Philip Jose Farmer

The author of dozens of books and even more short stories, Philip Jose Farmer was born in Indiana in 1918 to George and Lucile Jackson Farmer, but has called Peoria, Illinois, home for most of his life. He revolutionized science-fiction with his 1952 short story (later a novel) titled "The Lovers", the first known science-fiction tale to portray sex between a human and a non-humanoid alien. The winner of three Hugo awards and named a Grand Master of Science-Fiction in 2001, his best known series was made into two made-for-TV movies: Riverworld (2003) and Riverworld (2010), both for the SyFy Channel. He is also well known for writing novels around established fictional characters such as Tarzan and Doc Savage - going so far as to write a detailed biography of Tarzan - and his novel "Venus on the Half Shell" was written under the alias of Kilgore Trout, a character created by novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr..