Author Philip Jose Farmer Dead at 91

Philip Jose Farmer, a longtime Peoria resident, died on February 25. Farmer wrote more than 75 novels, including the Riverworld, Dayworld, and World of Tiers series. He won the Hugo Award three times and the Grand Master Award for Science Fiction in 2001. Farmer's first published story, "The Lovers",(1952) was based on a love affair between an earth man and an alien woman. Its treatment of sexuality made him a well-discussed writer. Originally, the story was rejected by 2 editors. Yet it ended up earning Farmer a Hugo award for the "most promising new author." Farmer was well-respected in the science fiction world. Robert Heinlein dedicated his classic novel Strangers in a Strange Land to Farmer. Farmer's last book, The City Beyond Play, was published in 2007.