  philip josÃ© farmer (january 26, 1918&nbsp;â february 25, 2009) was an american author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories.  obituary. farmer is best known for his sequences of novels, especially the world of tiers (1965â93) and riverworld (1971â83) series. he is noted for the pioneering use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for, and reworking of, the lore of celebrated pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters. farmer often mixed real and classic fictional characters and worlds and real and fake authors as epitomized by his wold newton family group of books. these tie all classic fictional characters together as real people and blood relatives resulting from an alien conspiracy. such works as the other log of phileas fogg (1973) and doc savage: his apocalyptic life (1973) are early examples of literary mashup. literary critic leslie fiedler compared farmer to ray bradbury as both being "provincial american eccentrics" who "strain at the classic limits of the [science fiction] form," but found farmer distinctive in that he "manages to be at once naive and sophisticated in his odd blending of theology, pornography, and adventure."fiedler, leslie a., ed. (1975), in dreams awake: a historical-critical anthology of science fiction, new york city: dell publishing company, pg 120. ==biography== farmer was born in north terre haute, indiana. according to colleague frederik pohl, his middle name was in honor of an aunt, josie.{{cite web | last = pohl | first = frederik | authorlink = frederik pohl | title = josie! | work = the way the future blogs | publisher = |
1918_births 2009_deaths 20th-century_American_novelists 21st-century_American_novelists Alternate_history_writers American_fantasy_writers American_science_fiction_writers American_short_story_writers Bradley_University_alumni Cthulhu_Mythos_writers Doc_Savage Hugo_Award_winning_writers People_from_Peoria,_Illinois People_from_Terre_Haute,_Indiana SFWA_Grand_Masters Wold_Newton_family_(literature) Writers_from_Indiana