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World of Tiers - Philip Jose Farmer's World of Tiers
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From: Mich...@xenite.org (Michael Martinez)
Subject: WorldFAQ: Philip Jose Farmer's Tier World
Date: 1998/12/24
Message-ID:
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Organization: The Xenite.Org Domain -- Worlds of Imagination on the Web
X-Server-Date: 24 Dec 1998 21:09:31 GMT
Followup-To: alt.fan.created-worlds,alt.fantasy
Newsgroups: alt.fan.created-worlds,alt.fantasy,alt.books,rec.arts.books
WorldFAQ:
Philip Jose Farmer's Tier World
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1]. Quick Reference
The Lords are an advanced race of humans who construct
universes and populate them with creatures of their fancy.
Jadawin constructed a world of tiers -- plateaus rising
rising from a central core in a pyramid-like fashion. He
populated it with creatures from Earth, other universes,
and creatures of his own science. His world was stolen
from him by another Lord and when he finally returned
he found himself a different man, befriended by Paul
Janus Finnegan, known as Kickaha on the Amerindian tier.
Primary sources are the various novels Farmer has written
(see bibliography below).
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2]. Printed Sources Bibliography
I only have some of these books in the form of a two-volume Doubleday
Book Club edition. Any other references will be appreciated.
The covers for those volumes I own were done by Boris Vallejo.
THE MAKER OF UNIVERSES, Ace, 1965. Included in Doubleday's THE
WORLD OF TIERS, Volume I.
THE GATES OF CREATION, Ace, 1966. Included in Doubleday's THE
WORLD OF TIERS, Volume I.
A PRIVATE COSMOS, Ace, 1968, ISBN 020-07724-050. Included in
Doubleday's THE WORLD OF TIERS, Volume II.
BEHIND THE WALLS OF TERRA, Ace, 1970. Included in Doubleday's
WORLD OF TIERS, Volume II.
THE LAVALITE WORLD, Ace, 1977. Included in Doubleday's
WORLD OF TIERS, Volume II.
RED ORC'S RAGE, Tor, 1991, ISBN 0-812-50890-4. This is a paperback
MORE THAN FIRE, Tor, 1993, ISBN 0-312-85280-0.
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3]. Visual Sources Bibliography
No known adaptations.
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4]. Related Materials Bibliography
THE READERS GUIDE TO PHILIP JOSE FARMER, Mary T. Brizzi,
Starmount Press Readers' Guide series, 1986 (paperback).
I've been told that Farmer has acknowledged the influence of
books written by William Blake
(http://virtual.park.uga.edu/~wblake/).
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5]. Online References
A) News Groups
None. But Farmer's works can be discussed in
rec.arts.sf.written, alt.books, rec.arts.books, and
alt.fan.created-worlds.
B) Mailing/Discussion Lists
None.
C) Web sites
The Philip Jose Farmer Books
http://www.mindspring.com/~ledzep/books.htm
Extensive bibliography with descriptions of Farmer's
books and stories.
Miles' Philip Jose Farmer Page
http://www.bam.com.au/miles/pjf.html
Not much content but he's got links to other pages.
The Unofficial Philip Jose Farmer Page
http://www.mindspring.com/~ledzep/index.html
World of Tiers -- Review
http://www.rhein-neckar.de/~mips/reviews/WorldOfTiers.html
D) Online services
Miles' Philip Jose Farmer Discussion Forum
http://lit.bam.com.au/cgi-bin/forum/pjf_forum.cgi
A web-based message board.
E) IRC
None.
F) Comprehensive lists of resources
None.
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6]. Description
The Lords are ordinary mortals possessed of sufficiently
advanced technology to do whatever they wish. They are
self-made immortals who survived terrible struggles in
their ancient past. Becoming both arrogant and bored they
created worlds as playgrounds which eventually became
private kingdoms.
The tier world has five levels: the Garden, Amerindia,
Dracheland, Atlantis, and the Lord's Palace.
The Garden level is populated with fantastic creatures
out of Greek myth and legend, and other creatures
unrelated to anything but the Lord's imagination. Many
of the creatures are artificial constructions, but some
are humans taken from Earth and transformed into satyrs,
nymphs, mermaids, etc. They are quite capable of
reproducing and some have bred true.
Amerindia, located several thousand feet above the Garden
Level, is populated with North American Indians who have
established a rich civilization in what is essentially
the Happy Hunting Ground (as Kickaha describes it).
Dracheland is populated with Nordics taken from Europe.
Their culture is medieval with castles, armored knights,
and all the attendant cultural dispositions.
Atlantis is based on the advanced civilization, but the
Lord destroyed the city when they became too inquisitive.
Eventually he agrees to let them rebuild.
The Lord's Palace is a complex of machinery, grandiose
living quarters, control rooms, factories, laboratories,
etc. where the Lord monitors the Tier world, performs
experiments in bio-engineering, as well as hide out
when he is attacked.
The sun travels around this world, rather than the world
travelling around the sun. As such, "night" occurs only
when the sun is on the far side of the central mountain.
At least one moon, altered to resemble Edgar Rice
Burroughs' Barsoom, orbits the Tier world as well.
Gravity is somehow constrained to work "normally" for all
levels of the Tier world. Thus, if you manage to find your
way to the bottom (through a crack or cavern), you can fall
out of it.
Primary characters are Robert Wolff and Kickaha, also known
as Paul J. Finnegan.
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7]. Maintainer Information
FAQ owner: Michael Martinez
Last Updated: November 8, 1998
Other information was supplied (knowingly or otherwise) by:
Pat Banchy
Ryan Haksi
Jens Kilian
Geoffrey A. Landis
Scott R Sadusky
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