Farmer, Philip José 1918–
Farmer, Philip José 1918–
(Kilgore Trout, John H. Watson)
PERSONAL: Born January 26, 1918, in North Terre Haute, IN; son of George (a civil and electrical engineer) and Lucile Theodora (Jackson) Farmer; married Elizabeth Virginia Andre, May 10, 1941; children: Philip Laird, Kristen. Education: Attended University of Missouri, 1936–37, 1942; Bradley University, B.A., 1950; Arizona State University, graduate study, 1961–62.
ADDRESSES: Home—5911 North Isabell Ave., Peoria, IL 61614. Agent—Ted Chichak of Scovil, Chichak, Galen, 381 Park Avenue South, Suite 1020, New York, NY, 10016.
CAREER: Worked at various jobs, 1936–56, with some periods as full-time writer; General Electric, Syracuse, NY, technical writer, 1956–58; Motorola, Scottsdale, AZ, technical writer, 1959–62; Bendix, Ann Arbor, MI, 1962; Motorola, Phoenix, AZ, 1962–65; McDonnell-Douglas, Santa Monica, CA, technical writer, 1965–69; freelance writer, 1965–67, 1969–. Military service: U.S. Army Air Forces, 1942–43, aviation cadet.
MEMBER: Authors Guild, Authors League of America, Society of Technical Writers and Editors, Burroughs Bibliophiles, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
AWARDS, HONORS: Hugo Award, World Science Fiction Convention, 1952, for best new writer in the science fiction field, 1967, for best novella, "Riders of the Purple Wage," and 1971, for best novel, To Your Scattered Bodies Go; guest of honor at 26th World Science Fiction Convention, 1968, and at other science fiction conventions; Nebula Award Grand Master, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 2000; World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, 2001; First Fan-dom Hall of Fame award, World Science Fiction Convention, 2003.
WRITINGS:
The Green Odyssey, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1957, reprinted, Gregg (New York, NY), 1978.
Flesh (also see below), Beacon Books (New York, NY), 1960.
Strange Relations, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1960, reprinted, Avon (New York, NY), 1978.
A Woman a Day, Beacon Books (New York, NY), 1960, published as The Day of Timestop, Lancer Books (New York, NY), 1968, published as Timestop!, Quartet (London, England), 1973.
The Lovers, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1961.
The Alley God, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1962.
Fire and the Night, Regency (London, England), 1962.
Tongues of the Moon, Pyramid Press (New York, NY), 1964.
Inside Outside, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1964, reprinted, Gregg (New York, NY), 1980.
Cache from Outer Space, also published as The Celestial Blueprint, and Other Stories, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1965, revised edition published as The Cache, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1981.
Dare, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1965, reprinted, Gregg (New York, NY), 1980.
The Gates of Creation, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1966, special revised edition, Phantasia Press (Huntington Woods, MI), 1981.
The Gate of Time, Belmont Books (New York, NY), 1966, expanded edition published as Two Hawks from Earth, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1979.
Night of Light, Berkley Publishing (New York, NY), 1966.
The Image of the Beast: An Exorcism, Ritual One (also see below), Essex House (London, England), 1968.
Blown; or, Sketches among the Ruins of My Mind: An Exorcism, Ritual Two (sequel to The Image of the Beast; also see below), Essex House (London, England), 1969.
A Feast Unknown: Volume IX of the Memoirs of Lord Grandrith, Essex House (London, England), 1969.
Keepers of the Secrets, Sphere Books (London, England), 1970, reprinted, Severn House (London, England), 1985.
Lord of the Trees: Volume X of the Memoirs of Lord Grandrith (also see below), Ace Books (New York, NY), 1970.
The Mad Goblin (bound with Lord of the Trees; also see below), Ace Books (New York, NY), 1970.
Lord Tyger (also see below), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1970.
Love Song: A Gothic Romance, Brandon House (North Hollywood, CA), 1970, limited edition, D. McMillan (Missoula, MT), 1983.
The Stone God Awakens, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1970.
Down in the Black Gang, and Other Stories, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1971.
The Wind Whales of Ishmael, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1971.
Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1972.
Time's Last Gift, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1972.
The Book of Philip José Farmer; or, The Wares of Simple Simon's Custard Pie and Space Man, Daw Books (New York, NY), 1973, revised edition, Berkley Books (New York, NY), 1982.
Doc Savage: is Apocalyptic Life, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1973.
The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, Daw Books (New York, NY), 1973, reprinted, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1988.
Traitor to the Living, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1973.
Hadon of Ancient Opar, illustrations by Roy Krenkel, Daw Books (New York, NY), 1974.
(Under pseudonym Kilgore Trout) Venus on the Half-Shell, Dell (New York, NY), 1975.
Flight to Opar, Daw Books (New York, NY), 1976.
(With J.H. Rosny) Ironcastle, Daw Books (New York, NY), 1978.
Dark Is the Sun, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1979.
Riverworld and Other Stories, Berkley Publishing (New Dork, NY), 1979.
Image of the Beast (contains Image of the Beast and Blown), Berkley Publishing (New York, NY), 1979.
Jesus on Mars (also see below), Pinnacle Books (New York, NY), 1979.
Lord of the Trees [and] The Mad Goblin, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1980.
Riverworld War: The Suppressed Fiction of Philip José Farmer (contains Jesus on Mars), Ellis Press (Peoria, IL), 1980.
The Unreasoning Mask, Putnam (New York, NY), 1981.
Flesh [and] Lord Tyger, New American Library (New York, NY), 1981.
A Barnstormer in Oz; or, A Rationalization and Extrapolation of the Split-level Continuum, Phantasia Press (Huntington Woods, MI), 1982.
River of Eternity, Phantasia Press (Huntington Woods, MI), 1983.
The Grand Adventure, Berkley Publishing (New York, NY), 1984.
The Classic Philip José Farmer, 1952–1964, edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Crown (New York, NY), 1984.
Father to the Stars, Pinnacle Books (New York, NY), 1981.
Stations of the Nightmare, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1982.
Red Orc's Rage, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1991.
Escape from Loka, Bantam (New York, NY), 1991.
(With Piers Anthony) The Caterpillar's Question, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1992.
(With Jack London) Fantastic Tales, edited by Dale L. Walker, Bison Books Corporation (London, England), 1998.
Nothing Burns in Hell, Forge (New York, NY), 1998.
"WORLD OF TIERS" SERIES
The Maker of Universes: The Enigma of the Manyleveled Cosmos, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1965, revised edition, Phantasia Press (Huntinton Woods, MI), 1980.
The Gates of Creation, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1966.
A Private Cosmos, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1968, special revised edition, Phantasia Press (Huntington Woods, MI), 1981.
Behind the Walls of Terra, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1970.
The Lavalite World, Ace Books (New York, NY), 1977.
The World of Tiers, two volumes (Volume 1 contains The Maker of Universes and The Gates of Creation; Volume 2 contains A Private Cosmos, Behind the Walls of Terra, and The Lavalite World), Thomas Nelson-Doubleday (New York, NY), 1980.
Greatheart Silver, illustrations by Nick Cuti, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1982.
The Purple Book, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1982.
More than Fire, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1993.
"RIVERWORLD" SERIES
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Putnam (New York, NY), 1971, reprinted, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1998.
The Fabulous Riverboat, Putnam (New York, NY), 1971.
The Dark Design, Berkley Publishing (New York, NY), 1977.
The Magic Labyrinth, Berkley Publishing (New York, NY), 1981.
The Complete Riverworld Novels, five volumes, Berkley Publishing (New York, NY), 1982.
Gods of Riverworld, Phantasia Press (Huntington Woods, MI), 1983.
Quest to Riverworld, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1993.
Gods of Riverworld, Del Rey (New York, NY), 1998.
The Dark Heart of Time, Del Rey (New York, NY), 1999.
"DAYWORLD" SERIES
Dayworld, Putnam (New York, NY), 1985.
Dayworld Rebel, Putnam (New York, NY), 1987.
Dayworld Breakup, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1989.
OTHER
(Compiler) Mother Was a Lovely Beast: A Feral Man Anthology—Fiction and Fact about Humans Raised by Animals, Chilton (Philadelphia, PA), 1974.
(Author under pseudonym John H. Watson; editor under name Philip José Farmer) The Adventure of the Peerless Peer, Aspen Press (Boulder, CO), 1974.
(Editor) Naked Came the Farmer, Mayfly Productions, 1998.
Work appears in anthologies. Contributor to Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Contributor of short stories to Adventure, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Startling Stories, and other magazines.
Farmer's work has been translated into twenty-one languages and published in over forty countries.
ADAPTATIONS: The film rights to the "Riverworld" series, including To Your Scattered Bodies Go, The Fabulous Riverboat, The Dark Design, The Magic Labyrinth, and Gods of Riverworld, were sold to Walt Disney Productions, 1990.
SIDELIGHTS: Philip José Farmer is a prolific science-fiction writer whose success is based on his deft mixture of three primary components, "religion, sex, and violence," in each of his many works, according to Franz Rottensteiner in Science-Fiction Studies. In addition, he is often credited with introducing the first mature depiction of humanalien sexual encounters into the genre with his 1961 book, The Lovers. Both Farmer's inclusion of the sex act itself within his fiction and the fact that it involved an alien being triggered off a controversy within science-fiction circles. Despite the initial reaction, The Lovers stands as an historically important work in the field.
Although Farmer is sometimes dismissed as a writer of formula fiction whose least-successful works are written "hastily, sometimes downright sloppily," as reviewer Leslie A. Fiedler charged in the Los Angeles Times, admirers find his exploration of timeless themes within an action-oriented adventure plot a winning combination. Furthermore, "the number, richness, and complexity of Farmer's series," according to Thomas L. Wymer in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, "can lay claim to uniqueness." In The Universe Makers, Donald A. Wollheim called Farmer's work "veritable fireworks of new concepts in biology and fantasy lands." In Science Fiction Chronicle Paul Levinson was quoted as noting: since The Lovers appeared in 1952, Farmer has "pioneered the exploration of critical human relations and dimensions in science fiction and inspired a generation of writers, from Samuel R. Delany to Jonathan Lethem."
Farmer's talent for new concepts is given full rein in his "Riverworld" series, which Roland Green of Booklist called "one of the largest, most ambitious, and least conventional works of modern science fiction." The series concerns the planet Riverworld, a single, million-mile river valley into which the entire human race is reincarnated at the same time. A few of the reborn humans, including such diverse characters as Mark Twain, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Hermann Göring, search for the headwaters of the River in the hope that it may hold the answer to their reincarnation.
Farmer began the "Riverworld" series in 1952 when he entered a writing contest sponsored by two publishing companies. He won the contest with his first "River-world" novel but, before he collected his $4,000 prize, one of the publishers went bankrupt, taking his prize money with it. Worse, Farmer lost the rights to his book for many years. It wasn't until the late 1960s that he revived the "Riverworld" idea. He wrote a series of novelettes for magazine publication that contained "very little of the original novel, aside from the basic concept," as Farmer stated in Dream Makers: The Uncommon People Who Write Science Fiction. When these novelettes were sspublished together as a novel, the result was the Hugo Award-winning To Your Scattered Bodies Go, and the "Riverworld" series was on its way.
As Peter Stoler wrote in Time, "the auspicious opening" of Farmer's "Riverworld" series "was a difficult act to follow, and many Farmerites wondered whether the Riverworld was wide enough to sustain a projected tetralogy. The author's next works allayed all fears." In subsequent novels Farmer's characters build a paddle wheel boat, several blimps, and even an air force of small planes in their quest for the headwaters of the River. Besides fighting among themselves and against hostile peoples they must voyage past during their journey, the explorers must be on guard against agents of the Ethicals, the mysterious creators of Riverworld, who are secretly in their midst. In the course of this adventure, many theological, political, and cultural questions are raised and discussed by historical figures from widely different times and cultures. Farmer's juxtaposition of historical figures from widely divergent periods "insinuates strands of history and myth, philosophy and ribaldry" into the multi-volume adventure story, according to Stoler.
Further examples of Farmer's innovative concepts are found in the "World of Tiers" series, which concerns a highly advanced race of humans who, through the use of technology, create entire self-contained universes governed by arbitrary natural laws. Although other writers have examined man's evolution and technological development, in Wollheim's view Farmer implies "that God Himself might be just another mortal playing at scientific games."
Though the "World of Tiers" series was scheduled to end with the fourth installment, The Magic Labyrinth, which followed The Dark Design in 1980, Farmer returned in 1983 with Gods of Riverworld, encouraging a reviewer for Publishers Weekly to remark: "The River-world seems to pull Farmer as the Mississippi did Twain." In Gods of Riverworld the humans who discovered the secret of the Ethicals' power take control of Riverworld and contend with the consequences of their newfound authority. Although critics found the work flawed, it was noted that this novel, like its precursors, contains "enough action, intrigue, and Farmer's habitual game-playing with historical characters" to satisfy fans of the series, according to Booklist critic Roland Green.
Like the "Riverworld" series, the "World of Tiers" series relies heavily on action-packed plots. Novels in this series "are marked by an intense sense of pulp action-adventure, with fast-paced and very physical action, battles and contests, intrigues, disguises, and surprises," remarked Wymer. "But Farmer combines this action with a fascinating sense of psychological exploration." In the first installment, The Maker of Universes, Robert Wolff enters the World of Tiers and leads a revolt against its lords, an evil remnant of a technologically advanced race that rule these pocket universes for their own pleasure. Although other writers have examined man's evolution and technological development, Farmer makes "the implication that God Himself might be just another mortal playing at scientific games," Wollheim added.
Gates of Creation, the second work in the series, finds Wolff's own father leading an invasion of the world over which Wolff now reigns. In the next three novels in the series—A Private Cosmos, Behind the Walls of Terra, and The Lavalite World—the focus shifts to Kickaha, a secondary figure in the first two books and, according to Wymer, an exemplum of Farmer's "ideal non-neurotic man, afraid only of real threats and ready to risk his life without hesitation." The series ends with Red Orc's Rage and More than Fire, books that stage a lingering battle between good and evil, represented by Kickaha and Lord Red Orc, leader of the creators of the pocket universes.
Farmer turns to the Earth of the future in the "Day-world" series, in which overpopulation—caused by the conquering of poverty, hunger, and pollution—is resolved by dividing humanity into seven categories, each allowed one day of consciousness per week then consigned to suspended animation the other six. Jeff Caird is a Daybreaker, a rebel against the system who assumes seven different personalities in his quest to remain conscious seven days a week. Dayworld, the first book in the series, recounts Caird's struggles to integrate his personalities and escape the grip of the Earth's corrupt leaders. This book "provides further evidence of the author's vivid imagination and ingenious storytelling skills," enthused Peter L. Robertson in Booklist. The first sequel, Dayworld Rebel, finds Farmer's protagonist—now known as Duncan—imprisoned by the authorities, escaping, and leading a band of rebels to Los Angeles. Still running in Dayworld Breakup, Duncan enlists the aid of a female cop in leading a revolution to end the Dayworld system. Although some critics found that the final two novels failed to live up to the promise of the first, reviewers tended to recommend that libraries purchase the books anyway, considering Farmer's popularity. "A definite acquisition, given Farmer's vast audience," concluded Roland Green in his review of Dayworld Breakup.
In other books, such as The Adventure of the Peerless Peer and Tarzan Alive, Farmer plays tongue-in-cheek games using famous literary characters. In The Peerless Peer, he writes a new Sherlock Holmes adventure under the pseudonym of Holmes's assistant, John H. Watson. Tarzan Alive is a thorough biography of the "real" Tarzan that answers questions, a reviewer for the New York Times held, that "have been plaguing practically nobody at all for many years now…. Rarely has so much been written so obscurely about so little." He concluded that Farmer is "some kind of a genius of Dada."
Under the pseudonym Kilgore Trout, Farmer wrote Venus on the Half-Shell, a parody of a work by novelist Kurt Vonnegut. Trout, a character in several of Von-negut's novels, is a science-fiction writer who has authored hundreds of books, all of them unfortunately published by pornography houses that marketed them under rather non-SF titles. "I thought people would flip their minds," Farmer explained in Dream Makers, "if they saw a book by Trout, a supposedly fictional character, on the stands. Also, I did it as a tribute, the highest, to an author whom I loved and admired at that time. And I identify with Trout." Farmer's parody was so well done that several critics assumed Vonnegut had written the book. "Who is Kilgore Trout?" Walton R. Collins of the National Observer asked. "The odds are good that he is Vonnegut…. You can't read a dozen pages anywhere in Venus without becoming morally certain you're reading Vonnegut. The style is unmistakable."
Farmer has published several collections of his shorter pieces, including the short stories and novellas that made his early reputation. In a review of The Classic Philip José Farmer, a critic for Kirkus Reviews remarked, that the author "was instrumental in kicking science fiction out of its late-1940s puritanical rut—and these six iconoclastic, imaginative yarns aptly show how and why." Library Journal contributor Susan L. Nickerson recommended that readers "who know Farmer only for his more recent tepid efforts" seek out this resource for examples of his early work. Voice of Youth Advocates contributor Susan B. Madden found Farmer's Purple Book, containing "Riders of the Purple Wage," "Spiders of the Purple Mage," and others, "punny, irreverent, raunchy and bizarre." The Grand Adventure, which includes early pieces presaging the "Riverworld" series among other works, was also highly recommended by critics, who compared these pieces favorably to more recent efforts by the popular author. "The stories are 'classic' Farmer, well constructed, readable, and more satisfying than most of his contemporary esoteric pieces," wrote Jerry L. Parsons in Fantasy Review.
The influence of Farmer's immense body of work stretches across boundaries. Not only have his books been translated into over twenty languages, they also have been published in more than forty countries, establishing him as one of the preeminent voices in modern science fiction and fantasy literature. In 2001 Farmer was honored with the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, just one of many accolades he has received. Writing in the St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers, critic Mary Turzillo Brizzi commented on the traits that have made Farmer a unique voice in the literary world. "Farmer attacks convention. He startles readers with scenes of alien and human sex and reproduction. He speculates on metaphysical verities, the nature of the soul and the uncertainty of human knowledge. He refutes conventional theology," Brizzi wrote. "Immortality, the conflict between individual and society, religious conversion, impossible physical perfection, the drive for power and knowledge—such are his themes."
With his publishing career spanning nearly five decades, Farmer has few regrets about what he has written. He prefers to concentrate his energies on future writings. Speaking of his many novels, Farmer stated in Dream Makers: "I can see where I could have done better. I can see innumerable cases. But it's no good to go back and rewrite them, because if you did you'd lose a certain primitive vigor that they have. The thing to do is to go on and write new stuff." The Philip José Farmer Society, an organization for enthusiasts and collectors of Farmer's work, was founded in 1978.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
BOOKS
Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Volume 28, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1999.
Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction, Beacham (Osprey, FL), 1996.
Brizzi, Mary, The Reader's Guide to Philip José Farmer, Starmont, 1980.
Clareson, Thomas D., editor, Voices for the Future, Volume 2, Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1979.
Contemporary Literary Criticism, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 1, 1973, Volume 19, 1981.
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 8: Twentieth-Century American Science-Fiction Writers, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1981.
Farmer, Philip José, The Book of Philip José Farmer, DAW (New York, NY), 1973.
Knapp, Lawrence J., The First Editions of Philip José Farmer, Science Fiction Bibliographies 2, David G. Turner, 1976.
Moskowitz, Sam, Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction, Hyperion (New York, NY), 1974.
Platt, Charles, Dream Makers: The Uncommon People Who Write Science Fiction, Berkley Publishing (New York, NY), 1980.
Walker, Paul, Speaking of Science Fiction: The Paul Walker Interviews, Luna, 1978.
Wollheim, Donald A., The Universe Makers, Harper (New York, NY), 1971.
PERIODICALS
Amazing Science Fiction, October, 1961.
Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December, 1977; July, 1978; December, 1980; February, 1992, Tom Easton, review of Red Orc's Rage, p. 155; May, 1992, Tom Easton, review of Escape from Loki, p. 164; January, 1994, Tom Easton, review of More than Fire, p. 306.
Booklist, October 1, 1977; July 15, 1980; September 1, 1992, Roland Green, review of The Caterpillar's Question, p. 37; September 15, 1993, Roland Green, review of More than Fire, p. 132; April 15, 1998, David Pitt, review of Nothing Burns in Hell, p. 1381.
Books and Bookmen, December, 1966.
Bulletin. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, summer, 2001, Darrell Schweitzer, interview with Farmer, p. 35.
Extrapolation, May, 1976; December, 1976; May, 1977; winter, 1994, review of Night of Light, p. 342.
Galaxy, January, 1958.
Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 1993, review of More than Fire, p. 1036; April 1, 1998, review of Nothing Burns in Hell, p. 448.
Library Journal, August, 1980, Rosemary Herbert, review of The Magic Labyrinth and Riverworld War, p. 1665; September 15, 1981, Susan L. Nickerson, review of The Unreasoning Mask, p. 1756; February 15, 1985, review of Dayworld, p. 181; June 15, 1987, Jackie Cassada, review of Dayworld Rebel, p. 88; June 15, 1990, Jackie Cassada, review of Dayworld Breakup, p. 139; September 15, 1992, Jackie Cassada, review of The Caterpillar's Question, p. 97; May 1, 1998, Rex E. Klett, review of Nothing Burns in Hell, p. 142.
Locus, September, 1992, review of Tales of Riverworld, p. 25; January, 1993, review of Red Orc's Rage, p. 45; May, 1993, review of The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, p. 48; September, 1993, review of Quest to Riverworld, p. 64; October, 1993, review of More than Fire, p. 21; July, 1994, review of The Image of the Beast, p. 56.
Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1972.
Louisville Eccentric Observer, August 21, 2002, p. 16.
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October, 1953; July, 1962; September, 1965; May, 1967; February, 1978; July, 1980.
National Observer, May 17, 1975.
National Review, April 14, 1972.
New York Times, April 22, 1972.
New York Times Book Review, April 28, 1985.
Observer, December 21, 1969, August 8, 1976.
Psychiatric Times, July 2001, p. 7
Publishers Weekly, March 20, 1981, Sally A. Lodge, review of The Magic Labyrinth, p. 60; August 7, 1981, Barbara A. Bannon, review of The Unreasoning Mask, p. 68; February 5, 1982, review of Behind the Walls of Terra, p. 384; July 30, 1982, review of A Barnstormer in Oz, p. 77; February 4, 1983, Barbara A. Bannon, review of The Lavalite World, p. 364; January 4, 1985, review of Dayworld, p. 62; May 15, 1987, Sybil Steinberg, review of Dayworld Rebel, p. 270; May 11, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of Dayworld Breakup, p. 252; September 21, 1992, review of The Caterpillar's Question, p. 81; October 4, 1993, review of More than Fire, p. 68; March 30, 1998, review of Nothing Burns in Hell, p. 73.
Rapport, April, 1992, review of Red Orc's Rage, p. 31; June, 1994, review of More than Fire, p. 25.
School Library Journal, October, 1981, John Adams, review of The Unreasoning Mask, p. 160; April, 1993, Linda Vretos, review of The Caterpillar's Question, p. 149.
Science Fiction Chronicle, June, 1992, reviews of Riders of the Purple Wage, p. 33; August, 1992, review of Tales of Riverworld, p. 49; February, 1994, review of More than Fire, p. 5; July, 1998, review of Nothing Burns in Hell, p. 45; April, 2001, p. 5; July, 2001, pp. 2, 5.
Science Fiction Collector, September, 1977.
Science Fiction Review, August, 1975; November, 1977; February, 1978.
Science Fiction Studies, Volume 1, 1973; Volume 4, 1977.
Spectator, August 4, 1973.
Time, July 28, 1980, Peter Stoler, "'Riverworld' Revisited," pp. 68-69.
Times Literary Supplement, January 8, 1970; April 12, 1974.
Village Voice, June 13, 1974.
Voices of Youth Advocates, June, 1992, review of Escape from Loki, p. 93; April, 1994, review of More than Fire, p. 36.
Washington Post Book World, November 27, 1983; June 28, 1987; August 26, 1990.
Xenophile, September-October, 1977; September-October, 1979.
ONLINE
Official Philip José Farmer Home Page, http://www.pjfarmer.com/ (August 18, 2004).