The bulk of this purple volume is Farmer's futuristic masterpiece, "Riders of the Purple Wage", a stunningly creative, explosive, riotous, ribald homage to James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. Farmer pulls out all the stops, creating a whole new "utopian" social order, truly shocking sexual mores (even for those who thought they couldn't be shocked by anything), and, like Joyce, a richer and more complex language with which to express it all. Chaotic, but carefully structured, the story describes a couple of crucial days in the lives of a handsome but troubled young artist and his eccentric grandfather. Extraordinary as this work is, it certainly isn't for everyone, especially those who are easily offended. Furthermore, the society described in this story is a confusing one at best, and the linguistic experimentation only makes it more difficult to follow what's going on. The story's prologue, "The Oogenesis of Bird City", is no more readily comprehensible, and considerably less fun.

The long short story "Spiders of the Purple Mage" is a fantasy about magic, and how a tenacious but seemingly ordinary woman named Masha helps defeat a feared magician. It bears no relationship to the previous story except for the title, and while this is a pretty good story as such fantasies go, there's nothing really remarkable about it. "The Long Wet Purple Dream of Rip Van Winkle" is a trashy send up of Rip visiting the 20th Century. Most notable is Rip's turn as a late-sixties hippie, where his exceptional sexual endowment makes him an immediate favorite. "The Making of Revelation, Part I" is a short (but not short enough) story that shows God hiring Cecil B. DeMille to film the Apocalypse and is every bit as sacrilegiously funny as "Riders" is, but without any redeeming social or human values.

As collections go, these stories don't really hang together very well. "Spiders" in particular, isn't humorous, sexy, or heretical, and was obviously included solely because of the title. Still, "Riders of the Purple Wage" is a science fiction classic that shouldn't be missed by those able to handle its brutal sexuality, chaotic violence, and philosophical pontification. The rest of this collection isn't in the same league, but then, not much is.

I have been looking to find the purple book, a rare old tale of PJFs. This is an adult only read, with parts that still might shock modern readers and movie goers. A detective loses a partner, and goes on the trail... Sound familiar? Well, it doesn't end any way that you would read in detective section. This is adult science fiction and packs a punch all these years later... That's why twenty years later I want to reread this book and am looking over Amazon... Viagra wasn't invented yet, but Philip Hose Farmer knew it was coming years ago! (double entendre back there, hehe).

The title of the review is in honor of the review I read of the Purple book that described the oft confused Riders of the Purple Wage.

I'm surprised to find that this book is out of print. If you can track down the books of this series, I definitely recommend buying them. Each book is written by a different author, but there is good consistency among them. I'm normally a science fiction fan, and this series provides a great combination of science fiction, aliens, time travel, historical themes, and even throws in a bit of Dante's Inferno. Definitely worth the time to read.

An excellent addition to the Dungeon series. This group of characters is unforgettable! The battles within the characters and the battles that they face as a team are awesome. Don't miss this series!

This was Farmer's first novel. It disappeared for many years, and broke his heart when he was ripped off by his fly-by-night publisher and the manuscript was stolen. It's nice to see it back in print (and it's also available in its entirety on the web)-- it's not his best, but still very entertaining as a rollicking adventure with some fun ideas along the way. Farmer fans will want to read it to see where he began, and new readers will enjoy its simple virtues.

This book is just plain fun. There are no deep issues here, other than the love story, just an adventure that sweeps you along for 150 pages. The main character is stranded on a foreign planet with no technology and when a space ship arrives he sees his ticket back to civilization. The story that follows is filled with ships that "sail" on grass instead of water, cannibals, pirates, moving islands, and, of course, a love interest. Put simply, the book is just a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, the book is out-of-print. But if you're willing to find an old copy somewhere, it's worth the hunt.

A Good SF novel about sailing over verdant alien plains with windrollers, giant vessels with wheels. A grand adventure.

Reading the other reviews, as I usually do, I was horrified to find that no-one seemed to understand the Riverworld series. "Not too deep", "Not really science fiction" ... ?? I don't know if i'm reading a different series than the rest of the people reviewing this book, but it's a very deep, very classic science fiction novel.

It's not set on a far-off planet (well, not exactly); no space ships, only one alien; barely noticeably set in the future at all. If that was what made a good SF novel, then Star Trek would be the be all and end all of the genre.

Any good SF reader, though, knows that Riverworld is what makes SF great reading: Deep philosophical and sociological questions, answered by way of an artificially created society that tests the author's answers to the questions, or else helps discover the answers. Riverworld, and particularly To Your Scattered Bodies Go (by far the best of them), is an interesting attempt to analyse the creation of civilization from anarchy, as well as being an amusing exploration of several historical characters, probably some of Farmer's favourite personages from history. I say attempt, because it's not perfect; I find myself disagreeing with his ideas of what society would become, mostly because it is a bit too simplistic for my tastes.

All in all, it is an interesting experiment, and a thoroughly enjoyable one. Read if you like Asimov's Foundation novels, Clarke's Rama novels, or some of the less academic alternate histories.

What captures your attention and holds it is not just the brilliantly creative story premise, which by itself would be worth a read, but the quality of research which Philip Jose Farmer clearly put into creating this novel. By using Burton as his main character, a flesh-and-blood anti-hero plucked straight from history, the fantastic action takes on a very believable feel, being no more amazing than anything else Burton accomplished in life. JPF has done an incredible job of researching Burton and painting him in a completely understandable and human way. I'd almost consider this book a hybrid of science fiction and historical fantasy - the historical characters are generally, more fleshed out and better developed than any of the fictional characters. I highly recommend this book, but suggest avoiding the rest of the series - they are just a series of cliff-hangers clearly designed to milk the River World story for everything it's worth. This first story makes a wonderfully self-contained adventure, and the rest of the books add nothing (and subtract much through revisionist plot-adjustment) that I sincerely wish I'd avoided them myself.

Something you have a book that has such an amazing concept that the entire book can be carried on just that one concept, regardless of how stirring the plot is or how deep the characters are or how exciting the prose is. With the concept that Farmer introduces in this novel he sure comes darn close but he really needed just a little extra to boost this novel into "true classic" status. What's the concept? Basically every human that has ever lived wakes up alongside a seemingly endless river on some strange planet for no apparent reason to basically do what people do. Food and even clothing is provided for, but really it's just a big question mark. Enter famous explorer Richard Burton who very quickly decides that he must penetrate the center of this mystery and try to find exactly what this is all about. Along the way he meets bunches of people from different times, some famous some not, gets involved in a series of adventures and sort of figures it out. But not quite. Burton is probably the best character in the book in the sense that he's supposed to the hero and yet there's quite a few reasons not to like him (he's a bit racist and a tad sexist, among other things . . .) which is good because being a historical character it shows Farmer was at least doing some research. The other characters don't make out so well and being that most of them seem to drop out halfway through the book, you really don't miss them since the focus really is squarely on Burton (the alien in particular seems to have just been included because he could make important revelations and thus it would make sense because he's an advanced alien and thus knows everything . . . not explained why he was resurrected though . . . also Peter Frigate mostly cries unless he needs to fight and then he kills with reckless abandon, er, mood swing anyone?) and as long as it stays there you can overlook things like that. Farmer has great fun with the concept and frustratingly gives us just a taste of the Riverworld, bypassing entire communities in a sentence that he could have spent a whole chapter on. The plot moves swiftly, with the usual absurd coincidences that only occur to you after you stop reading because he keeps the story moving so fast there's no time to think, which is good. Sometimes it's a mite too swiftly, subplots start but don't go anywhere (there's hints of romance that never turns into anything) and imminent revelations either are ignored or turn out to be nothing special. But the book is way too short and the ending is basically just a "To Be Continued" that reveals a bunch of stuff that may or may not be true. In the end it feels like the world's longest prologue and while enormously entertaining as such, doesn't leave you with a whole lot to take away from the book. Still the concept is one of the greatest in SF and just watching Farmer pull it off and lay down the foundation for the rest of the series is great fun. But his inability to really turn the book into a standalone epic on its own keeps the book from achieving truly classic status. But, like I said, it's worth a read simply for the concept itself.

This is the 2nd book in the riverworld series and the main character is Samuel Clemens otherwise known as the famous writer Mark Twain. He and his party decide to seek metal ore so that they can build a Riverboat and travel to the headwaters of the river. Most of the Story is spent in Sam getting the Riverboat built and the wars that are caused by the scarcity of the metal ore.

The main character of Clemens is quite a bit different in comparison with Burton from the first novel. And when you first start this novel you will be longing for the original party from "To your scattered bodies go." Clemens is a lot weaker in body and spirit than Burton. He is in fact the opposite when it comes to physical fitness and leadership. Nevertheless he is always in charge. The real fun of this novel over the previous is Clemens's sidekick named Joe Miller who is a Titanthrop or real life giant weighing over 800 lbs. and standing 9 feet tall.

The major enemy in this book is Prince John of England.

This book isn't better than the previous one because the story isn't as good the basic idea of the river world isn't as original and the characters aren't as fun. But this novel is a very close second to the previous one and it also explores alot things that the previous one did not have a chance to. For example life on the riverworld is now just getting to it's full thriving point. People are settling in and forming real states and countries along the river, the wars for the metal ore are also worth mentioning as their detail and excitement keep the reading turning the pages.

A good 2nd to the series.

Once you have become familiar the Riverworld concept, having read " To Your Scattered Bodies Go", this second book really is fascinating. It deals with how Mark Twain interacts with treacherous characters such as rotten King John, as well as his earthly wife Livy(who is now in love with Cyrano de Bergerac)as he pursues his dream of building the Boat which will take him to the headwaters of the River, in order to solve the mystery of the Riverworld. Farmer excels in bringing these characters to life, and shows his excellent grasp of human nature in his portrayal of the wars of neighbouring nations, and the fights for supremacy that really would occur in this scenario. Using real life characters somehow even adds more realism to this amazing tale. Farmer's imagination is unparalleled, and the Riverworld series is a must for anyone with a sense of wonder.

Book 2 of the fantastic Riverworld series. Read in order. A world of resurrection where every soul who ever lived is brought back to indefinite life - where death is but a temporary inconvenience. Among the billions clawing through warfare, slavery and violent aggression is Samuel Clemens, alias Mark Twain. Sam's dream is to build a Mississippi style riverboat and travel to the source of the River (Riverworld's artery). Even with the aid of one of the mysterious beings responsible for Riverworld and his neanderthal blood brother he is hard put to bring his dream to life.There are others, King John for example who will stop at nothing to get the Fabulous Riverboat.

On the inside of the dust jacket, the publishers say this book should be a good read for fans of Quentin Tarantino. It is a BIG lie. The publishers must have owed this author a favor. This book is just not good.

However, having said that, I am not upset I spent my time reading it. If you like crime-noir, read Ellroy. But, if you have this book, and have to spend a few hours on a plane or waiting to be picked for jury duty, then give it a try.

Tom Corbie is a private investigator, desperate to make it, picks up a simple assignment to backup another operative on a payoff at a cemetery results in gunplay.

Corbie finds himself drawn into a circle of escalating mayhem, violence, intrigue and murder. The snapping turtle, and his way of talking his way out of things rather than shooting it out.

Laugh your way through this book at times feeling sympathetic for our hero. Enjoyable book to get out of a hectic day at the office.

There's shooting, there's cutting, there's treachery, there's a snapping turtle used as a defensive weapon. And then, the violence begins.

Tom Corbie is a private investigator plying his trade on the mean streets of (ahem) Peoria, Illinois. When a simple assignment to backup another operative on a payoff at a cemetery results in gunplay, Corbie finds himself drawn into a circle of escalating mayhem, violence, intrigue and murder.

Corbie's character is unique in the genre. He's married to a practicing Wiccan and carries enough literary references in his head to earn a doctorate degree. While he shoots well, he prefers to talk his way out of most bad situations.

Farmer loves his hometown of Peoria and gleefully presents it and its history to us, warts and all. He also flits in unique philosophical and metaphysical observations while detailing how to arm oneself when slipping into a marshy area to do battle with in-bred hooligans.

NOTHING BURNS IN HELL is a fine example of a dying genre -- hard-boiled pulp fiction. Recommended!

This book isn't quite a parallel novel to "80 Days;" it is more like a double take of that book. Farmer extends his "World Newton Family" in Verne's classic, and makes Fogg's mission an intergalactic battle against Captain Nemo, who Farmer believes is Professor James Moriarty of the Sherlock stories.

Farmer, one of the greatest student of "Pop Pulp" culture manages to combine the heroes of the popular literary world in to a coherent world system. In Farmer's world, Tarzan is related to Sherlock Holmes, and Doc Savage is the grandson of Jack London's Wolf Larsen. In a certain sense, we all do this on our own. For example, what would have happened in "A Tale of Two Cities" if the Scarlet Pimpernel had saved Sydney Carton from the guillotine? Farmer's "World Newton Family" functions along these lines. He has even made two rough genealogical charts showing who is related to whom.

As Ir ead this book, two things struck me. First, the approach of this book reminds me of Crispin H. Glover's attempts to read new stories into old classics. Secondly, Farmer clarifies many of the odd things about "80 days." How does Fogg know everything about all of the odd lands. How does he know all the schedules of every boat and train everywhere in the world. Why would a man who lived such a controlled and regimented life on a sudden take a trip around the world just to win a bet?

I recommend that you read Verne's book first, and Farmer's second. I didn't do this, and am still regretting it. I kept on reading Farmer's book into Verne's story, and couldn't enjoy Verne's spell.

I think I was 19 when I first read this novel. It was my first encounter with Farmer's brand of 'behind-the-scenes' stories and i have very fond memories of the book since I loved "Around The World In 80 Days" as a kid. Now I've really got to turn my mother's basement inside out and find the damn thing and re-read it.

This book is a must for those who have read Farmer's biographies of Tarzan and Doc Savage. Farmer, a pioneer in uncovering the secrets behind literary characters, dares to reveal the intergalactic conspiracy behind Verne's classic AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS!

The second best book in the Worlds of Tiers series. Will almost stand alone. Good adventure but much more fun if you have read the preceeding volumes.

Well, I bought it for "The Shadow and the Flash."

I read this story years ago and loved it. It's not well known and not frequently anthologized. I see that it was written in 1902 and that H. G. Well's "The Invisible Man" was written in 1897, and possibly Jack London sort of borrowed the theme as he was wont to do--the editor of this volume thinks so--but "The Shadow and the Flash" is nevertheless brilliantly original. It is about two competitive brothers, both serious amateur scientists of the kind you run across in Victorian fiction--who decide to tackle the problem of becoming invisible, in two different ways. You can almost make out a case for its' being "harder" SF than Wells, because he explains the physics of how they do it. The explanation is sort of cockamamie, but the story carries you along.

(The title comes from the fact that each method has a flaw. Neither produces total invisibility. One brother casts a shadow, the other produces prismatic rainbow flashes when he catches the light at the right angle).

The other fourteen stories are equally entertaining, and some are more than that. "A Thousand Deaths" was written very early in his career and is a haunting piece of fantasy. "The Unparalleled Invasion" has been anthologized frequently because of the prophetic way it anticipates bacteriological warfare.

Jack London was indelibly impressed with what he saw in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and some of this may have found its way into a number of stories about the breakdown of civilization after a disaster. "The Scarlet Plague" calls to mind the after-the-atom-bomb-has-fallen stories of a later day.

"The Red One," with which the book closes, possibly deserves the adjectives "great" and "classic." And if one suspects that Jack London had been reading H. G. Wells, after reading "The Red One" I certainly suspect that Stephen King has been reading Jack London.

The collection is well chosen. The editor's commentary is good. This is a very readable book. And it looks like it's put out by a brave little tiny publisher, and I always like to support brave little tiny publishers.

Oh, none of the stories are about dogs or snow.

Then you'll like this book. Maker of Universes is one of my all time favorite stories. I first read it in high school (1968) and have re-read it several times since. It has a quick hook to catch your interest in the beginning pages of the story, a fast moving/changing developing story and a somewhat of a surprize ending. This particular volume also contains two of Farmer's later related stories, though I don't know why the publisher didn't also include "The Lavalite World". These other two stories are also good, though not in the same class as the blueprint (Maker of Universes). Mr. Farmer does this a lot with his writing, manufacturing sequels after a successful sale. At any rate, this is a worthwhile collection, abeit incomplete, and will give you much reading enjoyment

Not too much really to say about the stories themselves. A reader either likes the series or he/she doesn't. If you haven't read any of Farmer's "World of Tiers" books yet, by all means be sure to read the first one first (Maker of Universes). A new reader will be lost in the plot otherwise.

This particular volune (#2) consists of Farmer's 4th, 5th and 6th tales of Kickaha, Wolfe and the race of lords. "Behind the Walls of Terra" is a well done story centering on Kickaha's return to earth to search for the last living beller and his friend Wolfe (Jadawin), tangling with earth's lord, Red Orc and an interloper. The second story, "The Lavalite World", drags and is probably the weakest of the series. Readers will want to go thru that one only because it's part of the collection. The last volume, "More than Fire" I cannot comment on at this time since I haven't read it yet.

The set of stories by Farmer are imaginative, fast moving (for the most part) and handily available in the two paperback volumes. The book price, while not really cheap is not out of line for paperbacks sold today. Folks who enjoy tales of fantasy, other worlds or dimensions, and science fiction should pass many pleasant hours with the collection -- but read it in sequence to understand what's going on.

** Recommended **

~P~

This book was my introduction to Philip Jose Farmer. Within five pages I knew I'd found something worth reading and by the end I realized that my Sci-fi knowledge was truly lacking prior to having read Farmer. He is undoubtedly a master. Farmer's literary style may seem pulpish but the shear scope of his imagination combined with the unrelenting pace of his naratives leaves one saturated in worlds complex and thoroughly detailed. I've since read the Riverworld Series (a triumph of imaginative literature filled with thought provoking situations and mind expanding metaphisical conotations) and a number of his other works and now consider myself a fan bordering on cult status. Any fan of Sci-fi or fantasy should not be without a collection of Farmer's works.