[troutman]

In the Science Fiction category I select the RIVERWORLD series by PHILIP JOSE FARMER:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverworld




The five novels in the series are as follows :

• To Your Scattered Bodies Go [won the Hugo award in 1972]
• The Fabulous Riverboat
• The Dark Design
• The Magic Labyrinth
• Gods of Riverworld (later published as The Gods of Riverworld)

The story of Riverworld begins when almost the whole of humanity, from the time of the first homo sapiens through to the early 21st century, is simultaneously resurrected along the banks of the river. The number of people is given as "thirty-six billion, six million, nine thousand, six hundred and thirty-seven" (36,006,009,637). Of these, at least 20% are from the 20th century, due to the high levels of population in later centuries compared to earlier ones. There is also a cut-off point, as no one from the twenty-first century or later is resurrected. Originally the specific cut-off year was given as 1983 (which was still a speculative date when the novels were first published) but this has been somewhat stretched in later publishings. The ostensible reason for the cut-off was that it indicated the point at which most of the human race had been accidentally annihilated during a catastrophic first contact with aliens visiting Earth.

A TV series loosely based on the Riverworld saga went into production for the Sci Fi Channel in 2001 but only the feature length pilot episode Riverworld was completed. It was first aired in 2003.

http://www.pjfarmer.com/riverwld.htm