Philip José Farmer
Philip Jose Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was one of my favourite SF writers in my teens and I read him extensively 35 years ago. He was well known for exploring sexual themes, but in the main series I read (The World of Tiers and Riverworld) he wrote great series based on invented worlds with strange topology. He also reincarnated famous characters in his books, providing an opportunity to learn history and biography by subterfuge. I always felt he was great at realising different worlds, and he remains a firm favourite for his timeless books. I really ought to read more Farmer, and re-read all those books I loved 35 years ago.
Major Awards
1953: Hugo Award for
Most Promising New Talent
1968: Hugo Award for Best Novella, Riders of the Purple Wage
1972: Hugo Award for Best Novel, To Your Scattered Bodies Go
2000: SFWA Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award
2001: World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement
“As science pushes forward, ignorance and superstition gallop around the flanks and bite science in the rear with big dark teeth.”
― Philip José Farmer
Bibliography
The
Green Odyssey (1957)
A Woman
a Day (1960)
Flesh
(1960)
The
Lovers (1961)
Cache
from Outer Space (1962)
Fire and
the Night (1962)
Inside
Outside (1964)
Tongues
of the Moon (1964)
World
of Tiers - wonderful series, highly recommended
The
Maker of Universes (1965)
The
Gates of Creation (1966)
A
Private Cosmos (1968)
Behind
the Walls of Terra (1970)
The
Lavalite World (1977)
Red
Orc's Rage (1991) - series-related, but not in the main sequence
More
Than Fire (1993)
Dare
(1965)
Night of
Light (1966)
The Gate
of Time (1966)
Exorcism Trilogy
Image of
the Beast (1968) - 'erotic' SF novel
Blown
(1969) - 'erotic' SF novel
Traitor to
the Living (1973) - non-erotic
Secrets
of the Nine
Lord of
the Trees (1970)
The Mad
Goblin (1970)
The
Empire of the Nine (1988) - omnibus reprint with The Mad Goblin retitled Keepers of the Secrets
Lord
Tyger (1970)
Love
Song (1970)
The
Stone God Awakens (1970)
The Wind
Whales of Ishmael (1971)
Riverworld
- series starts wonderfully, first books recommended
To Your
Scattered Bodies Go (1971) - Hugo Award winner, best novel
The
Fabulous Riverboat (1971)
The Dark
Design (1977) - slower and rather weaker
The
Magic Labyrinth (1980)
Gods of
Riverworld (1983)
Tarzan
Tarzan
Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke (1972)
Time's
Last Gift (1972)
The Adventure
of the Peerless Peer (1974)
The Dark
Heart of Time: A Tarzan Novel (1999)
The
Other Log of Phileas Fogg (1973)
Doc Savage
Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life (1973)
Escape From Loki (1991)
Khokarsa
Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974)
Flight to Opar (1976)
Venus on the Half-Shell (1975) (writing as Kilgore Trout)
Ironcastle (1976)
Jesus on Mars (1979)
Dark Is the Sun (1979) - I have very fond memories of this novel
The Unreasoning Mask (1981)
Stations of the Nightmare (1982)
Greatheart Silver (1982)
A Barnstormer in Oz (1982)
Dayworld
Dayworld (1985) - enjoyable book & a nice concept behind this series
Dayworld Rebel (1987)
Dayworld Breakup (1990)
Dayworld: A Hole in Wednesday (2016) (with Danny Adams) - posthumous prequel
The Caterpillar's Question (1992) (with Piers Anthony)
Naked Came The Farmer (1998) (multiple co-authors)
Nothing Burns in Hell (1998)
The City Beyond Play (2007) (with Danny Adams)
The Evil in Pemberley House (2009) (with Win Scott Eckert)
Story collections
Strange Relations (1960)
The Alley God (1962)
The Celestial Blueprint: And Other Stories (1962)
Down in the Black Gang (1971)
The Book of Philip José Farmer (1973)
Riverworld and Other Stories (1979)
Riverworld War: The Suppressed Fiction of Philip José Farmer (1980)
The Cache (1981)
Father to the Stars (1981)
The Purple Book (1982)
The Classic Philip José Farmer, 1952–1964 (1984)
The Classic Philip José Farmer, 1964–1973 (1984)
The Grand Adventure (1984)
Riders of the Purple Wage (1992)
The Best of Philip José Farmer (2006)
Pearls from Peoria (2006)
Up from the Bottomless Pit and Other Stories (2007)
Venus on the Half-Shell and Others (2008)
The Other in the Mirror (2009)
Up the Bright River (2010)
The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions (2010)
The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 2: Of Dust and Soul (2011)
The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 3: Portraits of a Trickster (2012)
The Philip José Farmer Centennial Collection (2018)
Greatheart Silver and Other Pulp Heroes (2019)
