We already have an interview lined up for the October update! We can't tell you how pleased we are with this new feature of the website, and how easy it has been to find willing interview subjects. The only problem is finding the time to do the prep work to conduct a good interview.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's get to this month's Big News: THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 2: Of Dust and Soul is now in stock and shipping from Meteor House. Click on that link to see the stellar line up of contents. Just as with volume one there is old and new material (mostly new), there is fiction and nonfiction (mostly fiction), and everything in the book is either written by Philip José Farmer or is about him and his work, or is new fiction set in his worlds or using his characters. We're talking about nonfiction by Greg Bear, Charles Platt, James Sallis, Edgar L. Chapman and Thomas José Josephsohn and fiction by Spider Robinson, Bradley H. Sinor, Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, Mary A. Turzillo, John Allen Small, and a novella by Philip José Farmer & Christopher Paul Carey! Throw in a short story, a letter, a chapter from an unfinished novel, and two speechs by Farmer himself and it's 264 pages of Farmerpalooza!

Ok, fine, we'll give you some details. Remember the story The Face That Launched a Thousand Eggs from Farmerphile #1? It was about Tim Howller, a college freshman in the late 1930s (a stand in for Phil himself). We didn't know, when the story was published in 2005, that Farmer had written most of a novel about Howller and his college adventures. THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 2 contains a chapter from that novel: STRANGERS & BROTHERS. This excerpt alone, about two important firsts in young man's life, is worth the price of the book. Also worth the price of the book by itself is the novella by Farmer and Carey mentioned above. After completing the novel THE SONG OF KWASIN (due out in 2012), from Farmer's outline for the third volume in the Khokarsa series, co-author Christopher Paul Carey discovered a second, alternate outline. While it was similar to the one he had already used, it did include a side adventure, which became the novella, Kwasin and the Bear God. Those two stories barely scratch the surface of the wonderful contents of this book.

Since we've declared that two separate items in the book are worth the price alone, we should mention the price. THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 2: Of Dust and Soul is a Numbered Limited Edition trade paperback of 500 copies which sells for $25 + shipping. However, if, being the dedicated Farmer reader you are, you already have THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 1: Protean Dimensions, you get 20% off the cover price, so you can purchase it for only $20 + shipping.

For those poor, deprived, individuals who don't already own volume 1, Meteor House has a special deal just for them. Purchase volume 1 and 2 together, save, the $5 off volume 2, and save $2.50 off volume 1 (which has a $20 cover price) and save even more with the combined shipping.

After FarmerCon and WORLDS 2 coming out and having to add entries for all it's contents throughout this website, that didn't leave a whole lot of time to add any other new material to the site. In fact, the only other thing added this month were links to reviews of THE DARK DESIGN and THE MAGIC LABYRINTH that we somehow missed when they came out earlier this year at Green Man Review.

However, there are other interesting things to tell you about. In the July update we were excited to tell you about Charles R. Saunder's new novel, DAMBALLA. In the August update we mentioned the buzz going around PulpFest about this book. For those not yet convinced how special this is, please give a listing to The Book Cave's podcast 142. Ron Fortier and Derrick Ferguson discuss Charles Saunders and DAMBALLA with hosts Rick Croxton and Art Sippo for a very enjoyable 75 minutes.

August also saw the release of two anthologies that are sure to be of interest to Farmer and Wold Newton fans. First up is THE AVENGER: THE JUSTICE, INC. FILES (edited by Joe Gentile and Howard Hopkins, Moonstone Books). There are a lot of familiar names in this book: Matthew Baugh, Win Scott Eckert, Ron Fortier, Frank Schildiner, Christopher Paul Carey, and Will Murray among many other fine writers. The book features several crossovers, as Richard Benson meets pulp hero The Spider and battles Dracula. Another tale has very subtle connections to a well known series of books by Farmer. Win Scott Eckert's, "Happy Death Men," features The Avenger teaming up with the Domino Lady, and has strong connections to Philip Jose Farmer's authorized Doc Savage novel, ESCAPE FROM LOKI.

To help erase that awful movie from your memory, dive into THE GREEN HORNET CASEFILES (edited by Joe Gentile and Win Scott Eckert, Moonstone Books). This book also has some familiar names in it as well: Ron Fortier, Win Scott Eckert, Bradley H. Sinor, and Matthew Baugh. And Wold Newton and crossover fans, take note, this book has several crossovers, some leading back to the Hornet's familial connection to a certain Western hero... Our thanks to Win Scott Eckert, the busiest part time writer and editor we know, for the details on these books.

One final bit of news, and this is kind of big. The volume discounts on the Estate Sale have been increased. Now if you buy 3 to 6 books, you save 15% off your order. If you buy 7 to 10 books, you save 20% off your order. If you buy 11 to 15 books, you save 25% off your order. And this is new: buy 16 or more books and save 30% off your order. As always, previous orders count towards your total. So if you bought four books last year, buy three now and you save 20% off your order. If you bought 10 or more books in the last year, you could be very close to saving 30% off your next order.

In addition to hanging out with other Farmer fans, there was a weekend full of activities at PulpFest. First there's the dealers' room; over one hundred tables selling pulp magazines, pulp reprints, new pulp, artwork, t-shirts, videos, vintage and collectible paperbacks, even some rare and expensive hardcover books. There was the Thursday night party and movies for those who arrived early. There were readings from up-and-coming authors called the "New Fictioneers." We'll mention the dealer's room again because you couldn't possibly take it all in your first time through. There were presentations on topics such as The Shadow on Radio, Wild American Pulp Artists, C.L. Moore, Steampunk, Walter Gibson and The Shadow, and even a panel called Granddaughters of the Pulps with four descendents of pulp writers. There was an auction with nearly two hundreds lots of books, magazines, artwork and other pulp related goodies. There was also the 2011 Munsey Award Presentation, which went to the very deserving Anthony Tollin of The Shadow's Sanctum. Anthony is an interesting guy who hung out with the FarmerCon crowd quite a bit when he wasn't working the dealers' room, which in case you missed it, is the main attraction of PulpFest.

We will say here and now that despite a few hiccups, PulpFest proved to be a nearly perfect venue to hold a FarmerCon. So good, in fact, we've decided to make it FarmerCon's semi-permanent home. We will definitely be going back in 2012. The date has not been announced yet, but it is typically the last weekend in July, so odds are it will be July 27–29, 2012. Plan on being there. Yes, we're talking to you.

If all of that isn't enough to convince you what a great weekend we had, then how about this; the Book Cave recorded many of the events and put them online as six podcasts: PulpFest Special 1 (Wayne Reinagel and Win Scott Eckert reading from their books), PulpFest Special 2 (the PulpFest Welcome, Shadow Radio, Pulp artists born in 1911, and Granddaughters of Pulp), PulpFest Special 3 (presentations on C.L. Moore, Steampunk, and a panel on Walter Gibson), PulpFest Special 4 (New Pulp with Bill Craig and Anthony Tollin), PulpFest Special 5 (Interviews with PulpFest guests like Ron Fortier, and presentations SteamPunk and the Shadow), and last but certainly not least, PulpFest Special 6 (FarmerCon: speeches about Farmer by Michael Croteau, Win Scott Eckert, Dr. Art Sippo and Rick Lai, followed by questions from the audience). When Art Sippo spoke at FarmerCon III his speech was so good we printed it in Farmerphile #14. During the question and answer period Friday evening (Saturday morning actually) someone asked where Art's speech from this year might be printed, which led to its own discussion.

A few other interesting things happened at PulpFest. First, there was a bit of a buzz about the book DAMBALLA, by Charles R. Saunders. I (Mike Croteau) snatched up a copy from Ron Fortier's Airship 27 dealer table on my first circuit of the dealer's room. My second time through it was sold out. I heard people in the aisles talking about the book and someone saying a dealer on the other side of the room had a copy for sale. Ron was very enthusiastic about the book and had nothing but great things to say about Charles. Our own experience working with Charles, allowing us to reprint his essay "Farmer of the Apes" in Farmerphile #13 were similar to Ron's. Speaking of Farmerphile, that brings us to the next bit of news: we are now sold out of issue #3, and have fewer than five copies left of issues 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9. These will all be gone before you know it. Win Scott Eckert was very visible throughout PulpFest, and he came prepared for the dealers' room. Or so he thought. He had copies of a dozen different anthologies he has stories in, as well as copies of his collection MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE, his massive two volume reference CROSSOVERS: A Secret Chronology of the World, his novel THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE and the recent reprint of Farmer's THE PEERLESS PEER which Win provided an afterword to. Win quickly sold out of almost half the titles he brought, leaving many potential customers disappointed. Let this be a lesson to any authors thinking of coming next year. People will buy your book if you are sitting there waiting to sign it for them. Just ask Will Murray who sold out of several cases of books well before the dealer room closed on Saturday; leaving him with not much to do on Sunday...

So FarmerCon and PulpFest, way more to see and do than you could have imagined—oh, and the dealers' room, we did mention the dealers' room right?

Believe it or not, we have some non-FarmerCon news to report. First and foremost we have the third installment in our series of interviews with writers influenced by Philip José Farmer. This time around Danny Adams (co-author with Farmer of THE CITY BEYOND PLAY) interviewed major science fiction novelist S.M. Stirling. Stirling is a big fan of Farmer's and we're so glad he was willing to take time out from his busy schedule to talk to us (we're also grateful to Danny for conducting the interview). There is a nice little surprise near the end of the interview. Also, the Barsoom tribute anthology mentioned at the end of the interview: UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS: New Adventures on Barsoom has a number of authors in it mentioned on this website before besides S.M. Stirling: Joe R. Lansdale, Tobias S. Buckell, Garth Nix and Richard A. Lupoff, among many others.

Since the publication of THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 2: Of Dust and Soul has been delayed, Meteor House has extended the pre-order sale past August 1st until the book is shipping to customers. So you can still save $5 off the cover price if you buy now, or, if you buy Volume 1 and 2 together, you can save even more money.

We've added a link on the reviews page to a very thorough review of THE PEERLESS PEER, by Henry Covert, Minion (Columnist/Reviewer) at SheNeverSlept.com. As we mentioned last month, pick up extra copies of this very reasonably priced trade paperback and give them to your friends (the whole Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series is $9.95 per volume). If this book does well we might possibly see a whole series of "Wold Newton Novels."

This past month NPR had a poll of the Top 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Titles. By "titles" they are asking for the best books or series, not just the most interesting book titles. Farmer was on the list twice with the Riverworld series and VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL. NPR will reveal the results of the poll sometime in August.

One final bit of news this month. Our good friend Chris Roberson was recently written up in the Austin Chronicle under the headline: Chris the Conqueror: Chris Roberson takes on Superman, Elric, Captain Kirk, and Cinderella – and wins. That pretty much says it all.

The hit counter as of August 9th says 293,144 which is 1,513 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on July 9th.

But what if you didn't buy volume 1 when it came out last year, can you still get both volumes with matching numbers? Glad you asked. Not only can you get a matched set of both volumes, but right now you can save $7.50 off the pair of books if you order them together—and you will save even more money with the combined shipping.

The next book that every Farmer fan needs in their collection is the new Titan Books edition of THE PEERLESS PEER. Not only is this book part of Titan's excellent Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Series (currently fourteen titles and counting), but it also contains an all new Afterword by Win Scott Eckert! And there is one more intriguing thing about this edition of the book. On the back you will find the following: "A Wold Newton Universe Novel." It seems that Titan Books may be interested in reprinting more of Phil's books. But this is only going to happen if THE PEERLESS PEER does well. So, if you want to see more Farmer books brought back into print, as a series of "Wold Newton Universe Novels," then buy this book and spread the word, brother! There is already a review of this edition online which is worth reading whether or not you have already read the novel.

This is the last monthly update before FarmerCon VI. We hope we've covered everything you need to know before arriving and we hope to see you there. But really, don't just decide at the last minute to come and surprise us, let us know you're coming. This way you won't miss out on any of the fun. Also, we've extended the 20% off discount on Estate Sale books until we leave for FarmerCon. As we said, whatever we can sell now, we don't have to bring with us to Ohio.

Switching gears, those of you who are book collectors may get a kick out of this. We have added a new book to the Uncorrected Proofs webpage. THE CITY BEYOND PLAY came out in 2007, but we just now finally managed to get our hands on a proof copy. After avidly collecting Farmer for over fifteen years, there's not a lot left out there for us to find, so it's especially fun when we find a rarity like this.

Farmer's classic story, After King Kong Fell was recently reprinted in the mammoth (nearly 900 page) collection, THE BIG BOOK OF ADVENTURE STORIES. The Wall Street Journal reviewed the collection and made a nice mention of Farmer's story.

Last year around this time we reminded you about the Ramble House edition of Farmer's rarest novel, LOVE SONG. This is another reminder that not only do they have the only affordable edition of this book (at just $30), but they also have signed copies available as well. We mention this now because they are down to their last SIX signed copies of the book. Just saying.

As you know, we also like to bring you news about what Wold Newton Scholars, Farmerphile, and WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER contributors have been up to. Paul Malmont, who wrote the Foreword to WORLDS 1: Protean Dimensions, has a new novel out, THE ASTOUNDING, THE AMAZING, AND THE UNKNOWN. While his terrific debut novel, THE CHINA TOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL, featured pulp writers like Lester Dent and Walter Gibson, his new novel follows the exploits of Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp and L. Ron Hubbard during their time at the US Naval Yard during WWII. Can you say perfect summer reading?

If you check out PULPED! The New Pulp Podcast, you will not only find an interview with Paul Malmont in their Special Release Day Podcast #1, but Episode #2 discusses Phil's DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE, and there is a review of Win Scott Eckert's magnum opus, CROSSOVERS: A Secret Chronology of the World.

The excellent short story, Iron and Bronze: a Hareton Ironcastle & Doc Ardan Adventure by Christopher Paul Carey and Win Scott Eckert, is now available in your favorite ebook format. Seeing this again makes us wonder if they'll ever write any more about these two adventures.

Coming soon from Black Coat Press, the collection, DOCTOR OMEGA AND THE SHADOWMEN features stories by Chris Roberson, Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, Matthew Baugh, Stuart Shiffman, and two stories by Dennis E. Power.

If there is one thing Charles R. Saunders knows more about than crafting fantasy novels from African legends, it's boxing. Which makes the boxing world of the 1930s an ideal setting for his new novel about a black pulp hero, Damballa. Throw in a Nazi plot to take out the black heavy weight champion and, well, we simply can't wait to get our hands on this!

And finally we have the kind news that every writer would love to report. James Sallis, a long time friend of Farmer's, who has a very personal essay in WORLDS 2, has a movie coming out in September based on his novel, Drive. We're talking Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Albert Brooks, in short, a major Hollywood movie. Check out the trailer.

The hit counter as of July 9th says 291,631 which is 1,781 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on June 10th.

So not only—as we announced last month—do we get a new novella about Kwasin by Farmer & Carey, in THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 2: Of Dust and Soul, but in THE SONG OF KWASIN there is a whole novel's worth of adventures coming in 2012. Throw in the fact that this novel will be the conclusion to a series that has been hanging since 1976, and this has to qualify as the best news we've had around here in a long time. Needless to say, keep watching this space for updates: the official announcement from the publisher, cover art, when you can pre-order the book, etc.

The interview also mentioned the story, "A Kick in the Side," which is set in Khokarsa (but not about Kwasin) by Christopher Paul Carey. That story can be found in THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 1: Protean Dimension, which happens to be on sale for 25% off! That's right, you can save $5 if you purchase the book by June 15th.

Another addition to the website this month comes thanks to Zacharias Nuninga at the International Bibliography. He sent us a review of DAYWORLD from the fanzine Low Orbit. This now gives us the text of 345 of 431 known reviews (not including links to online reviews) on the website.

We now have programming details online for FarmerCon VI, and are extremely pleased to share that our very own Win Scott Eckert is one of the nominees for this year's Munsey Award. To make sure that all those coming to FarmerCon have a chance to buy books from anyone else coming to FarmerCon, we have set up this Book Bonanza page where attendees can list their books, and others can request copies to purchase. There are still a lot who have no yet listed their books, so be sure to check this list periodically.

One of the interesting things about reading Farmer is, no matter how crazy and far out an idea of his sounds, it more often than not has a grain of truth in it. So it makes you wonder if he knew about this when he wrote about Ralph von Wau Wau. We wouldn't be surprised at all if Farmer did learn of this somewhere in his wide reading. Thanks to PEARLS FROM PEORIA editor Paul Spiteri for alerting us to this article.

Speaking of FarmerCon and of book sales: we announced last month that we were going to try to bring every signed book from the Estate Sale to FarmerCon to be sold at Meteor House's table in the Pulpfest Dealer's Room. We took another look at that, and realized there were still far more books than we want to bring all the way to Ohio. So, from today through the end of June, every book in the Estate Sale is on sale for 20% off. Add in the volume discounts and you could save 30 to 40%.

We like to keep up with news about past Farmerphile contributors, and our favorite Wold Newtonians, and this month we have news from two of them. John Allen Small as started a fairly regular blog. So far he has mostly been updating it with interesting things he has written over the past couple of decades. Meanwhile, Rick Lai's new book, SHADOWS OF THE OPERA has just been published by Wildcat Books. Expect to see copies of this book at FarmerCon.

And our final bit of news for this month is that Kim Newman's seminal work, ANNO DRACULA has just been reprinted. In interviews at both IO9 and at FearNet, he listed Farmer as one of his primary inspirations. It's nice to see Phil still getting some love out there.

The hit counter as of June 9th says 289,850 which is 2,107 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on May 9th.

Be on the lookout for a newsletter in the coming weeks that will tell you when you can pre-order your copy from Meteor House.

Last month we added two new webpages to the site, and we already have updates on both of them. First, there is the webpage that lists books dedicated to Philip José Farmer. We don't have any new entries (don't forget to send those in kids) but we have added some interesting information. For three of the titles we have also included the inscription written by the author in Phil's personal copy of the book. That's pretty cool, but not as awesome as this...

Only two weeks after our debut interview with writers influenced by Philip José Farmer was published online, the subject of that interview, Mark Hodder, won the Philip K. Dick Award for his spectacular debut novel THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK! Now, we're not saying the two events are related, but why take that chance? If you're an author with an appreciation of Philip Jose Farmer—especially if you're up for any type of award—come participate in our series of interviews. Click Here to watch a video of the award ceremony.

Looking ahead to end of July we have some good news for those of you attending FarmerCon VI. Meteor House will have a table in the dealer's room (which of course is the main focus of PulpFest) and at that table you will be able to find a large selection of books from the estate sale. In fact, we may try to bring every signed book that is left. If you think the looking over the list is tempting, just wait until you have the books right there in front of you (we know, we struggle with this every day). Of course if you are not coming to FarmerCon VI at PulpFest, you might want to grab any books you've been lusting after before we display them to several hundred serious pulp and book collectors.

We have two other additions to the website this month. When Phil passed away in February 2009, many tributes about him appeared online. However, not that many appeared in print. This month we found one in The Pulpster #18, July 2009, by the same fine folks who run PulpFest. We have also added a link to yet another review of Tor's Riverworld omnibus. It's fun to see these keep coming in after all these years. We'd love to see a publisher do a reprinting of the World of Tiers series so a whole new generation of readers could discover these great adventure tales.

In further news, a big congratulations to Phil's longtime friend Gary K. Wolfe for his Hugo nomination for BEARINGS: REVIEWS 1997-2001 (Beccon 2010).

And finally, we're excited to let you know the second Green Hornet anthology, THE GREEN HORNET CASEFILES, is now available. You can get it in either a trade edition or Limited Edition hardcover. The reason this book is of interest to Farmer fans is the number of familiar names you will find in the table of contents. There are stories by Howard Hopkins, Win Scott Eckert, Bradley H. Sinor, and Matthew Baugh among many other fine writers.

The hit counter as of May 9th says 287,743 which is 1,591 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on April 9th.

I was just reading a web page on a Heinlein site and ran across the fact that Stranger in a Strange Land was dedicated to PJF. You probably already knew this? But when I did a search of your web site, I didn’t find it mentioned.

The second new webpage is the launch of what we hope will be an ongoing series for years to come, Interviews with writers influenced by Philip José Farmer. We've set the bar high with a terrific interview of Mark Hodder, author of the two Burton & Swinburne novels, THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK and THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN. If you know of an author you feel would make a good subject for this series of interviews, please let us know. We'll be happy to talk to them about what they learned from Farmer, and about their own writing as well.

Speaking of writers dedicating books to each other, and writers being influenced by each other, this seems like a good time to remind you about the association copies for sale in the estate sale. You will find books inscribed to Farmer from Joe R. Lansdale, Victor Koman, Charles Willeford, Ed Gorman, François Mottier, Dorothy Cannell and several by Robert Bloch among others. Just this past month a copy of THE DEMONS OF THE UPPER AIR, inscribed to Phil and Bette from Fritz Leiber in 1969, was sold to a very famous science fiction author. We won't mention his name, but we do wonder; is the book now and association-association copy? Perhaps if the new owner signs the book himself...

And hey, look, it's official, you can see FarmerCon VI listed in the programming at PulpFest. We'll have several speakers Friday night starting at 10:30. Boy, it looks like these guys like to party late! If you plan on coming to FarmerCon VI, be sure to email mike @ pjfarmer.com and let us know. This way you can be included in all of our plans.

As for further updates to the site, we have added links to two new reviews. The third review of UP THE BRIGHT RIVER and the first of THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 1: Protean Dimensions.

We're always trying to keep up with what contributors to Farmerphile and THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER are up to, and we have several items of interest to report. First up is artist Keith Howell who is now selling prints of some of his artwork through his online store, Intelligent Designs. Besides cover art from Farmerphile and WORLDS 1, you will also find art work from past FarmerCon Programs and interior illustrations from PEARLS FROM PEORIA. There is lot's of cool stuff to check out. You just know these would look great hanging in your office or library.

Christopher Paul Carey reports on his blog that the book MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, is now available to preorder. This book is edited by Farmerphile alum Heidi Ruby Miller and also contains a sidebar by Chris Carey himself. This book is written by the faculty and graduates of Seton Hill University’s MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction and looks like a must have for budding writers. Even more exiting though, Chris has a story coming out in THE AVENGER: The Justice Inc. Files coming out in May. Just to tease you, keep this in mind—as readers of Phil's DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE know—The Avenger is Kickaha's first cousin. Also with a story in this book, is the busiest part time writer we know, Win Scott Eckert.

In addition to the Avenger story, which pairs up The Avenger and the Domino Lady for the first time ever, Win has a story in MORE TALES OF ZORRO due out this month. What's really interesting about this anthology is that among the long list of contributors, there are a lot of very recognizable names. But, way cooler than either of these two stories coming out, is the fact that Win's Magnum Opus, CROSSOVERS: A Secret Chronology of the World 1 & 2, has been reviewed by New York Review of Science Fiction. It's great to see these books getting the critical attention they deserve.

The hit counter as of April 9th says 286,152 which is 1,601 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on March 9th.

Zacharias Nuninga first broke the news at the International Bibliography website on February 20th. Here's the deal: those of you who have a copy of PEARLS FROM PEORIA will remember the story "The Princess of Terra" by Charlotte Corday-Marat. The manuscript for this unpublished story was found in Phil's "Magic Filing Cabinet" with the unusual pseudonym listed as the author. While working on PEARLS, editor Paul Spitiri confirmed with Phil that the name was a concatenation of Charlotte Corday and Jean-Paul Marat, which Phil did just for fun. This is rather unusual when you consider that Charlotte Corday assassinated Jean-Paul Marat.

So, the big news is that a story published under this very same pseudonym has been discovered. "The Many Dooms of Harold Hall" was printed in the November 1965 issue of Bizarre! Mystery Magazine. Having read the story, we cannot say for sure if Phil wrote it or not. The evidence at this time is entirely circumstantial. There is nothing in his files about this story, or this magazine. But the question remains, could someone else have come up with this same pseudonym independently? That seems rather unlikely. Or, perhaps Phil came up with it with another writer, such as his good friend Bob Bloch (who happens to have a story in the same issue) and they both decided to use it? For the time being, we just don't know. But maybe you do? Does anyone out there know anything about Phil, or any other writer, using the name Charlotte Corday-Marat? Or what about the magazine itself, published by Pamar Enterprises, or Gerald Levine (publisher), or John Poe (editor) or Sean Kelly (associate editor)?

In our last newsletter, sent at the end of January, we pointed out that, for the first time in years, there were no listings on the Forthcoming books page. There were no new books to look forward to. Fortunately, that situation didn't last very long. While we don't always list reprints, we are very excited about THE PEERLESS PEER, being added to Titan Books great "Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" series. But that is not all, we also have a sneak peak at the cover art of Meteor House's WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 2: Of Dust and Soul, an eye catching cover by Laura Givens.

Speaking of cover art, Keith Howell has blogged about designing the cover for THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 1: Protean Dimensions. It's a very interesting look at the creative process of a commercial artist. With lots of pictures included, you can actually see some earlier versions of the book cover.

Don't even try to say we didn't warn you. You know we did, on more than one occasion, and now, THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE, by Philip José Farmer and Win Scott Eckert is SOLD OUT from the publisher. While speaking of Win, he was interviewed by Rick Croxton and Art Sippo on The Book Cave this past month. They mostly talked about Win's magnum opus, CROSSOVERS: A Secret Chronology of the World 1 & 2, now out from Black Coat Press, and a lot of other topics Farmer fans would find interesting, like traveling to Wold Newton, England and seeing the Wold Newton Meteorite at the Natural History Museum.

In addition to all the reviews we added to the reviews page last month, we now have a link to a new review of GODS OF RIVERWORLD. And, it's not every day we see a review of a short story, and this is about one our favorites: The Problem of the Sore Bridge—Among Others. Once again, you have to love All Pulp!

In other news, there was an interesting article published at SF Signal this past month. Who is Doc Savage? by Larry Ketchersid mentions Phil and his two books DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE and ESCAPE FROM LOKI several times.

We still don't have a firm date and location for FarmerCon VI, but the moment we do—sometime in the next few weeks—we'll send out a newsletter letting everyone know. Again, the two options on the table are: Seattle, June 24-26 during the Locus Awards weekend or Columbus, July 29-31 at PulpFest.

The hit counter as of March 9th says 284,551 which is 1,417 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on February 9th.

1. Seattle, June 24-26 during the Locus Awards weekend.

2. Columbus, July 29-31 at PulpFest.

We are constantly on the lookout for data about Philip José Farmer. There are times when we learn about something, such as a story or article by Farmer being reprinted, and think, "Ok, need to add that to the website this month," and then we forget about it for a little while...or a few years. So we've known that Farmer's autobiographical essay Maps and Spasms was reprinted in Mystery Scene magazine in 1991, but it wasn't until we saw a copy on ebay this month, that we remembered to add it to the website. Of course we had to buy the magazine, just to read the introduction if nothing else:

(I once complained that writers of popular fiction rarely write interesting biographies. Philip José Farmer soon after proved me wrong. We are reprinting this in Mystery Scene because we feel it is an important [and wonderful] piece of work about the forces that shape a writer. --Ed Gorman)

With Tor's republishing of the Riverworld series comes a fresh batch of reviews. Grasping for the Wind reviewed TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO, Tangent Online reviewed the first three novels together. BSC reviewed the first three volumes separately, RIVERWORLD (which contains TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO and THE FABULOUS RIVERBOAT), THE DARK DESIGN and THE MAGIC LABYRINTH.

We like to keep track of past Farmerphile contributors, and other friends of this website, to see what they are up to these days. David Bischoff has a brand new website. Besides a biography and bibliography section, he is posting book reviews and will soon start putting some of his short fiction online. Christopher Paul Carey's short story "Caesar's Children: A Tale of Pluritopia" is now available in a Kindle ebook edition. We still think the idea of a future world with mulitple—separate—utopias, is brilliant. And hey, Joe R. Lansdale has two stories being turned into movies, "Mister Weed-Eater," and "Christmas with the Dead." How cool is that!

Remember above where we said that sometimes we forget to add things to the website right away? Well, sometimes we also miss making announcements in a timely manner. Sometimes an important book comes out and if we fail to mention it right away, it slips through the cracks. Thus is our excuse for not mentioning, in December, the publication of a book we look forward to every year; TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN! Volume 7 in this series, subtitled Femmes Fatales, contains stories by some familiar names in Farmer fandom: Matthew Baugh, Win Scott Eckert, Micah Harris, Rick Lai, Brad Mengel, Frank Schildiner, Stuart Shiffman and Bradley H. Sinor.

As mentioned last month, the 30% discount off all items in Philip José Farmer's estate sale, has ended. But, keep your eyes on this site for future sales.

The hit counter as of February 9th says 283,134 which is 1,541 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on January 9th.

The BIG NEWS this month is that UP THE BRIGHT RIVER is in the shipping queue and should be on it's way to those who preordered it very soon. If you didn't preorder a copy, grab yours from Subterranean Press before it's too late; their Farmer collections: THE BEST OF PHILIP JOS FARMER, UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT AND OTHER STORIES, VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL AND OTHERS, have a habit of selling out (PEARLS FROM PEORIA would also be sold out, but it had a rare second printing). It's astounding to see that even after four previous collections from Sub Press, editor Gary K. Wolfe has put together such a terrific lineup of stories:

Appearing for the first time in a Philip Jose Farmer collection are his last three Riverworld stories featuring characters from his own family history--as well as the memoir of Lord Greystoke which he claimed to have merely edited. Other highlights include Attitudes, the first of the Father Carmody stories; The Two-Edged Gift, which introduces the fictional science fiction writer Leo Queequeg Tincrowdor; Toward the Beloved City (about which its original editor said he had never before really understood the Book of Revelations); and Father s in the Basement, a little-known Gothic horror tale which is also a satire of the writing profession.

In other publishing news, Tor has released their reprint of GODS OF RIVERWORLD, the final volume in the Riverworld series. This completes the four volume set with matching covers, the first three: RIVERWORLD (which contains TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO and THE FABULOUS RIVERBOAT), THE DARK DESIGN and THE MAGIC LABYRINTH were published earlier this year.

Ok, now this is absolutely the coolest thing we've seen in a while: NESFA's Roger Zelazny project. Collected in six hardcover volumes are all of Roger Zelazny's short fiction, poetry, shorter early versions of several novels, two novel excerpts, some of his non-fiction articles, interviews, and even previously unpublished works. Most pieces have afterwords of a literary or biographical nature. Further coolness is that all of the dust jackets come from segments of this one wide painting by Michael Whelan. Additionally, there is a seventh volume; A Pictorial Bibliography, 400 pages of information for collectors and scholars. This volume includes entries for three items Roger Zelazny wrote about Phil Farmer AND a secondary bibliography is also included which lists more than 300 essays, theses, and books that have been written about Zelazny and his writings. This later volume includes an entry for "Philip Jos Farmer on Roger Zelazny," the tribute that was published in the FarmerCon V program book, just before the bibliography went to press.

Chris Carey alerted to the fact that ERBzine.com has started putting scans of the fanzine The Gridley Wave online. We've added links on the reviews page to issues 27 , 29, 38, and 52 so far, with hopefully more to come. This way you can read the whole issue and not just a review of one of Phil's books. These are very interesting time capsules of some of the long history of ERB fandom, of which Phil was a pretty active participant.

One final note: that little sale we mentioned last month, where you can save up to 50% off books from Philip Jos Farmer's Estate, is being extended for one more month. But, come February 9th, the 30% discount disappears and only the volume discounts will remain. Don't let this opportunity to own books from Phil's personal collection slip through your fingers.

The hit counter as of January 9th says 281,593 which is 1,603 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on December 11th.

Watch this space for links to the individual posts: THE METEOR HAS STRUCK!!! WOLD NEWTON TAKES OVER ALL PULP! - A WOLD NEWTON PRIMER - WOLD NEWTON AS META NARRATIVE - TWO HUNDRED WORD EXCERT FROM FIRST WOLD NEWTON ORIGINS TALE!! - The Root of the Wold Newton Family Tree: A Speculative Examination of Philip Jos Farmer s Quest - A WOLD NEWTON ORIGINS TALE-FULL TEXT-FROM BLACKCOAT PRESS! - WOLD NEWTON AND JT EDSON! - PJF'S PULP TRINITY - FRANK SCHILDINER TALKS DARK SHADOWS AND THE OLD ONES FOR WOLD NEWTON DAYS! - PJF MEMORIAL TRIBUTE STORY by JOHN ALLEN SMALL!!! - SIX DEGRESS OF PJF - IN DEFENSE OF WOLD NEWTONRY - WOLD NEWTON LIVES IN TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN 7!! - DENNIS E. POWER AND THE WOLD WIDE WEB! - WOLD NEWTON WRITERS/SCHOLARS AT THE METEOR SITE!! - WIN SCOTT ECKERT CLIMBS THE WOLD NEWTON FAMILY TREE! - INTERVIEW WITH PJF EDITOR/PROMOTER/WEBSITE GURU MIKE CROTEAU! - WOLD NEWTON MUSIC!!!!! - HANCOCK TIPS HIS HAT WOLD NEWTON STYLE!! - And as a closing to WOLD NEWTON DAY- plus A WOLD NEWTON ANNOUNCEMENT! - WIN SCOTT ECKERT'S INTRODUCTION TO PJF'S 'TARZAN ALIVE'! - A FAN RESPONDS TO WOLD NEWTON DAYS WITH HIS OWN REMEMBRANCES OF PJF! - WIN SCOTT ECKERT INTRODUCES ALL PULP TO 'THE FARMERIAN HOLMES' - WOLD NEWTON ARTICLE BY PHILIP JOSE FARMER! - PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF PHILIP JOSE FARMER! - WOLD NEWTON ON THE BOOK CAVE! - REVIEW OF THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE

Also in honor of Wold Newton Day/weekend, Meteor House Press has posted two excerpts from THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOS FARMER 1: Protean Dimensions online. The first, Is He in Hell? by Win Scott Eckert (who says he won't change his name to Wold Scott Eckert no matter how cool we think that would be), is the first in a series of Wold Newton origin stories. The second excerpt, also by Win, is The Blakeney Family Tree which shows some of the research that goes into writing a story like "Is He in Hell?"

Speaking of THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOS FARMER 1: Protean Dimensions, which we shouldn't have to remind you is a numbered limited edition trade paperback full of Farmerian goodness that sells for only $20; there are still two specials running the book! First there is the Farmercon deal; you can get a copy signed by four of the contributors and a FarmerCon V program for $30, or an unsigned copy with a program for $25. That program, by the way, contains a never before published tribute by Farmer to Roger Zelazny. Second there is the Farmerphile deal; purchase a copy of WORLDS and at the same time you can order as many issues of Farmerphile: The Magazine of Philip Jos Farmer as you like, for only $5 each! Better yet, you can even combine the two deals! Load up on WORLDS, a FarmerCon program and Farmerphile all at once.

Ok, it's finally here. The sale you have been waiting for. In honor of Wold Newton Day, and still in time for the holidays, the estate sale discount has been increased to 30% off. As always, when you add in the volume discounts for buying multiple books, you save even more:

Buy 3 to 6 books and save 40%
Buy 7 to 10 books and save 45%
Buy 11 or more books and save 50%

When we have interesting news, we like to keep you up to date about what Farmerphile and WORLD OF PJF contributors are up to. Rhys Hughes, a contributor to both, has just set up his own amazon page where you can order copies of most of his books. While Phil Farmer is a character in TWISTHORN BELOW, the short story collection, LESS LONELY PLANET, is still our favorite. You might want to start there if you have never read anything by the zany Welshman. However, one title you won't find on that list is WORMING THE HARPY, Rhys' hard-to-find first book which currently cannot be obtained for less than $350. Happily though, as he reports here, the book will be reprinted in early 2011 so we can finally get our hands on it. And, if you happen in be near Wales on December 11th, you can go to the book launch for THE POSTMODERN MARINER, despite the fact that the book that was published in 2008. As we said, zany Welshman.

The hit counter as of December 11th says 279,990 which is 1,782 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on November 9th.

Speaking of half off, here is a new deal that won't last long. While supplies last you can buy copies of Farmerphile: The Magazine of Philip Jos Farmer for only $5! This is half off the original list price of $10 (changed to $11 including shipping). All you have to do is visit this webpage, order a copy of THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOS FARMER 1: Protean Dimensions, and you can purchase as many copies of Farmerphile as you want for only $5 each. Issue #12 is already sold out, and we have less than ten copies left of several other issues, so jump on this one fast folks. While you're thinking about it, check out excerpts from three more items in WORLDS: Infamy by Edward Morris, My Summer Husband by Philip Jos Farmer and The Final Flight of Greatheart Silver by Chris Roberson.

We just learned about a new book that Farmer fans should be very excited about, Mark Hodder Presents, Burton & Swineborn in THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK. Yup, he had us at "Burton." As anticipated, the author Mark Hodder is in fact a fan of Philip Jos Farmer and discovered the explorer, Sir Richard Francis Burton, through the Riverworld series. Check out this very interesting essay by the author about Farmer, Burton, and writing his first novel.

We haven't had any Sherlockian news in a while and it occurs to us that many new readers may not know just how influential the great detective was on Phil and his career. First there was H.W. Starr's essay, "A Case of Identity," published in the Baker Street Journal (January, 1960). This gave Phil the initial connections between Sherlock Holmes and Lord Greystoke which was the springboard to the discovery of the Wold Newton Family (in fact Phil even had a painting in his home of a pivotal scene described in the article).

Sherlock Holmes is a character in Farmer's novel THE ADVENTURE OF THE PEERLESS PEER, (rewritten as The Adventure of the Three Madmen and short story The Problem of the Sore Bridge Among Others. The story A Scarletin Study is an homage to Holmes and in Farmer's two biographies, TARZAN ALIVE and DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE, Holmes is intertwined in these two character's family trees. Phil was even the founder of the Peoria, Illinois chapter of the Baker Street Irregulars, The Hansoms of John Clayton.

Rather than go into great detail here, we suggest you read Win Scott Eckert's article, The Farmerian Holmes (Farmerphile 12, April 2008). After which, if you prefer a more detailed study of the connection between Holmes and Lord Greystoke, try reading, in order: The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES), No Ghosts Need Apply by Win Scott Eckert (THE PHANTOM CHRONICLES, Vol. 2), The Adventure of the Priory School by Doyle (THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES), THE ADVENTURE OF THE PEERLESS PEER by Philip Jos Farmer, and THE EVIL IN PEMBERLY HOUSE by Farmer and Eckert (which, despite being a coming-of-age story about Doc Savage s daughter, takes place squarely in Holmes world).

You may wonder why we are bringing all of this up now. Simple, we're warming you up for the following two news items.

First, THE ADVENTURE OF THE PEERLESS PEER is going to be reprinted as part of Titan books beautiful FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES series, which already features titles by David Stuart Davies, Loren D. Estleman, Fred Saberhagen, Daniel Stashower, Barrie Roberts, Daniel D Victor, H. Paul Jeffers, Edward B. Hanna, Manly Wade Wellman, and Wade Wellman. Although it won't be published until June, 2011, it can be preordered now.

Second, Moonstone books is publishing a new collection of special Holmes stories; SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE CROSSOVERS CASEBOOK. A collection of Sherlock Holmes crossover stories...well that sounds like a must for Farmer fans! And it comes as no surprise that Win Scott Eckert has been asked to participate in this collection. Congrats to editor Howard Hopkins and to Win, this book looks like a real winner. We are going on the assumption here that the book will only contain new stories, which is fine...but it's almost a shame that Farmer's "The Adventures of the Three Madmen" won't be in it.

One final note, Tangent has a nice review of the Tor reprints of the Riverworld series (the first three volumes anyway), with a little bit of an overview of Phil's career.

The hit counter as of November 9th says 278,208 which is 1,577 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on October 10th.

For the first time, Meteor House has put THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOS FARMER 1: Protean Dimensions on sale for 10% off; through October 17th only. Still not convinced you need this book, check out this excerpt from Randall Garrett's essay, "The Bite of the Asp," which you may not have known was Phil's original title for the story, "The Biological Revolt." Just how unhappy was Phil with this story? It has never been reprinted. And fifty years later, as we were putting together the mammoth collection of rarities, PEARLS FROM PEORIA, Phil still refused to let it be reprinted. And, just in case you missed them, there are also excerpts online from A Kick in the Side by Christopher Paul Carey, and the Editor's Preface by Michael Croteau.

Here is a deal that sadly, only a few people will be able to take advantage of. If you did not manage to buy one of the limited edition, signed & numbered, copies of THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE, by Philip Jos Farmer and Win Scott Eckert, then you did not get the bonus chapbook that accompanied the deluxe edition. This 48 page chapbook contains Doc Wildman's coat of arms, illustrated by Keith Howell from Farmer's extensive notes, Farmer's original outline for the novel, and a chronology and essay by Eckert showing some of the extensive research he did while finishing the novel and making it coalesce with the rest of Farmer's work. Right now, for what we expect to be a very short amount of time, several copies of just the chapbook, are available for purchase.

Speaking of Win Scott Eckert, he was recently interviewed at the All Pulp. Just click on that link and scroll down to the headline: WIN SCOTT ECKERT AND ERIC FEIN, Writers of THE GREEN GHOST, for RETURN OF THE ORIGINALS. After reading the interview, go ahead and kill an hour or three at this excellent website.

Ok, please, please, please, do not follow the link below, in fact don't even read the rest of this paragraph, unless you have already purchased a copy of THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOS FARMER 1: Protean Dimensions. Because we know, if you keep reading, you'll click on the link, see all the great deals and spend all the money you have for books right now, and put off buying WORLDS for another month. But, for those of you who already have a copy of WORLDS: PS Publishing has a nice sale going on right now, with a long list of titles under 10. THE EXTRAORDINARY VOYAGE OF JULES VERNE by Eric Brown looks like a novella Phil would have really enjoyed, or perhaps even written himself. We can highly recommend, THE OVERGROWN PATH and THE LUMINOUS DEPTHS by David Herter. There are other titles by the likes of Gene Wolfe, Lucius Shepard, Jeff VanderMeer, Elizabeth Hand, Zoran ivkovic and many many others. But, most importantly, they still have some copies of the excellent novella, THE CITY BEYOND PLAY, by Philip Jos Farmer and Danny Adams. This book was previously listed as sold out, so we expect they don't have many copies left.

With all the other projects we have going on, we really haven't made many changes or additions to the website lately. However, the same cannot be said for Zacharias at the International Bibliography. He's been updating and improving his site nearly every week. Check it out if you haven't been there in a while.

The hit counter as of October 10th says 276,631 which is 1,581 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on September 10th.