Philip Jose Farmer, author of the Riverworld books, good critical biographies of Doc Savage and Tarzan, and (as Kilgore Trout) Venus on The Half Shell, a book that most people think was actually written by Kurt Vonnegut, died today aged 91. Like his fellow science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, Farmer coupled his love of pulpy subject matter with good critical judgment. And his comparison of assorted Doc Savage villains to William S. Burroughs' Nova Mob got me from Kenneth Robeson to Burroughs' Nova Trilogy aged fourteen or thereabouts, a gift I'll always be gratetful for.
