Wednesday, June 4, 2014

The Evil in Pemberley House - new edition


Preorder before June 30 and I'll sign your copy when I'm at PulpFest 2014 / FarmerCon IX! Your copy will then ship immediately thereafter! 


If you loved Pat Wildman Vol. II: The Scarlet Jaguar, but haven't read Pemberley House, this is your chance to catch up! 

Or, if you missed out on the bonus materials which only came with the super-pricey "numbered edition" hardcover in 2009--again, this is your chance to catch up! 

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The Evil in Pemberley House - new trade paperback edition



Hot on the the heels of yesterday's news that the second Pat Wildman adventure, The Scarlet Jaguar, has just been released in ebook (Kindle - Nook coming soon), comes today's post from Meteor House announcing that the first Pat Wildman book, The Evil in Pemberley House, will be released in an affordable trade paperback edition in August!

The Evil in Pemberley House, the novel on which I was fortunate enough to collaborate directly with SF Grand Master Philip José Farmer, was published in 2009, just a few short months after his too-soon passing. The trade hardcover retailed for $40, while a numbered hardcover plus chapbook listed for $60. Both editions sold out in 2010.

Now, Meteor House is bringing out a trade paperback at the more accessible price point of $20, sporting the same wonderful cover painting by the inimitable Glen Orbik that graced the prior edition. Even more exiting, the Meteor House edition will include many bonus pieces, including:
  • New Foreword to the 2014 Edition
  • A Pemberley House/Wold Newton Family graphic tree
  • An Expanded Pemberley House/Wold Newton Family graphic tree, including SPOILERS from the novel
  • Outline for the novel by Philip José Farmer
  • A timeline of key events in the novel by Win Scott Eckert
  • A “Creative Mythography” essay by Win Scott Eckert, about the research and writing of the novel and ensuring it remained in continuity with Farmer’s other Wold Newtonian works, such as Tarzan AliveDoc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, and The Adventure of the Peerless Peer
The Evil in Pemberley House is immediately available for preorder direct from Meteor House. Order before June 30th and I will sign your copy when I am at FarmerCon IX/PulpFest 2014 in early August (all books will be shipped after FarmerCon, unless of course you come to FarmerCon, in which case you get your copy in person and Meteor House refund the shipping charge).

Monday, April 28, 2014

The Scarlet Jaguar - Kindle ebook now available

Doing a bit of a happy dance at Meteor House's announcement of the release of the Kindle ebook edition of the Pat Wildman adventure The Scarlet Jaguar.

Please check it out and then head on over to Amazon and get your copy.

(And while you're at it, why not also grab the ebook edition of Christopher Paul Carey's Exiles of Kho? It's a prelude to Philip José Farmer's Opar novels Hadon of Ancient OparFlight to Opar, and The Song of Kwasin, and it's a great read!)

Nook diehards, worry not. I have it on good authority that Meteor House definitely plans to do Nook ebook editions for the Barnes & Noble store. Stay tuned, coming soon.

In the meantime, please do check out Pat Wildman's second adventure, The Scarlet Jaguar, and if you already read the out-of-print limited edition trade paperback, consider leaving a review on Amazon.

And stay tuned for an announcement regarding Pat Wildman's first adventure, The Evil in Pemberley House, coming tomorrow!

Sunday, March 9, 2014

News from Pemberley House

The trade hardcover edition of The Evil in Pemberley House, my Wold Newton collaboration novel with Grand Master Philip José Farmer, has been out of print for three years. The limited edition hardcover has been sold out for four years. The trade hardcover went for $40, while the limited edition retailed at $60.

Sounds as if it might be time for a new softcover edition at a more accessible price point. Maybe even an eBook!

On a related front, note to anonymous Amazon reviewers: I'm a big boy (Phil was too) and can accept your less than stellar opinions (after all, they are merely opinions, and non-constructive opinions at that). Any author should be prepared for negative reviews.

BUT--you don't own facts, your repeated misstatements don't change the facts. In fact, your failure to do simple fact-checks makes me take your reviews, shall we say, less than seriously. It is not a fact that the Estate of Philip José Farmer "allowed" The Evil in Pemberley House to be published. Phil himself "allowed" it, because he cowrote it. It is not "posthumous PJF."

News flash: just because you discover a work after the coauthor passes away does not make said work a "posthumous" collaboration.

Here's the timeline, all documented in this blog, for anyone who cares to perform an ounce of research before clicking the "post" button on their erroneous reviews:


  • July 2005 - Discovery of Pemberley House partial manuscript, complete outline, and copious notes.
  • 2006 - Authorization from Phil and Bette Farmer to complete the novel, subject to their approval of chapters in progress.
  • Summer 2007 - Frank conversation, in person, with Phil and Bette Farmer regarding the explicit sex scenes in the manuscript. Farmer expert Christopher Paul Carey is present for the conversation. Phil advocates for retaining the sex scenes, as integral to the plot and not gratuitous. Given that our plan called for retaining all of Phil's already-written prose, unaltered, and that this prose included some of the sex scenes, as well as his opinion regarding the necessity of the sex scenes to the plot, the decision is made: retain the sex scenes that he wrote, as well as the ones covered in his outline of the remainder of the novel.
  • 2007-2008 - I write the remainder of the book and share chapters with Phil for feedback and approval, which I receive.
  • May 2008 - Manuscript in agent's hands.
  • Late November 2008 - Novel sells to Subterranean Press. Announcement December 1.
  • February 25, 2009 - Philip José Farmer passes away.
  • September 2009 - The Evil in Pemberley House ships from the publisher.
  • February 2010 - Limited edition sells out.
  • March 2011 - Trade edition sells out.

As I said, if your panties are in a bunch because you think The Evil in Pemberley House is "porn," well, have at it. You likely haven't read Phil's magnificently shocking A Feast Unknown, or his groundbreaking "The Lovers"--you know, Phil's novella which broke new ground in SF by frankly addressing human-alien love and sex, and which reportedly made editor John W. Campbell want to throw up. And which won Phil the 1952 Hugo award for most promising new writer. You also likely missed his wonderfully disturbing novels Image of the Beast, Blown, and Love Song.

Is Pemberley House as fantastic as any of those works? Of course not, because unfortunately the master didn't finish writing it himself. But are the sex and mature themes true to Phil? Absolutely--because they're his.

You don't like the sex and the mature themes? You have an absolute right not to. But why you expected something different from a Philip José Farmer novel is mystery to me and to any thoughtful reader who has passing familiarity with his works. And since you anonymous reviewers claim to be well acquainted with Phil's oeuvre, it should be a mystery to you as well.

You don't like it that the book was authorized by Phil (not his Estate) and that it was not posthumous (it was written and sold before Phil's unfortunate passing)? Too bad. Your opinions are yours, but facts are facts. You might want to look into them, once in a while.

And with that, stay tuned for more Pemberley House news, coming soon!