Oz-story #6 is the annual anthology of stories, comics and verse generated by L. Frank Baum's legendary "Land of Oz" books. This wonderful, large format collection features contributions by L. Frank Baum, Eloise Jarvis McGraw, Harlan Ellison, Philip Jose Farmer, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Glenn Ingersoll, Eric Shanower and others. Oz-story #6 is profusely and charmingly illustrated by the work of John R. Neil, Eric Shanower, Anna-Maria Cool, Marge, and others. There are comic panels by Walt Spouse, Steve Lieber, Tommy Kovac, Steven Weisman, W.W. Denslow and others. The center piece is perhaps L. Frank Baum's "Annabel", his least known children's novel which was originally published in 1906 and presents a rags-to-riches story of a young boy who finally wins the girl! With its flawless and pains-taking production values, Oz-story #6 is a "must" for all Oz enthusiasts of all ages.

A great addition to the world of tiers.Philp jose farmer is truly one of the best.I could almost see the things he was describing.An oringal book!

After reading the world of tiers and riverworld seires completely, i regarded Phil Farmer as a great science fiction author. then i read "rider of the purple wage". Now i regard him as one of the best science fiction authors. It tells the story of an artist in the far future where there is no need for jobs and people lay on their rumps all day watching the "fido". masterfully written!

This is one of Phil's strangest books as it contains few , if none of his themes or trademarks. It is a simple story of a man, Paul Eyre, who accidentally kills an alien and through this becomes transformed.

Phil manages to squeeze in one pun and a sly dig at science fiction writers through his character Leo Queequeg Tincrowdor. It is a simply plotted and quick read but like Phil's best work some ideas and images will stay with you forever, especially in the final part where Phil describes Paul Eyre's flight around Earth after he is transformed into an alien.

All in all a very good read which is just dying to be filmed.

This story takes place both in the future and our distant past, and binds them together through the incredible experiences of the main character. I've read it twice and will certainly read it again. A terrific story from beginning to end!

Hi, I just wanted to try and set some people strait on who was/is the author of Venus on the Half Shell. It was written by Philip Jose Farmer under the name of Kilgore Trout. Trout was a character of Kurt Vonnegut and so many people think it was written by Vonnegut. If you liked Venus, please try any of Farmers 6o sum books. They are all written with the same excitement, adventure, and humor.

Written by Kurt Vonnegut under the name of his alter-ego Kilgore Trout, this book is an absolute masterpiece. When I first read it a couple of years ago, I thought it was simply a great comedy and parody of a sci-fi novel, but now with a few more years' perspective (and I like to think) maturity, I have found much meaning which I missed the first time around.

This book comments on everything -- morals, ethics, philosophy, religion, creation, sexism, racism, politics, government, friendship, love, the past, the future, and everything. And it isn't boring, it's instead typical of Vonnegut in that it's a fast-paced romp through the materiel. This book will leave you rolling on the floor laughing, while at the same time reconsidering your point of view on everything.

This book is a must read, and I hope they reprint it soon.

I don't know if Kilgore Trout is still writing or even alive but his view or life's questions are refreshing and very thought provoking in at least the fact that Religion and Politics loose perspective in any culture and Science has no parallel to either. Science and sentience and religion are linked as well as evolution and god. This book encompasses both philosophys and brings meaning to more than both. I enjoyed reading it and would strongly hope that in this day it will be brought back into print. We need a very clear mind to face the next milennium and this story is one that can put life and the universe in perspective. He was before his time and should be grouped with Heinlan, Douglas Adams, and Kurt Vonegut.

If you can get a copy either at your local library or at a used bookstore do so. It is well worth reading for a mature or even young soul. Brain candy for us old folks.

I started this series of books when I was 10 yrs old. It was a great Mystery/Adventure series. For boys who liked "Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators" or "The Hardy Boys" this is the next step. Doc Savage is much like Batman, except he doesn't hide his identity and all the stories take place during the 30's and 40's. There are several sub-characters(Ham, Monk) who play practical jokes on each other, but when the chips are down they would give their lives for each other. I am currently attempting to find some of the old books to read to my 9 year old son.

This book attempts to piece together a variety of authors work into a workable timeline.

Thrilling post-apocalyptic America at it's best. The new order thrown away science and it's ecology damaging side effects and gone back to mother earth. Imagine what happens when a starship lands after an 800 year voyage of exploration. Don't miss it

If you root for the monster in monster movies, this one's for you. I loved Commander Stagg's opponents in this "voyagers return from the stars to a strange future world" story. Of all the post apocalytic futures in sci-fi, this is one of the most palatable--a racier version of Robt. Graves' Watch the North Wind Rise. PJF can spin a terrific, fast reading tale! Take a ride with an old time writer who puts the modern genre stuff to shame.

A great read! The descriptions of the floating palace was done very well.But I think we should have gotten to it faster,instead of endless confrontations with boring tribes and plants.And for once I want the Lords to win once in a while.

First I should mention that it is my personal feeling that P. J. F. is the best living Fantasy writer. I think he is better than Rowling or Weis, and MUCH better than Piers Anthony or Tracy Hickman.

I suppose what I mean is that, of those authors I know, I like PJF the best...there is probably a fantasy writer out there I don't know who is better.

Moving on, The Lavalite world is a novel in the "World of Tiers" series that can actually be appreciated without having read all the previous books. I recommend it for anyone who likes fantasy.

Farmer had two mixed genre pornographic novels that I'm aware of. "A Feast Unknown" pitted Doc Savage against Tarzan in a mildly pornographic fight to the death. "Image of the Beast," with its title from the Book of Revelation, is a nicely pornographic gothic novel with an interweaving of bad science-fiction overtones. "Blown," the sequel, rather ruins the effect of the main novel, actually. Farmer's imagination ruins his art in the sequel. I've known several people who found the more sadistic scenes in "Image" to be arousing.

This is, without a doubt, the strangest book I've ever read. Having written the above, I feel compelled to add that "strange" is a criminal understatement and that no amount of extreme adjectives can do justice to this book. The copy I have is coupled with "Blown," the completion of the story begun with "Image of the Beast." I made the mistake of reading this when I was sick a few years back, unable to do anything, feeling as though I was on my deathbed, and soon feared that this hellish, disturbing, nightmare-inducing, stomach-turning THING was the last thing I would ever read. I think it actually made me sicker.

Don't take all of the above as a dismissal, though. I've never taken the time to really pick apart the mechanism that makes this book run (I don't have that strong of a stomach), but there is something underneath all the horror and sex and violence that just pulls you along. Farmer takes the sexual themes of some of his earlier works and goes waaaaaaay over the top with them. It really messes with you in a number of different ways.

Fans of the Riverworld series and some of Farmer's other novels should be warned about this book before reading it. Although it has a number of elements that are representative of some of his major themes, it is like nothing else he has ever written. Nothing can prepare you for reading this, and once you've read it, you'll never be able to forget it.

I read this book perhaps 15 years ago; it is a re-print, I believe, of an old story of Farmer's called "Blown." (More on that title later.) Fans of P.J. Farmer are familiar with his fascinating attempts to meld canonical fantasy/horror figures with a more current perspective, while throwing in kinky sex and a strong sci-fi overlay. This is a "textbook" example. The protagonist is Harold Childe, a private detective in what appears to be 1980's Los Angeles. He doesn't know it, but "Childe Harold" is the re-incarnation of Geoge Gordon, Lord Byron, the sexually irrepressible English Romantic poet. The book opens with Harold and a high-ranking LAPD official watching a film that has been sent to them; the film depicts, in horrifying detail, the mutilation/murder of a buddy of Harold's. The victim is tied down, an attractive young woman fellates him, and then she slips in a razor-sharp metal mothpiece and bites off the victim's penis, while a male accomplice clad in a Dracula costume looks on. (This scene, redolent of every male's castration nightmares, horrified me as an adolescent; but Farmer, because of his innate skill as a writer, manages to bring it off in a way that is not ludicrous or hackneyed, but rather, for lack of a better term, "gripping" despite its horrific nature.) From there, the story follows Harold's attempts to discover who or what murdered his friend. In the process, Harold encounters a variety of sleazy Hollywood creatures who are not what they seem, including a slutty actress who has a creature living inside her vagina, and that creature turns out to be the re-incarnation of the medieval French general and sadist, Gilles de Railles. (Weird??? Hell, yeah!) Eventually, Harold discovers that this motley gallery of semi-human monsters have extra-terestrial origins, like himself, and that he is the "Captain" for whom they have long waited , to lead them back to their origin in the stars. I've given away entirely too much, but what I found compelling about this book was that Farmer takes a subject matter that lends itself to absurdity and parody, but creates something strong and distinctive, through his own inimitable dark word-craft. Not what you'd necessarily expect from the author of the "Riverworld" series, but certainly intriguing.