The Trilogies of William Gipson

I don’t know where I was first introduced to Gipson’s work, but somehow I came across a copy of William Gipson’s Neuromancer. It was all so long ago. What I do remember that I had just went back to school to update my technology skills. We were in the age of the personal computers and C++. Mainframes, Minicomputers, and machine language weren’t going to cut it anymore or at least not for me.

I went on to read all three of Gipson’s Sprawl series and at the time these text really had an effect on me. They changed my whole philosophy and take on the Internet that had just a few years earlier had made its debut into society. The whole idea of being one with the Internet or as Gibson likes to refer to it Cyberspace perked my imagination.

I have since read a few additional novels by William Gibson, but did not know that he had written two other trilogies. Here are all three of Gibson’s trilogies:

The Sprawl

Neuromancer, 1984
Count Zero, 1986
Mona Lisa Overdrive, 1988

The Bridge

Virtual Light, 1993
Idoru, 1996
All Tomorrow's Parties, 1999

The Blue Ant

Pattern Recognition, 2003
Spook Country, 2007
Zero History, 2010

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1. William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy - Worlds of Speculative Fiction (lecture 20)
2. A Look at Neuromancer (Part 1 of 5)

The New Traveler’s Almanac

"The New Traveler’s Almanac is a 32-page section within the Volume II of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and includes the 32 pages of tightly packed text spread out over six chapters. The text describes an extraordinary travel log depicting some extraordinary locations and peoples .Within this text there are included several picture plates representing some of the locations, peoples, and circumstances.

Chapter Headings and Plates

Chapter One:

The British Isles: From the Streaming Kingdom to The Blazing World: Yalding Towers Garden, Hampshire; Miss A.L., 1871; Bellman Expedition sketch by Miss Beever, 1876; A peculiar breed of salmon, Glyn Cagny, Ireland; Tiny water-breathing humanoid form, reproduced by king permission of The Lancet; “Christian has gone…” (A full page plate).

Chapter Two:

Europe: From Aiolio to Zenda: The imaginary Isle; Cyrill Island; Les Hommes Mysterieux; Example of the extinct Siren Bird; Ruins of the Snow Queen’s Castle; The Castle near Lutha; The City of Dreadful Night.

Chapter Three:

The America’s: In the Rubble of Utopia: The Pirates’ Conference, Rose Island; The Marvelous Islands; Speranza; Goldfinger Expedition, 1928; Scientific Expedition to The Black Lagoon, 1930. No survivors; Orlando; Conversation with Edward Framingham, Lake La Metrie, Wyoming; Arkham.

Chapter Four:

Africa and The Middle East: Lights of the Dark Continent: Nacumera; Skull Island; Parthalia; Un-captioned image; a second Un-captioned image; Fantippo; A third un-captioned image.

Chapter Five

Asia and the Australias: Visions of Cathy: Uncaptioned: Mademoiselle being courted by a monkey dressed like a pirate; Bandelies; Laputa; Feather Island; Great Sage; Shangri-La; Xanadu.

Chapter Six

The Polar Regions: To the Ends of the Earth: Megapatagonia; Mounts of Madness; uncaptioned; Toyland; uncaptioned."

Volume II of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Walking Corpses

“So we all go,” She tells herself. “Even the richest and most powerful are only meat for cheshires in the end. We are all nothing but walking corpses and to forget this is folly. Meditate in the nature of corpses and you will see this.”

Emiko, Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi

Several Pages of Shacks, Sheds, and Shanties for your Viewing Pleasure

Model Railroad Forums has made several more pages of their members Shacks,Sheds, and Shanties. Most of them seem to be created using wood and quite a few of seem to be scratch built.

Riverworld, Volume Two, Epilogue

“Technological Note:

Potassium nitrate is prepared on Riverworld by feeding a certain type of earthworm human excrement. The end product of this diet is crystallized potassium nitrate, which, when mixed with charcoal and sulfur, makes black gunpowder.”

Riverworld, Philip Jose Farmer

Miniature Steampunk Train

This short clip features a very awesome Steampunk themed model train layout. I especially liked the cargo that its flat cars are carrying.

The Fabulous Riverboat Forward

“For the unholy trinity Bobs: Bloch, Heinlein, and Traurig~
may I meet them on the banks of the River,
where we’ll board the fabulous Riverboat”

The Fabulous Riverboat, Philip Jose Farmer

Paper Crafts

I have always been fascinated with the use of paper, especially using this medium to build things. I define paper as anything derived from a tree. So that runs the whole array of materials from paper, cardboard, and all products manufactured from paper.

In my pursuit of research I recently found three resources and sites that either display some astounding paper models or share some simple techniques to get you started working with paper.

This Insane Paper Plane Has Taken 10 Years to Build

Paperholm (here are four links feature the works of Charles-Young) Miniature city built from paper. Many of the structures include animated elements.

1. Cool Things
2. Yatzer
3. Boing Boing
4. Fine Print Art

Intro to Paper-craft: Structure and Detail (this two page PDF will introduce the reader into the art of paper-craft)

The Verse of John Collup

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Lord, let the faithless see
Miracles ceased, revive in me.
The leper cleaned, the blind healed,
the dead raised by Thee.

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Dull souls aspire;
Thou are not the Earth,
Mount higher!
Heaven gave the spark;
to it return fire.

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John Collup

Riverworld: Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip José Farmer

A Long List of Model Railroading Tips and Tricks for Scenery

The Scenery Tips page includes a few dozen tips and techniques you can use on your model railroad. I seem to remember visiting this site some time ago and the list seems to have grown some since then.

The Building and Design of a New Roco Model Train Locomotive

This short video documents the process of the design and manufacturing of a Roco scale locomotive.

The Riverworld Series

As I mentioned in my last post on this topic I have just started to read the first in Farmer’s Riverworld series. The book includes the first and the second novels in this series. The complete series includes these volumes:

To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971)
The Fabulous Riverboat (1971)
The Dark Design (1977)
The Magic Labyrinth (1980)
Gods of Riverworld (1983; later published as The Gods of Riverworld)

For an overview of this series I found a useful article on Wikipedia and although I am not anywhere near ready to read other related stories about Riveworld I have found some Riverworld fan-fiction on the PJFamer site.

Riverworld #1

I recently watch the adaptation of Philip José Farmer’s Riverworld. I wouldn’t say that it was an extraordinary movie, but because of its use the Farmer’s text with its many well-known characters it was an enjoyable film. It wasn’t too long ago that I had completed reading through Farmers Grand Master and his Wold Newton Universe novels and was looking to start another one of Farmer’s series .Since all five of the Riverworld series are still available. I purchased the first and second volumes (they are combined into one volume) in this series.

“The door to the room had opened, and he had seen a giant, black, one-humped camel outside and had heard the tinkle of the bells on its harness as the hot desert wind touched them. Then a hug black face topped by a great black turban had appeared in the doorway. The black eunuch had come in through the door, moving like a cloud, with a giant scimitar in his hand. Death, the Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Society had come at last.”

Riverworld: Your Scattered Bodies Go & The Fabulous Riverboat, Philip José Farmer

An Island of the Imagination

There have been plenty of fictitious islands, lands, and worlds created by fiction writers. Think of Dune, Middle Earth, and Kong Island, however how many of these islands made it to a real cartographic map? Or have been claimed my the British Crown. Frisland Island is one such island that was a figment of someones imagination that actually met both of these situations.

A Visit to George Selios Franklin and South Manchester Model Railroad

The Franklin and South Manchester model railroad by George Selios is one of those model railroads that all of us aspire to duplicate. Well at least in its details. This is the mother of all model railroads and a wunder to every model railroader.

Materials – Balsa Slabs

At the moment, I am not sure what I will be using these balsa slabs; perhaps for an O-gauge structure of some sort? I paid 3.26 USD for ten 4 x 5.75 x 1/8 inch thick.

Prester John a Host of Characters

Through a manuscript that was circulated during the Middle Ages Prester John was said to be the Emperor Byzantium. Whether he is a priest, king, or both, all is lost in history. However, some of what he is purported to have written to a response to a request from the Vatican is quite intriguing.

“I Prester John, who reigns supreme, I excel in riches, virtue, and I have power over all creatures that dwell under heaven. Seventy-two kings pay tribute to me. Honey flows in our land and milk everywhere abounds. In one of our territories no poison can do harm and there are no noisy frog croaks. There are no scorpions, and no serpents that creep through the grass. No venomous reptiles can exist there and use their deadly power.”

The Lost City of Z, David Grann

The Shack

The authors used foam core board for the sub-walls and some thinly sliced Styrofoam for individual boards. With some creative cutting, bending and breaking the author had the start of a rough and tumble shack. The author added a base coat, some weathering, and some small details to create a truly unique structure.

Bandai Starblazer Model

This is one of Bandai’s Star Blazer #2206, a Karakrum Class Combatant Ship. Although I did use plastic model glue this model could have simply been snapped together. The instructions are in Japanese, however using the included instructions printed on the inside the box the model fit together nicely.

The models 21 parts are connected to X number of sprue and are molded in olive green polystyrene.

Since I was planning on using glue to add to the overall strength of the model, I was extra careful to make sure that I had the correct part in hand. There were a couple of times when I had to study the exploded illustrations and the box art to ensure that I did have the correct part.

My motto for this year is get something done and after seven months I really do not have too much to show for it. I have another Bandai model on my workbench that needs some finishing touches, a HO scale smoke house that is waiting on a few small details to be painted and placed, and lastly I have a HO scale outhouse that needs to be laid out and completed.

Revell’s 1957-59 ‘Space Age Model Kits’

This page published by "We are the Mutants", (I haven't explored to much of this site, but it does look interesting and it seems worthy of a romp through), offers some fanciful late- fifties spacecraft models from Revell. The short and interesting article mentions the space race and Revel’s motivations for manufacturing these designs during that time period.

Post-Apocalyptic 1/72 Chernobyl Diorama

The author puts a lot of work into this diorama. The military vehicle is plastic kit, but the structure is scratch built. I was amazed while I watched the author add details after details to this diorama. Watching this video was a truly rewarding experience.

Buildable Details

I have two thoughts. The first, structures and detail pieces for model railroading have always been expensive, but have gotten even more expensive over the years. Secondly, I have loads of left-over bits of polystyrene and wood from previous projects. Why not put these bits and pieces to use? The following list is just a start. These details can be built from polystyrene, wood, or even paper board. These are small projects and you could possibly pop-out several of these pieces in one afternoon.

• Coal bins
• Outhouses
• Sheds
• Dog houses
• Shop doors
• Windows
• Benches
• Desks
• Tables
• Chairs
• Storage shelves and bins
• Rectangular tanks

The Glossary of Opium

The Den (opium den):

Joint
Hop joint
Lay-down joint

The Pipe:

Gonger
Bamboo
Dream stick
Saxophone

The Smoker:

Pipie
Pipe-fiend
Gowster
Yen-shee-boy (def. Websters)

To Smoke Opium:

To be on the hip
Kicking the gong around (def. urban dictionary)
Rolling the log

Opium: A Portrait of the Heavenly Demon, Barbara Hudgsen

The Flying Scotsman

A great small whimsical animated "flying train". It really is worth a look.

A Host of Characters - Arina Vlassievna

It has been awhile since my last post on this topic, so you might have forgotten what my rational. A host of characters is a place where I document possible characters for my games.

Arina Vlassievna is the mother of Evgenii Bazarov. Arina is in her sixties and is small and rotund. Arina diminutiveness accents her humility and Arina Vlassievna was a true Russian daughter of the petty nobility; by rights she should have lived a couple of centuries before, in the times of old Moscow. She was very devoted and emotional: she believed in all sorts of omens, ways of telling a fortune, spells, dreams; she believed in holy innocents, in brownies, in wood demons, in unlucky encounters, in the evil eye, in folk remedies, in salt, especially when it was blessed on Holy Thursday, and the imminent end o f the world…”

Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev

The Lay of a Lotus Eater

The Lay of a Lotus Eater

Oh, wicked little dope pill,
    You sphere of poppy dough—
Tho’ sin too oft indulged in—
  I fonder of you grow.

Thou dear, diverting hop pill,
    That makes all care forget;
Without you what would life be?
  A drear and tasteless lot.

The Tenderloin girls all love you,
    You are their heart’s delight;
The sight of you brings sunshine;
Your absence—darkest night.

A Devotee, Louis J. Beck

Limehouse, London

Click here for a high resolution map

Authors who wrote about the sordid aspects of Limehouse: Arthur Conan Doyle: The Man with the Twisted Lip, The Sign of the Four; Thomas Burke: Limehouse Nights; Sax Rohmer (Arthur Ward): The Yellow Peril, Dope, The Yellow Claw, and his Fu Manchu series- Fu-Manchu’s Bride, The Insidious Fu Manchu, The Hand of Fu Manchu.

Must I reread these stories once again?

West World Season Two Episodes

West World Season Two

The second season of West World has made its way to DVD and I have been binge watching this new season of episodes. This new season has been titled "The Door". In the last episode of season one, the hosts had started killing off the visitors. Season two continues the host's rampage. Although corporate is trying to contain the situation, there are darker subverting forces at work.

Here is a list of season two's episodes. The introductions are from the inside booklet that accompanies the three disk set.

Episode	Title	Introduction
1	"Journey into Night"	The puppet show is over, and we coming for you and the rest of your kind.
2	"Reunion"	Why don’t we start at the beginning.
3	"Virtù e Fortuna"	There is beauty in who you are,. Shouldn’t we, too, try to survive?
4	"The Riddle of the Sphinx"	Is this now? If you’re looking forward, you’re the wrong direction.
5	"Akane no Mai"	Welcome to Shogun World.
6	"Phase Space"	We each deserve to choose our fate.
7	"Les Écorchés"	Strike the match.
8	"Kiksuya"	Take my heart when you go.
9	"Vanishing Point"	Try to kill it all away, but I remember everything.
10	"The Passenger"	You only live as long as the last person who remembers you.

The Barge: Episode 1- Scratch Building with Polystyrene

A very informative tutorial on the creation of a n-gauge barge. The author used the dimensions of a real prototype for his model.

I have heard that working with polystyrene is easy and from my own limited experience it is rather easy, but it does requires patience. How often have I messed a project up by not being patient?

Les mystères de l'opium #2

“Boy, another pipe. Sweet to me this chance.
And the airborne gold where sleep’s steps are muffled.
But no, stay o boy, don’t you hear,
The silent god who knocks at the ebony door?”

Paul-Jean Toulet, Les Contrerimes

Les mystères de l'opium

“And the least foolish, intrepid lovers of disorder,
Fleeing the heard restrained by Destiny,
Take refuge in Opium's vastness!”

Le Voyage

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“More than fidelity, opium,

night,

I desire the elixir of your lips where love flaunts

itself”

Les Fleur du Mal

Charles Baudelaire

An Encrypted Message for Lord Grandrith

“The goblin has gone mad, and he is our enemy and the enemy of our enemies, his former friend. The goblin is holed up, but we are digging him out.”

Brass Bwona (Doc Caliban)

The Goblin probably refers to Iwaldi, the ancient dwarf and one of the nine. Iwaldi was at least ten thousand years old and possible could even be thirty thousand years old.

Lord of the Trees, Philip Jose Farmer

A Tale of Two Universes

In his introduction to Philip Jose Farmers “Lord of the Trees”, Scott Eckert has made more than few observations about Farmer’s work and his characters. There is much I will not comment on, however there are a few points of his introduction I would like to share.

Farmer wrote three novels about the nine and as is usually the case I did not read them in succession, I read them in the order I was able to obtain them. They are:

“A Feast Unknown”
“Lord of the Trees”
“The Mad Goblin”

I have read the other two, with “The Mad Goblin” being my first introduction to the “Nine”, and then “A Feast Unknown”, which was the most disturbing of Farmer’s work I had read up to the point, and now I start second of the series as my last read from the series.

“The Nine are a secret sect of immortals (those who have partaken of immortality elixir that extends one’s life up to 30,000 years) bent on amassing power and manipulating the course of events.”V

There are always mentions of other texts. Texts that are meant to fill-in-the blanks as to the history of the Wold Newton Family, like Farmer’s “Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke”, and “Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life”, both fictional biographies. Both are on my Farmer reading list.

Tom's Spaceship Miniature & Game Lists

Tom has collected an extensive list of resources on spaceship miniatures and games in an old directory like fashion. The pages include items currently available and items no longer available.

Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Scratch-Built Spaceship!

Here is another scratch build from Adam Savage's One Day Builds

Although Adam Savage has been at it for some time, I am still inspired by watching Adam work. I am still a long way off from Adams skill level, but I do want to move forward and improve my scratch-building skills.

P.S. I had wanted to get to a couple more post last month. I had other projects and a deadline I had to meet. I never go to the posts. Hopefully, I will get to post them this month.

The Miniatures Calendar

The Miniatures Calendar has been existence April 2011 and has featured one small miniature scene each day since then. The author, at least, makes some use of Preiser figures. I cannot vouch for the size of his miniatures, but I am guessing that they with HO or N-gauge.

More Inspirational Dioramas

I just found another page with some amazing miniature dioramas from Tokyo artist Satoshi Araki.

Over the Top Dioramas

Judging from his work Luke Towan has been creating "over the top" diorama's for some time. I have watched several tutorials of Luke's and I am simply amazed. The videos introduce one fabulous step after another. Just when you thought that there couldn't be another feature that could possible be added to the diorama, Luke introduces you to some new feature.

Working with Polystrene

Working with polystyrene never looked so easy.

Paper Napkins and Industrial Towels (Materials)

I am always on the look-out for scratch building supplies, especially for those that are free. Recently I came across this “natural” colored napkin. Looking closely at its pattern I noticed how it resembled roof shingles. I have used a paper-towel to represent a shingled roof once before.

Digging through one of my supply boxes I found a couple more examples of paper towel/napkins. I had wanted to create a shingled shack and I might try to use the napkin for this purpose. I will keep you informed…

Materials - Balsa Strips

I recently found this pack of 50 balsa slabs on Ebay. These miniature “slabs" measure ¾ wide by 2 inch long and are 1/16 inch thick. They measure 5 foot wide by 14.5 foot long in HO scale. They come neatly and tightly packaged and they cost me $4.43, including postage. Balsa is lite and it takes to distressing well. I will cut these to a scale 1 foot boards and build a few board on board sheds, shacks, or shanties.

Extras From Farmer’s Flesh

Farmer's "other" worlds novel's Flesh front cover.

“Farmer is no moralist and is not concerned with character arcs. He is a scientist and explorer mixing civilizations and ideas and observing the results.”

Some other topics covered in his short discussion on Farmer’s “Flesh” novel.

Dystopia

Millennium, John Varley; Dune, Frank Hubert; The Sheep Look Up, John Brunner

Dystopia-Depopulation

Seventy Years of Decpop, Farmer
I Am a Legend, Richard Matheson

Robert Heinlein

The Rise of Robert Heinlein

Highs and Lows of Robert Heinlein

Michael A. Boron, penned Flesh’s second afterward

Dr. Calthop

“Man, is his blindness, greed, and arrogance, has fouled the God given earth. His ant-heap cities have emptied their filth into the rivers and the sea and turned them into vast sewers. He has poised the air with deadly fumes. These fumes, I suppose, were not only products of industry but of radioactivity…”

Dr. Calthop

Flesh, Philip José Farmer

I have just completed the last in Farmers Grand Master series.

Very Fine Screening (Materials)

I wasn’t able to get a better shot of this material, but it has some very fine weave that might suitable for HO gauge window screening or N-gauge chain-link fencing. The five by seven inch bag was used for wedding favors and was left left behind at a wedding I recently attended.

Steam Punk Airships Extraordinaire

These steampunk airships were created mostly from cardboard and are extraordinary...

Matchbox Custom Post Apocalyptic Zombie Gasoline Tanker

This video will take you through the process of converting two hard-played with Matchbook models into a Post Apocalyptic Zombie tanker. The authors steps through multiple steps to convert these models into a realistic Mad Max themed vehicle.

#2 Business Card Structures

Beverly Buchanan Inspired Art Shacks

Here is another business card structure. This one is in 1/72 scale and was created from two standard business cards.

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Business card structure #1

Using your Polystyrene Small Bits

I have a good or bad habit (it all depends on how you look at it) of saving bits of everything. I am far from being a hoarder, but I do collect the small bits left over from certain projects. These bits are stored in various containers waiting to be used in some new project.

One such collection is the small bits of polystyrene from projects and kits. These bits can used as bits of rubbish or debris around industrial sites and abandoned or demolished buildings.

Another use for these bits, especially the slithers of polystyrene can be used to fill gaps and irregularities in your models. Just plug in slithers in the holes and gaps and “paint” a liberal amount of liquid plastic cement on the piece to fuse it into the model.

1# Business Card Structures

This is the first in a new short-series: five structures created from business cards. Construction will be primarily out of either one or two standard business cards. Most will be in the 1/87 scale. My first structure is a 3.25 by 4 scale feet tool shed.

The walls were scribed with random widths boards. I used some of the card for thinly cut boards for the roof. I used thin paper painted to represent tar paper and added a few “shingles” placed randomly on the roof to mimic a weather worn roof. Material for the shingles came from some very thin corrugated cardboard.

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Business card structure #2

Jungle Terrain Quick Tips

I didn't make a post on the Trent's last project How To Make Flock In 15 Minutes, however you might find the video useful.

Create a Rivet Effect on Your Scale Model

Seven minute video on how create a rivet effect on your models.

Who Knows Where We might End-up?

You really don’t know whether Farmer’s literary mentions are “real” or are part of his Wold Newton mythos. Here are a few mentioned in his Hadon of Ancient Opar:

1. A correlation between Gondoroko and the wilds near Khokarsan: “L’E’ tonnant voyage de Hareton Ironcastle, J. H. Rosny.
2. Remains of Atlantis: “The Queen of Atlantic”, H. Rider. (No definite outcome)
3. Title explains it well: “Heritage of the Flaming God: An Essay on the history of Opar…”
4. “An Inhabitant of Carcosa”, Ambrose Bierce.

The Cray Valley Railroad

I learned about the Cray Valley Railroad through my reading of Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette. The article, written by Peter Bartlett, was about his Hon30 railroad. Bartlett a native of England models an American narrow gauge prototype.

I am truly amazed by Bartlett’s roster of locomotives. The Cray Valley Railroad features dozens of steam, locomotives and critters of both types. This layout is truly a one of kind.

A Host of Characters-Sahhinder

Even though he gets little more than a cameo mention in Hadon of Ancient Opar, Sahhinder is a significant figure in Farmers, Hadon of Ancient Opar. He seems to have appeared in khokarsa over a period of two thousand years and taught the ancient Khokarsans peoples animal husbandry, how to grow certain cereal plants, how to mine copper and tin, and how to fashion weapons and farm implements from these materials. Since his presence was long known abound these peoples they referred to Sahhinder ¹ as god. Please see Farmer’s Times Last Gift.

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¹ Of course we can assume that this character was referred as Sahhinder and may have other names.

Three Maps from Hadon of Ancient Opar

I have been fascinated by maps since I was a child and this fascination has not abated since I have grown-up. I especially am fascinated with maps that pertain to the text I am studying at the time. Hadon of Ancient Opar, as the title of my post mentions includes three maps. These are located at the beginning of the book and include an ancient map of Africa, circa, 10,000 B. C. , a map of Island of Khokarsa, and a map of the central section of City of Khokarsa.

If you follow this link you will find four additional maps, three of which were originally created by Philip José Farmer.

Ratio N-gauge Builder Packs

If you are looking for scratch building supplies for those n-gauge projects, Ratio may have some of what you are looking for:

300	Gutters & Drainpipes
301	Brick Walling
302	Course Stone
303	Paving Slabs/Crazy Paving
304	Wood Planking
305	Slate Roofing
306	Tile Roofing
307	Chimneys
308	Flagstones
309	Industrial Windows
310	Domestic Windows
311	Doors
312	Corrugated Sheet
313	Roughcast Walling

Philip José Farmer’s Khokarsa Series

I have read a few of Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe texts, although not necessarily in chronological order. I have read them as I have learned of them. Many of Farmer’s books are either out of print or, if they are available, they sell as collectors’ items.

So Hadon of Ancient Opar is the start of Khokarsa series, however through the Wold Newton Universe heredity there are so many other texts that have been written before this series was introduced that are relative the plot of this text.

So the full canon of the Khokarsa series can be considered:

“Time’s Last Gift,” Farmer (1972, reissued by Titan, 2012)
“Exiles of Kho,” Carey (Meteor House, 2012)
“Allan and the Ice Gods,” Haggard
“Hadon of Ancient Opar,” Farmer (1974, reissued by Titan, 2013)
“Flight to Opar,” Farmer (1976)
“A Kick in the Side,” Carey (“Worlds of PJF” #1, Meteor House)
“Kwasin and the Bear God,” Farmer and Carey (“Worlds of PJF” #2 and “Tales of the Wold Newton Universe,” v1, Titan Books, 2013)
“Song of Kwasin,” Farmer and Carey (2012)

This list was found on Pulp Net.

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Another list:

Khokarsa Series Checklist

Philip José Farmer-Hadon of Ancient Opar

Forward

“Welcome to the lost civilization of Khokarsa. You are about to embark on one of the most epic journeys of heroic advent in the annals of history. Philip Jose Farmers Hadon of Ancient Opar is a tale of nigh forgotten age of the earth, and when swordplay and prophesies were merely the stuff of legends, but rather the fact of everyday experience…”

Christopher Paul Carey

All of the work of Farmer’s I have read, up to this point, have been a real treat and has Carey has so enthusiastically asserted an “epic journey”. Hadon of Ancient Opar is the first in Farmer’s Khokarsa series, the first of three volumes.

Hadon of Ancient Opar is a 290-page story, and includes three maps, a description of the maps, and two addendums. In addition, there is Khokarsan language glossary. There is a lot of material to parse.

Two Praline HO Scale Vehicles

Neither of these Praline HO scale vehicles is in pristine condition. I purchased these two, along with others, years ago. Praline is a German company that at one time produced a whole selection of scale vehicles. At any rate both of these miniature models are finely cast in polystyrene.

I don’t remember seeing the headlight lens missing in the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster miniature when I first purchased the vehicle; however it could went missing at any time I had it out of its clear case.

In the case of the Peugeot, its glass pane rack needs a little glue to hold the frame down into the bed of cargo space.

Lost & Found

Someone lost these characters and I had the good fortune of finding them. Both are made from plastic, one, the dinosaur is crafted from hard plastic and the other out of sort of rubber like plastic.

Because of his florescence I take this guy out with me wherever I go at night and he keeps my feet on level ground.

The other creature I found; I just let him out to do his business as he doesn’t seem to have a very high IQ and has the tendency of getting under foot. That is, he doesn’t watch where he steps and has on more one occasion has almost crushed me under foot.

Sayings of the Sage of Dissolution

“If rules make a frame-work for the mind to climb about in, why should the mind not climb right out?”

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“What need or prayer? Why should there be a hundred roads to Godliness, not more or less? Do we climb anywhere on the steps to heaven? What is perfection: a process or state? When we climb to perfection is this a matter for the Gods?”

Sage of Dissolution

The Sage of Theare, Diana Wynne Jones

Scratch-Building Rolling Stock with Styrene

Some time ago I read an interesting treatise on how to build with polystyrene. It was a great read and offered many ideas and techniques when working with polystyrene. I need to look through my reference materials and locate my copy. At any rate, I just came upon this 21 slide online presentation that details how one can get started in Scratch-Building Rolling Stock with Styrene. I believe the presentation was created with O-gauge in mind; however these hints can be used in any scale.

And More from Philip Jose Farmer

Having read just about all of Farmer’s Wold Newton series, I am looking for more of Farmer’s work. Here is a short list of titles listed by one of the A Feast Unknown’s biographers:

World of Tiers
Riverworld
The Lovers
Day World
Two Hawks from Earth
Khokarso

A Feast Unknown

A Feast Unknown Book Art

“…an Evolution strange
two Tongues touch
exchange
a Feast unknown
to stone
or tree or beast”

Mary Swenson

Yes, the name of this novel was taken from a line from Mary Swenson’s poem. This novel was the first in Farmer’s Wold Newton Parallel Universe series. I didn’t have the benefit of reading this novel before reading the later texts in this series. This is the first of Farmer’s work that did not include footnotes. Farmers’ works is usually riddled with footnotes that often help by giving you the back story.

A Feast Unknown, like Farmers other work, takes the reader on an amazing adventure. The novel is written as it is the diary of Lord Grandrith, “the legendary Apeman, Lord of the Jungle and bastard son of Jack the Ripper.” There are many dark themes that unfold as the story progresses.