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Announced books
(and stories) |
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Several times in the
past novels or stories were announced to be written by Philip
José Farmer. I made an inventory of these announcements, of
which some go back for many, many years. Not all of these have been
taken over, only the ones that didn't get published under the announced
titles or didn't get published at all. If you ever heard of a title of
a book by Philip José Farmer and do not know if it actually
got published, good chance you'll find it here. The list is in
alphabetical order on booktitle or name of the series. |
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Alice
Moving Under Skies
or
Alice
on the Riverworld
Tentative
titles of the third Riverworld
novel. This novel has actually been published with the title The
Dark Design (1977).
Sources:
-
Moebius
Trip Library's S.F. Echo #22, April 1975
-
Science
Fiction Review #14, August 1975
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And You, Red Judge
Announced as follows: "Presently he is
working on a second
novel for Essex House, And
You, Red Judge, to be followed by the continuation of The Image of the Beast,
tentatively titled Sketches
Among the Ruins of My Mind."
The novels The Image of the Beast
and the sequel, Blown,
have been published by Essex House, but we never have seen anything
anymore of the third announced novel.
Source:
- The Image of the Beast
(Essex House, 1968)
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As
You Desire
For
several years there were rumors
and bibliographies with information that this sf/pornographic/gothic
novel,
written under the pseudonym William Norfolk M.D., had been published in
1965 or in 1971 by Rubicon Press. However, this novel was never
published.
The
fanzine Farmerage published
this short article in 1979:
AS
YOU DESIRE: THE TRUE STORY
by George H. Scheetz

Philip José Farmer
fans long to acquire one book above all, i.e. As You Desire,
by
"William Norfolk, M.D." The only reason the book is known at all is
because
Farmer revealed it himself. This elusive title was written, sold to
Rubicon
Classics (contract dated 7 July 1969), but never published. Farmer
still
has a copy of the manuscript.
Rubicon
sold out to
American Art Agency in the early 1970s. Perhaps the original manuscript
is still extant. Farmer, however, declines selling it again. |
Source:
-
Farmerage
Vol.1 No.3, February 1979
The
following sources wrongly mention As
You Desire as a published book:
-
Authors'
Books Listing by Donald H. Tuck, 1975
-
The
First Editions of Philip José Farmer by
Lawrence Knapp,
1976
- Extrapolation
Vol.18 No.1, December 1976 (bibliography by Thomas Wymer)
- Norwescon
2, March 1979
-
Philip
José Farmer by Mary T. Brizzi, 1980
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The
Ballad of Hilary Boone
A
novel written in collaboration
with Randall Garrett in the early fifties. It had been sold to Startling
Stories but the magazine folded before the novel got
published. The
manuscript got lost. Farmer: "I still hope that it will turn up. I
might
rewrite it and send it out again."
Source:
-
"Author's
Notes" in Caterpillar's
Question,
1992
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A
Beast of the Fields
This
novel was written in 1953 and
scheduled for serialized publication in the magazine Startling
Stories
in that year. However Startling Stories gave up its
monthly schedule
and the novel disappeared until Ballantine published it in 1965 as Dare.
Fantasy-Times:
«Farmer's
serial, the first in Startling
will begin in the October issue. It will be called "A Beast Of The
Fields"-and will be in three parts.»
Sources:
- Fantasy-Times
Vol. 8 No. 5 (Whole No. 175), March 1953
- Seekers
of Tomorrow by Sam Moskowitz, 1966
- "Introduction"
in Dare (Gregg, 1980)
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The
Bronze Serpent
The
first tentative title was Why
Everybody Hates Me. A mystery novel/near future tale with Kent
Lane, the illegitimate son of the Shadow, as hero. Meant to
be published
by Bobbs-Merrill.
Sources:
- Doc Savage: His Apocalytic Life,
Panther (04/1975) and Bantam (07/1975).
- Science
Fiction Review #14, August 1975
-
The
First Editions of Philip José Farmer by
Lawrence Knapp,
1976
-
Extrapolation
Vol.18. No.1, December 1976
-
Whizzard
Vol.2 #10, Fall 1977
-
Science
Fiction and Fantasy Literature (Vol.2), 1979
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Buddha on Venus
Several times I saw this title mentioned as a to
be written sequel to Jesus on Mars,
and also often another title appeared with this, Josph Smith on Mercury.
But never came an actual announcement of one or both of these titles.
So, I am not sure if Farmer ever planned these books seriously as
sequels, but they were never written.
Several sources (see also here).
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Cougar By the Tail
Farmer had started this western novel, somewhere in the 1970s. But he
never finished the story. In 2007 Tracy Knight got permission from Phil
and Bette Farmer to complete the novel. Tracy already had written a
western of his own, Beneath
a Whisky Sky, and also a fantasy novel, The
Astonished Eye.
The finishing and possible publication of the novel was announced in July
2008 at Farmercon 90 in Peoria.
An excerpt of Cougar By the Tail
has been published in Farmerphile
Issue No. 15, together with an interview with Tracy Knight.
In 2016 Tracy Knight let me know that he would not finish the novel
anymore, alas.
Sources:
- Farmercon 90 Program Book, July 2008
- Farmerphile
Issue No. 15, January 2009
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(The)
Daybreakers or
The
Day Breakers
Farmer:
"A story set in the same
world as my short story "The
Sliced-Crosswise
Only-On-Tuesday World", for Doubleday."
Instead
of one novel with the never
used title Daybreakers, Farmer wrote three novels: Dayworld
(Putnam), Dayworld
Rebel (Ace/Putnam)
and Dayworld Breakup
(Tor).
Another
tentative title is The
Hole in Wednesday (see under).
Sources:
-
Locus
#114, June 9, 1972
-
Science
Fiction Review #14, August 1975
-
The
First Editions of Philip José Farmer by
Lawrence Knapp,
1976
-
Extrapolation
Vol.18. No.1, December 1976
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Death's
Dumb Trumpet
Luna
Monthly: "Philip José
Farmer is doing an original, Death's Dumb Trumpet,
for Avon Books;
about the necrology of mankind in 1990 when finis is written to our
irreversibly
polluted planet."
The
Burroughs Bulletin: "I'm
writing a novel, Death's Dumb Trumpet, about the
effects of pollution
twenty years from now."
Sources:
-
Norris Chapnick in Luna Monthly
#9, 1970
-
The
Burroughs Bulletin #22, Summer 1971
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Doc
Savage
Farmer
has written the novel Escape
From Loki (1991), but he had also ideas and notes
for more stories
or novels. For instance a sequel to the final Doc Savage story, Up
from
Earth's Center. Also mentioned are another four tentative
titles for
stories: Dark Satanic Mills, Bloody Hands,
Invisible Nation
and The Crimson Jaguar.
Source:
-
"Afterword"
in Doc Savage - Omnibus #13, 1990
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The
Dragon's Breath
Marginally science fiction. It takes place in the near future and is
about a runaway offshore oil well. The first draft had been sent to
Judy-Lynn del Rey of Ballantine Books in 1975. Ballantine/Del Rey had
it announced for publication in 1975, but it never appeared. Farmer had
to write a second draft, but that too didn't get accepted.
He wrote another novel instead for Ballantine: Dark is the Sun.
Copies of the original manuscript, with the title Up From the Bottomless
Pit, were
sold via The Official PJF Home Page. That stopped
with the publication of the novel in the fanzine Farmerphile,
which published it in ten parts, starting with Issue No. 1, July 2005.
Sources:
- Locus #165, 1974
- Science Fiction
Review #14, August 1975
- The First
Editions of Philip José Farmer by
Lawrence Knapp, 1976
- Extrapolation
Vol.18. No.1, December 1976
- Whizzard
Vol.2 #10, Fall 1977
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The Fanged and Glittering One
Phil stated at first
that this title would be used for a sequel to Nothing
Burns in Hell (see also A Hole in Hell on this page).
The Fanged and
Glittering One will be set in the Peoria area, today or
slightly in the future. This novel could be a mystery or a fantasy. It
will take place around the fictional Kickapoo State College.
The
title is from a Walt Whitman poem titled "Starting from Paumanok".
Sources:
- The
Official Philip
José Farmer Home Page (2002)
- Farmerphile
Issue No. 12, April 2008
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Fantastic
Voyage 2
"Philip
José Farmer has signed
to do the novelization of Fantastic Voyage 2, the
book which was
originally supposed to be written by Isaac Asimov. ... Although the
advance
was not up to the $1 million + offered Asimov, it was more than a half
million dollars, and the highest amount Farmer has ever been offered.
....."
Source:
-
Locus
#290, 1985
"The
saga of the book version of
the unmade movie version of Fantastic Voyage 2 has
taken another
fantastic turn. Apparently Isaac Asimov, who turned down a $1 million +
deal in 1984 as writer, will now, after all, write the book. Meanwhile
Philip José Farmer, who accepted a $690,000 deal and wrote
two books
for it, is out in the cold with only a fraction of the money. ....
Farmer
was given the 20 page treatment and a $56,000 advance. He wrote a novel
following the script and sent it to NAL. His NAL editor, Sheila
Gilbert,
had moved to DAW and Executive Editor Michaela Hamilton took over. She
eventually rejected the manuscript and asked for a rewrite. Farmer
turned
in a second novel which was based on the ideas but did not slavishly
follow
the treatment. This too was rejected. .... Farmer commented "Now I wish
Putnam hadn't given permission at all. If I were a literary terrorist,
I'd blow up Doubleday and NAL!"."
Source:
-
Locus
#303, 1986
Fantastic
Voyage 2 exists
only in manuscript with Farmer.
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The
Garden of Evil
See
the 'World
of Tiers series' on this page.
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God's
Free Beer
Farmer
planned to write a comic novel
based on his experiences in the space-defence industry. Uncle
Sam's Mad Tea Party
is mentioned as an alternative title.
Several notes by PJF for this book were found in his archives. These
notes were published in the fanzine Farmerphile Issue
No.12 (2008).
Sources:
- Science
Fiction Review # 14, August 1975
- Science Fiction Review
# 52, Fall 1984
- Farmerphile
Issue No. 12, April 2008
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Greatheart
Silver series
With
the publication of part 3 in
the Greatheart Silver series,
the story "Greatheart
Silver in the First Command" was an
announcement
of a next episode: "Greatheart Silver in The Great Fog, or In Old New
York:
1934". This episode was never published however.
Notes
on more stories in the series were found in Farmer's archives.
Source:
-
Weird
Heroes - Volume 6, 1977
- Farmerphile
Issue No. 14, October 2008
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The
Greeniad
This
title was planned as a sequel
to The Green Odyssey.
Source:
-
Extrapolation
Vol.18. No.1, December 1976
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A Hole in Hell
Tentative title of the
sequel to Nothing
Burns in Hell. Farmer plans the main character to
be crucified on the first page.
See also The
Fanged and Glittering One on this page.
Source:
- Mystery
Scene #66, 2000
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The
Hole in Wednesday
A
tentative title for Dayworld.
Another tentative title is called (The)
Daybreakers (see above).
Farmer had started a manuscript for this book. The original manuscript
was finished by Danny Adams, and the novel, Dayworld:
A Hole in Wednesday, was published in 2016.
Source:
-
Extrapolation
Vol.18. No.1, December 1976
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However
Improbable, Watson
Announced
for publication by Bobbs-Merrill
in the fall of 1975.
Source:
-
Locus
#169, 1975
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Joseph Smith on Mercury
See with Buddha on Venus
on this page.
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Kickaha's
World
See
the 'World
of Tiers series' on this page.
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Kill Hadon of Opar
This would be the title
for the second
book in the Opar series,
sequel to Hadon of Ancient Opar.
Upon publication the title changed to Flight to Opar.
Source:
- The Gridley Wave
#43, January 1974
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Kwasin
of Opar
See
the Opar / Khokarsa series
on this page. The novel has been announced again, with the new title The Song of
Kwasin.
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Lord
Grandrith / Doc Caliban
series
"I
plan to write three more Doc Caliban-Lord
Grandrith novels", said Farmer.
See
also The
Monster on Hold.
Source:
-
Whizzard
Vol.2 #10, Fall 1977
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The
Man Who Loved the Great Wizard
An unfinished semi-autobiographical novel about life in the science
fiction
community. This is not the same as the also uncompleted and unpublished
A Wild
Weird Clime (See below
on this page).
An excerpt from this novel, "The
Light-Hog Incident" has been published
in Farmerphile
Issue No. 7, January 2007.
Source:
- Introduction to "The
Light-Hog Incident" in Farmerphile
Issue No.7, January 2007
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The
Monster on Hold
Former
tentative title: The Unspeakable
Treshold.
This
will be the latest story in
the series 'Lord
Grandrith/Doc
Caliban' , beginning with A Feast Unknown
(1969) and continued in Lord
of the Trees
(1970) and The Mad
Goblin (1970).
The first draft of a chapter of this proposed novel has been published
as "The Monster on Hold".
Source:
-
PJF's Introduction
in World Fantasy Convention 1983,
1983
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Not
Enough Bodies
Announced
for publication by Ballantine
Books in 1973.
Ballantine
published this in 1973
with the title Traitor
to the Living.
Source:
-
Locus
#115, June 23, 1972
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The
Opar / Khokarsa series
According
to one source Farmer planned
to write at least three more novels, and according to another source he
had originally plans to write from nine to twelve books in the Opar
series.
This didn't come true mainly because of the low advance and royalties
payment
for the novels, and also because of the luke response from the readers.
Farmer then decided to write a third and final novel, but didn't have
the
time to write it because of other obligations. The last one had been
announced
for 1979 with the title Kwasin of Opar. This novel
has been completed by Christopher Paul Carey, and announced again in
2008 with the new title The Song of Kwasin.
See series: Opar / Khokarsa.
Sources:
- Science
Fiction Review # 14, August 1975
- The foreword
in Flight to Opar
(DAW, 1976)
- Norwescon 2,
March 1979
- Amazing,
November 1984
- Heritage of
the Flaming God, 1999
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Pearl
Diving in Old Peoria
Formerly
titled The Unruly Lance,
or The Green Knight. A mainstream novel which takes place in the late
40's
or early 50's when the GI's were coming back to college.
Sources:
- "Author's
Foreword" in The
Lavalite World (Phantasia Press, 1983)
- Amazing,
November 1984
- Thrust
# 22, Summer 1985
- Science
Fiction Review # 60, Fall 1986
- Mystery
Scene # 66, 2000
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The Rain Crow or Aromatic Swine Drive
Tentative title and
subtitle. Phil is working on a novel about a P.I. named Ivan Cobb. A
noir mystery with a flavor of the absurd and much about killer parrots.
Sources:
- The
Official Philip José Farmer Home Page (2003)
- Farmerphile No.
12, April 2008
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Ralph
Von Wau Wau series
Farmer planned to write more stories and novels
about Ralph Von Wau Wau, at least enough to fill a collection of
stories. Two stories have been published; these were written by 'Jonathan
Swift Somers III'. In these stories the following titles have
been mentioned as other Ralph Von Wau Wau stories: "The Wonder of the
Wandering Wound", "A Short Case of Longevity", "The Caper of Kupper,
the Copper's Keeper", "The Case of the Stolen Dreams", "The Adventure
of the Tired Color Man", "The Case of the Seeing Eye Man", "The Hind of
the Basker-bergs", "The Shakedown of the Shook Sheik", "The Four
Musicians of Bremen" and "The Scarletin Letter", plus a novel: Some
Humans Don't Stink.
In the fanzine Farmerphile Issue
No. 2, October 2005 were the first 450 words published of an
unfinished story, "Who Stole Stonehenge?".
People were invited to complete the story, based on this and a five
page outline. Alas, no one took the challenge.
See series: Ralph
Von Wau Wau
Several
sources
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Ramstan
Farmer:
"A long philosophical space opera for Harper & Row."
This novel got published under the title The Unreasoning
Mask by Putnam (1981).
Sources:
- Discord #12, May 1961
- Science
Fiction Review #14, August 1975
- The
First Editions of Philip José Farmer by
Lawrence Knapp, 1976
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The
Song of Kwasin
Farmer had started the third novel in the Opar
series, announced as Kwasin
of Opar (see above entry,
and especially the Opar / Khokarsa entry
on this page), but never finished it. The manuscript was redisdovered
in 2005 in Farmer's archives, and Christopher Paul Carey got Farmer's
permission to finally finish the novel. The title changed to The Song
of Kwasin, and it was announced in July
2008 at Farmercon 90 in Peoria.
An excerpt from The Song of Kwasin
has been published in Farmerphile
Issue No. 13, (July 2008) together with an interview with Chris Carey.
The novel got
published in 2012.
Sources:
- Farmercon 90 Program Book, July 2008
- Farmerphile
Issue No. 13, July 2008
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The
Stone God Awakens -
sequels
Farmer
wrote The
Stone God Awakens (1970), which was supposed to be
part of a trilogy.
Sources:
-
Extrapolation
Vol.18. No.1, December 1976
-
Amazing,
November 1984
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Tappy
Farmer
in collaboration with Piers
Anthony wrote Tappy, a mystery and a love story.
The book has been
sold to Ace.
This
novel has been published as The
Caterpillar's Question in 1992 by Ace.
Sources:
-
Locus
#353, June 1990
-
Locus
#357, October 1990
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Tarzan's
Greatest Adventure
or
Tarzan's
Secret
Two
working titles for an all new
Tarzan novel. Announced for publication in 1998 by Del Rey.
Published
as The
Dark Heart of Time (A Tarzan Novel) by Del Rey in
1999.
Sources:
-
Locus
#443, December 1997
-
Locus
#446, March 1998
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The
Trail of the Irish Bull
A
sequel to The
Adventure of the Peerless Peer,
in which Holmes and
Watson encounter
a mystery in Ireland. «During which they fall in with Leopold
Bloom, whose biography was written by the famous J. Joyce. One of the
persons the three encounter is, of course, an Irishman named
Finnegan.»
Sources:
-
Vector
#81, May-June 1977
- Farmerphile
Issue No. 12, April 2008
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Uncle
Sam's Mad Tea Party
See God's
Free Beer on this page.
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The
Unruly Lance
See Pearl
Diving in Old Peoria on this page.
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The
Unspeakable Treshold
See The
Monster
on Hold on this page.
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Up
From the Bottomless Pit
See The
Dragon's Breath on this page.
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A
Wild Weird Clime
A
mainstream novel about the science
fiction world. Farmer: "No one has written one yet that came anywhere
near
doing justice to this wild weird unique phenomenon".
His Balticon 11 Guest of Honor Speech
(1977) goes about this idea for
the novel. Farmer had the idea to publish the book under the byline of Tom Wode Bellman.
Sources:
-
Science
Fiction Review #14, August 1975
-
Whizzard
Vol.2 #10, Fall 1977
-
Science
Fiction and Fantasy Literature (Vol.2), 1979
- Farmerphile
Issue No. 13, July 2008
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The
Wind Whales of Ishmael
- sequels
Farmer
planned to write sequels to The
Wind Whales of Ishmael (1971). They were never
written however.
Source:
-
Extrapolation
Vol.18. No.1, December 1976
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Why
Everybody Hates Me
See The
Bronze Serpent on this page.
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World
of Tiers series
Farmer:
"This foreword for this special
edition gives me an opportunity to assure the readers that there will
be
two more books. Seven in all. The sixth will be titled Kickaha's
World, and the concluding volume may be titled The
Garden of Evil.
I
haven't made up my mind about this yet, though."
The
sixth actually got published
under the title More
Than Fire (1993), and the seventh book in the
series, The Garden of
Evil, has never been written, alas.
See
series: World
of Tiers.
Source:
-
"Author's
Foreword" to The
Lavalite World
(Phantasia Press, 1983)
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