Edited by Gary K. Wolfe

Dust jacket by Bob Eggleton

Subterranean Press is proud to present a new, roughly 120,000 word gathering of Philip José Farmer’s singular tales!

This first posthumous collection of the short fiction of Philip José Farmer is a celebration of the impressive variety of his prodigious output, from the space adventures he published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s through the 1970s, to his acerbic satires of religion and medicine, to his fictional biographies and memoirs, to his beloved Riverworld.

Appearing for the first time in a Philip José Farmer collection are his last three “Riverworld” stories—featuring characters from his own family history--as well as the “memoir” of Lord Greystoke which he claimed to have merely edited. Other highlights include “Attitudes,” the first of the Father Carmody stories; “The Two-Edged Gift,” which introduces the fictional science fiction writer Leo Queequeg Tincrowdor; “Toward the Beloved City” (about which its original editor said he had never before really understood the Book of Revelations); and “Father’s in the Basement,” a little-known Gothic horror tale which is also a satire of the writing profession.

Farmer created some of the most famous worlds in science fiction, but he also wrote in many worlds, and readers familiar only with his best-known classics may find a few surprises among these tales.

Trade: 1500 copy fully cloth bound hardcover edition

Table of Contents

Attitudes
How Deep the Grooves
The Blasphemers
A Bowl Bigger Than Earth
Down in the Black Gang
The Voice of the Sonar in My Vermiform Appendix
Father’s in the Basement
Toward the Beloved City
Skinburn
The Sumerian Oath
Extracts from the Memoirs of Lord Greystoke
The Two-Edged Gift
Saint Francis Kisses His Ass Goodbye
Crossing the Dark River
Up the Bright River
Coda

From Publishers Weekly:
“[Up the Bright River] will appeal to both new readers and established fans, especially as many of the inclusions have not been widely reprinted.”

From SFCrowsnest:
“Although the stories encompass a wide variety of settings and themes, there’s a certain attitude and style that shows up among many of them—an irreverent humour, a disdain for the establishment, whether represented by the government, religion or the medical profession and a satirising of literature and of writing itself.”

From Sacramento Book Review:
“Each story is quaint and interesting and has colorful and memorable characters. All the short stories lead up into the main feature…from Farmer’s biggest hit, Riverworld… From the darkly humorous science romps to the casual space Western, Up the Bright River does not disappoint.”