Wold Newton series: Time's Last Gift

For immediate release:

U.K publisher Titan Books has entered into an agreement with the Estate of Philip Jose Farmer to bring a large selection of Mr. Farmer's backlist titles back into print.


Significantly, many of the books which are a part of the arrangement initially were published as standalone novels, but came to be considered part of Mr. Farmer's ongoing Wold Newton Family cycle.


Now, for the very first time, these novels will be published and packaged as a formal part of a Wold Newton series.


Second in Titan's lineup is Mr. Farmer's Time's Last Gift, a time travel novel featuring a well known Lord of the Jungle, whose initials, TLG, happen to match the abbreviation of the book's title. First published in 1972, and revised in 1977, Time's Last Gift is one of Mr. Farmer's finest novels, and serves as a prequel to his series of books featuring the land of Khokarsa in Ancient Africa (Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar, and the forthcoming The Song of Kwasin.)


Time's Last Gift is currently scheduled for release in June 2012, and will be available at major outlets such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Editions will include trade paperback and digital (Kindle & Nook).

Stay tuned to this space, Mr. Farmer's official website, and Facebook (Philip Jose Farmer | Win Scott Eckert) for information on other forthcoming titles.

Philip José Farmer RIP, 1918--2009

So, it's taken me over twelve hours to sit down for this, because...that's what happens when you lose someone to whom you're close.

I started as a fan, waaay back when I was 8 years old and had my first taste of Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Then Tarzan Alive, and The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, and The Grand Adventure, and Peerless Peer. Time's Last Gift— time traveling Jungle Lord, holy cow!

Then, over 10 years ago, the Wold Newton Universe website, and several more years of fandom, followed by a book (thank you, Chris Roberson), and... an invitation to meet the man himself.

I had a sleepover at Phil Farmer's house.

And I set off the burglar alarm at 2 am.

Since then I've visited Phil and Bette once or twice a year. The great thing about Phil is how many friendships he created, by bringing together so many people who otherwise never would have met.

Well, that, and his mind-blowing imagination and captivating prose.

Phil, you are responsible for this overflowing library (my wife also thanks you for that), for my varied reading tastes (hard boiled detective to adventure pulp to sf to...Pride and Prejudice?? Seriously?

Yes, seriously. Because that's the kind of well-rounded guy Phil was. And he passed it on.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Because of you, and that book when I was 8, and your generosity 30 years after that, I am a writer.

I've gotten so many notes today that read something like, "I didn't know him as well as you, but this still hit me hard..." or "I never had the chance to meet Phil in person, but he helped shape me as a writer..."

The thing about a writer like Phil, whose work spoke to so many people in so many different ways, is that you didn't need to know him personally to be hit hard by this. His books have been a part of our lives for so long, his ideas and curiosity have permeated our beings, and his envelope-pushing—or breaking—imagery is seared indelibly into our brains.

That's what counts.

I last saw Phil Farmer one month ago today, on January 25. His 91st birthday fell on a Monday, and we had come in the preceding weekend to celebrate with him and Bette. "The boys" (Bette's affectionate term for us Farmerphiles) were there: Mike Croteau, Chris Carey, Paul Spiteri, and Dennis Power. Phil and Bette's family came in and out at various times. Their close friends were there. Sandwiches and cake and laughter and great conversation ensued.

I showed Phil the Doc Savage Coat of Arms drawn up by Keith Howell for Farmerphile and for the chapbook for The Evil in Pemberley House, from Phil's description and notes. He loved it; he didn't say much, but he got the biggest grin. And although he didn't talk much that weekend, he'd smile and give a little wave to let us know he was listening in and enjoying it all.

When it came time to leave, I said my goodbyes, I waved at Phil and smiled. He waved back, smiled, and thanked us for coming. Him thanking us, our hero, thanking us. Because that's how he was.

We hugged Bette and left, and I knew I wouldn't see Phil again. Just knew it. And at the airport, by myself, I cried.

And again today, more tears.

Exit Phil Farmer, smiling.

The Evil in Pemberley House - Amazon listing

The Evil in Pemberley House is now listed on Amazon.

Flap copy:
"For over thirty years, readers have marveled at Philip José Farmer's inventive integration of popular fiction and literature's most beloved characters, in a mythical web known as the Wold Newton Family. First described in the fictional biographies Tarzan Alive: The Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Farmer expanded his Wold Newton mythos in novels such as The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, The Adventure of the Peerless Peer, Time's Last Gift, Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar, The Dark Heart of Time: A Tarzan Novel, and Escape from Loki: Doc Savage's First Adventure.

The Evil in Pemberley House, an addition to the Wold Newton cycle, plays with the Gothic horror tradition. Patricia Wildman, the daughter of the world-renowned adventurer and crimefighter of the 1930s and '40s, Dr. James Clarke "Doc" Wildman, is all alone in the world when she inherits the family estate in Derbyshire, England, old, dark, and supposedly haunted.

But Farmer, characteristically, turns convention on its ear. Is the ghost real, or a clever sham? In Patricia Wildman, Farmer creates an introspective character who struggles to reconcile the supernatural with her rational scientific upbringing, while also attempting to work through unresolved feelings about her late parents. He sets the action at Pemberley from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and ingrains the various mysteries in the Canon of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

The Evil in Pemberley House is a darkly erotic novel with broad appeal to readers of pulp and popular literature, particularly followers of Doc Savage, Sherlockians, and fans of Farmer's own celebrated Wold Newton Family."

Looks like Subterranean Press' projected release date for the Trade hardback edition is September 2009, with a list price of $35.

ISBN-10: 1596062495
ISBN-13: 978-1596062498

More info about cover art, the Limited edition with Chapbook, etc., as it becomes available.

Best,

-Win

Announcement: The Evil in Pemberley House - A new novel by Philip José Farmer & Win Scott Eckert

Earlier today, at FarmerCon 90, a convention in honor of Philip José Farmer's 90th birthday held at the Lakeview branch of the Peoria Public Library, a "Mystery Panel" was held in which it was revealed that Phil and Bette Farmer made the decision to have writers they trusted complete some of Phil's unfinished manuscripts.

Among these are:

• The Song of Kwasin, a continuation of the Khokarsa cycle, the first two books being Hadon of Ancient Opar and Flight to Opar - completed by collaborator Christopher Paul Carey (I've read it, and it's a wonderfully stirring conclusion to the saga, which fans of H. Rider Haggard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and, of course, Phil Farmer, are going to absolutely love; read Chris' own blog post here)


• A Western, Cougar By the Tail, with collaborator Tracy Knight (author of many short stories and two novels, Beneath a Whiskey Sky and The Astonished Eye
  
• "Getting Ready to Write," a very funny Polytropical Paramyth written with Paul Spiteri, and appearing in Farmerphile #13 (July 2008)


• The Evil in Pemberley House with collaborator Win Scott Eckert
  

I first discovered the short synopsis, longer outline, handwritten notes, and incomplete manuscript for The Evil in Pemberley House in the "Magic Filing Cabinet" in Phil Farmer's basement on a trip to Peoria with Mike Croteau, publisher of Farmerphile and webmaster of the Official Philip José Farmer Home Page, in July 2005. (During the same trip we also discovered the Kwasin manuscript and notes, much to Chris Carey's joy.) At Phil's bequest, I researched and prepared to finish the novel for two years (amidst other writing projects, in particular finalizing the manuscript for Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World, long-anticipated and coming in 2010 from MonkeyBrain Books) and wrote in earnest this past year.

During this time Chris Carey was also completing The Song of Kwasin and I can't thank him enough for the literally hundreds of emails and many phone calls, in which we bounced ideas around, exchanged feedback, and in general provided much needed support and encouragement.

It's an incredible honor and supreme thrill to have been selected to tell the story that Phil didn't complete, the "origin story" of Patricia Wildman, the "woman of bronze," the daughter of "Doc" Wildman, who was a renaissance man and battler of evil-doers from the Golden Age of the 1930s. (For fans who may have forgotten, Phil brought this bronze superman's real name and family background to the world-at-large in a "fictional biography" published in the early 1970s.)

With Phil and Bette Farmer's blessing, the manuscript is now in the hands of Phil's agent.

For more information, I've launched a website for The Evil in Pemberley House. Please bookmark it and check back often for news, a forthcoming book trailer, etc. I'm thrilled beyond belief to be involved in this project, and to finally launch it in earnest to the blogosphere. An excerpt from the novel will appear in Farmerphile #14 (October 2008).

In the meantime, content yourself with the gorgeous spot illustration of Patricia Wildman, woman of bronze (lovingly rendered by the amazing Keith Howell) and read below the summary which appeared in the convention booklet handed out today at FarmerCon 90.

THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE

For over thirty years, readers have marveled at Philip José Farmer’s clever integration of some of popular fiction and literature’s most beloved characters, in a mythical web known as the Wold Newton Family. First described in the fictional biographies Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Farmer expanded the mythos in The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, the Tarzan-Sherlock Holmes pastiche The Adventure of the Peerless Peer, Time’s Last Gift, Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar, and the authorized series novels The Dark Heart of Time: A Tarzan Novel and Escape from Loki: Doc Savage’s First Adventure.

Now, from imagination of Philip José Farmer and Wold Newton expert Win Scott Eckert, comes an addition to the Wold Newton cycle, a Gothic tale of adventure which builds upon the Canon of Sherlock Holmes mysteries and explores the psyche of a pulp superman’s offspring…

It’s 1973, and Patricia Wildman is traveling from New York to Derbyshire in England to claim her legacy, the grand estate known as Pemberley House. The descendant of famous and infamous dukes and duchesses, and of Pemberley’s memorable Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet from Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice, Patricia is also the daughter of the world-renowned crimefighter of the 1930s and ’40s, Dr. James Clarke “Doc” Wildman. She is also the inheritor of her father’s bronzed skin, gold-flecked eyes, and his physical and intellectual perfection, as well as her mother’s cunning and compassion.

Patricia is looking to put her past behind her and start a new life at Pemberley. Instead, she’s almost immediately attacked by poachers and has to contend with the resentful inhabitants of Pemberley who would prefer the venerable estate pass to them. Foremost among those seeking to prevent Patricia from accepting her legacy and becoming the new Baroness of Lambton are the imperious 103-year-old dowager duchess of Pemberley, her adopted grandchildren, and her personal physician, Dr. Augustus Moran.

Patricia, however, is not only faced with the devious machinations of British nobility and greedy hangers-on, but must also contend with being haunted by her direct ancestor, the 16th century Baroness, Bess of Pemberley. Or is the “Pemberley Curse” really the product of the conniving residents of Pemberley House?

As Patricia struggles to reconcile the supernatural evidence in front of her with her rational scientific upbringing, she also attempts to work through unresolved feelings about her late parents. It’s not easy being the daughter of a superman, after all…

The Evil in Pemberley House is an adventure, Gothic horror, and genealogical mystery set against the backdrop of Jane Austen’s Derbyshire, which will excite a broad array of readers of both pulp and popular literature, especially fans of the Doc Savage pulp novels, the Sherlock Holmes mysteries of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Farmer’s own celebrated Wold Newton Family mythos.