Riverworld is perhaps Philip José Farmer's most famous body of work. Here I try to give as much information about this award winning concept as possible.

The Shasta Science-Fiction Prize Novel Contest

In 1952 Phil decided to quit his job to become a full time writer and entered a contest sponsered by Shatsa Publishers and Pocket Books. After working day and night on the story he managed to get the manuscript for "Owe for the Flesh" in the mail on the last day. At first it seemed he made the proper decision as he won the contest and the $4000 prize, a lot of money for a writer in those days. Shasta did not pay him however and claimed that Pocket Books wanted some revisions and cuts before they would publish the paperback version of the book. Phil finally hired an agent who discovered that Pocket Books had payed their share of the prize money to Shasta long ago. Shasta had used the money to promote another book which was a flop. Shasta eventually filed for bankruptcy and never paid the prize money.

Phil had to stop writing full time and go back to work. If you look at the books and short stories list you can see that his production greatly dropped from 1954 to 1957. In the mid 60's Frederick Pohl suggested that one book was too short for the riverworld idea and convinced Phil to write several novelets that he could publish in one of Pohl's magazines.




Here are all of the Riverworld books and stories in the order they were published.

The Day of the Great Shout
January, 1965.
The first Riverworld novelette. This is basically the first half of what would eventually become To Your Scattered Bodies Go.

Riverworld
 January, 1966.
In this story Tom Mix (another of Farmer's heroes) is the main character. He is travelling with a mysterious individual who looks just like him.

The Suicide Express
 March, 1966.
This is the second half of what would become To Your Scattered Bodies Go.

The Felled Star
 July - August, 1967.
Parts 1 and 2 comprise chapters 1-14 of The Fabulous Riverboat which was published as a novel in 1971. I'm not sure how much the text was altered.

To Your Scattered Bodies Go
1971
Nineteen years after winning the Shasta contest, the first Riverworld novel is finally published. Anyone who reads science fiction is familiar with the premise, everyone who has ever lived (up to 1984) is resurrected on the banks of a million mile long river. Their bodily needs are taken care of and if you are killed you wake up the next morning somewhere else on the river. This book looks at Sir Richard Francis Burton, famed translator of the 1001 Arabian Nights and discoverer of the source of the Nile. Burton meets many interesting and famous people and also hangs out with Peter Jarius Frigate (note the initials).

The Fabulous Riverboat
 June - August, 1971.
Parts 1 and 2 comprise the last half, chapters 15-28, of The Fabulous Riverboat which was published as a novel in 1971.

The Fabulous Riverboat
1971
Book two of the Riverworld series. This time Samuel Clemens is the main character and since sailing is much easier than walking he decides to build a boat and use it to find the source of the river and whatever may be waiting there. The reader also learns more of the secrets of the Riverworld.



The Dark Design
1977
The long awaited book three of the Riverworld series. Sir Richard Francis Burton is back and still searching for the source of the great river and the answer to the eternal question, why are we here? In this book we trade in Sam Clemens' favorite form of travel for Philip José Farmer's, the dirigible.

Riverworld and Other Stories
1979
This short story collection includes the novelette Riverworld which appeared above in Worlds of Tomorrow, January 1966.

The Magic Labyrinth
1980
The fourth and supposedly concluding book of the Riverworld series. Richard Burton and his companions finally make it to the end of the river and gain access to the home of the mysterious "ethicals".

Riverworld War: The Suppressed Fiction of Philip José Farmer
1980
Includes the story, Riverworld War, which is a chapter that was cut from The Magic Labyrinth.

Gods of Riverworld
1983
The journey is over and now our travelers have control of the resurrection process and the power of life and death over billions of people. But they are not alone. Once again Farmer stimulates the mind.

River of Eternity
1983
As described above, the original Riverworld novel "Owe for the Flesh" was lost. Farmer finally got around to recreating the story as best he could and published it as River of Eternity.

Tales of Riverworld
1992
Includes Crossing the Dark River by PJF and eight stories by other authors. This is the first book where other writers get to play in Farmer's backyard, which is only fitting since a large portion of his work is based on characters created by others.

Quest to Riverworld
1993
Up the Bright River by PJF is a continuation of Crossing the Dark River. This book also contains twelve stories by other writers and a another new story by Farmer titled Coda.

Riverworld Tv Series Pilot
2003
A movie for the Sci Fi Channel, starring Brad Johnson, Karen Holness, Emily Lloyd, Jeremy Birchall, Kevin Smith, Nikita Kearsley and Brian Moore, based on the book series by Philip José Farmer. In this unique and daring fantasy adventure we travel to RIVERWORLD, a mysterious and treacherous land where every human who died between the years 99,000 BC and 2,200 AD has been resurrected on the banks of a colossal river. It is on the riverbank where we follow a team who bond together as they try to unravel how and why they've arrived here, while coming face-to-face with some of the most dangerous people in history.
There are no plans right now to continue the series. The Scifi channel has shown the pilot on:
March 22nd 2003 (twice)
April 13th 2003
July 26th 2003
October 15th 2003
October 19th 2003
February 28th 2004
April 8th 2004
June 1st 2004
September 18th 2004
November 28th 2004
December 9th 2004
January 25th 2005
February 14th 2005
March 22nd 2005
April 3rd 2005
May 21st 2005
July 17th 2005
October 16th 2005
December 11th 2005
February 4th 2006
March 27th 2006
June 11th 2006
September 14th 2006
April 11th 2007

The Riverworld pilot came out on DVD on November 16th, 2004. As we reported in October 2004, Alliance Atlantis, in conjunction with The SciFi Channel, renewed their option on Riverworld. This means that there is hope for the series after all, but we still don't know if they will continue from the Pilot or start over from scratch. The latest update we have received is that not everyone involved is happy with the new concept so things are going to be delayed. This means that the show will not make it into this season's production schedule so we are now looking at 2006 as the earliest possible air date.

Here is the front and back of the Riverworld DVD case: