It is a good sign when a science fiction writer can be described as being ahead of his or her time, and this is certainly the case regarding Philip José Farmer (January 26th, 1918 – February 25th, 2009). Farmer is perhaps best known for his Riverworld books, a series whose plot has everyone who has ever lived being reborn together along the banks of a great river that stretches out across a whole world. This setting ably demonstrates two of Farmer’s key literary interests, putting his own interpretation on existing historical or fictional characters, and placing those characters together to see how they would interact. The traditional term for this kind of writing is ‘pastiche’, but in our Internet age it much more commonly called fan fiction.
Calling Farmer’s work fan fiction might seem a low blow to some, considering the generally low opinion held of such work, but I mean it in the most positive way. And, as I already said, Farmer was ahead of his time. He was professional, he had a project. Other than the Riverworld series Farmer is probably best known for his concept of the ‘Wold Newton family’. The idea was that the exceptional attributes of many famous fictional characters, both heroic and villainous, originated when their shared ancestors were irradiated by a meteorite that crashed at the end of the 18th century in Wold Newton, England. This provided Farmer with a common world setting for the crossover fiction that he desired to write, as a shared mythology building project not dissimilar to H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Another example of this approach you might be familiar with is Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
It is from this mould that Farmer has given us The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Peerless Peer. In this tale the Great Detective, and his trusty companion Dr. Watson, join forces with the Lord of the Jungle in an adventure set during the First World War. This jungle lord, however, is never named ‘Tarzan’, but rather called Lord Greystoke. And this highlights an issue underlying most crossover fiction: intellectual property law. A literary pastiche is often written as a parody – indeed pastiche and parody are often regarded as synonyms – and this is commonly because parody, in the United States, has a higher degree of legal protection against accusations of intellectual property infringement. Bearing this in mind a prospective reader should not be surprised to find that the tone of The Peerless Peer is firmly tongue in cheek.
However, it is with this tongue in cheek tone that Farmer displays his skill as an author. In lesser hands this tale would be a simple adventure romp utilising well known characters, a straightforward three act structure, and a generous helping of humour. And of course it is all these things. But Farmer does more with the tools at his disposal. The tongue in cheek tone of pastiche conventions is utilised to make quiet subversive commentaries on heroic archetypes and the historical bigotries of the source material. The framing device of Holmes’ adventures being brought to the reader via Watson’s manuscripts is further developed by presenting Farmer himself as their editor. This builds on a recurring theme of the Wold Newton mythos that these famous characters were actually real people who preserved their privacy by having their lives fictionalised. This allows Farmer to maintain questions about the reliability of the narrator throughout The Peerless Peer. This tactic begins at the very beginning of the book, with a disclaimer proclaiming “All the characters in this book are real; any resemblance to fictional characters is purely coincidental.”
There are two reasons to read Philip José Farmer’s The Peerless Peer. One is if you want a fun adventure story involving a humorous interpretation of well known characters. The second is to see what a good author can do beneath the surface of such a seemingly straightforward tale.
Disclaimer: my copy of The Peerless Peer was provided for review.
