Monday, December 1, 2008

Subterranean Press acquires a new Wold Newton novel



Subterranean Press announced today that they have acquired a new novel that is part of Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton mythos:

In addition, we’ve just bought a few other new titles:

The Evil in Pemberley House (Philip José Farmer and Win Scott Eckert) — a darkly erotic novel that is part of Farmer’s Wold Newton canon. The limited edition will include a chapbook with a whole host of unpublished background material.

The promotional image is by the extraordinary Keith Howell....


I am still not processing this... my first novel, written with Phil Farmer. I have so many people to thank for helping me reach this point... I'd better get it right for the book's acknowledgments... :-)

I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Excerpt of novel Evil in Pemberley House now available!

Farmerphile no. 14 is back from the printer and available for order. As a not-so-gentle reminder, this issue features a sample excerpt from the novel The Evil in Pemberley House (featuring Doc Savage's (Wildman's) daughter, Patricia Wildman, as well as a magnificent illustration of the Doc Wildman coat of arms, based on Phil Farmer's research and description.

Hope you'll check it out!

Friday, October 10, 2008

The Wold Newton gang in FARMERPHILE #14

Now that I've broken the news about the Doc Savage coat of arms in FARMERPHILE no. 14 , it really bears mentioning how many Wold-Newtoneers we have contributing to this issue, our longest issue yet!

Art Sippo makes his first contribution with "This Played in Peoria?"

Rick Lai is back with the very timely "
The Doc Ravage Presidential Campaign."

Regular
Dennis Power joins in with "
Oh the Humanity."

Chris Carey , as always, puts his indelible stamp on the issue with all of his invaluable behind-the-scenes work.

And I've got a few Pemberley House things in there, including an interview about writing the book, a family tree, and a two-chapter excerpt.

Complete contents:

Issue No. 14 - October 2008
60 pages (5.5 x 8.5 inches)
$11 (includes shipping in the US and Canada)

Table of contents:

This Played in Peoria?
- by Art Sippo

A Whale of a Time
- by Leo Queequeg Tincrowdor

Tongues of the Moon
- by Philip José Farmer
--- illustrated by John Streleckis

The Voice of Farmer in My Vermiform Appendix
- by Rhys Hughes

Creative Mythography: Excessively Diverted, or, Coming to Pemberley House
- by Win Scott Eckert

Farmerphile Interviews Win Scott Eckert

Excerpt from The Evil in Pemberley House
- by Philip José Farmer & Win Scott Eckert
--- illustrated by Keith Howell

Say, What's the Big Idea?
- by Michael Carroll

The Doc Ravage Presidential Campaign
- by Rick Lai

Bibliophile
- by Paul Spiteri

Boris the Bear: Wold Newton and Philip José Farmer
- by Steve Mattsson

Oh the Humanity
- by Dennis E. Power

Unpolished Pearls from the Magic Filing Cabinet

Greartheart Silver
- by Philip José Farmer

Doc Wildman's Coat of Arms
- by Philip José Farmer
--- illustrated by Keith Howell

Cover art by Charles Berlin


We really hope you'll support our efforts and pick up this issue .

All the best,

Win

Doc Savage's Coat of Arms!

I'm very pleased to announce that, as I blogged about a short time ago, Doc Savage's (okay, Doc Wildman's :-) coat of arms will appear in issue 14 of Farmerphile! The illustration is based on Phil Farmer's description in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, with a few additions based on unpublished notes from the Magic Filing Cabinet in Phil's basement. I (and my lovely wife) were very pleased research the rules of heraldry in order to provide instructions to fantastic artist Keith Howell in executing what Phil described in DS:HAL, as well as choosing the small additions from Phil's unpublished notes.

This is a big deal for Doc fans, so please spread the word (forward the link to this post!) and consider picking up the issue; Keith's illustration is truly extraordinary.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

German SF/F site Fantastyguide on "New books by SF master Philip José Farmer!"

The German SF/F site Fantastyguide has picked up on the news, announced at Farmercon 90 in late July, about the new Philip José Farmer novels and stories.

Here is the imperfect but more than adequate Google translation. Nice to see the word is starting to spread on this. The Evil in Pemberley House will be excerpted in issue 14 of Farmerphile, coming out next month.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Panel pic of announcement of new Philip José Farmer novel

Ganked in part from my pal Chris Carey's blog:

"Oh, and I just stumbled across this photo on Rias Nuninga's wonderful PJF International Bibliography from the panel during which the new Farmer collaborations were announced at this summer's Farmercon.


From right to left: Win Scott Eckert (co-author, The Evil in Pemberley House), Paul Spiteri (co-author, "Getting Ready to Write"), Tracy Knight (co-author, Cougar by the Tail), and Christopher Paul Carey (co-author, The Song of Kwasin). Photo courtesy of Rias Nuninga."

Monday, July 28, 2008

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

On Saturday, July 26, 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.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Reading Pemberley....

Pics of Mike Croteau, intrepid webmaster of the Official Philip José Farmer Home Page, reading an advance manuscript of The Evil in Pemberley House while vacationing in Florida.

He liked it, which of course pleases me no end...












Thursday, June 5, 2008

About "Abbey Tarnhelm"

Readers looking at the older posts on this blog will see some by "Abbey Tarnhelm." The original ms. for Pemberley House lists "Tarnhelm" as the author. This is Phil playing the trickster again.

Ultimately, though, as the book is published under Phil's and my byline, I've dispensed with the Tarnhelm persona for this blog.

Ave atque vale, Abbey, we hardly knew ye.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Good news today

The Evil in Pemberley House took another positive step forward today.And that's really all I can say about it. ;-)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

A status update on Pemberley House

Finished the first draft of the novel on March 25, 2008. 25 chapters and an epilogue.

Then a month to polish and undergo a top-notch review and critique by a top-notch professional.

So it's ready as it's going to be, at this point. Here's hoping things start to move more quickly on other fronts soon.


Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Pemberley House chapters 1-18

Hi Everyone,

Long time, no post.

I prepared and proofed chapters 1-18 in preparation for a quick trip to Peoria a month ago. Somebody was having a 90th birthday or something. ;-)

Since then, life has gotten in the way and I've gotten no writing done. I did get a couple gratifying comments during the Peoria quick-trip, to the effect that readers were enjoying it and ready for more. One person said they had read through chapter 9 and couldn't wait to find out what happened next. Thank you. :-) Of course, it is a PJF story.

So now the ms. is ready through chapter 18. Again, I'm not looking for detailed comments right now; I'll be interested in that once the full first draft of the whole novel is complete. Detailed comments right now would just derail me. Of course, if you read chaps. 1-18 and you see something absolutely egregious, I want to know. ;-)

So anyone who wants the 18 chapters, LMK with a reply to this post, and I'll send them out.

Thanks for your support.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

It's been over a month...

... since I last posted on Pemberley House progress. I made little headway during my time off at the holidays, due to a multitude of other things that cropped up, which was disappointing.

Today I came to a point in the manuscript where some things came together and it made sense to incorporate a prequel story, "The Shades of Pemberley," into the overall novel. "Shades" will be a tale which a character in the novel will read, in chunks, as the action progresses. I hope this will end up working out. Not absolutely sure if it will until I get to the end.

In the meantime, though, it added 6,750 words to the manuscript. Hurray!

Add that to the 4,000 new words I generated today, and the manuscript is up to about 41,500 words.

For a final word count, I'd be happier with 75-80,000 words, but I'll take a minimum of 60,000.

If I have 5 more 4,000 word Sundays like I had today, I could be done in 5 weeks.

Yeah.

And "done" would mean done with the first draft. There would still be the review, subsequent drafts, copyediting, etc.

Still... I am going to try my damnedest to maintain this pace and momentum.

Wish me luck.