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Philip José Farmer

    January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009

    Philip José Farmer was an American author, recognized primarily for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. His work is noted for its exploration of sexual and religious themes, and for his fascination with and reimagining of the lore of legendary pulp heroes. He also occasionally penned tongue-in-cheek works under pseudonyms, as if written by fictional characters.

    Philip José Farmer
    Dark Is the Sun
    A Private Cosmos
    Rastignac the Devil
    Lord Tyger
    Father to the Stars
    Dayworld Rebel
    • Dayworld's a Philip José Farmer trilogy set in a dystopian future in which people live only a day a week. The other days they're stoned, a suspended animation. It focuses on Jeff Caird, a daybreaker: someone who lives more than a day a week. As the series progresses, he seems to suffer Dissociative Identity Disorder. The three parts are Dayworld ('85), Dayworld Rebel ('87), Dayworld Breakup ('90). Caird's a citizen of Tuesday-World New Era 1330. The book starts on D5-W1 (Day-5, Week-1) in the 2nd Month of NE1330. (Each day of the week is the same day number, i.e. Sun-Sat will still be D5-W1). The book covers a week: Tuesday-World D5-W1 to Tuesday-World D6-W1. He's an 'organic' (police officer) by profession. Each day of the week organics have different outfits. Each day of the week has a different fashion trend, tv shows, news etc, most only knowing about each in their own day. He's also an immer, a group acting beneath governmental radar. Their goal's to subtly improve government. There are immers in almost every social sector in each day of the week. He's special in that he's a daybreaker as sanctioned by the immers, used to pass messages from day to day. As a daybreaker, he's mentally created a different identity for himself for each day of the week, different jobs, friends & wives included.

      Dayworld Rebel
      4.0
    • Father to the Stars

      • 319 pages
      • 12 hours of reading

      Contents: · The Night of Light · na F&SF Jun ’57 · A Few Miles · nv F&SF Oct ’60 · Prometheus · na F&SF Mar ’61 · Father · na F&SF Jul ’55 · Attitudes · nv F&SF Oct ’53

      Father to the Stars
      4.0
    • Rastignac the Devil

      • 72 pages
      • 3 hours of reading

      Set on New Gaul, where humanity coexists with two other intelligent species, the story explores the complex dynamics of their uneasy peace maintained by the "Skins." These devices enable communication and foster empathy among the species, but Rastignac argues that they hinder human development and promote stagnation. He believes that violence is the only path forward for humanity, challenging the status quo and raising questions about the nature of progress and conflict in a multi-species society.

      Rastignac the Devil
      3.0
    • First "Tiers" novel featuring Earth-born Kickaha. Jadawin and his wife have disappeared, leaving the World of Tiers threatened by invasion and chaos. Human bodies taken over by Lord minds are pouring through uncharted gates. They seek two domination of every private cosmos, and the death of the Trickster, who knows too much.

      A Private Cosmos
      3.0
    • Dark Is the Sun

      • 409 pages
      • 15 hours of reading

      Fifteen billion years from now, Earth is a dying planet, its skies darkened by the ashes of burned-out galaxies, its molten core long cooled. The sunless planet is nearing the day of final gravitational collapse in the surrounding galaxy. Mutations and evolution have led to a great disparity of life-forms, while civilization has resorted to the primitive. Young Deyv of the Turtle Tribe knew nothing of his world's history or its fate. He lived only to track down the wretched Yawtl who had stolen his precious Soul Egg. Joined by other victims of the same thief - the feisty Vana and the plant-man Sloosh - the group sets off across a nightmare landscape of monster-haunted jungle and wetland. Their search leads them ultimately to the jeweled wasteland of the Shemibob, an ageless being from another star who knows Earth's end is near and holds the only key to escape.

      Dark Is the Sun
      3.7
    • Flesh

      • 251 pages
      • 9 hours of reading

      After 800 years of exploring the stars, Space Commander Stagg had returned to Earth. But Earth had become a new world. Where science and technology had reigned, now there were agriculture and tribal warfare. And mankind worshiped the Goddess and was content. Into this New Earth came Peter Stagg. They named him "Sunhero" and worshipped him acoordingly. The secret rites were performed, and Stagg found himself setting out on a cross-country, orgiastic jaunt, with foot-high antlers throbbing on his head and endowed with the virility of a nation. Yes, Space Commander Peter Stagg was the Sunhero, king of the Earth and all its willing women. But how long he would hold his throne, only the Goddess could say...

      Flesh
      3.4
    • Maker of Universes

      • 155 pages
      • 6 hours of reading

      When Robert Wolff found a strange horn in an empty house, he held the key to a different universe. To blow that horn would open up a door through space-time and permit entry to a cosmos whose dimensions and laws were not those our starry galxy knows. For that other universe was a place of tiers, world upon world piled upon each other like the landings of a sky-piercing mountain. The one to blow that horn would ascend those steps, from creation to creation, until he would come face to face with the being whose brain-child it was. But what if that maker of universes was a madman? Or an imposter? Or a super-criminal hiding from the wrath of his own superiors? The Maker of Universes is unlike any science-fiction novel you have ever read, it is wonderfully unique.

      Maker of Universes
      3.7
    • The Stone God Awakens

      • 222 pages
      • 8 hours of reading

      Twentieth-century scientist Ulysses Singing Bear had no idea his experiments with atomic stasis would result in a twenty-million-year journey to a world peopled by the descendants of present-day mammals. It was the world of Awina, the cat-woman who impossibly loved Ulysses. It was the planet of the mammoth continent-spanning intelligence-The Tree, whose branches touched the heavens and whose roots clasped hell-who knew that Ulysses, the newly-awakened Stone God, could destroy his reign. To enable his species to survive, Ulysses had to find a human mate. To do so, and to fulfill the single condition set by his worshippers, he had to confront The Tree. It would have been an easy task for a god, but he was only a man-and the only man at that... Originally published as an ACE paperback in 1970, The Stone God Awakens has been reprinted numerous times throughout the '70s and into the '80s, but is still one of Philip José Farmer's lesser-known works. And that is a shame because, as Danny Adams (co-author with Philip José Farmer of The City Beyond Play and Dayworld: A Hole in Wednesday) spells out in his introduction, it is "a breathless mix of adventure, intellect, and myth."

      The Stone God Awakens
      3.7
    • Riverworld Saga - 3: The Dark Design

      • 450 pages
      • 16 hours of reading

      Years have passed on Riverworld. Entire nations have risen, and savage wars have been fought--all since the dead of Earth found themselves resurrected in their magnificent new homeworld. Yet the truth about the Ethicals, the powerful engineers of this mysterious "afterlife," remains unknown. But a curious cross-section of humanity is determined to change that situation . . . at any cost.Intrepid explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton leads the most remarkable voyage of discovery he has ever undertaken. Hot on his heels are Samuel Clemens, King John of England, and Cyrano de Bergerac. Spurred by the promise of ultimate answers, they chart a course across the vast polar sea--and toward the awesome tower that looms above it. But getting there will be more than half the battle. For death on Riverworld has become chillingly final . . .

      Riverworld Saga - 3: The Dark Design
      3.8