Pat Wildman (Patricia Clarke Lupin Wildman) is a New Pulp character created by Philip José Farmer and Win Scott Eckert.
She is the daughter of James Clarke “Doc” Wildman, which is Farmer’s real name for Doc Savage, as revealed in his “biography” of Doc Savage. So far, she has appeared in two adventures set in the 1970s, and hopefully more.
What we know is that Pat is the daughter of Doc Wildman and Adelaide Lupin, daughter of Arsene Lupin, the French gentleman-thief. Adelaide herself was created by Eckert and appeared in a pair of stories in “Tales of the Shadowmen” where she met Doc Wildman, at the time using his Doc Ardan identity.
Pat grew up at Doc’s upstate “College,” but her parents disappeared on a mission and are presumed dead a year prior. When we meet her in “The Evil in Pemberly House” (2009, 2014), she is widowed (she had married one of the doctors at the college, who was later killed) and looking for a purpose in life.
In “Evil,” Pat is in England because she is in line to inherit a title and land. These were left unclaimed because of her father’s cousin, Lord Graystoke (aka Tarzan) and family are presumed dead. (Those who have read Farmer’s work on Tarzan know that Tarzan et al have faked their deaths due to their longevity.) The story is in the style of an erotic gothic romance/thriller, though we get glimpses of the Wold Newton Family, including seeing Doc Wildman as Doc Ardan, among other elements.
In the next story, “The Scarlet Jaguar” (2014), Pat and associates are fighting a pulp villain in Central America. They are joined by Pat’s friend Helen Benson. If you don’t catch the reference, Helen is the daughter of The Avenger and The Domino Lady, who met in stories by Eckert that appeared in The Avenger collections from Moonstone Books, and presumably later married. We also learn that Pat’s father was responsible for setting up a U.N.-associated law enforcement group that, among other things, dealt with a certain bird-named organization.
I find the character very interesting, as many wonder about possible children of Doc Savage. However, I’m one of those who thinks Doc would have married Princess Monja. But that’s me. I also wonder why Doc’s cousin, Pat Savage or properly Pat Wildman, is somehow forgotten in these stories. Doc’s associates are pretty much missing as well. I somehow felt that they would have families as well, and Pat might know their children.
While “The Scarlet Jaguar” is totally written by Win Scott Eckert, “The Evil in Pemberley House” was written by Farmer and Eckert. And sadly, some people don’t quite understand how it was written. Worse, some have gotten upset by the level of erotica in the story, thinking this was totally from Eckert and put in after Farmer died (and so could not protest such additions). I found that strange, especially from people who claimed to be Farmer fans. While I’m not a major Farmer fan, but as a long time SF fan, Farmer long has had a reputation as an SF author who pushed the boundaries when it came to such explicit writing. This IS the author of such works as “The Lovers” and “A Feast Unknown.”
I have no problem seeing Farmer writing this all himself. Farmer had outlined “Evil,” and written some of it. Eckert then worked from that outline, left in what Farmer wrote, and the finished work was, in fact, read by Farmer before he passed and he approved (and in fact felt the erotica was an important element of the story).
The new 2014 edition of “Evil” explains this, and includes Farmer’s outline. This is just one of several additions to the 2014 edition that even those who have the original edition will want to get a copy of it while they can.
I look forward to further Pat Wildman adventures, though with a recent announcement, who knows when that will be.
