Image of the Beast
1968
Farmer's first "porno" book. Private detective Herald Childe's partner is the
victim of a gruesome sexual murder, which is videotaped and sent to the
police. Following his only clue and a lucky hunch he discovers not only the
murderers but the existance of werewolves, vampires, ghosts and other
unimagined horrors. He manages to get his revenge but leaves many questions
unanswered.
Blown
1969
Sequel to Image of the Beast. Herald Childe has quit being a detective and
gone back to college to study history. One day he sees one of the "people"
from his adventure and decides to follow her. He gets caught and becomes their
prisoner once again but this time things are different. It turns out that he
is actually the son of Lord Byron, who was also one of "them". All of these
monsters are aliens and there are two waring groups of them. Both sides want
to control Childe because he is the only one who can get them back home.
Childe, however, has other plans. Scifi fan and collector Forrest J Ackerman
is an unwilling witness to the final outcome.
Traitor to the Living
1973
An announced sequel to Image of the Beast/Blown. Herald Childe changed his
name to Gordan Carfax and is teaching in the midwest. Farmer drops a few hints
throughout the book as to Gordan's previous identity. Gordan's cousin invents
a machine called MEDIUM which lets you talk to the dead. His other cousin
claims that he stole the machine from her father. Discovering who really
invented the machine is the least of his worries when he discovers what else
the machine is capable of.