What's New Archive


First year archive October 9, 2001 - September 9, 2002
Second year archive October 9, 2002 - September 9, 2003
Third year archive October 9, 2003 - September 9, 2004
Fourth year archive October 9, 2004 - September 9, 2005
Fifth year archive October 9, 2005 - September 14, 2006
Sixth year archive October 9, 2006 - September 10, 2007
Seventh year archive October 10, 2007 - September 9, 2008
Eighth year archive October 9, 2008 - September 10, 2009

October 9th:
As we told you last month, THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE began shipping on September 8th. And as we suggested last month, if you have not yet ordered a copy, be sure to get the Limited Edition (200 copies signed by Win Scott Eckert) which includes a chapbook full of bonus material. This month we've graduated to strongly urging you to order your Limited Edition of this book without delay. Our sources indicate there may be less than 25 copies of the Limited Edition left, which means—if you still haven't gotten a copy—next month we'll be saying, we told you so. If for some reason you are still on the fence, check out these reviews.

We talked about looking forward to this next item on the May 9th update. On the June 14th update we reported it wasn't available yet but expected to give a full report on it in July. On July 10th we lamented that it still wasn't listed for sale online...then somehow we forgot to look for it in August and September! But, don't let the fact that this news is several months old make you think it isn't important, it is. The Shadow's Sanctum is reprinting the Doc Savage novels in pairs and Issue #27 contains MURDER MIRAGE, THE OTHER WORLD and a long tribute to Phil by Doc expert Will Murray. Will has interviewed Phil in the past and was the perfect writer to pen this tribute.

Speaking of which, don't forget to check the Remembrances page now and then. As we find new ones online, such as The Last Farewells from Starlog, we keep adding them to the page. And, looking ahead, we know issue #81 of the Burroughs Bulletin (due out in February 2010) will commemorate Phil as well. We'll try to get our hands on a copy as soon as it comes out, and tell you all about it.

RHI Entertainment put a trailer online for the upcoming Riverworld mini-series. From September 24th through October 9th it has been viewed 35,813 times (note to self, we need more video on the site...) It's also getting attention on various websites and blogs: Scifi Wire, Nerd World, BSC Review, Io9, Screen Rant, The Knight Shift and others.

If you read through those stories, blogs and their comments you will find there is not a lot of optimism for this TV adaptation; especially since it has already been tried before. So before you read all the uniformed opinions, let's set the record straight on one point. The first pilot was filmed in 2001/2002 but for some reason the "powers that be" decided to cancel the project and not produce the series. Then in March 2003—over a year after it was completed, and well past any chance of the pilot becoming a series—they finally aired it, and...

SCI FI Sets Ratings Record: the scifi channel had its best ratings quarter ever. Thanks in part to Riverworld; "The two-hour original film Riverworld averaged a 2.2 rating, exceeding the time period average by 86 percent and becoming the most-watched original movie SCI FI has ever aired on a Saturday night (2.74 million viewers)."
That is from a story that appeared on scifi.com and perhaps explains why Syfy is now willing to give Riverworld another chance. Contrary to most opinions, the original pilot did not bomb, it in fact did so well they are willing to give it another shot.

Ok, we're not going to strongly urge you to buy any books you want from Philip José Farmer's estate immediately. But those of you on the newsletter list know that any day now we will be listing the books with AbeBooks where tens of thousands of other book enthusiasts will get a chance to buy them. So if you are interested in those books by other authors (most signed or personally inscribed to Phil), you might want to place an order before any Robert Bloch, Joe R. Lansdale, Clifford D. Simak, Charles Willeford, Ed Gorman, Ellen Gilcrest, James Crumley, Henry Miller, or Lewis Carroll collectors see them.

The hit counter as of October 9th says 251,487 which is 1,899 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on September 10th.