Venus On The Half-Shell and Others - The Tom Wode Bellman Controversy

The Tom Wode Bellman Controversy

The Foreword by Tom Wode Bellman in Venus on the Half-Shell and Others states that Bellman was also solicited by Farmer to write a fictional-author story entitled "The Wee Weepers of Mu" as by Gabriel Weltstein, which was reputedly published in 1976 in a fanzine called Kukuanafan, although there has been some debate as to whether the name Tom Wode Bellman is itself a fictional-author pseudonym. The July 2008 issue of Farmerphile: The Magazine of Philip José Farmer published a Guest of Honor speech which Farmer presented at the science fiction convention Balticon 11 that only adds to the Bellman mystery. In the speech, Farmer states that he planned to write a novel about the science fiction community featuring a protagonist named Tom Wode Bellman. However, an essay accompanying the speech, purportedly by Bellman, claims that Farmer merely used Bellman's name for the character as a joke.