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News & What's New - February 2014
Gateway Omnibus
27 Feb 2014
 
British publisher Gollancz/Gateway is, since 2013, publishing a series of omnibuses with two or three novels by well know writers. For instance with novels by Robert Silverberg, Clifford D. Simak, Joe Haldeman, Bob Shaw, Jack Vance and many others.
See the list at ISFDB.

In July 2014 Gateway will publish an omnibus with three novels by Philip José Farmer: The Maker of Universes, To Your Scattered Bodies Go, and The Unreasoning Mask.
The omnibus was earlier announced with three first novels in a series, with Dayworld as the third novel. That one has been replaced with the stand alone novel The Unreasoning Mask.
List price is £18.99; see Amazon.co.uk.


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Table of Contents 
23 Feb 2014
 
Publisher Meteor House announced which stories and essays will be included in their fourth volume of work by and about Farmer.
The Table of Contents for The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 4: Voyages to Strange Days:
  • Foreword by Robert Silverberg
    Peoria-Colored Worlds
  • The Case of the Curious Contradiction by Terry Bibo
  • Eleven Days in Springtime by François Mottier
  • Philip José Farmer Conquiert L’Univers Postface by Philip José Farmer
  • Pekon 2 Guest of Honor Speech by Philip José Farmer
    Expanded Worlds
  • Samdroo and the Grassman by Martin Gately
  • Whiteness of the Whale by Danny Adams
  • Ite, Missa Est by Paul Spiteri
  • Antlers of Flesh by E. C. Lisic
  • The Goddess Equation by Christopher Paul Carey
    Classic Worlds
  • A Carmody-Raspold Chronology by Christopher Paul Carey
  • Letter of Discord by Philip José Farmer
  • For Where Your Treasure Is by Art Sippo
  • Moth and Rust by Philip José Farmer
The book will be published this spring. I already ordered my copy of the book.
Do not wait too long to preorder your copy. Preorders save $5 off the $25 list price!


Laura Givens
Two essays in Science Fiction Times
21 Feb 2014
 
The German critical magazine Science Fiction Times published in 1990 two essays by Jörg Kastner, both about Philip José Farmer and his work.

The first of these, "Wider die Etikettierer" (Against the Labelers) in the August 1990 issue, is about the self-censorship of the German publishers. Reason why they did not dare to publish translations of The Image of the Beast and Blown. The earlier translation of Flesh, as Der Sonnenheld in 1971, was pretty much censored.
This changed with the publication of the German omnibus Fleisch in 1989, with all three novels. But still some censorship was used with the novels.

In the second essay, "Neues aus Peoria" (News from Peoria) in the September 1990 issue, Kastner reviews the German publications, four books (other than Fleisch) from the past five years. Kastner: "Als Fazit ergibt sich, daß die in lezter Zeit bei uns erchienenen Bücher Philip José Farmers - bis auf den Durchhänger Ironcastle - sehr lesenswert sind."

I had been looking for some years for copies of these two magazines, but didn't find any. Two years ago I received photocopies of the essays from Ronald M. Hahn (still many thanks!). Read them but forgot to include the information in the bibliography. Many magazines, fanzines and books were piled on the two essays. While cleaning out my desk I found them again, and searching the internet also found the two issues for sale. Time to correct my omission.


Gabriele Berndt


Kowalski
They Twinkled Like Jewels
18 Feb 2014
 
Phil Farmer wrote this story, "They Twinkled Like Jewels", back in 1954. The story was inspired by the way stinger wasps catch and poison their prey, the caterpillars, and attach an egg at the still living worm. It will stay alive until the egg hatches and the young wasp starts eating.
Phil speculates what if we, the humans, had such enemies?

For me its not one of Farmer's best stories. It is is hardly believable as things go with the undetected aliens.
The story was published 11 times worldwide in magazines and collections. Since 2009 it is also published in solo publications in a chapbook, all of them as, often too expensive, Print-on-Demand books. The story is available on the internet for free, in eBook and Audio Book.


Joe Richards
Escape from Loki in Million
12 Feb 2014
 
I finally found and bought a copy of Million, 'The Magazine About Popular Fiction', issue number 9 (May/June 1992).
Graham Andrews wrote a critical essay and review, "Doc Biggles Drummond Templar—When He Was a Boy", about Farmer's Doc Savage novel, Escape from Loki, published in 1991 by Bantam Falcon, and calls the novel «...one of the best sequels-by-other-hands yet written...».
Andrews would have liked if Farmer had written more Doc Savage novels, and hoped he had some answers for his questions about Biggles and Simon Templar.


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Three essays in Proxima
11 Feb 2014
 
Ludovic Nowak wrote a three part essay, "Lorsque José ose", about Philip José Farmer and his work for the French quarterly published magazine Proxima. The three parts were published in 1985, in the issues number 5, 6 and 7.

Benoît Bonte Patrick Marcel Séverin

In two of the issues, the essays were accompanied by Farmer's stories. Nº 6 published a translation of "The Henry Miller Dawn Patrol" ("Patrouille de l'aube"), and Nº 7 published "The Leaser of Two Evils" ("Le Moindre des deux maux").
Both stories had first been published in the American Playboy.
Interview in Antares 2
7 Feb 2014
 
The French fanzine Antares n° 2, (1981) published Farmer's story "Le Vocan" ("The Volcano"). We already had this publication in the bibliography.

What we didn't know till now, just received a copy of this issue, is that there also is an interview with Philip José Famer in the same issue, "Rencontre avec l'auteur: Philip José Farmer", conducted by Martine Blond & Jean-Pierre Moumon.
The interview took place at the 38th World Science Fiction Convention (Noreascon 2) in Boston, September 1980.
Many topics were spoken of, like the great idea of a sequel to The Lovers, Children of the Lovers.


Pierre D. Lacroix
Planète à vendre!
6 Feb 2014
 
Slide Neurox wrote a long and interesting essay, six pages, for the dossier about Philip José Farmer in the French fanzine Planète à Vendre! n° 9R/033, of February-March 1992.
The essay is about Farmer's ideas and themes in most of his work, of which Neurox gives many examples around these themes. Many novels, series and stories by Farmer are mentioned in this essay.

The scan isn't missing its top right cover, the fanzine was cut this way.


J. Toni
More Green in the UK
6 Feb 2014
 
William Taylor (Canada) discovered a 1976 reprint of the British edition of The Green Odyssey from Sphere Books. This one isn't mentioned in the 1983 printing of the book from Sphere, so it was assumed that to be the second printing, till now.

I added and corrected the information about the British printings on the book page.
Many thanks Bill.


Angus McKie
Ernest(o)
3 Feb 2014
 
Philip José Farmer loved the works by Ernest Hemingway. The story "That Great Spanish Author, Ernesto" is a kind of a hommage to Hemingway's writing. Or "...a pastiche of sorts..." and "...one of the finest examples illustrating just how artful and diverse Phil's writing can be...", according to the editor Christopher Paul Carey.

Written in the early 1940s but only published in 2006 after its discovery in Farmer's archives.


Charles Berlin

Added Books
One new addition on the book pages this month.

The Green Odyssey
A reprint of the British edition from Sphere Books, 1976.

 
Statistics
These are the numbers for the book pages this month.

1806 publications
1180 different covers
 
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© Zacharias L.A. Nuninga -- Page last updated: 14 Aug 2014