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Ghost editions |
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| These ghost or phantom
editions have been announced or mentioned somewhere in the past, but
their actual publication is not certain as far as I know, or even non
existent. If you have any information about the existence of these
books please let me know by sending an e-mail
with the detailed information, if possible with a cover scan. Of course
I'm also interested in the books themselves, that is... if
they really exist. |
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As
You
Desire
- Rubicon Press,
1965 or 1971, paperback
This
edition definitely does not exist. See the information on the page Announced
Books.
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Behind
the Walls of Terra
(see bookpage)
- Buccaneer
Books,
ISBN 0-89968-400-9, hardcover, 1993, $18.95 (or)
- Lightyear
Press,
ISBN 0-89968-400-9, hardcover, 5/1997, $18.95
Barnes&Noble
(US) 'sold' online the Buccaneer edition. Amazon.com the identical,
same
ISBN, edition from Lightyear Press. See also the other books from the World
of Tiers series below.
There
is found
no proof of the existence of the Buccaneer/Lightyear editions, except
for
one Buccaneer edition: Venus
on the Half-Shell
(1996). Others might exist, but they have never been seen.
Phil
Stephenson-Payne:
"The Buccaneer/Lightyear edition of Behind the Walls of Terra
(etc.)
"might" exist. I've never really been able to track down firm details
about
this lot who seemed to put library bindings on softcover editions of
various
books. For a while I thought they were completely phantom but I've met
some collectors who have copies of other books they did so who knows?"
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Beyond
the Walls of Terra
(see bookpage)
This
title appeared
several times as a change of title for Behind the Walls of
Terra.
Even Farmer himself claimed at one time to have seen a book with this
changed
title - see the Author's
Foreword in the Phantasia Press edition of The Gates of Creation
- and for that reason knew that Ace had reprinted the book.
Also
mentioned,
but in this case as the original title, in "Speculative
Fiction, Bibliographies, & Philip José Farmer"
by Thomas
L. Wymer.
However, I have found no proof of an existing book with this
title.
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Blown (see bookpage)
- Fokker
D-LXIX Press, 1975
PJF
in Riverside Quarterly, August 1975: "Vernell
Coriell is going to reprint A Feast Unknown,
probably sometime this year. Later, The Image of the Beast
and Blown. These will be illustrated by Richard
Corben and will be issued by the Fokker D-LXIX Press, a subsidiary of
the Acme Zeppelin Company."
Only A Feast Unknown
(1975) got published by this publisher, who did not pay Farmer any
money for this and so got no permission to print the other two.
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The
Book
of Philip José Farmer
(see bookpage)
- SFBC [UK], no
ISBN, hardcover, 1979, 239pp, £2.75
Announced
for
publication in Science Fiction Books Published in Britain,
Vol.2
No.2, May 1979. Also mentioned in the bibliography Philip
José Farmer: Good-Natured Ground Breaker
as a published
book.
Phil
Stephenson-Payne:
"This edition does exist, kind of. As well as publishing their own
books
they periodically distributed other publishers' books to their members
and this was distributed in July 1979 at £2.75 and was given
book
number 6348 (according to their newsletters of the period). The SFBC
list
this as being published by Severn House but I believe what happened was
that Severn House took over the assets of The Elmfield Press and sold
off
some of the spare stock to the SFBC. Having said all that, I haven't
seen
a copy of the book so I could be wrong."
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Dark
Heart
of Time (see bookpage)
- Econo-Clad
Books,
ISBN 0-613214-06-4, hardcover, 6/1999, $15.00
- BT Bound, ISBN
0-613214-06-4, hardcover, 5/2000, $15.00
- Sagebrush
Education Resources, ISBN 0-613214-06-4, hardcover, 6/1999, $?
The
editions
seem to be the same, same ISBN, but different names for publisher and
different
publication dates. The first two were 'for sale' at Amazon.com, I tried
to buy it but I
could
never get a copy. The third was 'for sale' with Barnes & Noble.
It
seems these are hardcover or trade paperback editions intended for
(school) libraries. I doubt it very much if these books really exist.
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Dayworld
Breakup (see bookpage)
- Grafton, ISBN
0-246-13740-1, paperback, 1999, £7.99
BOL
in the UK
'sold' it online, I tried to buy it several times, but never got a
copy.
Looking at the ISBN and the price it might be that this is the
information
of the (planned?) trade paperback in 1992.
Phil
Stepehnson-Payne:
"As you surmise, the "Grafton" paperback with ISBN starting 0-246 is
the
cancelled trade paperback from 1992. At the time HarperCollins
typically
issued simultaneous hardback and trade paperbacks with the mass-market
paperback following months later. At the last minute they changed the
plans
with DB, issuing only a small run of the hardback aimed at libraries
only
(which is why it is so uncommon) and a simultaneous mass-market
paperback.
If nothing else, there has never been a "Grafton" edition of any book
with
an ISBN 0-246."
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A Feast Unknown
(see bookpage)
- Ramble House, paperback, 2005
The
publisher had plans to publish this novel, after the publication of The
Green Odyssey and Love Song. A cover
illustration was drawn by Gavin L. O'Keefe, but the book was never
published. Why the plans fell through with this title, I have no idea.
The cover is shown on the website of Ramble House (see here). |
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Flesh
(see bookpage)
- Signet (D3378),
ISBN ?, paperback, 1973, 191pp, 95¢
Mentioned
in
the
Galactic Central bibliography Philip
José Farmer: Good-Natured Ground Breaker,
1990. The Signet
books with book numbers starting with the letter D are all published in
the early 1960s, and the book number itself, 3378, does not fit between
a previous edition with number Q5097 and a later edition with number
Y6767.
The conclusion is that this edition does not exist.
Maybe
there
has been a mix-up, because there is a Berkley edition of The
Fabulous Riverboat with booknumber 03378 (1977). In
some cases this book has been mentioned with booknumber D3378 instead
of 03378.
Phil
Stepehnson-Payne:
"The information on this edition came from my later partner, Gordon
Benson,
and I don't know where he got it from."
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The
Gates
of Creation (see bookpage)
- Buccaneer
Books,
ISBN 0-89968-398-3, hardcover, 1993, $18.95 (or)
- Lightyear
Press,
ISBN 0-89968-398-3, hardcover, 5/1997, $18.95
Barnes&Noble
(US) and BOL (UK) 'sold' the Buccanneer edition. Amazon.com the
identical,
same ISBN, edition from Lightyear Press. See also the comment above
with Behind
the Walls of Terra.
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The
Green
Odyssey (see bookpage)
- Lightyear
Press, ISBN 0-89968-338-X,
hardcover, 1995, 152pp, $18.95
Hardcover
intended for libraries only it seems.
I do not know if these two are related of if there is a mix-up, but
many times this edition is mentioned together with the 1990
Book-of-the-Month Club edition. That edition does exist.
See
also the comment above with Behind
the Walls of Terra.
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The
Green
Odyssey (see bookpage)
- Random House
Value Publishing, ISBN 0-517-09873-3, hardcover, 03/1993, $3.99
Amazon.com
'sells' this edition, but a copy cannot be delivered...
There are other places online with information on this book, most with
a link to Amazon. I do not believe this edition exists.
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The
Image
of the Beast (see bookpage)
- Fokker
D-LXIX Press, 1975
PJF
in Riverside Quarterly, August
1975: "Vernell Coriell is going to reprint A Feast Unknown,
probably
sometime this year. Later, The Image of the Beast
and Blown.
These will be illustrated by Richard Corben and will be issued by the
Fokker
D-LXIX Press, a subsidiary of the Acme Zeppelin Company."
Only A
Feast Unknown (1975) got published by this
publisher, who
did not pay Farmer any money for this and so got no permission to print
the other two.
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Image
of
the Beast | Blown
(see bookpage)
- Creation
Books, trade paperback, 2001
This
edition does exist, but not with
the shown cover.
Amazon.com announced the book before it got published
with this cover, it actually got published with a different cover
illustration
by John Coulthart as shown on the bookpage. |
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The
Lavalite
World (see bookpage)
- Lightyear
Press,
ISBN 0-89968-401-7, hardcover, 1993, 282pp,
$17.95
Intended
for
libraries.
'For sale' at Amazon.com. See also the comment above
with Behind
the
Walls of Terra.
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The
Lovers
(see bookpage)
This
edition
does
not exist. Announced for publication, for instance with the article "Lovers
and Otherwise" (1953). Also on the back of another Shasta
book, This
Island Earth (1952) by Raymond F. Jones, where the combined
publication
of "The Lovers"
and "Moth
and Rust" was announced.
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The
Maker
of Universes (see bookpage)
- Buccaneer
Books,
ISBN 0-89968-397-5, hardcover, 1993, $18.95 (or)
- Lightyear
Press,
ISBN 0-89968-397-5, hardcover, 5/1997, $18.95
Barnes&Noble
(US) and BOL (UK) 'sold' the Buccanneer edition. Amazon.com the
identical,
same ISBN, edition from Lightyear Press. See also the comment above
with Behind
the Walls of Terra.
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The
Maker
of Universes (see bookpage)
- Ace, ISBN
0-441-51623-.., paperback, 19.., $1.95
Mentioned
in
the Galactic Central bibliography Philip José
Farmer: Good-Natured Ground Breaker,
1990. According to the bibliography this is supposed to be the fourth
US edition or printing. Ace usually changed the booknumber to one
number higher with a new printing. After 51621 and 51622 you could
expect 51623. There is a number 51624 - even two of them - but no 51625
and no 51626, but again there is a 51627. Ace Books was not much
reliable with their numbering or printing information in the books.
I have found no proof of an existing printing with number 51623.
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More
Than
Fire (see bookpage)
- Pan, #34313,
paperback,
1995, £3.99
Announced
for
publication in Locus. This edition has never been
published, so
it does not exist.
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Night
of
Light (see bookpage)
- Penguin, ISBN
0-14-003392-0, paperback, 10/1973, 176pp 2nd
Mentioned
in
the
Galactic Central bibliography Philip
José Farmer: Good-Natured Ground Breaker,
1990. According
to the bibliography this is supposed to be the second printing. Penguin
published in 1982 a second edition, with no information in that book of
an earlier second printing. I found no proof of the 1973 Penguin
edition,
so I believe it does not exist.
Phil
Stepehnson-Payne:
"I also don't have a copy of the 1973 Penguin printing which may also
be
phantom. The biblio just cites the date with no other information which
indicates that this is a second printing and not a new edition. As
such,
it is quite likely that Penguin would not mention it in the second
edition
in 1982 (they have never been very reliable on listing prior
printings).
I'm not saying it does exist."
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Opar, la città immortale (see bookpage)
- Mondadori [Italy], Urania Fantasy,
magazine, 02/1976
Of
this publication only exists a cover picture. It was found on the
internet, on only one page, with no additional information about the
publication. The webpage is on Photobucket.com.
This magazine was never
published. Mondadori started the Urania
Fantasy magazine series in 1988, and none of the Fantasypublications
looks like this one. Someone from Italy designed the cover just for the
fun of it. Not only that, that someone made more than
10,000 covers like this one. Of Farmer's work only are 120 covers
found, all on Photobucket. None were ever published on actual magazines.
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Pearls from Peoria (see bookpage)
- The Rose Press
[UK], hardcover, 2004-2005
This
book has been announced for publication at the end of 2004. Due to
several problems the publication got delayed again and again. And
finally when more problems occurred the publisher, Phillip Rose, and
the editor, Paul Spiteri, had to cancel the whole project in 2005,
alas. It promised to be a large and very beautiful book in a limited
edition.
US publisher Subterranean Press took over this project.
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Riders of the Purple Wage (see story page)
- (Spanish:
"Jinetes del salario púrpura")
in Jinetes del salario
púrpura - La balada de Beta-2
Alcalá de Henares, ISBN 84-95741-48-2, paperback, 12/2003
Two
novellas, the second one is by Samuel R. Delany. This book was
announced for publication, but never actually published it seems.
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They Twinkled Like Jewels
(see bookpage)
All
three
editions of The Cache
mention this book where the two Bonus Stories first had
been printed in. This booktitle or edition does not exist.
Both
stories were published before (not first!) in The
Celestial Blueprint, Ace 1962.
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To
Your
Scattered Bodies Go
(see bookpage)
- Gollancz
(Yellow
Jacket), trade paperback, 12/2000, £9.99
This
Yellow
Jacket
or Yellowback edition has been announced for publication and 'for sale'
with Andromeda books online, but I got informed that Gollancz canceled
the publication.
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The Unreasoning Mask
(see bookpage)
- Overlook Press,
trade paperback, 2005-2006
This
edition does exist, but not with the shown cover. It was first
announced for publication in October 2005. The publication date shifted
several times in 2006, then to January 2007 and finally to February
2007, where the actual published book has a different cover than
announced with at first.
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