Further embracing newer online technology (newer than this website, anyway, which hasn't changed much in the last ten years), Savage Chuck Loridans has put the Wold Newton Panels from Comic-Con 2004 and 2006 on youtube. These are broken down into several segments each and include presetations by Win Scott Eckert, Chuck Loridans, Peter Coogan, John Small and Brad Mengel. If you have never quite "gotten" the Wold Newton Universe concept, these videos are a great place to start.
And even more recently, Win Eckert appeared on the Blog Talk Radio show Geekerati. The show was podcast live on September 3rd but you can hear the archive by clicking on that link. Win and the panel talk about Myths for the Modern Age and pulp fiction in general for over 90 minutes. It was very well done and makes for very interesting listening.
August 27th marked the ten year anniversary of Win's Wold Newton Universe website. Just like with this site, Win is too busy with writing projects to update the look and feel of the site (our excuse is with the time we spend on Farmerphile we have little time for the website). But perhaps Win's personal website is an indication of what may be in the future for the center of Wold Newtonry on the internet.
In last month's update we mentioned Chris Carey's short story, "A Kick in the Side" which appeared in the Farmercon II program. Because we couldn't decide what webpage this story should be added to, we decided we needed to create a new shared world webpage. Well, we got as far as creating the page and adding the stories to it, but we have not had time to add descriptions of the stories. Hopefully we'll have that done in time for the next update. Let us know if you think we missed a story that should be added to this page.
Speaking of Farmercon II, the September 2007 issue of Locus Magazine has a nice write-up of the event, including three photographs. That will have to hold you over since we still have not put up a webpage about it.
We also mentioned last month that we found a folder in Phil's files containing many reviews of his books. Some of these we already had online so we don't have quite as many additions as we thought. But the additions are from some very wide spread sources; The (London) Sunday Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Raleigh News & Observer, The Houston Chronicle, The El Paso Sunday Times and Captain George's Penny Dreadful. Most of these reviews are of TARZAN ALIVE and DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOLCALYPTIC LIFE. We have also added links to three new online reviews. Just look for the bright yellow "NEW" graphic on the page to easily find these.
The reviews page is now over 100,000 words, not including links to reviews on other websites. We feel this page is an invaluable resource, but we are at heart collectors which means...we want more! We haven't put out this plea in a while so it's time to do it again. If you have any of the magazines listed on the reviews page, where we have missing reviews, please scan it and send it to us. The older (the November 1957 issue of Venture, and the December 1957 issue of Satellite for example) and the more obscure (such publications as SFRA Newsletter, SF&F Journal, Renaissance, Cypher, Son of WSFA Journal, Paperback Inferno, Doc Savage Reader, Doc Savage Quarterly, Vector, to name just a few) the better!
We also found, in the same folder, a newspaper clipping about Phil being the Guest of Honor at Solarcon I. We have added this entry to the programs page, and reproduced the text of the short article. When you look at how many conventions and other events Phil went to in the 1970s, 26 that we know of, including six in 1975 and five in 1977, it makes you wonder how he got any writing done in that decade, let alone publish 26 books and 56 stories and articles.
Also added to the website this month is another example of Phil's signature. This one, sent to us by fan Mark Abrahamson, is Kilgore Trout's signature and includes an illustration of a jumping fish! This is the only one of these we've ever seen! This also gives us an idea; if you have book with an interesting inscription by Phil (not just "To John - Philip José Farmer"), but something colorful, please send us a scan and we'll add it to the webpage.
Ok, we were wrong, we do have some big news and it literally just came in as we were putting the finishing touches on this update. Chris Carey informed us that Subterranean Press has sold out of UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT AND OTHER STORIES. You can't say we didn't warn you. In just barely over a month they sold 26 signed, lettered, traycased, copies for $300 each and 250 signed, numbered, slipcased copies for $125 each.
This means there are two things you need to do right now if you have not already. The first thing is to pre-order copies of VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL AND OTHERS and THE CITY BEYOND PLAY before they are all gone. The second thing, and we are going to get a little radical here, is to send Subterranean Press an email and beg, bribe, cajole, entice, wheedle, coax, do anything you can to convince them to publish a trade edition of UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT AND OTHER STORIES! Tell them how many copies you could buy if they had an affordable ($30 to $40) edition of the book. We're not kidding, if we don't get an email from Subterranean Press in the next couple of days asking us what the hell is going on, we're going to be very disappointed in you!
The hit counter as of September 10th says 177,263 which is 2,442 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on August 10th.
However, the ninth issue of Farmerphile was not nearly as monumental as the second annual Farmercon! Once again Farmerphile contributors descended upon an unsuspecting Peoria to celebrate Philip José Farmer. This year we expanded both the guest list and the programming. First we also invited those contributors to MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE who happened to be at Archon/Tuckercon/NASFIC in St. Louis the same weekend. We started things off at a dinner Saturday night in a private room (and bar) overlooking the river at Jonah's Seafood in East Peoria. Speeches were given, humorous letters were read from those who could not attend, awards were presented and a special announcement was made. Chris Carey had the honor of telling everyone in attendance that Bob Barrett (yes, him again) contacted Mike Croteau and told him of not one, not two, but three unpublished manuscripts in his possession, written by Phil Farmer in the 1950s. Bob offered, upon Phil's approval, to let Mike publish these in Farmerphile, thus giving us material to go beyond our originally planned ten issues. Issue #11 will contain a longer version of the article White Whales Raintrees Flying Saucers titled "A Good Story is a Good Story is a Good Story," and two never before seen stories; "The First Robot" and "Duo Maule." Chris also read "The First Robot" to the audience.
As great as Saturday night was, Sunday was better. From noon to about 4:30pm we all got to hang out at Phil's house just relaxing and getting to know each other. We also had fun signing each other's Farmercon II Programs. Of special note in the program is a short story by Chris Carey titled "A Kick in the Side," which takes place during the events of FLIGHT TO OPAR. Unsure exactly what webpage this story should be listed on, we've decided to add a new page to the website containing all of the stories by other authors set in Phil's worlds. We should have this online by next month. We hope to have a webpage with pictures from the event up by the next update as well, but for now you can check out blogs by Win Eckert, Chris Carey and Chuck Loridans.
To top the whole weekend off, I (Mike) returned to Phil's house on Monday and once again was allowed to search through his basement files. I found one folder full of reviews of Phil's books, most of which we do not have on the reviews page. Look for a dozen or more reviews to be added by the next update. I also found what I hope will be enough material for another several issues of Farmerphile beyond #11. It will take me at least a month or two to digest all of it and determine how many more issues we will get from this. I can't wait to dive into it.
We also had time to add a couple of things to the website this month. Chuck Loridans told us about a great website, Star Ship Sofa, which podcasts discussions about science fiction authors. Not only that, but they had just recently done two programs on Philip José Farmer! I've listened to these and I was very impressed, so much so in fact, I plan on listening to every one of their shows. Tony and Ciaran are to be commended for the work they are doing.
One great find was a letter from Phil published in the April 1956 Other Worlds Science Stories. We learned of this letter from Bob Barrett's article in the current issue of Farmerphile (he just keeps giving and giving...).
Chris Carey alerted us to three things this month. The first is a new blurb from Phil, the one for NO ENEMY BUT TIME by Michael Bishop. The last two are both on the forthcoming books page. The first is news that PS Publishing has the final version of the dust jacket for THE CITY BEYOND PLAY online. The second is the news that Baen Books will be publishing a mass market edition of last year's STRANGE RELATIONS collection.
Speaking of Chris Carey and the forthcoming books page, we removed UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT AND OTHER STORIES from that page and added it to the short story collections page. Copies shipped in July just in time for some to bring them to Peoria. We're not sure how many copies are left, but we're sure they will all be snapped up soon.
The hit counter as of August 10th says 174,821 which is 2,556 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on July 12th.
Farmerphile #9 will be going to press any day now and should be ready to ship by the end of the July. It is amazing to think that Farmerphile started with just one unpublished novel and ten stories by Phil. We had no idea at the beginning if we would be able to get enough other content, about Phil from fans and colleagues, to fill out the ten planned issues. As you may recall the first two issues were 48 pages, then we had to expand to 52 pages and then a few issues later we had to reduce the font size in order to stay at 52. We had hoped to go back to 48 pages but it never happened. Now issue #9 has so much content, we couldn't fit it all into 52 pages and this will be our first, and hopefully last, 56 page issue. So much for worrying about not being able to fill ten issues.
We usually feel that the current issue is the best one so far, and this time is no exception. Despite the fact that we have already printed a "Bibliophile" column about HADON OF ANCIENT OPAR and an article by Alan Hanson, publisher of HERITAGE OF THE FLAMING GOD (which contained the article by Frank Brueckel and John Harwood that gave Phil the idea for the Opar series), this issue has an Opar theme. Christopher Carey gives us a very long article on the archaeology of Khokarsa. Dennis Power delves into the origin of the name Sahhindar but goes far beyond that in his research. Paul Spiteri gives us a "Bibliophile" about his favorite novel by Phil, TIMES LAST GIFT. Robert Barrett's article covers his long association with Phil, including Phil working on Opar and other Tarzan related books. To top that all off we have a long letter from Phil to Frank Brueckel and John Harwood and a fantastic cover by Charles Berlin, of Phil excavating the ruins of Opar. But the issue doesn't stop with Opar. We also have part two of Win Eckert's "Shades of Pemberly" (be sure to check out the contest page after reading both parts!). We also have the unpublished story by Phil, "The Rebels Unthawed," which is actually an unused Star Trek treatment! We also have an article by Danny Adams which helps put the treatment in perspective and we close out the issue with the penultimate installment of UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT.
We have some great summer reading for Farmer fans to look forward to; THE CITY BEYOND PLAY co-written by Danny Adams will be out in August and UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT AND OTHER STORIES be coming out in the next week or two. And looking down the road, Subterranean Press recently announced a fourth collection of Philip José Farmer's works. VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL AND OTHERS collects most of Phil's "fictional author" stories, including the eponymous novel and, reprinted for the first time since 1976, the novel THE ADVENTURE OF THE PEERLESS PEER. This will be another great collection, another beautiful book, and with introductions and head notes by Chris Carey, another must have for all Farmer fans.
The July issue of Locus Magazine lists the results of the Locus Poll and while neither PEARLS FROM PEORIA or MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE won, they both finished third in their categories. Maybe next year UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT AND OTHER STORIES, or even Farmerphile will win. A Hugo or Nebula nomination would be nice too...
The hit counter as of July 12th says 172,265 which is 2,179 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on June 12th.
We did manage to add a few things to the website this month. Thanks to ebay we acquired two rare issues of Science Fiction Review, #32 (August 1969) and #33 (October 1969). Neither had any major content by or about Phil, just the usual name dropping or mentions in letters. However, issue #33 did reveal to us that Phil was on a panel at the Westercon in 1969. This has been added to the Conventions and Events page.
We have added a new item to the Letters page. This one appeared in The Science Fiction Times in 1960 and Phil takes a book reviewer to task.
There are two new blurbs to the PJF Recommends page; the listings for THE PASTEL CITY by M. John Harrison and WEST OF EDEN by Harry Harrison. Don't forget, if you ever see a blurb by PJF on the back of a book that we don't have listed, please let us know.
Last month we mentioned that Robert Barrett would be a name you would be seeing a lot of over the coming months. This month he sent us an extremely rare item, in fact, we can not think of very many examples of similar items on the site at all. If you look at the thumbs page for MOTHER WAS A LOVELY BEAST, you will see an alternate dust jacket design for the original hardcover. We also mentioned last month that our favorite things in the world are to learn of something written by Phil, or about Phil, or an edition of his work, that we did not know existed. In May Robert let us know about items in the latter two categories, but this month he hit the jackpot telling us of something we did not know of that is actually written by Phil! The September 1987 issue of Erbania contained a section titled Remembering VERN which consisted of four remembrances of the late Vern Coriell by noted ERB fans Bob Hyde, Philip José Farmer, Robert R. Barrett (there's that name again) and Erbania publisher D. Peter Ogden. This isn't the last you will hear of Robert, we can't buy stuff as fast as he is telling us about it.
Zacharias updated his website, the International Bibliography on June 1st. We always look forward to his updates and not just because he says nice things about Farmerphile. Very often he also reminds us of things we knew about but forgot to add to the website. Like the fact that the EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS THE EXHAUSTIVE SCHOLAR'S AND COLLECTOR'S DESCRIPTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY by Robert B. Zeuschner, to which Phil wrote the introduction, has been reprinted in a much more affordable trade paperback edition. The original hardcover was published at $55 and for years it was hard to find a used copy for under $100. Rias continues to make progress on the redesign of the website with twenty pages done since his last update.
As we let you know in the last newsletter, we do have some disappointing news to report. The stage production of Riders of the Purple Wage has been canceled and will not be at the Apollo Theater in Peoria over two weekends in June as was previously mentioned on the website. Zach is currently looking for another venue and trying to complete his cast. If everything can come together he is shooting for the early part of August. Watch the website for updates.
On a happier note, we heard from Danny Adams, who heard from PS Publishing, that the forthcoming novel by him and Phil, THE CITY BEYOND PLAY, will be out in August. I'm sure that everyone who read the interview with Danny and Phil and the excerpt from the novel in Farmerphile #7 have already ordered a copy, right? After seeing the first printing of PEARLS FROM PEORIA sell out the day the book shipped, you don't think there will be any of the 626 copies of THE CITY BEYOND PLAY left in September do you?
While on the subject you shouldn't wait too long to order a copy of UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT AND OTHER STORIES either. Close to 80% of the 250 signed limited edition have been preordered, and they could be shipping in as little as four weeks!
AND THIS JUST IN: Subterranean Press today announced, We’ve just reached agreement with PJF to publish another collection next year. VENUS ON THE HALF SHELL AND OTHERS will collect the best of Phil’s “fictional author” stories, including the title novel, “written” by Kurt Vonnegut’s hack sf alter-ego, Kilgore Trout. We'll get this book added to the forthcoming books webpage, with details, soon.
The hit counter as of June 12th says 170,446 which is 2,496 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on May 9th.
The first is the article Tarzan by Edgar-Philip-Rice-José-Burroughs-Farmer by Robert R. Barrett, which appeared in The Jasoomian #10, June 1973. This terrific article shows, in hindsight, that Robert was one of the first Edgar Rice Burroughs aficionados to "get" Philip José Farmer and really appreciate his Tarzanic writings. Also of interest is that this article is illustrated with four original pieces by Frank Frazetta! The second thing Robert alerted us to is a printing of Phil's short story The King of the Beasts that appeared in the premiere issue of élan vital: Journal of Creative Adventure. The amazing thing about this appearance of the short-short story, is that it was done as a four page comic strip! Phil and Robert were friends for decades and corresponded often. As Robert continues to look over the website we hope he can find more missing items of interest.
We have tripled the entries on the Fiction about Philip José Farmer webpage, adding four to the two it started with last month. The final, recently published, entry on this page takes a little explaining. Edward Morris had an idea for a story; what if William Burroughs wrote TARZAN OF THE APES instead of Edgar Rice Burroughs? He was quickly informed by several people that Phil Farmer had already done the same thing with his story The Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod. Edward read Phil's story and since his story was so much different, he decided to insert Phil himself into the story and send it to Phil to get his opinion. This all happened back in 2005. Phil liked the story very much and gave Edward his blessing to get it published. The story was published in the Summer 2006 issue of Oceans of the Mind, an electronic magazine distributed as a pdf file. So, why haven't you heard about the story before now? Well, Edward emailed us a few days after the September update last year, so we needed to wait until the October update to add it to the site. One thing came after another and the story was forgotten until now. If you would like to read this story, and we highly recommend it, then visit Trantor Publications and click on the button to either pay by credit card or by paypal. After the sale goes through (at least on paypal) you will see a link to return you to the Merchant. On that screen you will see a link to download the current issue. I (Mike) did this yesterday and reread Edward's story, (I hadn't read it since he first sent it to Phil in 2005), but I'm also looking forward to reading the rest of the alternate history stories in this issue.
Chris Carey sent us two interesting discoveries this month. The first is a recent Plumage from Pegasus humor column from The Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy by Paul Di Filippo. In it he talks of science fiction authors writing children's books, including A LUNCHROOM UNKNOWN by PJF. The second is a short funny letter Phil sent to the Burroughs Bulletin in 2000.
We have added two new books to the Proofs page; the new Overlook Press edition of THE UNREASONING MASK and UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT AND OTHER STORIES. The later of course being the Forthcoming collection of stories by Phil that have appeared, or in a few cases will soon appear, in Farmerphile. Be sure to pre-order a copy of this signed limited edition collection soon as we do not expect them to last. Selling out the day they ship, as PEARLS FROM PEORIA did, is not out of the question.
Speaking of Farmerphile, issue #8 shipped on April 25th. Another stellar issue, this one contains The Roller Coaster Ride with Phil Farmer by Bette Farmer, Finnegan’s Wage, or, Portrait of the Farmer as a Joycean Fan by Danny Adams, Phil & Bette Farmer, Jack London, a Wife and a Baby, a Clean Well Lighted Hotel Room by Joe R. Lansdale, Creative Mythography by Win Scott Eckert (illustrated by Chuck Loridans), Images of the Soul by Dennis E. Power and Bibliophile by Michael Croteau. And by Phil Farmer himself there is the humorous story A Spy in the U.S. of Gonococcia (illustrated by Charles Berlin) and the eighth installment of the novel UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT (illustrated by Keith Howell). And how about that cover! (also by Keith Howell) It certainly captures the spirit of GREATHEART SILVER.
Win Eckert's Creative Mythology column this month is very special. In it he reprints part one of two of a story that appeared briefly in 1928. This story is of great interest to Wold Newton scholars as many people and places appear in the story that may be recognized. In fact, Win has decided to hold a contest to see who can identify the most references. Prizes include signed books so read the story with close attention to detail.
Zacharias, webmaster of the International Bibliography sent us a review of NOTHING BURNS IN HELLS. He is still making progress with the revamping of his site, and hopefully he will have a new update soon.
Let's start with issue #8 of Farmerphile. We have another stellar issue with most of the regular contributors; Bette Farmer, Win Eckert, Danny Adams, Keith Howell and Charles Berlin. Also returning this time are Dennis E. Power and Chuck Loridans along with first time entries by publisher Michael Croteau and mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale. Joe, by the way, was just named the newest World Horror Grand Master! Congratulations Joe. The issue will be going to the printer this week and should be in the mail by April 23rd. That is assuming all goes according to plan...
Chris Carey found a page online with a listing of all of the Forry Award Winners. Much to our surprise, Phil won it in 2003, and apparently forget to tell us about it! We have added it to the Awards page, along with the First Fandom Award which he also won in 2003. We knew about this one, and reported on it at the time, but forgot to add it to the Awards page.
Also added to the site this month is some new fan art; a computer generated scene showing The Parseval from THE DARK DESIGN. If you like this image, check out more of Charles Kunkle Jr's work at Deviant Art.
We have added two completely new pages to the site. The first is for the stage production of "Riders of the Purple Wage." We plan on updating that page with information whenever it comes in, instead of waiting until the end of the month, so check back often.
The second new page is the Fiction about Philip José Farmer webpage. We moved the entry for PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER CONQUIERT L'UNIVERS to this page from the Books about page, but it was created for THE AQUILIAD. Three years ago Farmer fan Vincent Singleton sent me (Mike) an email about Phil and said, "You have read, of course, I suppose, Somtow Sucharitkul's AQUILIAD books, with the character P. Josephus Agricola." I had not and unfortunately it took me three years to get around to it. I read the first one last month and I'm looking forward to reading the next two, whether they mention P. Josephus Agricola or not. While on the subject, if you know of a book or story (other than the Riverworld and World of Tiers books) that Phil appears in as a character, please us let us know.
This past Saturday I (Mike again) spent a very pleasant afternoon with the Atlanta Science Fiction Society. They were nice enough to have me as their guest speaker and let me talk about Phil Farmer and Farmerphile for over an hour, if you can imagine such a thing. If you live in the Atlanta area, and even if you don't, and you'd like to hangout with like-minded fans of science fiction, the ASFS is definitely worth checking out.
In the theme of getting out of the house and promoting Farmerphile I am planning on getting a dealer table at the up coming Summer Con in Marietta, GA (just outside Atlanta). This small local con is June 8th through the 10th. Maybe I will see you there.
We ran the following on the February update, but here is a reminder that The Locus Poll closes on April 15, so there are only a few days left to vote!
If you subscribe to Locus Magazine then you have already seen the 2006 Recommended Reading list, which includes MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE and THE BEST OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER! It's a little disappointing that PEARLS FROM PEORIA did not make the list, but two out of three ain't bad. Along with the recommended reading list, it is also time for the very important Locus Poll. Be sure to vote for MYTHS in the Best Non-Fiction Book category and BEST OF PJF and PEARLS FROM PEORIA (as a write-in) in the Best Single-Author Collection category. And don't be shy about doing a write-in vote for Farmerphile as Best Magazine or Fanzine and Christopher Paul Carey as Best Editor - Pro or Fan either!
Also just a few days away is the next showing of Riverworld Pilot on April 11th, 2007 on the Scifi Channel.
Referring to a past update once more, back in December 2006 we wrote about the online publication of the legendary "Who Killed Science Fiction?" in Earl Kemp's online fanzine eI29. If you check out the next issue, eI30, you will see our comments about "Who Killed Science Fiction?" listed among many others. See, we told you it was a big deal.
One final really cool thing Win Eckert sent us recently. If you are a fan of the TV show "Lost," visit this page and check out DEEP PURPLE POSSIBILITY #3. Wow, I'm not surprised by anything on that show any more.
The hit counter as of April 10th says 165,027 which is 2,591 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on March 9th.
Last month we announced that Phil's great-grandson Zach will be producing a stage version of Phil's Hugo award winning novella "Riders of the Purple Wage," and now we have a few more details to share. The theater seats 150, tickets will be $15 and there will be seven performances; Friday June 15th, Saturday June 16th, Sunday June 17th (matinee), Thursday June 21st, Friday June 22nd, Saturday June 23rd, and Sunday June 24th (matinee). Auditions will be held at the end of April. If you live in the area think you'd like to be in this play, contact Mike and I will forward your email to Zach. Also contact Mike, if you would like to advertise in the program, this would be a very cool way to get your name or business's name linked to Phil. Needless to say there will be a full page ad for Farmerphile. PS Publishing, who will soon be bringing out THE CITY BEYOND PLAY, has also said they would buy an ad.
We have the first new piece of Fan Art submitted in some time. In the bottom right hand corner you will find the thumbnail of the first sketch done by Shannon Robicheaux for the cover of Farmerphile #7. This shows his original vision before he added color and had to make a few other minor changes. It also shows why we were eager to invite him back to do some interior illustrations, which you will be able to see in Farmerphile #9, July 2007.
We also received several new reviews for the first time in a while. Danny Adams let us know about a short notice in Library Journal for the new reprint of THE UNREASONING MASK. Chris Carey found a positive review of the new edition of TARZAN ALIVE in the March 2007 Asimov's. While book hunting, Rias located a not so positive one for THE ALLEY GOD in the September 1962 edition of Amazing.
Speaking of Rias, as mentioned above he updated his site, the International Bibliography, on February 27th. He continues to make progress with the redesign of his site and has other news to report. As always it is well worth spending an hour perusing. Rias says, "I am interested in your opinion on the new design, so don't be shy and let me know (email me)." I for one think he is doing a fantastic job. When Farmerphile's run is over, I look forward to revamping this site as well.
In other interesting online news, Win Eckert told us about the incredible Adrian Nebbett who created a 64 page index to MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE! How he did this without having the electronic version of the text is beyond me. But, looking at all the other Sherlockian books he has indexed, it looks like he's had some practice. We're sure Win and the rest of the Wold Newton gang already knew about this page by MYTHS contributor Jess Nevins, but Danny Adams sent us a link to The Six(ty) Degrees of Sherlock Holmes. What a great tag line, "It's Sherlock Holmes' world, baby. We're just living in it." Phil is mentioned of course.
It has been a while, in fact the last showing was on September 14th 2007, but on April 11th, 2007, the Scifi Channel will show the Riverworld Pilot. This will be the 25th time the pilot has been shown on the sci-fi channel.
The hit counter as of March 9th says 162,436 which is 2,169 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on February 10th.
If you subscribe to Locus Magazine then you have already seen the 2006 Recommended Reading list, which includes MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE and THE BEST OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER! It's a little disappointing that PEARLS FROM PEORIA did not make the list, but two out of three ain't bad. Along with the recommended reading list, it is also time for the very important Locus Poll. Be sure to vote for MYTHS in the Best Non-Fiction Book category and BEST OF PJF and PEARLS FROM PEORIA (as a write-in) in the Best Single-Author Collection category. And don't be shy about doing a write-in vote for Farmerphile as Best Magazine or Fanzine and Christopher Paul Carey as Best Editor - Pro or Fan either!
As those of you on the newsletter list already know, issue #7 of Farmerphile is out and available. This issue has a little bit of everything: Two Riverworld parodies by the late, great, Walt Liebscher. Another amazing column by Bette Farmer, talking about Walt and others. A Bibliophile by Paul Spiteri on THE LONG WARPATH. A Creative Mythography column by guest writer, Wold Newton Scholar Dennis Power. An essay about his first encounter with one of his science fiction heroes, decades ago, by now veteran author David Bischoff. Then we come to the meat of the issue; an interview with Philip José Farmer and Danny Adams, and an excerpt from their forthcoming novel THE CITY BEYOND PLAY. A terrific short story by Phil, The Frames, which is the only science fiction story by Phil to appear in Farmerphile so far. It is a mystery why this story was never published before because it truly is a long lost gem. Also included is a short humorous excerpt, The Light-Hog Incident, from an unfinished novel and perhaps the most exciting installment of Up from the Bottomless Pit so far.
While Chris Carey was poking around Amazon.com he discovered four books Phil wrote back cover blurbs for; SOFTWARE by Rudy Rucker, GREENHOUSE SUMMER by Norman Spinrad, WORSE THAN DEATH by Sherry Gottlieb and AN EXALTATION OF LARKS by Robert Reed.
While Zacharias still has not done an update to his website, the International Bibliography he has made progress with updating individual pages; The Classic Philip José Farmer 1952-1964, The Classic Philip José Farmer 1964-1973, Dare, The Dark Heart of Time, The Green Odyssey, The Maker of Universes and Nothing Burns in Hell are all in the new format.
The hit counter as of February 10th says 160,267 which is 2,599 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on January 9th.
This past month we learned of two new reprints coming out. Chris Carey discovered a new edition of IMAGE OF THE BEAST. The publisher Creation Oneiros, is a new imprint of Creation books which previously printed an edition of this book. Out of print for over twenty years now, we're excited to announce that Monkeybrain Books has signed a deal to reprint TWO HAWKS FROM EARTH! We will put details about these books on the Forthcoming books page as we receive them.
Not a PJF book, but one of our favorite related items did come out in print last month. The third volume in the TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN series is now available from Black Coat Press. Like its predecessors, TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN 3: DANSE MACABRE is chock full of Wold Newtonian and pulp fiction goodness; including the next Doc Ardan story by Win Eckert and (you have to love this) a story by Chris Roberson about Curious George!
Win Eckert alerted that the December 31st issue of The Peoria Journal Star ran a retrospective, "2006: Year in arts" which included an entry on PEARS FROM PEORIA.
Issue #7 of Farmerphile is due out this month. It features an interview with Phil and Danny Adams about the writing of THE CITY BEYOND PLAY and a short excerpt from the novel. Another exciting aspect of this issue is that it is the first one to print a science fiction story by Phil. Written in the early 1970s, "The Frames" is set in a future where the media is very powerful and television is much more pervasive in society than it was at the time. There is even a 24 hour news channel! Of all the stories slated for Farmerphile, this is the one we really can't believe was never published. There is lots more in this issue but we will save the details for the next Newsletter which will go out as soon as the files go to the printer.
Speaking of the Newsletter, we have not sent one out since October 29th. If you have asked to be added to the newsletter list since then, you will be added before the next one goes out in the next week or two.
While Zacharias has not updated the index page of his International Bibliography website he has been hard at the very time consuming work of revamping the individual pages. If you start on the Novel & collections page, he has done the first thirteen entries, from The Adventure of the Peerless Peer to Ciencia ficción selección 31 as well Pearls from Peoria, The Unreasoning Mask and Venus on the Half-Shell. Rias tells us the next page to be updated will be The Maker of Universes and that it will have 60 entries!
The hit counter as of January 9th says 157,668 which is 2,173 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on December 9th.
Farmerphile editor Christopher Paul Carey has written an article titled "Philip José Farmer's Immortal Legacy" which has been published online at The Zone. The article includes a couple of quotes from Phil and is well worth reading. Thanks Chris for getting Phil's name out there in front of The Zone's mostly younger audience. While on the topic of Chris' online writings; several times over the last year I have referred to Chris' blog as a source for news on these monthly updates. However, Chris is no longer keeping a blog and has relaunched a slimmed down version of his website.
Before we get to this next bit of online fare, we have to go back in time. First, those of you who have been visiting this site for years know what our favorite thing in the world is...finding something written by Phil that we did not know existed and bringing it to light. Way back in September 2003 we reported:
So, without further ado, if you visit Earl's page at efanzines.com you can read The Compleat and Unexpurgated Who Killed Science Fiction? which also includes new material from 1980. We realize we have spent a lot of time talking about something 97% of which does not have to with Phil directly, but WKSF was important enough when it was published to win a Hugo. And we feel that it now being available online is just as important an event today to anyone who is a fan of science fiction and interested in its history. Thank you very much Earl for making this available. Now, everyone who plans on printing out all 189 pages of the pdf version, putting it in a binder and reading it cover to cover, raise your hand. Surely I'm not the only one?
The final bit of news this month is that Zacharias' International Bibliography website has been updated for the first time since July. Rias is revamping his site adding more and larger scans of book covers. It is always a treat to spend a few hours hunting through this great site. We did learn from this update that Overlook Press is finally going to publish their edition of THE UNREASONING MASK in late February 2007.
The hit counter as of December 9th says 155,495 which is 2,150 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on November 9th.
While publishing UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT and the unpublished short stories by Phil was the reason Farmerphile was launched, unforeseen was the amazing amount of work about Phil that has resulted. Through the first six issues alone, thirty six articles and essays have been written about Phil's works and about him personally. In addition, there are the six great covers, each one depicting Phil, and another twenty six black and white illustrations that have accompanied Phil's stories and speeches. While we knew the magazine would be filled out by content about Phil, by his peers and fans, we didn't expect there to be so much great stuff.
The other big news item in the last newsletter is that Subterranean Press has announced a second printing of PEARLS FROM PEORIA (and why not since the first printing was sold out on the day of publication). There are three important things you need to know about this printing. First, if you click on that link and pre-order a copy, you can get it for only $28, a $17 savings. Second, according to the publisher, 60 to 80% of the second printing is already spoken for. Third, this book should ship in November...plenty of time to order copies to give as Christmas presents!
Speaking of Subterranean Press, the latest issue of their magazine, Subterranean, contains the "Doc Savage and the Cult of the Blue God." This can also be found in PEARLS FROM PEORIA, but it is nice to see Phil's name on the cover of a magazine again. And for all you completists out there, you know you just have to get this.
We have an important update from PS Publishing regarding the forthcoming book, THE CITY BEYOND PLAY, by Philip José Farmer and Danny Adams. As you will see if you follow that link, there has been a change in the pricing of the book due to a mix up in the number of sheets that were to be signed.
We have said on this page before that our good friend, and sometime Farmerphile contributor, Jason Robert Bell always mentions Phil's name somewhere whenever he does an art show. And here he has done it again.
Our final bit of news this month comes from long time friend of this site, Dan Getz. He contacted us on October 26th to tell us about a cd he just purchased by a band called BloodHag. The name of the cd is "Hell Bent for Letters" and all of the songs on it are about science fiction authors, including one about Phil. We mentioned the date Dan contacted in order to us because just three days later the vocalist for the band, Jake Stratton, contacted us so he could send Phil a copy of the cd. I love their motto "The faster you go deaf, the more time you have to read!"
The hit counter as of November 9th says 153,345 which is 2,298 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on October 9th.
The last ten years have been truly amazing for me (Mike). To go from a nervous fan scared to call Phil on the phone to publishing a magazine about him which includes unpublished material that I got to search for in his basement. And many of Phil's fans that I have met through doing this site are some of my favorite people in the world, I don't know of many people whose hobbies are as fulfilling as mine. Anyway, onto the update:
Last month we started out saying the update would be incomplete because we did not have all the new material from PEARLS FROM PEORIA added to the site. Finally, the following have all been added to the short stories page; The Terminalization of J.G.Ballard, Hunter's Moon, The Rise Gotten, The Princess of Terra, A Rough Knight for the Queen, The Purple Distance and Doc Savage and the Cult of the Blue God. I just can't express what a treasure trove this book is. Not just for these previously unpublished stories, but for the dozens of hard to find stories and articles that would otherwise take a serious collector hundreds of dollars and several years to track down. Believe me, I am speaking from experience here.
Speaking of which, if you have purchased a copy of this book, please take our PEARLS FROM PEORIA POLL. We really want to know which of these stories were brand new to you. Next month, once you've had time to read PEARLS, we'll have a poll where you can choose your favorite stories and articles.
While adding the above entries to the short stories page we happened to notice that the timeline page had not been updated since 2003. Bringing it up to date shows nicely just how much "new" Farmer has been coming out lately.
And now for the news you have been waiting for; Farmerphile #6 is on its way to the printer. Take a quick look at yet another fantastic cover and tease yourself with the table of contents. Send in payment now to reserve your copy, as these will be going out the mail in the next couple of weeks. Also, don't forget what we announced last month; if you have ordered all five issues of Farmerphile so far, when you order issue #6 you can also get one of Phil's calling cards for only $10. We don't expect these to last long so please reserve your card today.
The hit counter as of October 9th says 151,047 which is 2,155 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on September 14th.
