It has been another slow month, with nothing new to report on either the Riverworld mini-series or Tor's new reprints. The only addition to the website in the last month is new artwork on the Fan Art page; the first addition to this page in quite a while. At the bottom of the thumbnails you will find a remarkable painting of Doc Caliban fighting a bear by John Gallagher.
Things being slow around here is just one excuse for checking out Rias' International Bibliography website. He never seems to have a slow month.
In addition to naming Philip José Farmer "the greatest science fiction writer ever" noted critic Leslie Fiedler also described Phil as having a “gargantuan lust to swallow down the whole cosmos, past, present and to come, and to spew it out again" referring to Phil's penchant for reforming other author's creations in his own work. One is reminded of that quote when reading this quote by noted science fiction author and editor Michael Moorcock, "Rhys Hughes seems almost the sum of our planet's literature... Few living fictioneers approach this chef's sardonic confections, certainly not in English."
Well then, are we saying Rhys Hughes is the next Philip José Farmer? Certainly not, since both writers are unique, more unique than most writers in fact. But they do share some qualities, the most significant being: while each is more than the sum of their—many—influences, those influences can often be seen not far below the surface. Although even the very well-read may miss more than they spot. Two other characteristics they share are playfulness and audacity. The differences between them? we can name a few: Rhys writes more short stories than novels, Phil is himself one of Rhys' influences and Rhys, as far as we can tell from reading half a dozen of his novels and short story collections, is out of his freaking mind. Just saying...
We mention all this as a prelude to talking about Rhys' new novel TWISTHORN BELLOW, which is an homage to Philip José Farmer. Phil is not only mentioned throughout (characters seem to always be reading his books) but Phil is also a character in the novel. Note to the squeamish: no book could truly pay homage to Phil if it didn't contain some horrific, utterly non-erotic, sex scenes; TWISTHORN does. We're sure Phil, despite having never expressed any animosity towards the French, would have enjoyed this book. We announced here a couple of months ago that publication of this novel has been delayed until March 2010. However, if you don't insist on having an actual dead tree version of the book, you can order an electronic copy now.
The hit counter as of December 9th says 255,462 which is 2,040 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on November 9th.
On a much happier note, we are pleased to report that the signed limited edition of THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE has not yet sold out! However, we have confirmed with the publisher there are only about 20 copies left. So don't delay, they will be gone before you know it.
On a similar subject, all of the books listed in Philip José Farmer's estate sale, are now available to a much wider audience at The Advanced Book Exchange. Orders are starting to come in from there, so chances are good the book (or books) you've had your eye on could get snapped up by someone else. Just saying.
We haven't added very much to the website this past month, but as promised, back in...um...July, we have finally found the time to get the timeline up to date. On the other hand, Zacharias, webmaster of the International Bibliography, has been very busy lately, updating his site a couple of times a week. Go check it out if you haven't been there in a while.
Win Scott Eckert has also been very busy doing a series on his blog called "Mythographers on the Move," which details the recent writings of fellow Wold Newton scholars and contributors to MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE. These include: CHRONOLOGY OF SHADOWS: A Timeline of The Shadow's Exploits, RICK LAI'S SECRET HISTORIES: Daring Adventurers and RICK LAI'S SECRET HISTORIES: Criminal Masterminds all by Rick Lai, DAYS GONE BY: Legends and Tales of Sipokni West by John Allen Small, SERIAL VIGILANTES OF PAPERBACK FICTION: An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm by Brad Mengel, THE ELDRITCH NEW ADVENTURES OF BECKY SHARP by Micah S. Harris, several "Loki Comrades" and "Sun Koh" stories by Art Sippo, Glimmerglass, edited by John Allen Small and containing stories by Dennis E. Power and Art Sippo. We'll skim over the TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN series and just say that if you look closely at the table of contents of Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, and the forthcoming Volume 6, you will see more and more Wold Newton alumni listed among the contributors. In addition to all that old news, did you happen to notice the announcement that Blackcoat Press will be publishing Win's CROSSOVERS: A Secret Chronology of the World, Volume 1 That's right, this detailed collection of "crossovers" is so massive it had to be broken into two volumes. We can't wait to get our hands on these.
A few observations about the previous paragraph. One, it would appear that Creative Mythographers have a penchant for rather long book titles. Two, of the above books we have read, TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN: Volume 5 is probably our favorite, which bodes well for Volume 6 as these books are getting stronger and stronger. Third, of the books we haven't read, DAYS GONE BY: Legends and Tales of Sipokni West by John Allen Small sounds like the most fun. Creating a history and legends around a town that never existed, is in fact nothing but a sometime movie set and Western-themed tourist attraction, sounds like a hoot.
We haven't heard any news about the Riverword mini-series in the last month, but the trailer RHI Entertainment put online in September has been viewed another 5,600 times since the last update. These can't all be Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse fans watching it just to see Tahmoh Penikett. After watching it several times now we're very curious to see how the mini-series ends. Does it come to a conclusion and answer questions about the Riverworld, making it less likely that it will continue as a full series, or does it end like the first pilot, with our heroes just beginning to set off to discover the mysteries of this new world? From the trailer it's too hard to tell but it does look like more is happening in this version than the first one.
The hit counter as of November 9th says 253,422 which is 1,935 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on October 9th.
We talked about looking forward to this next item on the May 9th update. On the June 14th update we reported it wasn't available yet but expected to give a full report on it in July. On July 10th we lamented that it still wasn't listed for sale online...then somehow we forgot to look for it in August and September! But, don't let the fact that this news is several months old make you think it isn't important, it is. The Shadow's Sanctum is reprinting the Doc Savage novels in pairs and Issue #27 contains MURDER MIRAGE, THE OTHER WORLD and a long tribute to Phil by Doc expert Will Murray. Will has interviewed Phil in the past and was the perfect writer to pen this tribute.
Speaking of which, don't forget to check the Remembrances page now and then. As we find new ones online, such as The Last Farewells from Starlog, we keep adding them to the page. And, looking ahead, we know issue #81 of the Burroughs Bulletin (due out in February 2010) will commemorate Phil as well. We'll try to get our hands on a copy as soon as it comes out, and tell you all about it.
RHI Entertainment put a trailer online for the upcoming Riverworld mini-series. From September 24th through October 9th it has been viewed 35,813 times (note to self, we need more video on the site...) It's also getting attention on various websites and blogs: Scifi Wire, Nerd World, BSC Review, Io9, Screen Rant, The Knight Shift and others.
If you read through those stories, blogs and their comments you will find there is not a lot of optimism for this TV adaptation; especially since it has already been tried before. So before you read all the uniformed opinions, let's set the record straight on one point. The first pilot was filmed in 2001/2002 but for some reason the "powers that be" decided to cancel the project and not produce the series. Then in March 2003—over a year after it was completed, and well past any chance of the pilot becoming a series—they finally aired it, and...
Ok, we're not going to strongly urge you to buy any books you want from Philip José Farmer's estate immediately. But those of you on the newsletter list know that any day now we will be listing the books with AbeBooks where tens of thousands of other book enthusiasts will get a chance to buy them. So if you are interested in those books by other authors (most signed or personally inscribed to Phil), you might want to place an order before any Robert Bloch, Joe R. Lansdale, Clifford D. Simak, Charles Willeford, Ed Gorman, Ellen Gilcrest, James Crumley, Henry Miller, or Lewis Carroll collectors see them.
The hit counter as of October 9th says 251,487 which is 1,899 visits to this main page (not the entire website) since our last update on September 10th.