Word reaches us tonight here at the Library of the passing of science-fiction legend Philip Jose Farmer, of whom we wrote just a week ago. Equally at home with mainstream sci-fi, hardcore pornography, ghosting Vonnegut's fictional Kilgore Trout and Lester Dent's DOC SAVAGE or revisting Oz, one got the impression that Farmer would have been perfectly happy to write old-style pulp fiction 24 hours a day.
Seen here is GREATHEART SILVER, my own first exposure to Farmer from 1976's "new pulp" WEIRD HEROES, Vol 1. The art is by Tom Sutton.
Thank you for the thrills and chills, sir! Enjoy your riverboat cruise!
Philip Jose Farmer was ahead of his time, with his fanciful stories of heroes and legends. Today's Marvel and DC comics would be vying for his work, signing the
ReplyDeletes-f author to an exclusive contract to do HIS version of their
super-heroes!
Another fanciful notion; but we'll
have to settle for the books he delighted us with for decades.
Samuel "Clemens" Kujava
What amazed me when reading the original Riverworld Novella (from the 1950s) was how much he had improved as a writer by the time he wrote To Your Scattered Bodies Go. Shows that it's not all just raw talent; Farmer clearly worked hard at improving his craft.
ReplyDeleteI also loved his semi-pornographic Doc Savage and Tarzan books--they were great fun to read.