Philip Jose Farmer, dead at 91

Neil Gaiman just tweeted that he had been told that Philip Jose Farmer has died. And sadly, it’s true. Farmer was the author of what is perhaps my favorite science fiction series, the Riverworld Saga — a series of novels told from the perspective of various historical figures including Richard Burton and Samuel Clemens who have been resurrected along with every other person ever born, and their journey and adventures in attempting to determine why they have been reborn. It is an amazing look at spirituality, life, death, and so much more and the story is one of the most engaging I’ve ever read.

Farmer is one of the most influential science fiction and fantasy authors and was a prolific writer, but he is surprisingly unknown compared to his contemporaries like Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, though he is one of only 26 Grand Masters of Science Fiction. It’s safe to say that Farmer is one of my biggest influences with regard to my attempts at writing and I’m sad that I never got the chance to meet him. He hasn’t written in years, but the science fiction and fantasy community is a lesser place without him.