I received a copy of Philip José Farmer's Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life and about 10-15 Doc Savage paperback reprints from a family friend when I was nine years old, in 1975. The first Doc I read was, I think, Meteor Menace. Farmer's book was a great introduction to the character, but the crossover with the Wold Newton family tree probably scarred me for life, but in a good way. I was so young and impressionable at that age that I couldn't help but think of the characters in the terms in which Farmer presented them, i.e., that they were all related through this cosmic event (the Wold Newton meteor strike).
Unfortunately, I was not able to locate a copy of Tarzan Alive (with the other half of the family tree) until it was reprinted in 1981, but of course once I read it, I became more entrenched than ever in the Wold Newton concept.
Unfortunately, these books have been out of print for almost 25 years. So I'm very pleased to announce that Bison Books (University of Nebraska Press) is reprinting Tarzan Alive, currently slated for publication in Spring 2006. Bison Books has recently published other genre books, including ERB titles from the Venus, Mars, Pellucidar, and Caspak series, as well as Edwin Arnold's Gullivar of Mars.
More details on the reprint of Tarzan Alive are on the Official Philip José Farmer Home Page, including science-fiction writer Mike Resnick's involvement in writing an Introduction to the new edition.
And I am not too humble to neglect mentioning something else that has not yet been announced on the Official Philip José Farmer Home Page (but will be soon). I have been asked to write an Afterword for the new edition, which is probably the greatest honor and thrill I can think of, other than the upcoming publication of Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton Universe.
Now I (and Mike Croteau of the Official PJF Home Page, who has been an immense help) need to get working on Bison Books for a new edition of Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life.
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