River of Eternity
Encyclopedia
River of Eternity is an early version of what became the Riverworld
series by Philip José Farmer
.
The original "Riverworld" story was a 150,000-word novel titled Owe for the Flesh, which ended with the protagonist (called Richard Black in this version) finding the tower at the end of the river. In the mid-1950s, Farmer entered it in a science fiction novel contest run by Shasta Publishers
and subsidized by Pocket Books
. He won the contest but received no money. The work was never published and was lost in its original form. Farmer revised and retitled the book River of Eternity, but that version remained unpublished as well and was thought lost. In the 1960s, Farmer reworked the material yet again into the magazine novellas and serials that would form the final Riverworld sequence. Then in 1983, a copy of the River of Eternity manuscript was discovered in a garage and published by Phantasia Press
. Farmer recounts the whole story in his introduction to the Phantasia edition of River of Eternity.
Riverworld
Riverworld is a fictional planet and the setting for a series of science fiction books written by Philip José Farmer . Riverworld is an artificial environment where all humans are reconstructed. The books explore interactions of individuals from many different cultures and time periods...
series by Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....
.
The original "Riverworld" story was a 150,000-word novel titled Owe for the Flesh, which ended with the protagonist (called Richard Black in this version) finding the tower at the end of the river. In the mid-1950s, Farmer entered it in a science fiction novel contest run by Shasta Publishers
Shasta Publishers
Shasta Publishers was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house founded in 1947 by Erle Melvin Korshak, T. E. Dikty, and Mark Reinsberg, who were all science fiction fans from the Chicago area...
and subsidized by Pocket Books
Pocket Books
Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...
. He won the contest but received no money. The work was never published and was lost in its original form. Farmer revised and retitled the book River of Eternity, but that version remained unpublished as well and was thought lost. In the 1960s, Farmer reworked the material yet again into the magazine novellas and serials that would form the final Riverworld sequence. Then in 1983, a copy of the River of Eternity manuscript was discovered in a garage and published by Phantasia Press
Phantasia Press
Phantasia Press Inc. was a small publisher formed by Alex Berman publishing short-run, hardcover limited editions of science fiction and fantasy books. It was active from 1978-1989. The company was based in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The publisher specialized in limited quality first hardcover...
. Farmer recounts the whole story in his introduction to the Phantasia edition of River of Eternity.