PULPFEST 2024 Report

Those who follow me on Instagram or are friends with me on Facebook know that I spent this past weekend (actually, 5 days: July 31 to Aug 4) at Pulpfest in Cranberry, Pennsylvania. Pulpfest is a convention dedicated to the pulp magazines of the early 20th century (so called because they were printed on pulp/newsprint paper as compared to the “slick” magazines). It’s a convention I look forward to every year, probably my favorite. (Yes, I also love Readercon, held in Quincey, Massachusetts in July, but for different reasons.)

Before I talk about why I love Pulpfest so much and tell you a bit about this year’s convention, allow me to present you with a photo featuring every pulp magazine I own:

Yes, that’s it. Five pulp magazines. One issue of Startling Stories (which happens to include stories by the great Robert Bloch and also John Broome); one issue of Doc Savage (including the novel The Flaming Falcons); three issues of Planet Stories (one of which has a story by Fredric Brown, another of which has a short novel by Gardner F. Fox). And I am perfectly fine with the fact that I only own five pulp magazines, none of them in any salable condition (in fact, they were all gifts from a friend, duplicates of his own collection).

So why go to a convention dedicated primarily to pulp magazines, if I don’t collect pulp magazines?

Camaraderie.

See, Pulpfest is really three conventions in one. While the focus of Pulpfest panels is the preservation of the history of pulp magazines in all their multi-genre splendor (pulps ranged from romance/spicy to horror, adventure, mystery, western, science fiction, fantasy, and probably some genres I’m forgetting, to the “single character” pulps (both heroic, like The Shadow, The Avenger, and Doc Savage, and the villainous, like Doctor Satan.)), they also have welcomed FarmerCon (dedicated to celebrating the work of Philip Jose Farmer) and ERBFest (dedicated to celebrating the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs). And next year (2025), Pulpfest will expand to being “FOUR conventions for the price of one!” with the addition of DocCon, celebrating Doc Savage.

I started going to Pulpfest because of FarmerCon. I’d been online friends for quite a few years with a group of fans of Philip Jose Farmer and was finally convinced to meet them in person when Pulpfest relocated from Columbus, Ohio to Pittsburgh (Cranberry) Pennsylvania around 2018. I could (and will, one of these days) write an entire post, or even series of posts, about how Phil Farmer’s books (most notably, his fictional biographies of Tarzan and Doc Savage) inspired and intrigued me. Among the group of Farmer fans, I am easily the least knowledgeable about Farmer and his works. But that’s okay, they don’t hold it against me. They welcomed me with open arms, and I absorb their knowledge (and their book recommendations and writing advice) eagerly. These people have become more than friends (and far more than just online acquaintances) over these past few Pulpfest/FarmerCons.

Many of the FarmerCon folks are also big fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs – another relatively early influence on me (thanks in part to an adult neighbor who lent me some of the novels after seeing me reading some Marvel and DC Tarzan and John Carter of Mars comics), and another author about whom I am the least knowledgeable among our friend group when we gather. (See above for why I’m fine with that.) This year, it was decided to hold an ERBFest as part of Pulpfest, including the 2024 Dum Dum Banquet (if you’re fan of the Tarzan books, you know why it’s called that).

Many of the FarmerCon and ERBFest folks are also big fans of Doc Savage. You see where this is going – lather, rinse, repeat the above.

I LOVE (yes, in all caps) just hanging out and talking with all of these people in the hotel lobby until way later than is healthy for me, as well as attending panels and dinners and wandering the dealers’ room having conversations with the people I know, and people I’ve never met before. I usually don’t stop smiling and laughing the whole time I’m there unless I’m sleeping. These folks are “good medicine,” as my father used to say.

The panels I attended this year included:

·       “The Women of Edgar Rice Burroughs,” where panelists Cathy Mann Wilbanks (Vice-President of Operations at Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.) and Bernice Jones discussed both the real women in Burroughs’ life (his mother, daughter, and two wives) and the strong, independent, progressive-for-the-time women in his fiction (Jane Porter Clayton, wife of Tarzan; Dejah Thoris, wife of John Carter of Mars; Duare, wife of Carson of Venus; Maggie Lynch, the main character of Burroughs’ novel The Girl From Farris’s; and many others). If there was one complaint from the attendees, it was that the panel wasn’t long enough to cover all of the strong, capable female characters Burroughs created (notable absences: Meriem, wife of Korak (son of Tarzan); Betty Caldwell and Llana of Gathol (from the John Carter books); and Virginia Maxon (from Burroughs’ The Monster Men).

·       “Flinch!Fest,” focused on current and recent releases from small press publisher Flinch! Books, during with Flinch co-publishers Jim Beard and John C. Bruening read passages from their stories in the western anthology Six Gun Legends, Bruening’s novel The Midnight Guardian: Gods and Sinners, and the Flinch anthology Quest for the Space Gods: The Chronicles of Conrad von Honig, which led into panel guest Brian K. Morris reading from the newest Flinch release, Quest for the Delphi Occulus, which Morris wrote for the press and which also features Conrad von Honig.

·       “The Universe According to Edgar Rice Burroughs,” during which ERB Inc Vice-President of Operations Cathy Mann Wilbanks and Vice-President of Publishing / Creative Director Christopher Paul Carey were joined by Joe Ferrante, one of the producers of the upcoming John Carter of Mars: the Audio Series (currently funding on Kickstarter), to discuss the audio project (including a video message from Sean Patrick Flannery, who will be voicing John Carter)  before launching into announcements of the next slate of ERB Universe books (including a new Land That Time Forgot novel, Fortress Primeval, by Mike Wolfer in 2025, as well as the very soon to release A Princess of Mars: Shadows of the Assassins by Ann Tonsor Zeddies (the first full length Dejah Thoris novel) and several projects featuring Victory Harben), as well as the next slate of books in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library.

·       “Farmercon XIX Panel,” moderated by Keith Howell, during which Meteor House Press publishers Paul Spiteri and Win Scott Eckert discussed the recent Meteor House releases of The Full Account (which combines, in alternating chapters, Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days with Philip Jose Farmer’s The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, which tells the same story from a different, more science fictional, angle) and the Secrets of the Nine Omnibus (which brings together under one cover Farmer’s A Feast Unknown, The Mad Goblin, and Lord of the Trees, as well as some connected short stories and essays by Eckert, Frank Schildiner, and others). They were joined by Meteor House author Sean Lee Levin, who talked about his non-fiction release Crossovers Expanded: The Secret History of the World Volume 3 as well as his fiction debut chapbook The Lazarus Cabal.

Sadly, due to my own poor scheduling, I had to miss several panels, including “Burroughs, Farmer, and Pulp,” in which author Craig McDonald interviewed one of my favorite artists, Douglas Klauba, about his work on various book covers for Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc and Meteor House. I would have loved to listen to Doug talk about his process.

I also got to see the world premiere of We Are Doc Savage, a documentary about Doc Savage fandom directed by Ron Hill, which will soon be making the film festival rounds. I readily admit I teared up several times, and finished the documentary thinking not only how wonderful Doc Savage fandom is in general and how the Doc Savage stories have influenced so many people but also thinking “Damn, I know some really incredibly cool and wonderful people,” since so many of my friends were interviewed for the film.

And of course, I bought stuff. Too much stuff. No pulps, but a lot of paperbacks, some hardcovers, two art prints (one by Doug Klauba, the other by Mark Wheatley), some comics, and a small pile of DVDs. On the vintage paperback side, I made progress filling in some series I’m re-collecting (including Dark Shadows and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and started (and possibly completed) two more (Strange Paradise and Mathew Swain). I also found a first edition hardcover of the novelization of Miracle on 34th Street. And I bought current releases from the tables of small press publishers Flinch! Books, Becky Books, Stormgate Press, Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc., and Meteor House, as well as from authors Craig McDonald and Brian K. Morris. If you’d like to see pictures of everything I purchased, head on over to my Instagram page.

I could go on and on about the dinner time and late-night conversations; there were SO MANY in-jokes, and so many instances of just basking in friends talking about the things they love. But this post is already way longer than my usual.

Pulpfest 2024 is over … but Pulpfest 2025 (including Farmercon XX, ERBFest, and DocCon!) is a mere 53 weeks away: Thursday, August 7th through Sunday, August 10th, 2025, at the Doubletree by Hilton in Cranberry, PA. Join us!

Book Review: Up from the Bottomless Pit

TITLE: Up from The Bottomless Pit

AUTHOR: Philip José Farmer

251 pages, Meteor House Press, ISBN 9781945427176 (paperback)

DESCRIPTION: (from the back cover): Philip José Farmer’s Up from the Bottomless Pit, originally written in the late 1970s with the working title The Dragon’s Breath, is a near-mainstream novel about the ultimate ecological nightmare. Set in an alternate/near future 1970s, Up from the Bottomless Pit tells of a world so ravenous in its desire for oil that it has thrown caution to the wind. Using an experimental deep-water laser drill off the California coast, humankind burns a hole through the ocean floor only to unleash a deadly torrent that initially threatens the greater Los Angeles area, but quickly escalates to a catastrophe of worldwide proportions with the potential to wipe out all life on the planet. Published for the first time in an affordable standalone edition, Up from the Bottomless Pit does an amazing job predicting both the government’s and citizens’ reactions to large-scale crises such as Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Strap in for an edge-of-your-seat adventure.

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5.

MY THOUGHTS: The back-cover text does not lie when it calls this book an edge-of-your-seat adventure. Had it been published in the 1970s, I can easily imagine it being filmed by Irwin Allen with an “all-star cast.” If it were to be filmed now, the lead character, James Cable, would likely be portrayed by Dwayne Johnson. It has everything such a movie needs: massive fires, riots, lots of gunshots.

But to describe Up from the Bottomless Pit as just an edge-of-your-seat adventure is to undercut the real marvel of the novel: that in the 1970s, Philip José Farmer didn’t just write a disaster novel but rather a novel which uses that disaster to comment on social strata, disaster relief, corporate greed, government overreach, and religious fanaticism. I would like to hope any movie adaptation would retain these headier, more introspective qualities. (But let’s be honest, I’d probably be wrong.)

James Cable is the project lead for a cutting-edge new oil drill that uses lasers and therefore can cut through the rock under the seabed faster: saving money for his employers, Cal-Pax, and getting oil to the masses faster. Just before the novel opens, there’s been an earthquake near the drill site that resulted in cracks releasing oil into the ocean. Cable’s team has capably stoppered those cracks, and the drilling continues. Cable, as much as he hates it, has been tasked with bringing a news crew out to the platform for a feature about the new technology and how safe it is.

Of course, just before they arrive, there’s a breach, followed by a massive gusher and the platform going up in flames. There are equal odds the disaster was an accident or that there was sabotage by a religious group called The Soldiers of Jehovah. Cable and the news crew make it back to Los Angeles, where Cable’s job becomes stopping the largest-ever on-going oil spill from decimating the Pacific Ocean. That task is complicated by government officials who want someone to blame, corporate over-seers who are upset at the bad PR and loss of money, and the Soldiers of Jehovah who know a chance to foment religious rebellion when they see one. With each bad decision by the government and corporate, with each new attack by the Soldiers of Jehovah, the stakes get higher and the odds for survival slimmer.

It’s no surprise that Farmer expertly drives those stakes, and the tension, up by alternating massive disaster scenes with quieter moments. In the middle of a veritable riot in downtown LA, with people climbing over cars and other people to get to safety, Cable stops to help an injured old man. But by the time Cable gets the water the man needs the man has died. It’s a small moment, almost blink-and-you-miss-it, but it drives home the human cost of this mass exodus in a way the crowd scenes almost can’t. There are several moments like this in the center of the book that took my breath away; I could feel the noise of the riot fall away, could feel the space between breaths while Cable debates who to help and who he needs to be to survive.

Since the story is told through a tight POV on Cable, it’s a good thing he’s a complex character. He disdains his needy ex-wife, misses his estranged daughter, genuinely seems to like the challenges of his job. He’s willing to make hard decisions but isn’t a total heartless bastard (see the old man above, and several such moments, including a real heartbreaking one towards the end of the mass exodus, which is not the end of the novel). He’s also prone to judgement and doesn’t set aside his formed opinions of people easily, which sets up several bad decisions but also a couple of good ones. And of course, because this is a 1970s disaster novel after all, he falls in love with the intrepid reporter tasked initially with interviewing him and later with documenting everything he does to try to stop the worsening spill and its aftermath. (This is about the only real “trope-y” moment in the novel, and I think Farmer can be forgiven for it; thanks to novels like The Lovers and A Feast Unknown, he was almost expected to include a sex scene in every book he wrote, and romance on top of that.)

That tight POV means that we don’t get as deep a look into the motivations and actions of The Soldiers of Jehovah or the various government officials calling the shots. This allows for some surprises in the narrative. I find it amazingly prescient that Farmer predicted the rise of not just a Christian religious fanaticism within the United States, but also a well-organized and armed such group. I felt the echoes of today’s “local militias” in the moments where we encounter members of the Soldiers, and where we see the fruits of their labors. Cable spends more of his time in the company of the greedy upper management of Cal-Pax and the government “liaisons” telling him what to do and watching every move he and his team make. Again, in a bit of incredible foresight Farmer gives us a roadmap for how a government could restrict civil liberties and do away with normal rule-of-law under the guise of responding to a national disaster. In the 70s, audiences might have called this aspect of the novel far-fetched, but is it really?

Also in typical Farmer style, the author doesn’t tie everything up in a neat “happy ever after, the world is saved!” bow. There’s a “we’re safe for now” type of ending, but lots of work for the characters to do. The Soldiers of Jehovah are not totally routed; the government overreach isn’t immediately scaled back. I’m not going to spoil exactly how the characters who survive get to where they are at book’s end, but I felt like I needed to warn readers who don’t like loose ends that there are some. And that I’m sure Farmer did this totally on purpose.

I could probably write several essays on this book, but this review is getting lengthy. So: tl;dr: Up from the Bottomless Pit is indeed action-packed, and massively thought-provoking. One wonders what Phil Farmer would be saying if he were still here to see how truly he forecast the world we’re living in now.

READING ROUND-UP: February 2019

Continuing the monthly summaries of what I’ve been reading and listening to:

BOOKS

To keep my numbers consistent with what I have listed on Goodreads, I count completed magazine issues and stand-alone short stories in ebook format as “books.” I read or listened to 18 books in February: 12 in print, 4 in ebook format, and 2 in audio. They were:

1.       Lightspeed Magazine #105 (February 2019 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams. The usual fine assortment of sf and fantasy short stories and novellas. This month’s favorites for me were Carrie Vaughn’s “Marlowe and Harry and the Disinclined Laboratory,” Ashok K. Banker’s “Oath of a God,” KT Bryski’s “Ti-Jean’s Last Adventure, as told to Raccoon,” and Kat Howard’s “Hath No Fury.”

2.       The Thing: Liberty Legion, by Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Frank Robbins, Don Heck, and others.  This hardcover collects stories from Marvel Premiere, The Invaders, Fantastic Four and Marvel Two-In-One to tell a time-hopping story involving some of my favorite tertiary-level Marvel characters. The art style varies greatly between the four main artists and that might be a turn-off for some folks (I personally miss both Frank Robbins and Don Heck’s work.) I still own all of the original monthly issues these stories appeared in, as well.

3.       The Terrifics Vol 1: Meet The Terrifics, by Ivan Reis, “Doc” Shaner, Jeff LeMire, and others. DC brings four unlikely characters together as a team: the long-existing Mr. Terrific, Plastic Man and Metamorpho and a new version of Phantom Girl, in a loving pastiche of that other fantastic foursome published by Marvel. The characterizations are solid and make me want to pick up the second volume when it comes out, but there’s a feeling towards the end of the volume like the story has taken a jump that never really gets explained.

4.       Check, Please! Year Three, by Ngozi Ukazu.  Bitty’s junior year on the Samwell hockey team is full of secrets, revelations, supportive friends and more than a little drama. I’ve enjoyed the three volumes of this so far, and might just have to catch up on Year Four on the webcomic rather than waiting for the next Kickstarter.  And I am way out of practice reading regularly-updated webcomics.

5.       Scrum by P.D. Singer. Picked this very short novella up because I’ve suddenly grown an interest in reading gay sport romances (see Check, Please! Above), it popped up as a free Kindle read and I’m not really familiar with the sport of rugby so a story told from the POV of a guy who also has no familiarity with the sport should have been an easy sell. I left the story feeling like I knew a little bit more about rugby, but the romance angle didn’t work for me. Too much “creepy-stalk the hot sports star” for me.

6.       Brothers Keepers by Donald E. Westlake.  Another of Westlake’s more fun crime thrillers, this one involving the impending shut-down of a monastery in the middle of Manhattan thanks to a real-estate deal / land-grab that involves a theft from the monastery, family secrets, and one Brother going way outside his comfort zone to save the day. A fast, fun read.

7.       The Spark by David Drake. The first in a new “Arthurian SF saga,” recommended by a friend. The first half doesn’t feel particularly Arthurian but sets the stage and main characters well enough so that when the familiar Arthurian tropes do appear, it becomes obvious you’ve been reading about a futuristic Sir Percival/Parzival the whole time. (His name is Pal, so yes, that should have been a give-away right off….)  Really enjoyable read, but lots of hand-waving to explain the future tech and this world’s versions of the Mortal World, Faerie, and the spaces in-between.

8.       The City Beyond Play by Philip Jose Farmer and Danny Adams. A really wonderful SF novella about a small city-state that cuts itself off from modern times and lives “as the medieval times should have been lived.” There’s a bit of romance, a lot of derring-do and a ton of interesting world-building. You can find a longer review of this book if you page back through my blog to HERE.

9.       Isola, Chapter One, by Brendan Fletcher, Karl Kerschl and others.  A powerful queen has been cursed to live as a tiger, and her bodyguard must find a way to reverse the curse and get to the truth of what’s behind it all. Very solid world-building and character-building in this first trade collection. The art is a mix of manga and Chinese influences, I think, that give it a particular kind of beauty.

10.   Bedfellow, by Jeremy C. Shipp.  Shipp’s second novella from Tor.com is as eerie as his first (“The Atrocities”). A mix of physical and psychological horror that works on all levels and doesn’t necessarily provide easy answers.

11.   The Voyage of Argo, by Apollonius of Rhodes, translation by E.V. Reiu.  I’m almost ashamed that I never realized there was an actual epic poem that served as the basis for the Jason and the Argonauts movies and stories I loved so much, until I tripped across this. The classic 60s movie took a lot of liberties with the sequence of events from this original and was the more exciting for it. Reiu’s translation is interesting as source material, but kinda lifeless in many ways.

12.   Legion Vs. Phalanx: The Epic Struggle for Infantry Supremacy in the Ancient World, by Myke Cole. My first non-fiction read (as opposed to listen) of the year was way outside my wheel-house. I’m not a student of the military or military history, and most of what I remember about the Greeks, Romans, and associated empires is thanks to mythology. But Cole’s intent with this book was to make the discussion understandable to people like me, and he did a great job. I still can’t quote times and names to you, but I could probably give you a decent idea of the differences between a legion, a phalanx, and who Cole thinks the clear winner is.

13.   The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg, by Mark Twain.  Another classic I don’t think I’d ever read before but have thanks to my subscription to Melville House’s series “The Art of the Novella.” And I loved it, as I love so much of Twain’s work. There’s snarky humor, of course, but also social commentary that is as pertinent today as it was when the novella was written. And I love the fact that we never really find out who the aggrieved man is who manages to corrupt and incorruptible town.

14.   Scratchman (A Doctor Who novel), by Tom Baker. What a fun, nostalgic read. Apparently this is adapted from a movie script Baker co-wrote. The first half feels absolutely like ClassicWho; the second half feels very meta and drops a few comments about the Doctor’s “future” (for him, anyway). I think there was even a little Clara Oswald cameo (tying to her “Impossible Girl” status from NewWho). And listening to Baker read it was an extra treat. He’s a great storyteller.

15.   Diaries: The Python Years 1969-1979, by Michael Palin. Interesting to hear Palin read, unexpurgated and emotionally raw, his diary entries from Python’s heyday. A very different feel from the Idle and Cleese memoirs I read late last year.

16.   Section Zero Volume 0, by Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett, and others.  It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of 50s-60s-era “adventure team” comics: give me the Time Masters, the Sea Devils, the Challengers of the Unknown, Cave Carson’s crew, the original Secret Six, and I’m all in. Kesel and Grummett hooked me from page one with this mysterious “group-of-usually-four” that ages in real time and has a lot of backstory to be revealed. Grummett is also one of my favorite comic artists. I love his clean, open, expressive style.

17.   The Problem of Susan and Other Stories, by Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell, Scott Hampton, Paul Chadwick, Lovern Kindzierski and others. Dark Horse Comics continues to publish Russell’s adaptations of Gaiman stories and books, although this time the artist has some help. The title story, drawn by Russell, is Gaiman’s rumination on what happened to Susan after the Narnia books and it’s quite good, but I was also happy to see how well “October in the Chair” converts to graphic form.

18.   At Home in the Dark, edited by Lawrence Block. A great anthology of very dark short stories – mostly crime but a few sf/fantasy/western to keep the reader on their toes. A longer review will be forthcoming in about a week or so on this site, but for now the individual stories are listed below, and I can easily call out the Joe Hill, Joe R. Lansdale, Elaine Kagan and James Reasoner stories as favorites.

So eighteen books in February, which Goodreads told me was a few ahead of goal for the month/year.

STORIES

I have a goal of reading 365 short stories (1 per day, essentially, although it doesn’t always work out that way) each year. Here’s what I did read and where you can find them if you’re interested in reading them too (with some short notes for stories that really stood out to me). If no source is noted, the story is from the same magazine or book as the story(ies) that precede(s) it:

1.       “Life Sentence” by Matthew Baker, from Lightspeed Magazine #105 (February 2019 issue), edited by John Joseph Adams.

2.       “Okay, Glory” by Elizabeth Bear

3.       “The Incursus By Asimov-NN#71” by Gord Sellar

4.       “Marlowe and Harry and the Disinclined Laboratory” by Carrie Vaughn

5.       “The Perpetual Day” by Crystal Koo

6.       “Ti-Jean’s Last Adventure, As Told To Raccoon” by KT Bryski

7.       “Oath of a God” by Ashok K. Banker

8.       “Healing Benjamin” by Dennis Danvers

9.       “Hath No Fury” by Kat Howard

10.   “On The Side” by Seanan McGuire, on the author’s Patreon page.

11.   “Hot Pants” by Elaine Kagan, from the anthology At Home in the Dark, edited by Lawrence Block

12.   “The Eve of Infamy” by Jim Fusili

13.   “Night Rounds” by James Reasoner

14.   “The Flagellant” by Joyce Carol Oates

15.   “The Things I’d Do” by Ed Park

16.   “Favored to Death” by N.J. Ayres

17.   “Rough Mix” by Warren Moore

18.   “This Strange Bargain” by Laura Benedict

19.   “The Senior Girls Bayonet Team” by Joe R. Lansdale

20.   “If Only You Would Leave Me” by Nancy Pickard

21.   “Giant’s Despair” by Duane Swierczynski

22.   “Whistling in the Dark” by Richard Chizmar

23.   “O, Swear Not by the Moon” by Jill D. Block

24.   “Nightbound” by Wallace Stroby

25.   “The Cucuzza Curse” by Thomas Pluck

26.   “Cold Comfort” by Hilary Davidson

27.   “Faun” by Joe Hill

So that’s 27 short stories in February, leaving me still slightly behind for the year so far. (February 28th was the 59th day of 2019.)

Summary of Reading Challenges:

“To Be Read” Challenge: This month: 0 read; YTD: 0 of 14 read.

365 Short Stories Challenge: This month:  27 read; YTD: 52 of 365 read.

Graphic Novels Challenge:  This month: 6 read; TYD: 10 of 52 read.

Goodreads Challenge: This month: 18 read; YTD: 29 of 125 read.

Non-Fiction Challenge: This month: 02; YTD: 02 of 24 read.

Read the Book / Watch the Movie Challenge: This month: 0; YTD: 0 of 10 read/watched.

Complete the Series Challenge: This month: 0 books read; YTD: 0 of 16 read.

                                                                Series fully completed: 0 of 3 planned

SUNDAY SHORTS: The City Beyond Play

The “Sunday Shorts” feature is dedicated to reviewing short stories and novellas, two forms I absolutely love.

TITLE: The City Beyond Play

AUTHOR: Phillip Jose Farmer and Danny Adams

112 pages, PS Publishing, ISBN 978905834242 (Hardcover)

DESCRIPTION: (from the cover flap): When Wilson Gore arrives in the Barony of Scadia, all he really knows is that the place is an enclave devoted to the recreation of the Middle Ages as they should have been – a refuge for hardcore individualists and historical costume enthusiasts, whom the crowded utopia of the twenty-second century is glad to see the back of. Soon dubbed “Will Son of Gore,” Gore finds himself at odds with arrogant knights, a Wicked Duke, mad forest outlaws, persnickety Byzantine bureaucrats, a witch, cybernetic dragons, enigmatic women of the court and wilds, and a social system in which anyone can rise to the top – or, just as likely, leave his bones mouldering by the roadside. All is not well in the land of Scadia, as Gore discovers after fixing his lustful gaze on the beautiful Lady Melisounde – competing for her hand, he ends up fighting the best and most treacherous warriors in the land, one of whom, the Knight of the Red Gauntlet, is far more, and far less, that he seems….

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5

MY THOUGHTS:  First let me say, this is one of those Philip Jose Farmer books I had no idea existed until I tripped across a signed and numbered jacketed hardcover at a library book sale. There are apparently only about 626 copies (if you count the various numbered, lettered and unsigned editions) out there, so it’s not a surprise this is not one of Farmer’s better-known late-life collaborations. It deserves a wider audience, in my opinion.

Farmer and Adams give us a lean 112 pages that capture the feel of epic, and episodic, medieval stories. There’s pageantry to the proceedings without all the verbose pomp-and-circumstance of, say, Mallory (not that verbosity in itself is a bad thing). The world-building is revealed in how each aspect affects Wilson Gore rather than in the stage-setting lush descriptions of period writers, giving us just enough sense of Scadia and the technological utopia that surrounds it without bogging the story down.

The authors concentrate less on explaining the tech and more on examining the social structures involved in a whole small country living “off the grid” as much as possible and blatantly ignoring the tech that makes it possible to do so. So many of the non-human challenges Wilson Gore encounters are tech-driven, enabling the citizens to have their fantasy (dragons, etc.) within their fantasy (the “absence” of technology, except where it makes life more comfortable than real medieval life would be, such as indoor plumbing). None of the citizens of Scadia seem able to fix the tech that makes their fantasies real, so what happens when that tech breaks down? The question gets answered but without great detail because the answer doesn’t really affect Wilson Gore’s life.

There’s also the social hierarchy of Scadia to consider. Philip Jose Farmer was fascinated with social constructs as much as he was with literary constructs, so it’s no surprise that a lot of this book’s action is built off of Wilson Gore’s initial lack of understanding of social upward mobility (sure, anyone can rise to the highest ranks – but how, and who gate-keeps?) and just what is considered “too far outside the pale,” so to speak. It’s obvious that to keep life interesting for the citizens of Scadia, there must be a Wicked Duke, a Witch, and a Green Baron (think Robin Hood) who represent evil to be vanquished – but how “evil” are they really allowed to be? And are the supposed “heroes” of the society any better?

Wilson Gore certainly isn’t. Like so many Farmerian main characters, he is flawed and conflicted. We know from the beginning of the book that he’s entered Scadia on the run from murder charges in the “real world.” Whether those charges are true or not, he’s now removed from everything he’s accustomed to, which makes him quick to anger and easily insulted. And, not unusual for a Farmerian MC, he’s quite lustful, which aspect drives as much of the action as his anger and distinct lack of knowledge of how Scadian society actually works. When he behaves himself, it’s to avoid getting booted from Scadia into the arms of the police, and when he misbehaves it’s because the societal rules of Scadia allow him to in a way the “real world” wouldn’t. His arc is a twist on the classic Campbellian hero’s journey: he does learn some lessons along the way, he is remorseful when warranted, but ultimately he’s less a Hero than he is an everyman just making it up as he goes along unless he finds redemption or death.

I haven’t even touched on the archetypal supporting characters: the boorish drunken Lord Wilson Gore comes to serve; the Lord’s beautiful wife and trusted sidekick; the aforementioned Wicked Duke, Witch and robber Baron; and of course the bard/jester who isn’t what he seems (and who just happens to hail from Peoria and be a student of anthropology … hmmmmm.). Farmer and Adams also give us some incidental characters of Byzantine and Moorish “background” (in quotes since everyone in Scadia is play-acting), a teasing wink over readers’ tendency, when they think “medieval” to think “England/Ireland/Scotland” rather than Europe as a whole (never mind whatever the rest of the world was up to during those years).

I praised Farmer and Adams’ lean storytelling, but I have to admit I’d love to see a sequel to this. I think there’s a lot more for Will, Son of Gore to experience in Scadia considering where the book leaves him, and there’s certainly plenty more of the world’s mechanics to be explored and explicated. Farmer is sadly no longer with us, but his great-nephew Adams is still writing, so one can hope.

Review of Philip Jose Farmer's IRONCASTLE

TITLE: Ironcastle

AUTHOR: Philip Jose Farmer, after J.H. Rosny Aine

175 pages, Daw Books, ISBN 9780879972257

1976 paperback edition, cover price $1.25 (I got my copy for $3.00 at a used bookstore)

PREMISE: (back cover copy) Somewhere in the unexplored heart of Africa a part of this Earth had been taken over by an intelligence from outer space. Such was the message that reached the explorer Hareton Ironcastle, member of the famous Baltimore Gun Club. In that hidden and transformed valley would now be found monsters and pre-humans not to be seen anywhere else.

Such a challenge could not be ignored, and the account of Ironcastle’s expedition of daring but inexperienced amateurs became one of the classic novels of the French writer J.H. Rosny, who was a contemporary of Verne, Wells, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Now Philip Jose Farmer, Hugo winner and chronicler of the adventures of Tarzan and Doc Savage, has translated and retold Rosny’s novel, making it a marvel adventure novel to stand alongside the works of Burroughs, Haggard and Farmer himself.

MY RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

MY THOUGHTS: In the early 1970’s, science fiction grandmaster and pulp adventure aficionado Philip Jose Farmer realized that French author J.H. Rosny Aine’s 1922 novel L’Etonnante Aventure de Hareton Ironcastle had never been translated into English, and so he set out to repair that oversight. What Farmer gave us, by all accounts, is more adaptation than direct translation (I’m pretty sure, for instance, that the Rosny original didn’t mention Doc Savage, as that august personage did not debut in print until 1933; I also wonder if Rosny mentioned Verne’s Baltimore Gun Club), but 40+ years later, Farmer’s long out-of-print version still seems to be the only account of Hareton’s adventure that we have in English. (EDIT TO ADD: After hitting "publish," I was made aware that Black Coat Press has a collection of three of Rosny's works translated into English by Brian Stableford entitled THE MYSTERIOUS FORCE, which includes Ironcastle. It can be purchased at the Black Coat Press website.

And what a fun adventure it is, for lovers of pulp adventure and “lost world” type stories. If you love Doyle’s The Lost World, the various Tarzan stories featuring Opar and such cities, or even more recent fare such as Marvel Comics’ Savage Land or DC Comics’ land of Skartaris (from Mike Grell’s Warlord series, which DC really needs to collect in nice trade or hardcover editions, but I digress…), then you’re bound to enjoy Ironcastle.

Unlike the Doyle, Marvel and DC hidden lands, the transformed piece of Africa Ironcastle explores with his inexperienced but intrepid team doesn’t heavily feature dinosaurs .Instead, we get mutated humans, great apes, animals, and plant life in a setting that becomes increasingly more dangerous and unfamiliar the deeper into the heart of it Ironcastle travels. The descriptions of the flora and fauna are so detailed the reader can’t help but feel right in the midst of things.

Characterization-wise, the book is classic pulp and classic Farmer. By that I mean, the characters hit all the expected tropes (intrepid and strong leader with a team that includes a huge brute of a man who seems invincible, a marksman, a smart (lawyer/scientific) guy and a willful, headstrong woman, but in Farmer’s hands they all get very introspective, analyzing in their heads (but rarely aloud) what has brought them on this journey. Farmer makes the headstrong woman, Muriel, Ironcastle’s daughter rather than cousin or girlfriend, which I think bucks the pulp stereotype a bit; she’s also, as so many of Farmer’s female characters are, very capable of taking care of herself and far from the fainting damsel-in-distress one might expect in stories like this. (Towards the end of the novel, I found myself wondering what a team-up between Muriel, Jane, Dejah Thoris, and Patricia Savage would look like. Muriel could stand equal to those more well-known women, without a doubt.) The dialogue can be a bit Melodrama/Pathos-inflected (especially when the young Frenchman/marksman Phillipe is pining over/concerned about Muriel).

Pacing-wise, the novel never really slows down. This is a tightly-packed 175 pages, and the characters have a lot of ground to cover after the initial two chapters in Baltimore set the stage for what’s to come. Farmer keeps things moving, and works the character-building moments into the action. And throughout most of the journey, the world-building is fantastic. If I have one complaint, it’s that once Ironcastle and company find the man they’re looking for at the heart of this strange hidden world, the novel ends abruptly. So abruptly that I thought perhaps my used bookstore paperback purchase was missing a chapter, but the other side of the last page has a house ad for other Daw adventure/sf novels. I’m not sure if Farmer just decided the part of the story that interested him was over and stopped, or if the publisher set a strict word-count that the author ran up against, or if perhaps there were behind-the-scenes issues with translating/adapting more of the book (if there was more). Regardless the reason, the story ends where it does and we’re left wondering if Hareton Ironcastle and Muriel and Phillipe and Guthrie and the rest had any other adventures to be consumed.

While I can’t say Ironcastle is my favorite Philip Jose Farmer work, it does have all of the hallmarks of the works by him that I do love: the interconnectedness with works by Burroughs, Dent and Verne (and an off-hand reference to the “fantasies” written by H. Rider Haggard), the deep world-building, the strong female characters. And Farmer’s sheer joy at writing this type of thing is evident on every page. Well worth seeking out in a used bookstore.

Also, for those interested, Farmer experts and protégés Win Scott Eckert and Christopher Paul Carey wrote a tale teaming Ironcastle with French pulp adventurer Doc Ardan (an obvious stand-in for Doc Savage) called “Iron and Bronze,” which is available in eBook form via Amazon. Carey's novella "Exiles of Kho" also ties closely to Farmer's version of Ironcastle.

Also of Note: Ironcastle was the first book I read this year towards the TO BE READ CHALLENGE hosted by RoofbeamReader. Click here to see my original post about the challenge and which books I chose for 2018.