There’s a new book recommendation site in town and its name is Shepherd. They aim to give Goodreads a run for its money and to help build their site, Shepherd has been reaching out to authors for their top five book recommendations based on a theme of their choice.
In my case, I created a list of the best books about ordinary people thrown into bizarre and extraordinary circumstances. It’s an honor to be featured on Shepherd and join the ranks of so many incredible writers!
On an artificial world created by the immortal Lord Urthona, the landscape is forever shifting. Mountains crumble into plains, flesh-eating trees roam the surface, chunks of the planet are ejected into orbit as temporary moons only to fall back and crash into the surface. It is on this world that Earthman Paul Janus Finnegan—known as Kickaha among other aliases—and his companion, the Lady Anana, find themselves stranded with the devious Urthona, Red Orc, and their human henchman, McKay. Somewhere on this vexing planet floats Urthona’s palace and the means for finding a gateway to another world. Before Kickaha and Anana can find it, however, they must survive the treachery of the other three—not to mention the dangerous plants, animals, and natives.
In this fifth and penultimate volume in his Word of Tiers series, Farmer provides enough detail about previous events involving the characters that you don’t need to read the previous books to enjoy The Lavalite World. However, what this story fails to mention is that the series began with a character named Robert Wolff also known as Jadawin, one of the immortals lords. Thus, to grasp the full scope and breadth of the World of Tiers, it is advisable to begin with book one, The Maker of Universes.
I can’t help but to compare Farmer’s World of Tiers to Jack Vance’s Planet of Adventure series or to some of Farmer’s other works such as The Stone God Awakens, The Green Odyssey, or even Riverworld. In all cases, a human finds himself (by whatever means) in a strange world and in order to escape, must venture across the planet, battling dangerous tribes, animals, and the environment along the way, all while earning the companionship of a beautiful woman and making a few unlikely allies. There is nothing wrong in these comparisons and each story puts its own spin on that basic premise, making every one a rip-roaring adventure.
Encased in stone for millions of years as a result of a failed experiment, atomic scientist Ulysses Singing Bear is liberated from his imprisonment by a bolt of lightning during a battle between two races of bipedal creatures. One group appears to have evolved from cats while the other, raccoons. Ulysses soon learns that humans have long since become extinct and the earth populated by sentient beings evolved from familiar animals of the late 20th century.
As Ulysses acclimates to his new environment, the Wufea come to worship him as a god and ask for his help in defeating the Great Devourer known as Wurutana. To uphold his status as a deity, Ulysses has little choice but to agree and, along with an army of Wufea warriors, treks across the wilderness to do battle with what he understands to be an enormous tree that is spreading across the land. Along the way, he manages to form a truce between the Wufea and their enemy, the Wagarondit. He even recruits Wagarondit warriors to join the offensive.
All the while, they are guided by Ghlikh, a pygmy creature with batwings who offers Ulysses information about the land and peoples ahead of them, including a village of humans who live along the southern coast. In order to reach them, however, Ulysses and his armies must cross Wurutana. Yet, Ulysses senses that Ghlikh is withholding information and possibly leading them into a trap.
Will Ulysses and his troops survive their passage through Wurutana and their encounters with the treacherous denizens within its vast network of tangled branches, vines, trunks, and waterways?
At its core, The Stone God Awakens is a fish out of water adventure much like Farmer’s The Green Odyssey published 13 years earlier, or Jack Vance’s Planet of Adventure series, or even The Time Machine by H.G. Welles. In this case, Farmer adds a few imaginative twists including the evolution of various animal species, an uncommon antagonist, and the development of plant-based science and engineering. The fact that an atomic scientist displays such exceptional prowess in survival, military tactics, and political leadership is, at times, a stretch. Still, The Stone God Awakens is another outstanding tale from one of the giants of the genre.
After fleeing Earth to the planet Kareen, thief and murderer John Carmody is taken in by two Catholic missionaries who order him on a covert fact-finding mission to the Temple of Boonta on the eve of an annual ritual known as the Night of Light.
Most Kareenans take sedatives to ensure that they sleep during the chaotic and savage Night. To remain awake is to be subjected to torturous hallucinations, to lose one’s sanity, and potentially, to be murdered or commit suicide.
Fearless and irreverent, Carmody mocks all religions, until he defies regulations and remains awake during the Night in an attempt to assassinate a god incarnate named Yess. According to Kareenan beliefs, the goddess Boonta has two sons, the benevolent Yess and the evil Algul, each of whom are reborn through the ages and take turns ruling Kareen.
As me makes his way through the streets to the temple where Yess has concealed himself for the Night, Carmody is confronted by bizarre, disturbing visions that eventually compel him to renounce his old life and convert to Catholicism.
Years later, after returning to Earth and undergoing rehabilitation, Carmody enters the priesthood and is ordered by the Church to return to Kareen and dissuade the latest incarnation of Yess from sending missionaries to spread Boontism to other worlds. However, vestiges of Carmody’s old life reemerge as the Night of Light is once again nearly upon Kareen…
Strong in both plot and character arc, Night of Light is yet another captivating, original, and wildly imaginative example of Philip Jose Farmer’s propensity for using science fiction as a milieu to explore and question long-established religious beliefs. This is also evidenced by some of his other works, such as Inside Outside and the Riverworld series.
Humans and demons living together? What’s Hell coming to?
Jack Cull is one of the millions of humans resurrected from the dead only to live on a dry blistering world where the sun never sets. Is this truly Hell or merely Purgatory? Whatever it is, one this is certain, the place isn’t supernatural. The denizens, whether human or “demon” are biological and the planet itself unstable and prone to earthquakes as it expands to accommodate new arrivals.
While on duty at the Information Exchange, Jack receives a call from a contact claiming that a man named Fyodor has evidence that Jesus Christ himself, known as “X” on this world, never left Hell after he was crucified, but is still here working to save souls and help them escape. Jack is given permission to leave his post and meet with Fyodor to confirm the story. On his way out, he encounters an old flame, Phyllis Nilstrom, a gold-digging opportunist who left Jack when someone of higher rank in the Exchange became available. That someone happens to be Jack’s supervisor.
As it turns out, Phyllis is traveling to the same sector where Jack is scheduled to meet with Fyodor. As such, Jack is tasked with ensuring her safety.
Shortly after meeting with Fyodor at an outdoor café, a riot ensues in the street, leaving two men dead. An ambulance arrives, from which steps “X” himself! He assists in loading the victims into the ambulance presumably to take them to a place where they will be resurrected once more. However, the mob attacks the ambulance crew and “X” is decapitated. Fyodor is at first devastated, then enraged when a demon confiscates Christ’s head and disappears into a manhole.
Fyodor and Cull pursue the creature, but not before a second group of rioters arrive, pursuing several members of the Exchange—including Phyllis! She joins Cull and Fyodor in a wild and perilous expedition through the sewers and tunnels of Hell in search of answers about the origins of this world and the true identity of “X.”
With its concept of continuous resurrection of the dead on an alien world, Inside Outside seems to be a precursor to Philip José Farmer’s 1971 masterpiece, To Your Scattered Bodies Go, the first book in his acclaimed Riverworld series.
While there is almost no character development here, Farmer builds his world slowly at first, presenting details as the story unfolds until the trio enters the sewer. After that, the pacing ramps up to breakneck speed in one of the most bizarre and imaginative twists on Judeo-Christian beliefs.
After crash landing on a primitive and barbaric planet, Earth astronaut Alan Green becomes a slave to the Duke of Tropat and paramour to the duke’s termagant wife, all while married to a gorgeous slave woman named Amra. Green has one daughter with Amra, but her other three children are each from different “owners” who bought and sold her over the years.
When Green learns that two Earthmen recently landed near the distant city of Estorya and were taken prisoner as “demons,” he strikes a deal with a trader, Miran, to hide aboard his ship on his next voyage across the vast, grassy plain of Xurdimur. For on this world, boats travel not only by sea, but also over land using a series of large wheels.
It is Green’s plan to free the imprisoned Earthmen before they are executed during an upcoming festival, then return with them to Earth aboard their ship.
After a perilous escape from the duke and duchess, Green disguises himself as a monk and boards Miran’s ship—only to be confronted by Amra and her children, who he had planned to leave behind for they would never be able to adapt to life on Earth.
During their trek across Xurdimur, Miran cleverly evades an attack by pirates, but a day or two later, his ship collides with one of the fabled roaming islands that levitate across the plains of their own volition. Many of Miran’s crew are killed in the crash. Most of the survivors are slaughtered shortly after by the savage cannibals inhabiting the island. Although wounded, Green evades capture, but is separated from Amra and the children. He soon learns that they were imprisoned by the natives.
No sooner does he rescue them than Green encounters a disheveled Miran who also survived the collision. In the middle of the night, they manage to steal a smaller boat from the island and continue across the plain to Estorya. Will Green be able to liberate his fellow Earthmen before Miran betrays him to the authorities? Will their ship be undamaged and able to depart this godforsaken world and if so, will there be enough room for Amra and the children?
The Green Odyssey was Philip José Farmer’s first novel-length publication and is more fantasy-adventure than science fiction. While the setting has a few unique elements, the characters are two-dimensional. Overall, the story is reminiscent of the Barsoom novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs and seemed to be a precursor to Jack Vance’s Planet of Adventure series in which an Earth astronaut named Adam Reith crash lands on a barbaric alien world named Tschai and after acquiring several companions, ventures off across the planet to find the means to return to Earth.