An Expansion of Philip José Farmer'sArtwork by Lisa Eckert

Wold Newton Universe

by Win Scott Eckert

The Wold Newton meteor event - artwork by Lisa Eckert

 

 

 


A Listing of Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton works

The primary Wold Newton works are Philip José Farmer's two literary "biographies," Tarzan Alive, Doubleday 1972, Popular Library 1976, Playboy Paperbacks 1981, and Bison Books 2006; and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Doubleday 1973, Bantam Books 1975 and Playboy Paperbacks 1981.

                   

Tarzan Alive, Bison Books 2006

 

 
         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tarzan Alive 1 Doc Savage 1
Doc Savage 2 Tarzan Alive 2

The new edition of TARZAN ALIVE is now listed on the Bison Books website

 

More cover images: Tarzan Alive   Doc Savage

 

Beyond Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Mr. Farmer further expanded on his Wold Newton mythology in several novels and short stories or articles:

The Adventure of the Peerless Peer, by John H. Watson, M.D.  The hardback (below) was published Aspen Press, 1974; paperback Dell, 1976. Due to copyright concerns, Farmer was forced to remove Tarzan from this novel when it was republished as "The Adventure of the Three Madmen" in the anthology The Grand Adventure, Berkley Books, 1984. (The paperback cover appears on the Crossover Chronology, Part VI page.)

Tarzan & Holmes: The Adventure of the Peerless Peer

 

"After King Kong Fell," found in The Grand Adventure, Berkley Books, 1984.

Doc Savage: Archenemy of Evil, a screenplay by Farmer for the second, and unmade, Doc Savage feature film.

"The Doge Whose Barque Was Worse Than His Bight," a Ralph von Wau Wau tale by Jonathan Swift Somers III in Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1976.

Escape From Loki, Bantam Books, 1991. (Young Doc Savage's first adventure.)

Doc Savage: Escape From Loki

 

"An Exclusive Interview with Lord Greystoke," found in The Book of Philip José Farmer, DAW Books, 1973; revised edition Berkley Books, 1982.

"Extracts from the Memoirs of Lord Greystoke," found in Mother Was a Lovely Beast, Pyramid Books, 1976.

"The Freshman," a Cthulhu Mythos story found in The Book of Philip José Farmer, Berkley Books, 1982.

Hadon of Ancient Opar and Flight to Opar, DAW Books, 1974 and 1976.  More cover images: Hadon of Opar   Flight to Opar

Hadon of Ancient Opar Flight to Opar

 

Ironcastle, J.H. Rosny, translated and retold in English by Farmer, who adds some Wold Newton connections, DAW Books, 1976.  Cover images.

Ironcastle

 

"The Last Rise of Nick Adams," found in The Book of Philip José Farmer, Berkley Books, 1982.

"The Obscure Life and Hard Times of Kilgore Trout," a short biographical sketch found in The Book of Philip José Farmer, DAW Books, 1973; revised edition Berkley Books, 1982.

Kilgore Trout

One of the few known photographs of the elusive Kilgore Trout, c. 1974

 

The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, Tor Books, 1982 (original publication date 1973).  More cover images.

The Other Log of Phileas Fogg

 

"The Problem of the Sore Bridge - Among Others," by Harry "Bunny" Manders found in Riverworld and Other Stories, published by Berkley Books, 1979; and Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space, edited by Issac Asimov, Martin Greenberg, and Charles Waugh, Bluejay Books, 1984.

"A Scarletin Study," a Ralph von Wau Wau tale by Jonathan Swift Somers III found in Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space, edited by Issac Asimov, Martin Greenberg, and Charles Waugh, Bluejay Books, 1984.

"Skinburn," found in The Book of Philip José Farmer, DAW Books, 1973; revised edition Berkley Books, 1982. (An adventure of Kent Lane, the son of The Shadow and Margo Lane.)

The Shadow - artwork by Lisa Eckert

(The Shadow - artwork by Lisa Eckert)

 

Stations of the Nightmare (Leo Queequeeg Tincrowder, a Wold Newton Family member and cousin of Kilgore Trout, is a supporting character.)

Stations of the Nightmare

 

Tarzan: The Dark Heart of Time, Del Rey Books, 1999.

Tarzan: The Dark Heart of Time

 

Time's Last Gift, Del Rey Books, 1972; revised edition 1977. (Note that the abbreviation of this title, TLG, gives a hint as to who the main character really is - Tarzan, Lord Greystoke.)  More cover images.

Tarzan: Time's Last Gift

 

Venus on the Half-Shell, Dell Books, 1974. (This book, written by Wold Newton Family member Kilgore Trout, mentions Jonathan Swift Somers III and his epic biographies of Ralph von Wau Wau, making it one possible future of the Wold Newton Universe.)  More cover images.

Venus on the Half-Shell

 

"The Volcano," a short story by Paul Chapin found in Riverworld and Other Stories, Berkley Books, 1979.  (Writer Paul Chapin once met Wold Newton Family member Nero Wolfe, in Goodwin and Stout's The League of Frightened Men.  In The Volcano, private detective Curtius Parry works with a reporter named Edward Malone.  This is likely the same Malone from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger stories.)

The Wind Whales of Ishmael, 1971.  (While Mr. Farmer makes no explicit Wold Newton connection in this sequel to Herman Melville's Moby Dick, later research has established that the events of Moby Dick do take place in the Wold Newton Universe.  Therefore I feel justified in including Mr. Farmer's sequel in this list.)  More cover images.

The Wind Whales of Ishmael  The Wind Whales of Ishmael

 

The World of Tiers series.  (A Wold Newton Family member, Paul Janus "Kickaha" Finnegan, is one of the main characters in this series.)

The World of Tiers

 

Finally, there are several Wold Newton articles by Mr. Farmer which appeared in various journals or fanzines.  They, along with  Mr. Farmer's original Wold Newton Family Trees, are reproduced on this website with Mr. Farmer's permission.


Wold Newton or Not?

While the following certainly draw on Wold Newton mythology, whether or not they fit into Mr. Farmer's regular Wold Newton continuity is up for debate.  Certainly they deserve honorable mention here.  As Mr. Farmer has said, "Let the reader decide":

A Feast Unknown, Lord of the Trees, and The Mad Goblin. (Three novels featuring the battle of Lord Grandrith (a Tarzan analogue) and Doc Caliban (a Doc Savage analogue) against the Nine.  Dennis Power has written three tremendous articles which reconcile these novels with Wold Newton Universe continuity: Triple Tarzan Tangle, TARZAN? JANE?, and Tarzans in the Valley of GoldMore cover images: A Feast Unknown   Lord of the Trees   The Mad Goblin

A Feast Unknown  Lord of the Trees  The Mad Goblin

 

Greatheart Silver, Tor Books, 1982.  (The main factor against including this collection of three short stories in the Wold Newton Universe is an episode in which many of the great pulp heroes, now aged, engage in a massive gun battle and are killed off.  Brad Mengel's excellent Fakeout at Shootout resolves these events with Wold Newton continuity and also discusses the Grandrith/Caliban books.  Art Bollmann also tackles Greatheart Silver in his superb The Greatheart Silver Problem.)

Greatheart Silver

 

A Barnstormer in Oz, Berkley Books, 1982.  (Mr. Farmer gives Oz the reality twist.  One factor that may argue against including this book in the Wold Newton Universe is that all sequels to L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz are treated as fictional, except for this one.  On the other hand, Dennis Power has written Ozdyssey, or How the Yellow Brick Road Lead Me to the Riverworld, explaining how Mr. Farmer's book could fit in.

A Barnstormer in Oz  A Barnstormer in Oz


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