Blog Archives
sAn Overlooked Gem: “The Green Odyssey” by PJ Farmer
Saturday , 1, July 2017 Before the Big Three, Book Review 3 CommentsLate one night last year, I was looking for a new book to read and discovered that there was another work by PJ Farmer added to Project Gutenberg, The Green Odyssey. A few hours later, I had finished a swashbuckling classic, a full-blooded adventure to rank with the best of Howard, Stevenson, or Sabatini. And […]
Son of the Pulps Part 3: The Wold Newton
Saturday , 17, June 2017 Appendix N, Authors, Fiction 2 CommentsWe conclude our discussion of the influence of pulp on Philip Jose Farmer with a look at his Wold Newton family. In Tarzan Alive, Farmer links his favorite British lord to dozens of fictional characters, many from the pulps, including Sherlock Holmes, Bulldog Drummond, The Shadow, Sam Spade, Nayland Smith of Dr. Fu-Manchu fame, James Bond, Professor […]
Son of the Pulps Part 2: Farmer’s Tarzans
Saturday , 10, June 2017 Appendix N, Authors, Book Review, Fiction 6 CommentsTarzan as imagined by Edgar Rice Burroughs is a vivid hero that epitomizes full-blooded adventure and influenced generations of writers. The Tarzan of Jose Philip Farmer is better; the ultimate, indomitable hero and my favorite fictional character. As we noted in last week’s column, Farmer was utterly fascinated with Tarzan and wrote several different pastiches […]
Son of the Pulps: Philip Jose Farmer, Part 1
Saturday , 3, June 2017 Appendix N, Authors, Fiction, Short Fiction 4 CommentsIt’s often been asked what later science fiction writers the pulp masters influenced. I wager there were many, even when it’s not directly obvious from the works themselves. For instance, the adventurousness of Heinlein’s stories and his classic heroes remind me strongly of the best pulp authors. But speculation aside, of all the great science […]