Il diario segreto di Phileas Fogg

Wold Newton #4

by Philip José Farmer, Riccardo Valla (translator)

Tutti sanno chi è Phileas Fogg, lo scommettitore inglese che è riuscito a fare il giro del mondo in ottanta giorni. Tutti sanno a quali avventure e a quali pericoli Fogg e il suo maggiordomo siano andati incontro per non essere battuti sul tempo. Ma nessuno sa quello che è realmente accaduto durante il viaggio, e che Fogg stesso osò confessare solo nel suo diario segreto. Ora Philip José Farmer rivela il contenuto di quel documento e ci racconta un altro Giro del mondo: un'avventura fantascientifica in cui il nostro eroe è alle prese con aliens, misteri e paradossi spazio-temporali.

Copertina di Luca Michelucci

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Steampunk, Fantasy, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy, Pulp

238 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but spent much of his life in Peoria, Illinois.

Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of the lore of legendary pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

I was watching the old film with David Niven as Phileas Fogg, when it struck me how unnecessary this book is which reinterprets the Jules Verne Story as a cover up of a war between two alien species and their human allies. However what this book shows is rather like the pyramids - just because you can do something that does not mean it is a good idea, and maybe you can out Verne Jules Verne, but this evidence suggests that you are better off not doing so.

OK on a very wet afternoon.

the cover of the book lies - it contains no steel plated Zeppelins

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

DAW Collectors #48

Cover Artist: Jack Gaughan

Name: Farmer, Philip José, Birthplace: North Terre Haute, Indiana, USA, (26 January 1918 - 25 February 2009

Alternate Names: Tom Wode Bellman, Cordwainer Bird, Paul Chapin, Charlotte Corday-Marat,

Farmer tells the reader how Phileas Fogg is in fact an adopted lien secret agent, setting out to save his “race” from annihilation. This is new action not included in the Verne version, of this well-known Victorian novel and may may not seem much like many other re writings of the genre. However, what sets this novel and in fact the ‘Wold Newton’ series it is a part of, apart from the rest, is not its story line, as much as the convincing style of the writing. Farmer purposefully writes to transform the classic characters found in the novel into real historical people and throughout, despite its obvious science fiction setting. His attention to details such as important dates in the characters’ lives, character lineage, comparisons between this “unknown” version of the story and Verne’s version, and detailed description of real historical settings in the novel is such that the fictional elements become blurred into fact. Indeed, in places it is hard to distinguish where one ends and the other begins.

Farmer is certainly a very ingenious and convincing writer, this book however may not for everyone. It is written in quite formal English, in keeping with the story’s Victorian origins and the narrative is far from conventional halting continuously to examine details of the plot in comparison to Verne’s version and very rarely allowing the reader to immerse themselves in the story for its own sake.

I love Farmer's work. There is little of his output I have not thoroughly enjoyed. The book uncovers the “real” story behind the classic Victorian age Jules Verne novel "Around the World in 80 Days”. as only Farmer could tell it.

there is the a long running conflict between two groups of aliens who have been stranded on earth.

Farmer does an excellent job of finding inconsistencies in the original Verne novel and then creating elaborate explanations and adventures to explain what really happened.

Highly recommended.

[Frank Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Folks, have you ever finished a book that you enjoyed thoroughly and then thought to yourself, "I'd like to read that again, but not written as well?" No? Me neither, I must admit.

Alright, it's possible that I've finished a book and thought, "could have had more aliens in it."

Well, that is what we have here. It's not a bad story in concept, Farmer retells Phileas Fogg's famous journey but imagines aliens are involved. Unfortunately, the result isn't very impressive. It comes across to me like the sort of writing exercise we might have had at school, not the kind of thing you'd publish and charge readers good money for.

Farmer's prose doesn't come close to matching Verne's, I don't think any effort was made in that regard and I personally found that rather dissatisfying. A lot of the charm of the original journey was in the delightful language employed to tell the story.

The aliens are shoehorned into the log with reckless abandon. There's not much subtle at all about the butchery performed to make the new idea fit the old story. Coded messages in the Whist cards, ok fine, but it seems like this works anywhere in the world at any time and it just doesn't make sense to me.

I didn't pay close enough attention in the end to follow all of the details, but there are two alien species fighting in the shadows on Earth for the eventual control of the humans. They use "distorters" to teleport about the place and one side is trying to stop the other from obtaining one of those. Why they need to send Fogg around the world to do this was explained but isn't clear to me.

Sometimes Fogg is described as having to feign ignorance in order to maintain the image of a British gentleman but practically everyone he meets in the original log is here given some new role to fit the idea of the hidden narrative.

This is probably an unfair review. Seems a little harsher than my usual criticisms and really it's just a bit of harmless fun. Luckily, this story didn't follow every single leg of the journey and so didn't balloon out into a lengthy tome.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two "non-human" races on Earth battling over the "control" of the planet and it's people. The "sympathetic" or "nice" Eridaneans and the decidedly "not-nice" Capelleans. Some humans taken as "foster children of the Eridaneans, having been "reared" and educated by these aliens (oops sorry, non-humans). A secret mission, a missing distorter (quick and dirty definition: a transport device)....I mean how can this not be a great book?

I don't know, but it managed it. Ever hear the phrase "dull as dishwater" (which is a form of an earlier phrase "dull as ditchwater") and it was. I've said this before...I really wanted to like this book, but I don't. Farmer has done this sort of thing to me before. This was a good idea, tied into a larger story line, The World Newton Universe. Great story idea...poor story.

[Melissa McCauley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finally had to admit to myself that I had no desire to read any more of this book.

In theory, a behind-the-scenes look at Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days is engrossing. According to Farmer, Fogg really made the trip to further the interests of the Eridani; as part of the secret ongoing Eridani-Capellan war. However, as I have found with many of Farmer’s books: the idea is genius – but the execution leaves much to be desired.

[Marijan Šiško · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zanimljivo, originalno, suptilno duhovito. a 'članak' na kraju knjige podiže za jednu zvjezdicu.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book I got from Bastian’s Book Reviews! Yep, there really was a whole suitcase full.

So I think this is the first time I’ve actually read Philip Jose Farmer’s work, despite being generally aware of it, particularly the Riverworld books. This is perhaps not the best introduction, because it’s Farmer playing with someone else’s toys, and he’s somewhat reliant on the source material: in this case, Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. It takes that story and then ‘reveals’ an underlying story, in which Fogg is part of a long-running struggle between two alien races who are hiding among humans.

It’s a fun idea, and perhaps more fun when you’ve read Verne’s work and can see all the little tweaks and the uses Farmer makes of the source material. I have read Verne, but not that recently; I’m not sure if reading it more recently might’ve helped in appreciating some of the fun Farmer got up to.

At any rate, I found by the end that it’s mostly fun as an idea, and the actual execution is better the further Farmer strays from the frame narrative of Verne’s book. I enjoyed this version of the detective, Fix, for example — his internal thoughts and his ultimately divided loyalties. But parts which just reprise Verne are not exactly gripping.

Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.

[Danny Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of science fiction is very serious but it isn't always fun; The Other Log of Phileas Fogg manages to be both. And I'll admit that I've always been a sucker for the SF or fantasy "back story" of some famous tale or historical event, which this does--and with the help of a host of other famous literary characters. Throw in the adventure (a big source of the fun) and you get a triple crown. If you're looking for hard SF or something "edgy" this isn't going to do it for you, but if you want an enjoyable, classic read that also seems to have predated steampunk by quite awhile, then Other Log is the book you should be snatching up.

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letto subito dopo l'originale Verniano, questo stupendo pastiche Farmeriano s'inserisce in quello che è il cosidetto Wold Newton Universe.
Il romanzo ci narra ciò che Verne non ha detto perché non conosceva, ossia che sulla Terra, in quel 1872, esistevano due fazioni extraterrestri in lotta tra loro entrambe guidate dall'ideologia di modellare il futuro della Terra sui propri, benevoli, princìpi. Eridaniani, a cui appartenevano (appartengono?) Passpartout e Fogg, e Capelliani a cui apparteneva (appartiene?) Nemo. Sì, quel capitano Nemo. E il detective Fix, anche.
Il presupposto è che queste fazioni extraterrestri sono in lotta da oltre due secoli, ma la lotta è segreta e nascosta ai terrestri. Altrimenti ci sarebbe stata una ribellione contro di loro, e gli umani li avrebbero scovati e uccisi tutti.
In pratica i complottisti odierni che vorrebbero gli alieni a capo del globo terracqueo intenti a usarci e guidarci per i loro scopi li aveva romanzescamente immaginati Farmer.
Vista la scarsità di femmine, solo cinque e subito uccise da entrambe le parti, le due fazioni si sono rivolte a matrimoni misti. Avendo perso quasi tutta la tecnologia avanzata di cui disponevano, la loro lotta segreta, tutta un gioco di spie e controspie, si basa per lo più sulla tecnologia terrestre. A parte la faccenda dell'elisir della lunga vita, somministrato agli adolescenti adottati dalle due fazioni in lotta tra loro. Questo elisir promette una vita e la gioventù, stabilizzando l'età apparente attorno alla quarantina d'anni per un millennio.
L'aplombe caricaturale di Fogg non sarebbe altro che il risultato di una educazione Eridaniana basata sul controllo emotivo e sul calcolo mentale.

Il romanzo scorre bene, è divertente e intrigante, fornisce una soluzione all'enigma della Mary Celeste, usa alcune delle incongruenze del romanzo di Verne come sostegno per le proprie speculazioni e nel complesso si può certamente dire riuscito. Alcune trovate sono semplicemente ottime. Peccato per diversi svarioni nei nomi: chiaramente c'è stato un errore di inversione di alcuni nomi (Fix con Fogg, ma anche Passpartout con Fogg) che sono chiari al lettore perché altrimenti diverse frasi non avrebbero senso.
4 stelle e mezza.

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I originally read this when I was in high school. I read a LOT of PJF while in junior high and high school. Because I've just listened to Around the World in 80 Days I thought I'd read this again. Not so good.

When I stopped reading PJF, after 30 or 40 books, I wondered, Why did I do that? I still don't know. PJF had some interesting ideas, but in this book he showed one of his great weaknesses: a good premise is not enough to make a good book.

The cover has nothing to do with the story.

[Alien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man findet ein zweites, geheimes Log des Mannes, auf dessen Erlebnisse Jules Vernes Buch "in 80 Tagen um die Welt" beruhen. Und, oh Überraschung, Phileas Fogg war ein Außeridischer! Die Eridianer führen schon seit 200 Jahren einen geheimen Kleinkrieg gegen eine andere außeridische Rasse.
Die auf einer Wette basierende Reise um die Erde ist in Wirklichkeit ein mysteriöser Geheimauftrag von Foggs eridianischem Chef.

Ich hatte das Buch schon einige Male in der Hand, hatte aber nie Lust, es anzufangen. Irgendwie finde ich das Thema nicht so interessant und ich habe auch das Original nicht gelesen. Darum weiß ich auch nicht, wie gut Farmer die Vorlage mit seinem SF-Roman verwoben hat.

Leider gefiel mir das Buch tatsächlich nicht sonderlich. Die Mischung funktioniert für mich nicht. Die Reisestory hätte mich eigentlich schon interessieren können, aber sie wird oberflächlich erzählt und ist zuwenig in der Realität verwurzelt und zog mich nicht hinein.
Ich konnte auch kein Interesse für die Figuren entwickeln.
Drum habe ich den Roman nicht zu Ende gelesen.

[Kallen Kentner · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason this book gets two stars and not one is because the concept and idea had merit. The only reason I finished this book was so I could write a scathing review.

Read the not-very-positive full review on GeekyLibrary.

[Zackman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not finish this. The style is nitpicky and, I later learned, basically a fan edit of Around the World in 80 Days. The prologue started this way, which was amusing. Then the book continues in this strange procession. Maybe this would work in a short story, but not a novel.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

P.J. Farmer is far from my favorite Appendix N author (Appendix N being the appendix in the original Dungeon Master's Guide in which Gary Gygax listed the authors and books that seemed to him most influential on the origins of Dungeons & Dragons) - I often enjoy his ideas and conceptions, but not always his execution, though he is a good enough writer in a technical sense. But this book is odd even for him - it purports to be a secondary account of the story of Phileas Fogg from Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, one in which the facts of a conspiracy of warring alien factions underlies the story told by Verne. It intersects with other stories, most notably in a member of the opposing alien faction turning out to be Captain Nemo (from Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), but it just feels stilted, perhaps because it assumes greater than average familiarity with Verne's works. Anyway, this book was OK, and I'm glad I read it once, but I probably won't return to it.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Around the World in Eighty Days is one of my favourite books, so I was either going to love this or hate it. As it turned out, I loved it: The Other Log rewarded my deep familiarity with the original text by going through every incident in the tale, explaining the inconsistencies, coincidences and unlikely happenings as part of a war between rival alien species and weaving connections with other heroes and villains of the period's fiction.

This was my first encounter with Farmer and Wold Newton; imagine my surprise when I learned that there's a scientific explanation for the proliferation of explorers, scientists, adventurers and geniuses chronicled in 19th-century literature! I might check out some more, though I think I prefer Phileas Fogg as a stuffy English human than an alien agent.

[Tomislav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second read – 12 June 2022 - ***. Just to illustrate how unmemorable this novel is, I did not remember reading it in 1982, even AFTER re-reading it 2022. But it now appears twice on my lifelong list of books read, so it must be true. I even dug up my old copy of a tor.com reprint edition. This re-read was precipitated by my find of the original DAW #48 paperback in a used bookstore, whose cover shows Phileas Fogg himself standing in front a strange alien, artwork by Jack Gaughan. The original edition is collectable.

Much of the adventure fiction of the late 19th century is framed (Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, etc.) – for example, the story is told by a narrator who has found an old manuscript. Philip José Farmer poses himself as a historical researcher, who has access to a secret logbook written by Phileas Fogg, the main character of Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days (1872). On the centennial of Verne’s novel, PJF published this secret history of a conflict between alien species that occurred between the lines and behind the scenes. He speculates whether Verne himself was unaware of this, or deliberately omitted critical facts.

The story itself, once you get past all the framing, is preposterous. Two alien species crashed onto Earth two hundred years earlier, and are engaged in a clandestine war for the right to take over Earth for its own good. Fogg and his companions are humans who have been indoctrinated into the Eridanean cause. Their Capellean enemy, similarly made up of indoctrinated humans, is out to capture their precious “distorters” – awkward teleportation devices that play prominently in the ability for characters to jump into and out of the original Verne narrative. Complex secret messages are conveyed through the observation of the hands of playing cards of peripheral figures, who apparently are also agents. Fictional characters from other Verne, Doyle, and Stevenson novels also appear, but with personalities inconsistent with their originals. This is very much a work of fanfic, although somewhat elevated by PJF’s status as an established science fiction writer.

So, a popcorn novel. And even then, don’t think about it too much.

First read – 3 July 1982 - **. I read this shortly after reading several books in PJF’s Riverworld series (starts with To Your Scattered Bodies Go). But first, I also re-read Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. The tor.com cover shows what is presumably the spaceship of either the Eridaneans or the Capelleans, that does not figure in the plot, and was supposed to have crashed on Earth 200 years before the events of the story. I was disappointed enough to stop reading PJF afterward.

[Datsun · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Cosmic Truth Behind Jules Verne's Fiction!"

Apparently, when you're a member of a secret society that has to hide a war for interplanetary domination behind a veneer of normality, the best way to do that is to make a much-publicized race around the world.

Still, for a half-dollar, this was pretty good value.

[Bill · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this one about 1/3 the way through. Not really a story, but a series of the author's "hmmmmm" moments from Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, explained as historical proof of a secret world of intrigue and extra-terrestrials. However, these "facts" are presented with little back-story and get muddled pretty quickly. Nice idea, but I just could not get my mind around this one.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am usually a HUGE Philip Jose Farmer fan but this one just didn't do it for me. Basically a retelling of the classic Jules Verne Around the World in 80 Days. Some interesting new ideas but just an OK read. Recommended

[John Wirenius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointingly, Farmer comes up with an interesting premise, but the characterization is weak, the plot spins out of control, and it just doesn’t gel.

[Halber Kapitel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Auf eine persönliche Empfehlung hin habe ich mir Philip José Farmers "Das echte Log des Phileas Fogg" antiquarisch besorgt. Die Taschenbuchausgabe von Heyne erschien ein Jahr vor meiner Geburt (ist also ebenso wie ich nicht mehr ganz taufrisch) und hat sich damals offenbar recht gut verkauft, denn bei Booklooker und Co ist das Schätzken bereits für unter 1 Euro zu bekommen und somit wohl nicht gerade eine Rarität. Das Klimpergeld ist denn auch halbwegs solide angelegt, denn die Prämisse ist nicht unoriginell, und der Roman liest sich zum Teil recht amüsant. Was das literarische Erleuchtungspotential angeht, ist die Anlage jedoch eher ein biederes Sparkassenbuch denn eine High-Risk-Option, die schlußendlich so richtig durch die Decke ballert.

Vor allem Leser*innen, die das Original von Jules Verne kennen oder zumindest den schönen und sehr vorlagegetreuen TV-Vierteiler mit Pierce Brosnan, Eric Idle und Sir Peter Ustinov, dürften ihren Spaß haben an Farmers - tja, was ist es nun? Ein Scherz? Ein Kommentar?

Philip Farmer hat mit Phileas Fogg die Initialen gemein und mit Jules Verne, daß er zeitlebens zwar ein populärer Science-Fiction-Autor war, ihm die ersehnte Anerkennung als "seriöser" Schriftsteller jedoch verwehrt blieb. So soll es laut Wikipedia wohl abseits seiner Spannungsromane auch ein paar literarische Versuche geben, die aber kaum Beachtung fanden. Erfolgreich hingegen war sein Flußwelt-Zyklus, außerdem machte er durch für die Szene ungewöhnlich erotische Plots auf sich aufmerksam.

"Das echte Log..." ist nun aber nicht besonders erotisch, und übermäßig spannend ist es ehrlich gesagt ebenfalls nicht. Dabei gibt die Grundidee des Romans einiges her. Auch liest sich die ein oder andere Sequenz ganz flüssig, ehe das Buch wieder in Belanglosigkeiten versinkt. Farmer spürt in Vernes legendärer Abenteuergeschichte Logiklöcher aller Art auf. Warum dauert der Weg von seinem Zuhause zum Club solange? Warum serviert der Diener den Tee exakt 1 Grad zu kalt, obwohl er wissen muß, daß das zu seiner Entlassung führt? Kleinere und größere Unstimmigkeiten dieses Kalibers finden sich in dem Reisebericht zahlreich, und Farmer beginnt eine SF-Geschichte zu konstruieren, die verborgen hinter der bekannten Erzählung steht und den eigentlichen Eisberg darstellt, von dem wir bisher nur die Spitze gesehen hatten: So gehören Fogg und sein neuer Diener Passepartout eigentlich der außerirdischen Rasse der Eridianer an, die sich mit den ebenfalls als Menschen getarnten Capellanern im Krieg befinden. Zu diesen gehören nicht nur Detektiv Fix und der Radscha, dessen Witwe Aouda Fogg bekanntlich vor der Verbrennung rettet - auch Kapitän Nemo und James Moreatti sind als capellanische Gegenspieler an der Jagd auf eines der zwei letzten Exemplare des Distorters beteiligt, was Jules Verne aber nicht wissen konnte und somit dem Leser verschwieg. Ein Distorter ist übrigens eine überlegene Transporttechnologie der auf dem blauen Planeten gestrandeteten Aliens, die mit irdischen Mitteln nicht nachgebaut werden kann

Farmers Konstruktion macht immer dann Spaß, wenn er sich in Betrachtungen über Jules Vernes Ausgangstext ergeht: Das Whist-Spiel im Club, durch das Fogg verschlüsselt seinen Auftrag erhält, oder die launige Analyse der logischen Fehler. Auch der besagte Radscha wird überhaupt erst durch Fogg und den gemieteten Elefanten getötet. An diesen Stellen liest sich der Roman wie eine gute Sachtext-Parodie. Die Erzählung selbst verliert sich aber über die Gesamtstrecke in unspiriertem Klein-Klein, das das Lesen des an sich schmalen Bändchens manchmal zu einem sehr qualvollen Unterfangen werden läßt. Warum war Farmer nicht mutiger, hat sich nicht in kühnere Spekulationen verstiegen? So liegt die Vernsche Geschichte wie eine lästige Pflicht auf der Fabulierlust des Autors, an der er sich allzu brav entlanghangelt. Und daß Farmer den latenten Rassismus, der (meinetwegen zeitbedingt) in Reise in 80 Tagen um die Welt steckt, zwar in Bezug auf die Iren, Engländer und Franzosen kritisiert, in Bezug auf die Inder und Native Americans aber nicht, sollte als Randnotiz auch nicht unbemerkt bleiben.

Immerhin steht am Ende die Einsicht, daß die Capellaner und Eridianer, wenn sie nicht endlich Frieden schließen, kein Stück besser sind als die Erdlinge, die sie so sehr verachten. Und da ist Philip José Farmer in der frühen 1970ern, ebenso wie Jules Verne hundert Jahre zuvor, ein Kind seiner Zeit.

[Alexandre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only recently I watched the 2004 movie version of “Around the World in Eighty Days”. I immediately went after the 1956 movie, which I had watched many years before. Both films are testimonies of the evolving changes of taste among the modern audiences. Jules Verne seemed content in providing no more than a travel diary with a few side adventures. The act of crossing the oceans and of sightseeing were thrilling enough in the 1870s.

The movies, however, felt obliged to add Cantinflas, firstly, and Jackie Chan, secondly. Accordingly, there were detours through Spain and China, with a Flamenco dancing show and Martial arts fights. The movies also added a balloon to the journey and proposed a more tight connection between the bank robbery and the wager plot. In the end, the movies highlight how uneventful the book is, with several unexplained or ill-explained situations, like the already mentioned robbery and the corresponding participation of Inspector Fix.

Then I remembered I sci-fi book I had read in the eighties. A strange book, but one which tried to spice up Verne’s plot by inserting it in a wide web of mysterious actual events and fictional characters. Suddenly, “Around the World in Eighty Days” was no longer a travel diary, but part of a dispute between two alien races, connecting “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” to the Sherlock Holmes’ universe. Phileas Fogg now had an archenemy: Nemo, who would eventually become Professor Moriarty.

Philip José Farmer’s idea was far reaching, but its execution was far from ideal. The scope of the life-and-death dispute between the alien races is never stated clearly. The reader is naturally inclined to sympathize with Fogg. Conversely, Nemo’s side is automatically seen as the villainous one. However, we are not allowed to know the intentions of both races concerning earth and the human race.

Besides, for a book conceived as a reconstruction of Verne’s work, it is disturbing that it mistakes the sequence of events happening in Hong Kong. How could Fogg and Princess Aouda embark on the Carnatic? How could Shanghai have been mistaken by Singapore? Both hard to comprehend errors given the circumstances. Furthermore, at least one aspect of the book did not age well: When Aouda addresses the appearance of her future progeny given her own and Fogg’s whiteness. I take for sure a modern-day editor would never accept it. Moreover, why does the most recent book cover depict a balloon when such a thing has no part whatsoever in the journey? A design clearly influenced by the movies, but unrelated either with the original book or with the new one.

Farmer’s book also reproduces the 1959 article by H. W. Starr that “established” that Nemo and Moriarty were the same. The argument is ingenious. I found especially disconcerting the author’s insight on the “pedagogical profession”:

“[Nemo] is clearly a man of commanding and domineering personality, a man who rigidly draws the caste line. This combination of an arrogant personality and a marked distinction between groups is of course to be observed in many walks of life, but it is particularly noticeable in those who follow two professions: officers in military organizations and teachers. Nemo, however, repeatedly shows an extreme aversion to the human race in general, a quality not exceptionally common in military men, but one which is frequently to be found in members of the pedagogical profession after several years spent in the refreshing experience of purveying sweetness and light to large quantities of Youth.”

It is the first time I came to face such a harsh understanding on the perils of teaching, but it definitely is something I will reflect upon in the future.

[Jared Castiglione · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The unforeseen does not exist” but if it did this book is what it would look like.

There is so much in this other log of Philieas Fogg and the style in which we, as readers, experience it, that it too often overwhelms. If taken separately, any of the notes in this augmented major 7th chord would sound pleasing to the ears, but together, it’s too much all at once. A hodgepodge of sort…

Without wanting to give away any of these layers, it can safely be expressed that the story crafted here behind Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days” is complex, and without context, confusing.

At times throughout, it seems that the author abandoned his own methods of infusing this story into or onto the original, deciding to break away on a tangent or side quest. But it’s only a side quest to traveling around the world. In this reality, there is an entirely different reason for the journey.

This story has its own pacing with its own character development. Anything that was important in Verne’s tale is lost or seemingly trivial here.

Having just reread “Around the World in Eighty Days,” I was very familiar with those events and major adventures. Here, however, something is lost. In place is a very ambitious science fiction novel where the reader must spend much of their time catching up with what happened prior to the opening lines of the book. It runs deep and there is not a lack of action, but the clever “other log” hook fails, at least it did for me, to capture the story and romance of the original.

This is not presented as fantasy or fiction. It reads very much like a history lecture with the author never quite sure how to present the information to the reader. Sometimes it’s fast paced with dialogue and reads like a story. Other times it’s a barrage of “facts” about the major players and their lives.

One might call this book “accurate” as it does call out Verne’s errors in his book. But, the charm and whimsy is replaced with duty and expectation.

The premise is the best part: take a well known piece of fiction, and retell it from a different point of view.

[Vladimir Ivanov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Совершенно волшебный в своей абсурдности пересказ классических «Вокруг света за 80 дней», основанный на фант.допущении, что Фогг и Фикс являются инопланетянами, конкурирующими агентами «под прикрытием» двух враждебных цивилизаций.

Фармер со своей обычной тщательностью препарирует текст Верна и любую найденную несосытковку или ляп (а их у Верна по обыкновению много) крайне изобретательно толкует в свою пользу.

Вот смотрите, восклицает он, на странице такой-то упомянуто, что Фогг перед тем, как покинуть Реформ-клуб, «левой рукой надел шляпу». Но ведь больше нигде в книге не упоминается такая мелочь, как надевание шляпы. Почему именно здесь это подчеркнуто? И почему левой рукой, ведь Фогг правша? Абсолютно ясно, что это был условный сигнал для одного из джентльменов, присутствовавших на тот момент в клубе!

Или вот гигантские архаичные часы-луковица, которые Паспарту всюду таскает с собой и упорно отказывается подводить даже на минуту, хотя они заметно отстают. Любому очевидно, что это секретное инопланетное устройство, замаскированное под хронометр!

А вот Верн упоминает, что Фогг вышел из дома, сел в экипаж и через полчаса уже был на вокзале. Но позвольте, если взять карту Лондона того времени, то от дома 7 по Севиль-Роу до Черинг-Кросс быстрее было бы дойти пешком. Без малейшего сомнения, Фогг по пути куда-то заехал!

И вот уже, вытолкнутые из-за кулис безудержной фантазией Фармера, на сцену выбегают телепортирующиеся боевые слоны, капитан Немо (без «Наутилуса»), профессор Мориарти (без Холмса), дрейфующая «Мария Целеста», и чорт знает что еще, и непостижимым образом вся эта вакханалия сплетается в цельный и захватывающий сюжет.

P.S. В финале Фармер (Philip Farmer) напоминает нам, что Фогг (Phileas Fogg) обладает неземным долголетием и на текущий момент наверняка живет где-то под чужим именем, сохранив только инициалы от изначального имени и тягу к рассказыванию искрометных историй. Мы поняли намек, маэстро, и терпеливо ждем появления новых экстравагантных талантов по имени P.F.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novel of tremendous scope and imagination, building upon the foundation of Jules Verne’s famous Around the World in Eighty Days and expanding upon it to include Captain Nemo, Sherlock Holmes nemesis, James Moriarty, the famous ghost ship, Mary Celeste, and so very much more.

Farmer begins by informing the reader that two alien races have been vying for supremacy on earth for millennia, jockeying for power by adopting/recruiting humans to their side and using them as weapons against each other. Phileas Fogg is one such adoptee and his famous journey was not actually motivated by a bet, but by his desire to stop Captain Nemo from overthrowing the British Empire through the use of advanced alien technology.

As one would expect from Farmer, the plot is expansive and the plotting intricate. It’s a pleasure to watch him bring characters from other works into the novel, just as it is a delight to see him hint that he, himself, is actually Phileas Fogg, still kicking around roughly a century after the events in the book take place. Unfortunately, Farmer chose to mimic the prose of Verne in his novel and it greatly slows down the reading. I understand why he did it, but it made a novel that should have been a simple delight into a more difficult academic exercise.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Evelina Gotchkova · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of fantasy. Jules Verne's classic novel, full of adventure and romance, recreated as fiction, albeit through the idea, is definitely not my kind of novel. But for fans of this kind of genre, it's certainly interesting.
For me, the only really good version of the Around the World in 80 Days book is and remains the 1989 version with Pierce Brosnan as Fogg. The events were true to the book, and the changes righted some injustices in the classic story. In addition to the adventures during the journey, the development of modern technologies and human relations, in this film, divided into 3 series, the theme of love was fully developed - something neglected in the novel and completely passed over in the film with David Niven, without commenting on the phantasmagoria with Jackie Chan and the 2021 series. Without love, Fogg would not have successfully completed his journey, and without love, the world would not exist. This, in my opinion, is more important than any adventure, action and science fiction.

[Roy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Giving a Farmer book one star is remarkable as I have long been a fan of Farmer.
However, in this story that is trying to follow the story of Fogg from the Verne novel, he dances around any inconsistencies or other explanations for the actions of Fogg and attributes them to a war between two alien races vying for power.
This is not unlike other Farmer efforts like his incorporation of Tarzan and Professor Challenger in stories of the Nine. But somehow this one fell flat for me and I stopped reading after some effort to slog through the story. After about a 100 pages, I was fairly sure there was not going to be anything that caught my interest in this almost legalistic document of double meanings to actions and messages in the Verne story.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the concept: what if Around the World in Eighty Days was really a cover story for the actions of secret agents in the war between alien races? Not so fond of the execution. Yes, Farmer did accommodate the events of the Verne book in his story, and in fact explained a couple of weird details in the original (and actually in real history, cf. Mary Celeste). However, the background and the purposes of the various actions (mostly violent) of the warring aliens were mostly unexplained. Still, I read this in tandem with a re-read of Verne, it was a fun read.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ein Beispiel für Steampunk. Wie der Titel sagt, geht es um das, was uns Verne nicht erzählt. Zwei außeriridische Zivilisationen, die sich einmischen. Und es werden einige Unebenheiten pseudo-erklärt. Witzige Idee, nett geschrieben, aber eigentlich langweilig. (5/10)

[redd · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting story line...would be good for Dr. Who...could easily read the accompanying books but felt too narrative...wouldve liked more detail into the scifi aspect of the time travel