From new Thu Jun 16 18:58:27 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!nic-nac.CSU.net!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!olivea!decwrl!pa.dec.com!hildy.zso.dec.com!rcrowley From: rcrowley@hildy.zso.dec.com ("Rebecca Leann Smit Crowley") Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Recent reading: Phillip Jose Farmer, _Riders of the Purple Wage_ Date: 16 May 1994 22:22:18 GMT Organization: The Quadrilateral Commission Lines: 45 Message-ID: <2r8rmq$rdp@usenet.pa.dec.com> Reply-To: rcrowley@zso.dec.com NNTP-Posting-Host: hildy.zso.dec.com X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL0] Farmer plays with writing styles, yet again. "UFO vs. IRS" is very funny (UFO does and does not stand for the obvious). Clever stuff with the aliens, particularly the Laurel and Hardy bit. The IRS agent was wild. The real kicker in this volume, however, is the title story, the longest of the lot. A Joyce pastiche (complete with bad puns on Finnegan's Wake, ridiculous stuff in bars and a reference to Daedalus) telling a story of a not-too-far future Earth in which high-tech and automation have made it largely unnecessary for people to work. A bunch of problems grow out of the leisure society that results, and various attempts at solutions are also depicted. Of course, the main character is an artist, and the other characters are reacting (and I do mean reacting, not responding) to him. The women -- mothers, lovers and sometimes both -- are appropriately icky. This story contains the second most imaginative use of superglue/epoxy in an sf story (Robinson's _Night of Power_ still wins for most imaginative -- this one's funnier tho). I haven't really read that much Farmer. I read two Riverworld novels ten or more years ago. I read the first of the Dayworld series comparatively recently. I also read Image of the Beast/Blown (eeek!). It's hard to know how to describe his work. He's certainly capable of writing extremely good extrapolations (the first the Dayworld stuff). He's got a nice line in horror and twisted sex. He experiments with styles and sometimes it works well. "Riders of the Purple Wage", however epitomizes Farmer at his best and worst. He weaves a good tale, and he's got style -- but the combination of the two has the aesthetic appeal (real, but . . . strange) of a spectacular auto wreck: an image that won't go away, something that shouldn't ever have happened, but that won't leave your mind until you piece together how it happened that that car happened to be on top of, wrapped around, or in that other car in that particular way. Reading that particular story in the context of recent reading of Rand (Farmer is specifically depicting something Rand ignores: what about when one doesn't need people to produce?) may have increased the interest of the story for me. Tough call. The volume has enough variety to make it recommendable either way. -- Rebecca Crowley standard disclaimers apply rcrowley@zso.dec.com Rebel without a cod. From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 01:48:58 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!convex!news.utdallas.edu!rdxsunhost.aud.alcatel.com!aur.alcatel.com!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: kcc@cs.wustl.edu (Ken Cox) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review of MORE THAN FIRE by Philip Jose Farmer Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 15:18:32 GMT Organization: not specified Lines: 58 Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <9403112258.AA07790@siesta.cs.wustl.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: aursag.aur.alcatel.com MORE THAN FIRE Philip Jose Farmer A review by Ken Cox I should start this review by noting that I am a completist -- once I start a series, I just have to finish it. In this case, the series is Philip Jose Farmer's "World of Tiers", which I started long ago. I enjoyed the first books. Maybe it had something to do with being eight years old. However, either my tastes have changed radically or Farmer's writing has deteriorated badly, because I didn't like _More Than Fire_. (I suppose I could find out which by re-reading one of the earlier novels, but I'm not sure I want to ruin my fond though faint memories.) Let me start with the good points. _More Than Fire_ is billed as the last novel in the "World of Tiers" series, and it does manage to tidy up all the loose ends from the earlier books. Kickaha, the hero, manages to conquer his enemies, recover his lost artifacts, save the Earth from total destruction (twice), clear up all the mysteries, and save the woman he loves from a fate worse than death, all in a mere 300 pages. If that sounds a bit sarcastic, it was meant to. The style of _More Than Fire_ was one of the things that I disliked. It's so -- what word do I want -- _pulp_, like reading a "Thrilling Wonder Stories of the Thirties" collection. _More Than Fire_ is like some sort of horrible parody of that genre, with the worst part being that Farmer apparently doesn't realize it. Part of this, of course, might be because this is the last novel and Farmer had to finish everything. In that case, though, he should have planned ahead a little better. Through the first half of the novel he introduces new characters, new mysteries, new planets, and even a few new alien menaces threatening the Earth. Then, as if he suddenly read the publisher's blurb ("The thrilling conclusion to the World of Tiers saga!") he begins getting rid of these new elements. This mostly involves killing the new characters in rapid succession, though he does find time in between for the old characters to have quick conversations where all the loose ends from the earlier books are tied up. Overall evaluation: A real disappointment. If you have some good memories of the World of Tiers, or of any of Farmer's other work, you might want to avoid this novel. If (like me) you just have to finish the series, try to borrow a copy. %T More Than Fire %A Philip Jose Farmer %I Tor Books (A Tom Doherty Associates Book) %C New York %D 1993 %G ISBN 0-312-85280-0 %P 304pp %O hardcover, US$20.95 Ken Cox kcc@siesta.wustl.edu From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 02:05:58 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: aaron@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca (Aaron V. Humphrey) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrograde Reviews--Philip Jose Farmer:The Other Log of Phileas Fogg Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 7 Jun 1994 08:09:30 GMT Organization: The Anna Amabiaca Fan Club Lines: 57 Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <2sp6lm$bfo@scapa.cs.ualberta.ca> Reply-To: aaron@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu Originator: mcb@remarque.berkeley.edu Philip Jose Farmer: The Other Log of Phileas Fogg A Retrograde Review by Aaron V. Humphrey This book is somewhat after the style of Farmer's Doc Savage and Tarzan novels. As the title implies, it concerns itself with the protagonist of Verne's _Around The World In 80 Days_, with the premise that the story did, for the most part, take place as Verne described. It even goes so far as to come up with explanations for things that were most likely just sloppiness on Verne's part. The simple explanation for most of these anomalies is just that Fogg is on one side of a long way between the Eridaneans and the Capellans on Earth. There are, actually, very few of the original alien races left, but the humans they've raised consider themselves equivalent. Each side paints the other as horrors, and claims that once they rid the world of the others, they can bring Earth to a golden age. (One is not necessarily convinced of their sincerity, though.) Fogg himself, his 'man' James Forster, Forster's replacement Passepartout, Andrew Stuart (Fogg's whist partner and the one who proposes the eighty-day jaunt), and Aouda (the woman they rescue in India) are all Eridaneans. Fix, the detective who attempts to arrest Fogg for the robbery he allegedly committed before his departure, is a Capellean. His master behind the scenes (whom Verne does not mention in _80 Days_, but in another of his novels) is the Capellean Captain Nemo. The events in _80 Days_ are not altered appreciably--the premise is that Verne was, for the most part, telling the truth. They are summarized for those who haven't read the book (I confess, I myself have only seen the TV version), but most of the meat of the story takes place while Verne assumed his characters are sleeping or engaged in other harmless activities. It's a diverting tale, especially if one has read the original book, but that isn't entirely necessary. If you're a fan of Captain Nemo, then you may not like the picture this book paints of him, but this edition, at least, includes an essay by H.W. Starr, a Baker Street Irregular, whose thesis is that Sherlock Holmes's nemesis Professor Moriarty is none other than Captain Nemo at a later age. It may not be in the front rank of Farmer's fiction, but it's readable. Were I to rank it on a scale of ten, I'd give it about a 6.5. %A Farmer, Philip Jose %T The Other Log of Phileas Fogg %I Daw Books %C New York %D 1973 %P 191 pp. %O Paperback, USD0.95 -- --Alfvaen (Editor of Communique) Current Album--Jane Siberry:When I Was A Boy Current Book--Janet Kagan:Hellspark "It's a one-time thing. It just happens a lot." --Suzanne Vega From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 02:08:46 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: lichter@nicco.sscnet.ucla.edu (Michael Lichter) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: The Image of the Beast by Philip Jose Farmer Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 16 Jun 1994 00:20:21 GMT Organization: University of California, Los Angeles Lines: 66 Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <9406130854.AA01533@nicco.sscnet.ucla.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu Originator: mcb@remarque.berkeley.edu The Image of the Beast by Philip Jose Farmer Rhinoceros Books, 1994 [original 1968] Reviewed by Michael Lichter This is an *old* book, but I'm a sucker for stories that feature Los Angeles, my home sweet home. Private investigator Matthew Colbin and the rich man he's been tailing both disappear. The LAPD receives a film in the mail showing a series of bizarre sexual encounters between a bound Colbin and a disguised woman. These encounters climax (sorry) in Colbin's penis being bitten off by a woman wearing sharp steel dentures while a man dressed as a caricature of a vampire stands by and laughs. Enter Herald Childe, Colbin's P.I. partner, who's going to have to solve this one himself. The obstacles? First, no real clues. Second, a thick green choking smog has settled on the city, fouling transportation and demanding all the LAPD's attention. Third, ... well the list gets bigger as the story clunks along, and as Childe begins to suspect that the man in the vampire get-up may not be an imposter after all. Part hard-boiled detective story, part horror story, and part porno novel (although I found the book in the Evil Bookstar's SF section, it comes from an Adult Fiction publisher and is listed as such on the spine), the book is an intermittently entertaining mish-mash. [Editor's note: A British paperback edition from Panther Books, an imprint of non-"adult" Granada Publishing, was published in 1985.] Although the sleuthing around and the Creatures of the Night were probably intended mainly as a cover and setup for the shocking (for 1968) sex scenes, Farmer has handled those elements competently. On the other hand, SF readers are likely to find the "erotic" aspects of the book either offensive or silly. On the topic of "silly", Farmer packs in more than one novel's share. Several characters remark that Herald Childe looks like Lord Byron (remember that Byron wrote about Childe Harold?) The film sent to the LAPD is literally the image of the beast who committed the crime -- thus the title is a pun. I could go on, but will spare you. The one interesting idea in the book has to do with man-beast changelings, such as werewolfs and vampires (man-bat). What if, Farmer asks, such beings really come, perhaps accidentally, from other universes where their forms exist along different dimensions than normally exist in this universe? Initially their appearance here is indeterminate, but as they interact with humans, the limits of human cognition not only determine how they are seen by humans but also shapes their existence in this universe. Something like that. In the end, though, unless you're a collector of L.A. novels or are looking for weird sex, this book is mainly of historical interest. Be forewarned. %A Farmer, Philip Jose %T The Image of the Beast %I Rhinoceros Books %C New York %D February 1994 [original 1968] %G ISBN 1-56333-166-7 %P 277 pp %O paperback, US$6.95