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Riverworld
The Riverworld series consists of five science fiction novels (1971–1983) by American author Philip José Farmer (1918–2009). The Riverworld is an artificial, or heavily terraformed, planet where all humans (and pre-humans) who ever lived throughout history have been restored to life. The novels (and a few shorter works) explore interactions of resurrected individuals from many different cultures and time periods. The underlying theme is quasi-religious. The motivations and ethics of the unknown intelligences that created the Riverworld and its inhabitants are explored. Works Original, unpublished manuscript ''Riverworld'' began when Farmer wrote a 150,000-word novel, calling it ''Owe for the Flesh'', over six weeks in the fall of 1952Farmer, Philip Jose (1983), "Author's Introduction" to '' River of Eternity''; Huntington Woods, Michigan: Phantasia Press, pp. i–x. and submitted it at the last minute to the Shasta Science-Fiction Novel Prize Contest. He won the contest, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy fiction, fantasy novels and short story, short stories. Obituary. Farmer is best known for two sequences of novels, the ''World of Tiers'' (1965–93) and ''Riverworld'' (1971–83) series. He is noted for the pioneering use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for, and reworking of, the lore of celebrated pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters. Farmer often mixed real and classic fictional characters and worlds and real and fake authors as epitomized by his Wold Newton family books, which tie classic fictional characters together as real people and blood relatives resulting from an alien conspiracy. Such works as ''The Other Log of Phileas Fogg'' (1973) and ''Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life'' (1973) are early examples of literary mashup novels. Literary critic Leslie F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Magic Labyrinth
''The Magic Labyrinth'' (1980) is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip José Farmer, the fourth in the series of Riverworld books. The title is derived from lines in Sir Richard Francis Burton's poem ''The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî'': Originally intended to be the final book in the series, this book continues the chronicles of the adventures of Sir Richard Burton, Cyrano de Bergerac, Alice Liddell, Tom Mix, and Samuel Clemens through a bizarre afterlife in which every human is simultaneously resurrected along a single river valley covering an entire planet. Many questions about the creation and purpose of the Riverworld are answered, but several are left unanswered, prompting Farmer to write a fifth and final novel, '' Gods of Riverworld'', in 1983. Edgar L. Chapman wrote a 1984 biography of Farmer entitled ''The Magic Labyrinth of Philip José Farmer''. Plot The book begins with the Mysterious Stranger, known as X, the renegade Ethical (one of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fabulous Riverboat
''The Fabulous Riverboat'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip José Farmer, the second book in the Riverworld series. A shorter version of the novel was serialized in '' If'' magazine as "The Felled Star" (July and August 1967) and "The Fabulous Riverboat" (June and August 1971). Overview Departing from the exploits of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton in the first Riverworld novel, '' To Your Scattered Bodies Go'', ''The Fabulous Riverboat'' follows the efforts of Samuel Clemens to find a way to build a riverboat on the metal-poor Riverworld. In the process, he confronts a tenth-century Viking, makes friends with a member of another hominid species and forms an uneasy alliance with King John Lackland. Plot summary Twenty years after humanity was resurrected on Riverworld, Sam Clemens is traveling with the crew of a Viking longboat, captained by Eric Bloodaxe, who is notable for having an axe made of metal. On the metal-poor Riverworld, where even a few ou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
''To Your Scattered Bodies Go'' (1971) is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip José Farmer, the first book in the Riverworld series. It won a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1972 at the 30th Worldcon. The title is derived from the 7th of the "Holy Sonnets" by English poet John Donne: Plot British adventurer Richard Francis Burton dies on Earth and is revived in mid-air in a vast dark room filled with human bodies, some only half-formed. There, he is confronted by men in a flying vehicle who then blast him with a weapon. He next awakes upon the shores of a mysterious river, naked and hairless. All around him are other people in a similar situation. Shortly after they awaken, a nearby structure, nicknamed a "grailstone," causes food and other supplies to appear in the "grails" bound to each individual. Burton quickly attracts a group of companions: the neanderthal Kazzintuitruaabemss (nicknamed Kazz), the science fiction author Peter Jairus Frigate, and Alice Liddell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dark Design
''The Dark Design'' (1977) is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip José Farmer, the third in the series of Riverworld books. The title is derived from lines in Sir Richard Francis Burton's poem ''The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî'': Plot The plot, set 30 years after humanity's resurrection, consists of three distinct plot lines, which come together towards the conclusion. In the first plot line, Richard Burton and his friends continue their journey up river. On their journey they encounter a group of ancient Egyptians who tell them of a mission which their Pharaoh had undertaken to reach the source of the River. Accompanied by the Titanthrop Joe Miller, who they believed to be an avatar of Thoth, they scaled the mountains at the River's headwaters and descended into a polar sea, with a large black tower in the center. On the shores they found a cave with supplies and boat. One of their number died there, bringing the story back to the Valley. Burton also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Of Eternity
''River of Eternity'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip José Farmer (1918-2009). It is an early version of what became Farmer's popular '' Riverworld'' series of novels (1971–83), in which all of humanity has been resurrected and resettled on an artificial "river planet". Publication history The original "Riverworld" story was a 150,000-word novel titled ''Owe for the Flesh'', which ended with a protagonist named Richard Black (based on the real-life British Arabist and explorer Richard Francis Burton) finding the tower at the end of the river. Farmer wrote it in a single month in 1952See Farmer's "Forward" in ''Riverworld and Other Stories'' (1979); New York: Berkley Books, pp 3-5. and promptly entered it in a science fiction novel contest run by Shasta Publishers and subsidized by Pocket Books Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books. History Pocket Books produced the first Paperback#Mass market paperb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Mix
Thomas Edwin Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix; January 6, 1880 – October 12, 1940) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western (genre), Western films between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent films. He was one of Hollywood's first Western stars and helped define the genre as it emerged in the early days of the cinema. Early years Thomas Hezikiah Mix was born January 6, 1880, in Mix Run, Pennsylvania, approximately north of State College, Pennsylvania, State College, to Edwin Elias Mix and Elizabeth Heistand. He grew up in nearby DuBois, Pennsylvania, DuBois, where his father, a stable master for a wealthy lumber merchant, taught him to ride and love horses. He spent time working on a local farm owned by John DuBois, a lumber businessman. In April 1898, during the Spanish–American War, Mix enlisted in the United States Army, Army under the name Thomas E. (Edwin) Mix. His unit never went overseas, and Mix later failed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fictional Planet
Planets outside of the Solar System have appeared in fiction since at least the 1850s, long before the first real ones were discovered in the 1990s. Most of these fictional planets do not differ significantly from the Earth and serve only as settings for the narrative. The majority host native lifeforms, sometimes with humans integrated into the ecosystems. Fictional planets that are not Earth-like vary in many different ways. They may have significantly stronger or weaker gravity on their surfaces, or have a particularly hot or cold climate. Both desert planets and ocean planets appear, as do planets with unusual chemical conditions. Various peculiar planetary shapes have been depicted, including flattened, cubic, and toroidal. Some fictional planets exist in multiple-star systems where the orbital mechanics can lead to exotic day–night or seasonal cycles, while others do not orbit any star at all. More fancifully, planets are occasionally portrayed as having sentienc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artificial Planet
An artificial planet (also planetary replica and replica planet) is a proposed circumstellar megastructure with sufficient mass to generate its own gravity field strong enough to prevent atmosphere from escaping, though the term has sometimes been used to describe other types of megastructures with self-sufficient ecosystems. The concept of an artificial planet appears in many works of science fiction. Science Artificial planet Mark Hempsell suggests that an artificial planet could be created in the Solar System in preparation for future space colonization, most likely in the habitable zone between the orbits of Venus and Mars. It could evolve from a smaller artificial space habitat. Its purpose would be similar to that of other megastructures intended as living spaces (such as the O'Neill cylinder) or to that of colonizing (or terraforming) existing planets. Unlike a space habitat, an artificial planet would be large enough to create its own gravity field, which would prev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phantasia Press
Phantasia Press LLC is an American small publisher formed by Alex Berman and the late Sidney Altus publishing hardcover limited editions of science fiction and fantasy books. It was active from 1978 to 1989. In 2023, Phantasia Press resumed publishing with releasing '' Mickey7'' by Edward Ashton. In 2024 Diana Petroff joined Alex Berman as partner and co-publisher. The company is based in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The publisher specializes in limited quality first hardcover editions of authors prominent in the field, particularly Philip José Farmer, C. J. Cherryh, L. Sprague de Camp and Alan Dean Foster. Some of its offerings were true first editions; others, the first hardcover editions of works previously published in paperback. In a few instances there had been previous hardcover editions. The press started publication with a reprint of ''Wall of Serpents'' (L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt) and then ''The Reign of Wizardry'' (Jack Williamson)''.'' Authors published b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Francis Burton
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Royal Geographical Society#Fellowship, FRGS, (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orientalist writer and scholar. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa and South America, as well as his extensive knowledge of languages and cultures, speaking up to 29 different languages. Born in Torquay, Devon, Burton joined the Bombay Army as an officer in 1842, beginning an eighteen-year military career which included a brief stint in the Crimean War. He was subsequently engaged by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) to explore the East African coast, where Burton along with John Hanning Speke led an expedition to discover the source of the Nile and became the first European known to have seen Lake Tanganyika. He later served as the British consul (representative), consul in Bioko, Fernando Pó, Santos, São Paulo, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which governed Germany from 1933 to 1945. He also served as ''Oberkommando der Luftwaffe, Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe'' (Supreme Commander of the Air Force), a position he held until the final days of the regime. He was born in Rosenheim, Kingdom of Bavaria, Bavaria. A veteran World War I fighter pilot Flying aces, ace, Göring was a recipient of the . He served as the last commander of Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War I), ''Jagdgeschwader'' 1 (JG I), the fighter wing once led by Manfred von Richthofen. An early member of the Nazi Party, Göring was among those wounded in Adolf Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. While receiving treatment for his injuries, he developed an addiction to morphine that persisted until the last year of his life. Aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
