Although Philip José Farmer is perhaps best known as the science fiction Grand Master who created such iconic worlds as Riverworld, Dayworld, and the World of Tiers, fewer readers realize he grew up reading the pulps and began his career writing for them. Throughout the first decades of his career his stories appeared in such pulps and early science fiction digests as Adventure, Startling Stories, Science Fiction Plus, Thrilling Wonder Stories, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fantastic Universe, Argosy, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, Worlds of If, Amazing Stories, Fantastic Stories of Imagination, Galaxy, and Worlds of Tomorrow.

Following his success as a Hugo Award-winning author and now widely regarded as one of the greats of science fiction literature, Farmer returned to his love of the pulps later in his career, writing the biographies Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. These led to the creation of his Wold Newton Family of interrelated characters from across a wide range of literature, but especially from the pulps and genre fiction. He also wrote pulp-inspired short stories such as “Skinburn,” “After King Kong Fell,” “Savage Shadow,” and those in the Greatheart Silver cycle, before finally fulfilling the lifelong dream of writing authorized novels of his childhood pulp heroes: Escape from Loki (Doc Savage) and The Dark Heart of Time (Tarzan).

In addition to showcasing Farmer’s many lauded science fiction creations, Meteor House’s Worlds of Philip José Farmer series celebrates the author’s deep-rooted affection for the pulps of yesteryear. Pulp fans are sure to find much of interest in each volume, including previously unpublished works by Farmer, brand-new stories set in his worlds by the top genre authors of today, essays on Farmer’s role in science fiction history, and much, much more.