"Philip Jose Farmer - 1952-1964" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

Outstanding examples of his best work since 1964 will be included in a future volume in this series. For
now, we offer you such stunning stories as тАЬSail On! Sail On!,тАЭ based on a recurring dream Farmer had
in which he says тАЬI saw the tiny galleon of the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator (A.D.
1394-1460). It was sailing along in a heavy sea and on a dark night. A small building was on the
poopdeck; in it sat a very fat monk. He had earphones on and was tapping out a coded message, in
Latin, on a spark-gap transmitterтАжтАЭ

тАЬMotherтАЭ contains many of the themes and obsessions mentioned earlier, including some of the
underground passages that are partially responsible for his reputation as a Freudian, and the family
relationships that were so important in all his early work. The story later became the centerpiece of his
collection Strange Relations (1960).

тАЬMy SisterтАЩs BrotherтАЭ (originally published as тАЬOpen to Me, My SisterтАЭ) is especially important to
Farmer, and he considers it one of his two favoritesтАФthe other is тАЬRiders of the Purple Wage,тАЭ included
in the following volume in this series. Like тАЬThe Lovers,тАЭ this story had a difficult time finding a publisher,
being rejected by the major magazines because of its sexual content. Robert P. Mills took it for The
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction after having rejected it when first submitted to himтАФtimes
had changed, and Farmer had changed them, a rare example of a writer developing a market for his own
work. Farmer says that this powerful story is тАЬa hardcore science-fiction tale. But it is also about an
EarthmanтАЩs hangups, extraterrestrial ecosystems, sexobiological structures, and religion.тАЭ

The remarkable тАЬThe Alley ManтАЭ is one of the best pre-historic-man-in-modern-times stories ever
written. It finished a close second to Daniel KeyesтАЩ тАЬFlowers for AlgernonтАЭ in the voting for the Hugo
Award in 1960. One of the many amazing features of Farmers career is the incredible number of series
he has sustainedтАФhis ideas are simply too big for even very large novels.

тАЬThe King of BeastsтАЭ is a gem of a short-short, while тАЬThe God BusinessтАЭ is one of those stories that is
much better read than discussed.

If you have not encountered Farmer or these stories before you are in for a treat. In the words of Leslie
Fiedler, тАЬThanks for the feast.тАЭ

Sail On! Sail On!

1952

FRIAR SPARKS SAT wedged between the wall and the realizer. He was motionless except for his
forefinger and his eyes. From time to time his finger tapped rapidly on the key upon the desk, and now
and then his irises, gray-blue as his native Irish sky, swiveled to look through the open door of the
toldilla in which he crouched, the little shanty on the poop deck. Visibility was low.

Outside was dusk and a lantern by the railing. Two sailors leaned on it. Beyond them bobbed the bright
lights and dark shapes of the Nina and the Pinta. And beyond them was the smooth horizon-brow of the
Atlantic, edged in black and blood by the red dome of the rising moon.

The single carbon filament bulb above the monkтАЩs tonsure showed a face lost in fatтАФand in
concentration.

The luminiferous ether crackled and hissed tonight, but the phones clamped over his ears carried, along
with them, the steady dots and dashes sent by the operator at the Las Palmas station on the Grand