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News
& What's New - January 2011 |
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The Ides
of Octember |
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31
Jan
2011
Just
received the book The
Ides of Octember, 'A Pictorial Bibliography of Roger
Zelazny', compiled by Christopher S. Kovacs.
It is what the title says a pictorial bibliography, with lots of cover
pictures –alas in black and white– and a huge
amount of information on all known English language publications of
Roger Zelazny's work. No foreign editions also.
The publisher, NESFA
Press, did have a Roger Zelazny project, The
Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, to publish all of his short fiction
–stories and poems– in six hardcover volumes. I
bought all
six of them, really beautiful hardcovers, and of course also the
seventh volume, this Bibliography.
Although not in a matching hardcover, the bibliography is a trade
paperback in a size to match the size of the six hardcovers, it's still
a very wonderful book, and I love it!
It also 'helps' that my name is in this one and all six of the
collections, with the Acknowlegdments.
The
Ides of Octember includes the
items Zelazny wrote about Farmer, and the one piece Farmer
had written about Zelazny.
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Michael Whelan |
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Interviews
page |
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30
Jan
2011
Because
of the discovery of the interview in Starburst No. 32,
see under, I had to add an entry on the page with the interviews. With
this I have also redone the page a bit, made new scans and checked the
publications again.
Doing that I discovered another publication, the hardcover edition of Speaking of Science Fiction
by Paul Walker, on ISFDB. Also an online
PDF document of Alpha
Log 6 (1978), with an interview I had never seen before.
The again moved links to the interviews at Bradley University
and at the Peoria
Journal Star have been renewed, and the Brazilian website
of Intempol
is not existing anymore.
See the Interviews with PJF
page.
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Dexter Dickinson |
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Interview
with Phil Farmer |
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30
Jan
2011
Phil
Farmer had a book signing session in the sf bookshop Forbidden Planet
in London (UK) in January 1981. This month exactly 30 years
ago. See the
photo of
Phil in the shop, with the owners: Mike Lake, Nick Landau, and Mike
Luckman.
Phil stayed a few days in London and has been interviewed in the hotel
by John Bowles. The interview goes mainly about the Riverworld series,
from the start in 1952 with the for a contest written –but
never published– novel I
Owe for the Flesh, till the publication of the
fourth
Riverworld novel, The
Magic Labyrinth in 1980. The novel saw its first British
publication in January 1981, reason why Farmer was invited by his
British publisher Granada to promote the book in London.
The interview with
Phil has been published in Starburst
No. 32,
1981. The book reviews in the column 'Book World' gave way in this
issue to the interview.
A year later, in February 1982, published Laffont the first French
translation of The Magic
Labyrinth, as Le labyrinthe magique.
On this occasion Jacques Chambon wrote an interesting essay about the
'complete' Riverworld series. At the time of publication of the fourth
Riverworld novel it was generally thought of as the final novel in the
series. But Farmer finished the series in 1983 with Gods
of Riverworld.
Chambon's essay
has been published in Orbites
No.3 of September 1982.
Both publications were till now unknown to me. Reason why they were not
included in the bibliography. Fred Fisher (Houston, US) discovered
these publications, and the still missing information. He has sent me
both and donated them to my collection, with the words: "...these items
are an expression of gratitude to you for maintaining the site. For us
collectors your bibliography is quite useful. to say the least."
Many thanks, Fred!
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Luc Cornillon |
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New
publications in 2010 |
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19
Jan
2011 (corrected on 28 Feb 2011)
There
are not that many
new publications of Farmer's books in 2010, only five books. All five
in
one country, the US.
I have made pages with all new publications in the last six years
(click on the years to go to the pages), and as you can see 2010 is the
year with the lowest number of publications and of countries in which
the books were published..
I have no idea what the reason might be for the declining numbers of
book publications.
The most interesting of the 2010 publications is the anthology The
Worlds of Philip José Farmer (1): Protean Dimensions,
from Meteor House.
Mike Croteau, webmaster of the Official PJF Home Page,
has stopped with Farmerphile but
edited and published last year a mighty interesting anthology.
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Keith Howell |
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Interested
in original Strange Relations art? |
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16
Jan
2011
Baen
published in 2006 the omnibus edition of Strange
Relations. Next to the collection
with the same title it contains two novels, The
Lovers and Flesh.
The striking cover for the omnibus edition had been done by artist
Clyde Caldwell. On the website of
this artist you can see a large
picture of the original art.
Even better, if you have some extra money in your pocket you can buy
the original oil painting (65×41cm) for the amount of only $
7500. It is a bit too much for me, even if it is a very nice painting,
and even if the second painting comes for free (only this month, see at
the top of the shopping page).
Strange
Relations painting by Clyde Caldwell.
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Clyde Caldwell |
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More John
Carmody in "A Few Miles" |
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14
Jan
2011
The
fourth John Carmody story, the novelette "A
Few Miles", was published in October 1960, in the All Star
Issue of The Magazine
of Fantasy and
Science Fiction.
It has been reprinted in the collection Down
in the Black Gang (1971) and in the collection with all John
Carmody stories, Father to the Stars
(1981). In this last collection the stories were illustrated by an
uncredited artist, but some of the illustrations are signed by Do Marco
(or maybe it is Domarco). The illustration of "A Few Miles" shows
father John Carmody –with an egg attached to his
chest– and Philip José Farmer himself, see below.
All the illustrations in the book are as great as this one (but not
with Phil...).
As you may understand the story page of "A
Few Miles" has been restyled.
The interior illustration of "A Few Miles" by Do Marco.
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Chesley
Bonestell |
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Again two
Canadian publications |
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11
Jan
2011
Last
year October I already found five previously unknown books, all
published or printed in the 1960s and 1970s in Canada. But now again
two Canadian publications have been discovered by me, while restyling
the story page of "Father's
in the Basement".
The books, both containing the story, are the collection The
Book of Philip José Farmer (DAW, 1973) and the by
Damon Knight edited anthology Orbit
11 (Berkley, 1973).
The interior illustration by Jack Gaughan, of "The Alley Man", in The Book of Philip
José Farmer.
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Jack Gaughan |
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A
meteorite came down on Riverworld |
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9
Jan
2011
This
was not the Wold Newton
meteorite, nor had it the same effect, but it
nevertheless plays – or the search for it – an
important part in this Riverworld story.
The first part of Farmer's novel The Fabulous Riverboat was
first published as a serial in the magazine If in 1967, as "The Felled Star". The
adventures of Sam Clemens, already living for twenty years on the
Riverworld, and his companion Joe Miller, a gigantic prehistoric,
lisping hominid. With the help of some Vikings they are looking and
fighting for the
fallen meteorite.
The story page of "The Felled
Star" has now been redone.
One of the interior illustrations by Jack Gaughan.
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Jack Gaughan |
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A
discoverd
Ukrainian omnibus |
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6
Jan
2011
The
Ukrainian omnibus Врата времени (Gate of Time) has
just now been discovered by me. It was published in 1992 by
Zovnishtorgvidav Ukraini in Kiev, and contains three novels. Next to The
Gate of Time (Врата
времени), there are Inside Outside (Внутри и снаружи)
and The
Wind Whales of Ishmael (Летающие
киты Исмаэля).
A new book page has been added for the omnibus, and the publications
have also been added on the book pages of the individual novels.
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Review of
Up the Bright River |
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6
Jan
2011
Stephen
Hunt's SF
Crowsnest published an online
review in December of the new collection Up
the Bright River.
The reviewer, Gareth D Jones, liked many of the stories: "Although the
stories encompass a wide variety of settings and themes,
there’s a certain attitude and style that shows up among many
of them –
an irreverent humour, a disdain for the establishment, whether
represented by the government, religion or the medical profession and a
satirising of literature and of writing itself. Of the sixteen stories,
several stood out to me as particularly effective or enjoyable."
One of the stories Jones particularly liked is "Father's in the Basement"
(see under). You can
read the full review
here.
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Bob Eggleton |
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Father's
in the Basement |
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2
Jan
2011
The
story "Father's in the
Basement" by Philip José Farmer, originally
published in Orbit 11
(1972), had been collected in only one of his story collections in the
US, The
Book of Philip José Farmer (1973).
It is a short and somewhat strange, unnerving story. Phil Farmer wrote
this introduction
to it: "Nowadays, Gothic has degenerated into a word meaning a shuddery
tale wherein a lovely young woman, not too bright, is trapped in a huge
shuddery old mansion with a handsome young man, sometimes middle-aged,
who's suffering from the delusion he's Lord Byron or Rochester (not
Jack Benny's). Also in the house are various other creatures, an old
housekeeper or butler who is usually evil, or a young and handsome
housekeeper who is usually evil, out to get the heroine and the hero in
one way or another, a lost will, a mad wife locked up in a room in one
wing of the crumbling castle, and various kindly victims.
In the old days, it meant a long novel, usually in three volumes,
always taking place in an old castle or monastery with secret passages
in the walls, ghosts, vampires, poisoners, trapdoors, and various
monsters.
This Gothic isn't like any of the above."
Times have changed since this introduction, like Gothic stories have
changed since, but this short story of Farmer still isn't anything like
the other Gothic stories.
So, I'm glad that the editor, Gary K. Wolfe, has included it in
the new collection of Farmer's stories, Up
the Bright River.
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Paul Lehr |
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Ready for
take-off |
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2
Jan
2011
The
new Farmer collection, Up
the Bright River, is ready to
ship with the publisher, Subterranean
Press: "...all of these books are already printed and in our
warehouse, or ready to be shipped to us as soon as we clear enough
space. We’ll keep everyone abreast of progress with regular
shipping updates."
So, it is just a matter of days or maybe one or two weeks when this new
collection will arrive at our homes. That means if you ordered a copy!
If not, you still can order it from SubPress right here.
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Bob Eggleton |
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| Added
Books |
Five publications were added
on the book pages in January.
 The
Book of Philip José Farmer
The Canadian edition of the DAW paperback publication (1973).
Gate
of Time
The Ukrainian omnibus, Врата
времени, with three novels (1992).
The
Gate of Time
Publication with the title Врата
времени in a Ukrainian omnibus, 1992.
Inside
Outside
Publication with the title Внутри
и снаружи in a Ukrainian omnibus, 1992.
The
Wind Whales of Ishmael
Publication with the title Летающие
киты Исмаэля in a Ukrainian omnibus, 1992.
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| Statistics |
These are the
numbers for the book pages in January 2011.
1709
publications
1128 different
covers
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