Philip José Farmer Time Line

1918

Phil was born on January 26, in North Terre Haute, Indiana. Son of George and Lucile Theodora (Jackson) Farmer.

1920

The Farmer family moved to Indianapolis and then to Greenwood, Indiana.

1922

The Farmer family moved to Mexico, Missouri.

1923

The Farmer family moved to Peoria, Illinois. Their first house there, on South Street, had an outdoor toilet.

1924

Now six years old, while playing outside one day, Phil looked up and happened to see a silvery derigible flying west. This was the moment he became interested in lighter-than-air craft. Phil has claimed that he has written more stories containing lighter-than-air craft than any other author.

1926

The Farmer family moved to Reservoir Heights, just outside of Peoria to a house on London Street.

1927

The Farmer family moved back to Peoria to a house on Hanssler Place. Phil read the Oz books and started reading Greek Mythology.

1928

Phil discovered science fiction and began reading Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, Sherlock Holmes and Gulliver's Travels.

1936

During his senior year of high school Phil had some ideas for a story that would eventually become MAKER OF UNIVERSES; artificial pocket universes that had their own physical laws, a world of flat layers stacked on top of each other, and an Amerind protagonist named Kickaha. A very good student athelete, Phil was one of only five lettermen elected to the National Senior Honor Society. He graduated from Peoria Central High School and entered the University of Missouri to study Journalism.

1937

During Phil's first year of college his father had invested money in a business that went bankrupt. Phil worked for Illinois Power and Light on a line crew from July 1937 through February 1939 to help his father repay his debts and to save money so he could return to college.

1939

Phil returned to college but stayed closer to home and attended Bradley Polytechnical Institute in Peoria, switching his major to English Literature with a minor in philosophy. Phil won a creative writing scholarship, but when he discovered that being on the football and track teams had something to do with his winning, he quit the football team.

1940

Phil met Elizabeth Virginia Andre (the future Bette Farmer), a musical scholarship student.

1941

In the winter semester Phil transfered back to Missouri because Bradley had no courses in classical Greek. He missed Bette so much that he began hitch hicking 300 miles back to Peoria on the weekends. They finally decided to get secretly married on May 10th. When summer arrived Phil decided to become an aviation cadet in the Army Air Force. While in preflight school at Kelly Field in Texas, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

1942

Phil washed out of flight training and asked to be discharged from the Air Force. He returned to Peoria and he and Bette lived with her parents while Phil waited to be drafted. Phil then took a job with the Keystone Steel & Wire Company, it was only supposed to be temporary but he stayed there eleven and half years. They had a son, Philip Laird.

1945

Phil and Bette had a daughter, Kristen.

1946

Farmer's first sale, O'Brien and Obrenov, was printed in the March issue of Adventure. The Saturday Evening Post liked the story but wanted Phil to remove the drinking scene at the end of the story. So Phil sent the story to Argosy where the editor liked it but said it was too long for his magazine so he (the editor) sent it to the editor of Adventure where it was accepted. Bette's parents loaned the Farmer's money and they bought their first house at 621 Barker Street in Peoria.

Published:
O'Brien and Obrenov (short story)

1949

Bette urged Phil to return to college to get his degree and stop wasting his writing talent at Keystone. After twelve years away, Phil returned to school and attended Bradley University. While there, the poem Imagination was printed in America Sings, an anthology of college poetry.

Published:
Imagination (poem)

1950

Phil graduated from Bradley University with a B.A. in English.

1952

Phil's first science fiction story, The Lovers was printed in the August issue of Startling Stories, shattering the taboo on sex in the genre. Phil had first sent the story to his hero John W. Cambell the editor of Astounding Stories but he returned it saying that the story had nauseated him. Phil sent the story to Horace Gold at Galaxy and got a similar response. In December Startling Stories published another of Farmer's stories, Sail On! Sail On!. Phil's writing career seemed to be in high gear so in the fall he quit working for Keystone Steel & Wire to write full time. At the last minute Phil decided to enter a prize novel contest sponsored by Shasta and Pocket Books. Science fiction author Randall Garrett came to visit at Christmas and wound up staying for three years.

Published:
The Lovers (novella)
Sail On! Sail On! (short story)

1953

Phil attended the Eleventh Worldcon in Philadelphia and fittingly enough gave a speech titled "Science Fiction and the Kinsey Report". He also won his first Hugo Award as the most promising new talent. This prediction was born out when Phil won the Shasta prize novel contest with I OWE FOR THE FLESH, the original novel of his Riverworld series. However, Melvin Korshack the editor at Shasta never paid Phil the $4,000 prize money and strung him along saying that Pocket Books (they would have printed the paperback version) wanted rewrites. Phil eventually lost his house and had to go back to work when Shasta went bankrupt. Shasta had "borrowed" the $3000 share of Phil's money from Pocket Books and invested it in another book which bombed. Phil continued to write in his spare time and published several short stories and poems, including; Moth and Rust a sequel to The Lovers, one of his best stories, the much anthologized Mother and the first of his Father Carmody stories, Attitudes. The mostly overlooked story, The Biological Revolt was overwhelmingly voted the best story in the magazine by a readers poll.

Published:
Sestina of the Space Rocket (poem)
The Biological Revolt (novelette)
Lovers and Otherwise (article)
Mother (novelette)
Moth and Rust (short novel)
Attitudes (novelette)
Strange Compulsion (novella)
Beauty in This Iron Age (poem)

1954

Phil continued to work full time but writing on the side managed to publish quite a few stories, poems and articles. The seemingly large output in 1954 is due to many of the stories being started when Phil was writing full time in 1952 and 1953.

Published:
They Twinkled Like Jewels (short story)
Daughter (short story)
Queen of the Deep (short story)
The God Business (novella)
In Common (poem)
Rastignac the Devil (novella)
White Whales Raintrees Flying Saucers (editorial)
The Celestial Blueprint (novelette)
The Tin Woodman Slams the Door (article)
The Wounded (short story)
Totem and Taboo (short story)

1955

After eight years in the house on Barker Street the Farmer's moved to a house at 4034 Bryer Place. Phil's output slowed considerably in 1955, with Father, the second John Carmody story being the only thing published. The novel A BEAST OF THE FIELDS was to be serialized in Startling Stories but the magazine folded, this was eventually published as DARE 1965.

Published:
Father (novella)

1956

The Farmer family moved to Syracuse, New York to a house on Evaleen Street and Phil worked as a technical writer for General Electric. His output was still very low as he only managed to publish one article, The Golden Age and the Brass in the fanzine Burroughs Bulletin, issue #12.

Published:
The Golden Age and the Brass (article)

1957

Phil's first book, THE GREEN ODYSSEY is published in both hardcover and paperback by Ballantine Books. Phil also published the third and most important of his Father Carmody stories, Night of Light.

Published:
THE GREEN ODYSSEY, Ballantine 57-10603 (hardcover novel)
Night of Light (novella)

1958

The Farmer's moved from Syracuse to Scottsdale, Arizona to a house on Hopey Way. Phil worked as a technical writer for Motorola's military electronics division, but did not publish any fiction this year.

1959

Horace Gold, the long time editor of Galaxy magazine, approached Phil about writing a science fiction novel with sexual content for a new line of books to be published by Galaxy-Beacon. Phil wrote FLESH which was the only book in the line that Gold had to remove sex scenes from, in most of the other books offered by established science fiction writers, he had to add sex scenes. After a long break Phil came back strong with his Hugo nominated story, The Alley Man. Phil sold a story called "My Sister's Brother" to Satellite which was to appear in the June issue. However the magazine folded after the May issue (galleys are supposed to exist).

Published:
The Alley Man (novelette)

1960

The Farmer's moved to a house on Catalina Rd in Scottsdale. Motorola transferred Phil to Ann Arbor Michigan where they lived for four months before being transferred back to Arizona. This time they bought a house at 7448 E. Granada Rd in Scottsdale. Phil published his second and third novels, FLESH and A WOMAN A DAY, with Galaxy Beacon, his second publisher. Phil's production increased as he also published one article and three short stories, including "My Sister's Brother" retitled Open To Me, My Sister. Phil's first short story collection, STRANGE RELATIONS is printed by Ballantine.

Published:
FLESH, Galaxy-Beacon 277 (paperback novel)
A WOMAN A DAY, Galaxy-Beacon 291 (short story expanded into a paperback novel)
Heel (short story)
Open To Me, My Sister (novelette)
On a Mountain Upside Down (article)
A Few Miles (novelette)
STRANGE RELATIONS, Ballantine 391K (short story collection)

1961

Phil expanded The Lovers into a novel which Ballantine printed in paperback. The last of the Father Carmody stories was published and the novella Tongues of the Moon, later to be expanded into a novel, came out.

Published:
THE LOVERS, Ballantine 507K (short story expanded into a paperback novel)
Prometheus (novella)
Tongues of the Moon (novelette)

1962

THE CACHE FROM OUTER SPACE/THE CELESTIAL BLUEPRINT came out as an Ace Double. Ace is now his third publisher. Phil again departs from science fiction by writing the mystery story Uproar in Acheron and the main stream novel, FIRE AND THE NIGHT, was put out by Regency, his fourth publisher.

Published:
THE CACHE FROM OUTER SPACE/THE CELESTIAL BLUEPRINT, Ace F-165 (paperback novel/paperback short story collection)
FIRE AND THE NIGHT, Regency RB118 (mainstream paperback novel)
THE ALLEY GOD, Ballantine F-588 (paperback short story collection)
Uproar in Acheron (short story)

1963

A slow year for Phil as he only published two short stories.

Published:
How Deep the Grooves (short story)
Some Fabulous Yonder (novelette)

1964

Phil's output began to pick up again. TONGUES OF THE MOON was expanded into a novel and printed by Pyramid, his fifth publisher. One of his most popular, if shortest stories, The King of the Beasts, appears. With the market for science fiction novels picking up, Phil took I OWE FOR THE FLESH out of the trunk. He sent it to Frederick Pohl, now the editor of Galaxy, Worlds of If and Worlds of Tomorrow, but he told Phil that the concept was too big to be bound by one book. He suggested Phil stretch it into a couple of books and he would serialize them (which he did over the next couple of years).

Published:
INSIDE OUTSIDE, Ballantine U2192 (paperback novel)
TONGUES OF THE MOON, Pyramid R-1055 (short story expanded into a paperback novel)
The Blasphemers (novelette)
The King of the Beasts (short story)

1965

The Farmer's moved to an apartment in the slums of Beverly Hills on the south side of Wilshire Boulevard and Phil worked as a free lance technical writer. While still in Scottsdale he also wrote THE MAKER OF UNIVERSES, the first book in his extremely popular, high adventure "World of Tiers" series. DARE, which was to be serialized ten years previous in Startling Stories is finally printed as a novel. The Day of the Great Shout, which is virtually identical to the first half of TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO, is printed in Worlds of Tomorrow.

Published:
THE MAKER OF UNIVERSES, Ace F-367 (paperback novel)
DARE, Ballantine U2193 (paperback novel)
The Day of the Great Shout (novella)
The Pterodactyl (poem)

1966

Phil continued to write for Ace with THE GATES OF CREATION, but published THE GATE OF TIME with Belmont, his sixth publisher and NIGHT OF LIGHT with Berkley, his seventh publisher. While in Gene Roddenberry's office one day Phil saw his first lava lamp, this gave him the inspiration for the LAVALITE WORLD. Two more Riverworld stories appeared in Worlds of Tomorrow.

Published:
THE GATES OF CREATION, Ace F-412 (paperback novel)
THE GATE OF TIME, Belmont B50-717 (paperback novel)
NIGHT OF LIGHT, Berkley F1248 (short story expanded into a paperback novel)
Riverworld (novelette)
The Suicide Express (novella)

1967

The Farmers moved and rented a house on Holt Road on the other side of Beverly Hills. Phil began working as a technical writer for McDonnell-Douglas. The first half of THE FABULOUS RIVERBOAT was serialized in Worlds of If, a rejected Star Trek script was turned into The Shadow of Space and his Hugo Award winning story Riders of the Purple Wage was published in the ground breaking anthology DANGEROUS VISIONS.

Published:
The Blind Rowers (article)
A Bowl Bigger than Earth (novelette)
The Shadow of Space (novelette)
Blueprint for Free Beer (article)
The Felled Star (parts 1 and 2) (serial)
Riders of the Purple Wage (novelette)

1968

The Farmer's moved again, this time buying a house at 824 S. Burnside in Los Angeles. The second World of Tiers book, A PRIVATE COSMOS was printed as well as IMAGE OF THE BEAST, an erotic novel for Essex House Phil's eighth publisher. Phil was the Guest of Honor at Baycon 68, the 26th Worldcon. His GOH speech, Reap, was printed in the November issue of Science Fiction Review.

Published:
A PRIVATE COSMOS, Ace G-724 (paperback novel)
IMAGE OF THE BEAST, Essex House 0108 (adult paperback novel)
Don't Wash the Carats (short story)
The Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod (short story)
Reap (Baycon Guest-of-Honor speech)
EVIL COMPANIONS (afterword)
QUEEN OF HEAT (afterword)

1969

Just before the United States put a man on the moon, McDonnell-Douglas laid off a large part of their work force, Phil included. He decided to try full time writing again. He continued to write books, and afterwords for three books by other authors, for Essex House.

Published:
A FEAST UNKNOWN, Essex House 0121 (adult paperback novel)
BLOWN, Essex House 0139 (adult paperback novel)
Down in the Black Gang (novelete)
Oft Have I Travelled (on Solar Pons) (article)
THE BITTER SEED (afterword)
THE GEEK (afterword)
MINDBLOWER (afterword)

1970

The Farmer's moved from Beverly Hills back to Peoria, Illinois to 4106 Devon Lane. Besides writing four books for Ace, LORD TYGER was published in hardcover by Doubleday, his ninth publisher. This was Phil's third hardcover as Doubleday reprinted an expanded version of FLESH in hardcover in 1968. Essex House shut down but it's parent company Brandon House became Phil's tenth publisher when they published LOVE SONG.

Published:
BEHIND THE WALLS OF TERRA, Ace 71135 (paperback novel)
LORD OF THE TREES/THE MAD GOBLIN (paperback novel/paperback novel)
LORD TYGER (novel)
LOVE SONG (adult paperback novel)
THE STONE GOD AWAKENS (novel)
The Oögenesis of Bird City (short story)

1971

A much rewriten version of OWE FOR THE FLESH was published as TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO by Putnam, Phil's eleventh publisher. The sequel THE FABULOUS RIVERBOAT also came out and DOWN IN THE BLACK GANG a collection of short stories was published by The Science Fiction Book Club, Phil's 12th publisher. Phil also began writing a lot of articles for fanzines. Writing fulltime is paying off as four short stories and four articles were published.

Published:
TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO (novel)
THE WIND WHALES OF ISHMAEL (paperback novel)
DOWN IN THE BLACK GANG (short story collection)
The Voice of the Sonar in my Vermiform Appendix (short story)
Brass and Gold (short story)
Only Who Can Make a Tree? (short story)
The Sliced-Crosswise Only-On-Tuesday World (short story)
The Fabulous Riverboat (serial)
The Affair of the Logical Lunatics (article)
The Arms of Tarzan (article)
Tarzan's Coat of Arms (article)
The Two Lord Ruftons (article)
The Obscure Life and Hard Times of Kilgore Trout (article)
THE FABULOUS RIVERBOAT (novel)

1972

TARZAN ALIVE, Phil's incredibly detailed and scholarly look at Tarzan was published. TIME'S LAST GIFT is a time travel story with an Edgar Rice Burroughs twist and connects to his later Opar novels. Phil's output stays high with five short stories and three fanzine articles. At the 20th Worldcon, Phil won his third Hugo award, this one for Best Novel for TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO.

Published:
TARZAN ALIVE (fictional biography)
TIME'S LAST GIFT (paperback novel)
Seventy Years of Decpop (Novella)
Skinburn (short story)
The Sumerian Oath (short story)
Father's in the Basement (short story)
Toward the Beloved City (Novelette)
Tarzan Lives (article)
The Great Korak-Time Discrepancy (article)
The Lord Mountford Mystery (article)

1973

While publishers and fans alike are waiting for the next Riverworld and World of Tiers novels, Phil continued to write about other author's literary creations. THE OTHER LOG OF PHILEAS FOGG, published by Daw, Phil's thirteenth publisher, tells what really happened in Jules Verne's AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS and DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE is a follow up to his previous fictional biography TARZAN ALIVE.

Published:
THE OTHER LOG OF PHILEAS FOGG (paperback novel)
DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE (fictional biography)
TRAITOR TO THE LIVING (paperback novel)
THE BOOK OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER (short story collection)
Mother Earth Wants You (short story)
Sketches Among the Ruins of My Mind (novelette)
Monolog (short story)
After King Kong Fell (short story)
Opening the Door (short story)
Sexual Implications of the Charge of the Light Brigade (excerpt)
From Erb to Ygg (article)
Kilgore Trout, Revisited (article)

1974

Phil is in full blown writer's block as to his own fictitious worlds or any new science fiction ideas. THE ADVENTURES OF THE PEERLESS PEER, published by Aspen Press, his fourteenth publisher, is a very funny story about Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan. HADON OF ANCIENT OPAR does contain new characters, but again borrowing from Edgar Rice Burroughs, it is set in the heyday of Tarzan's lost city of Opar. MOTHER WAS A LOVELY BEAST is a great anthology on the feral man, published by Chilton, Phil's fifteenth publisher, but the only new fiction by Farmer is Extracts from the Memoirs of "Lord Greystoke". Using existing character's from fiction has been one way that Phil continues to write and get through his writer's block. An extention of that was his idea to write books and stories pretending to be fictional authors. Phil contacted Kurt Vonnegut Jr., to get permission to write a book by his sad-sack scifi author Kilgore Trout.

Published:
THE ADVENTURES OF THE PEERLESS PEER (novel)
HADON OF ANCIENT OPAR (paperback novel)
MOTHER WAS A LOVELY BEAST (anthology editied)
The Two-Edged Gift (novella)
Venus on the Half-Shell (part 1) (serial)
Getting A-Long with Heinlein (article)
Extracts from the Memoirs of "Lord Greystoke" (article)
The Feral Human in Mythology and Fiction (article)
Writing Doc's Biography (article)
Charles L. Tanner (obituary)
A Language for Opar (article)

1975

The only novel published by Farmer this year was VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL, by Dell, Farmer's sixteenth publisher. The book was a 90-day wonder as fans and critics tried to prove who actually wrote the book, with most incorrectly guessing it was Vonnegut himself. Phil wrote two more stories by fictional authors, A Scarletin Study and The Problem of the Sore Bridge - Among Others. He also contributed stories to two series based anthologies, WEIRD HEROES and CONTINUUM.

Published:
Venus on the Half-Shell (part 2) (serial)
VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL (paperback novel)
A Scarletin Study (short story)
The Problem of the Sore Bridge - Among Others (novella)
Greatheart Silver (novelette)
The Return of Greatheart Silver (novelette)
The Startouched (novelette)
The Evolution of Paul Eyre (short story)
Passing On (short story)
My Father, the Ripper (excerpt)

1976

Not quite through the writers block, Phil translates and retells the J.H. Rosny's novel L'étonnant Voyage de Harton into IRONCASTLE and writes his second Opar novel. He also wrote three more fictional author stories, one article and three introductions.

Published:
IRONCASTLE (paperback novel)
FLIGHT TO OPAR (paperback novel)
Osiris on Crutches (short story)
The Volcano (short story)
The Doge Whose Barque Was Worse Than His Bight (short story)
Fundamental Issue (novelette)
Phonemics (article)
CURIOUS FRAGMENTS (preface)
THE ADVENTURES OF HERLOCK SHOLMES (introduction)
THE ARSINE LUPIN - HERLOCK SOAMES AFFAIR (introduction)

1977

The Farmer's moved to 1814 East Lake Street in Peoria. Finally breaking out of his writers block, Phil completed the long awaited third novel in the Riverworld series THE DARK DESIGN and the even longer awaited fifth novel in the World of Tiers series, THE LAVALITE WORLD. He continued with his old tricks, writing using other author's material as well as another fictional author story.

Published:
THE DARK DESIGN (novel)
THE LAVALITE WORLD (paperback novel)
The Henry Miller Dawn Patrol (short story)
Greatheart Silver in the First Command (novelette)
Savage Shadow (short story)
The Impotency of Bad Karma (short story)
The Grant-Robeson Papers (article)
Religion and Myth (article)
Jonathan Swift Somers III: Cosmic Traveller in a Wheelchair (article)

1978

The Farmer's moved to 5617 W. Fairmount Dr. in Peoria. After a huge year in 1977 with two long awaited books, 1978's output seems rather low. Part of the problem was that Phil wrote the novel UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT which was rejected by Del Rey. After a rewrite they still didn't like it so he dropped it and wrote another novel for them which was published in 1979.

Published:
It's the Queen of Darkness, Pal (short story)
Farmer's Lupoff Week (article)
The Remarkable Adventure (article)
BORIS BOOK TWO (introduction)

1979

DARK IS THE SUN is published by Del Rey, Phil's seventeenth publisher and JESUS ON MARS is published by Pinnacle his eighteenth publisher. Uncharacteristically Phil wrote two horror stories among his small output of shorter fiction this year.

Published:
DARK IS THE SUN (novel)
JESUS ON MARS (paperback novel)
RIVERWORLD AND OTHER STORIES (short story collection)
The Freshman (short story)
The Leaser of Two Evils (short story)
J.C. on the Dude Ranch (short story)
Creating Artificial Worlds (article)

1980

The fourth book in the Riverworld series, THE MAGIC LABYRINTH, is published. It was actually the second half of the original manuscript handed in for THE DARK DESIGN but the book was too big to be published in one volume. Riverworld still being a big deal, THE MAGIC LABYRINTH was reviewed in the July 28, 1980 issue of Time magazine. Riverworld War is a chapter depicting a large naval battle that was cut from the THE MAGIC LABYRINTH. It was published in RIVERWORLD WAR: THE SUPPRESSED FICTION OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER by Ellis Press, Phil's nineteenth publisher.

Published:
THE MAGIC LABYRINTH (novel)
RIVERWORLD WAR: THE SUPPRESSED FICTION OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER (short story collection)
Spiders of the Purple Mage (novelette)
The Making of Revelation, Part 1 (novelette)
Jesus on Mars (abridgement)
Riverworld War (excerpt)
ALL THE LIES THAT ARE MY LIFE (afterword)

1981

Surprisingly the only one of Phil's novels to make it into David Pringle's SCIENCE FICTION: 100 BEST NOVELS, was THE UNREASONING MASK. This is also one of Phil's personal favorites. The short story collection FATHER TO THE STARS was published by Tor, Phil's twentieth publisher. The autobiographical article Maps and Spasms printed in FANTASTIC LIVES provided much of the information on this page up to 1952. Plans for a television series based on the Riverworld series begin, but the series never airs.

Published:
THE UNREASONING MASK (novel)
FATHER TO THE STARS (short story collection)
The Long Wet Dream of Rip Van Winkle (novelette)
Maps and Spasms (article)

1982

Once again Phil taps his childhood favorites for material with A BARNSTORMER IN OZ, first published in a limited editon hardcover by Phantasia Press, Phil's twenty-first publisher. Tor continued to make Phil's shorter fiction available by printing three collections of his short stories.

Published:
A BARNSTORMER IN OZ (novel)
STATIONS OF THE NIGHTMARE (short story collection)
GREATHEART SILVER (short story collection)
THE PURPLE BOOK (short story collection)
THE BEST OF RANDALL GARRETT (introduction)

1983

A big year for Riverworld fans as the concluding novel of the series, GODS OF RIVERWORLD and a long lost early version of the original Riverworld novel, RIVER OF ETERNITY were published.

Published:
GODS OF RIVERWORLD (novel)
RIVER OF ETERNITY (novel)
The Monster on Hold (excerpt)
HOUSE OF CAIN (foreword)

1984

When THE ADVENTURE OF THE PEERLESS PEER came out in paperback in 1976, the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate complained and all unsold copies were pulled from bookstores. Phil took the story, shortened it, and removed Tarzan replacing him with Mowgli (from Kipling's JUNGLE BOOK). No other new fiction was printed this year, but Crown, Phil's twenty-second publisher printed two of the three short story collections that came out.

Published:
THE CLASSIC PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 1952-1964 (short story collection)
THE CLASSIC PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 1964-1973 (short story collection)
THE GRAND ADVENTURE (short story collection)
The Adventure of the Three Madmen (short novel)
An Overview of the Fair (article)
The Peoria-Colored Writer (article)

1985

Returning to the premise of 1971's The Sliced-Crosswise Only-On-Tuesday World, the novel DAYWORLD starts a new major series for Phil. Phil the scholar is asked to write the entries for two of his heroes, Frank L. Baum and Edgar Rice Burroughs in the reference book 20TH CENTURY FICTION.

Published:
DAYWORLD (novel)
Edgar Rice Burroughs (entry)
L. Frank Baum (entry)
THE GAS (foreword)
THE DIGITAL WRISTWATCH OF PHILIP K. DICK (foreword)

1986

The Farmer's moved to 5911 N. Isabell Ave. in Peoria. Very low output this year, the only new thing published by Phil was a memoir in WORDS OF IF: A RETROSPECTIVE ANTHOLOGY. Not shown on this page are the dozen or so books of his being reprinted by both US and UK publishers, that is more detail than we want to get into here.

Published:
Memoir (memoir)

1987

The sequel to the very successful DAYWORLD is published. After a deluxe leather-bound edtiond of TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO came out in 1986, Phil wrote forewords to two books for Easton Press.

Published:
DAYWORLD REBEL (novel)
THE OFFICE (foreword)
DUNE (remembrance)
BEFORE ADAM (foreword)

1988

The first book in the Dungeon series is printed. This series was edited by Farmer and the first book was written by Richard A. Lupoff. There was much confusion, and many complaints, by fans who bought the books because Phil's name appeared very prominately on the spine, and they thought he was the author. A new printing of VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL is published which contains an article by Phil telling how the book came to be.

Published:
THE BLACK TOWER (Dungeon #1) (novel edited)
Why and How I Became Kilgore Trout (article)
The Journey (entry)

1989

A slow year as only three more Dungeon books were printed and only one short story is published.

Published:
THE DARK ABYSS (Dungeon #2) (novel edited)
THE VALLEY OF THUNDER (Dungeon #3) (novel edited)
THE LAKE OF FIRE (Dungeon #4) (novel edited)
St. Francis Kisses His Ass Goodbye (short story)

1990

Ace/Putnam was not interested in Phil's third Dayworld book, DAYWORLD BREAKUP. After ten years of printing short story collections and reprinting paperback originals, Tor eagerly snatches the book up and became Phil's main publisher. Phil wrote two stories for Byron Priess's series of "Ultimate" books and the final two Dungeon books were published.

Published:
DAYWORLD BREAKUP (novel)
THE HIDDEN CITY (Dungeon #5) (novel edited)
THE FINAL BATTLE (Dungeon #6) (novel edited)
One Down, One to Go (short story)
Evil, Be My Good (short story)
DOC SAVAGE OMNIBUS #13 (afterword)

1991

Fullfilling a lifelong dream, Phil wrote ESCAPE FROM LOKI, the first all new Doc Savage adventure since 1949, published by Bantam, Phil's twenty-third publisher. RED ORC'S RAGE is a case of art imitating life imitating art. The book is based on real therapy being done by patients who read the earlier World of Tiers books and identify with the characters.

Published:
RED ORC'S RAGE (novel)
ESCAPE FROM LOKI (novel)
Nobody's Perfect (short story)
Wolf, Iron and Moth (short story)
DEN NEVERWHERE (introduction)

1992

Phil was a contributor to a project begun as a round robin novel titled LIGHTYEARS. The project was scrapped after five chapters but Piers Anthony, who wrote the first chapter, liked Phil's second chapter so he aquired the rights to the project and the two of them collaborated on what became THE CATERPILLAR'S QUESTION. The first shared-world anthology set in Riverworld, TALES OF RIVERWORLD is published by Warner, Phil's twenty-fourth publisher. Phil contributed to the collection and acted as an editor.

Published:
THE CATERPILLAR'S QUESTION (novel)
TALES OF RIVERWORLD (short story collection)
RIDERS OF THE PURPLE WAGE (short story collection)
UFO vs IRS (short story)
Crossing the Dark River (short story)
A Hole in Hell (short story)
Review of HOW THE WIZARD CAME TO OZ (review)
THE ULTIMATE WITCH (introduction)

1993

QUEST TO RIVERWORLD, the second and final shared-world Riverworld anthology is published. After a sixteen year wait since THE LAVALITE WORLD was published in 1977, the final World of Tiers novel, MORE THAN FIRE is published.
Published:
MORE THAN FIRE (novel)
QUEST TO RIVERWORLD (short story collection)
Up the Bright River (short story)
Coda (short story)
Looking Forward (excerpt)

1994

The Farmer's moved to 346 E. High Point Rd. in Peoria. No new fiction was published this year.

1995

No new fiction this year but Phil did write a remembrance for his very good friend of forty years, Robert Bloch for his memorial anthology.

Published:
ROBERT BLOCH: APPRECIATIONS OF THE MASTER (remembrance)

1996

The Farmer's moved to 6700 N. Mt Hawley Rd. in Peoria. The Unofficial Philip José Farmer Home Page was started by Michael Croteau. Since Phil had not published any books in three years, I mistakenly reported that he had retired before I contacted Phil for his input on the web page.

Published:
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS THE EXHAUSTIVE SCHOLAR'S AND COLLECTOR'S DESCRIPTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY (introduction)

1997

A quiet year for Phil, he didn't publish any new books and he didn't move. However, he was interviewed by Michael Croteau and Craig Kimber for this web page.

1998

Phil had not published any new books in five years and Michael Croteau came out with his Collecting Philip José Farmer, The Illustrated Guide, Volume 1. So of course two new books came out right after the guide was printed. NOTHING BURNS IN HELL is Phil's first mystery novel, set in his home town of Peoria, IL. NAKED CAME THE FARMER, a round robin mystery novel (Phil wrote the first chapter), was published by Mayfly Productions, Phil's twenty-fifth publisher.

Published:
NOTHING BURNS IN HELL (novel)
NAKED CAME THE FARMER (round robin novel)
TARZAN LE MONSTRE (introduction)
FANTASTIC TALES (introduction)

1999

The Farmer's moved to 421 Wolf Rd. in Peoria. Another of Phil's lifelong dreams was fullfilled when his first official Tarzan novel was published.

Published:
THE DARK HEART OF TIME: A TARZAN NOVEL (novel)

2000

The Farmer's moved again to their current, and Bette assures me, last, address. Phil wrote a remembrance for Locus Magazine about his long time friend Dede Weil.

Published:
Dede Weil: An Appreciation (remembrance)

2001

Phil wrote an introduction to a great first science fiction novel by Tracy Knight, one of the authors of NAKED CAME THE FARMER. Phil won the Nebula Grand Master, lifetime achievement award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. The Peoria Public Library held a Living Legend Reception in honor of the award. Advertised on this web site, fans traveled to Peoria from all over the country for the event. After meeting at the event, long time fan and collector Rick Beaulieu and Unofficial webmaster Michael Croteau teamed up and moved this web site to www.pjfarmer.com and got Phil's permission to make this his official web page.

Published:
THE ASTONISHED EYE (introduction)

2002

This web page and the Peoria Public Library got together and held the Lovers 50th Anniversary Celebration on August 10th. This time fans traveled from all over the world to Peoria for speeches, a book signing and dinner with Phil. Roger Crombie wrote an article about the event and published along with it, The Good of the Land, a story written by Phil in 1955, but not published until 2002.

Published:
The Good of the Land (short story)

2003

The Riverworld TV Pilot airs on the scifi channel on March 22nd.

2004

Gonzo publisher Ramble House reprinted two of Phil's novels; THE GREEN ODYSSEY, with an all new introduction by Roger Crombie and LOVE SONG, with an all new introduction by Fender Tucker. This edition of LOVE SONG is the only affordable copy of what has always been a rare and expensive book.

Published:
THE GREEN ODYSSEY (paperback reprint)
LOVE SONG (paperback reprint)

2005

Win Scott Eckert's anthology of Wold Newton articles, by Phil and others, MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE, was published by Monkeybrain Books. Farmerphile, the Farmercentric magazine begins publishing previously unpublished material by Phil as well as articles about him.

Published:
MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE (anthology)
UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT parts 1 & 2 (serialized novel)
The Face that Launched a Thousand Eggs (short story)
The Unnaturals (short story)

2006

Subterranean Press, Phil's twenty-seventh publisher, brought out two large collections of short stories, including several that were previously unpublished. Bison Books, Phil's twenty-eight publisher, did more than just reprint Tarzan Alive, they included an all new introduction, afterword and "An Exclusive Interview with Lord Greystoke" and "Extracts from the Memoirs of 'Lord Greystoke'" by Phil. Farmerphile continued to publish long lost stories by Phil as well as two speeches. Baen published a large trade paperback titled STRANGE RELATIONS but in addition to the five short stories published under that title six times previously, this edition included THE LOVERS and FLESH. A great collection of his early work.

Published:
THE BEST OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER (collection)
PEARLS FROM PEORIA (collection)
STRANGE RELATIONS (collection)
TARZAN ALIVE (reprint with additional articles)
UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT parts 3, 4 & 5 (serialized novel)
I Still Live! (speech)
Why Do I Write? (speech)
That Great Spanish Author, Ernest (short story)
The Essence of the Poison (short story)
The Terminalization of J.G. Ballard (short story)
Hunter's Moon (short story)
The Rise Gotten (short story)
The Princess of Terra (short story)
A Rough Knight for the Queen (short story)
The Purple Distance (short story)
Doc Savage and the Cult of the Blue God (screen treatment)