Sad news, as yesterday we lost Philip Jose Farmer, one of the giants of science fiction. He started his career as an author with The Lovers, which treated sexuality in a frank and honest manor, and went on to create some excellent series, including Riverworld and the World of Tiers. He also wrote as a number of other authors, and created some of his best works doing it, including Venus on the Half Shell, which he wrote as Vonnegut’s fictional author Kilgore Trout, or his Tarzan books, including Lord of the Trees and Tarzan Alive. Those are just the tip of the iceberg; if you haven’t read Farmer yet, go get some and start reading. You will thank me for it, I promise. The SciFi Channel had commissioned a miniseries of Riverworld, but they only made and aired the pilot episode. The good news is they start filming in April to do the rest of the series. So there is still some Philip Farmer to look forward to.
