WRITTEN ABOUT PJF

Conventions & Events

The following list began as a listing of all the conventions that Philip José Farmer has attended (that we knew of). If we have a copy of the Convention Program it is shown. We have since added any other public appearance that Phil has made and have a lot of really interesting items here. We know there are lots of events that we don't have listed and any information in this area would be appreciated.

Fred Waring Radio Program, New York City, October 1940

While Phil was attending Bradley Polytechnic in 1940, conductor Fred Warring wrote a fight song for the school. In appreciation Bradley decided to send a student to New York to present him with an Indian headdress. Phil Farmer, student athlete with (he believed) 1/8 Cherokee blood in his veins was selected to go. When he returned Phil wrote an article about the trip for the school newspaper. The local paper also ran an article about the trip. Here is a photo before they went on the air.

This was the first science fiction convention for Philip & Bette Farmer which they attended just after The Lovers was published. The Autumn 1952 edition of The Science Fiction Newsletter contains a Convention Report. Near the end there is a paragraph which talks about the second ever meeting of the Science-Fantasy Writers of America, Farmer is listed among the authors present. The Journal of Science Fiction, has photos from the convention including this one, by Al De Bat.

Midwest Con 4 (The Indian Lake Conference), Russel Point, OH, May 16-17 1953

The Summer 1953 issue of Science Fiction News Letter says that Philip José Farmer was one of the brief speakers at this convention. The top row, center picture, on the cover of the newsletter is of Bette Farmer. This issue of Canadian Fandom has a con report by William D. Grant, who mentions meeting Phil and Bette when he arrives. He also says that Bob Bloch was the master of ceremonies and that Philip Farmer, Nancy Moore, Bob Tucker, Ed Counts, Dave Kyle and Ned Mckeon "all got up and said some words of wisdom". This con was held at Beatley's, the legendary home of some early Midwestcons, according to www.fanac.org

The program lists Farmer's speech titled "SF and the Kinsey Report". This is the convention where the first Hugo Awards were presented (Farmer won for most promising new author). They had not decided to call the award the Hugo until the last minute so the program just mentions the award presentation. The progress reports refer to them as achievement awards. Progress report #3 contains the ballot for voting on the awards and #4 mentions Farmer as a choice for outstanding new discovery.

Midwest Con 5, Bellefontaine OH, May 1954

Other than the incident that Phil writes about in his afterword to Harlan Ellison's ALL THE LIES THAT ARE MY LIFE, and Phil & Bette Farmer's assurance that they attended this convention, we have no report of them being here. But we are looking for fanzines with pictures or stories about this convention.

14th World Science Fiction Convention, (NewYorCon III), Chicago, September 1956

No documentation at this time, but Bette Farmer says they went to this convention.

Philip & Bette Farmer attended this convention, you can see a couple of pictures from their personal collection at the Photo Gallery page. In the book The Proceedings: Chicon III Phil is mentioned a few times. Early on when Dean McLaughlin is introducing notable guests in the audience, later when he is on a panel titled "Is There too Much Sex In Science Fiction?", and during a speech by Guest of Honor Theodore Sturgeon who says "What one person can do is certainly incredible, but science fiction is full of authors, for example, who can do what nobody could ever do before. Philip José Farmer is such an author, so is Heinlein." Wow, praise from Sturgeon lumping Phil in with Heinlein, you have to love that.

22th World Science Fiction Convention, (Pacificon II), Oakland, September 1964

No documentation at this time, but Bette Farmer says they went to this convention.

Philip José Farmer was the guest of honor. The convention program contains articles on Farmer by Theodore Sturgeon and Pohl Anderson as well as a photo of Farmer. This is the convention where Farmer gave his infamous speech "Reap". This is also the convention where he won his second Hugo Award, this one for Riders of the Purple Wage. According to The Gridley Wave #86, 1983, Farmer was also a guest at the Dum-Dum held during the WorldCon.

Farmer attended this festival with a bunch of other science fiction authors; Alfred Bester, Arthur C. Clarke, Harlan Ellison, Harry Harrison, Sam Moskowitz, and A. E. von Vogt. He also wrote a report about the convention for Luna #6.

According to Science Fiction Review #32, August 1969; Farmer was on a panel with Theodore Sturgeon, Jerry Sohl, Bill Rostler and Hank Stine titled "The Sexually Explicit Novel in SF" (or, "Do Sex and Science Fiction Really Mix?"). Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg also joined.

At this Dum-Dum Phil was the guest of honor, gave the banquet speech on Tarzan's Coat of Arms which was eventually printed in Burroughs Bulletin #22, and won the Golden Lion award.

Marcon, Columbus, OH March 26, 1971

Philip & Bette Farmer drove to the convention where Lester del Rey was the guest of honor and was enjoying his honeymoon with new wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. (Locus #80)

According to Locus #80, Philip attended and Gordon Dickson was the guest of honor. Moebius Trip #8 contains a con report by Ed Connor. Phil was on a panel with Gordon Dickson, Bob Tucker, Joe Hensley and Gene Wolfe, which was held at the local library and covered in the local paper.

Mid-America Con, Kansas City, June 16-18 1972

Philip José Farmer and James Gunn were the guests of honor. There is a one page article about Phil by Vernell Corniell in the program. From Locus #115 June, 23 1972: ... Highpoint of the convention, and very well attended, was the Saturday night banquet featuring Phil Farmer's speech, a surprise reading of a just-completed short story about an eye-witness to King Kong's escapades ...

Pecon 3, Peoria, IL July 8-10, 1972

From Locus #103 July 21, 1972:

... A short question and answer period with Phil Farmer and andy Offett was held Saturday afternoon. The attendance at the exceptionally good banquet was rather light. After the meal, andy talked about Phil Farmer and fandom for about 15 minutes, after which Phil talked for about 30 minutes on a multitude of subjects ranging from the local newspaper to the academic acceptance of SF. (Don Blyly)

30th World Science Fiction Convention, (L.A. Con) Los Angeles, August 31-September 4 1972

This was the convention where Philip José Farmer won his third Hugo Award for TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO. Farmer is also listed as being on a panel discussion "A Herd of Relevance: Science Fiction and its Relevance to Society".

Philip José Farmer and Frank Kelly Freas were the guests of honor. The article on Farmer in the program is just a reprint of an intro Roger Zelazny wrote for IMAGE OF THE BEAST. However, the fanzine Infinity #5 has a detailed convention report and a photo. Phil was late arriving from the airport so the first panel he was supposed to be on at 2:00pm on Friday, "The Next Hundred Years" was cancelled. At 4:00pm he was on a panel with Kelly Freas and Vaughn Bode titled "The Future of Space Flight". On Saturday from 11:00am to 1:00pm the two guests of honor, Kelly Freas and Philip José Farmer gave their keynote speeches. Phil's was on guidelines for the co-existence of science fiction and comic fans (this convention was half science fiction and half comics). On Sunday Phil and Lin Carter gave a talk on "Where is the borderline Between Science Fiction and Fantasy?"

According to an interview in Bakka Magazine No. 6, Fall 1977, Phil was at this Toronto convention as well as the Summercon 77 convention where the interview took place. This is from Robert Bloch's Banquet Speech, which was printed in The Alien Critic #8 February 1974:

...Then of course we have Philip José Farmer, one of the greatest innovators in our field, who stripped away much of the prudery and phony taboos.

More than twenty years ago Philip José Farmer dared to do what no one had ever done before... he wrote THE LOVERS... a story in which a man had sexual relations with an insect.

You might call it science fiction's first case of buggery.

You hear that, Phil? That's how the public is. Last year they give you a Hugo... this year they boo your name.

Phil was also the banquet speaker at the attached Dum-Dum.

Autograph Party, Los Angeles, January 11, 1975

According to Locus #168, December 24, 1974:

A Change of Hobbit will have an autograph party for PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER on January 11, from 2-5p.m. (1371 Westwood Blvd,. Los Angeles).

Minicon 10, Minneapolis, April 18-20, 1975

The interview printed in Tangent #2 was conducted during this convention where Phil was one of the guests. This was during the thick of the "Who is Kilgore Trout" mystery. According to the program, Phil also attended an autograph party and was on the panel "Creating Fantasy Worlds" with Karen Anderson, Poul Anderson, Lester del Rey, Philip Klass and Clifford Simak

From an undated, unnamed newspaper article:

A man who, for well over two decades, has been in the top echelon of American science fiction writers. Phil José Farmer will be guest of honor at Solarcon I, El Paso's first science fiction held today through Friday at the Plaza Hotel and Plaza Theater downtown.

The convention, expected to attract science fiction fans and writers from throughout the Southwest, is sponsored by "Zothique," the science fiction club at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Farmer's best-known work includes such novels as "The Lovers" (1952), "Flesh" (1960), "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" and "The Fabulous Riverboat" (two novels in a series); and such non-fiction works as biographies of Tarzan ("Tarzan Alive"), Phileas Fogg ("The Other Log of Phileas Fogg"), and Doc Savage ("Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life"). He is the author of nearly 50 published books.

Theodore Sturgeon, another top science fiction author, has said of Farmer: "There is a profound stability about this man and his work, but it is not the stability of the pyramid, structured and static; it is the stability of gullwings... dynamic stability, dependent upon motion, not stasis... life, not death."

Sturgeon refers to Farmer as "artist, poet, teacher, entertainer, Communicator, strong, convinced, and courageous man ... Nobody... nobody at all... has constructed as many different kinds of universe, varieties of reality, as he has, but each one of them is clearly earth-based, ecology-based."

SF: Its Peculiar Inputs, UCLA, May 1975

From Locus #168, December 24, 1974:

The U.C.L.A. Extension will have a series of science fiction evenings, put together by Harlan Ellison, "Ten Nights Down a Rabbit Hole" will be held Tuesdays from April 1 to June 3, 7:30-10:30 and will feature guest speakers (Zelazny, Silverberg, Leiber, Sturgeon and others), films and more.

Phil appeared as a guest speaker on May 13th, one week later the school newspaper, The Daily Bruin, ran a review of VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL which indicated that the reviewer was sure Vonnegut had written the book. During his talk Phil revealed that he had written VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL under the name Kilgore Trout. A letter to the editor pointed this fact out and a correction was run in the same issue as the letter.

RiverCon, Lousiville, July 1975

Philip José Farmer was the guest of honor. This was the first RiverCon convention, and it was also DeepSouthCon XIII.Apparently DeepSouthCon floats around like the WorldCon does. Farmer was the guest of honor and gave the speech "Now it Can Be Told, the truth about Kilgore Trout".

Held at the Conrad Hilton and billed as the first "professional" Star Trek Convention, this two day event was packed with stars from both the crew of the enterprise, and the science fiction literary world as well. In addition to every regular member of the crew and several other actors, Harlan Ellison, Robert Block, Hal Clement, David Gerrold and Phil Farmer were all featured guests.

NASFIC, Los Angeles, August 28-September 1, 1975

A NASFIC is held in North America in any year where the Worldcon is outside of North America. According to Locus #178:

...Monday Sept. 1 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the entire program will be devoted to him. Speakers will include Ray Bradbury and Philip José Farmer and many of the stars who played Tarzan and Jane in the movies will be present.

Fantasy and Science Fiction Festival, Metz France, July 1976

Philip José Farmer and Theodore Sturgeon were the Guests of Honor.

This was the 1976 Worldcon held in Kansas City. According to Locus #191, July 31 1976, Phil is mentioned as being on a panel at the upcoming convention. Phil was also a guest at the Dum-Dum banquet.

Balticon Eleven, Baltimore, April 8-10, 1977

Phil was the Guest of Honor at this convention. The program book has a short bio of Phil by Ted White. There is also a "short" bibliography by Thomas Wymer that is five and half pages long, reprinted from the December 1976 issue of Extrapolation.

Phil was the Guest of Honor at this convention.

Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy World Exposition, Tucson, AZ June 2-5, 1977

According to the ad, Phil was one of the many big name guests at this convention.

Summercon 77, Toronto, July 1977

Phil was the Guest of Honor at this convention. The program book has an ad from Ace Books announcing the long awaited fifth book in the World of Tiers series. Besides giving the GoH speech Phil also sat on a panel with Phyllis Gottlieb and Spider Robinson, the subject being "Are there any Trends in Current Science Fiction?" There is also an article titled "Tarzan meets the Farmers of Philip José" by Jim Allan, which is a very long book review of LORD TYGER.

First meeting of The Hansoms of John Clayton, Peoria, November 17, 1977

The "Scion Societies" section of the June 1978 issue of The Baker Street Journal, lists the initial meeting of this group Sherlock Holmes fan club:

Those present included Emily Sutton, George Scheetz, Alex Ciegler, and Philip José Farmer, who brought along a collection of books relating to the Holmes phenomenon.

Held at the University of Copenhagen, this festival was organized by the Danish Sf Circle in conjunction with the University's English Department. Farmer's speech was titled "Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut versus Free Will." Locus #288, January 1985 has a report on Danish science fiction and shows a picture of Phil from Fabula 77. The fanzine, Unifan #1, June 1978, contains a transcript titled "Work Shop" from this convention.

This event was held at the Science Museum at the Springfield quadrangle. Philip José Farmer and Frederick Pohl were among the guests. Both were interviewed in the Space:1999 fanzine Alphalog 6.

National English Honor Society National Convention, Terre Haute Indiana, April 1978

According to Farmerage Vol 1, No. 1, the Sigma Tau Delta National English Honor Society inducted Phil as a life member at this event.

Locus #208, January-February 1978 says that Philip José Farmer will be speaking on April 19th. Locus #210, April 1978 covers the first four speakers. About Farmer it said:

Philip José Farmer both lectured and answered questions. He spoke about the creation of artificial universes and went into great detail about the preparatory construction of the parallel universe in his novel THE GATE OF TIME, which he is currently working on for republication under his original title TWO HAWKS FROM EARTH.

The speech was printed in Pulsar.

36th World Science Fiction Convention, (Iguanacon) Phoenix, August 30-September 4, 1978

Locus #213, August 1978 lists Philip José Farmer among the guests scheduled to attend.

Philip José Farmer was the guest of honor, there is a bio of him in the program by Roger Zelazny. There is also a Farmer bibliography and a full page ad from Ace saying that they were going to advertise some Farmer book but a courier lost the artwork! The cover from the program is taken from THE WIND WHALES OF ISHMAEL.

According to a notice in the Los Angeles Times Book Review Section:

Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m., Philip José Farmer, author of "The Magic Labyrinth" (Putnam $11.95), will be signing up to five books per person at a party at A Change of Hobbit (1371 Westwood Blvd.)

Philip José Farmer was one of the many pro guests. According to the December 1980 issue of Science Fiction Chronicle:

"Out of the Petri Dish - Building Cultures" was a well-received panel with Dave Hartwell (moderator), Octavia Butler, C.J. Cherryh, Philip José Farmer, Alan Dean Foster, Vonda N. McIntyre and Joan D. Vinge.

Locus issue #237 September 1980, reports that:

"Philip José Farmer presented the Non-Fiction Book Hugo to THE SCIENCE FICTION ENCYCLOPEDIA edited by Peter Nicholls.

Special Program of Authors from Every Field, San José Center of the Performing Arts, ? 1981

Locus #252, January 1981, the article "Riverworld to TV: New Books Too", reports that Phil spoke at this conference:

His speech, given as if by a secret agent from Arcturus 5, concluded that man had overpopulated Earth but that there were not enough human beings".

Book signing at Forbidden Planet, London, January 1981

The article Book World Extra, in Starburst #32 covers Farmer's visit to London for a book signing to coincide with the British release of THE MAGIC LABYRINTH in paperback.

Aquacon, Disneyland Hotel Anaheim, February 12-16, 1981

Locus #233, May 1980 has an ad for Aquacon and lists Philip José Farmer as the Guest of Honor. There was also this ad in the Noreascon2 (WorldCon) program.

One Day Conference, Southern Illinois University, April 11, 1981

According to the June 1981 issue of Science Fiction Chronicle:

Teaching, Reading and Writing SF was the theme of a one-day conference held April 11th at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, IL. Panels and speeches included "The Golden Age of SF", "The Sword & Sorcery Revival", "Woman in SF", and "Extrapolating SF Stories" with Philip José Farmer.

InConJunction I, Indianapolis IN, July 3-5, 1981

According to the June 1981 issue of Science Fiction Chronicle, Philip José Farmer was the Guest of Honor at this local convention.

Phil was one of the Guests at this convention. There is a nice full page bio of him by Tom Geddes.

Fantasy Fair, Atlanta, August 13-15, 1982

Phil was one of the Guests at this convention.

Phil was one of the many guests at this convention. www.fanac.org has a picture of him at a signing table.

International Science Fiction and Comic Art Convention, New York, July 2-4, 1983

Locus #268, May 1983 has an ad for this convention listing Philip José Farmer as one of the guests.

World Fantasy Convention, Chicago, October 28-30, 1983

Contains the story "The Monster on Hold". This is the first draft of a chapter from a Doc Caliban book that was never published (or finished as far as I know). This story would have picked up where LORD OF THE TREES/THE MAD GOBLIN left off. Now that four of the Nine are dead Doc discovers that they have a monster suspended between worlds, or universes, that is breeding children to be sent after Doc and his friends. If the children fail the Nine may send the monster after Doc so he decides to make the first move and attack the monster.

Phil was supposed to be the guest of honor, as you can see on the back of the bookmark, but he canceled for some reason and did not attend this convention.

Dallas Fantasy Fair, Dallas, July 6-8, 1984

Phil was one of the guests at this convention. According to the program there was a Interview Q&A session on Friday, Phil was on a panel titled "The Writer's First Sale" on Saturday and he did a reading on Sunday. There were also two great full page advertisements for Phil's books in the program.

Dallas Fantasy Fair, Dallas, July 4-6, 1986

According to the Progress Report this was the third Dallas Fantasy Fair Phil attended.

Rusticon 5, Seattle WA, January 15-17, 1988

According to the December 1987 issue of Science Fiction Chronicle, Philip José Farmer was the Guest of Honor at this convention.

Magnus Opus Con 3, Columbus GA, March 25-27, 1988

According to ads in the December 1987 and January 1988 issues of Science Fiction Chronicle, Philip José Farmer was of 13 Guests of Honor at this convention.

According to thepulp.net Philip José Farmer was the Guest of Honor at this convention.

Hosted by the Normal Beans of Chicago this was the 75th Anniversary Dinner of the publication of TARZAN OF THE APES. Phil was the Keynote Speaker. The program book contains a quote from Phil on the first page and a copy of the coat of arms that Phil designed. Most of the book contains articles about Edgar Rice Burroughs and his connections to Chicago where the dinner was held.

Philip José Farmer was the principle speaker, there is an article in the program about him by Bruce Sterling, a reprint of O'Brien and Obrenov and a full page ad from TOR.

According to Locus #349:

February 1990, Chicago's City Lit Theater Company premiered a stage version of Philip José Farmer's 1967 Hugo winning story "Riders of the Purple Wage". The story was adapted for the stage by Arnold April and was scheduled to run at the Live Bait Theater through January 14, 1990.

Here are two reviews of the play from Chicago newspapers.

Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Fort Lauderdale, March 21-25, 1990

According to Locus #353, June 1990, Phil was a special guest. There are four pictures of him, two with Bette.

Philip José Farmer was the Author Guest of Honor. The programming included, "Who Fragged Phil Farmer":

Philip Jose Farmer, ICON 15 writer guest of honor, has been murdered. Deckard must find the killer. Could it be Jessica Rabbit? Spamajello? Tarzan? Or someone else?

World Fantasy Convention, Chicago, November 2-4, 1990

Contains the story "Evil, Be My Good", which was later printed in THE ULTIMATE FRANKENSTEIN.

Dragon Con, Atlanta GA, July 12-14, 1991

According to the July 1991 issue of Locus (#366), Philip José Farmer was one of the guests at this large Southern convention.

49th World Science Fiction Convention, (Chicon V), Chicago, September 1991

Phil was one of the many guests at this convention. www.fanac.org has a picture of him at a signing table.

According to Locus #377, June 1992, Phil was the Guest of Honor at this annual gathering.

Farmer's guest of honor address began spectacularly, with an impressive, chest-thumping Tarzan yell that has already become his IAFA trademark. Paying special tribute to his wife Bette, Farmer traced several sources of his inspiration and then announced that he will write no more sf or fantasy novels once he completes his current project (a final World of Tiers Novel). While he plans to continue producing short fiction in the genre, Farmer said, he want to try his hand at other kinds of fiction, including a private eye novel. Farmer participated in several additional sessions and capped his guest of honor stint with a hilarious reading of his story "Osiris on Crutches" just before the closing banquet.

Farmertacon, Tampere, Finland, August 8, 1992

According to Locus #377, June 1992, Phil,

...will be Guest of Honor at Finnish sf convention Farmertacon in August 8. It will be held at the Old Library House in Tampere, Finland, and on the paddle wheel ship Finlandia."

Writers Live at the Library, Peoria Illinois, September 21, 2003

Peoria's City Council declared 2003 to be the "Year of the Library" and celebrated this with author events throughout the year.

Phil was the Science Fiction Guest of Honor at this convention. There is a profile of Phil by Robert Weinberg which talks about his career and calls him a "Maker of Universes". He also talks about introducing Phil to the editors who wanted to produce the Riverworld shared-world anthologies, but only if he could contribute a Riverworld story himself.

SFRA '94, Arlington Heights, IL, July 7-10, 1994

According to the March 1994 issue of Science Fiction Studies, Phil was one of the guests at the Science Fiction Research Association's Annual Conference.

Peoria Historical Society hosts: Dr. Gary Wolfe, of Roosevelt University presenting his lecture, "Tarzan, Oz and Mars: Myth Making in Illinois" with special guest Philip José Farmer. This event was held at the Lakeview Branch of the Peoria Public Library.

Archon XIX, Collinsville, IL (near St. Louis, MO), June 23-25, 1995

Phil was one of the guests at this convention near St. Louis.

RiverCon XX, Louisville, September 1995

Philip José Farmer was the guest of honor, there is a bio of him in the program by Frederick Pohl.

This speech to a local Kiwanis club was given around 1997. Farmer describes the process he went through while writing NAKED CAME THE FARMER. He reads an excerpt from the novel and describes a scene that was cut. The short scene is included and published here for the first time anywhere.

Farmer was asked by a local church to give a talk speculating on what "faith" would look like in one hundred years.

NAKED CAME THE FARMER Book Signing, Peoria, May 15th, 1998

This round-robin novel was written as project for The Peoria Public Library, which got all the proceeds from the book. The book was launched at a book signing with most of the 13 authors present on the evening of May 15th, 1998, the same night as the final episode of Seinfeld! This did cut down the attendance some, but the library did eventually sell all its copies of the book.

While the exhibit of Farmer memorabilia at the library lasted the whole month of June, it was on the 2nd that Phil came and gave a talk and signed copies of his Peoria based mystery novel, NOTHING BURNS IN HELL. The second page of the Newsletter also talks his forthcoming Tarzan novel and the latest edition of the Riverworld books.

Nebula Award Ceremony, Los Angeles, April 28, 2001

Harlan Ellison presented Phil with the 2001 Nebula Grand Master Award. Harlan and Gary K. Wolf both wrote tributes to Phil which appeared in the Summer 2001 issue of The Bulletin No. 150, which covered the Nebula Awards. SFWA Web Page

The Peoria Public Library, with some help from the (then) Unofficial PJF Home Page, hosted an event celebrating Phil's winning the Nebula Grand Master Award.

The Peoria Public Library, and the Official PJF Home Page, hosted an event celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Philip José Farmer's debut science fiction story, The Lovers.

It began with Paul Spiteri planning a trip to the US from England which included a stop in Peoria to see Phil. He suggested that, similar to the events in 2001 and 2002, we have a few more people come to Peoria and have a get together with Phil and Bette Farmer. The regular contributors behind Farmerphile were invited; Michael Croteau, Chris Carey, Win Eckert, Danny Adams, Keith Howell, Charles Berlin and Jason Robert Bell (the last two being the only ones who could not attend). Bette then invited some local, or at least in-state, friends to come and before we knew it we had 30 people at dinner Saturday night and showing up at Phil's house on Saturday.

The Program Booklet features cover art by Keith Howell and includes three "con reports," which were submitted before the event (neat trick that) as well as a sneak preview of two parodies of Phil's Riverworld series that might be printed in a future issue of Farmerphile.

Just like Farmercon I, this "convention" began with Paul Spiteri and his family visiting from England. This time around we tried to invite everyone who had contributed to Farmerphile. Unfortunately, because we didn't start organizing this event and sending out invitations until June, many were unable to attend. Those Farmerphile contributors who could make it were; Paul Spiteri, Michael Croteau, Chris Carey, Win Eckert, Rick Beaulieau, Shannon Robicheaux, Chuck Loridans, Dennis Power, Gary K. Wolfe, Tracy Knight and none other than Joe R. Lansdale. We also expanded the guest list this year to include the members of the Wold Newton Society who happend to be in St. Louis (only three hours from Peoria) doing panels at Archon; Henry Covert, Rick Lai, John Small and, fittingly enough, there were some "crossovers" between the Farmerphile and Wold Newton groups; Win Eckert, Chuck Loridans and Dennis Power were doubly invited.

The first Farmer Awards were given out; Michael Croteau won Top Farmerphile (here "farmerphile" is an adjective not a noun). Bette Farmer won Top Farmerphile Contributor (noun). George Scheetz won Top Retroactive Farmerphile (adjective again). Win Eckert won the Wold Newton Award and Phil Farmer was awarded the Maker of Universes Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Program Booklet shown above (cover art by Shannon Robicheaux) includes letters from some friends of Phil's who could not make it to Farmercon II. Names you might recognize such as; Phileas Fogg, Kilgore Trout, Ralph von Wau Wau, Roger Two Hawks, Paul Janus Finnegan, and many others. It also contains a short story by Christopher Paul Carey, titled "A Kick in the Side" which takes place during the events of Phil's novel FLIGHT TO OPAR.

More like the Living Legend Reception in 2001 and the Lovers 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2002 than the previous two Farmercons, Farmercon 90 was held at the Lakeview Branch of the Peoria Public Library and open to the public. Programming included a Wold Newton panel, a "Mystery" panel (where it was announced that three unfinished novels, and one short story, had been completed by other writers), "First Encounters" speeches by fans and friends of Phil and an award ceremony where Jean-Marc Lofficier won the Wold Newton Award, Christopher Paul Carey won the Farmerphile award for best article and Charles Berlin won the Farmerphile award for best artwork.

Like the previous two Farmercons, Farmerphile contributors and other guests were invited to a dinner Saturday night and to Phil's house on Sunday for a party. Unfortunately Phil was too ill to attend the events but Bette Farmer, and everyone else, had a terrific time.

The Program Booklet shown above (cover art by Keith Howell) contains a history of past Farmercon-like events and, "Just One Day!" Paul Spiteri's story of coming over from England for Phil's 90th birthday last January. There is also a history of Phil's collaborations along with descriptions of the four new ones: "Getting Ready to Write," by Phil and Paul Spiteri, THE SONG OF KWASIN by Phil and Christopher Paul Carey, THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE by Phil and Win Scott Eckert and COUGAR BY THE TAIL by Phil and Tracy Knight. There is also a short history of the Wold Newton and Farmerphile awards and bios of this year's winners. The booklet concludes with a curious tale about Phil and his time machine...

This year's Farmercon was once again held at the Lakeview Branch of the Peoria Public Library and open to the public. Programming included a panel on Phil's legacy, members of the audience telling "What Phil Farmer Taught Me," a section discussing some of Phil's opening lines, and "Looking Forward" a talk about upcoming books and movies of interest to Farmer fans. Because Bette Farmer was too ill to attend the event was toned down and the Awards Ceremony was canceled. However, Dennis E. Power won the Wold Newton Award, Keith Howell won the Farmerphile Award for best artwork and Win Scott Eckert win the Farmerphile Award for best article.

As with previous Farmercons, Farmerphile contributors and other guests attended a dinner Saturday night.

The Program Booklet (cover art by Charles Berlin based on the French novel PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER CONQUIERT L'UNIVERS by François Mottier) contains an article about Phil's biggest fan: Bette Farmer, "The Cache of Inspiration from Peoria" by Steve Mattsson, "Down in Phil Farmer's Basement" by Steven Connelly, "The Keys to the Gates" by Gary K. Wolfe, and "The Bright Heart of Eternity" by John A. Small. It also contains thirty examples of "What Philip José Farmer Taught Me" by Phil's peers, fans and friends, an English translation of Phil's introduction to PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER CONQUIERT L'UNIVERS, and six short excerpts from an unfinished novel titled STRANGERS AND BROTHERS about Tim Howller, the protagonist of "The Face that Launched a Thousand Eggs."

FarmerCon ventured forth from the local confines of Peoria, Illinois, to Seattle, Washington to piggyback on the Locus Award/Hall of Fame weekend. Friday night the five contributors to THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 1: Protean Dimensions on hand had a "signing party" and signed well over one hundred copies of the book. Amazingly those sitting around watching seemed to have fun too. Saturday, FarmerCon V officially began. It was held in the room next to the Locus panels. An hour of video footage of Phil was played in the background and there was a silent auction (of books signed by Philip José Farmer, and others). Next up was the Locus Awards banquet (MC Connie Willis was kind enough to mention FarmerCon and single out those of us who attended the awards) and then the Hall of Fame Inductions that night at the SF Museum. Octavia E. Butler, Richard Matheson, Douglas Trumbull, and Roger Zelazny were this year's inductees and the ceremony was quite interesting. Sunday the FarmerCon crowd visited the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum where Philip José Farmer is represented not only the Science Fiction Museum, but also in a Jimi Hendrix wall display.

This was the second year in a row FarmerCon appeared outside of Peoria, Illinois. This time FarmerCon stayed in the mid-west, joining with PulpFest. The two events fit together perfectly. Meteor House had a table in the dealers room which sold not just copies of THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER, but also back issues of Farmerphile, books from Farmer's Estate and nearly twenty different books by FarmerCon attendees... who were of course on hand to sign them. Programming included FarmerCon attendees participating in the New Fictioneers readings and panels, and talks Friday night from Michael Croteau, Win Scott Eckert, Dr. Art Sippo and Rick Lai. Even with the presentation being delayed an hour, and not starting until 11:30pm, an audience stayed until 1:30am enthusiastically asking questions. Attendees ventured outside the hotel twice to all eat out togther, but Saturday we took over one of the meeting rooms and ordered pizza in. The entire weekend was an unqualified success. So much so in fact, that PulpFest has now become FarmerCon's semi-permanent home. Here is a more detailed report from attendee Sean Levin.

Unlike previous FarmerCons, we did not print our own program this year. In much the same way that FarmerCon itself dovetailed with PulpFest, our program was incorporated in the PulpFest program: The Pulpster #20. The four page FarmerCon supplement included a biography of Farmer reprinted from MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE, a listing of the FarmerCon presenters, and three excerpts from THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER 2: Of Dust and Soul.