Flesh (31 page)
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. In the end, it all comes down to a savage game of baseball—in which the ball has enormous spikes, the bat is encased in iron, and it’s perfectly acceptable to maim or kill your opponents within the guidelines. The heroic Stagg dies defending the woman he loves—or thinks he loves—and is buried in a mass grave.
But the remaining crew of the spaceship have had enough. Banding together they exhume Stagg’s corpse and resuscitate him using the forgotten science of their day, kidnap a number of women and decamp for sunnier climes. Earth has no hold on them.
Where does
Flesh
fall within the Farmer canon? It is one of his more serious works rewarding the reader with insight into the human condition and Farmer’s usual unsparing view of man at his best and worst. Other novels may offer more rah-rah excitement, but few offer more insight and wisdom.
Mike Baron is the creator of
Nexus
(with artist Steve Rude) and
Badger,
two of the longest lasting independent superhero comics.
Nexus,
about a cosmic avenger 500 years in the future, appears monthly in
Dark Horse Presents
. There are twelve hardbound volumes from Dark Horse.
Badger,
about a multiple personality, one of whom is an animal rights champion, may already be out from a resurgent First Comics by the time you read this. Baron has written
The Punisher, Flash, Deadman
and
Star Wars
among many other titles. Baron recently published two novels,
Helmet Head,
flesh-shredding horror about Nazi biker zombies, and
Whack Job,
mind-blowing science fiction about spontaneous human combustion. Baron will publish three novels in 2013:
Biker
from Airship 27,
Banshees
from Garcia Publishing, and
Skorpio
from his own bad hands.
ALSO FROM TITAN BOOKS
Brand-new editions of classic novels from one of the greatest science-fiction writers of the 20th century. Each novel containing unique bonus material from well-known Farmer experts and fans.
WOLD NEWTON SERIES
The Other Log of Phileas Fogg
Tales of the Wold Newton Universe
(coming soon)
P
REHISTORY
Time’s Last Gift
Hadon of Ancient Opar
S
ECRETS OF THE
N
INE:
P
ARALLEL
U
NIVERSE
Lord of the Trees
A Feast Unknown
The Mad Goblin
GRANDMASTER SERIES
Lord Tyger
The Wind Whales of Ishmael
Venus on the Half-Shell
(coming soon)
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The award-winning author returns with his first full-length steampunk novel in twenty years!
The Aylesford Skull
Professor Langdon St. Ives, brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer, is at home in Aylesford with his family. Not far away a steam launch is taken by pirates, the crew murdered, and a grave is possibly robbed of the skull. The suspected grave robber, the infamous Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, is an old nemesis of St. Ives. When Narbondo kidnaps his son Eddie, St. Ives races into London in pursuit.
Also available:
Homunculus
Lord Kelvin’s Machine
“Blaylock is better than anyone else at showing us the magic that secretly animates our world...” — Tim Powers
“Blaylock is a singular American fabulist.” — William Gibson
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BY KEVIN J. ANDERSON
What if the Martian invasion was not entirely the product of H. G. Wells’s vivid imagination? What if Wells witnessed something that spurred him to write The War of the Worlds as a warning? From drafty London flats to the steamy Sahara, to the surface of the moon and beyond, The Martian War takes the reader on an exhilarating journey with Wells and his companions.