since seen
several
publications in the US, at least 13, for prices of 'for free'
(download) till $ 25 for a hardcover.
See the book page for this.
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A
Rough Knight for the Queen |
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29 Apr
2020
Meteor
House announced another book for release this year, A Rough Knight for the Queen,
a non-fiction work:
Trade paperback |
«Philip José Farmer fans know that he was
fascinated with 19th
century explorer and author Sir Richard Francis Burton. Farmer made
Burton the protagonist of the Hugo winning novel, To Your Scattered Bodies Go,
the first book in the Riverworld series. In Gods of Riverworld,
the
final book in the series, Peter Jairus Frigate (Farmer’s
fictional
stand in) said that he had written a biography of Richard Burton...
Now
Meteor House brings you Farmer’s 26,000 word biography of
Burton in
both an affordable trade paperback and in a signed limited hardcover.
Both editions feature introductory material by Mick Walton (author of Sir Richard Burton and His Circle),
Mark Hodder (author of the Burton
and Swinburne novels) and Paul Spiteri (editor of Pearls from Peoria).
The hardcover limited edition will be signed by Walton, Hodder,
Spiteri, and cover artist Charles Berlin.».
The price of the
trade paperback is $15, and of the signed limited edition hardcover $40.
The
print run of the hardcover limited edition will be determined by the
number of preorders. This means the majority of hardcovers will be sold
before the book is even printed, so preorder
your copy today! |
Signed limited
hardcover |
The books will be released in August 2020.
The biography "A
Rough Knight for the Queen" was only once published before,
in the collection Pearls from Peoria (2006).
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Erotic
Gas of Dream Makers |
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19 Apr
2020
 On
at least two occasions in the past Philip José Farmer and
Charles Platt met each other. In May 1979, forty-one years ago, Platt
interviewed Farmer. This interview, simply titled "Philip José Farmer",
and a lot of others Platt had conducted, were published in the US by
Berkley Books as Dream
Makers (1980). In the same year it was published
in the UK by Savoy Books as Who
Writes Science Fiction?
The book was translated in German in 1982. It got published in a
revised hardcover edition in the UK by Xanadu (1986) and in the US by
Unger (1987).
I just discovered that it also was republished in the US by The
Stairway Press in April 2014 as trade paperback and ebook.
And in December 2017 as ebook by Gateway in the UK. Originally
published in two volumes, the profiles collected in the Gateway ebook
have been specially updated with afterwords written in 2017.
 But
this is not the only publication from Charles Platt, with a
contribution by Philip José Farmer, that UK publisher
Gateway
released as ebook. Platt wrote in 1969 a pornographic novel, The Gas,
that was originally intended for publication by Essex House, but they
stopped. It was then published in the US by Ophelia Press (1970) and
later by Loompanics Unlimited (1995).
Publisher Savoy Books wanted to release it in 1980 in the UK. Farmer
wrote a "Foreword"
for this edition. Alas most of the print run of this edition was
destroyed by the authorities.
in December 2017 the book was released as ebook by Gateway. Including
Farmer's foreword. In a complete new "Introduction: Repulsive and
Unpublishable" Charles Platt describes all the problems this book has
had in the US and the UK before and after it got published.
The Gas
was
translated into German and published three times. Two of the
publications, both with Farmer's foreword, are limited editions only,
with a signature by Platt. It is the only translation I know of.
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The
Captain's Daughter in Japan |
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15 Apr
2020
 From
Amazon.jp is an anthology on its way to me, 最初の接触 (First Contact).
It was published by Hayakawa in May 2019 and includes seven stories by
Murray Leinster, John Wyndham, James Blish, James White, Damon Knight,
Poul Anderson, and by Philip José Farmer.
Phil Farmer's story is "キャプテン
の娘" ("The Captain's
Daughter" a.k.a. "Strange Compulsion"), which was published
before in September 1968 in the Japanese S-F Magazine.
 While
I was sniffing online at Japanese web pages I also found and bought the
first four books in The
World of Tiers series. Three of them are first editions that
were already known in the Bibliography. One of them, 階
層宇宙の創造者 (The Maker of Universes),
is an undated later yet unknown printing. Maybe a second printing, with
a different price (¥ 320).
And finally I bought the Japanese first printing of The
Fabulous Riverboat (わが夢のリバーボート). It was
already known on these pages.
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The
Adventure of the Peerless Peer in Iran |
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2 Apr
2020
In
the Iran year 1397 released publisher Drop a Persian translation of The
Adventure of the Peerless Peer, with the title:
شرلوک
هولمز و نجیب زاده ی بی همتا.
This title translates like: Sherlock
Holmes and the Unmatched Gentleman. The transliteration of
the Persian title isn't easy to speak out loud: Shrlwk Hwlmz w njyb zadh y by hmta.
According to our calendar the book was
published in December 2018. The price of 140,000 real looks extreme,
but it is only about $3.50. The novella was published as written by
John H. Watson.
See this Iran
bookpage.
With this first Persian translation Farmer's books now have been
translated in 32 countries, witch brings the total number of countries
that
released Farmer's work —including the US, UK, Canada and
Australia—
to 36.
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First
Bulgarian editions in my collection |
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16 Mar
2020
As
you might
know by now I try to collect all editions worldwide of Philip
José Farmer's work. Including all the reprints of his books.
The
collection now includes about 1350 editions and printings of Farmer's
books. I'm still looking for about 200 known editions and reprints.
Next to his books I also collect all anthologies, magazines and
fanzines, and his non-fiction work as well as the non-fiction written
about him.
The collection grows and grows every year. But till now I hadn't found
any of the Bulgarian editions for sale. There were seven books I was
looking for, but recently I found four of them online at a Bulgarian
book shop. Thanks for the service Zhivka Zhelyazkova!
The four books are:
There are still three more novels, in
The World of Tiers series, that I am looking for. See the index of Bulgarian books.
Only the first two books in the Riverworld series
were translated.
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French
ghost editions |
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14 Mar
2020
 For
years I had two French
books in the International Bibliography of which I wasn't sure they
really exist. Both come from the French publisher Pocket (or Presses
Pocket). I have searched for them for many years, but never found proof
that they really exist. I haven't been able to find or buy them in all
these years.
Les
murs de la Terre
First is the December 1997 French edition of Behind the Walls of Terra,
Les murs de la Terre.
I found an online reference to this one years ago, but that was all. I
hoped to be able to purchase a copy in due time, but no. The shown
cover is of the 1995 reprint.
 Le
privé du cosmos
The second one is the March 1992 French edition of Venus on the Half-Shell,
Le privé du cosmos.
There is still an online link to this one in the French bibliography NooSFere.
But not any actual proof that it exists, neither anywhere else on the
net. The shown cover is of the 1988 first printing.
Because I never in the past 20+ years found copies of these books I
entered both on the page 'Ghost
editions' (see here
and here). I do not
believe they really exist. They may have been announced for release,
but never published.
On both book pages are the ghost editions still to be seen, with an
explanatory note. In due time they will vanish from those pages.
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Up
from the Bottomless Pit cover revealed |
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10 Mar
2020
There
was an entry here on February 1 this year, about the forthcoming book
from Meteor House, Up from the Bottomless Pit.
This week the cover was revealed, drawn by Keith Howell.
The novel will have a foreword by Christopher Paul Carey, and an
introduction by award winning environmental writer Sharman Apt Russell.
Originally this novel was announced for a
publication in 1975 by Ballantine Books with the title The Dragon's Breath.
But Ballantine / Del Rey didn't like the novel, and neither the asked
for rewrite. Farmer wrote another novel for them instead, Dark
is the Sun.
This novel was published before in the fanzine Farmerphile,
in ten parts (2005-2007). It was included in the collection Up
from the Bottomless Pit and Other Stories, published by
Subterranean Press in 2007 in two expensive limited editions.
Meteor House will bring the first trade paperback edition with an
affordable price. You can preorder
it now, it will be shipped in August 2020.
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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.
---
A
Rough Knight for the Queen, a biography of Richard Burton.
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 2021 - 2022 (?).
---
Christopher Paul Carey will maybe write a trilogy about Kôr,
son of
Hadon of Opar. Might be published in 2021 - 2022 (?).
---
Read
more >>
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