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Lord Tyger review |
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16 Apr
2021
 There is a recent review online at the website the-avocado.org of Philip José Farmer's semi-Tarzan novel Lord Tyger, which was originally published in 1970. More than 50 years ago.
From the review: «Its brutal stuff. Ras is a heroic figure
physically, but he’s a savage in the truest sense of the word. He
has an older brother who was left with actual gorillas, but that
experiment didn’t work. The boy grew up to be little more
advanced that a gorilla himself, his brain never creating the neural
pathways for language as a child.»
And: «...as much as I’d like to recommend it, I really
can’t bring myself to do so. Typical for a Farmer novel,
there’s frank discussion of biological processes and also a lot
of sex. But Ras, not growing up in any kind of civilization,
experiments with bestiality.»
It has been read by me too long ago to remember everything. I only know that I thought of it as a pretty amazing novel.
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Cover reveal of
Deux faucons de l'autre terre |
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2 Apr
2021
 This
French publication was earlier mentioned here in the entry of February
23rd, 2021. At that moment no cover picture was available.
As you can see there is now. No idea yet who the cover artist is.
It is a translation of Philip José Farmer's Two Hawks from Earth. The revised and expanded text of the original The Gate of Time was not previously published in France.
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It’s Always Darkest Cover Reveal |
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19 Mar
2021
 The fourth cover of the new books from Meteor House, to be published this summer/fall, is revealed. The artist of the dust jacket of It's Always Darkest is Keith Howell.
Author Frank Schildiner wrote this novella as part of the Secrets of Nine series, a series started by Farmer as the Lord Grandrith / Doc Caliban series.
In the same series as the newly announced The Monster on Hold by Philip José Farmer and Win Scott Eckert.
See the website of Meteor House for ordering information of this and the other books.
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Image of the Beast review |
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15 Mar
2021
Margaret L. Carter wrote a sharp-witted and intelligent review of the omnibus Image of the Beast. The omnibus contains the first two novels in the Exorcism, or Herald Childe series.
The review is on March 14, 2021 published on the VampChix blog.
There were in the past many pro and contra reviews written about the
novels, but not many as well written and nuanced as this one.
The review ends with: «Herald Childe
comes across as a flawed but basically decent person, sympathetic
enough for the reader to hope he survives the weird situation in which
he becomes entangled. And I can definitively state that I've never seen
quasi-human monsters quite like these in any other work of
fiction.»
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Farmer of the Apes |
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12 Mar
2021
 I finally found online a copy of the Canadian fanzine Borealis 2, Volume 1 number 2, Spring 1979.
On the cover and on the copyright page it is subtitled: "A Canadian Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy".
The issue contains an essay by Charles R. Saunders: "Farmer of the Apes". This essay has an illustration by John Charette, showing five young Tarzan-like boys harassing a big ape or gorilla.
The essay however is about Philip José Farmer's fascination of
Tarzan, and about the four versions of Tarzan he wrote himself. The
first Tarzan in Tarzan Alive and in "Extracts from the Memoirs of 'Lord Greystoke'", the second Tarzan persona in the novel Lord Tyger, the third in A Feast Unknown and its follow-ups, and the fourth Tarzan persona in Time's Last Gift.
The essay by Charles R. Saunders reads like a very interesting introduction for the newly announced book, The Man Who Met Tarzan. This article is very clarifying of Farmer's Tarzan personae.
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French reprints of Riverworld books |
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11 Mar
2021
As
I have written before Farmer's books are still kept in print in France,
especially the books in the Riverworld series. In solo publications or
in omnibuses. The following reprints were just discovered by me, both
from publisher Le Livre de Poche.
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Two
more covers revealed |
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6 Mar
2021
The
covers of the new book from Meteor House, of The Man Who Met Tarzan,
both the trade paperback and the limited hardcover are revealed.
The
limited hardcover edition
The
trade paperback edition
This book will be published in a Trade Paperback and a Signed Hardcover
Limited Edition featuring a cover with classic artwork, and also
interior art by Keith Howell. The Hardcover Limited Edition will be
signed by Christopher Paul Carey, Win Scott Eckert, Henry Franke, and
Keith Howell. The artwork is by famed movie poster artist John Solie,
made for a poster in 1978.
Go to the website of Meteor
House for more information.
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A
unique alternate history book |
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28 Feb
2021
 The
previous entry was about
Farmer's novel Two Hawks from Earth
(1979). Of the translation and publication in France.
By coincidence I discovered online a recent interesting review of the
original novel, published on February 21, 2021. It is written by
Michael Smith in his blog, "The
Book that Time Forgot".
Part of his review: «This was a really interesting book.
Farmer
did a lot of research into the various peoples to give us a fascinating
look at a world without the Americas. That Eastern Europe is populated
by descendants of the tribes that migrated to America seems plausible
... So if you want a unique alternate history book I would highly
recommend this one.»
Michael Smith has also reviews of The Stone God Awakens
(«...I would definitely recommend this book...»)
and Dark
is the Sun («...very enjoyable. I highly recommend
it...») online in his blog.
It's nice to read his praising words.
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Announced:
Deux faucons de l'autre terre |
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23 Feb
2021
The
French
publisher Mnémos will release in November 2021 a translation
of
Farmer's novel Two Hawks from Earth, as Deux faucons de l'autre terre.
It
will be released as a paperback, 352 pages, for the price of €
11,90.
With ISBN 978-2-35408-917-7.
This novel was originally published as The Gate of Time in
October 1966 by Belmont Books. According to his foreword in Two Hawks from Earth
—published in May 1979— Farmer restored a scene and
he expanded the text
with «...about ten thousand words. These include some
chapters which go beyond the original ending.»
The
Gate of Time was translated and published once before in
France. As La porte du temps by
Fleuve Noir in 1983. But the revised and expanded text was not
published in France till now.
The cover of the new French edition has not yet been revealed.
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Cover
reveal of The Monster on Hold |
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16 Feb
2021
The
first cover of the new publications from Meteor House is revealed. This
one is for the limited signed hardcover, drawn by Mark Wheatley. It is
a mysterious and beautiful cover!
The
Monster on Hold
by Philip José Farmer and Win Scott Eckert will be
published in a Trade Paperback and a Signed Hardcover Limited Edition.
The trade paperback will have a different cover art, done by Doug
Klauba.
I am looking forward to the new books!
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Three
new books from Meteor House in 2021 |
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5 Feb
2021
A
great announcement from Meteor House! Which they did on Farmer's
birthday. In the summer or fall of this year they will publish three
new books.
The books are:
 The Monster on Hold
by Philip José Farmer and Win Scott Eckert. The book will be
published in a Trade Paperback and Signed Hardcover Limited Edition.
This is the fourth novel in the Secrets
of the Nine
series and was begun in the 1970s. Using Farmer’s partial
manuscripts and copious notes Win Scott Eckert has completed the novel
at long last.
The drawing at left is by Jason Robert Bell.
It’s
Always Darkest by Frank Schildiner. Set in the same
Secrets of the Nine universe as The
Monster on Hold,
this hard-boiled novella follows a new, yet familiar, character, a
one-time initiate of the Nine who has chosen to rebel against their
formidable forces. This novella will be published as a Signed Hardcover
Limited Edition.
The Man
Who Met Tarzan
by Philip José Farmer. This book collects many of the
articles,
speeches, essays and letters Farmer has written about Edgar Rice
Burroughs and Tarzan over several decades, culminating in his interview
with the jungle lord in 1972. This collection will be published in a
Trade Paperback and Signed Hardcover Limited Edition featuring vintage
cover art.
See the full announcement and the ordering information at Meteor
House.
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Philip José Farmer
Day
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26
Jan
2021
photo:
Zacharias L.A. Nuninga (2002)
January 26, 1918
Phil
would have become 103 years old this day.
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Finally... |
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25 Jan
2021
 Today
I finally received the information from the Post Office that I could
pick up the three books Meteor House had sent again to me early
December 2020. First I had to pay the custom clearance.
The books had been at the Post Office in my country before, but were
without further notice to me sent back to the publisher. Because I
hadn't picked them up.
I had never received a notice that I could pick up the books, and so
didn't know they were here.
All in all it took four months for the books to reach me.
I had ordered three other books in December, twice from Subterranean
Press and one through Abebooks.
These three were all received in two-three weeks time, as is standard
in most cases.
I'm glad that I finally have these books:
- Up
From the Bottomless Pit (trade paperback);
- A Rough Knight for the
Queen (hardcover and trade paperback.
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The
Faces of Science Fiction |
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30 Dec
2020
This
is the second tip I got from Fred Fischer (USA) in the past few days.
First he discovered that something by Farmer had been included in the
Spanish collection El
otro canon de Sherlock Holmes. See the previous entry.
 This
time he came with the information about the book The Faces of Science Fiction
(1984). This book contains black and white photos of 82 authors. The
photos were all done by Patti
Perret. They were especially made for this book.
The photo of Farmer with his desk and paintings of his work in the
besement of their house is accompanied by a brief but very funny essay. Farmer had
some ideas about all the photos in the book.
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The
Peerless Peer in Spain |
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28 Dec
2020
 Spanish publisher Los Libros de
Barsoom published in 2015 the collection El otro canon de Sherlock Holmes.
With stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and stories and essays by diverse
other hands. Also with several pastiches, one of them by Philip
José Farmer. The novella The Adventure of the Peerless Peer
was translated as "La
aventura del par simpar".
The novella was not translated for the first time into Spanish. With
the title La Aventura
del Par sinpar, but that was twelve years ago for an
illegal online publication. See the entry of November 12, 2008.
The referred website to the story is not online anymore.
The new collection was originally published in February 2015, but was
republished in December 2017 in a revised version. Several misprints
were corrected in the second edition.
I cannot find a copy of any of the two editions for sale at the moment.
I have searched many websites, but there is not one copy available.
Have to try again later.
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Still
not received the new books |
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21 Dec
2020
Meteor
House originally announced their new books for this year to
be released at FarmerCon XV. This would be in August 2020, but the con
was canceled. Mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic there were more
problems, reason why the books were more delayed. At the end of
September 2020 the ordered books were sent by the publisher.
But I did not receive the books. I waited and finally asked the
publisher what might be the reason. The shipment had be going back and
forth in the US. Only later I saw in the detailed history of the
tracking info that the parcel really had been in my country, the
Netherlands, but was sent back. The reason why is unknown.
Finally early December Mike Croteau, the publisher, received the books
back. He sent them to me again, but I haven't received them as yet. I
try to follow the tracking info this time. I only see that the parcel
is moving, but not where it is at the moment. I still hope for the best.
I probably will not see the new releases this year anymore, but I still
wanted the new information —as far as I have
it— in the bibliography.
There is a new bookpage for Up From the Bottomless Pit.
The other two publications, A Rough Knight for the
Queen, are added on the page 'Works
by PJF'.
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Greatheart
Silver and Other Pulp Heroes as eBook |
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30 Nov
2020
 Last
year Meteor House
published the collection Greatheart Silver and Other Pulp
Heroes in hardcover. The book contains five stories and one
essay. The essay is the foreword to one of the stories.
Since November this year the collection is now available as eBook, for
$2.99, for sale both at Amazon and Barnes&Noble.
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Three
new items for the bibliography |
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15 Nov
2020
From
my friend Fred Fischer (US) again I received
some items that I didn't yet have in my collection. Two of them were
already known to me and added in the bibliography, but the third, RiverCon XX, is
completely new. Of the first two I had to add or change some
information.
The three items are:
It was nice to finally see the graphic
version
of the story "The King of the Beasts", but it also disappointed me
somewhat. In the story Farmer leaves it open to our fantasy what kind
of (alien?) creatures the biologist and its visitor are. The biologist
re-creates many of the extinct species of earth, and also the most
dangerous one. The drawn creatures in this graphic version seem to be
humans, which spoils the punch line of the story. If you look at this illustration, maybe
you understand what I mean.
Many thanks for these items Fred! Great find!
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Tarzan
novel as Audio Book |
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5 Nov
2020
Publisher
Oasis
Audio will release this month, on November 10th, the novel Tarzan
and the Dark Heart of Time as an Audio Book.
 The
Audio
Book will be released unabridged on one MP3 CD with a running
time of 8.5 hours. Narrator is Ben Dooley. The price is $14.99.
It has ISBN 978-1-64091-503-9.
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Received
and still not received |
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5 Nov
2020
Today
I received from Poland the ordered book Odyseja
Green. This one already had been added on the book page, but
I completed the information about the publication.
 What
I still haven't received are my copies of the books from Meteor House: A Rough Knight for the Queen
in paperback and limited edition hardcover and Up from the Bottomless Pit
in paperback. The publisher gave me the tracking code in October. The
books were then still in the US. Checked again on October 30: the
parcel was at San Francisco Ca International Distribution Center. Today
I checked again, and it is now at Miami Ft International Distribution
Center. So, there is some movement, from the West coast to the East
cost in the US, but still far away from my home address in the
Netherlands. My guess is that there are not that many planes flying to
Europe, due to Covid-19. I have to be more patient, alas. Hope to see
them this year...
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It
is the year 1943. In another universe. |
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21 Oct
2020
Two
drawn world maps based on Philip José Farmer's
novel The
Gate of Time can be found on the internet. The novel
was later revised and expanded as Two
Hawks from Earth.
They are drawn by 'Chipmunken',
published on April 1, 2020 (see
here) and one by 'CourageousLife', which was published on
October 2, 2020 (see
here). The second one, which its original publication, is a
very big picture, 8042x4500 pixels, 2.5 Mb.
'Chipmunken' gives with his map a rather detailed and interesting
description of the novel that led to his map. Both drawings are very
interesting!
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L'eroe
nell'immaginario di Philip José Farmer |
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21 Oct
2020
 Delos
Digital in Italy has launched the Universi/ty series, whose purpose is
to
publish degree theses in an ebook version. Making them available to
interested parties, for as long as their authors want.
The translation of the title L'eroe nell'immaginario di Philip
José Farmer is: The hero in Philip
José Farmer's imagination. It is written by
Michele Comani.
«The choice of the angle followed by the author for his work
on
Philip Jose Farmer stems from the reading of texts by Freud and Jung,
but also by other scholars of anthropology and ancient myths such as
James Frazer and Joseph Campbell, and from the awareness that science
fiction had somehow become the guardian of all that cultural heritage
linked to ancient myths and symbols. Farmer, in his books, not only was
no exception, but he drew inspiration from them by reproposing and
reworking them continuously. His first works, then, were heavily
indebted to studies in the psychoanalytic field of the first half of
the last century. The research work that resulted was a rather exciting
work, which allowed to write the thesis.»
If you can read Italian, the ebook can be bought through Amazon. The
price is €2.75 or $2.99.
The uncredited photo of Phil on the cover was taken by me (2002).
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Sail
On! Sail On! |
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20 Oct
2020
 One
of Farmer's earliest stories, "Sail
On! Sail On!" (1952), has been reprinted in the ebook
anthology Legends
of Science Fiction: Volume 2, edited by Christopher
Broschell. It was published last August by Library & Archives
Canada in their series Giants
of Sci-Fi Collection.
The anthology contains twenty-six stories by authors like Phillip K.
Dick, Theodore Sturgeon, Clifford Simak, Arthur C. Clarke, and others.
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Odyseja
Greena from Poland |
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20 Oct
2020
 This
Polish translation of The Green Odyssey has
recently been ordered by me. I tried to order it earlier, but
alas without success.
The book was released in August 2020. I have added this translation on
the book page. The
missing information will be given after I receive the actual book.
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Delayed
delay |
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20 Oct
2020
 The
new books from Meteor House are even more delayed than at first thought
of. The publisher, Michael Croteau, wrote to me that they were posted
late September.
I still haven't received my copies of the three books: A Rough Knight for the Queen
in paperback and limited edition hardcover and Up from the Bottomless Pit
in paperback.
More patience is needed. Hope to receive them soon!
The books are already for sale at Amazon.
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Somewhat
delayed books |
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26 Aug
2020
Meteor
House published the following statement about the delay of their
announced books:
 «Due to
Covid19 affecting everything in the world these days, from our printers
to the mail system (especially internationally) we're a little late
getting this year's books out. But, we now have the signature sheets
(after their journey from the US, to Spain, to Italy, to the UK, and
back to the US) and should have all our books (A Rough Knight for the Queen
in paperback and limited edition hardcover and Up from the Bottomless Pit
in paperback, both by Philip José Farmer) in hand and ready
to ship by the end of next week.»
So, the books will now be released early September.
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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 were 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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