Behind the Walls of Terra

© 1970 by Philip Jose Farmer

Okay. First thing’s first. I’ve discovered Philip Jose Farmer’s favorite word in the English language:

Brobdingnagian.

I’ve noticed it appears once in every book he’s written that I’ve read. And I have an eye – an inner ear – for these sorts of things. In this instance, “brobdingnagian” appears on page 184 of my 1977 Ace paperback.

Anyway, Behind the Walls of Terra is book four of the “World of Tiers” quintilogy. For this one, we follow Kickaha and the Lord (shouldn’t it be “Lady”?) Anana, who’s fallen deeply in love with him, a common mortal, to Earth. Thus, for the first time since the first twenty pages of book one, we’re back on semi-familiar ground. Specifically, the gate to our world from the fantastical Tier World – or wherever the heck in the multiverse Kickaha was dispatching all those Bellers at the end of A Private Cosmos – throws our heroes into 1970 Los Angeles.

Reason being is Kickaha is in hot pursuit determined to kill the final Beller. A Beller, for those not in the know, is a completely alien entity capable of taking over one’s mind. Sort of like a pod person, of sorts. Sorta. Anyway, it’s the existential threat to the Lords who rule over the pocket universes in this little series Farmer’s been helming.

Problem is, this is not the original universe. Our world, our Earth, is but the mere creation of the most magnificent and maleficent Lord of them all, Red Orc, who rules our planet behind the scenes, like a mad Grand Chessmaster. How will Kickaha elude this all-powerful being who knows our protagonist’s presence as of page one? Will Kickaha find the Beller, and find an end to the crisis? Will he find his friends from the previous books, lost or captive somewhere on our little blue gem?

Seems the set-up for an interesting page-turner.

[Spoilers]

It’s not.

Well, it started out pretty decent, early on. I had a vibe that this could be the best book of the series. Then a series of misfortunate authorial choices took place. The book went from an interesting, wry A to a somewhat tedious and “how many pages left” B-minus.

Let me tell you why, in a paragraph.

Red Orc, the master Grand Chessmaster, turns out to be a stereotypical inept “Mugsy” gangster from 1920s Chicago. Not really, but that’s how he comes across. He has a mansion in Beverly Hills and a group of “Gang-that-couldn’t-shoot-straight” henchman. And he’s in the process of being out-muscled by another Lord, name of Urthona. The way Kickaha out-hustles, out-maneuvers, and out-punches these all-powerful beings had me thinking I was watching Kirk and Spock in that Trek episode, “A Piece of the Action.”

Throw in Farmer’s fascination with these maze-like and utterly confusing gates that transport you here, there, and everywhere, and a completely obscure denouement for a really non-threatening Beller, and you have a recipe for a big let-down. But, perhaps it’s me. I’ll grant that. Perhaps a second reading is required to do it justice. No doubt had I come across these books during the Golden Age of Science Fiction (when a boy is ten, eleven, or twelve years old), no doubt I would have read them several times over a couple of years to complete satisfaction.

For me, the best part were the hippies.

Grade: B-minus.