[Deathwatch] Philip Jose Farmer, author, 91

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Philip Jose Farmer, science fiction author, dies

February 25, 2009

PEORIA, Ill.

Philip Jose Farmer, one of the most celebrated science fiction, fantasy
and short story writers of the 1960s and '70s, died Wednesday. He was
91.

Farmer died "peacefully" in his sleep, according to a message posted on
his official Web site.

The longtime Peoria resident wrote more than 75 novels, including the
Riverworld and World of Tiers series. He won the Hugo Award three times
and the Grand Master Award for Science Fiction in 2001.

Farmer was "one of the great ones," according to a statement on the web
site of Subterranean Press, which published his later novels.

"He was always a joy to work with, and we will dearly miss his
intelligence and good nature," the statement said.

Farmer's first published story, "The Lovers," caught the attention of
the science fiction world in 1952 with one of the genre's first serious
treatments of sexuality. At the time, he was working full time at a
Peoria steel mill and writing on the side.

"The Lovers" was based on a love affair between an Earth man and an
alien woman, and Farmer rocked the science fiction community by dealing
with sex in a frank manner. The story inspired some of the greatest
science fiction writers, including Robert Heinlein, whose classic
"Stranger in a Strange Land" was dedicated to Farmer.

Farmer tried to survive as a full-time freelance writer but finances
forced him back to work as a technical writer in the defense industry
in 1956. He bounced from New York to Arizona and California before
finally quitting and moving back to central Illinois in 1969 to
concentrate all his energies on his science fiction writing.

Farmer's celebrity in the science fiction world did not translate to
Peoria, where he grew up and attended college.

"I am obscure in Peoria," Farmer told The Associated Press in 1988. "I
guess they don't read much around here."

Farmer's last novel, "The City Beyond Play," was published in 2007.

He is survived by his wife, Bette, children, grandchildren and
great-grandchildren. 

Many thanks to Deathwatch Central for posting this obituary