The Best of Farmerphile

Farmerphile: The Magazine of Philip José Farmer was a quarterly fanzine that ran fifteen issues from July 2005 to January 2009. Michael Croteau served as Publisher for all fifteen issues; Christopher Paul Carey and Paul Spiteri coedited the first ten issues, while Spiteri and Win Scott Eckert coedited the last five. Thanks to the generosity of Philip José Farmer and his “Magic Filing Cabinet,” Farmerphile published—for the first time anywhere—short stories (mostly not science fiction), excerpts, articles, speeches, and letters written by Farmer. It even serialized the novel Up from the Bottomless Pit (not included in this collection, but forthcoming from Meteor House).

Farmerphile also contained articles and appreciations from Farmer’s fans and from his fellow science fiction authors, from critiques of his work to stories of personal encounters, and everything between.

Now the hard part: narrowing down so much content into one “Best of” collection. This was much harder than it sounds, as nearly all the content was worthy of inclusion. So, we focused on broadly covering as much ground as possible, as well as including pieces that touched on Farmer’s personal life. Assembled here is a wealth of information about one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time along, with some of his earliest writing.

The hardcover is not “officially” a signed limited edition, but when the book debuts at PulpFest/FarmerCon XII in late July 2017, we will get as many contributors on hand as possible to sign it before we ship the books to those preordered

Below is the table of contents as of January 26th, which would have been Farmer’s 99th birthday. Contents are subject to change, and by change we mean they are likely to grow a bit.

Introduction Michael Croteau

Nonfiction by Regular Contributors

• The Roller Coaster Ride with Phil Farmer by Bette Farmer
• The Farmerian Holmes by Win Scott Eckert
• Excessively Diverted, Or, Coming to Pemberley House by Win Scott Eckert
• Only a Coincidence: Phileas Fogg, Philip José Farmer, and the Wold Newton Family by Win Scott Eckert
• Gribardsun through the Ages by Win Scott Eckert & Dennis E. Power
• When Day Breaks the Stone God Awaits by Dennis E. Power
• Philip José Farmer and The Case of the Two Jungle Lords by Dennis E. Power
• Bibliophile–The Other Log of Phileas Fogg by Paul Spiteri
• Bibliophile–Jesus on Mars by Paul Spiteri
• Bibliophile–Lord Tyger by Paul Spiteri
• Through the Seventh Gate by Christopher Paul Carey
• The Archaeology of Khokarsa by Christopher Paul Carey
• The Magic Filing Cabinet and The Missing Page by Christopher Paul Carey
• A Box Within a Box: Philip José Farmer as Maxwell Grant as… by Danny Adams
• Remembering the Eyre Incident Three Decades Later by Danny Adams
• Star Trek’s Loss Is Your Gain From Screen Treatment To Short Story by Danny Adams

Nonfiction by Philip José Farmer

• I Still Live! 75th Anniversary Dinner Keynote Address
• Hayy ibn Yaqzam by Abu ibn Tufayl An Arabic Mowgli
• Why Do I Write?
• The Brueckel/Harwood Letter
• White Whales, Raintrees, Flying Saucers
• Sherlock Holmes & Sufism—& Related Subjects
• Jongor in the Wold Newton Family
• Wild Weird Clime: Balticon 11 Guest of Honor Speech
• Doc Wildman’s Coat of Arms
• Buddha Contemplates His Novel Or, God and Humankind Redefined

Nonfiction by Guest Contributors

• Essex House, Tarzan and Time’s Last Gift by Bob Zeuschner
• The Trickster Awakens: Philip José Farmer and Venus on the Half-Shell by Tracy Knight
• On a Riverboat with the Farmers by Gary K. Wolfe
• Heritage of the Flaming God A Classic Essay, Long Forgotten, Inspired Farmer by Alan Hanson
• Caliban by Will Murray
• Phil & Bette Farmer, Jack London, a Wife and a Baby, a Clean Well Lighted Hotel Room by Joe R. Lansdale
• Sketches from the Ruins of my Mind by Robert R. Barrett
• Smoke Gets In Your Nose by Spider Robinson
• We Were Introduced by Sherlock Holmes by George H. Scheetz
• Escape from Loki Again, and Again, and Again… by Steve Mattsson
• To Be, or Not to Be by Tom Wode Bellman
• A Whale of a Time by Leo Queequeg Tincrowdor
• This Played in Peoria? by Art Sippo
• The Voice of Farmer in My Vermiform Appendix by Rhys Hughes
• Writing Graceland by Allen Steel

Fiction by Philip José Farmer

• The Face that Launched a Thousand Eggs
• The Unnaturals
• That Great Spanish Author, Ernesto
• The Essence of the Poison
• The Doll Game
• Keep Your Mouth Shut
• The Frames
• The Light-Hog Incident
• A Spy in the U.S. of Gonococcia
• The Rebels Unthawed
• A Peoria Night
• The First Robot
• Duo Miaule
• Getting Ready to Write (with Paul Spiteri)

Limited to 175 hardcover copies