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News
& What's New - April 2019 |
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History
of the Hugos |
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30 Apr
2019
 Jo
Walton's earlier posts for Tor.com about the Hugo finalists have been
gathered in the book An
Informal History of the Hugos (A Personal Look Back at the
Hugo Awards, 1953-2000).
As Farmer had won three Hugo Awards and three Nominations during his
career I was curious what Jo Walton, or any of the other contributors,
had to say about him. It is less than I expected, and hoped for.
1953 - Winner: Best New
Author or Artist
A very short piece, about that Farmer wouldn't have been eligible by
today's Campbell rules. He had been publishing for longer
than
two years. (That was only one non-sf
story in 1946.)
1960 - Nominee: "The Alley Man"
A comment by Rich Horton that this story was quite good.
1961 - Nominee: "Open to Me,
My Sister"
Rich Horton: «The Farmer has a good reputation, but I've
never
read it, and I don't usually like Farmer as much as others
do.»
1966 - Nominee: "Day of the
Great Shout"
Jo Walton about all the nominees in the 'Best Short Fiction':
«Great selection, good choice.»
1968 - Winner: "Riders of
the Purple Wage"
Jo Walton: «You couldn't ask for two more different winners,
but they are both wonderful in their own ways.»
Gardner Dozois: «...I never liked either the much-overhyped Riders of the Purple Wage
or Weyr Search.»
(the other winner).
Rich Horton: «I enjoyed the two novella winners in their way,
Weyr
Search probably more back then, and I don't think they are
bad stories, but neither would get my vote.»
1972 - Winner: To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Jo Walton describes in short the story line, and writes:
«It's a
great book, and if the sequels are less great, it's only because no
explanation can possibly live up to that premise. I loved this book
with wild enthusiasm when I was a teenager, and it will always have a
place in my heart. I think it's a fine Hugo winner.»
With most of the nearly 50 years there is review of the
winner's novel, but that is not the case with To Your Scattered Bodies Go.
A bit disappointing.
Nevertheless, it's a great reference work if you're curious about the
Hugo Awards history, and you might read in it about an interesting work
you've not yet read. Publisher is Tor, ISBN 978-0-7653-7908-5 and the
price $31.99.
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Announcement
from Meteor House |
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5 Apr
2019
 The
small publisher Meteor House, owned by Michael Croteau, brings since
2010 every year new collections of stories, new books, or new editions
of previous published works. Nearly all of these works are by or in
relation to Philip José Farmer.
And as always these books are released at the FarmerCon of that year.
That will be no different this year, with the new collection Greatheart Silver and Other Pulp
Heroes.
The cover at left is that of the first Greatheart Silver
collection in 1982. The new cover is not yet shown.
From Meteor
House:
Philip José Farmer had a life-long love affair with the
pulps he
read in his youth. They influenced nearly everything he wrote, but in
the 1970s he paid special tribute to them with several stories. Greatheart Silver and Other Pulp
Heroes
collects these stories for the first time in hardcover! This collection
also features an introduction by college professor and pulp historian,
Garyn G. Roberts, Ph.D., and artwork by Keith Howell!
Table
of Contents:
- Introduction
- Greatheart Silver
- The Return of Greatheart Silver
- Greatheart Silver in the First Command
- The Grant Robeson Papers
- Savage Shadow
- Skinburn
Greatheart
Silver and Other Pulp Heroes will debut at FarmerCon XIV
this coming August. The hardcover price is $33, but if you preorder
it now you will get a $5 discount.
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| Statistics |
These are the
numbers for the book pages this month.
 1910
publications
1301 different
covers
There are less covers than publications due to the reprints with the same cover, and due to omnibuses.
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 "click to enlarge")
