Customer Reviews

Venus on the Half-Shell and Others

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great collection of some rare gems. Not only does it reprint the more famous Venus on the Half Shell, it also reprints such rarities as The Adventure of the Peerless Peer, Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod, The Problem of Sore Bridge-Among Others, Phantom of the Sewers as well as a couple of other pieces that have only appeared in out of print anthologies.

The Adventure of the Peerless Peer tells the story of Sherlock Holmes on the trail of his nemesis Von Bork. The trail leads to Africa and to an encounter between Holmes and Lord Greystoke. This story was reprinted with special permission from Danton Burroughs.

The Problem of Sore Bridge-Among Others is also Sherlockian, in that it involves A.J. Raffles solving three cases that Sherlock Holmes could not.

Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod is a humorous pastiche, and one of Farmer's favorites. It tells the story of Tarzan as written by Burroughs, not Edgar Rice but rather William S.

This wonderful collection brings together nearly all of Farmer's fictional author works. Among the missing are the two Ralph Von Wau Wau stories which were recently reprinted in the massive tome Pearls from Peoria.

This collection of fictional author works demonstrates the originality and versatility of Farmer as an author. It is not to be missed.

Philip Jose's Farmer's hilarious novel VENUS ON THE HALF SHELL... as written by Vonnegut's Kilgore Trout.

A classic short story and Holmesian pastiche, "The Problem of the Sore Bridge--Among Others," as recounted by A.J. Raffles' amanuensis, Harry "Bunny" Manders.

The novella THE ADVENTURE OF THE PEERLESS PEER, as by John H. Watson, M.D. (in which Sherlock Holmes meets Lord Greystoke--republished in its original form her for the for time since the mid-1970s, with the full permission of the Burroughs Estate).

These stales, and the others in this collection, are well-crafted and witty tales, from the pen of the master at the height of his powers. Kudos to editor Christopher Paul Carey, for this inspired collection which could only have come from the imagination of Philip Jose Farmer.

I lost my disintegrating copy of Venus on the Half Shell, which I love, and was looking forward, not only to replacing it, but reading other examples of Farmer toying with the styles of other writers. Unfortunately, it appears that Venus is the only successful example of this approach.