The World of Tiers: the Maker of Universes Free

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Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. The seven notes were faint and far off, ectoplasmic issue of a phantom of silver, if sound could be the stuff from which shades are formed. Robert Wolff knew that there could be no horn or man blowing upon it behind the sliding doors. A minute ago, he had looked inside the closet. Nothing except the cement floor, the white plasterboard walls, the clothes rod and hooks, a shelf and a light The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes was there. Yet he had heard the trumpet notes, feeble as if singing from the outer wall of the world itself. He was alone, so that he had no one with whom to check the reality of what could not be real. The room in which he stood entranced was an unlikely The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes in The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes to have such an experience. But he might not be an unlikely person to have it. Lately, weird dreams had been troubling his sleep. During the day strange thoughts and images passed through his mind, fleeting but vivid and The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes startling. They were unwanted, unexpected, and unresistable. He was worried. To be ready to retire from work and then to suffer a mental breakdown seemed unfair. However, it could happen to him as it had to others, so the thing to do was to be examined by a doctor. But he could not bring himself to act as reason demanded. He kept waiting, and he The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes not say anything to anybody, least of all to his wife. Now he stood in the recreation room of a new house in the Hohokam Homes development and stared at the closet doors. If the horn bugled again, he would slide a door back and see for himself that nothing was there. Then, knowing that his diseased mind was generating the notes, he would forget about buying this house. He would ignore his wife's hysterical protests, and he would see a medical doctor first and then a psychotherapist. His wife called: "Robert! Haven't you been down there long enough? Come up here. I want to talk to you and Mr. She called again, so close this time that he turned around. Brenda Wolff stood at the top of the steps that led down to the recreation room. She was his age, sixty-six. What beauty she had once had was now buried under fat, under heavily rouged and powdered wrinkles, thick spectacles, and steel-blue hair. He winced on seeing her, as he winced every time he looked into the mirror and saw his own bald head, deep lines from nose to mouth, and stars of grooved skin radiating from the reddened eyes. Was this his trouble? Was he unable to adjust to that which came to all men, like it or not? Or was what he disliked in his wife and himself not the physical deterioration but the knowledge that neither he nor Brenda had realized their youthful dreams? There was no way to avoid the rasps and files of time on the flesh, The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes time had been gracious to him in allowing him to live this long. He could not plead short duration as an excuse for not shaping his psyche into beauty. The world could not be blamed for what he was. He alone was responsible; at least he was strong enough to face that. He did not reproach the universe or that part of it that was his wife. He did not scream, snarl, and whine as Brenda did. There had been times when it would have been easy to whine or The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes. How many men could remember nothing before the age of twenty? He thought it was twenty, for the Wolffs, who had adopted him, had said that he'd looked that age. He had been discovered wandering in the hills of Kentucky, near the Indiana border, by old man Wolff. He had not known who he was or how he had come there. He couldn't even speak English. The Wolffs had taken him in and notified the sheriff. An investigation by the authorities had failed to identify him. At another time, his story might have attracted nationwide attention; however, the nation had been at war with the Kaiser and had had more important things to think about. Robert, named after the Wolff's dead son, had helped work on the farm. He had also gone to school, for he had lost all memory of his education. Worse than his lack of formal knowledge had been his ignorance of how to behave. Time and again he had embarrassed or offended others. He had suffered from the scornful or sometimes The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes reaction of the hill-folk, but had learned swiftly — and his willingness to work hard, plus his great strength in defending himself, had gained respect. In an amazingly quick time, as if he had been relearning, he had studied and passed through grade and high school. Although he had The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes by many years the full time of attendance required, he had taken and passed the entrance examinations to the university with no trouble. There he'd begun his lifelong love affair with the classical languages. Most of all he loved Greek, for it struck a chord within him; he felt at home with it. After getting his Ph. He had married Brenda, a beautiful girl with a lovely soul. Or so he had thought at first. Later, he had been disillusioned, but still he was fairly happy. Always, however, the mystery of his amnesia and his origin had troubled him. For a long time it had not disturbed him, but then, on retiring Bresson is a busy man. Bresson has had plenty of clients who like to make a leisurely surveillance," he replied mildly. He sighed because he knew that, later, she would accuse him of deliberately making her look foolish before the real estate agent. He turned to the closet doors again. Did he dare open them? It was absurd to freeze there, like someone in shock or in a psychotic state of indecision. But he could not move, except to give a start as the bugle again vented the seven notes, crying from behind a thick barricade but stronger in volume. His heart thudded like an inward fist against his breast bone. He forced himself to step up to the doors and to place his hand within the brass- covered indentation at waist-level and shove a door to one side. The little rumble of the rollers drowned out the horn as the door moved to one side. The white plaster boards of the The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes had disappeared. They had become an entrance to a scene he could not possibly have imagined, although it must have originated in his mind. Sunlight flooded in through the opening, which was large enough for him to walk through if he stooped. Vegetation that looked something like trees — but no trees of Earth — blocked part of his view. Through the branches and fronds he could see a bright green sky. He lowered his eyes to take in the scene on the ground beneath the trees. Seven nightmare creatures were gathered at the base of a giant boulder. It was of red, quartz-impregnated rock and shaped roughly like a toadstool. Most of the things had their black furry, misshapen bodies turned away from him, but one presented its profile against the green sky. Its head was brutal, subhuman, and its expression was malevolent. There were knobs on its body and on its face and head, clots of flesh which gave it a half-formed appearance, as if its Maker had forgotten to smooth it out. The two short legs were like a dog's hind legs. It was stretching its long arms up toward the young man who stood on the flat top of the The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes. This man was clothed only in a buckskin breechcloth and moccasins. He was tall, muscular, and broad-shouldered; his skin was sun-browned; his long thick hair was a reddish bronze; his face was strong and craggy with a long upper lip. He held the instrument which must have made the notes Wolff had heard. The man kicked one of the misshapen things back down from its hold on the boulder as it crawled up toward him. He lifted the silver horn to his lips to blow again, then saw Wolff standing beyond the opening. He grinned widely, flashing white teeth. He called, "So you finally came! He could only think, Now I have gone crazy! Not just auditory hallucinations but visual! The Maker of Universes (World of Tiers, #1) by Philip José Farmer

They are set within a series of artificially-constructed universes, created and ruled by decadent beings who are genetically identical to humans, but regard themselves as superior, who are the inheritors of an advanced technology they no longer understand. This technology enables the "Lords" or 'Thoans' as described by Farmer in his introduction to a role-playing video game [1] to create novel lifeforms, and also to prevent aging or disease, making them effectively immortal. Their technology also allows them to create small artificial universes see pocket universeand the planets and stars within them, and modify the physical laws e. Instantaneous travel within and between these universes is achieved by the use of gates which seem to function as teleportation devices, or as a means of creating wormholes between different regions of spacetime. The overall series title comes from the main 'pocket universe' featured in the books. This consists of a single planet with a green sky, shaped in the form of a huge stepped pyramid on five stages, with each stage being a disk or squat cylinder. A small sun and a single moon orbit around this planet thus, in The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes universe Geocentrism is a correct description of astronomical reality. There are no other stars or astronomical bodies. This world was created by a Lord named Jadawin. The overall storyline of the series follows the adventures of two people from Earth who independently discover gates into the World of Tiers. The earlier books focus on the character of Robert Wolff as he explores this world and tries to discover its secrets. From the third book onwards the action shifts to Paul Janus Finnegan known as Kickahaalong with many other aliaseswho is drawn into a battle between an ancient enemy of the Lords, and ultimately into the feuds between rival Lords as they try to take over each other's universes. The novel Red Orc's Rage has marginal connections with the series. Although the main characters from the other books do not occur directly, this novel provides some background material on The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes and characters in the other novels. The broad setting of the novels is a series of artificially-constructed universes. The majority of the stories take place on the world created by the Lord Jadawin. This planet consists of a series of cylindrical layers stacked one atop the other, to form an enormous, approximately conical tower albeit much broader than it is tall. These cliffs do provide some purchase for climbing, and many specialized creatures live on the cliff surfaces, so this isolation is not complete. There is no diminution of atmosphere from one level to the next, due to Jadawin's manipulation of the local gravitational fields. The various tiers are populated with plants and animals creating different environments. Some of these were abducted from Earth throughout history, while many were created in Jadawin's biolabs. Many creatures have bodies created by Jadawin to replicate mythological creatures e. The various inhabitants are immortal as far as physical aging is concerned, though they can be killed by most other means. The pocket universe in which the World of Tiers is located contains only three astronomical objects. This made the land area more than that of Earth's. In addition, the habitable areas on the verticalities of the monoliths were considerable. The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes alone probably equalled the land area of Earth's Africa. Moreover, there The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes immense subterranean territories, great caverns in vast networks that ran under the earth everywhere. The World of Tiers consists of a series of flattened cylindrical layers, or monoliths, stacked one on top of the next, with habitable environments on the upper surfaces tiers of each monolith. The tiers are, in order, from largest bottom to smallest top :. The exact dimensions of the monoliths are not stated, and The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes they must be inferred from hints in the novels, such as the quote above. Unfortunately the various statements in the books seem to be inconsistent. The next tier down Okeanos consists of a circular ocean girdling the monolith Thayaphaeawoed, approximately kilometers wide, and a circular beach and forest. The edge of the Okeanos tier is easily reached by foot from the beach in less than a day. Furthermore, the heights of the various monoliths are not consistent between novels. These discrepancies may be explained by saying that the various characters initial estimates of the height of the monoliths are inaccurate, and become more accurate as they learn more about Alofmethbin. The single moon orbiting Alofmethbin is quoted as being approximately the same size as the planet Mars. The moon as seen from Alofmethbin is described as appearing two-and-a-half times bigger than Earth's moon. Robert Wolff is The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes retired linguistics professor, aged in his sixties. While inspecting a house to purchase and live in during retirement with his wife, a gate to the World of Tiers opens before him. He passes through this gate, arriving on the Okeanos level. There he regains his youth and health, due to the effects of drugs in the water supply provided by the Lord Jadawin. He meets and falls in love with Chryseis, and when she is kidnapped, he sets out to rescue her, ascending the various levels of the The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes. Most of this journey is undertaken in the company of Paul Janus Finnegan, aka Kickaha. Wolff and Jadawin are the same person. In the ruins of a museum in a small German town, he discovered a metal crescent made of an apparently indestructible metal, and kept it as a souvenir. This crescent proved to be one half of a gate to the World of Tiers, the other half belonging to a displaced Thoan who attempted to buy and later, steal the crescent from him. Finnegan interrupted the Thoan in the middle of entering the gate and accidentally activated the completed gate himself, ending up transported to the World of Tiers. At the start of the first novel in the series, Finnegan has lived on the World of Tiers for approximately twenty-four years. In The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes time, he has learned many of the local languages, become The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes skilled at knife- throwing, archery, and other combat and outdoors survival skills, and lived under many assumed names and identities. In Dracheland, his identity is "Baron Horst von Horstman", whose coat of arms is a red jackass' head surmounting a fist with the middle finger extended. His favourite identity is that of Kickaha meaning "trickster"which he uses on the Amerind level. This is also true of one of the main characters in the Riverworld series, Peter Jairus Frigate. Chryseis is a woman abducted from Earth by Jadawin, who has had her mind implanted into a new body created in Jadawin's biolabs. She claims to be the same Chryseisdaughter of Chryses portrayed in the tale of the Trojan war. The body created for The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes by Jadawin is essentially human, except that her eyes are exceptionally large in proportion The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes her face like a cat's eyesher legs are exceptionally long, and her hair is tiger-striped. Anana, also known as Anana the Bright, is a Thoan, sister of Jadawin. She is driven out of her own universe by an ancient enemy that threatens to destroy all the Thoans, and takes refuge in the World of Tiers where she meets Kickaha. She is initially arrogant and cruel, as most Thoans are, but is The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes by Kickaha's resourcefulness, and gradually becomes sympathetic and humane as she falls in love with him. Podarge and her huge air armada of giant green eagles and many of the individuals in itoften play pivotal parts in this story. The first book in the series opens with Robert Wolff finding a gate into the World of Tiers, which Kickaha opens in order to escape from creatures sent by the Lord of that world. Wolff enters the World of Tiers, arriving on the Okeanos level, and over the space of a few months regains his youth thanks to chemicals in the water and food. He meets Chryseis and falls in love with her, but she is captured by the same creatures who captured Kickaha. Wolff sets out to pursue them, climbing the monolith towards the second Amerind level of the planet. On the way he meets Kickaha again, and the two join forces to rescue Chryseis. Eventually they ascend all the levels of the planet and launch an attack on the Lord's palace. It is revealed that Wolff was actually the Lord, Jadawin, who created the World of Tiers, but that he was attacked by another Lord and marooned on Earth, where the shock of being in such primitive surroundings caused him to suffer amnesia. In the second book, Wolff, now reinstalled as the Lord of the World of Tiers but more humane and compassionate, after his amnesia erased the original Jadawin personalityenters a Universe constructed by his father Urizen. Urizen has kidnapped Chryseis, and Wolff finds himself reunited with his brothers, sisters and cousins, all of whom must travel from one dangerous planet to another to escape. The third book chronicles Kickaha's adventures while the events of the second book are occurring. He meets three dispossessed Lords one of whom is Anana who are fleeing an army led by the Black Bellers - artificial intelligences capable of taking over the bodies of human hosts. It is revealed that the civilization of the Thoans, including their understanding of the scientific principles behind their advanced technology, was destroyed during the war with the Black Bellers ten The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes years before. Since then the few remaining Black Bellers have been in hiding, waiting for an opportunity to rebuild their ranks and attempt to take over again. Kickaha and Anana are pursued across the Amerind level, as they attempt to escape and simultaneously counterattack the Black Bellers. Eventually they enter the Lord's palace and manage to kill all but one of the Bellers, who flees to Earth. It is revealed that Earth is itself an artificial world constructed to be an exact replica of the Thoan's home world during the stone age, and allowed to develop as a social experiment. It is strongly implied that this is all an exact copy of the Thoans' homeworld universe and that Thoa is itself artificial, but this question is not explored in the later novels. The remaining books in the series follow Kickaha and Anana as they travel to Earth to kill the final Black Beller. The secret Lord of Earth, Red Orc, attempts to kill Kickaha and Anana despite their informing him that they simply want to kill the last Black Beller and will then leave peacefully. Eventually they manage to kill the Black Beller, but wind up in a battle between Red Orc and another Lord called Urthona. They are all gated to the Lavalite world, a planet that changes shape periodically like the wax in a lava lamp The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes, and which was created by Urthona. The only gate out of this world is located in Urthona's palace, which floats over the surface of the planet. Finally they manage to return to the World of Tiers and go searching for Wolff and Chryseis who have disappeared. The final book of the series takes place fifteen years later, Anana and Kickaha having been directed into a trap universe by Red Orc. They escape, but Kickaha is forced by Red Orc to go in search of an entrance to The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes universe he found ten thousand years earlier but has been unable to return to. Red Orc wants Kickaha to bring a fresh approach to the problem. This universe contains the last remaining databanks that preserve the technology of the Thoans and Red Orc plans to use this technology to conquer all the artificial universes. The story culminates with Kickaha defeating Red Orc in hand-to-hand combat, and returning to the World of Tiers to resume his adventuring trickster lifestyle. The Jadawin family or at least their names are taken from William Blake's mythology. Many features of the world of tiers appear to be drawn from early cosmological ideas and mythologies. The structure of the world of tiers, with a central mountain or tower which the sun passes behind at night is equivalent to early Babylonian and Egyptian cosmological theories. The placement of the Lord's palace at the highest level of the world is reminiscent of the home of the gods atop Mount Olympus. The lord Jadawin uses intelligent ravens that roam across the world, observing, carrying messages, and reporting back to him, much like Odin in Norse mythology See Hugin and Munin. Notice also the similarity in the names Odin and Jadawin. The moon of the world of tiers is modelled after Barsoomfrom Edgar Rice Burroughs ' novels, a homage The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes Farmer openly admits in the third book of the series. The novels are at least in part a vehicle to represent mythological character archetypes. Robert Wolff is a heroic character who primarily overcomes obstacles by using strength physical and mental to confront the Thoans. By contrast, the character of Kickaha is a tricksterwho avoids the affairs of the god-like Thoans wherever possible, and who survives and defeats his enemies by cunning, trickery and skill. The central concept of the series is the existence of arrogant beings who possess awesome powers as a result of technology and use these powers to play the role of gods. The Maker of Universes - Wikipedia

It is the first in his World of Tiers series. The story follows Robert Wolff, a man disenchanted with his life and his marriage. One day, while looking at a new house, Wolff discovers a strange horn in the basement. Blowing the horn, Wolff is transported to a strange new world, the World of Tiers. Wolff finds himself initially in an edenic paradise known as Okeanos. This region is the first level of the planet, which contains a number of tiers like a wedding cake, separated by vast mountain ranges. The entire planet is ruled over by a cruel and mysterious lord named Jadawin, who created it. Okeanos consists of a beach, an ocean, and a small forest and is populated by nymph like humans who originated in and near ancient Greece. The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes this new world, Wolff regains his youth and vigor and falls in love with a local woman named Chryseis who lived in Troy at the time of the Trojan War. When Chryseis is kidnapped, Wolff follows after her, climbing to the next level of the world, Amerind, a plains region populated by Native Americans and centaurs. Along The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes way he is joined by the adventurer Kickaha, who had also come from Earth, where he was known as Paul Janus Finnegan, some time ago. The two continue their adventure as they ascend the various levels of the World of Tiers including the medieval Dracheland and the jungle Atlantis. When they finally make it to the palace of Jadawin they make a shocking discovery; Robert Wolff is Lord Jadawin, who lost his memory after being defeated by another lord, and ended up stranded on Earth. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Maker of the Universes First edition. The New York Times : December 10, Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. First edition. December 10, [1]. The Gates The World of Tiers: The Maker of Universes Creation.