Second year archive October 9, 2002 - September 9, 2003
Third year archive October 9, 2003 - September 9, 2004
Fourth year archive October 9, 2004 - September 9, 2005
Fifth year archive October 9, 2005 - September 14, 2006
Sixth year archive October 9, 2006 - September 10, 2007
Look, a monthly update done on time for a change! (if you don't count the fact that we missed last month all together...) There are several interesting things to talk about this month, and the first two have to do with Farmerphile. Issue 12 will be going to the printer for proofs by the end of the week and we should have the issue done and in the mail by the end of the month. We should also have the cover and table of contents listed online by the beginning of next week.
The bigger news however is that we're letting you in on a little secret about Farmerphile. Before this project began, it was decided there would be a limited edition of 25 copies of each issue signed by Philip José Farmer! 24 "subscribers" were found who agreed to purchase a signed copy of each issue through the original planned run of ten. These signed copies sold for $40 each. Unfortunately, of those 24 people, only 22 of them purchased the complete run. One person only bought the first two issues, and another only bought the first five. So right now, you can find a signed copy of issue 3, issue 4, issue 5, issue 6, issue 7, issue 8, issue 9, issue 10 and issue 11 on ebay. Once these auctions end on April 14th, we will most likely put the remaining signed copies of issues 5 through 11 online.
And, yes, there are signed copies of the issues after the original ten. The 22 remaining subscribers have already purchased their signed copy of issue 11 and they have first crack at the last three or four issues. Two signed copies of issue 12, etc... will also eventually be put on ebay, unless someone purchases issues 3 through 11 or 6 through 11, then I will let them buy 12 and higher directly (just like the original subscribers).
You may have noticed that there were only 24 subscribers out of the 25 sets. Yes, we do have one complete set of signed Farmerphiles available. In fact, it will be put on ebay in the next few days; issues 1 through 11, with a starting bid of $440. A newsletter will be sent at that time.
While we haven't updated this website in nearly two months, ironically Rias, who used to update his site, The International Bibliography every few months, has been posting updates very frequently, at least once a week, lately. We can vouch for how time consuming websites of this size are, so kudos to him for the steady work and regular updates. We check in at least once a week to see what he has added to his site.
Other than adding friends almost daily, we have not done a whole lot on our Myspace page since we put it up last August. However we recently added something really interesting that we found on youtube. In 1996 Phil was featured in a French documentary titled, Moi, Tarzan. You can order a French copy of the dvd at that link, or you can watch the English version of it online. First though, go to the Myspace page and watch the two minute video snippet we found on youtube.
Since the last update, we have added three new items to the Uncorrected Proofs page. The first is for Phil's latest collection, VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL AND OTHERS which came out shortly before they received the cover art for the book. As uncorrected proofs go (one of our favorite topics), with the nice glossy cover, this is one of the better looking ones. However, the other two we added to the webpage, but unfortunately not to our collection. Both of these were available on ebay, and in both cases we were outbid for them. In fact, we bid over $200 for this proof/advance reading copy of VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL from 1975, but we were outbid in the final seconds of the auction. This would have been the oldest proof in the collection so we were very unhappy about losing this one. Although, had we won the auction for the uncorrected proof of DARE, it, then, would have been the oldest by ten years. Oh well, thankfully they put pictures of these in their auctions, so we can at least add them to the webpage.
And one final note, speaking of VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL AND OTHERS, both the $300 lettered and the $125 limited editions have sold out. The $38 trade edition won't last much longer.
The hit counter as of April 9th says 192,107 which is 4,018 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on February 13th.
In further happy news, issue #11 of Farmerphile is available to order. This is the first issue beyond the original planned run of ten which serialized the novel UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT. It is also the most ambitious issue so far. It starts off with Bette Farmer's column telling about some of Phil's more memorable birthday parties. We managed to get this from her without letting on that this was going to be a Special 90th Birthday issue, with birthday wishes from the following science fiction luminaries: S.M. Stirling, Mike Resnick, Michael Moorcock, James E. Gunn, Kim Newman, Norman Spinrad, Joe Haldeman, Piers Anthony, Richard A. Lupoff, Richard E. Geis, David Langford, Tracy Knight, Joe R. Lansdale, Harlan Ellison, Robin Wayne Bailey, Will Murray, Garth Nix, James Sallis, Gary K. Wolfe, Chris Roberson & Peter Crowther. The cover art, by first time Farmerphile artist Joey Van Massenhoven, depicts Phil relaxing and enjoying his birthday (and who wouldn't with all those books). While we mentioned some of the following in the last update, we couldn't show the cover art, or mention the birthday wishes, because we wanted to surprise Phil with this tribute.
Thanks to the unprecedented generosity of Phil's long time friend Bob Barrett, we have two previously unpublished stories by Phil in this issue: The First Robot, illustrated by first timer Henry Covert, and Duo Miaule, illustrated by Farmerphile favorite Charles Berlin. Bob also sent us a manuscript titled "A Good Story is a Good Story is a Good Story," which as it turns out was a longer version of Phil's editorial in the July 1954 issue of Fantastic Universe, White Whales, Raintrees, Flying Saucers. We were going to print this as well but while working on the issue we discovered the even longer version of this article which had previously appeared in Skyhook 23, the Winter 1954-1955 issue. We decided to run this version and its follow-up piece, Parables are Pablum by Tim Howller instead of Bob's version.
In each of the first ten issues we have tried, not always successfully, to get an article from a professional science fiction author about Phil. Either about his influence on them or about meeting him or some other personal story. In this issue, we got two completely different, yet absolutely perfect, examples of the types of articles we'd always hoped to publish. The first, On Not Going There is by Howard Waldrop who explains just how hard it was to break into the field in the early 1970s with authors like Phil around doing everything first, and better, than you could hope to. The second article, Smoke Gets in Your Nose is by Spider Robinson who tells of the first time he met Phil, at the 1973 Worldcon, and the revelry that ensued.
The issue is rounded out by articles about Phil's work, first by the aforementioned Bob Barrett. This one is actually a combination of the his article Tarzan by Edgar-Philip-Rice-José-Burroughs-Farmer (which appeared in Jasoomian #10, June 1973) and “Further Reflections in a Golden Eye,” (which was written for The Doc Savage Reader in 1973 but never submitted). Considering when these were first written, you have to agree that Robert was one of the first Tarzan and Doc Savage aficionados to really “get” Phil. Paul Spiteri's Bibliophile this month is about A BARNSTOMER IN OZ and as always he has a gift that makes you want to reread the book he discusses as you realize how much you missed the first time you read it. In his Creative Mythography column, Win Scott Eckert looks at the height of Wold Newton Scholarship, adding someone to the Wold Newton Family. In his article The Magic Filing Cabinet and The Missing Page, editor Christopher Paul Carey gives us some tantalizing details behind the new collection of Phil's fictional author stories, VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL AND OTHERS.
Speaking of VENUS, there has been an interesting development with this book since the last update. Zacharias Nuninga updated his website, The International Bibliography on February 4th and lauded the book, noting the very interesting introduction by Christopher Paul Carey and the foreword by Tom Wode Bellman but saying he couldn't decide which part of the book to read next because he had read it all previously. Then, three days later he updated his website again, now speculating that Tom Wode Bellman is himself a fictional author! You'll have to examine all three of their websites and see what you think about this controversey.
One more note about this book, and no its not the usual "Buy it now before its too late!" warning (if you don't get one before they are all gone, don't say we didn't warn you). This book is gorgeous. We've already talked about the cover art, and how Phil liked it so much he wanted the original. While the original painting, or the prints you can buy from Bob Eggleton, are wonderful, the actual book itself is just something else. We really can't decide what about it looks so good, but as you can see in this picture, the actual dust jacket wrapped around the book is just stunning.
In other news, Win Eckert participated in another BlogTalkRadio/Geekerati broadcast, this one on the topic of small publishers Black Coat Press and Moonstone Books keeping the pulp tradition alive. Once again Win proved very interesting and knowledgeable and it is understandable why, at the end of the show, the host Christian Johnson insisted they have Win back more often.
The hit counter as of Febraury 13th says 188,089 which is 2,346 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on January 16th.
Yes, Virginia (or Bette in this case) there will be an 11th issue of Farmerphile, and more beyond that. We first announced this back in August 2007, but it bears repeating. Farmerphile began with enough unpublished material by Phil for a planned run of ten issues, including the serialization of UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT. Thanks to Bob Barrett's generosity and further trips to Peoria and searches through Phil's files have secured material for another four or five—or possibly even more—quarterly issues.
While we don't have the cover art or the full contents of issue #11 listed online yet we can tell you it has articles by regulars Bette Farmer, Paul Spiteri Win Scott Eckert, and Christopher Paul Carey and by first timers Spider Robinson and Howard Waldrop! This is our first issue with two "celebrity" contributors, and they both outdid themselves with terrific articles. We also have a new cover artist. We discovered Joey Van Massenhoven's artwork on MySpace and wasted no time asking him if he would like to contribute to Farmerphile since he listed TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO as one of his favorite books.
This issue will be going to the printer any day, so now is the time to send in payment if you have not already. Please note, as we announced back in October, and as it says on the Farmerphile webpage, we have had a small price increase. Copies are now $11 each instead of $10, but that price includes postage in the U.S. and Canada. If you want to prepay for multiple issues, as many did through issue #10, you can pay for 11 through 14 as we are sure we will have at least four more issues.
We have two new announcements regarding VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL AND OTHERS. If you are on the newsletter list you already know the first one:
As you may have read on Bob Eggleton's blog, Phil was so impressed with the artwork for the cover of this new collection that he wanted to buy it himself. Happily that painting now hangs proudly in Phil's house, but this is where you come in; you can get a signed, or even inscribed, print of that same painting, directly from Bob Eggleton for only $20 + $5 shipping (in the US). The dimensions are 11 x 17, outside, and inside the image is 10 x 12 1/2, with the title at the bottom. To order one, go to this website and click on the email link.
The second announcement is that while Subterranean Press originally had the book scheduled for a February release, that has been moved up to January 17th. That is tomorrow! If you are reading this update much after January 18th, and you have not ordered a copy of the book yet, I sure hope you have a time machine. Phil's Subterranean Press collections, especially those with starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly, tend to sell out in just days.
In other publishing news, TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN 4: Lords of Terror, has just been released by Black Coat Press. It features the talents of sf, mystery, and horror writers Kim Newman, Brian Stableford, John Shirley, John Peel, and Jean-Marc Lofficier, as well as names familiar to followers of Phil's Wold Newton mythos, such as Matthew Baugh, Jess Nevins, Rick Lai, and Win Scott Eckert.
Win's story pits Madame Atomos, female Fu Manchu-like mastermind of Japanese descent, against the agents of U.N.C.L.E. A letter Phil once wrote to The Baker Street Journal indicates he was a fan of, or at least interested in the show The Man From U.N.C.L.E. We don't know the contents of the BSJ articles Phil was defending in this issue, but it makes sense that he was interested in the show, since several of the original U.N.C.L.E. novels written by the late David McDaniel have strong ties to the Sherlockian canon, and also contain crossovers galore with popular characters such as Fu Manchu, The Saint, The Avengers, Miss Marple, and Sherlock Holmes himself. Plus, it was a great show and Phil has great taste.
The entire series of TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN books are a real treat if you love good old-fashion pulp adventure tales. And who doesn't?
Two more brief items we'd like to mention. A couple of friends of this website have interesting blogs online; be sure to take a few minutes and check out both artist Charles Berlin's blog as well as Ramble House publisher Fender Tucker's blog.
The hit counter as of January 13th says 185,743 which is 2,340 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on December 13th.
The big news this month is all about VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL AND OTHERS, the new collection from Subterranean Press. First, artist Bob Eggleton posted the fantastic cover art on his blog. Then he posted more comments about it when he learned that Phil liked it so much he wanted to buy it. Then Publishers Weekly gave VENUS a coveted starred review. Of course if you have visited VENUS editor, Christopher Paul Carey's website in the last few weeks, you already knew all this. And finally, the book seems to be on the publisher's fast track as it is due out in February 2008. Be sure to pre-order your copy now before they're all sold (as Phil's Subterranean Press books have a habit of doing).
Last month we mentioned that Bob Barrett had sent us some reviews to add to the site but we had not gotten to them yet. He sent us reviews for A FEAST UNKNOWN, LORD OF THE TREES/THE MAD GOBLIN and HADON OF ANCIENT OPAR all from the Burroughs fanzine The Gridley Wave. He also sent us an interesting letter by Phil defending Edgar Rice Burroughs, that appeared in The Gridley Wave #13, January 1964.
We also added a review of FLIGHT TO OPAR and our first reviews of DOWN IN THE BLACK GANG, UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT AND OTHER STORIES and THE CITY BEYOND PLAY. There is also mention of another review here, but you can't get to the full text. If you have not already talked someone into buying you this book for Christmas, just buy it yourself. As we mentioned above, Phil tends to sell out small press book runs very quickly.
Just like last month we also got a new addtion to the website thanks to an ebay seller who was willing to share with us. I can't tell you how many old fanzines we have purchased from Bwana25 but after being outbid this time he was nice enough to share this letter with us. What makes this one so interesting is that in it Phil talks about writing the space opera novel tentatively titled RAMSTAN. This was of course eventually published as THE UNREASONING MASK in 1981. However, the letter in question appeared in 1961, twenty years earlier!
Win Eckert alerted us to an article about Phil in the new British publication, The Paperback Fanatic. It is refreshing to see a new slick fanzine, especially one just for paperback collectors. It is also gratifying to see a new magazine do an article about Phil, this one about his Tarzanic writing. The Paperback Fanatic does not have a website yet, but you can find information about it on the British Horror Anthology Hell website or send an email to: "Justin AT justincultprint.free-online.co.uk"
Of interest to the many Farmer fans who are also Burroughs fans, long time fan (of both authors) David Critchfield has just published The Gilak's Guide to Pellucidar. To quote from the first review of the book, "This book is a wonderful labor of love and a useful tool for the Pellucidar fan." The cover art and interior illustrations by Harry Roland round out the book nicely.
As is often the case, when we ask for audience participation, the response has been, well anemic. But that has not stopped us from putting up a new page of reader's favorite quotes by Phil. Now that you see what it is we are looking for, perhaps you will send us one. If we get enough of them we'll start breaking them down into categories; philosophy, writing, humor, etc... Thanks to Eileen Parker at Author Sound Bites for giving us the idea for this page.
The hit counter as of December 13th says 183,404 which is 2,041 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on November 12th.
The first being that the long awaited novella, THE CITY BEYOND PLAY, is now available and shipping from PS Publishing! Not only that, but for the first time ever, we are taking material from Farmerphile and posting it here on the website. In Issue #7 (January 2007) we published an interview with co-authors Danny Adams and Philip José Farmer as well as a short excerpt from the book. Both of these can now be read here online! I (Mike) was lucky enough to be able to read some of Danny's early chapters while he was finishing the book. I was very impressed at the time so I've had very high expectations for the finished story. I am very pleased to tell you that the book is even better than I had hoped!
Second only to having a new book by Phil to read, our favorite thing in the world is finding something old written by Phil that we did not know existed. In 1976 the fanzine Citadel polled over sixty science fiction authors and artists to find out; How Dinosaurs Did It. Having only seen Phil's answer to this question, we are forced to speculate, but we don't think it is too much of a stretch to assume, it was one of the more anatomically interesting replies. Thank you very much to one of our favorite ebay sellers, Laura Larrett for sharing this information with us.
Congratulations to Phil's long time friend, Locus reviewer and Farmerphile contributor, Gary K. Wolfe who won the Special Non-Professional Award at this year's World Fantasy Convention! If you want learn something about the history of science fiction through the 1990s, be sure to check out Gary's newest book, SOUNDINGS: REVIEWS 1992-1996.
Farmerphile #10, which, as it happily turns out, will not be the final issue, came out at the end of October. This issue has a "Peoria" theme as many of the articles deal with Phil's use of his hometown in his fiction. Bette Farmer's column talks about moving back to Peoria from Los Angeles in the early 1970s. Win Eckert's Creative Mythography column focuses on the many stand-ins Phil has used for Peoria. Danny Adams again writes about some of Phil's short stories, here looking at the four stories that originally appeared in the anthologies CONTINUUM 1 - 4, and were later published as STATIONS OF THE NIGHTMARE. Jason Robert Bell's cover art for this issue, is not a glimpse of Peoria's raucous side, but is based on the collection STATIONS OF THE NIGHTMARE. Paul Spiteri's Bibliophile column looks at Phil's wild, Peoria-based P.I. novel, NOTHING BURNS IN HELL.
We also have two very funny Peoria related items by Phil in this issue. The short story, A Peoria Night, details the adventure of two brothers trying to find a little action in the seedier part of town. Coincidentally the presumably never mailed, or at least never published, letter to the editor titled A Modest Proposal, if considered, would have solved the problems faced by the characters in A Peoria Night. Amazingly we heard from the all-knowing Bob Barrett, that the two brothers in the story were clearly based on long time Burroughs Bibliophile publisher Vern Coriell and his brother Everett.
Off the Peoria theme we have two interesting articles; The Smartest Man in the World by first time contributor Dr. Bennett L. Oppenhien shows that Phil's writings have influenced more than just science fiction authors. Next we have Dennis E. Power's fourth, and most ambitious, article for Farmerphile where he links together THE STONE GOD AWAKENS with the Dayworld series and a few other stories and novels for good measure. And of course we have the conclusion to Phil's novel UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT!
Please note that as of November 1st, all issues of Farmerphile are now $11 each (instead of $10 each), but that includes postage in the US and Canada. However if you are just now discovering Farmerphile and want to order all ten back issues at once, for a limited time you can get the set for $100.
Back in September we asked you to send us scans of any colorful inscriptions you have from Phil. Our invaluable source, Bob Barrett, came through with three interesting inscriptions from his collection. Note that all three have the printed J at the beginning of José meaning they were signed in the 1970s.
Last month we told you how you could get signed books directly from Win Scott Eckert and Keith Howell and how you could get signed copies of THE COMPLEAT OVA HAMLET directly from the publisher, Ramble House. Somehow Richard Lupoff got word of this and wrote in to thank us for giving Ramble House and Ova Hamlet a little publicity. Well, as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished, and having Mr. Lupoff's email address we accosted him for anything Farmerian he could give us. He graciously coughed up a blurb written by Phil for his book CIRCUMPOLAR! and if all goes as planned he may soon also grace the pages of Farmerphile!
There are also some things we didn't get to this month. First we have several reviews to add to the site. All of them but one were sent to us by, yes you guessed it, Bob Barrett. We also promised a new page containing quotes from Phil's work. We have received some but not many. So, if you have a favorite quote from Phil; a colorful turn of phrase, or a bit of philosophy, or just something really funny, please send it to us. We will put it on the site and give you credit for sending it in.
In some news outside of this website, Zacharias updated his site, The International Bibliography for the first time since June. As always his updates are well worth the wait and full of new information. He has also converted 19 more pages to the new format, adding many new book covers to his site.
Win Eckert let us know about a really cool Star Trek web site that has descriptions of stories that were rejected as Star Trek scripts. This includes write-ups of Phil's two short stories, The Shadow of Space and Sketches Among The Ruins of My Mind. Definitely worth checking out.
Danny Adams sent us this note: One of my favorite SF writers these days is a fellow named S.M. Stirling, and Uncle Phil gets mentioned in the acknowledgments of the Spring 2008 installment of a quasi-pulp-styled series he's writing; IN THE COURTS OF THE CRIMSON KINGS. Coincidentally, S.M. has long been on the PJF Newsletter list and we can tell you that he will soon be making an appearance in Farmerphile!
The hit counter as of November 12th says 181,363 which is 2,103 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on October 10th.
We have another rare addition to the site this month, a letter by Phil that appeared in the Australian fanzine Philosophical Gas #28 in the winter of 1974. This being the Australian winter, we have listed it on the letters webpage between a letter that appeared in the summer of 1974 and November 1974.
Last month we created a new shared world webpage listing stories by other authors set in Phil's worlds. However, if you recall, the page was incomplete because we did not have time to include descriptions of the stories. This oversight has been remedied thanks to the efforts of Farmerphile editor, and occasional website contributor, Paul Spiteri. One of the items on the shared world page is the short story Shades of Pemberley which appeared in Farmerphile issues 8 and 9. One of the central characters in this story is the great pulp detective Sexton Blake. Mark Hodder, webmaster of the Blakiana website has added a summary of the story to this premier Sexton Blake resource; thus offering further proof of the importance of Win Eckert finding this long lost story.
While on the subject of adding new pages to the site, we have plans for another new one, but it is going to require some audience participation. Through the new Myspace page we received a message from Eileen Parker requesting a quote from Phil for her Author Sound Bites blog. This webpage being for authors as much as it is about them, many of the quotes have to do with writing. We'd like to do something a little bit different. If you have a favorite quote by Phil, something he has said in his fiction, or in an article, letter or speech, email it to Mike. Eventually we will pick the most appropriate one for Eileen's website and send it to her. Ultimately though, we'd like to create a page on this site full of quotes by Phil, listing not only where they came from, but also the person who suggested them and perhaps even a paragraph from the fan saying why they like that particular quote. So, if you would like to see your name and comments permanently on this site, here is your chance.
The tenth issue of Farmerphile is days away from going to the printer. The moment it does we will add the details of this issue to the website and send out a newsletter about it. However, we do have important news about the back issues, especially if you have not bought them yet. Due to rising print and especially postage costs, we regret that we will be raising the price of Farmerphile from $10 each to $11 each on November 1st. The $10 price, which includes postage, is good for all issues #1 through #10 if you order and send payment before November 1st. After that deadline, all issues will be $11, from #1 through #14 or #15 or however high we go. If you are one of the many people who ordered the first several issues, but (apparently) were waiting for #10 to come out so you could read UP FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT without having to wait three months between installments, now is the time to order!
On a happier note, we do have some good book deals to tell you about. The first involves the collection, THE COMPLEAT OVA HAMLET by Richard A. Lupoff. This very funny, and highly recommended book contains parodies of; J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, Philip José Farmer, Robert E. Howard, L. Ron Hubbard, Steven King, Fritz Leiber, H.P. Lovecraft, Barry N. Malzberg, John Norman, Mickey Spillane, Norman Spinrad and Kurt Vonnegut. It was a toss up whether we would list this book on the parodies or fiction about Farmer page. The later won out; though the story "God of the Naked Unicorn" is a parody of Phil's pulp hero adaptations, he is a character, of sorts, in the story. The deal for this book is that you can order a signed copy directly from the publisher Ramble House for only $25. Unsigned copies can be ordered directly from the Ramble House Lulu Press Store for $18 (plus shipping for either).
Wold Newton Universe web master and regular Farmerphile contributor Win Scott Eckert also has a special deal right now just for fans of this website. Over the last couple of years he has published four short stories in various "pulp" collections; "The Vanishing Devil" in TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN 1: The Modern Babylon, "The Eye of Oran" in TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN 2: Gentlemen of the Night, "Shadows Over Kunlun" in LANCE STAR - SKY RANGER and "Les Levres Rouges" in TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN 3: Danse Macabre. Win has a limited number of these books on hand, if you are among the first to visit his website and email him, you can purchase signed copies of the book at cover price (plus shipping of course). I'm getting the two I don't already have now.
And announcing SUPER HEROIC TALES, an all new book illustrated by Farmerphile regular Keith Howell. What happens when "the bloody pulps" meet "comic book heroes"? You get a wonderful, pulse-pounding book of stories featuring "Super Heroes," living in a "Prose" world! Five different stories, by five different authors, all illustrated by one talented artist. The book can be ordered from Wildcat Books Lulu Press Store, or if you go to Keith's page and tell him we sent you, you can get a signed copy for the cover price (plus shipping of course).
The hit counter as of October 10th says 179,260 which is 1,997 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on September 10th.
