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News
& What's New - August 2008 |
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German
article |
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31
August 2008
Just
before we went on vacation to the US came an email from
Christian Endres (Germany) in which he asked for a photo of Phil
Farmer. The photo would be published with his article in the magazine Zitty
from Berlin. Phil's picture wasn't used, but the article "Down by
the Riverside" has been published in Issue number 15-2008, of
July.
The article is about, as the title already suggests, Farmer's Riverworld series,
because of the new publications of the five Riverworld books in Germany
by publisher Piper. Endres gives some background information about the
characters in the novels, how Farmer already started the series in
1952, and mentions the strong but also the weak sides of the stories.
He concludes that after 30 years it still is an interesting read:
"...steht ein auch heute noch innovatives und faszinierendes
Gedankenspiel, ambitionierte Abenteuer-SF mit einem
großartigen
Setting, die sich unter all dem Staub und aller Schwächen zum
Trotz auch nach 30 Jahren noch interessant liest."
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New study
of
Farmer's work? |
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31
August 2008
After
Farmercon 90 was over we, friends and family of Farmer, had a very nice
dinner at the Ivy Sailing Club in Peoria on Saturday night. This is a
favorite dining place for the Farmers, and I have to say they serve a
very good meal. As I have written before Phil was too ill to attend,
alas, but Bette was present this evening.
Of course there were several nice talks too. In one of these
conversations I asked professor, and science fiction critic, Gary
K. Wolfe, who is a very good friend of the Farmers, if he
ever had thought of writing or editing a new critical study about
Farmer and his work. Such a study is long overdue in my opinion. There
are only two studies
of his work, and both are from the 1980s.
Gary was very interested in the idea and promised to think it over and
talk about it with some other people too. So maybe, after all those
years we might see a new critical study that will shine some light on
Phil's outstanding and sometimes complicated oeuvre. It would be great
if this study could be found in every US library.
Dinner time at the Ivy Club. From left
to right are Hans Kiesow (from Denmark), Gary K. Wolfe and Win Scott
Eckert.
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Gary K. Wolfe |
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Wold
Newton beer |
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31
August 2008
People
who were invited to the party at Farmer's house in the weekend of
Farmercon 90 were surprised with a real Wold Newton beer, "Falling
Stone".
Paul Spiteri had brought this beer with him from Great Britain and
handed these out to everyone that wanted one. I even got a second
bottle for a friend of mine that collects beer labels, but
only labels from beer that he has been drinking himself. So, I
had to take the full bottle back home. Another five US beers were
selected and bought for him. See his marvelous website
with more than 6700 beer labels from all over the world.
In 1795 the first recorded UK meteorite came down near the place Wold
Newton. According to Farmer's story this falling stone was radioactive,
and caused a genetic mutation to the people present. The mutated people
became part of Farmer's Wold Newton Family. For more information about
this read Farmer's Tarzan Alive, and for the
expanded Wold Newton Universe see these interesting websites.
For more about the Falling Stone beer you have to go to the website
of the Wold Top Brewery.
Frouwke and I shared one bottle and it tasted
very nice, we nearly drank the second bottle too...
Thanks again Paul for the beer, from our friend Harry also!
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Locus
reviews Farmer online |
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27
August 2008
In
the February 2008 issue of Locus
has Graham Sleight written a column, "Yesterdays
Tomorrows", with a look
at four books by Phil Farmer. Two classic novels, To
Your Scattered Bodies Go and Lord Tyger, and two
collections with classic stories, The Best of Philip
José Farmer and Pearls from Peoria.
I mentioned this publication on 10 February 2008, see here.
This interesting column can now be read online, since 21 August 2008,
at Locus
Online.
Graham Sleight: "...his enthusiasm isn't limited to one root story or
setting. Farmer's most enthralling characteristic is the range of his
enthusiasms: he seems like a fan of everything...."
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Three
novels and a story |
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26
August 2008
At
Farmercon 90 a special announcement was made by Michael Croteau at the
start of the "Mystery Panel". Phil Farmer had given permission to
finish four of his unfinished manuscripts by others writers. The four
writers on the "Mystery Panel" were interviewed about their projects.
Paul Spiteri finished a short story, a 'Polytropical Paramyth', called
"Getting Ready to Write". This story has been published in Farmerphile
Issue No. 13.
Christopher Paul Carey has completed the fantasy novel The Song of Kwasin,
an Opar (or the
Khokarsa cycle) novel. An excerpt has been published in Farmerphile
Issue No. 13. The novel is at Phil's agent.
Win Scott Eckert completed the novel The Evil in Pemberley House,
a gothic horror and mystery novel. An excerpt will appear in Farmerphile
No. 14, October 2008. The manuscript is now in the hands of
Phil's agent.
Tracy Knight is completing the novel Cougar by the Tail,
a western. Tracy is the author of Beneath
a Whiskey Sky, a western, and the fantasy novel The Astonished Eye.
For more information about The
Song of Kwasin see the website (blog) of Chris
Carey and for more about The
Evil in Pemberley House see Win
Eckert's blog.
More background information can also been found in the program book of
Farmercon 90 (see under) and in Farmerphile
No. 13. Go to the Official PJF Home Page
for the ordering info.
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Back from
the USA |
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18
August 2008
We,
my wife Frouwke and I, have returned from a holiday of three weeks in
the
USA. First we had a weekend in Peoria, because of Farmercon 90 on
Saturday July 26th. It was nice to meet so many 'Farmerphiles', for the
first time or again. People had traveled from as far as from Australia,
Denmark, England, Netherlands, Germany and of course from several
places in the US.
There was a dinner on Saturday night and on Sunday a party at Phil's
and Bette's house for persons invited. Unfortunately Phil was too ill
to attend any of the events.
There is a lot of news to tell: three new books started by Phil but
finished by others, a new story by Phil and Paul, a new issue of Farmerphile, maybe
a new Farmer study, and a report and photos of Farmercon 90.
I am still sorting out all the info and especially all the hundreds of
photos from our holiday. Bought some Farmer books in Portland with
Powell´s Books and also some beers —took the full
bottles
back home— for a friend
of mine.
Once back home I found in the mail a German magazine with a new article
about Phil´s Riverworld books.
So, watch this page the next days for more information to come.
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| Added
Books |
No new or newly discovered
publications have
been
added on the book pages in August.
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| Statistics |
Still no exact
numbers
right now. When the restyling
is finished I will give these numbers again.
These are the about numbers, the last time - in November 2006 - they
were counted:
 1275
publications
750 different covers
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)
 "Locus 565")
 "Charles Berlin")
 "Keith Howell")
