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- Type: Miscellaneous via Upload
- Origin: The Riverworld novels of Philip José Farmer
- Admission: absolutely everyone
Few afterlives are quite as far out as Riverworld. Riverwold is a planet that consists of a single long river valley, winding over the entire surface of the planet from the north pole to the south. It is, of course, artificially constructed. On Riverworld, every single adult human being who ever lived between the years 10,000 BC and 1980 AD has been resurrected by mysterious aliens for an unknown purpose. They are provided with food, good health (up to and including the connection of genetic defects), endless re-resurrections should they die again on the Riverworld – and nothing else.
No clues as to the purpose or rationale of the Riverworld. No nothing.
Naturally, to a certain type of personality – explorers, adventurers, philosophers and certain others – this does not sit well, and the quest to discover the secrets of the Riverworld is on.
Riverworld is, ultimately, one of those afterlives that are much more fun to read about than to visit. I mean, think about it. It’s a world in which every single human being for a span of nearly 12 thousand years has been resurrected. That’s a planet full of old grudges and the like. Not to mention that the world has largely reverted to a stone age level of technology. Check it out, certainly, but unless you’re one of those who have access to its secrets, don’t expect to enjoy Riverworld any more than you enjoyed Earth.
You don’t really think I’m going to spoil it for you, do you?
Go read it yourself!
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by Charles Stross
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