Private dick Herald Childe is sent a snuff movie of his partner being hideously murdered. His pursuit of the killers leads him into a waking nightmare of sexual brutality and supernatural bestiality, as he becomes with sex-starved she-ghosts, snake-women, a filthy human sow, and a woman who gives birth to a limbless, ectoplasmic simulacrum of satanic child-killer Gilles de Rais. In IMAGE OF THE BEAST and its sequel, BLOWN--both published in this volume-science fiction great Philip Jose Farmer conjures up a universe populated by creatures from the darkest recesses of the human imagination. Philip Jose Farmer is the best-selling author of the Riverworld series, and winner of several Hugo awards for innovations in science fiction.

(aka A Woman a Day or Day of the Timestop or Timestop) Operation Timestop: Post-holocaust Paris is a pretty seedy stand-in for the original, but what can you expect when the goverment's main function is Orgasm Prevention & when the national hero is wandering around in Nowhen. But things are changing! Rumor has it that the Timetraveler is coming back in a few months. At which point, Time itself will come to an end. This story, originally published in Startling Stories as Moth & Rust, is the sequel to The Lovers.

In To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip José Farmer introduces readers to the awesome Riverworld, a planet that had been carved into one large river on whose shores all of humanity throughout the ages has seemingly been resurrected. In The Fabulous Riverboat, Farmer tells the tale of one person whose is uniquely suited to find the river's headwaters, riverboat captain and famous Earthly author Sam Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain). Clemens has been visited by "X," a mysterious being who claims to be a rebel among the group that created Riverworld. X tells Clemens where he can find a large deposit of iron and other materials that Clemens can use to build the greatest riverboat ever seen. Since there is virtually no metal on the planet, it will also give Clemens an unbeatable edge when it comes to battling the various warlike societies that dominate the Riverworld. But Clemens is not alone in his quest for the iron, which arrives on the planet in the form of a giant meteorite. In fact, Clemens is besieged on all sides by forces determined to seize the precious ore, leading him to make a deadly pact with one of history's most notorious villains, John Lackland. Lackland's crimes during his reign as king of England were so hideous that no other English monarch will ever carry his name, and he's up to equally nefarious tricks on Riverworld. However, Clemens has a guardian angel in the form of Joe Miller, a giant subhuman with a big nose, a serious lisp, and a cutting wit. Miller has also been to the very headwaters of the river, where he saw a mysterious tower in the middle of the North Sea and where the creators of Riverworld are thought to reside. He will be an invaluable ally in completing the riverboat and sailing to the headwaters, but even an 800-pound giant may not be enough to help Clemens fulfill X's mission. --Craig E. Engler

Contents: · Preface · pr · My Sister’s Brother [“Open to Me, My Sister”] · na F&SF May ’60 · Skinburn · ss F&SF Oct ’72 · The Alley Man · na F&SF Jun ’59 · Father’s in the Basement · ss Orbit 11, ed. Damon Knight, G.P. Putnam’s, 1972 · Toward the Beloved City · nv Signs and Wonders, ed. Roger Elwood, Revell, 1972 · Polytropical Paramyths · ai · Don’t Wash the Carats · ss Orbit 3, ed. Damon Knight, G.P. Putnam’s, 1968 · The Sumerian Oath · ss Nova 2, ed. Harry Harrison, Walker, 1972 · Only Who Can Make a Tree? · ss F&SF Nov ’71 · The Last Rise of Nick Adams · ss Chrysalis 2, ed. Roy Torgeson, Zebra, 1978 · The Freshman · ss F&SF May ’79 · Uproar in Acheron · ss The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) Nov ’61 · An Exclusive Interview with Lord Greystoke [“Tarzan Lives”; Tarzan] · ss Esquire Apr ’72 · Sexual Implications of the Charge of the Light Brigade [from “Riders of the Purple Wage”] · ex Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967 · The Obscure Life and Hard Times of Kilgore Trout · ss Moebius Trip Dec ’71 · Thanks for the Feast · pr · Thanks for the Feast: Notes on Philip José Farmer · Leslie A. Fiedler · bg Moebius Trip; ; as “Getting Into the Task of Now Pornography”, Los Angeles Times Apr 23 ’72

It is capable of alaraf drive: instantaneous travel between two points of space. Three of these special ships were built to explore and make contact with the many sentient races inhabiting the universe. Suddenly, one of the ships mysteriously disappears. And then it is discovered that an unidentifiable creature is marauding through the universe, totally annihilating intelligent life on planet after planet. Ramstan, a thoughtful and moral man, becomes a fascinated yet reluctant pawn in the hands of the strange forces which arise to fight the deadly destroyer. Ultimately, he is the one man who, in a fearful race against time, can stop the destruction. But what price must he pay for becoming the savior of intelligent-kind? The Unreasoning Mask is Farmer at his best: fast-paced, complex, slightly mystical, high-action adventure.

Philip Jose Farmer is one of the living giants of the science fiction genre. His first published story, "The Lovers" (1952), won him the Hugo Award for Best New Writer and launched one of the most important careers in the history of the field. Perhaps the Riverworld novels and stories are the best known of his more than 90 books. Certainly next in rank of popularity has been his World of Tiers series. Beginning in the 1960s with The Maker Of Universes, and continuing in The Gates Of Creation, A Private Cosmos, Behind The Walls Of Terra, and The Lavalite World, Kickaha, an Earthman travels, fights, loves his way across the pocket universes. He is the implacable enemy of the decadent and arrogant Lords, a combatant who could have stepped out of the pages of Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces. And Kickaha's greatest and most deadly foe is the Lord, Red Orc. Now, in More Than Fire, Farmer concludes this epic series with the ultimate battle between Kickaha and Red Orc, with the entire existence of the pocket universes at stake. The long-awaited climax of one of the most popular and long-running adventure series in the history of science fiction is a colorful, complex, bloodthirsty, sexy explosion. The fast-paced story spans many worlds of wonders, reveals many secrets of the history of the World of Tiers, and ends with a shout of victory.

Simon Wagstaff narrowly escapes the Deluge that destroys Earth when he happens upon an abandoned spaceship. A man without a planet, he gains immortality from an elixir drunk during an interlude with a cat-like alien queen. Now Simon must chart a 3,000-year course to the most distant corners of the multiverse, to seek out the answers to the questions no one can seem to answer.

Kidnapped by an insane millionare bent on recreating the famous Lord of the Jungle, Ras Tyger is raised in a remote African valley by people he believes to be apes. Heroic, and beautiful, he is master of his world. And he rules his kingdom with sex, savagery, and sublime innocence.  But the laws of nature and those of man are about to collide....

Thirty-five billion people from throughout Earth's history were resurrected along the great and winding waterways of Riverworld. Most began life anew--accepting without question the sustenance provided by their mysterious benefactors. But a rebellious handful burned to confront the unseen masters who controlled their fate--and these few launched an invasion that would ultimately yield the mind-boggling truth. Now Riverworld's omnipotent leaders have been confronted, and the renegades of Riverworld--led by the intrepid Sir Richard Francis Burton--control the fantastic mechanism that once ruled them. But the most awesome challenge lies ahead. For in the vast corridors and secret rooms of the tower stronghold, an unknown enemy watches and waits to usurp the usurpers . . .

Private dick Herald Childe is sent a snuff movie of his partner being brutally murdered. His pursuit of her killers leads him into a waking nightmare of sexual brutality and supernatural bestiality, as he becomes entangled with sex-starved she-ghosts, snake-women and a filthy human sow.In "Image of the Beast" and its sequel "Blown" both published in this volume-Philip Jose Farmer conjures up a universe of unrelenting sexual degradation and horror populated by erogenous vampires, werewolves and other polymorphic creatures from the darkest recesses of the human imagination. Philip Jose Farmer is the best-selling author of the "Riverworld" series, and winner of 3 Hugo awards for innovations in Science Fiction.

Farmer returns to his towering World of Tiers, where immortal Lords fight bloody wars over a host of pocket universes. Jim Grimson is a young man with problems who finally goes over the edge, gets placed in a mental hospital, and ends up in the World of Tiers. But is it therapy or reality? "A wide-screen adventure that never fails to provoke, amuse, and educate".--Time.