|
|
 |
|
|
News
& What's New - October 2018 |
|
|
 |
|
|

The
Riverworld Series Reconsidered |
|
|
30 Oct
2018
In 1983
Peter Heck wrote an essay in the Waldenbooks Otherworlds Club magazine,
Xignals
Vol. II, with the title "The
Riverworld Series Reconsidered".
It gives an enthusiastic impression of the Riverworld series, on
the occasion of the release of the fifth novel in the series, Gods
of Riverworld.
Peter Heck: «Each volume gradually moved closer to the secret
plan behind the resurrection, stripping away veils from the mystery.
...
Everything was resolved, tied up, and put in order — or so
Farmer
claimed — by the end of the fourth volume. ... It was so much
fun
that you can hardly blame him for leaving a loophole open for a return
trip. That, of course, is Gods
of Riverworld ... a book few readers will want to put down
unfinished.».
I received the information of this essay's publication from Dan Getz
(USA). Many thanks Dan!

|
|
|
 |
|
|

Seven
newly discovered publications |
|
24 Oct
2018
While
I loved to lurk in the second hand book stores, nowadays the lurking is
mostly on the internet.
Finding unknown Farmer items this way is just as satisfying, as it was
in the book shops or book markets. Only the shipping cost...
This time I found six new publications of Die
Liebenden, the German translation of The
Lovers.
And I found a Korean publication, the second in this country that I
know of, of 가라, 흩어진 너희 몸들로 (To
Your Scattered Bodies Go).
First the 4th printing of the Knaur edition of Die Liebenden
(1982). Of the German omnibus Exotische
Welten, also from publisher Knaur, I found the 2nd till
6th printing (1985-1994). The omnibus also includes Die Liebenden by
Farmer.
And finally a new Korean publication, published by Firebird in 2015.
While I could buy the newly discovered German books, the Korean one was
sold out. Now I have to search for both Korean books to buy for my
collection.

|
|
|
 |
|
|
The
Bronze Gazette Issue 82 |
|
|
23 Oct
2018
The staff of the fanzine The Bronze Gazette
had some personal problems this past period, alas. Reason why it took a
little longer before Issue 82, Fall 2018, got published.
Of the contents are two essays of interest to us, the Farmerphiles.
First is a reprinted essay by Christopher Paul Carey, "Through the Seventh Gate:
Pursuing Farmer's Sources in Savageology". This essay tries
to answer
the question if Farmer met the Man of Bronze.
The second is an essay by Will Murray, "Escape From Loki Revisited".
Murray was clearly disappointed with Farmer's Escape
From Loki:
«I told Phil that given his reputation in the science fiction
field, and his imaginative powers, were I his editor, I would not have
let him do a mere World War I prisoner escape story. I would have
insisted that he set it in the 1930s and go full-blown
SF—even if that
meant the Man of Bronze fighting off an alien invasion. Phil did not
appreciate my opinion.»
Murray's essay also gives the story that Farmer had lost his first
draft of the novel, because of a computer crash. He had already written
about eighty percent of the novel, and had to write it all over again.

|
|
|
 |
|
|
New
edition of the omnibus Le Monde du Fleuve |
|
|
21 Oct
2018
In
March 2016 Mnémos in France published the first hardcover
edition of an omnibus with all five novels in the Riverworld series, and
also the novella "Riverworld".
The omnibus was published with the French title Le
Monde du Fleuve.
The book was probably a success in France, for this month, October,
Mnémos released a second edition of the omnibus. This time
not a
hardcover with a dustjacket, but a hardcover with pictorial boards.
Again a huge and beautiful book with 1261 pages.
The price of it is € 37,00.
It contains these five novels and one novella:
- Le
Monde du fleuve (To
Your Scattered Bodies Go),
- Le
Bateau fabuleux (The
Fabulous Riverboat),
- Le
Noir Dessein (The
Dark Design),
- Le
Labyrinthe magique (The
Magic Labyrinth),
- "Ainsi meurt toute
chair" ("Riverworld"),
- Les
Dieux du Fleuve (Gods
of Riverworld).

|
|
|
 |
|
|
Limited
deluxe hardcover edition |
|
|
10 Oct
2018
The
Philip José Farmer Centennial Collection
in the limited deluxe, lettered and signed edition, was received today.
There are only 52 lettered copies of this collection, lettered A-Z and
AA-ZZ. All of the five contributors, of which I'm one, have signed the
books.
It is a very beautiful edition. Both end
papers have a two page color illustration, the front end pages with the
cover of the trade paperback and the back end pages with the cover of
the trade hardcover.
I have entered it on the book page and the contents on their own pages.
One of the stories in the book is "The
Last Rise of Nick Adams".
I had to check it if the previous missing piece is inserted in the
text. It is this time!
There now are four different versions of the story:
- "The Impotency of Bad Karma", the original publication;
- "The Last Rise of Nick Adams", a somewhat rewritten version that
misses a piece of the original text;
- "Up, Out and Over, Roger", an early, previously unpublished, version;
- "The Last Rise of Nick Adams", the somewhat rewritten version that
includes the previous missing piece.
See the story page
and this entry
in 2011 for more information.

|
|
|
 |
|
|
Letters
by Kilgore Trout and by Farmer |
|
|
8 Oct
2018
It was puzzling for
a while. I searched for issue #41 of the SFWA Forum,
but
found conflicting information. As it turned out, there are two issues
that come with number 41. One of July 1975 and one of October 1975.
There would be a letter by Phil Farmer in issue #41, but in which one?
Earlier I found the issue of October, but that one only had an open letter by Philip
K. Dick addressed at Philip José Farmer.
See also the entry of August
12th this year.
Finally I found the correct issue #41 for sale, the one of July 1975.
Much to my surprise it contains not only one letter by Farmer, but two.
And also two letters by Farmer as Kilgore Trout.
The first letter by Trout is addressed at the editor of F&SF,
Edward L. Ferman: «I wish to protest the publication of a
badly mutilated version of my novel, Venus on the Half-Shell,
in The Magazine of
Fantasy and Science Fiction.» Trout goes on
ranting,
nearly two pages, about this and other mutilations of his work.
Farmer's first letter is to withdraw his earlier done nomination of
Trout's Venus
for the Nebula Award, because of Trout's wishes.
Then again an angry letter by Kilgore Trout, where he himself withdraws
—for
several reasons— his novel Venus
on the Half-Shell from the Nebula Awards.
Trout: «I just read in the new Forum where that dunderhead,
Farmer, recommended my Venus
on the Half-Shell
for the Nebula Award. Everybody knows he ain't got no taste, and his
recommendation is no recommendation as far as I'm concerned.»
Both letters by
Trout are very funny.
Lastly the second letter by Farmer, that starts with: «Who in
hell invited Lem to be an honorary member of SFWA? This man has
consistently expressed nothing but intense scorn, disgust, and contempt
for almost all American s-f writers.»
Again, see also the entry of August
12th this year, about the dispute
between Farmer and Lem.

|
|
|
 |
|
|

 |
Statistics |
These are the
numbers for the book pages this month.
1910
publications
1301 different
covers
|
|