Philip José Farmer International Bibliography: News

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	News & What's New - November 2009

	The Israelian Maker
	26 November 2009 At the time that I restyled the book page of The Maker of Universes I did not have a picture of the Israelian edition. Nor could I find one on the internet. This omission has now been corrected. The cover has been found, but I haven't yet traced a copy for my collection. So, not all the data of this publication could be checked with the book at hand. The publisher Am Oved published the first World of Tiers novel, בורא העולמות (Bore aolamot), nearly thirty years ago (1980). Am Oved also published the second (1981) and the third part (1982) of the series. The rest of the series has never been published in Israel.		click to enlarge

	The Trapdoor Planets
	23 November 2009 The above title, The Trapdoor Planets, was the original title for the second World of Tiers novel. With its first publication in 1966, according to Phil Farmer: "...the editor of Ace Books changed it to the bland and less meaningfull The Gates of Creation...". This title stayed with the novel during all of its publications. Farmer wrote about the novel: "...I do not know what seized me to make the Lords the same beings that William Blake wrote of in his strange symbolic and didiactic works... ...while I was working out the outline of Gates it came to me that the Lords were actually those cosmogens the English poet knew. By knew, I mean knew. It seemed to me that he had not imagined them, that he had had personal relationships with them..." Lester del Rey wrote in his review: "Wolff and the mischievous Kickaha the Trickster set out to rescue damsels and restore order. It's a romp of adventure and marvelous inventions. After that, the second book takes off on another wild romp as the Lords fight each other in their own vicious way through a perfidious ubiquity of pocket universes. The books are totally lacking in significance, relevance, or symbolism - and they are just pure fun to read." Thomas M. Wagner reviewed: "...the book rebounds handily in the seventh inning stretch, and delivers a satisfying, bravura climax. On another positive note, the numerous bizarre artificial worlds Wolff and his ragtag band of brothers (and sisters) are forced to traverse do a great job of demonstrating why Farmer is considered one of SF's brightest imaginations. Overall, The Gates of Creation is a good example of old-fashioned, Saturday matineé entertainment that will make readers happy they are mere mortals after all." See also the World of Tiers entry in Wikipedia. The book page of The Gates of Creation has been restyled. The number of publications changed from 50 to 63. The amount of scanned covers changed from 20 to three times as much: 60 covers.		click to enlarge

	Polish Riverworld books
	18 November 2009 It took me some time to find a way to order the first three Riverworld novels from Poland. They were published in August 2008 (see here), but only today I received these three. The novels, Gdzie wasze ciała porzucone (To Your Scattered Bodies Go), Najwspanialszy parostatek (The Fabulous Riverboat) and Mroczny wzór (The Dark Design) have been added to my Farmer collection. The books have been checked, but only the name of the cover artist of all three books had to be corrected. There is no information on the website of the publisher MAG when the other two Riverworld novels will be published. They were announced last year to be published in 2009, but no news about it right now other than the Polish title of the fourth one, Czarodziejski labirynt (The Magic Labyrinth).		click to enlarge

	They Twinkled Like Jewels again
	14 November 2009 Fifty-five years after its original publication in the magazine Fantastic Universe, January 1954, Farmer's story "They Twinkled Like Jewels" sees publication again. This time in a thin booklet from Farmer Press, published in October 2009. There is not more information in the booklet about the publisher than its name, Farmer Press. No location, no other publications, nothing. I suspect that it is a publisher solely to publish this story, a story that is in the public domain. Mike Croteau, webmaster of the Official PJFarmer Home Page, whom I asked if he knew anything about Farmer Press, thinks the same: "I have no idea about Farmer Press. It's not anything the family or agent is associated with as far as I know. I think they are just printing stories that are somehow in the public domain." See the earlier entry for the other (free) publication formats of this story.		click to enlarge

	Limted, lettered edition of The Other
	13 November 2009 Today I received my copy of the limited, lettered and by Philip José Farmer signed edition of The Other in the Mirror. This edition comes in a nice-looking, with purple cloth covered traycase. But the nicety doesn't come near the beauty of the previous traycases the publisher used, which were with stitched leather. See for instance the one that came with Up from the Bottomless Pit. That is not something the publisher, Subterranean Press, wanted to do, but the old traycase supplier went out of business. The ordered leather traycases were not delivered anymore, see here. Some copies of this lettered edition and the trade edition are still available with the publisher, see here.		click to enlarge

	Another Greek story
	13 November 2009 Publisher Locus-7, the same that also published Farmer's Night of Light (Η Νύχτα του Φωτός) –see the earlier entry– has published an anthology with a translated story by Farmer. This anthology, Εκείνες οι Άλλες Πραγματικότητες, edited by Giorgos Balanos, contains the story "Το Επαγγελμα του Θεου" ("The God Business"). The book was published in 2002, but I only just discovered it. See the publisher's website. The new information has been added on the story page. Today I received an email from Greece, witch confirms that we have a complete coverage of the Greek editions: "Greetings Zacharias and congratulations for your beautiful site! I am a reader from Greece and a big fan of P.J. Farmer; may him rest in peace... Unfortunately, in Greece science fiction is not so well known and a little mistaken. So, in my knowledge the only books translated in greek are the ones you include in your database and no other. I am writing this email mostly to congratulate you for your nice work which undoubtetly helps a professional as well as a simple reader to tidy up Farmers work in his archive. Keep up the good work! Panagiotis Papadopoulos" Always nice to get some compliments. Thanks!		click to enlarge

	Received today
	9 November 2009 From Poland came the translated novel Przebudzenie kamiennego boga, published in 1990 by Versus in a trade paperback. At the same time this book also got published in hardcover, as a 'Exclusiv Fantasy Book Club' edition. I haven't seen the hardcover yet. The paperback however, a translation of The Stone God Awakens, has been added to my Farmer collection. The cover scans on the book page have been replaced with my own (larger) scans. The information in the Bibliography about this book needed no correction after checking the publication.		click to enlarge

	The Lovers from Greece
	8 November 2009 Finally, I found a copy of the Greek edition of The Lovers (Οι εραστές, 1996) from publisher Para Pente for my Farmer collection. I bought it from the online bookshop Protoporia. I received the book and checked the information that was already in the Bibliography. Although this edition has no publication date in it, it refers to a 1989 edition from Ars Longa. This is the only proof I have of the first Greek publication, I haven't been able to find any other information about it. The Para Pente edition states 'Second Edition' (Β' Εκδοση) on the cover and also on the copyright page. The cover scans, thumbnail and large, have been added on the book page. The information about the cover artist, John Bolton, came from Russell Wright (Australia) about a year ago, see here.		click to enlarge

	Dark is the Sun as audiobook
	8 November 2009 Next year, in March 2010, will the novel Dark is the Sun be published as an audiobook by Blackstone Audiobooks. The narrator is Rebecca Rogers. The running time is about fourteen hours. It will become available in three different formats: - in MP3 on CD, list price $29.95 - on Compact Disc, list price $118.00 - on Audio Cassettes, list price $85.95 Check it online at Amazon or Barnes&Noble. Or of course with Blackstone itself. Dark is the Sun had its 30th anniversary of publication last September. Alas, it has been out of print in the English language for more than twenty years! It sure deserves a new edition.		click to enlarge

	They Twinkled Like Jewels
	8 November 2009 A complete surprise! At least, to me that is. The story "They Twinkled Like Jewels" has been published in a paperback by Farmer Press. Farmer Press? Yes, Farmer Press. I have no idea who's behind this press, and the publication hasn't been announced before it got published in October. Amazon has it now for sale for $3.99, and for that you get a paperback with 24 pages. I ordered a copy today and maybe have some more information when I receive it. The story is in the public domain. So, it is also available online for free, as an e-text with the Project Gutenberg. There are several different text formats online. Librivox has the story in a free audiobook, Short Science Fiction Collection 24, in MP3 or OGG files. And finally, "They Twinkled Like Jewels" is again available from Amazon, as a Kindle Book, an eBook also, for $0.99 (international for $3.44).		click to enlarge

	Additions
	4 November 2009 Fred Fisher, from Houston (USA), found a second printing of the Book Club Edition of Dayworld. This printing has date code P047 on page 246. This publication has been added on the book page. A new Greek edition arrived of the anthology Αγοραστε το δια (και άλλες 69 πολύ μικρές ιστορίες του Φανταστικού), with the story "Ο Βασιλιας των Ζωων" ("The King of the Beasts"). The new edition has exactly the same data as the first one from 1999, there is no indication that it is a second printing from 2003. The only difference is the cover, the new cover is at right.		click to enlarge