From the Bookshelf of Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton Universe…

The Best of Farmerphile: The Magazine of Philip José Farmer

Michael Croteau (Editor),

Philip José Farmer (Contributor`)

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Sep 23, 2017 Sean rated it it was amazing

I have been a fan of Philip Jose Farmer, the late great Science Fiction Grand Master (who also wrote in many other genres) from Peoria, for fifteen years, which is to say nearly half my life. I have also been part of the online Farmer fan community for as long. One of my biggest regrets was that I never got around to reading the Farmer 'zine FARMERPHILE while it was still being published, although I was able to obtain the first three issues at FarmerCon, the annual celebration of Farmer's life a I have been a fan of Philip Jose Farmer, the late great Science Fiction Grand Master (who also wrote in many other genres) from Peoria, for fifteen years, which is to say nearly half my life. I have also been part of the online Farmer fan community for as long. One of my biggest regrets was that I never got around to reading the Farmer 'zine FARMERPHILE while it was still being published, although I was able to obtain the first three issues at FarmerCon, the annual celebration of Farmer's life and work, in 2012. I loved what I read and was left wanting more. Luckily, this year Meteor House, a company whose output is primarily (but not exclusively) Farmerian in nature, released a beautiful collection of many of the highlights of the magazine's short but distinguished run. These include essays by Farmer Farmer, articles by others about his work, and rare stories by the man himself. Every piece in this collection is gold, so rather than go through them all I will highlight some of my favorites.

"The Roller Coaster Ride with Phil Farmer" is by Bette Farmer, his wife, and recounts various vignettes from their decades of marriage. These offer a great personal insight into a man whose work makes him seem almost larger than life, at least in my eyes. One anecdote that particularly amused me was Bette describing a convention where a young boy in a beanie hat walked up to Farmer and told him he had read his book THE LOVERS, a groundbreaking novel for the genre in its mature approach to sex, and thought it wasn't that great. According to Bette, Harlan Ellison has continually denied he ever said any such thing.

Win Scott Eckert, one of the leading scholars of Farmer's concept of the Wold Newton Family, a vast family tree of literary heroes and villains, contributes three excellent essays. "The Farmerian Holmes" deals with the role the Sherlock Holmes canon plays in the Wold Newton mythos. Indeed, Holmes is arguably the most important character in it, after Tarzan and Doc Savage. "Excessively Diverted, or, Coming to Pemberley House" talks about the discovery (and Eckert's completion of) Farmer's previously unpublished novel THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE, an erotically-charged novel set firmly within the Wold Newton Universe (as Eckert dubbed it), as well as explaining the route through which Patricia Clarke Wildman, the daughter of a certain bronze-skinned pulp hero, inherited the Greystoke title following the disappearance of her distant cousin, the jungle lord. "Only a Coincidence: Phileas Fogg, Philip Jose Farmer, and the Wold Newton Family" makes some startling revelations about Farmer's connection to the family whose existence he himself revealed to the world.

"Gribardsun Through the Ages" by Eckert and Dennis E. Power is a timeline of the live(s) of John Gribardsun, the enigmatic grey-eyed long-lived time traveler of Farmer's novel TIME'S LAST GIFT. As that book's legion of fans know, Gribardsun is famous under another name, and also appears as the Grey-Eyed God Sahhindar in Farmer's Ancient Opar books.

This latter series is the subject of Christopher Paul Carey's "The Archaeology of Khokarsa Sources in Farmer's Ancient Oparian Motherland." This provides an invaluable look at Farmer's influences in this series, ranging from THE SONG OF HIAWATHA to Ambrose Bierce's "An Inhabitant of Carcosa."

"Remembering the Eyre Incident Three Decades Later" by Danny Adams, Farmer's great-nephew, is a terrific metafictional piece relating to Farmer's novel STATIONS OF THE NIGHTMARE, which I finally read for the first time a few months ago. Danny's love for his uncle's works shines through this and other works, such as their collaboration on the prequel to Farmer's Dayworld series, which I am currently reading (the series, that is).

Farmer's "White Whales, Raintrees, Flying Saucers" deals with the subject of mainstream literature vs. science fiction, and is a very well thought out and reasoned piece. Ever the Trickster, Farmer also includes a counterargument from Tim Howller, who fans of his work will remember as the protagonist of "After King Kong Fell." More about Tim below.

Farmer's speech "Sherlock Holmes & Sufism - & Related Subjects" deals with the Great Detective's possible interest in the Islamic mystical belief system. In doing so, it delves into Holmes' activities during the Great Hiatus of 1891-1894, a subject that a number of scholars and authors have explored based on Doyle's tantalizing hints.

"Jongor in the Wold Newton Family" is a section excised from the final manuscript of Farmer's seminal fictional biography DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE, describing how Robert Moore Williams' Tarzanic hero Jongor fits into the family tree. Among his distinguished relatives are Captain Hugh Drummond, Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy, Rob Roy, and Beau Geste.

"The Face That Launched a Thousand Eggs" is an autobiographical (make of that what you will) and utterly hilarious tale by Farmer of the aforementioned Tim Howller's college days and the actions he took in quest of winning his own Helen.

"A Peoria Night" is another excellent and funny tale that mentions many of Farmer's favorite topics, especially Tarzan. It also contains my all-time favorite opening sentence to any Farmer work, "George Harrier had never heard of the wheelchair whore when he started looking for a woman for his legless brother." That is glorious, and ensures you have to keep reading. RED ORC'S RAGE's "Jim Grimson had never planned to eat his father's balls" is my second favorite Farmerian opening sentence, in case you were wondering.

"Dio Miaule" is a genre bender (in the best Farmerian fashion) featuring elements of the P. I. genre, sci-fi, and fantasy, to delightful effect. Also a great story for cat lovers.

These and many other pieces make this book a must-read for Farmer fans. I also have to call attention to the great cover by Keith Howell, featuring Farmer clad in the familiar raiments (including deerstalker and pipe) of Holmes. Speaking from personal experience, any writer would be lucky to have Keith providing a cover for their book, and he did his usual great job here. ...more

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Feb 03, 2018 Win Scott Eckert rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

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Dec 02, 2022 Keith added it

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Sep 23, 2017 Sean rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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