Showing posts with label Doc Savage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doc Savage. Show all posts

Friday, August 01, 2025

Anthony Cardno Interviews the Meteor House Crew!

 Originally published on anthonycardno.com on July 31, 2025

Today I chat with Meteor House founders Paul Spiteri, Win Scott Eckert, and Michael Croteau, to discuss their new collection Savageology, showcasing Philip José Farmer’s love of Doc Savage and some of the work it has inspired. Savageology is available to order from the Meteor House website and will also be available for purchase at Pulpfest.

Meteor House is a publisher of science fiction and fantasy. They publish The Worlds of Philip José Farmer anthology series, authorized limited edition novellas set in Farmer’s worlds written by other authors, and high-end limited-edition hardcovers of Farmer’s classic works.

Philip José Farmer fans are well aware of his love for, and work on, Doc Savage. What made Meteor House decide that now was the time to publish a collected volume of Farmer’s non-book-length Doc writings, along with writing about Farmer and Doc by other authors?

METEOR HOUSE: We published The Man Who Met Tarzan in 2021, a collection of Farmer’s writings about the jungle lord, including an interview he did with Lord Greystoke. We knew then we wanted to also publish a collection of his writings on Doc. When we heard last year that DocCon would be held at PulpFest this summer, we thought Savageology would be a great way to celebrate.

How would you compare Savageology and The Man Who Met Tarzan?

There is a fundamental difference. The Man Who Met Tarzan is, apart from introductory essays, all by Farmer and looks at how Farmer built his theories about Tarzan. Savageology takes a wider perspective and includes many pieces from fans and scholars influenced by Farmer and his varied writings about Doc.
    The commonality is Savageology is a fan focused love letter to Doc, and The Man Who Met Tarzan is his love letter to the lord of the jungle.

Savageology sports a truly impressive table of contents. Are there any pieces that are particularly rare or that were difficult to get included?

We really wanted to include “Doc Savage and the Cult of the Blue God,” a screen treatment Farmer wrote for George Pal as a potential sequel to the movie, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze. It took a bit of time to negotiate with Condé Nast for permission to reproduce this, but it worked out in the end.
    Another item that was a lot of work, but really worth the effort, is the expanded version of the 8,000-word interview Will Murray did with Farmer in 1989 for Starlog magazine (published in 1990). Murray gave us access to the tapes of the over three-hour long interview, and we were able to expand it by over 10,000 words.

Meteor House has now brought out two editions of Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Is it accurate to describe Savageology as a companion piece to that biography?

Yes, absolutely. We believe anyone who enjoyed Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life will find this book just as educational and entertaining.

Doc fans can be notoriously split on how they view Farmer’s Savage-related writings. Would you say Savageology is aimed more at Farmer fans or Doc fans?

Both. We’re hoping this book may bridge that gap some. We always want to stress that Farmer absolutely loved Doc Savage. He had many different takes on Doc; he was not a black-and-white thinker and creator. So one of the points of the book is not adherence to one, strict interpretation, but rather an all-encompassing enthusiasm for the character and for fandom, something that everyone can share in. As Farmer and Murray discuss in the interview, Farmer was striving to explore the character of Doc Savage, to get into the essence of what a superhuman would actually be like.

Of course, some of that split has to do with Farmer’s creation of Doc Caliban, as Chuck Welch points out in his piece that acts as an introduction to the collection. There is some Doc Caliban content in this book. What are the essential differences between Doc Savage and Doc Caliban?

Put simply, Doc Savage is not flawed. He rarely makes mistakes, and he rarely, if ever, regrets a course of action he has taken. Doc Caliban is just as brilliant, both mentally and physically, but he comes with all the hangups and neuroses that we all have, coupled with the baggage of his highly unusual upbringing. Consequently, Caliban made a deal with the Devil when he joined The Nine. That’s not a decision (a mistake) that Savage would have made.

I never got to meet or interact with Phil before his and Bette’s passing, but you all at Meteor House did. Do any of you recall having conversations with him about Doc (Savage/Caliban) that readers here may find interesting?

Not about Savage or Caliban specifically, but rather pertaining to the novel about Doc’s daughter, Patricia Wildman. Win Eckert and Chris Carey were sitting with Phil and Bette, having a deep discussion about the approach Win should take in completing Phil’s unfinished novel The Evil in Pemberley House. At issue was whether to excise the highly graphic sex scenes Phil had written, or leave them in. Bette was in favor of deleting the sexual material; Phil wanted it left in but seemed resigned that due to the sensibilities of the late twenty-aughts (the book saw publication in 2009), the material would be removed. In the end, the sex scenes were deemed essential to the plot, theme, and character, and were left intact. It was an interesting conversation, to say the least.

Do you have plans for any more themed collections like Savageology and The Man Who Met Tarzan?

MH: We would like to someday publish a collection of Farmer’s writings relating to Sherlock Holmes, both fiction and non-fiction. And if we ever reprint his novel, A Barnstormer in Oz, we’d like to also include several shorter pieces he wrote about Oz. Perhaps one day we’ll collect his original Sturch stories and maybe do a collection of his shorter Riverworld stories.

And finally, what do you think Farmer would have made of books like Savageology and The Man Who Met Tarzan?

Farmer loved these characters so much he spent years researching them and writing about them. We think he would have liked how the pieces were presented and how, in concise volumes, he could see how his own thinking on these two iconic characters developed over time. And also appreciate the further study of these characters he inspired.

Thank you, Paul, Win, and Mike for your time. I look forward to seeing you all at PulpFest.

Thank you, Anthony, this has been a lot of fun!

 

 

Readers, it is not too late to register for and attend Pulpfest 2025 (THE pulp magazine-focused convention in the Northeast) and the other three conventions it hosts: FarmerCon (dedicated to the works of Philip Jose Farmer), ERBFest (dedicated to the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs) and DocCon (dedicated to all things Doc Savage related). Check out the Pulpfest website for registration and hotel information!

Monday, June 16, 2025

FarmerCon XX (Twenty Years of FarmerCon!!!!)

 Originally posted on PulpFest.com on 16 June 2025

 FarmerCon XX: 

Tarzan the Time Traveler and Discourses on Doc

At PulpFest 2025, we’ll not only salute the “Masters of Blood and Thunder,” the “Great Pulp Villains,” and more, we’ll also welcome back the fans of Philip José Farmer for Farmercon XX!

Since 2011, PulpFest has hosted Farmercon, a convention celebrating the life and times of the longtime pulp fan and Grand Master of Science Fiction, born over 100 years ago.

Few people think of Philip José Farmer as a pulp writer, but he was a child of the pulps and launched his career in the pulps. Born January 26, 1918 in North Terre Haute, Indiana, Farmer grew up in Peoria, Illinois. He spent much of his childhood reading everything he could find from the classics through the pulps.

Farmer’s interest in the rough-paper magazines of his youth would lead him to pen two biographies about pulp characters  Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life during his career. He would also author official Doc Savage and Tarzan novels: Escape from Loki and The Dark Heart of Time. Both stories were set in the year of their author’s birth — 1918.

One of the highlights of FarmerCon XX will be the convention’s panel saluting Doc Savage and Tarzan — the late author’s two favorite pulp characters.

We hope you’ll join PulpFest on Friday, August 8, at 8:35 pm as we welcome Christopher Paul Carey and Win Scott Eckert  to our stage for “Tarzan the Time Traveler” — exploring Philip José Farmer’s Time’s Last Gift, a novel featuring “a tall, dark-haired, gray-eyed Englishman who goes native far too easily and competently” — and “Discourses on Doc” — a look at Farmer’s writings and speculations concerning “The Man of Bronze.”

Christopher Paul Carey is the coauthor with Philip José Farmer of The Song of Kwasin, and the author of Exiles of Kho, Hadon, King of Opar, and Blood of Ancient Opar, all works set in Farmer’s Khokarsa series. He is the author of Swords Against the Moon Men, an authorized sequel to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic science fantasy novel The Moon Maid, as well as the ERB Universe novel Victory Harben: The Fires of Halos. He has scripted several comic books set in Burroughs’ worlds and his short fiction can be found in various anthologies. He is Vice President of Publishing at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the corporation founded by Burroughs in 1923, and he has edited more than 100 novels, anthologies, and collections for a variety of publishers. He lives in Southern California.

Win Scott Eckert is the authorized legacy author of Philip José Farmer’s Patricia Wildman series (The Evil in Pemberley House, The Scarlet Jaguar), as well as the coauthor with Farmer of the Doc Caliban/Secrets of the Nine novel, The Monster on Hold. A lifelong Edgar Rice Burroughs reader, Eckert wrote the authorized Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe novels, Tarzan: Battle for Pellucidar and Korak at the Earth’s Core, with Pellucidar: Land of Awful Shadow and Tarzan Unleashed forthcoming. His other professional credits include authorized tales of Zorro, the Phantom, Honey West, the Avenger, the Lone Ranger, and the Green Hornet, as well as short stories featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Domino Lady, and Sherlock Holmes. His latest short story, “She-Devil of Paris,” saw print in Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2025. He lives in Woodland Park, Colorado, with his wife and a bevy of four-legged family members.

“Fraternize at Farmercon” will follow our panel presentation at 11:05 pm in the Ember & Vine lounge at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry. All are welcome to join the “Friends of Phil” during their gatherings in our host hotel’s restaurant and lounge.

All this and more will be part of Farmercon XX, the 2025 convention for all things Farmer, taking place from August 7 – 10 at this summer’s PulpFest.

The general public is welcome to attend our evening programming events free of charge. To learn more about our programming, please click the 2025 Schedule button at the top of this page.

For those who also want to enjoy our dealers’ room, you can join PulpFest by clicking the register button at the top of this page. And don’t forget to book a room. The DoubleTree is essentially sold out, but you can click here for nearby hotels. If you’re looking for a roommate, write to Jack Cullers at his email address below.

Remember, in addition to your membership in PulpFest 2025, you’ll also be a member of Doc Con XXI, ERBFest 2025and Farmercon XXThat’s four conventions for one price! You can’t beat that deal.

If you’re interested in selling at PulpFest, our dealers’ room is full. However, we are adding a limited number of tables in the pre-function hallway outside of the dealers’ room. These tables will cost $125 each and will be guarded by security overnight. If you are interested, please write to Jack Cullers at jack@pulpfest.com to sign up for a spot. Any attendees who are interested in providing security services, please write to Jack Cullers at his email address above.

Our featured image is excerpted from Keith Howell’s cover art for Savageology, a collection of Philip José Farmer’s writings about Doc Savage, forthcoming from Meteor House in 2025.

Speaking of Doc Savage, catch Craig McDonald’s latest video on the Man of Bronze by visiting our YouTube Channel.

 


And while you’re there, be sure to subscribe.

Our lead image is adapted by William Lampkin from Bob Eggleton’s dust jacket art for Philip José Farmer’s Time’s Last Gift, forthcoming from Meteor House in 2025.

Our final image is Philip José Farmer’s Time’s Last Gift, the second British printing, published by Panther Books in 1979 with cover art by Geoff Cummings.

Monday, April 25, 2022

RIP James Bama

RIP James Bama. 

His vision of Doc Savage was a huge part of my childhood (and ongoing) obsession with the character. While I understand that Baumhoffer’s portrayal of Doc on the original 1930s pulp magazine covers may be more accurate, when I read Doc novels, I see Bama’s version in my mind’s eye. I can’t help it.

Safe Journey, Sir, and thank you.










Saturday, May 11, 2019

The Evil in Pemberley House on sale!

From publisher Meteor House:

Our sixth biweekly sale is a discount usually only available to dealers: 40% off on one of our bestselling books — The Evil in Pemberley House, by Philip José Farmer & Win Scott Eckert
Pemberley 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.
This is our $20 trade paperback edition, which you can get for only $12 (+shipping)
As always, please be sure to select the correct shipping option in the PayPal button below and do note that quantities are limited.

Monday, January 07, 2019

Everything Is Connected: The Wold Newton Cycle of Win Scott Eckert


While I would prefer that readers discover on their own the deeply interconnected nature of my seemingly unrelated tales, I’ve come to realize that this is not the wisest marketing strategy in terms of enticing new readers to take a chance on my stories, so I’ve created an outline illustrating how my tales are linked, both to each other and to the works of Philip José Farmer (I’ve noted the latter to avoid confusion). 

It should go without saying that all are connected in varying degrees to Farmer’s Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, but there you go, I’ve said it anyway.

Publication info is available on my site’s bibliography.

I’ve tried to keep this relatively spoiler free, but in identifying the connective tissue, there’s no avoiding mild spoilers. The vast majority of readers are not picking up on the links anyway, so really, what do I have to lose by disclosing some high-level spoilers?

Each and every crossover is not listed. That’s what my Crossovers, Volumes 1 & 2, and Sean Lee Levin’s Crossovers Expanded, Volumes 1 & 2, are for.

Following are recurring antagonists and the aliases used in various stories (if a character is unlicensed, aliases or descriptive hints are used):
·         XauXaz / Wolf Larsen / Baron Ulf von Waldman / Baron von Hessel / Doctor Karl Walden  / Doctor Karl Stipier
·         Doctor Natas / Doctor Shan Ming Fu (Doctor Fu Manchu)
·         Lili Bugov, the Countess Idivzhopu / “The Countess” / Lilya Zarov
·         Madame Inga (Fah Lo Suee)
·         Dame Sinestre (Sumuru)

_________________________________

2070–12,000 BCE–2140

Time’s Last Gift (Farmer)
Protagonist: John Gribardsun
Other: time travel


Approximately 10,000 BCE
The Khokarsa/Ancient Opar cycle by Farmer and Christopher Paul Carey. I won’t recap all the tales here, since Carey has already created a handy checklist.


1795
“Is He in Hell?”
Protagonist: The Scarlet Pimpernel (Sir Percy Blakeney)
Antagonist: Leonox
Other: Eridaneans; the Heart of Ahriman

“Nadine’s Invitation”
Protagonists: the first generation of the Wold Newton Family
Antagonist: Countess Nadine Carody


“The Wild Huntsman”
Protagonist: John Gribardsun
Antagonist: XauXaz
Other: the first generation of the Wold Newton Family; the Eridaneans and Capelleans; distorters; time travel; the Secrets of the Nine series

1798
“Marguerite’s Tears”
Protagonists: Doctor Siger Holmes and the first generation of the Wold Newton Family
Antagonist: Countess Nadine Carody

1815
“Violet’s Lament”
Protagonists: Doctor Siger Holmes and Violet Blakeney
Antagonist: Countess Nadine Carody

1820
“Zorro’s Rival”
Protagonist: Zorro (Don Diego de la Vega)
Antagonist: El Halcón (Violette Durand aka Violet Blakeney)

1872
The Other Log of Phileas Fogg (Farmer)
Protagonist: Phileas Fogg
Antagonist: Captain Nemo/Professor Moriarty
Other: the Eridaneans and Capelleans; distorters

“Being an Account of the Delay in Green River, Wyoming of Phileas Fogg, World Traveler”
Protagonists: Phileas Fogg and the Lone Ranger
Antagonist: Doctor Shan Ming Fu

1893
The Sea Wolf (Jack London)
Antagonist: Wolf Larsen


1895
“The Problem of the Sore Bridge—Among Others” (Farmer)
Protagonists: A. J. Raffles and Harry “Bunny” Manders
Antagonist: alien shapeshifter (“a worm unknown to science”)


1899
“No Ghosts Need Apply”
Protagonists: The Phantom; Barker and Nash
Antagonist: Colonel Sebastian Moran
Other: John Gribardsun

1916
The Adventure of the Peerless Peer (Farmer)
Protagonists: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson
Antagonist: Von Bork

1917
“The Adventure of the Fallen Stone”
Protagonists: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson
Antagonists: Von Bork and Baron Ulf von Waldman

1918
Escape from Loki: Doc Savage’s First Adventure (Farmer)
Protagonist: Clark Savage (James Clarke Wildman)
Antagonists: Baron von Hessel and Lili Bugov, the Countess Idivzhopu
Other: “a worm unknown to science”

Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time (Farmer)
Protagonist: Tarzan
Antagonists: Jelke Helmson and James D. Stonecraft
Other: The Crystal Tree; time travel

1920–1921
Ironcastle (J.-H. Rosny and Farmer)
Protagonist: Hareton Ironcastle

1929
“Iron and Bronze” (with Christopher Paul Carey)
Protagonists: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman) and Hareton Ironcastle
Antagonists: Harry Killer and Antinea

1937
“Captain Midnight at Ultima Thule”
Protagonist: Captain Midnight
Antagonists: Sun Koh and Madame Inga

1939
Tarzan and the Castaways (Edgar Rice Burroughs)
Antagonist?: Captain Larsen




1941
“Shadows Over Kunlun”
Protagonist: Lance Star
Antagonist: Doctor Natas
Other: Madame Inga

1944
“The Glass Lady”
Protagonists: Richard Benson (The Avenger) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)
Antagonists: Werner Conrad, the Iron Skull, and the Iron Skull’s daughter, Lenni Blau-Montag

“Death and the Countess”
Protagonist: Richard Benson (The Avenger)
Antagonist: The Countess

1945
“Happy Death Men”
Protagonist: The Avenger (Richard Benson) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)
Antagonists: Doctor Karl Walden and the Countess (aka Lilya Zarov)

“According to Plan of a One-Eyed Trickster”
Protagonist: The Avenger (Richard Benson) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)
Antagonists: Doctor Karl Walden and the Countess (aka Lilya Zarov)
Other: alien shapeshifter/human hybrid (see “Sore Bridge”)


1946
“Toil and Trouble”
Protagonist: The Avenger (Richard Benson) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)
Antagonists: The Iron Skull, Lenni Blau-Montag, and Doctor Karl Walden

“The Eye of Oran”
Protagonists: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman), “Shrinking” Violet Holmes, and Adélaïde Lupin
Antagonist: Doctor Natas

“Les Levres Rouges”
Protagonist: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman) and Adélaïde Lupin
Antagonist: Madame Elisabeth (Countess Erzsébet Báthory)

1948
“Dame Sinestre”
Protagonists: The Green Ghost (George Chance) and the Domino Lady (Ellen Patrick)
Antagonists: Leonox and Dame Sinestre
Other: the Heart of Ahriman

1949
“The Vanishing Devil”
Protagonist: Doc Ardan (Doctor James Clarke Wildman)
Antagonist: Doctor Natas


1964
“Fang and Sting”
Protagonists: The Green Hornet and Kato
Antagonists: Doctor Shan Ming Fu and his granddaughter, Doctor Isabella Fang


1965
“The Atomos Affair”
Protagonists: Alexander Waverly, Napoleon Solo, and Illya Kuryakin (hinted, not named)
Antagonist: Mme. Atomos


1967
A Girl and Her Cat (with Matthew Baugh)
Protagonists: Honey West and T.H.E. Cat
Antagonists: Shan Ming Fu, Isabella Fang, and Doctor Karl Stipier
Other: Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin (hinted, not named); distorters

1973
“Progress”
Protagonists: The Green Hornet and Kato
Antagonists: Shan Ming Fu and Isabella Fang
 
1973
The Evil in Pemberley House (Farmer and Eckert)
Protagonist: Patricia Wildman
Antagonists: The Dowager Duchess of Greystoke, Doctor Augustus Moran, other family members
Other: Doctor James Clarke Wildman and Adélaïde Lupin Wildman; Violet Holmes; Helen Benson; Jelke Helmson

1974
The Scarlet Jaguar
Protagonists: Pat Wildman, Parker, and Helen Benson
Antagonist: The Scarlet Jaguar
Other: Doc Wildman and Adélaïde Wildman; Violet Holmes; Doctor von Hessel