The Avon/Equinox Rediscovery Series #1: Philip Jose Farmer Part 1

This Farmer page is now complete. No more reviews are forthcoming. 48 books are reviewed here, with many more found on my 2nd Farmer page.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the page
Avon Equinox volume review
The short stories, reviewed
The novels, reviewed
The Wold Newton Family of books

On this page, in addition to the first Equinox book of the series, you will find many other works by Farmer, including his single novels and the short stories. Also here are his Wold Newton series of works. On my 2nd Farmer page (see #7 in the Avon Equinox series) will be found his World of Tiers novels, Riverworld, and the Dayworld series.

I began a new reading and book collecting project in the Spring of 2016. In the 1970s, Avon republished 27 SF books under the Equinox label, calling it the Rediscovery Series. There is next to nothing I can find anywhere about these books, except at this site:
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pubseries.cgi?4

So far as I know, this is the first website/blog devoted exclusively to these books. If I am mistaken, please notify me! Collecting these books has been pretty difficult. They are oversize paperbacks, about 8" x 5". From the number of old library copies I've had to purchase, I'm guessing that these books were made this size just for that reason--to sell to libraries everywhere. A smart publishing move, for sure.

I currently own copies of all 27 books in the series. When I began collecting these books, I only had one in my collection. It is the final one in the series, written by one of my very favourite authors, James Blish. The only other book in the series that I have read was by Michael Moorcock, "Behold the Man." This proved difficult to find in this edition. It is rare and ridiculously expensive (I also recently found Aniara, and paid a very hefty price).

In fact, many of the volumes are very difficult to find. Out of 27 currently in the collection, I had to purchase half of them through the internet. Believe me when I say I checked out a lot of good bookstores first. Detroit, Denver, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces (NM) all have wonderful bookstores, especially Detroit/Ann Arbor. Very little luck. If you hope to collect these books, I wish you well. I found some on E-Bay and some at Abe Books, and some on Amazon.

In the coming months I will read and review the books, much as I have done on my other website, devoted to the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series, edited by Lin Carter. You can find that website here--lonemtnhomestead.com

There are also links on that page to my homepage, and several other blogs I write (travel, astronomy). This website will be similar to the Ballantine one, and I hope you check back for updates from time to time.

I have recently finished reading the complete stories of H.P. Lovecraft (the Barnes and Noble hardcover edition), as well as the "Cities in Flight" novels by James Blish. I am excited for my new journey, as it is filled with many titles and authors of whom I know nothing. 

 

I have now collected 27 of 27 volumes. 25 are shown here.

Mapman Mike, May 15th/16

My Ratings Key   

**** Superb writing. Miss at your own peril.

***- Worth reading. Strongly recommended.

**-- Not always fun to read, but there are moments. 

*--- Complete and utter waste of time.

This Farmer blog #1 will be updated until I am finished with Farmer; see also entry #7, also about Farmer; then I will begin a new page for Kornbluth, and so on. You will have to scroll down each author each time to see if I have added anything new.

STRANGE RELATIONS

Front and back covers of Volume 1.
First Equinox Printing Nov. 1974. Cover art by V. Calabrese.

Philip Jose Farmer (1918-2009) was one of the giants of science fiction and fantasy writing, beginning early in the 1950s with a Hugo for most promising young writer. Readers are likely familiar with his Riverworld series (not my favourite works by him). Different authors greatly affected me when growing up. First came the Tarzan books by E.R. Burroughs, in my early teens. Mid-teens, my brain was exploded by Tolkien. Next came the Gormenghast novels of Peake, and finally, in my early 20s, the writings of E.R. Eddison. The side of P.J. Farmer that interests me the most is his reworking of Tarzan in several novels, along with books about Opar. He even combines Sherlock Holmes and Lord Greystoke in one fascinating tale. Doc Savage also features in some of his stories.

 

To me, reading science fiction is like eating my favourite dessert. I love it far too much and can easily get lost in a good SF series, not coming out for weeks. My favourite modern SF writer is Iain M. Banks, a name that should be checked out by lovers of the genre. Fritz Leiber and James Blish are also at the top of my list. However, with P.J. Farmer, I can now not only rediscover some of my boyhood reading interests, but explore the author in much greater detail. The Avon Equinox series in general is likely to provide me with enough reading ideas to last me the rest of my life.

There are two volumes by Farmer in the Rediscovery series (see also #7, forthcoming), but I will also be reading much more of his work in the weeks to come. The present volume, first published in 1960, contains stories and novellas on the relations theme, and the first short story is fittingly called "Mother." Next comes "Daughter," then "Father," "Son," and lastly "My Sister's Brother."

Original 1960 printing. Cover by Blanchard(?)

Mother: This incredible short story is worth the price of the book. In thirty pages we meet not only an extraordinary group of aliens, but their children, too. Published in 1953, this story continued to open a lot of doors for the author. Equally disgusting, funny, and biologically brilliant, it makes as good an introduction to the author as could be. Like many of his works, there are images and ideas that will stay with you forever afterwards. In brief, an Earth spaceship crashes on a strange world and encounters an alien life form. The story details how one man survived. **** stars

Mother was first published in this edition
of Wonder Stories. Note the absence of Farmer's name from the cover. April 1953.

Daughter: This short sequel to Mother was published a year later, no doubt due to requests from readers and the editor of the fanzine. It further shows Farmer's sense of humour, and gives us a different perspective on what went on inside Mother during the first story, and what happened afterwards. Astute readers will catch on to what is going on before the surprise ending. Good fun, if not as deep or original as the first story. *** stars

Even though Daughter is a less significant story, Farmer's name has now

made it to the cover (and always will from now on)! Winter 1954. 

 

Father: The third story of this very fine series is another winner, though vastly different than the first two. The Father of this story is an alien being who has been marooned on a planet for nearly ten thousand years! He has become a god-like figure, and has managed to completely alter and dominate the life forms on the planet. When their space ship makes an emergency landing there, the captain, a priest (the 2nd appearance of Farmer's Father Carmody character), a bishop, two young lovers, a doctor and an alcoholic woman have to come to terms with what they find. Excellent writing, and it introduces a messiah character and religion into SF. Don't be put off by religion being a theme here--I'm a pagan and found it all quite fascinating. I found this story hard to put down. At 70 pages, it is the longest in the volume, and contains 7 chapters. ***1/2 stars

Farmer is now the lead author of a pulp issue! The cover depicts a
key scene from the novelette. July 1955

Son... This short story first appeared in Argosy Magazine! I remember seeing some around the house when I was growing up. I find it fascinating that Farmer wrote a story for Argosy. He must have been sending stuff out everywhere left and right. Anyway, it seems to be a good fit, in my opinion. An intelligent, robotic enemy sub captures an allied engineer who has a serious problem with dark and confined spaces. I am a huge fan of Iain M. Banks' SF writing, and I definitely see a link with this story and his work. Part of the fun of reading Banks is the autonomous life he gives his interstellar ships, and the kooky names they have. This little sub could easily be an ancestor of one of those ships. By necessity Farmer's story is claustrophobic. It's man versus machine in a classic match-up. *** stars.

 

My Sister's Brother: I had hoped to find a cover image of Satellite Magazine, June 1959. My copy of Strange Relations lists that source as the first printing of Farmer's remarkable story about a human and an alien woman who meet on Mars. However, the final printed issue of that science fiction magazine was May 1959. Strange indeed. You can read the history of this story in Farmer's own words, and then read the story at the same place, if you choose. You should choose yes.

My Sister's Brother was finally published
here in 1960, with its original title.

There is some serious writing going on here. I'm pretty certain that the cover of the Rediscovery printing shows a scene of the earth astronaut exploring the strange garden that he finds (see image, top of page). The most amazing thing about this story is that Farmer does not back down at the end, but holds to his beliefs that human prejudices will always be our undoing. We cannot stomach things easily that are different from what we know and expect. Even the editors that Farmer first sent the story to rejected it because they "couldn't stomach it." That is pretty much what happens to our hero, too. His biases and beliefs could not handle what he was seeing and learning regarding alien reproduction. I admit that the biology is fascinating and well-worked out, and thoughts of the movie "Alien" are sometimes not far off. How many people today could handle such a concept if faced with it? Farmer not only gives us one of the best alien first contact stories ever written, but he sheds a big spotlight on what it is like to be human.

**** stars.  Reviewed June 10th, 2016 

 

By sheer coincidence I began reading Andy Weir's The Martian at the same time as the above story, which also takes place on Mars. Though that is a topic for a whole other blog entry, it was a wonderful opportunity to compare classic 50s SF with something written only a few years ago. Needless to say they both describe a very different Mars!

 

I am currently reading several other books by Farmer, after a partially successful used bookstore run. I will report on them here, and start a new blog page for the next entry in the Rediscovery series. I hope you stay tuned; we have only just begun our journey!

__________________________________________________________________________________

THE OTHER SHORT STORIES

FATHER TO THE STARS

All of the John Carmody stories in one volume.

Cover art by James Wurtz. Inside art (6) uncredited.

We first met John Carmody in the Strange Relations compendium. He starred there in the novella entitled "Father." There are five stories from Farmer where this character is featured, and they are all included in this volume, published in 1981. It has a foreword by Roger Zelazny, and a back cover blurb by Phileas Fogg! The stories appear to be arranged in chronological order of the main character. Thus the first story, written later than "Father," tells us about the early life of Carmody.

The Night of Light: First published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a longer version was written by the author sometime later. I'm not certain which version is included here, but I will assume it is the original. A longer version was likely needed to fill it out and have it published as a separate book, which it was. I would be very surprised if anything in the expanded version is necessary to improve upon the original (see my review of the full version just below).

1957 original printing of Farmer' story "Night of Light."

John Carmody is on the run from Earth justice. He has killed his wife and fled to the planet called Dante's Joy. It is a very critical time for native inhabitants and visitors to this planet. Physical reality is to be turned upside down as one of the planet's two stars is about to bathe them in a purplish haze for two weeks. Most of the inhabitants sleep during this time, to avoid the strange things that occur. Others, however, choose to remain awake. They will be permanently changed by the event, physically and emotionally. Many will die. Alien visitors come to willingly undergo the experience and possible transformation, too.

 

This is yet another Farmer story where he is greatly concerned with religion, both that of the inhabitants of Dante's Joy, and that of the two human priests that are attending the ritual event, which occurs every seven years. Farmer delights and amazes us with details of life on this strange planet, as well as how the upcoming event affects people. We get to take the full ride, and I must say that though the story is more than half a century old, it seems as fresh as if it were just written. Superior imagination sometimes works that way. The psychedelic unreality of the event is handled masterfully, and as in most of Farmer's shorter works, the impression left on the reader has little bearing on the length of the book. There are scenes that will stick with me for some time to come. I will likely reread this tale soon, in case I have missed out on some of the details. Readers might be tempted to compare it to Solaris, with its sentient ocean. Highly required reading for fans of golden age SF. The story is a likely influence on Jimi Hendrix's immortal song "Purple Haze."

**** stars. Reviewed July 9th/16

 

A Few Miles: This is the second story about John Carmody, and was published in the October 1960 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

A beautiful cover by Chesley Bonestell! And look at those author names! What an issue!!

The 2nd story (chronologically) finds John back on earth trying to amend his ways. Evidently his experience on Dante's Joy had a positive spiritual effect on him. He is now a lay brother in the Order of St. Jairus! Not a Father yet, but trying to control his emotions and speech, and atoning through penance for his on-going sins. He is making progress. And then comes the order from his bishop. He must leave at once for the planet of Wildenwooly and report there to the Bishop of Breakneck. No passport. No money. No food. No idea where the spaceport is.

And so begins one of the funniest short stories I have ever read. The few miles of the title refers to how far it is to the spaceport. I won't spoil anything by saying that Brother John does get there by the end of the 47 page novelette, but what a journey it is! From his encounter with a police officer, to a restaurant owner trying to recover his business after a small fire, to the union members who do not wish John helping out with repairs, we eventually meet up with a pair of adolescent delinquents enjoying an afternoon above ground with their mates. The language they use is so rich, primitive and hilarious that I thought I would die of laughter during their conversations. Of course John understands them perfectly, as he had been a low-life for much of his life, and is able to communicate with them. This young couple causes our hero to make an unannounced visit to a zoo exhibit, where we finally learn what John's real problem is to be.

We are left hanging at the end, and readers of the pulps had to wait a year to find out what happens next. I'll be reading that one today. Lucky me!!

**** stars. Reviewed July 11th/16

Prometheus: This is a direct continuation of "A Few Miles," reviewed above. Published a year later (March, 1961), John is now on a new planet, home to the alien life form that he has committed to helping.

We return to Farmer's serious SF writing, and also his interest in early speech, along with religion. By the end of the story he has given us a nice little parable of how Christianity might have first appeared on Earth. I had a best friend in university who insisted that Jesus was a space man. Maybe he'd read Farmer's story. Anyway, Brer John has taken it upon himself to bring a group of aliens up to snuff on learning English and acquiring fire, along with tool technology and farming. His greatest problem, though, is whether or not the people have "souls." He wants to give them that old time religion, but his bishop has forbidden it. The alien critters must develop it on their own.

John befriends the younger, adolescent members of the group, finding that they are far more capable of learning language than the adults, and more willing to try new things. He soon has a little friend, Tutu, who thinks the world of him. She might even think he is a god, or perhaps the son of one. Along with John Carmody, Tutu becomes a main character of the story, and her personality is developed well and with serious thought on the part of Farmer. Her language skills are amazing from the get-go, and once again Farmer gets to have some fun with putting odd sentences together to perfectly convey complex thoughts.

Many readers will likely be turned off by the religion aspect. Don't be. As I've stated earlier, I am firmly Pagan. However, I was raised Catholic, so perhaps have a better insight into this aspect of Farmer. The SF theme greatly overshadows the religion theme, and the whole cultural development of the tribe is both fascinating and entertaining. This is another Farmer story that is hard to put down.

*** stars. Reviewed July 11th/16

Father: Next comes the story we first encountered in Strange Relations, near the top of this page. See that review. John is now a priest, and on his way from Wildenwooly to another planet. His is with his bishop when their space journey is interrupted...

***1/2 stars. Reviewed July 12th/16

Attitudes: This is very early Farmer (1953), and the first John Carmody story he wrote. It is placed last in Father to the Stars, and I would agree with the arrangement. It is a fun story of a gambler who misinterprets alien events, thinking he is joining a game. Even when made aware of his nearly fatal error, he still wishes the game had been allowed to continue. After all, he was winning. Not essential reading, unless you are trying to track down all the Carmody stories, in which case it is likely the least of the five. It is also the shortest, at 18 pages.

*** stars. Reviewed July 13th/16. Story reread and review freshened March 31st/18

NIGHT OF LIGHT

Expanded version of the 1957 novella. Cover artist uncredited.

In 1966 Farmer added another novella to the John Carmody series, which turned out to be a direct sequel to Night of Light (see review in Father To The Stars, above). Events take place 27 years later, when another Night of Light is to occur. Carmody is now a priest, a Father, and is sent to investigate doings on the play of Dante's Joy. With the first novella nearly perfect onto itself, we did not really need this addition to the story. But here it is, and it is classic Farmer, with violence, intrigue, murder, and more bad guys than a planet knows what to do with.

The original story is 70 pages, followed by a 90 page novella sequel. The stories bear little resemblance to one another. The first one is pure SF at its best, as we are introduced to an alien culture, a working and provable religion, and a sun that occasionally flares and has devastating effects on people who do not hibernate during that week. The second is pure pulp fiction, with action, adventure, and enough violence to satisfy most pulp readers. This being Farmer in his prime, the pulp adventure is a good one, and it is not hard to keep turning pages until the story is done. We find out even more about Carmody' past, probably more than we want to know. He was one nasty man back in the day.

A lot of characters from the first story reappear, including the god Yess. In a way it is unfortunate that Farmer saw fit to add more to an already wonderful story. But in another way it is interesting to see Carmody one last time, in full possession of his senses and reflexes. We never learn why he turned to Christianity after his first Night of Light adventure, but we know he has some serious doubts after encountering Yess for a second time. Things do not turn out as expected, but what religion cannot accommodate such things and turn them to its own purpose?

 

Though all of the Carmody stories should be of interest to Christian readers, non-Christians can be equally enthralled by the adventures of this unique man. Outside of Patricia Highsmith's books, there are very characters like this in fiction. I, for one, am glad to have this final adventure, which could be placed last in the chronology of John Carmody. It is odd that this story was not included in the above collection, Father To The Stars. 

*** stars. Reviewed Sept. 2nd/18 

 

 

THE PURPLE BOOK

 

Cover art by Howard Chaykin

Riders of the Purple Wage is a short story first published in 1967 in Harlan Ellison's "Dangerous Visions." The title is a play on Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage, and the word play continues unabated throughout this fascinating novella (Winnegan's Fake is the title of a chapter!). Though ostensibly a science fiction story, it speaks to a much wider audience, and gives a pretty strong hint as to where the arts scene was heading in the late 1960s. I think James Joyce would have loved this novella.

Purple Wage refers to people receiving money without having to work for it, as in royalty. Farmer came up with a scheme where the future government paid everyone to just stay home and sit around--a whole society on welfare, with all of its basic needs met. The story follows a young artist, Chib, through a busy day and night (Joyce again) as he prepares a new canvas for an exhibit, deals with the death of his beloved grandpa, and also has complications with a pregnant former girlfriend ("You said you would only use your finger!").

As hilarious as the situations become, the undertones of the effects of complete and total socialism are dark and deep. One of the best things about this story is that more than a single reading is required. Farmer won the 1968 Hugo Award for this effort, and it's not difficult to see why. Every page has something worth reading, some of it more than once. Grandpa's rebellious wisdom sinks deep into our hero's psyche, and the ending is a revelation and call to arms for all artists.

**** stars. Reviewed July 28th/16

The Oogenesis of Bird City. This very short tale appears first in the Purple Book. It introduces the vast western city where the action takes place in Purple Wage, and tells how the city came about. Written two years after Purple Wage, it helps explain Farmer's tongue-in-cheek ideas about racial non-mixing; that is, having like races living together rather than intermingling.

A battered cover showing the first publication of Farmer's new story.

While this story is not necessary for the enjoyment of the much longer Purple Wage, it does help clear up some fogginess that the reader encounters there. I read it before the novella, though when I do reread the novella I will not reread Oogenesis.

**1/2 stars. Reviewed July 28th/16

Spiders of the Purple Mage is a great stand-a-lone novelette. However, it is part of a vast fictional history. Thieves World was a collection of short stories by many different authors, including several of the big ones, that takes place in Sanctuary, the town in which our story is situated. Farmer wrote his tale for the second volume, called Tales of the Vulgar Unicorn. If you enjoyed this story as much as I did, you will likely want to seek out some of the others.

Spiders has no relationship to Riders, other than the two titles rhyme nicely, and the colour purple features in both. Whereas Riders is one of the great science fiction novellas of the 20th Century, Spiders is one of the great tales of fantasy. This one reads like something that Clark Ashton Smith would have written! Farmer loves underground scenes and adventures, as did Smith. This story features a superb underground portion. Along with Smith, it also reminds me of some of the tales of Fritz Leiber.

The Purple Mage himself is out to get our heroine, Masha, whom he thinks might have his missing jewel. Masha gains an unlooked for and trusty ally, and they both head for the mysterious island where the mage is headquartered. This is an amazing fantasy tale!

**** stars. Reviewed August 1st, 2016.

The Making of Revelation, Pt. 1 stars God as a film producer and Cecile B. DeMille as a director. They are combining their talents to create the ultimate Biblical epic! Satan also has a leading role. This is from a collection called After the Fall, with contributions by many authors, including Farmer. Nothing purple here, but a short and very funny tale of the ultimate Hollywood blockbuster, and how it got made.

***1/2 stars. Reviewed August 1st, 2016.

The Long Wet Dream of Rip Van Winkle. This amazing little story was first published in Puritan in 1981. Rip was not just sleeping during those twenty or so years. He was doing some time travelling. A fun tale to end off a pretty amazing collection of stories. Adults only.

*** stars. Reviewed August 1st, 2016.

The final story in the collection was first published here.

THE CELESTIAL BLUEPRINT

   

Cover art by Ed Emshwiller 

 

There are four short stories by Farmer on the flip side of an Ace Double with Cache From Outer Space (see below). The cover illustration shows a scene from the first tale.

Rastignac The Devil, at around 60 pages, is more a novella than a short story. It is classic Farmer, and yet again we are left with much more story to tell! Farmer is a master of telling a good yarn, and then leaving us with much more of it to tell. I really liked this adventure tale of a man trying to revive violence in humans, after it has been purposely conditioned out of them. Humans no longer eat meat, and thus are smaller and less prone to violence. But these French descendants of a long-ago earth colony also now wear skins on their new planet that not only keep them in tune with Nature and their fellow men and aliens, but also gives them shocks when their thoughts and actions stray too far from the norm. Rastignac, with the help of three comrades, sets out to restore a fighting spirit in humans. Why, you may ask, would a violent person be more valuable than a peace-loving one? You will have to read the story to find out, but Farmer makes a good case. I love the bastardization of the French language he uses here. Farmer always has a wonderful way with language in his tales, especially in Cache From Outer Space. Here he has some fun with French that is now many centuries out of date with the times. As in the novel The Green Odyssey (see review, below), a human who has crash landed might provide our hero with a way off the planet he hopes to save from itself, though in this case there are some significant differences. An enjoyable read. 

*** 1/2 stars.

First appearance of Rastignac, May 1954.

The Celestial Blueprint is the second story in this collection, named after this very tale. At around 24 pages, it tells the story of the richest and most powerful man in the world, and how he wishes to get his revenge on his hometown. It also tells of Da Vincelleo, the greatest artist in the world, and a man with a morbid sense of humour. The vengeful businessman not only wants justice for the people that left him emotionally scarred, but poetic justice, so he turns to the great artist for assistance. Then the double crossing begins. A fun tale, and certainly one that would make a great Dr. Who episode in the new series!

*** stars. Reviewed August 13th/16

 

 http://www.samuelsdesign.com/comics/big/fantastic_universe_54_07.jpg

The first appearance of Celestial Blueprint was here. Also note the name Algis Budrys. He is 4th in our Rediscovery Series.

They Twinkled Like Jewels: This is a bleak and dark short story (19 pages) about aliens spreading their form of life on earth, at humanity's expense. The darkest thing about this story is that Farmer models it on something that goes on regularly in Nature. It's not all blue skies and fluffy white clouds out there...

*** stars. Reviewed August 13th/16. 

 

The first appearance of They Twinkled Like Jewels, 1954.

Check out some of those other authors!!

Totem and Taboo: The final story in this Ace Double collection, and the shortest, at only seven pages. Jay Martin seeks help with his alcoholism. A good candidate for a Twilight Zone episode!

*** stars. Reviewed Aug. 13th/16

More great cover art by Chesley Bonestell!

http://www.philsp.com/visco/Magazines/FSF/FSF_0043.jpg 

First appearance of Farmer's very short story Totem and Taboo, from December 1954. 

 

 

THE BOOK OF PHILIP JOSE FARMER 

 

 

Cover art by James Warhola

First published in 1973 by Daw, this is a 1982 revised edition. Three stories were left out (Totem and Taboo, The Voice of the Sonar in My Vermiform Appendix, and Brass and Gold), but three new ones were put in (The Last Rise of Nick Adams, The Freshman, and Uproar in Acheron). Also, the foreword and story intros by Farmer were updated. Most of the stories in here were new to me.

My Sister's Brother: One of the very few stories I have already read, this excellent tale is included in the first book of the Avon/Equinox series. I reread it, and my review (above) still stands. A truly great story. 51 pages. From 1960.
**** stars. Reread Jan. 2nd/17

Skinburn: A private eye has a secret admirer in this off-beat but fun story. Kent Lane (son of Kent Allard, alias Lamont Cranston, alias The Shadow and Margo Lane?) is being bothered by skin problems, and can't be outside or under a skylight without getting a rash and a tingly sensation. Though a minor story, Farmer says (in his short intro) that he has plans for the character. Too bad they never materialized. 14 pages, from 1972.
*** stars. Reviewed Jan. 3rd/17 Reread April 2nd/18

The Alley Man:

From June 1959, this fabulous tale first appeared in the June 1959 issue of Magazine of Fantasy and SF. It has a bit more history, too, as explained by Farmer in his intro. Lovecraft attempted several tales of similar themes, but he never quite seemed to get things right. Farmer has a good time with his tale of a real live Neanderthal, who is a rag picker and bottle collector in the back alleys of a city. He lives in a shack with two women, but falls for a young university student doing her research on him and his lifestyle. This would have made a wonderful Night Gallery tale, though perhaps there are too many adult themes for TV. It has a lot to do with hats, beer, alleys, taverns, and sex. And throw in a secret rose garden. This one is pretty special. 43 pages of likeable bizarreness. 

**** stars. Reviewed Jan. 3rd/17

Father's In The Basement is an 8-page story from 1972, in which a uniquely talented 11 year old girl helps her father finish writing his masterpiece novel, despite interference from her school's truancy officer. She is a pretty determined girl.
*** stars. Reviewed Jan. 3rd/17. Reread and review upgraded April 2nd/18

Toward the Beloved City, also from 1972, was first written for a religious SF anthology. Farmer certainly knows his bible, and we get to experience what might be the story told in Revelations. Except that there are aliens. 22 pages of classic Farmer adventure, mixed with a pretty neat interpretation of the biblical myth.
*** stars. reviewed Jan. 3rd/17. Reread April 2nd/18.

Three Polytropical Paramyths

Don't Wash the Carats is the first of three silly tales under the subheading Polytropical Paramyths, which Farmer kindly takes a page to explain about in the intro. This one was inspired by a line from Henry Miller: "Diamonds are sometimes born during violent storms." At 4 pages, it is from 1968. Original, but quite possibly overrated.
*** stars, including half a star for the title alone. Reviewed Jan. 4th/17

The Sumerian Oath is from 1972. It is a six page trifle, undoubtedly scribbled down after a night of thinking what to write for a forthcoming SF anthology. It is pure speculation on my part, but I'm thinking that Farmer was likely seeing a physician around this time...
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed Jan. 4th/17 Reread April 2nd/18.

Only Who Can Make a Tree allows us to meet the Three Stooges in print. That team often works wonderfully on old b & w reels, but they don't do so well in print, even with Farmer doing the writing. Not embarrassing, but not that inspiring, either. From 1972, Farmer claims it is a Gothic tale of a different breed, and it features a beautiful young female scientist and her homely but gifted daughter.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed Jan. 4th/17

The Last Rise of Nick Adams, at 12 pages, is from 1977 as by Cordwainer Bird, an alias of Harlan Ellison. He is also a character in another short story by Farmer, but here he is the author. Anyway, this is a very amusing story about a writer's direct relationship with getting good reviews and having good sex. It is one of three newer stories added to this edition.
*** stars. Reviewed Jan. 5th/17

The Freshman, also one of the new stories not published in the 1973 edition, is Farmer's 19 page tribute to H.P. Lovecraft. Although an effective enough story, it certainly does not create the same moldy and decrepit atmosphere as that other master creates. Also, I find the ringing of that phone very annoying. First published in The Magazine of SF and Fantasy in 1979, it was also included later in a modern collection of Lovecraftian tales.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed Jan. 5th/17

Uproar in Acheron is from 1962. At 15 pages it is a western story that was stolen by Rod Serling for an episode of Twilight Zone ("Mr. Garrity and the Graves"). Burroughs wrote westerns, so why not Farmer? Con men promise to raise the dead in small towns across the west, knowing people will pay them handsomely not to do so. A pretty solid story. This is the third addition to the 1982 revised edition.
*** stars. Reviewed Jan. 6th/17

An Exclusive Interview With Lord Greystoke first appeared in Esquire Magazine in 1972. In addition to its appearance here, it also appeared in a later edition of Tarzan Alive. Farmer manages to arrange a short interview with John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, in Chicago. Good stuff!
*** stars. Reviewed Jan. 6th/17

Sexual Implications of The Charge of The Light Brigade is a short excerpt from "Riders of the Purple Wage," reviewed above in The Purple Book. It is a great piece of writing, and easily overlooked or read through too quickly if involved in the main story. I'm glad I had a chance to reread it, slower. It reminds me that I must reread the entire story again, soon.
*** stars. Reviewed Jan. 6th/17

The Obscure Life and Hard Times of Kilgore Trout takes us into another weird aspect of Farmer, his writing under the name of fictional authors from the novels of others. In this case he has borrowed a character from Kurt Vonnegut. This 12 pager is Trout's "biography". Written in 1971, it was the first biography Farmer wrote about a fictional character. He later went on to write a story under his name (Venus On The Half-Shell). This is a pretty funny story.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed Jan. 6th/17

Thanks For The Feast is a critique of Farmer's works by Leslie A Fiedler, appearing in the Los Angeles Times on April 23rd, 1972. It focuses a lot on the pornographic writing, but still gives a really fair assessment of Farmer's work up to that date. It makes a satisfying conclusion to this book.
*** stars Reviewed Jan. 6th/16

RIVERWORLD AND OTHER STORIES

Cover art by Don Ivan Punchatz.

Riverworld: (for this novella and all Riverworld related fiction, see my other Farmer page, #7 in the Avon/Equinox series).

J. C. on the Dude Ranch: Written for this volume and first published here, this 16-page story from 1979 is the 2nd in a row to feature the Saviour of Christian legend in this volume. Does Farmer have an obsession with Christ? For sure. At least his approaches are unorthodox. My favourite such story is Father, starring John Carmody. This one is pretty silly, but it does have some very good humour.

** 1/2 stars. Reviewed Mar. 5th/17

The Volcano: A 20 page story from 1976 that actually has a somewhat happy ending. Yay! I liked this one, as it is the first one that I know of by Farmer that references the Aztecs. Written by fictional author Paul Chapin.

"Paul Chapin is a fictional author in the Nero Wolfe mystery novel THE LEAGUE OF FRIGHTENED MEN by Rex Stout." from The Official Philip Jose Farmer Website; pjfarmer.com

*** stars. Reviewed Mar. 5th/17

The Henry Miller Dawn Patrol: Its 16 pages were first published in Playboy in 1977. There is no fantasy or SF element to the story. However, it is very original and very funny (though somewhat pathetic at the same time). No one ever said Farmer was unimaginative.

*** stars. Reviewed Mar. 5th/17

The Problem of the Sore Bridge--Among Others: Its 32 pages were written in 1975 by fictional author Harry Manders, something that Farmer more or less specialized in (for the best example, see Venus on the Half-Shell, down below).

"In the beginning of The Problem of Thor Bridge, Watson briefly mentions some details of three cases which Sherlock was not able to solve. Here another of Farmer's heroes, Raffles, the famous gentleman burglar, manages to solve all three mysteries in one neat little story." from The Official Philip Jose Farmer Website; pjfarmer.com

This is a great little story, not without humour. Farmer is nothing if not inventive, and this ingenious tale reminds me of what he did in The Other Log of Phileas Fogg. I have not read any Raffles stories, but I have a mind now to seek them out and give them a try. Farmer gives us a good taste of the character here, also managing to tie him into Holmes (a distant cousin), who also makes an appearance in this story. Great fun! Reread June 9th/18

*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed March 6th/17

Brass and Gold: This 18 page story is from 1971, and according to Farmer in his intro to it, was one of three stories he wrote when he briefly lived in Beverly Hills (the others were Down In the Black Gang and Riders of the Purple Wage. He claims that he did not like living there at the time. It is a very minor story, nowhere near the quality of Purple Wage. It has humour, though at the expense of a misplaced and misused horse, and a woman who cannot stop eating ham. There is a Zeppelin, however!

** stars. Reviewed March 6th/17

The Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod: First published in 1968, this 12-page story rewrites the basic Tarzan adventures as if written by William Burroughs, instead of Edgar Rice. Sometimes I get the feeling that Farmer just tries too hard to be different. Still, this is a pretty funny story, though I doubt that girls would enjoy it (W. Burroughs, remember). If you want a really strange retelling of the Tarzan myth, this is it.

** 1/2 stars. Reviewed March 6th/17

The Voice of My Sonar in My Vermiform Appendix: This 14 page story from 1971 is from Farmer's self-named Polytropical Paramyths (see also Book of P J F, above). This one is better than the other three, and enjoyable to read and quite funny.

*** stars. Reviewed March 6th/17. Reread April 1st, 2018.

Monolog is from 1973, lasting 7 pages. Farmer labels it horror. I would agree, but also call it pretty sick.

** 1/2 stars. Reviewed March 6th/17

The Lesser of Two Evils: From 1978 (recent, as the book was published in 1979) comes this 16 page tale of a male detective leading a double life. Not the side of Farmer I love best. I can take it or leave it, preferring to leave it. The humour is also pretty flat.

** stars. Reviewed March 7th/17

The Phantom of the Sewers: From 1978 comes this 25 page horror story. Sometimes Farmer finds a down and out character and can really pick on him. I'm not certain why he does this, but he must have really had a mean streak in him, taking things out on poor, defenseless story characters. Red McCune is a sewer worker, a wanna-be poet, and very ugly as well. Already a great start. Things go downhill for him from there. This is one of three "fictional writer" stories in this collection, something that amused Farmer to no end. Originally, writing as a fictional character from stories by some other author helped Farmer with his writer's block. Afterwards, like here, he did it just for fun. This one is pretty disgusting. It might be something one would write for oneself, or perhaps a weird friend or two. But published? No. Many of the stories in this collection are like that. About half should have stayed in the manuscript.

*1/2 stars. Reviewed March 7th/17.

GREATHEART SILVER

Cover art by Howard Chaykin. Inside art by Nick Cuti.

I really like the Jim Baen editions of Farmer books. They are filled with art, the font is easy to read, and thus the books are keepers. I doubt I will ever part with any Jim Baen edition, especially the ones that are lavishly illustrated within. I was really looking forward to this series of three novellas, and hoping for something lasting and worth reading again many times. Alas and alack, I was to be disappointed.

Greatheart Silver (1975)

In this 83 page (with many full page illustrations) story, Farmer not only introduces the character of Greatheart Silver, but also involves nearly every other pulp hero and villain ever written about.

First appearing in Weird Heroes in 1975, Farmer writes an amusing tale of the deaths of every single pulp hero and villain, most of them aged and arthritic, at a climactic shoot out in Shootout, Arizona. The town is obviously a stand-in for Tombstone. While there are some funny moments, most of the humour is juvenile. Greatheart himself does virtually nothing but stand around and get shot at. Yet somehow he alone survives the great battle, where friend and foe alike are obliterated. We first meet the true arch-villain, billionaire and control freak Micawber, who hates Greatheart because he allowed one of his fleet of Zeppelins to be overtaken and eventually destroyed by bad guys. The story is action-packed, but is just a farce, an excuse for Farmer to make fun of the very heroes and villains that put him where he stands today. And after a few lame jokes it really isn't that funny anymore. By sheer coincidence (NOT), the one and only Doc Savage movie came out in 1975 also (it flopped--the hero was made fun of, complete with glinting teeth when he smiled). Farmer wrote an unused script for a sequel to that movie, which was never close to being made. I have a feeling I know what that movie would have been like, and I would not have liked it. The best thing about the old pulp heroes was that they were taken seriously by their fans (me included, and certainly Farmer). Not in the 70s, and certainly not by Farmer at this stage in his career. The more recent Batman movies more or less went overboard in the other direction, taking themselves a bit too seriously.

*1/2 stars.

 

The Return of Greatheart Silver (also 1975)

In the 82 page sequel, things continue pretty much as they were in the first novella. Silver is the only hero left alive, trained in detection by one of the best. He is caught up in a kidnapping scheme (Macawber's daughter, Jill), and is hit over the head and rendered unconscious a suitable number of times.

Even though I tried my hardest to like this story, it just proved too difficult a task. There is more tongue-in-cheek here than my mouth can hold, and I found myself wishing I was reading the next SF book I was supposed to read (Piers Anthonys' OX). Farmer may have had some fun with this material, and stoned people in the 70s may have found it worth a read. Not I.

*1/2 stars. 

 

Greatheart Silver in the First Command (1977)

The third and final story is 113 pages long (it seemed much longer, not in a good way). The humour is down-played though is still present. The story now becomes much more serious and concerned with innocent human lives, as if Farmer had finally come to his senses. Three or four different gangs of armed criminals manage to take over his new Zeppelin, and Silverheart finally gets to act a bit like the hero he is supposed to be.

However, most of the story consists in telling us how Greatheart manages to cannibalize his latest aircraft and try to keep it from crashing into the sea. He is knocked unconscious at least five times, and has everything go wrong that could go wrong. He still manages to save the day in a story that I yawned all the way through, counting how many pages were left to read. I don't want to condemn these novellas as complete stinkers--sometimes I did laugh out loud. But they are poor satire, and I would much rather read a classic Doc Savage novel or Tarzan one than this. Not recommended.

*1/2 stars.

Reviewed May 27th/17

 

 

STATIONS OF THE NIGHTMARE

Cover art by Greg Theakson. Interior art by Peter Kuper.

I've said it before and I'll say it again-- I really like these illustrated Jim Baen editions! This one is filled with great b&w illustrations. There are five stories in the book; four of them are directly related, and the 5th is more loosely connected. The four connected stories making up the main nightmare of the title are The Two-Edged Gift (1974); The Startouched (1975); The Evolution of Paul Eyre (1975); and Passing On (1975). With the addition of Osiris on Crutches (1976), and the many illustrations, this comes out out to 256 pages. 

 

The Jim Baen edition is the first time the stories were all published at the same time in one volume, and it came out in 1982. This is a recommended edition. The stories are great fun, and concern a certain Paul Eyre. While out hunting one day in the woods, this 55 year old man accidentally shot at a small flying saucer, wounding it and absorbing some yellow spores it put out. Before long Paul is able to unwittingly kill anyone who threatens him, and to heal anyone of any illness that he sees suffering. The four novellas concern his own development and evolution, and how he and others around him cope with his new powers. 

 

A second major story character is Leo Queequeg Tincrowdor. Leo is a friend of Paul's and writes science fiction for a living. Among other tales, he is the author of Osiris on Crutches. Because of his vivid imagination and familiarity with many things alien, he is able to work out pretty much what has happened to Paul, and why. His is also instructive later on in helping the authorities try to figure out how to kill Paul.

Inside portrait of Tincrowdor, by Peter Kuper.

The story really is a nightmare for Paul and the authorities that have to deal with him. Paul starts out as a pretty big louse of a man. He soon develops deeper thoughts, however, and comes to know himself and others better than he ever has before. He is not a bad man, and tries to heal and help as many people as he possibly can. But he cannot be harmed. Farmer is really sailing into heavy waters here, and does a tremendous job of keeping the story afloat. He develops it one step at a time, logically following through on what he has begun. This is certainly one of his better efforts from the the 70s! 

 

A nice addition to the volume is the brilliant story by "Tincrowdor" called Osiris on Crutches. Even if for some reason you do not like the main stories, you must read this one and acknowledge a master storyteller at the height of his powers.

**** stars. Reviewed June 7th/17

THE GRAND ADVENTURE

Cover art by Mike Kaluta

Published in 1984, this beautiful volume is 327 pages long. It contains 7 stories, many of which are novellas, each one preceded by an intro by Farmer. In addition, there is a short autobiographical essay by Farmer, as well as an intro to the Farmer World's Fair, as he pays a visit to the five pavilions within. The pavilions are Space, Psychology, Adventure, Tiers, and Mythology, and the book's stories are grouped into these five categories. And, last but not least, the volume is richly illustrated by a number of artists, including Kaluta, Robert Bould, Pat Ortega, Alex Nino, David Johnson, Angelwine, and Ed Verraux. 

 

The Shadow of Space is from 1967, and is 44 pages long. There are two stories in this volume that farmer pitched personally to Gene Roddenberry as possible Star Trek episodes. Both were rejected by the producer because his maiden aunt in Iowa wouldn't understand the story, and the effects would be too expensive. So Farmer reworked the stories for publication and came up with two masterpieces. 

 

Though the names are changed, including that of the ship, it's easy to imagine when reading this first story that it is a Star Trek adventure. And what an adventure! It likely would have been the best episode ever, or even better as a feature film. The star ship ends up escaping the boundary of the universe when it is suddenly catapulted into nothingness by traveling at over 300,000 times the speed of light. The ship changes shape, and the whole scenerio is affected by the body of a woman now floating in space. This is a very good story!

**** stars. Reviewed July 18th/17 

 

A Bowl Bigger Than Earth also comes from 1967, and is 32 pages long, including the intro by Farmer and the illustrations. It is somewhat reminiscent of the opening scenes of Riverworld, though vastly different. Religion plays a large role here, as it does in several other Farmer tales. Farmer can sometimes write material that is so different that one is at a loss to really describe it, or even rate it. It will leave an odd taste in your mouth.

*** stars. Reviewed July 18th/17. Reread April 1st/18. 

 

Sketches Among The Ruins of My Mind is the second story reworked from a failed Star Trek pitch. Once again, it is a superb piece of writing, and would have made a wonderful feature film. Instead of taking place on the Enterprise, Farmer changes things and has the events occur on Earth. The story is from 1974, and is 66 pages long. 

 

An alien sphere arrives and goes into permanent orbit around the Earth. Each night at local time 2 am, people fall asleep no matter where they are or what they are doing. When they awaken, four days have passed and they have no memory of it. The first time there are air disasters, car crashes, etc. When it continues to happen, the four previous days are always forgotten. This adds up. People continue to age physically, but their minds retrograde four days each night. Soon there are children who have bodies of ten years of age but minds of babbling babies. And on it goes.

Like any good Star Trek episode, there is an eventual solution. And like any good Star Trek episode, there is a heavy price to pay. An amazing story.

**** stars. Reviewed July 18th/17 

 

The Sliced-Crosswise Only-On-Tuesday World is from 1971, and is 38 pages long. It is our introduction to Farmer's Dayworld Trilogy, to be reviewed soon on my other Farmer page (#7 in the Equinox series). People, due to overcrowding, are allowed to live for only one day each week. We follow a man who lives on Tuesdays. He falls in love with a woman he sees in her stasis chamber. She is from Wednesday, so they can never meet. He begins the very long, involved process of changing his day over to Wednesday. The story is filled with irony, and is actually a very cruel one. Good stuff from Farmer, with more to come in Dayworld.

*** stars. Reviewed July 18th/17 

 

After King Kong Fell was written in 1973, and read aloud at a SF convention in Kansas City. It is 14 pages long. In typical Farmer fashion, we find out that King Kong was real, and the hero of our story, now a grandpa, was there in the theater when Kong broke out. He was a thirteen year old boy, and the story and aftermath are told from his perspective. Great fun! A special guest appearance by Doc Savage, too.

*** stars. Reviewed July 19th/17 

 

Totem and Taboo is from 1954, and was first reviewed here in The Celestial Blueprint story collection, above. It is 18 pages long, including the essay by Farmer. Because it had been a while, I reread it. It is a good story, amusing and of course very original. A man tries to give up drinking at the request of his feline-like girlfriend. Seeing a psychiatrist is of some help. Short and fun.

*** stars. Reviewed again July 19th/17 

 

The Adventure of the Three Madmen is the final story in this volume. It is a rewrite of The Adventures of the Peerless Peer (see review in Wold Newton section, below), published first in this volume (1984). The Burroughs estate would not grant permission to republish the original, so Farmer eliminated Tarzan and inserted Mowgli instead. The original was quite good, but this version is better. For one thing, it is shorter and tighter. The original was a short novel, at 128 pages. This version, including illustrations by Kaluta (three of them) and the intro by Farmer, runs to 95 pages. It is essentially the same story as Peerless Peer, as Holmes and Watson fly to Egypt in 1916 to stop an old foe of Holmes from selling a bacterial weapon to be used against the world. Highly recommended, and very funny.

***1/2 stars. Reviewed July 20th

UP THE BRIGHT RIVER

Cover art by Bob Eggleton


My best attempt at scanning the full size hardcover jacket of Bob Eggleton's incredible art.

From 2010 comes this posthumously published book of stories by Farmer. Though I have read many of these stories in other collections, I will read most of this book and change any earlier reviews that need changing. It is 333 pages long, and includes an introduction by Gary Wolfe. There are no story introductions. There are a lot of typos, something that really affects my view of a book. Are there no longer any good editors out there? I love the feel of the book, and really like the cover painting. 

 

Attitudes: For an updated review of this John Carmody story, see under Father To The Stars, above. 

 

How Deep The Grooves is from 1963, and is 12 pages long. The story is new to me. It'a a creepy Twilight Zoneish tale about a man trying to instill loyalty to the State into people before they are born. The ending is twisty and scary. A good read.

*** stars. Reviewed March 31st/18 

 

The Blasphemers is from 1964, and is 28 pages long. Alien college-aged kids form a group to reject the god of their parents and society. Even a whisper of blasphemy is enough to be put to death. When the gang is caught desecrating a religious heroes site, they are taken to the police station and given an ultimatum. They head off into space to carry on a secret project for the unbelievers. While out exploring the galaxy they come across Earth the late 19th C. They stumble upon the pyramids and the Sphinx, and get a might big shock. This is well written and fun to read, and yet again keeps religion firmly in Farmer's sights.

*** stars. Reviewed March 31st/18 

 

A Bowl Bigger Than Earth is from 1967, and is 18 pages long. Reviewed in The Grand Adventure, above. 

 

Down In The Black Gang is from 1969, and is 20 pages long. The Universe is a vast starship, and requires Thrust Potential (TP), which is provided by sentient beings of a very special, loving sort. Mecca Mike is one of the black gang, the crew that stokes and feeds the mighty engines. He is rushed to California to try and give the mothership some badly needed thrust potential. His job is essentially to steer events in a certain way to allow for the strong possibility that one of the humans will develop TP. I'm not certain if the exaggerated domestic scenes Farmer writes about are very funny or just very tragic, but for anyone who has ever endured life in an apartment building, the scenes will seem somewhat familiar. Fun to read.

*** stars. Reviewed April 1st/18 

 

Voice of The Sonar In My Vermiform Appendix is from 1971, and is 8 pages long in this edition.. It is reviewed in Riverworld and Other Stories, above. 

 

Father's In The Basement is from 1972, and is 8 pages long in this edition. See The Book of P.J. Farmer, above. 

 

Toward the Beloved City is from 1972, and is 20 pages long in this edition. See The Book of P.J. Farmer, above. 

 

Skinburn is from 1972, and is 14 pages in this edition. See The Book of P.J. Farmer, above. 

 

The Sumerian Oath is from 1972, and is 6 pages long. See The Book of P.J. Farmer, above. 

 

Extracts From The Memoirs of Lord Greystoke is from 1974, and is 40 pages long. Of interest only to people who are totally into Burroughs' "Tarzan" stories. Even though I grew up reading them, and loved them, I still think Farmer sometimes pushes things way too far. His attempt to make us believe that Greystoke wrote memoirs, and that they were in turn edited by Farmer, is on one hand brilliant and on another hand somewhat sad. Farmer obviously put much effort into the histories he wrote and researched not just on Tarzan, but also Doc Savage. Perhaps too much effort. Still, obviously he really enjoyed these romps through a fantasy history, and to a point they are fun to read. For some.

** 1/2 stars. 

 

The Two-Edged Gift is from 1974, and is 26 pages long in this edition. See my previous review under Stations of The Nightmare, above. 

 

St. Francis Kisses His Ass Goodbye is from 1989, and is 16 pages long. St. Francis is brought 800 years into the future, and is horrified and shocked at what he sees, unable to figure out what type of place it is. It is an adult tale, and has sex and violence. It is also a very good story. Farmer seems anything but an animal lover in most of his stories, though a few instances come through here to prove otherwise. Still, there is a shocking scene when Francis and his short-lived donkey first arrive in the modern city. Like many of Farmer's stories, this one is filled with originality and a unique perspective.

*** stars. Reviewed April 3rd/18 

 

Crossing The Dark River is from 1992, and is 42 pages long in this edition. See the second Farmer page for all material related to Riverworld. 

 

Up The Bright River is from 1993, and is 32 pages long. See the Riverworld reviews on my second Farmer page. 

 

Coda is from 1993, and is 12 pages long. See the Riverworld reviews on my second Farmer page.

PEARLS FROM PEORIA

Published in 1996, this is a vast hardcover compendium of all things Farmer. It's 773 pages are divided into ten sections.

Not only is this the longest book of the project so far, but it is the most complex to review as well. The only other book that comes close to it in scope is Maps, by John Sladek. That book needs a better write up, and will eventually get one. Pearls From Peoria is one of the best books I have ever read. It is not only a must read for Farmer fans, but for anyone who thinks Farmer is not among the top rank of writers. Highly, highly, highly recommended reading! 

 

Myths and Paramyths

 

Nobody's Perfect is from 1991, and is 12 pages long. There is an illustration by Charles Berlin.

This is a modern-day vampire story, and one of the best! It is funny and scary and ultra-realistic, and not to be missed. The ending is abrupt.

**** stars. Reviewed May 28th/18 

 

Wolf, Iron, and Moth is also from 1991, and is also 12 pages long. It is also illustrated by Charles Berlin (see middle image of the cover scan for a detail of it). This is a modern-day werewolf story. While not quite as original as the vampire one, it manages to continue the werewolf legend, and adds some humour by having the afflicted doctor as a subscriber to Werewolf World magazine! The ending is wonderful.

*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed may 28th/18 

 

Evil, Be My Good is from 1990 (also published 1991) and is 12 pages long. There is an illustration by Charles Berlin. This is Farmer's retelling of the Frankenstein story, as we learn the real truth behind the monster created by Mary Shelley. Farmer is so good at this type of thing, and it has been so long since I have seen him undertake such a project. Some fun and creative work, and it serves as a nice recap of the original story.

*** stars. Reviewed May 28th/18 

 

Mother Earth Wants You is from 1972, and is 14 pages long. In a future time of goddess worship on Earth, old gods lay sleeping, with one eye half open. Alas, the goddess' eyes are wide open.

** 1/2 stars. reviewed May 29th/18 

 

Opening The Door is from 1973, and is 8 pages long. A 17 year old boy lies in a coma in a research hospital. He has no arms or legs. His brain is wired for research, and the boy seems to be able to make contact with life from a different dimension. Lovecraftian in outlook, the story ends with chaos and destruction as powerful forces are released.

*** stars. reviewed May 29th/18 

 

The Wounded is from 1954, and is 5 pages long. The story depends on a surprise ending, so I won't give it away. However, there are enough clues along the way to figure out what is going on. Farmer is in a light-hearted mood.

*** stars. 

 

Heel is from 1960, and is 12 pages long. It is a very funny account of the Trojan War, and certainly one of the most original. A laugh a minute if you know the basic story of the Illiad.

**** stars. reviewed May 29th/18 

 

Ralph Von Wau Wau

 

A Scarletin Study is from 1973, and is 26 pages long. This is the first story starring Ralph the detective dog. Written in the same tradition as early detective stories, Ralph is as smart as Sherlock Holmes, solving cases by using deduction and intellect. He acquires his Watson in the form of Dr. Weisstein, and they work together to solve the crime of the missing artist. The story is funny and brilliant, and like the Conan Doyle stories there are hints of many other cases to be reported and published. Alas that Farmer never wrote many of these wonderful tales.

**** stars. reviewed May 29th/18 

 

The Doge Whose Barque Was Worse Than His Bight is from 1976, and is 38 pages long. This is the second and final Von Wau Wau story written by Farmer, though many other adventures are alluded to. Farmer pretended to write under the name of Jonathan Swift Somers III. This adventure takes place in Venice, as Ralph and Weisstein are captured by an arch-criminal who plans to steal the treasures of the city. The two heroes are aided by a third person, Cordwainer Bird. Though not as side-splitting as Scarletin Study, it is still a pretty funny story. The main portion is written in classic adventure pulp fiction style, something Farmer does well.

*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed May 30th/18 

 

Jonathan Swift Somers III: Cosmic Traveller In A Wheelchair is from 1977, and is 9 pages long. It purports to be a biographical sketch of the author of the two Von Wau Wau stories. Farmer loved this sort of false history, which would become the basis for his entire Wold Newton universe.

*** stars. Reviewed May 30th/18 

 

Lost Futures

 

Seventy Years of Decpop is from 1972, and is 44 pages long. Imagine if the birth rate on Earth suddenly was drastically reduced. Very drastically. Only 1 in 20,000 was fertile. What effect would that have on civilization? Farmer writes a very good novelette on just such a topic, and his thesis would bear fruit for much discussion among sociologists and anthropologists, and even amongst us ordinary mortals.

 

The story begins on Day 1, when news breaks of the tragedy, and continues for 70 years, following the fortunes of one Jackson Canute, the prosperous and successful owner and manager of a baby food company. As the population continues to decline, Farmer follows the Earth's fortunes (from a North American perspective) for 70 years. Thus 70 years of declining population (decpop). Pretty interesting stuff, with little or no sensationalism. Lots of fun predictions from 1972, including 24 hour news and the disappearance of print journalism; caller i.d on phones, and how to deal with abandoned cities (think Detroit).

**** stars. Reviewed May 31st/18

 

Fundamental Issue is from 1976, and is 24 pages long. A supreme Court judge is having great inner wrestlings with an issue he will soon have to vote upon. His indecision is accompanied by a bad bout of constipation. Farmer explores American Constitution issues in this thoughtful tale, not without some heavy doses of humour, and more than a passing nod to Leo Queequeg Tincrowder, distant cousin (in Farmer's unique world) of Jonathan Swift Somers III.

*** stars. Reviewed May 31st/18

 

Some Fabulous Yonder is from 1963, and is 44 pages long. Another very good novelette, this one deals with a vastly superior intelligence guiding a planet out of our galaxy and towards Andromeda. Military ships have been dispatched, but they did not return. One man who did make it back went stark raving mad. Humans have more or less been leaving things alone, until an arch-criminal decides he wants to go there and gain ultimate power. Good luck to him. Agent Raspold is assigned the job of catching him. Interesting that Raspold was in pursuit of John Carmody (see Father To The Stars), who was on the lam after murdering his wife. However, once Carmody surrendered to authorities, agent Raspold was reassigned.

 

The title refers to a planet that is largely unexplored and unsettled, at the far limits of Earth's influence. This is a great little story that takes us to Planet Diveboard, 180,000 light years from Earth, and at the very edge of our galaxy. The action then moves to the rogue planet, and we learn some, but not all, of the secrets of the omnipotent alien intelligence. Recommended.

*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 1st/18

 

The Planet Pickers is from 1963, and is 14 pages long. It was previously unpublished. It is an early version of Some Fabulous Yonder, but incomplete. It is an interesting inclusion to the volume, and includes a few notes to self from the author.

** stars. Reviewed June 1st/18

 

The Terminalization of J. G. Ballard is previously unpublished, and is 5 pages long. No date is given. I have not read anything by Ballard as of this writing, but his time is approaching. However, in this very funny sketch by Farmer, I feel as if I almost know him.

** 1/2 stars. reviewed June 1st/18

 

Psychological Tales

 

The Blind Rowers is from 1967, and is 12 pages long. A virtuous woman is assaulted on board a yacht, and is pushed overboard. The man drives the boat away, leaving her 15 miles from land. She swims all night and comes to an island. However, it is inhabited by fanatical monks who will not allow her to land. Farmer often has something to say about hypocrisy, and these strict Christian monks are the highest level of hypocrites. Published in Knight, a glossy girlie magazine. One wonders what effect it had on male readers of the time, as it is clearly on the woman's side. A pretty good story.

*** stars. Reviewed June 2nd/18

 

Hunter's Moon has never been published before; it was one of the 4 or 5 stories Farmer wrote before selling his first story. It is a dark tale of small town hypocrisy, as a male teacher at the local high school doesn't seem to share the same upright family values as those around him. He is being persecuted for allowing students to do an anonymous survey on sexual habits for a university research project. As everyone in town knows, their kids want nothing to do with sex. Another good story. Good luck to the teacher involved.

*** stars. Reviewed June 2nd/18

 

The Rise Gotten is previously unpublished, and is 14 pages long. It is a rather gross and distasteful story of an older, very hen-pecked man who can't seem to stand up to his hard drinking, sex-loving wife. Until he finally does. Not my type of story, and I can see why it was rejected by Robert Bloch for a collection he was putting together.

** stars. Reviewed June 2nd/18

 

The Good Of The Land was written in 1955, but first published in 2002. Frederik Pohl rejected it back in the day. It is 3 pages long. The old President is sick and dying, and a new and younger man is ready to step into his shoes. The strong Pagan roots of this story were influenced by Farmer's reading of the Golden Bough at the time.

** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 2nd/18

 

O'Brien and Obrenov comes from 1946, and was Farmer's first story accepted for publication. It is 18 pages long. It is a somewhat ridiculous story of the capture of a German officer, and whether or not he belongs to the Russians or the Americans.

** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 2nd/18

 

Doc Savage

 

Writing Doc's Biography was written in 1974, the year Farmer's book came out about the pulp hero. It is 7 pages long. Farmer explains a bit about the book to readers.

*** stars. Reviewed June 2nd/18

 

Savage Shadow is from 1977, and is 44 pages long. Farmer comes up with an idea that explains how Kenneth Robeson, pen name for the author of the Doc Savage adventures, came up with the idea for writing the series. This is a great novelette; my only regret is the drunk driving scene.

*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 4th/18 

 

Doc Savage and the Cult of the Blue God is from circa 1975, and is 42 pages long. Farmer wrote a script and full scenario for the proposed sequel to the Doc savage movie from the 1970s. The movie bombed (for good reason), but Farmer's script is a winner all the way. Had it been made as offered (unlikely, knowing Hollywood), it likely would have been a big blockbuster hit. Fun to read, and to ponder the finished movie. Perhaps someday....

*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 5th/18

 

The Monster On Hold is from 1983, and is 11 pages long. Doc Savage (Caliban) meets Cthulu, as Farmer outlines the next novel he planned for the series where Doc and Tarzan fight the Nine. He outlines the story, then gives us a chapter. Lots of dark caves filled with nasty things.

** 1/2 stars. reviewed June 6th/18

 

Tarzan and ERB

 

The Princess of Terra is previously unpublished, and is 5 pages long. It is a humourous account of John Carter's first Martian adventure, given by a reviewer of the novel. Except that the hero is Martian, and is transported to Earth, as written about by a Martian. The writer, "Charlotte Corday-Marat," does her best to make Earth sound livable, and the adventures probable. However, the Martian reviewer of the story take exception to a lot of the description of Earth found in the tale, saying that current science knows that Earth could never be as described. Good fun!

*** stars. Reviewed June 6th/18

 

The Golden Age and The Brass is from 1956, and is 4 pages long. Farmer pays tribute to Burroughs and wonders why his own son is turning out so different. Written way back for the Burroughs Bulletin. This tells us more about Farmer than about Burroughs, and is quite a fun thing to read. I was twelve when I discovered Burroughs, and loved every page of his that I read.

*** stars. Reviewed June 6th/18

 

The Arms of Tarzan is from 1970, and is 16 pages long. Farmer discusses his invention (discovery!) of Tarzan's family coat of arms. This is a lecture he gave at a banquet on Burrough's day, and recaps his research from Tarzan Alive, his biography of the ape man. There were some parts of that otherwise great book that put me to sleep, and this is one of them. I find it tedious, though I am happy that Farmer got such thrills from this kind of thing.

** stars. Reviewed June 6th/18

 

The Two Lord Ruftons is from 1971, and is 3 pages long. Farmer wrote this for the Baker Street Journal, uncovering the family history of Lady Frances Carfax. On the dry side, but at least it's short.

** stars. Reviewed June 6th/18

 

A Reply to "The Red Herring" is from 1971, and is 5 pages long. More eye-watering stuff about Tarzan's birth date. Yawn.

** stars. Reviewed June 7th/18

 

The Great Korak Time Discrepancy is from 1972, and is 10 pages long. Burroughs has some serious errors with the birth of Korak in his novels. Some people think this is somehow important. I don't. An interesting article nonetheless, but I'd rather read a Korak story.

** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 7th/18

 

The Lord Mountford Mystery is from 1972, and is 4 pages long. Farmer attempts to link characters from a Tarzan story to one by H. Rider Haggard. A thrill a minute. Not.

** stars. Reviewed June 7th/18

From ERB to Ygg is from 1973. Farmer traces Burroughs' family history back to Odin. Good grief! There are even charts to "prove" it. This hobby of Farmer became quite the obsession. Fun anyway.

** 1/2 stars. reviewed June 7th/18

 

A Language For Opar is from 1974, and is 5 pages long. Farmer discusses the first meeting between Tarzan and La, and tries to determine how they actually understood one another. It is likely (my theory) that a lot of sign language was used, in addition to the few words they had in common through their common knowledge of the language of the Mangani. Don't read this stuff late at night.

** 1/2 stars.

 

The Purple Distance is from 1973, and is previously unpublished. It is 6 pages long. It is a foreword to an edition of Hiawatha. in which Farmer talks at least as much about Tarzan as about Hiawatha. Certainly of interest to Farmer buffs.

** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 7th/18

 

PJF on SF

 

The Source of The River is from 1975, and is 3 pages long. Farmer discusses his influences for the first Riverworld story.

*** stars. Reviewed June 7th/18

 

A Rough Knight For The Queen is from 1953, and was previously unpublished. It is 52 pages long, making it the longest story in this volume. It is Farmer's biographical sketch of Sir Richard Burton. If any further proof was needed that truth is stranger than fiction, than reading about Burton's adventures in Africa should supply it. Required reading for lovers of adventure stories.

**** stars. Reviewed June 7th/18

 

The Journey As The Revelation Of The Unknown is from 1988, and is 5 pages long. Farmer did the entry on The Journey for the New Encyclopedia of SF, and did a good job of summarizing the literature to date. However, I am very perplexed at why Tolkien's Lord of The Rings wasn't mentioned. It's one of the greatest journeys in literature, and though not SF, it certainly attracted enough SF readers. The Odyssey isn't SF, either, but a lot of SF readers have read it.

**** stars. Reviewed June 8th/18

 

The Joses From Rio is from 1969, and is 7 pages long. It is an obscure article Farmer wrote after a journey to Rio for their 2nd annual International Film Festival. The big attraction was Jonathon Harris, Dr. Smith from Lost In Space. Farmer has a bit of an epiphany on the trip, and writes well about how the journey has changed him, and likely his future writing. Must reading for Farmer fans.

**** stars. Reviewed June 8th/18

 

Getting A-Long With Heinlein is from1974, and is 7 pages long. Farmer gives a thumbs up review of Heinlein's Time Enough For Love, a sequel to the much earlier Methuselah's Children. Richard Lupoff reportedly gave the book a bad review, and Farmer proves why Lupoff is so wrong. It is also a great article for the way it discusses several other important authors.

*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 8/18

 

God's Hat is from 1981, and is a short discussion on the author Robert Anton Wilson. It is 2 pages long. I have not read any books by Wilson, but I have now added him to my "must read" list.

*** stars. Reviewed June 8th/18

 

To Forry Ackerman, The Wizard Of Sci-Fi is from 1974, and is 4 pages long. Farmer put this king of SF fans into two of his novels, and here pays tribute to a man I would have loved to have met! Why does Farmer call Forry a wizard? Read and find out!

**** stars. Reviewed June 8th/18

 

Pornograms and Supercomputers is from 1984, and is 2 pages long. Farmer discusses a new work by Stanislaw Lem. Very good reading.

*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 8th/18

 

A Review of Chrysalis is from 1978, and is 3 pages long. Farmer reviews a SF omnibus, taking particular issue with the writer of book blurbs.

*** stars. Reviewed June 8th/18

 

Review of The Promethus Project is from 1970, and is 2 pages long. A book from a respected author discusses the need for humans to formulate long-term goals, rather than accept new developments and then see how they might work for us. Farmer does exploit a major flaw in the writing, and this is to our benefit. His review is perhaps too generous.

** stars. Reviewed June 8th/18

 

Review of How The Wizard Came To Oz is from 1992, and is 1 page long. Farmer reminds me over and over again why I should read all the Oz books. I have only read the first one.

** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 8th/18

 

Oft Have I Travelled is from 1969, and is a review of a new detective book by August Derleth. I had never heard of Solar Pons, Derleth's tribute to Sherlock Holmes. He wrote more stories about his detective than Doyle did about his. I will be looking into these soon! (I have, and they are every bit as good as Doyle!).

*** stars. Reviewed June 8th/18

 

White Whales, Raintrees, Flying Saucers... is from 1954, and is 2 pages long. Farmer tries to defend SF as literature. Good luck. As for me, I'm as happy to read SF as I am to read Hamlet or Macbeth.

** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 8th/18

 

If R.I.P. is from 1986, and is 3 pages long. If Magazine was edited by Fred Pohl. Farmer had many stories published here, and thanks to Pohl's advice and willingness to publish the start of it, we have Farmer's Riverworld series, in a better form than Farmer had conceived of it. A short but nice eulogy.

** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 8th/18

 

The Tin Woodman Slams The Door is from 1954, and is 2 pages long. Farmer grows up and finds that Oz isn't as magical anymore, at least for a time. He eventually, like all of us, finds his way back again.** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 9th/18

 

Witches and Gnomes and Animals, Oh My is from 1985, and is 2 pages long. It is a micro-essay on the Baum books, and an appreciation of them. Nothing to see here.

** stars. Reviewed June 9th/18

 

Suffer A Witch To Live is from 1992, and is 6 pages long. It is the foreword to a book of short stories about witches. Farmer gives a sympathetic defence of witches, outlining the cruel harassment they still undergo today from fundamentalist Christians. He did not contribute a story this time, though he did stories for the volumes on vampires and werewolves. After reading his introduction, I wish he had written an enlightened tale about witches, and how they managed to save the baby Jesus (or something).

*** stars. Reviewed June 9th/18

 

Poems

 

8 short poems are published in this brief section. I did not review them, though I do like them. Worth reading for Farmer fans, but not necessary for poetry buffs.

Discussed June 9th/18

 

PJF on PJF 

 

Maps And Spasms is from 1981, and is 34 pages long. Farmer wrote a short autobiography up to around 1950 (he was born in 1918), and it makes for pretty interesting reading for fans. If there is one lesson to be learnt from successful writers, it's that you have to keep sending your material out there, until a kindred spirit recognizes the talent behind the words and finally decides to print it. Farmer is brutally honest about his early years, perhaps too much so. Not sure I really needed to know his frequent need to urinate due to tension, and his having a small bladder, or his thoughts on masturbation (though these are amusing). Farmer had planned to write a second part, but never did.

*** 1/2 stars. reviewed June 10th/18

 

Religion and Myths is from 1977, and is 2 pages long. Farmer's thoughts are brief, and no surprise if you have just read his autobiography (see above). It makes interesting reading for a man who has written not only the John Carmody stories, but also Flesh, and Jesus On Mars.

** 1/2 stars. Reviewed June 10th/18

 

Creating Artificial Worlds is a speech he once gave in 1979. It is 11 pages long. While it is a mostly interesting how-to for writers, it offers unique insights into Farmer's education and ways of using and expanding it. He illustrates his talk using his novel Two Hawks From Earth. Again, there is no mention of Tolkien, the ultimate and best of the world creators. Farmer is totally silent on the great fantasy writer. It is like a modern composer who is silent on his thoughts of Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart. Strange.

*** stars. Reviewed June 10th/18

 

Phonemics is from 1976, and is 2 pages long. Farmer discusses the art of spelling by how a word sounds. A pretty funny article, and it does show several weaknesses in the grand scheme. Pretty interesting.

*** stars. Reviewed June 11th/18

 

Lovers And Otherwise is from 1953, and is 10 pages long. Farmer discusses his recently published novel The Lovers, and tells us how it came into print. This is something that should be incorporated into a new publication of the work. Enlightening.

*** stars. Reviewed June 11th/18

 

A Fimbulwinter Introduction is from 1976, and is 2 pages long. It is a very brief autobiographical sketch, and fun to read.

*** stars. Reviewed June 11th/18

 

On A Mountain Upside Down is from 1960, and is 7 pages long. Farmer talks of his love for the Arizona desert, and one experience he enjoyed while there. Written for Argosy magazine, it is a great little essay, expanding on Farmer the man.

**** stars. Reviewed June 11th/18

 

On PJF 

This section is from 2006, and discusses the origins of the present volume, and how it came together. It is written by two fans who spearheaded the project. I am glad this was included, and Farmer lovers owe a huge debt of gratitude to these, and many other people, for this incredible book.

Unrated. Read June 11th/18

 

The Artwork and The Artists

 

Four artists, all Farmer fans, provide welcome illustrations throughout the book, and each of them gets to say something at the back of the book. This section is 7 pages long.

Photo Montages

 

The final section contains 2 pages of very small photos of Farmer.

Book completed June 11th, 2018. Overall rating ***1/2 stars.

THE NOVELS 

 

 THE GREEN ODYSSEY

Cover art by R. M. Powers

The Green Odyssey is one of those great adventure books that had I discovered it at 16 years of age would have read it least twenty times by now! First published in 1957, this was Farmer's first novel in print. Though short by today's 600-page standard, its small printed 152 pages is still an epic. There is great storytelling going on here, with fleshed out characters (including children), wonderful settings, nail-biting adventures, and a truly great imagination unleashed, but under full control of the author.

 

The title is also a fine one, as it refers both to the travels of its hero, Alan Green, and to his journey across the great expanse of green, grassy plains. This book has everything I love in an adventure-fantasy, with some great SF elements thrown in. There is the starting point "A", the finishing point "B", and the event-laden journey between. At "A" we learn that Alan Green was a passenger on a space liner that crashed. He was the only survivor. He made his way to an alien city and was made a slave. He gradually worked his way up in the world, to where life is somewhat bearable for the time being. Then he hears about another space ship that has crashed in distant city "B", and the adventure is on! With wife and five or six kids in tow, he is off to the new city where two astronauts are being held prisoner. They are his only way home.

 

There are so many great moments and great ideas in this novel! The ships that sail across endless grassy plains are probably the finest of them all. We get to ride along on the adventure of a lifetime! Of course there are caves with secrets in them, along with primitive cannibals. And Alan makes a very special friend along the way, Lady Luck. There are surprises aplenty near the finish, too, as Alan has to outwit the entire city at point "B." This is the kind of planet that most writers today would have written sixteen novels about, and counting. Farmer only wrote one, and that saddens me. A sequel is almost demanded, but was never written.

 

This is high adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard. A joy to read!

**** stars. Reviewed August 2nd, 2016

FLESH

Cover art uncredited.

I really liked this book. I have come to expect religious themes in many of Farmer's novels, and this one was no exception. The main difference is that here the religion is fertility Paganism, in all of its lusty glory! The book is a must read for anyone interested in early European Paganism. Only this one has a somewhat futuristic twist. It first appeared in Galaxy in 1960. This edition is from 1969 and is 161 pages long.

A space ship and crew return from a multi-year mission to the stars, looking for habitable planets suitable for colonization. However, when they return to Earth things have changed drastically, since 800 years have passed there. The tall and handsome captain is turned into a demi-god by the local cult in Washington, and the game is on. Do not let the introduction put you off. The book is not really about one long, continuous sex orgy (drat!). Once the initial chapter is done, things cool down a bit and the plot and characters quickly take over.

It is interesting how Farmer uses a powerful male fantasy (unlimited sex with unlimited virgins) to show the flaws of lust and the folly of such wishes. Stagg, our captain hero, is now equipped with grafted-on horns, and every night they pump chemicals into him that make him lose his mind and become sexually over-stimulated. He goes on a nightly sexual rampage, with willing young girls to impregnate, thus helping to restore the population, which was decimated by war, famine and disease. The main character is likeable, and it does not take long to sympathize with his predicament.

Though the book is not without its share of very dark humour (baseball of the future, for one instance) it has a very serious side to it as well. One of the crewman, for instance, is an old-tyme religious zealot who simply cannot adjust to the new reality, eventually going quite mad and meeting a horrific end.

There are many plot threads, and Farmer does a fantastic job of keeping us interested in all of them, and then tying them all neatly together for a terrific ending. This is definitely a book for lovers of adult SF. Recommended. It has some flaws (Farmer seems obsessed with people fighting bears and killing them, along with other attack animals), but is really quite a gem.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed Sept. 30th/16 

THE LOVERS

Cover art by Richard Powers
When is the last time you read a great novel that cost 35c??

In 1952 Farmer stunned the SF community with his novella about sexual relations between two different species, an earth man and an alien woman. This was definitely a first! It won him the Hugo Award that year. In 1961 Ballantine published an expanded, revised version by the author, and that is the version that I read. It is 160 pages long.To date this is one of the best SF novels I have ever read. Many authors from the 1950s are able to capture the claustrophobic feelings that people had back then; a feeling that the world might end at any time, and that they had little or no control over any of it. Overpopulation, then as now, was an important concept to deal with, as was a very strict, religious regime having ultimate power over the people.

The Lovers brilliantly captures the worst of religion and leadership, and the lengths to which humans will go to impose their right to eminent domain. The way Farmer gradually deprograms the hero (Hal Yarrow)) is believable and fascinating, as is his very extensive scientific explanations of alien bio-chemistry. This is one very well-thought out book. The language issues are also pure Farmer, and we get a fascinating link to a story about Rastignac (the Devil), which I read and reviewed in his The Celestial Blueprint collection (see above).

The actual contact between the two lovers, Hal and Jeanette, is by far the best and most fascinating part of the novel (160 pages), as we witness Hal's severely ingrained repressions trying to deal with a free spirit like Jeanette. This is a novel that still has much to say to a modern reader, and to a world that really isn't that far away from some of the more dire predictions.


The original appearance of The Lovers, from 1952. Note that 10 years later, when the stand alone novel was published, it was only 10c more than the pulp magazine!

I devoured this novel, unable to put it down. Definitely worth seeking out. I had to find my copy on Amazon, but I am very glad that I did. It also ties in to a followup novel, A Woman a Day, also expanded from a short story (see below).
**** stars. Reviewed Sept. 13th/16

A WOMAN A DAY

Cover artist unknown.

 

Original novella publication from 1953.

A Woman A Day is a terrible title for this book. It was also published as Timestop, and even The Day of Timestop. These are all pretty bad titles. The original title was called Moth and Rust (they both eat away at things), which seems the best fit of the four. However, there is a very important difference between the novella and the later expansion. In the original, the women used to destabilize the Haijac Union are smuggled in from Ozagen, the planet where much of the action from The Lovers occurs. But in the remake, the women are now genetically altered, and are from earth. Confusing enough. Even worse, A Woman a Day is called a sequel to The Lovers, when in fact it is actually a prequel. The first paperback edition came out in 1968. My edition is from 1980, and is 220 pages long.

A Woman a Day takes place 350 years before the events in The Lovers. Thus, no Ozagen. Earth has the same social setup as The Lovers, with most of the citizens cowering under the strict lifestyle of the Sturch (State Church). Our hero is Dr. Leif Barker, a brain surgeon working within the society to help overthrow it. The politics are interesting but I won't discuss them here. This is a science fiction novel a) because it is set in the future, and b) because women are being genetically altered. I would be giving away the plot if I said much more about what is happening, but the novel reads very much like a spy story with a difference.

Though Dr. Barker's job was often to seduce women to influence or get information about their husbands, this never really comes out much until the final few pages. We do get a strong feeling that the good doctor is a bit of a lecher. The story opens with a scene in which an enemy female agent is pretending to seduce him, so agents can run in, catch the Dr. in the act, and arrest him. However, the Dr. knows this, gasses the agents in the other room, and proceeds to make love/rape the woman anyway. This is hardly a woman a day.

It is quite a good novel, and I found it difficult to put it down. We encounter two of the other societies in underground Paris, and the climax occurs down there. Though a pretty interesting social system, with a lot of room for further development and adventure, Farmer only wrote three stories involving this part of Earth's future history.

My recommendation is to read Woman a Day first, then the novella Rastignac the Devil (see Celestial Blueprint, above), and finally The Lovers. This makes for a fine trilogy of stories. Farmer was not happy about Rastignac, claiming it had been changed significantly by editors. It is too bad that he never reworked it into a longer piece, like the other two. It makes a really fun series to read, and to reread.
**** stars. Reviewed Dec. 4th/16

CACHE FROM OUTER SPACE

Cover art by Ed Emshwiller.

This is an Ace Double. On the reverse is The Celestial Blueprint, containing four short stories by Farmer (see short story section, above). The novel is from 1962, and is 139 pages long.

On one hand, Cache From Outer Space is a fun book to read. Had I read it when I was 14 I likely would have loved it. Ace Doubles (2 novels in one for 40 cents!!) were a staple of my SF reading career as a teen. However, after penning such a great novel as The Green Odyssey (see above), this one, coming about 4 years later, is a bit of a disappointment.

My major problem with the book is the abrupt ending, a fault of many Ace Doubles. These stories had to be exactly a certain length back in the day (140 pages for the main story, and shorter for the flip side), and there was no such thing as a sequel. So if someone like Farmer got a really good story going, he suddenly had to end it when the time came. Again, this is one of those stories that many contemporary writers could easily wring out to 40 novels or so. Farmer established not just one civilization in such a short novel, but at least four!

As usual, the action is non-stop. A list of main characters is provided at the beginning (there are 6 of them). The main character is Benoni Rider, a young buck who is joining several young tribal members on their initiation into manhood. They must each gain an enemy scalp and return to be inducted as warriors. The lads are 18 when they set out. However, Benoni is given a 2nd task; to find a new land for the tribe, one with better living conditions then the harsh desert near Phoenix.

Farmer does a great job of turning the language from names we are familiar with into post-apocalyptic versions. About two hundred years ago Earth had degenerated into savage and primitive tribalism, due to an interplanetary war with The Hairy Men From Space. Benoni's journey takes him into the heart of the matter. Along the way he encounters and is betrayed by a rival tribal member (Joel Vahndert, and encounters a black blood brother (Zhem), a likeable and very human character.

The reader can experience all of the adventures of a lifetime along with Benoni and Zhem. They eventually come to a great civilization, though one that needs their help. They encounter a strong female leader (yay!), but sadly Farmer eventually turns her into a cliche female, held prisoner by Benoni until she learns to love him and wishes to marry him. Sigh. If she still hates his guts after three months on the trail, I doubt she will change her tune anytime soon.

The actual cache from space, when finally unearthed, is disappointing as all Benoni gets from it is an advanced hand gun, which he uses to decimate both enemy and ally. We learn next to nothing about the aliens whose crashed space ship provides the novel's climax. Farmer left much unsaid, though not through any fault of his at the time. I have been trying to hunt down an updated version of this story, something Farmer often did. Perhaps its ending is not so abrupt.

This is a decent yarn, though badly in need of expansion, especially towards the end. I would say I got my 20 cents worth!
*** stars. Reviewed August 11th/16.

TONGUES OF THE MOON

 

Cover art by Ed Emshwiller

This novel reminds me of the many Ace Double SF stories I read as a teen; good but not completely memorable. On the surface it's an action yarn about how colonies of earth people deal with the ultimate atomic destruction of the Earth. All that is left are the Moon colonies, as well as ones on Mars and Ganymede. Of course hostilities carry on even after the total destruction of Earth and all of its inhabitants, led by two opposing madmen who seem bent on fighting until the last human has been exterminated. Farmer gives us an action-packed novel, no doubt about it, though I do consider it somewhat juvenile overall. It lasts for 143 pages.

First appearance of Tongues of the Moon, 1961

However, being Farmer, he gives us more. Religion is a common theme in his novels, and with good reason, as it is a common theme on Earth. He tries to take into account the religious implications of the war, which seems to involve Latin American Catholics as the evil instigators of the destruction. He also describes how the Hebrew faith manages to carry on, barely. In addition, he manages to fit in how things might have to work if very few women survived a holocaust and a lot of men did.

The hero, Broward, is not exactly a Pacifist, but he is not hell-bent on complete destruction, or following orders blindly. Thanks to his actions, along with a number of unexpected events, the human race might yet stand a slim chance of survival, though not on Earth for several hundred more years. While perhaps not the most thought-provoking SF novel of its time, it's worth a read all the same. Farmer's imagination and skill at handling widely varying scenerios are always worth a look.

*** stars. Reviewed Sept. 29th/16

DARE

 

Cover art by Abbet

This story left me with bad feelings. It is from 1965, and is 159 pages long. Farmer, though not as formula-bound as was Burroughs, still has certain themes that come up again and again in his writing. First of all there is repression, especially sexual. Many of his humans are so sexually repressed that it does strain the imagination--repressing sexual feelings simply does not work very well, and, if attempted, can result in some very unhealthy behaviour. Secondly, he writes frequently about alien women who are beautiful and desirable to a human. They appear just human enough to pass the test, though humans are forbidden to mate with them. Thirdly, Farmer has no qualms about having humans display the worst of themselves. This is, perhaps, only fair. If we want to see the good guys do their thing, then I suppose we must witness the bad guys doing their thing.

However, sometimes the bad things are so bad that they are upsetting to the reader. This short novel could easily be turned into a Western adventure, with settlers clashing with Native Americans, wanting to exterminate them and take all of their land and mineral rights. Turning this theme into a SF novel, where one-time Earthlings who have settled on another planet (Dare) now want to exterminate the natives, they insist that the natives have no souls and that they are animals and not humans. Sound familiar? Slavery. Eminent domain in the American (and Canadian west). Hundreds of other examples abound throughout Earth's history.

I guess the thing that I find upsetting is that there really is no escape from ourselves and our history, and that we are doomed to repeat it. Farmer is absolutely correct about this, and that upsets me. It's always nice to picture humans spreading out across the solar system and the galaxy, but once you realize who we really are and what we are really like, one can only shudder at what is going to eventually happen if and when we do come across life on other worlds. We cannot even take proper care of life forms on our own planet.

I really liked the character of R'li (depicted on the cover). She is the forbidden alien female that Jack Cage, our hero, falls in love with. Jack himself is not such a great hero. Farmer has taken care to avoid the type who is heroic, brave, and predictable in all dangerous situations. Jack is pretty human, being indecisive, not terribly bright, though loyal to his family and his kind. There are many times the reader wishes Jack would speak up, and he doesn't. There are many times that Jack should take some action, and he doesn't. Ed, the most despicable character in the novel, is eventually killed, and in a very surprising way. I approve!

The biggest flaw of the book is likely not the fault of Farmer. It is too short. Things move along at a good pace for perhaps three fourths of the story. Then, suddenly, an entire 2nd novel happens in the final quarter. There is way too much going on, and the story finishes rather abruptly. Even if this story were a hundred pages longer, it would still demand a sequel, and then another. Farmer did not seem to see the possibilities of a story like this, which is odd, since he did write several series. Perhaps he simply wasn't interested enough to continue the saga.

At any rate, this is a story well worth reading, and there is enough action to sustain interest throughout. And there are dragons and unicorns.
*** stars. Reviewed Sept. 20th, 2016

IMAGE OF THE BEAST

Cover art by John Coulthard 

 

This horror/SF/noir/porno novel was written in 1968, and is 174 pages long. The edition I have was published by Creation Books in 2001. My copy came from "Clare County Library." Some poor librarian ordered this pair of stories, likely because they were familiar with P. J. Farmer. However, they were not up to date on what Farmer was creating in these two tales for adults only. The cover might be the first clue, if not the title of the second book. 

 

IMAGE OF THE BEAST makes an interesting departure for the author, though it must have startled many of his faithful readers. I am not a fan of hard-core porn movies, magazines, or stories. They turn me off sex. Soft-core is a whole different thing, and I can usually find something of interest if the extreme elements are toned down to a pleasing eroticism. Call me old-fashioned. The many graphic sex scenes contained in the book detract from an otherwise truly amazing tale, and I continually found myself wishing they would end, and that maybe the final such scene had at last arrived. The opening tells of a snuff movie being shown in a police projection room as evidence, and is truly horrific. If the reader is able to get past that scene, then the rest of the novel will be a breeze. However, that scene likely stopped a lot of Farmer fans from reading on (and probably still does). 

 

Farmer conjures up a very claustrophobic Los Angeles, as it is besieged by the worst air pollution one could ever imagine. There are vivid and realistic descriptions of a city crippled by a dense fog of pollution, affecting everything and everyone. The first half of the story takes place in this unforgiving environment, while the second half, just as claustrophobic, is set in an enormous secluded mansion and its many rooms and secret tunnels. 

 

Herald Childe is a private detective in LA. He happens to have the same name as an autobiographical character from a long poem by Lord Byron. Our hero also happens to look a lot like Byron. Interesting. Mr. Childe is not your ordinary high school dropout gumshoe, but a highly educated man, well-read and well-spoken. He sometimes wished that he had become a professor of History at some small liberal arts college. His detective partner has been kidnapped and murdered, and he sets out on his adventure to find out who did it. 

 

We meet the over-busy LAPD officer who not only has no time to assist him, but mocks Childe for being overly-sensitive to the snuff movie. We meet his ex-wife, Sybil, who also cannot understand why he won't make love to her that same day. Not a lot of empathy coming out of that woman. She later becomes part of the mystery, a part that is never solved. We meet Woolston Heepish, an avid collector of all things affiliated with horror. Books, posters, letters, models, magazines and books occupy every square inch of space in his apartment (and garage), and Childe's visit here is a highlight of the book. Near the end of the novel there is a good indication that Heepish is aware of and involved with what is going on. 

 

And what is going on? Well, a bunch of aliens, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and other shape-shifters are having some pretty disturbing parties in a very secluded mansion on the outskirts of Beverly Hills. Soon, Childe is immersed in a world of horror, magic, and unexpurgated sex. Farmer manages to add some humour to the grimness of the proceedings. At one point Childe is drugged and manages to keep an erection for over a day and a night, along with regularly scheduled ejaculations. It probably doesn't sound too funny, but it's the only light moment in an otherwise grim tale. 

 

I liked the story and found it difficult to put down (except for the over-the-top sex scenes). I look forward to reading the sequel (below).

** 1/2 stars. Adults only. 

 

BLOWN might be Farmer's worst book. Aside from the fact that the sex is nearly unrelenting, graphic, sick beyond words, and hard to stomach, it's still a pretty good read. Penned in 1969, a year after Image of the Beast, it is a direct sequel to that story and is 145 pages long. However, the first one is considerably better. This time we have an unrelenting rain hitting the LA area, and though it figures directly in the climactic scene, it is still a bit overdone and mostly unnecessary. First we had air pollution to the Nth degree; now we have the rains of Ranchipur. Okay, we get it. The world is hopelessly messed up and we are all officially going to pay for it, one way or another. Then why does the hero, Herald Childe, return to Earth at the end, when he could have chosen anywhere in the universe to live? We who live here know why. We're Number 1, right?

 

The plot gets quite silly, as the alien Ogs battle the alien Tocs right here on Earth (really, Philip Jose, that's the best you could do--Ogs vs Tocs?) Fortunately this is a very short novel, one of his shortest. So if the sex scenes are rapidly skimmed, there is not much to read. In between these two porno books Farmer wrote a third one, a Doc Savage vs Tarzan story, the X-rated version (see A Feast Unknown, in the Wold Newton Section, below). Unless you are a Farmer completist, you would do well to give these three tales a miss, especially if you are under 18. 

 

This is unfortunate, as Farmer gives out some nice ideas. Childe turns out to be Lord Byron, a half alien himself, as well as a Pilot. He can transport people anywhere in the universe, including outside our galaxy (the aliens are from Andromeda). This hearkens to the later Dune novels, where the Spice is used to train pilots for interstellar navigation. These aliens use group sex, daisy chain style, to rev up the engines! The alien vs alien theme would also be used in his Wold Newton tale called "The Other Log of Phileas Fogg." 

 

Even the appearance of real life SF fan Forrest J Ackerman cannot save this ship from sinking into the mud. Even though the sex acts are integral to the plot, they do not help tell the best kind of SF story, in my humble opinion. Not recommended.

*1/2 stars. Reviewed Dec. 15th/16

TRAITOR TO THE LIVING

Cover art by Michael Whelan

From 1973 comes the third book of a series starring Harold Childe, private detective. It is 220 pages long. The first two books were porno books (Image of the Beast; Blown--see above). This one is certainly for adults, but is not hampered by the sex scenes that the first two novels encountered. Free from having to have gratuitous, perverse sex, Traitor to The Living is a great read. Farmer is once again at the height of his powers, as Harold takes on a new identity and a new name. The old adventures have become blurred memories, and he hardly thinks of them and barely believes they actually happened (same with me). He blames his lapse on LSD, hinting that Farmer wrote the previous two books under the influence of drugs. Somewhat believable, in my opinion, especially the quite terrible second book, Blown. 

 

Farmer is back to his old magic here, with a straight-forward narrative about a man who has created a machine that can link living people to dead people. For much of the story we are not sure if this is actually true, but we do find out by the end. Gordon Carfax (alias Harold Childe) thinks the machine is tapping into an alien life form, and he has his supporters. Gordon has his first cousin, Patricia (hearkening back to Doc and his cousin?) as his team mate. At one point the two of them go to the movies and see Tarkovsky's version of Solaris. So cool to think that Farmer went to see it (of course he would!) back in the day.

 

Farmer soon kicks things into high gear, and we are off on a wonderful roller coaster adventure of the first magnitude. This one is a real page turner, and fun to read all the way to the last sentence. Without giving the ending away, do not read the last paragraph until you get there. No peeking! This is a great SF story, with depth, breadth, imagination beyond the beyond, and it's good to see the main character in a more traditional narrative setting, rather than the porno books he previously inhabited. Highly recommended!!

**** stars. Reviewed Jan. 30th/17

TWO HAWKS FROM EARTH

Cover art by Boris

Originally published in a shorter version in 1966, the longer version seen here is from 1979, and is 311 pages in length. This isn't the first Farmer book I have read about a man mysteriously transported to another dimension or world or time, and having to deal with the consequences, and it probably won't be the last. Farmer was a great fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and it mostly shows in these types of stories. As a great fan of Burroughs myself, I love these kinds of novels, and Farmer is so damned good at them. Green Odyssey, Cache from Outer Space, Dare, Barnstormer in Oz, Time's Last Gift, and others have very similar plots and situations. A. Merritt was one of the best at this kind of tale, especially Dwellers in the Mirage. I love them all, including the many by Burroughs himself.

This novel began as a shorter work with a different title, first published in 1966. In 1979 Farmer expanded the work and gave it back its original title, which the publishers had changed to Gate of Time, without the author's consent. The expanded version is over 300 pages, and is crammed with adventure. Two Hawks is flying an air raid in WW2 when he is shot down. He and a crew member survive the crash, landing on a parallel earth, one that might have existed millions of years in the past or future. That world is also at war, but without fighter aircraft. Two Hawks becomes valuable to both sides of the war, along with a German pilot that also survived. They began helping one side, and then the other, building basic bomber aircraft. Only dirigibles are used until then.

Of course the book has major differences from those others listed above, but Farmer is so comfortable writing in the pure adventure style by now that we hardly care. In fact, it is sad that he never brought back some of the characters from previous novels, but keeps re-inventing the hero again and again. There is a lot of character and political depth once again, and our man, like his predecessors and followers, has no difficulty learning multiple foreign languages. I really like how he handles the relationship between Two Hawks and the noblewoman Ilmika. It begins like a typical Burroughs relationship, but quickly becomes more complex. Farmer does a good job with this aspect.

He also has a little surprise near the end for the attentive reader! This is another in the Argosy Magazine-style adventures for he-men. I must say I loved it, and would recommend it as such. As an alternate history tale it works, too, but it is mostly high adventure in style. The 300+ pages flew by all too quickly, and the author had enough time to properly end the tale.

***1/2 stars Reviewed Nov. 3rd/16

THE STONE GOD AWAKENS

Cover art by Josh Kirby

Farmer seems to have endless versions of a tale that pits a present day earth man against the elements of past history, future history, or something similar reached via a mysterious gate. And I love every last one of them! It's not the similarities between so many of Farmer's tales that keep me coming back for more, but the differences. He seems to be able to conjure variation after variation on a theme, each of them worth reading and commenting on. This story is from 1970, and is 190 pages long. 

 

In this one, Ulysses Singing Bear (has anyone ever had a better name for a hero??) awakens 20 million years after a 1985 lab experiment goes awry. Try to imagine that, if you please. Farmer borrows a beautiful idea from Rosny's Ironcastle novel (see below) and runs with it. The Great Tree is one of the most amazing ideas ever to arise in fiction, and could spawn a nearly endless series of adventure tales. We have to make do with only this one from Farmer, and it is a great one. Typical ingredients of a first class Farmer adventure yarn are here: dirigibles, bombs, wars, vast amounts of death and destruction--and yet there is time for tenderness, deep thinking, and exploration of some of the most colourful environments ever penned. 

 

Though many of Farmer's single tales cry out for sequels, none do as much as this one. The book ends tersely, like several other of his stories, with much left to accomplish. I suppose if the book had sold a million copies and fans had clamoured for more, Farmer would have obliged. Pity it did not happen. 

 

The evil looking critters on the cover illustration play a key role in the story. In case you hadn't guessed from seeing them, they are not the good guys. At 190 pages of small printing, I wish this book had been more than twice as long. I already miss the Great Tree, and wonder how the far future will turn out. Farmer's imagination outdoes itself in this story.

***1/2 stars. Reviewed November 6th, 2016

 

 

 

THE WIND WHALES OF ISHMAEL

Cover art by Kelly Freas 

For seemingly the fifteenth time, Farmer sends a man through a strange barrier to an alternate version of Earth. This one appears to be in the far future (sound familiar?), but where the mighty oceans have dried up. I don't know how Farmer pulls this sort of thing off time and time again, but he does. From 1971, it is 157 pages long. This short novel begins where Moby Dick left off. Not being a great fan of whale hunting, I have never read that book. However, prior to reading Farmer's "sequel" I read a long on-line plot and character summary. Ishmael was the only survivor of Ahab's ship, and at the end he was rescued by another ship. Suddenly that ship is forced through a time warp (or something) and crashes through the barrier into thin air. Only Ishmael survives the crash landing.

 

He soon meets up with a beautiful high priestess, Burroughs style, and then they go off on an adventure to find her city, and so on. The plot is good, but not the main reason for reading some of Farmer's works. This land (and air) is filled with some of the strangest creatures ever to grace the pages of a SF novel, and Farmer describes them in detail. Thar be floating whales, and sharks, and even brit to feed the whales (and whalers). Farmer also gives his "new" planet a very thorough descriptive build up, and it is always extremely interesting. Any Farmer novel gives endless fodder for a SF calendar, though I never heard of one depicting his works. The biology of Ishmael's future earth would provide wonderful opportunities for artists. 

 

Possibly the best part of the novel is when a small raiding party led by Ishmael enters an enemy city to steal back carved gods that were stolen from them. Their underground journey to the temple is reminiscent of Tolkien's description of the Mines of Moria, which the Fellowship passed through and subsequently lost Gandalf to the Balrog. The stone beast that nearly gets the present party also reminds me of the best of Ray Harryhausen's creatures. The way the thing moves and creaks is a perfect reconstruction of one of the cinema master's most frightening creations. The whole underground journey is very terrifying. 

 

This is another marvelous adventure tale by the master of adventure tales. I did find the entire whale hunting sequences quite riveting, with the ships and methods used one of the highlights of SF writing.

***1/2 stars. Reviewed Nov. 9th/16 

 

 

 

VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL

Cover artist unknown

Written in six short weeks and published in 1975, the novel turned out to be one of the best SF hoaxes of the 1970s, and one of Farmer's best novels. When it was published no one knew who the real author was. Kilgore Trout, the author listed on the cover of early publications, is actually a fictional character who writes SF novels. He appears a few times in the works of Kurt Vonnegut. The 2013 Titan edition (shown above) includes not only the original story, but five short essays of immediate relevance. If the book is read cover to cover, all will be revealed and the reader will finally understand the tangled and confusing web that followed the novel until 1988, when it was finally published with Farmer's name attached. Two of the included essays are by a fictional writer who appears in Venus on the Half Shell, the favourite author of the fictional author Kilgore Trout. Farmer even went on to write some stories by this 2nd fictional author, who had been created by the first fictional author. Great fun!! 314 pages in all.

First appearance of Venus on the Half Shell, Jan. 1975.

Farmer was having difficulty writing more of his pocket universe and Riverworld stories, and couldn't get a lot done at this time. When he came up with the fictional author idea, however, he was able to write fast and furiously, like he always had. Venus is the story of Simon Wagstaff, one of few survivors of planet Earth when a massive cleaning job is carried out by aliens who like to do that sort of thing. He takes off in a spaceship (Chinese) and heads out to the stars. He is in search of meaning to his life; what is it all for? What does it mean? Why is he here? No doubt Douglas Adams was reading and taking mental notes.

 

Simon is accompanied on his journeys by a faithful dog, Anubis, and an owl, Athena, who also survived the great flood on Earth. They soon meet up with a beautiful female android, though she is mostly human. The four explorers venture to planet after planet. The novel has sometimes been referred to as Farmers' tribute to Swifts' Gulliver's Travels. It is that, and much more. His eventual meeting with the wise man on the mountain is classic Farmer!

 

Each chapter brings a new and more bizarre encounter with alien races. If you don't laugh out loud often at Farmer's storytelling games, then you are probably super religious and never laugh anyway. Why are you reading SF? Especially with a naked lady on the cover. This is a very fun and refreshing book, and it is said that Farmer had one of the greatest times ever as he wrote it. Even without all of the mystery and hoopla surrounding its publication and fictional writer, this is a really good read. It can be mentioned here that many of Vonnegut's fans wrote Vonnegut when the book came out, with half of them saying it was the worst book he had ever written. However, the other half said it was his best! Do not miss!

**** stars. Reviewed Feb. 6th/17 

 

 

 

DARK IS THE SUN

Cover art by Darrell K Sweet

This is the 2nd 400-pager by Farmer I have read (405 pages, to be exact). The first one, The Dark Design, was a complete disaster, and I became convinced that Farmer should stick to shorter novels. So it was with great trepidation that I picked up this one and began to read. The late 1970s were a very productive time for Farmer. I don't know how he would have had time to write this novel. 

 

This epic story impressed me a lot. It was like reading the real Farmer once again. Whatever he was attempting with the multiple story lines in Riverworld Vol. 3 shows no sign of happening here. There are a lot of main characters in Dark is the Sun, including two animals. Farmer handles them well. For my mind he kills off a few too many of them near the end, which I doubt was totally necessary. 

 

Farmer has an essentially restless soul, and the characters in this tale keep moving and moving. Obviously affected by Lord of the Rings, Farmer goes out of his way to make his epic walking tale as unlike that great work as possible. As a result, we are often reminded of Tolkien. There is also a good deal of Oz here, and, of course, some Tarzan. Farmer's mind works in such mysterious ways that he never copies or adapts ideas from those works, but rather ingests them and spits them out again completely transformed. His creativity is astounding! 

 

By plowing through so much topography, we encounter mystery after mystery. Many of the better ones are never solved, and we never find out more. To take two related examples--the letters that mysteriously emanate from the mysterious House, and the bearded man in the red suit that dwells within the House. Of course not all mysteries are explained in Hodgson's The Night Land, either. Still, I would have liked these solved. 

 

Aside from the two main humans, Deyv and Vana, we meet some delightful characters, including the Archkerri plant man Sloosh, who was created by human scientists; Phemropit, the walking alien boulder; and The Shemibob, also alien. Farmer delights in describing new kinds of animals and plants, and he gets plenty of opportunity here. 

 

The setting is Earth in the very distant future, an Earth that has run out of time and will shortly be destroyed. A very strange fellowship is created, and off they go in search of a gate to a new world, in hopes of escaping this doomed one. The story is full of colour, action, adventure, and curious science. With some of the characters and mysteries he has created here, I wish this had been his big series instead of Riverworld. Highly recommended.

*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed March 18th/17 

 

JESUS ON MARS

Cover art by Paul Stintson 

 

From Farmer's incredibly productive year of 1979 comes this strange (even for Farmer!) tale of religion on Mars. At just over 250 pages, this medium-length novel managed to hold my attention all the way through. The 1970s were a great time for Jesus, as musicals, books, novels and movies spewed forth, most with a fairly liberal slant. Try to imagine aliens with very advanced technology picking up a group of Jewish people on Earth in A.D. 50, crashing on Mars, and having to live with them in giant underground canyons until it was time to return to Earth. Imagine during this time that due to the sudden appearance of Jesus in their Martian midst, the aliens were converted to Judaism, except for the fact that Jesus is now their spiritual leader. That is a pretty wacky premise. 

 

Earth has discovered something on the surface of Mars that looks suspicious. They send a robot lander, and the pictures returned prove beyond a doubt that a civilization once was there. They send a human expedition, three men and a woman. One man is Jewish, one is a Baptist Christian, one is a (liberal) Moslem, and one (the woman) is atheist. What else can Farmer throw into the pot? Well, Jesus himself, of course. He appears about halfway through the book, and becomes a main character until the very end. Or is it Jesus? 

 

The second story I ever read by Farmer was called "Father," and it appears in the Avon/Equinox volume at the top of this page. Writing about religion is not new to Farmer. In fact, writing about Jesus is not new to Farmer. In Father, an alien has more or less become the figure of Jesus due to circumstances beyond his marooned control. However, he wants out and tries to find someone to take his place. In the present story Jesus is also an alien, but has literally become the son of God. So the whole thing Farmer stresses about whether this is the real Jesus or not (I choose not) becomes entirely irrelevant, as the alien entity has completely taken over the role, and will see it through to the end. Though his overall plan is benevolent, much suffering will occur on Earth once he returns to set things right. He has a lot of setting right to do. 

 

We get a pretty good look at how life in caverns on Mars works. No crime, no wars, no disease, and people live a really long time. But this is all temporary, as now that Earth has found out about them, the Martians need to make their move. As is often the case in single SF stories, making their move could have easily spawned a sequel or two, but Farmer leaves the end very messy on purpose. We can pretty much imagine what will happen, eventually, someday, perhaps.... 

 

Despite being hugely uninterested in religious thinking, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters are well drawn, especially Richard Orme, as the captain (black, and from Toronto). There is a very amusing passage when Orme claims to the aliens that he is "black", but they keep insisting that he is brown, and wonder why a colour blind person was allowed to become the captain of a Mars expedition. Recommended reading. Not sure how Jewish people or Bible thumpers would handle this book, but I learned a lot and had a good time, too.

*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed March 31st/17 

 

 

 

THE UNREASONING MASK

 

Cover art by Val Lakey

From 1981 comes this intense SF novel, as Farmer continues his winning streak turning out great stories one after another. Like his very best fiction, this tale focuses on a single story line and a small cast of characters. In some ways it is like the ultimate Star Trek episode, and it's not difficult to picture Ramstan as Captain Kirk. If Star Trek could have had a final closing movie or two-part TV episode, this would have been a good story to use. It is also a tribute to James Blish and his incomparable Cities in Flight novels. And to Frank Herbert. And so many other influences that Farmer is familiar with and can adapt and put to use in his own unique way.

The novel is on a vast scale, something that Iain M. Banks would have enjoyed if he read it. I hope he did. He would have greatly loved the biological starship, one that can change shape as needed. This was one of the first books I acquired by Farmer after deciding to read more of him after Strange Relations. It has been on my reading shelf almost a year now, awaiting its turn. The novel is 260 pages long. I read it in 3 days. I really liked the story, and especially the locations that Farmer's crew visit. He brings back one of the greatest themes he ever used, borrowed from J.H. Rosny, that of the one tree branching out across an entire continent. Once again we are delighted by being able to enter the dense canopy of such a world, and travel to the forest floor. Such mysteries that lie there!

My main complaint of the novel is one that Farmer tends to repeat in many stories. His characters talk too much. Not only are explanations of events or phenomena way too long, but we also hear interminable inner dialogues of his main characters. Ramstan never seems to have a calm, quiet moment in his entire life. Farmer never seems happy unless he has examined every corner of a problem from several distinct angles. After 200 pages it just gets to be a bit much.

Still, this is a great SF story, filled with vivid imaginings and plenty of adventure and colour. We get to visit other planets, see great destruction, meet characters like no other, and even get to hear the babble of the baby It. Highly recommended.
***1/2 stars. Reviewed May 10th/17 

A BARNSTORMER IN OZ

Cover art by Don Ivan Punchatz

I didn't really know what to expect from this longer novel, lasting for 279 pages. Now I'm wishing it was even longer. In the notes at the end of the book Farmer laments having to cut out a few important meet-ups to keep the length down. Why? I sense that Farmer could have carried on with this story. It's sad that in 1982 someone as successful and good as Farmer might have had to keep his length down. Hadn't anyone heard of Lord of the Rings at Berkley Books?? Fools!

 

The book is quite strange, and in no way is it a story for children. With frequent references to Baum (and, wisely, none from the 1939 film) we get the true, inside scoop on Oz and Dorothy's journey to it when she was eight years old. Dorothy's son Hank accidentally flies through a smoky green haze in 1922 with his bi-plane, and has the adventures of a lifetime. It took me a while to warm to the book, as Farmer's heart did not seem to be in it. However, the longer you read the better it gets. By the halfway point it's difficult to put it down.

 

We get to meet Glinda, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and various other important people, most of them the size of an eight year old child. Hank is befriended by Glinda's female Captain of the Guard, and despite her diminutive size they end up having a rollicking sexual relationship. In addition to sex, there is an awful lot of violence, much of it involving sentient animals and birds. Even Hank's bi-plane eventually becomes sentient! Parts of the novel have as much violence as Farmer's Doc Savage and Tarzan adventures. The climax features a witches' showdown, with white witch Glinda (red hair) vs. red witch Erakna (white hair).

 

I ended up really liking the novel, and wishing he had written a longer version, like he did with some of his other works. Just don't expect Baum.

*** 1/2 stars Reviewed August 30th/16

 

 

 

NOTHING BURNS IN HELL

Cover art by Thomas Canty

From 1998 comes this 287-page Noir novel from Farmer. Private Investigator Tom Corbie gets involved with Peoria lowlife and its richest family. While the novel does not strike any new ground in the crime drama genre, it is fun to read. Like most PIs, Corbie often gets caught, clubbed, and tied up. And worse. Much worse. But overly excessive violence isn't the only problem with the book. The plot just gets far too complicated unnecessarily. It takes most of two chapters at the end to try and explain it all. My eyes glazed over as I read. Also, why is it that authors tend to make thunderstorms last for hours and hours? Rain, yes. Thunder and lightning, no.

Sometimes humour is the book's saving grace, as Corbie has a long-running feud with his neighbour in the next apartment. Anyone who has ever lived next door to an asshole will understand his plight. Also the names of characters seem to be particularly whimsical. But for me the best part of the book was Corbie's relationship with 92-year old Faith Alliger, the woman who ends up saving his bacon at the end. With the history that Farmer has given her, I would be much more interested in reading a book about her life in Paris than I would about Corbie's continuous mistakes. It seems nearly anyone can sneak up on him and get the drop. He should get his hearing tested.

Considering the book was written and published as Farmer hit the age of 80, I remain mostly impressed. He seems to have had fun with the material. And though his writing seldom rises above average for a story of this type, he can keep the reader turning pages. And there is just enough quirkiness to keep the story distinct from others of its ilk. Recommended for die hard Farmer fans only.
*** stars. Reviewed Jan. 5th/18
__________________________________________________________________________________

WOLD NEWTON FAMILY

TARZAN ALIVE

Cover art by Richard Amsel

This is a very fun book, and also a very useful one. From 1972, it is 312 pages long. The entire Wold Newton universe created by Farmer presents a very complicated thicket of connections. In one of five addenda to the Tarzan chapters, Farmer gives the complete history of the family relations stemming from the meteor impact that began the whole superhero lineage. I found this portion of the book quite fascinating. Another addendum gives a complete chronology of Tarzan's life.

The main portion of the book is devoted to a complete recap of each of the 24 Tarzan novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Farmer has neatly organized the material chronologically, meaning that some of the books are out of their numerical order. He has also helpfully indicated which parts of the stories are fiction, and which are true. Sometimes Burroughs simply told a good tale; at other times he was relating Tarzan's biography. I found these chapters wonderfully descriptive, bringing back great memories of stories read so long ago I thought that I had completely forgotten their plots. Farmer gives a great summary, and freely fills in details left out by Burroughs.

The book is a must-read for Tarzan fans, and a must for Farmer fans curious about the Wold Newton aspects of many of his stories. It's great fun seeing how Sherlock Holmes, Doc Savage, Tarzan, and many other heroes are related by blood. I place this book first in the Wold Newton series reviewed from here. It seems that Farmer was well into this project even by 1960. He never mentions the later adventures of Tarzan that he wrote, reviewed below.
**** stars. Reviewed Sept. 18th, 2016 

TIME'S LAST GIFT

I read the Kindle editiion.

Farmer wrote two versions of this excellent novel; the original in 1972 and an updated version in 1977. I purchased the Kindle edition by Titan Books, which is the 1972 version, with two excellent afterwords. It is 252 pages long. The hero, John Gribardsun, leads a time travel expedition from the year 2070 AD to 12,000 BC. Farmer obviously did a lot of research on prehistory before writing this book, and it shows. It is a serious book, and if you do not know much about prehistoric tribal life, you will by the end of this novel. Four scientists spend four years back in time collecting data and living with prehistoric tribes. It quickly becomes evident that somehow, Gribardsun is Tarzan!

I am not going to get into the Wold Newton universe of Farmer (look it up; it even has its own website), except to say that it is a very fun and seductive game that he invented. With the help of others he really pulled off a marvellous and impressive connection between many of the great literary heroes of modern times. Anyway, Time's Last Gift is a perfect book to read if you wish to enter the inner workings of Wold Newton. It is also an amazing stand-alone novel which you can read without getting involved in this giant game, or having to read the two Opar books which follow.

Time's Last Gift is Farmer's first of three novels dealing with ancient Africa (a fourth appeared in 2012 co-authored by C.P. Carey (see below). After Time's Last Gift come Hadon of Ancient Opar, and then Flight to Opar. I will be reading these novels soon. Tarzan features in them, too, but more peripherally.

As mentioned above, two afterwords are provided in the Kindle edition (and likely in the 2012 print edition, too). The first is called "Gribardsun Through the Ages: A Chronology of Major Events Pertinent to Time's Last Gift," by W.S. Eckert. The second one is called "Gribardsun and the Prehistoric Wold Newton Family," by C.P. Carey. Together, they tell the reader just about everything he/she needs to know to dive further into the Wold Newton events. Both should be read, even if just for laughs. You'll be hearing more about Wold Newton right here, at any rate.
****stars. June 17th, 2016

 

HADON OF ANCIENT OPAR

2nd book in the Ancient Africa series.
Cover art by Roy Krenkel

When I finally had finished reading and reviewing the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series, I was considering rereading some of the best of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels I'd discovered as a teen, as well as works by my favourtie scifi authors, including Fritz Leiber and James Blish. I still have the complete paperback series of all Burroughs' works. Along came the Rediscovery Series, and I got waylaid again, though I promised myself to read some Burroughs soon. Along came Philip Farmer, and my problem was solved! This story is from 1974, and is 224 pages long.

In many ways, this Hadon book is better than a lot of Burroughs' works. There is nudity and sex (and rape and incest). There is humour, and perhaps more grimness, too. The action scenes are stupendous, and the characters are fleshed out as the story moves along. Hadon is far from an infallible hero, but I wouldn't mind having him at my back in a tight situation. Hadon lives in an Opar of thousands of years ago, not the same one that Tarzan visits in his contemporary adventures.

As a Samurai swordsman myself, I appreciated the focus on the numatenu, a highly skilled class of swordsman not unlike the Japanese Samurai warriors, as well as Hadon's named sword. While it is true that any sword will work, it is always best to have one's own sword, one that you have used, cared for, and trained with many times. I also appreciate the fact that sometimes one cannot abide by traditional rules in battle, and anything goes to stay alive. This easy-to-read novel ends at a very climactic moment, and the reader will be unhappy unless the next book in the series is handy. Flight to Opar takes up exactly where Hadon left off.

Tarzan does not appear personally in this novel, but he has made contact with several of the main characters, and his name (Sahhindar) is an ancient play on the name Tarzan (ZanTar). We learn that he has traveled back in time (see Time's Last Gift), but is stuck there now, and must move back to the future the slow way. Though he claims not to be a god, he is universally accepted as one. The Wold Newton Universe is back in action, though in a sly, back door kind of way.

There is treachery afoot at every turn of the plot, along with passion, impressive women of strong character, high adventure, travel by boat, travel on foot, an earthquake, and an erupting volcano. Farmer has thrown everything into the pot and stirred it all nicely. We also see a religion dominated by priestesses threatened by a male takeover. A fun book.

A final brilliant touch is the cover art and inside art by the great Roy Krenkel! Looking exactly like the covers he did for many of my Burroughs books, it adds immensely to the overall pleasure. Inside there are ten b&w illustrations by him. There are also three maps included. The Hadon books are not essential reading for Farmer SF fans. But for a much fuller view of his interests, these are important stories. This one was a great read, on par with H. Rider Haggard. Enjoy!
**** stars. Reviewed June 27th/16

 

FLIGHT TO OPAR

Cover and inside art by Roy Krenkel

Farmer abandoned his Oparian hero after only two books, though he apparently left notes for a third. Though it is the second book in the Opar series, it is the third one in the Ancient Africa series. From 1976, it is 224 pages. Like the first Opar book, it is a cracking good yarn. Religious and political conflicts continue to develop, and Hadon has to deal with more problems in a few short months than most heroes do in their entire lives. Still, he manages nicely. The title of the book pretty much sums up the simple plot, but what a journey it is! Not only do we have a reference to an H. Rider Haggard tale, but Tarzan (Sahhindar) makes a flesh and blood appearance in the book, even enjoying a few lines of conversation with Hadon, and a bit of action.

This is a rip-roaring sequel, and though the end of the book does bring some closure, Farmer obviously left things open enough for more books in the series. In fact, there are now many more of them, though not specifically by Farmer. I doubt I will read any others; I'm anxious to get back to his SF books. However, I will continue to read books pertaining to Wold Newton.

While Time's Last Gift is not essential reading before undertaking the Hadon books, I am glad I did read it first. Taken together, the three books make up a truly amazing find for someone pining after his Edgar Rice Burroughs days, not to mention the H. Rider Haggard ones. All three of these novels are excellent stories, beautifully and descriptively told. 

**** stars. Reviewed July 1st/16

THE SONG OF KWASIN

Cover art by Bob Eggleton

From 2012 comes the 3rd major entry in the Hadon of Opar series, though Hadon only appears in the epilogue. This is a vast volume of 467 pages, containing the main novel as well as the novella "Kwasin and the Bear God." It also includes maps, and many never before widely published goodies, such as notes on the calendar, plants, peoples, characters, and places of Khokarsa. I read the e-book version, so these were more difficult to access than if I had the print version.

Let me begin by saying that Kwasin, Hadon's 7-foot cousin, is not my ideal hero for a story. Like Gimli in Lord of the Rings, he makes a great companion to have along on an adventure, but he does not make a great main hero. Kwasin is a lout, a bully, a strong man with no real humanity about him. He can kill dozens of men all by himself, but beyond that he has no redeeming qualities. Tarzan was educated, and had other interests besides killing men and making love to every woman that he possibly can. In fact, in the Khokarsa mythology, Kwasin is likely a son of Tarzan, or Sahindar, as he is called here.

Kwasin does have some unique abilities, too. He can live in an unprotected cage, chained like an animal and never let out, for months, surviving only on scraps of poor meat. He doesn't get ill, even during the cold rainy season. Scurvy? What's that? And after several months, when he and his female companion have to suddenly walk many miles into the city, their legs seem to work just fine.

Later, Kwasin is imprisoned in a pit from which it is impossible to escape. He is made a slave, and has to haul giant boulders uphill all day. This goes on for two years. He is fed thin, watery gruel. Yet somehow, he maintains his strength, energy, and muscle mass. Quite a remarkable guy!

As to the story, I have read it before at least a hundred times. There is very little original writing going on here, but merely a standard formula being followed. Kwasin is subjected to every kind of indignity imaginable, but comes through with his self-respect in tip top condition. Perhaps if this story is being read by someone totally new to adventure books such as this, it might seem to be a great story and adventure. Not to me. I quickly grew bored, and could predict nearly everything that happened, the worst event being the great eruption of the volcano right at the climax of the story. No wonder Farmer never returned to this story in his later years, despite claiming that he wanted to. Written out by Carey from ideas of Farmer's that were decades old, it shows.

An added insult is that the story has no ending. It suddenly stops, leaving Kwasin hanging over a precipice in the mountains as the great cataclysm erupts. Did he die, or somehow escape? Gee, I wonder. Perhaps I'll buy the next book to find out. Or not. Then we jump to an epilogue, with Hadon setting out on his adventure.

Compared to how Farmer began his remarkable career, the end of it sure is sad. The Dark Heart of Time is one of the worst stories I have ever read, and it was his final solo work. Now some of his rather good adventures are being carried on by his torchbearers, long past the time they should be put to bed. While Farmer cannot be entirely blamed for this novel, he did give it the go ahead. We would not be missing very much if he hadn't.
** stars. Reviewed Dec. 17th/18 __________________________________________________________________________________

IRONCASTLE

Cover and inside art by Roy Krenkel

In 1922, a Frenchman by the name of J.H. Rosny wrote a novel that, in later years, greatly impressed Farmer. In 1976 Farmer published his own 175 page version/translation of that novel, to bring to the attention of Burroughs and H.R. Haggard fans this virtually unknown novel. Though in a similar vein, there is enough uniqueness to it that fans can relate, but keep it separate from those other styles. The book mostly takes place in unexplored Africa, of which there was still a lot in 1922. Great white hunters and explorers dominate the proceedings, encountering primitive civilizations. They fight with some of them and ally with others. Though silly for the most part, there are some wonderful animals and plants to discover along the way, as well as the different types of humans and sub-humans.

Though certainly racist by today's standards, in the 1920s it would have seemed somewhat enlightened. The blacks are well treated, if totally subservient to the whites. When killing needs doing, it gets done. But either Farmer has held back on some of the animal killing, or M. Rosny was ahead of his time in killing only when necessary. The lone female gets captured and needs rescuing by a strong, white male. She is a pretty heroic character, however.

The trudge though wondrous though dangerous landscape is somewhat reminiscent of David Lindsay's "Voyage to Arcturus." Both novels share a sense of wonder at sights and colours never experienced before. Rosny has a pretty neat explanation for all of the flora and fauna encountered in the adventure, though you will have to wait until the very end to learn what it is. Worth a read for fans of Burroughs, Haggard, and of Farmer's Opar adventure books. Not one of the best, but still somewhat fun to read.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed Aug. 26th, 2016.

A FEAST UNKNOWN

The cover of my Kindle edition.

Well folks, this one is different. From 1969, it is 286 pages. Written as the first in a series of Tarzan and Doc Savage novels versus the Nine, it fits (uncomfortably) into the Wold Newton Universe. At my great age and experience, I was still only lightly prepared for Farmer's XXX novel of perversion and sexual deviation. Had I read this as a teen, I likely would have been scarred for life (hmmmn, perhaps I did read it as a teen...).

Tarzan and Doc are being affected in strange ways by the elixir of life they have been taking. Nearly enough said. Farmer wrote this story for a publisher of porno books. Why he felt he had to use these two characters is unclear. Who knows what he was smoking in those days. Had he taken two made up characters, he could have written this stuff and not made a whit of difference to me. I would have stopped reading near the beginning. But since it is about Tarzan, ahhh... perhaps he did know what he was doing!

I don't wish to give away anything if you haven't read this one. However, if you are not deeply offended and shocked, over and over again as you read, then you are one scary person. Let me just say that I found it hard to put down once I got started. Enough about me. There are parts I wish were never written, such as the sexual torture of a small dog at the beginning of the tale. I hate authors who treat animals badly to prove that the bad guy is "really bad." So I cannot forgive Farmer for this. What was he thinking?

This became a three-novel series, as the two superheroes team up to fight The Nine, but this is the only one to be pornographic. Stay tuned!
*1/2 stars. Reviewed July 9th/16

LORD OF THE TREES

AND

THE MAD GOBLIN

Cover artist unknown.

LORD OF THE TREES Ace Doubles were a staple of my teenage reading diet. Flip the book over when done and read another great story. The original doubles had to be 140 pages long, exactly. This 1970 version is longer, at 183 pages. The best part of this Ace Double is that the two stories are connected. Lord of the Trees is the 2nd volume of Farmer's Tarzan/Doc Savage stories. Unlike A Feast Unknown, the first part of this trilogy, there is no sex. It pretty much reads as one of the Burroughs Tarzan novels. There is plenty of violence, however. Farmer can write a pulp novel like the best of them. In fact, he likely is the best of them.

Tarzan returns to Africa. His plan is to scout around the caves of the Nine so that he and Doc can attack and destroy them when they are ready. Like in the first book, Tarzan is a one-man army, capable of destroying helicopters, jets, jeeps, and killing a lot of folk who annoy him. If you enjoyed the action sequences of Feast (like me) but not the sexual perversions (also like me), then this story will likely be very enjoyable. It's nearly non-stop action. My one dislike will be a spoiler (skip this sentence), but one of the characters who helps Tarzan until the very end dies unexpectedly, and I wish she hadn't.

We don't meet Doc in this book until the final page, though we hear a lot about him. His story is told in The Mad Goblin, the other half of this Ace Double (review coming soon). We do meet the sons of Doc's two helpers, who both died in Feast Unknown.

In conclusion, this is one of the better Tarzan books ever written, and is impossible to put down once begun.
*** stars. Reviewed July 20th, 2016

THE MAD GOBLIN tells Doc Savage's side of the tale, with events happening at the same time as in the flip side Tarzan novel. It is also from 1970, and is 191 pages long. About one third of the way into this book, the 2nd half of an Ace Double, I realized what Farmer had done. He had single-handedly invented the Tomb Raider games. Yup, reading this story, even more so than the Tarzan one, reminded me of all those Lara Croft adventures I have played. Killing birds, dogs, wolves; underground traps laid for the unwary; an infinite number of enemies with guns--it's all here. Underground locations, mountaintop locations, gadgets and med packs--the whole package is here. Transfer Doc to Lara and you are good to go.

This one is pretty heavy on the animal slaughter, and there is a particularly sadistic fight with a grizzly bear. Farmer had no qualms about seeing animals tortured. Except for a few pages where Doc has some memory flashbacks, it is one action packed scene after another. I prefer the Tarzan novel, as Tarzan mostly fights alone. Doc is accompanied by two sons of the original helpers he once had, and they bicker and tease one another mercilessly, just like in the original Doc Savage novels. It gets very tiresome very soon.

Still, this is a fun read, and there are enough loose ends that Farmer could have easily written more novels in this series. It would have been great to have Tarzan and Doc Savage actually working side by side for at least one story. Pity.
**1/2 stars. Reviewed July 23rd/16

LORD TYGER

Cover art by Bob Pepper

Though technically not part of the Wold Newton universe, the book fits perfectly in this spot and can almost be considered a Tarzan novel. From 1970, and lasting for 270 pages, Farmer's writing prowess is once again on full display. He was undoubtedly able to dash off a first class adventure story, and often several, in quick succession. However, when he really took his time and wrote with an obvious plan in mind, things get even better for the reader. Lord Tyger may come off as spontaneous, and parts of it probably are, but for the most part Farmer really controls the strings in this wonderful update of Tarzan.

A rich psychotic man kidnaps babies from a distinguished family and drops them into Africa in the hopes of creating a Tarzan-like character. Ras Tyger, the third baby, succeeds. Raised by dwarfs whom he thinks are apes, he is pretty much the jungle lord as written by Burroughs. However, there are some notable exceptions. Despite having parents to teach him right from wrong, he pretty much remains an amoral creature, raping women, killing out of anger, and remaining stubbornly superstitious throughout his adventure.

Though he comes to admit his mistake as far as killing off the Wantso tribe, and living to deeply regret it, he has no such regrets about raping the lead female character in one of the most unsettling and grotesque scenes I have ever come across in literature. A near-perfect novel is severely marred by this scene, which hopefully no one would ever write today in mainstream literature. I don't consider myself a Victorian prude, but at least Burroughs never would have allowed his character to take a woman who said no, and who said it over and over and over. Usually, if he had to sleep beside a woman, he would give her his knife as protection. Not Farmer's character. Just rape her and get it done. Of course Farmer's excuse is that once it was done she liked it. Yup. There you have it, folks. And please don't go telling me that rape was somehow more accepted in the 1970s.

Anyway, I really liked the book, except for certain sections. The breathless adventures come in large and frequent portions, but seem a bit more under control than was the case in Lord of the Trees and The Mad Goblin. There are still plenty of helicopters that explode, and many bullets that fly, and any number of bad guys that get killed.

My favourite parts are descriptions of the landscape and people. Farmer takes time to fully clothe the jungle, river, and swamp settings, giving great descriptions and a sense of space. It is the same with his characters. The enemy Wantso people begin as friends, then gradually things begin to turn. Even Ras Tyger's two worst native enemies are given full fleshing out, and become believable characters. This goes much farther than Burroughs ever did with his characters. And of course Burroughs never dealt directly with sexual relations, which I always found a bit odd. Along comes Farmer and puts them right in your face. A somewhat middle ground would have been nice.
*** stars. Reviewed January 1st, 2017 

THE ADVENTURE OF THE PEERLESS PEER

Cover art by Gadino

Based on a "true" story, at first the reader thinks that a serious novella has begun. But consider the facts. This is a very aged and crotchety Holmes meeting up with Tarzan. Farmer can't really be too serious. And he isn't. This book a one of the funniest books ever, as Holmes is called out of retirement one last time, and must travel to Africa to save the world. The Germans have a formula that creates a bacillus that can devour sauerkraut! And it can be adapted to wipe out certain elements of the British diet as well. Can the world be saved? The book is from 1974, and is a very short 128 pages long.

Holmes and Watson fly to Africa in what has to be the most hilarious flight ever, of any aircraft, anywhere. It takes them two planes and two pilots to reach their goal, along with the remnants of a German airship. Holmes is not impressed with 1916 air travel. We have references to The Shadow and to Alan Quartermaine, plenty of Holmes and Watson, and a good deal of Tarzan, too. I don't wish to give any of the plot away. I will be reading this one again in the near future. It is very short and can easily be read in one sitting. A classic. Lighten up and enjoy this very unique historical meeting of literary characters!

See also the even better (and shorter) rewrite, called The Adventures of the Three Madmen, in the short story section under The Grand Adventure, above.
*** stars. Reviewed July 7th/16

 

THE DARK HEART OF TIME 

Cover design artist uncredited.

From 1998 comes this 278 page 'Tarzan' novel. And what a mess it is. It reminded me of the least of Burroughs' efforts in his 24 volume Tarzan series. Farmer's effort doesn't even come close to Burroughs at his most mediocre. I'm not certain this novel even deserves a review. Whoever the hero person might be in this novel, it is not the Tarzan I once knew and loved. Falling out of trees, falling into holes, surviving several major earthquakes in Africa (Farmer should know better--there are virtually no earthquakes in equatorial Africa, especially severe ones). This is very lazy writing, and even quite cruel in places (the suffering and death of the captured Tantor is completely unforgivable). The ending is possibly the worst one I ever ever read, and certainly one of the hastiest. This is a deplorable book. If you read it already but have never read Burroughs, I can understand if you would want to avoid doing so. However, do not let this book convince you that this is what Tarzan was all about. Farmer has totally struck out with this deplorable mess.
* star. Reviewed February 7th/18

THE OTHER LOG OF PHILEAS FOGG

Cover art by Vincent DiFate

Not only does this edition have a beautiful front and back cover painting (though which has nothing to do with the story), but there are about ten b & w interior illustrations by Rick J Bryant. These latter have direct ties to the story, including a beautiful two-page spread showing Captain Nemo's submarine! This story is from 1973, and is 304 pages long.

This isn't so much a novel as a filling in of missing data from Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, as Farmer attempts to complete that tale with many hidden events which also occurred on the journey but went unreported by Verne. This "between the lines" tale that Farmer tells describes two alien races living secretly on the earth and carrying out a war between them. The Eridanians (of whom Fogg is one) and the Capelleans (Nemo/Moriarty) battle it out during Fogg's journey, though very few others are aware of what is happening.

What is happening is that Farmer is brilliantly constructing an inner tale from the gaps, errors and omissions from Verne's tale. This is a new form of writing in my experience, and one that I enjoyed very much. Along with his own tale of battling aliens, Farmer gives enough of Verne's story to keep us aware of what is happening so that we do not have to reread the original. The book is exciting and fast paced, filled with adventure. After all, Farmer wrote it.

2-page illustration from the Jim Baen edition, drawn by Rick J Bryant.

This edition concludes with a short essay by H.W. Starr outlining the similarities between Captain Nemo and Professor Moriarty, and how they could possibly be the same person. Farmer accepts that they are throughout the novel. This is a nice edition to the Wold Newton literature. I really enjoyed reading this story, and it makes a change from Farmer's usual (though always excellent) narrative style.
*** 1/2 stars. Reviewed Nov. 12th/16

DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE

Cover art by Roger Kastel.

Following up with his biography of Tarzan, Farmer dives headlong into Doc's incredible life of fighting crime. From 1973, it is 270 pages long. As in Farmer's Tarzan biography (Tarzan Alive) we get a great overview of most of the adventures. With only 24 Tarzan books to discuss, we get many more details than we do of Doc's 181 tales. But Farmer does a great job nonetheless, and those of us who grew up reading these adventures will sadly wonder why we never kept our precious Bantam editions with those unforgettable covers by "Bama."

Farmer tells us about the author, Lester Dent, and though he never got to speak to him, he was able to talk with his widow. Although the pen name "Kenneth Robeson" was used, Dent wrote most of the tales, aided by three or four other authors. The stories originally came out in pulp magazine format between 1933 and 1949. Bantam ended up printing 104 of the adventures. I collected around 80 of them in my teens.

Another chapter deals with the 86th floor, which was Doc's New York headquarters. We get a detailed floor plan of the area, based on gleanings from the stories. We get lots of info about Doc, and eventually the Hidalgo Trading Co., too. Doc was famous for his Crime College, where he rehabilitated criminals through surgery, turning them into honest, productive citizens. We get the full scoop on this, as well as his Fortress of Solitude, an arctic base where some of his most important research took place.

A full chapter is devoted to each of his five main aids: Monk, Ham, Remy, Littlejohn, and Long Tom. There is even a chapter devoted to Habeas Corpus, Monk's pet pig, and Chemistry, Ham's primate buddy. A long chapter discusses the many appearances of Pat Savage, Doc's young female cousin, with whom Farmer (and the rest of us) was in love with. She is still one of the most incredible adventure heroines in the literature!

Doc's many futuristic gadgets take up another chapter, and yet another one is devoted to some of Doc's most impressive foes and their world-conquering gadgets. Farmer finishes up with a great write-up tracing Doc's lineage (complete with an impressive family tree diagram), a chronology of Doc's pulp adventures, and a complete list by date published of all 181 adventures.

The only question that remains is where did Farmer get time to do this??? He admits to reading all the stories in his mid-teens. To prepare for this biography he reread them all again, then a second time taking notes. He dove into several of them yet again to refine his notes. And it shows. This and his Tarzan biography are the two best reviews of authors' works I have ever come across. Farmer would have made a hell of a historian. I'm glad he remained in fiction, though. Doc Savage fans must read this, and keep it on their shelves. And now I must find some of the Bantam editions again and enjoy first hand some of Doc's best adventures.

Farmer published this in 1973, and he tells us a bit about a very young Doc being in the 1st World War, getting captured (he was underage) and meeting up with his five friends. Because they were all so extraordinary and especially dangerous, the Germans imprisoned them in Loki, a place where it was supposedly too difficult from which to escape. The story of this adventure was never fully told by Lester Dent/Robeson. However, in 1991 Farmer wrote of this adventure himself. I am looking forward to finding a copy somewhere and reading it. When that happens, you will know about it right here.
**** stars. Reviewed Nov. 18th, 2016

ESCAPE TO LOKI

 

Cover art by Steve Assel

From 1991 comes Farmer's Doc Savage origin tale, set in WW1. Prisoners of war who have escaped three times from other German POW prisons are sent to Loki, which is supposedly escape proof. There are two flaws with this logic. One is hinted at in the title to this volume; the other is that since the camp is filled with escape artists, it is only a matter of time until there is a breakout. The book is 214 pages long. The first half deals with the circumstances which led Doc to be imprisoned in Loki; the second half deals with life in the prison camp and the inevitable escape.

At heart, Farmer is a pulp fiction writer. Despite his superb SF work, mostly done early in his career, most of his output is action/adventure. If you have never read any Farmer, but were a fan of the Doc Savage books, you should really like this fast-paced adventure yarn. Doc is not yet a Doc; he is only 16 years old at the beginning of this story. That in itself stretches things a might too far for me. For a 16 year old to have mastered even one thing is an almost unbelievable accomplishment. However, to have mastered nearly everything by that age is pretty laughable. Farmer tries to make it more believable by having Clark make mistakes, especially in judging character. He is also unable to control his temper sometimes. His attraction to women is highly in evidence, as his raging hormones are not yet under full control.

If you have read virtually everthing by Farmer up until this point, there will be no surprises in store. However, it is a good yarn, and Farmer has not lost his touch with this type of writing. Of course he is purposely trying to emulate the writing style of "Kenneth Robeson" and the original Doc stories, and he does this well. Short clipped sentences, brief bursts of dialogue, and establishing many of Doc's habits early on enhance the feeling that we really are reading a Doc Savage adventure. We also get introduced to Doc's 5 main sidekicks, ones who will stick with him until the bitter end. All in all it is a fun read, though there is nothing exceptional or too wild (though Doc does have sex with a beautiful woman!). I enjoyed it, though would not be likely to read it again.
*** stars. Reviewed Dec. 18th/17

TALES OF THE WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE

From 2013 comes this handsome Titan book, containing stories related to Wold Newton.
Cover artist uncredited.

Farmer took a historical account of a meteor strike in England in the 1790s, and literally ran with it into no man's land. The Wold Newton universe, as imagined by Farmer, is well explained in the introduction to this 492 page anthology. There are ten stories included, with 6 of them by Farmer. One is a collaboration, and the others are by different authors. It is a fun hobby to keep track of all the Wold Newton events, with more happening each year, it seems, as Farmer inspired others to write about it, also. It is large enough to make it into a significant sub-category of Farmer's works.

The Problem of the Sore Bridge--Among Others: See review under Riverworld and Other Stories, above.

A Scarletin Study: See review under Pearls From Peoria, above.

The Doge Whose Barque Was Worse Than His Bight: See review under Pearls From Peoria, above.

Skinburn: See the review under The Book Of P. J. Farmer, above.

The Freshman: See the review under The Book Of P. J. farmer, above.

After King Kong Fell: See review under The Grand Adventure, above.

Kwasin and The Bear God is from 2011, and is 73 pages long. It was written with help from Christopher Paul Carey. After book two of the Hadon of Opar series, Hadon and Kwasin have escaped their demise and are off on different paths. This relates a singular adventure that Kwasin encounters when he finally reaches shore. This is a really fun story, though nothing unusual or especially brilliant. It could also be called Kwasin Dances With Bears. It reminds me of many of the Conan stories. Good stuff!
*** stars. Reviewed July 10th/18

Into Time's Abyss, by John Allen Small, is from 2011 and is 30 pages long. It takes as its lead the 2nd time travel expedition to 12,000 B.C. from Farmer's Time's Last Gift. The same people go back again, this time getting mixed up with English speaking aliens that are 9 feet tall, and enslave the local native inhabitants, who also speak English. Standard adventure fare, the tradition goes on (and on).
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed July 11th/18.

The Last of The Guaranys, by Octavia Aragao and Carlos Orsi, is from 2012 and is 41 pages long. "Tarzan" is in 16th C. Brazil, in search of a natural atomic furnace. An odd choice for a tale with all of history in which to choose. Definitely another tale in the machismo tradition, with a beautiful woman there who needs saving and loving. Yawn. In Farmer tradition, there are caves, and a big creature that needs killing.
** stars. Reviewed July 12th/18

The Wild Huntsman, by Win Scott Eckert, is from 2012 and is 52 pages long. It attempts to describe the events leading up to the Wold Newton fireball of 1795, and to unify a lot of theories about what was going on at the time. Carefully using Farmer's source material, Eckert writes a coherent, though implausible, account of what happened at that time. Unfortunately, the whole Wold Newton thing has gotten completely out of hand, continuing to have a life (or rather, lives) of its own long after Farmer stopped contributing. It is now much too complex and ridiculous for anyone to follow the story line, which involves two alien races, the Nine (who are nearly immortal), Tarzan (who is immortal), Doc Savage, Phileas Fogg, time travel (which really messes up the storyline and plausibility), and more events and other characters that any one reader can grasp and understand and follow. And on it goes....
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed July 13th/18

THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE

Cover art by Glen Orbik

With Farmer's story outline, encouragement, and advice, Eckett fills out the story of Patricia Wildman, Doc Savage's daughter, as she is offered the inheritance of an English estate, along with a title. However, before she can inherit it she has to deal with all of the bad people that live there. As in most Farmer pulp-like novels there is plenty of action. This one has plenty of nudity and sex; Pat has very different attitudes to sex than her father. The story was first published in 2009, and takes place in the early 1970s. It is 256 pages long, and contains all kinds of extras, including pages of footnotes.

The story ties in with many others, and it would a good idea to become familiar with Sherlock Holmes' adventures having to do with Charles Milverton, "The Priory School", and "The Empty House", specifically with the name Moran. And it is not a recommended book with which to jump into the Wold Newton universe for a first timer, though I suppose it could be done.

All in all it is a fun read, and will appeal to lecherous old men (and women). There is a high level of violence and mayhem, and the sex can be rather creepy at times. You have been warned. Personally, I am rather tired of Wold Newton and its spawn. Still, I managed to read it all with no great difficulty.
** 1/2 stars. Reviewed October 24th/18

__________________________________________________________________________________

Page proof read, completed March 16th, 2019.

Mapman Mike