Product Description

Resurrected on the lush, mysterious banks of Riverworld, along with the rest of humanity, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) has a dream: to build a riverboat that will rival the most magnificent paddle-wheelers ever navigated on the mighty Mississippi. Then, to steer it up the endless waterway that dominates his new home planet--and at last discover its hidden source.

But before he can carry out his plan, he first must undertake a dangerous voyage to unearth a fallen meteor. This mission would require striking an uneasy alliance with the bloodthirsty Viking Erik Bloodaxe, treacherous King John of England, legendary French swordsman Cyrano de Bergerac, Greek adventurer Odysseus, and the infamous Nazi Hermann Göring. All for the purpose of storming the ominous stone tower at the mouth of the river, where the all-powerful overseers of Riverworld--and their secrets--lie in wait . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #161079 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07-28
• Released on: 1998-07-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.com Review
In To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip José Farmer introduces readers to the awesome Riverworld, a planet that had been carved into one large river on whose shores all of humanity throughout the ages has seemingly been resurrected. In The Fabulous Riverboat, Farmer tells the tale of one person whose is uniquely suited to find the river's headwaters, riverboat captain and famous Earthly author Sam Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain). Clemens has been visited by "X," a mysterious being who claims to be a rebel among the group that created Riverworld. X tells Clemens where he can find a large deposit of iron and other materials that Clemens can use to build the greatest riverboat ever seen. Since there is virtually no metal on the planet, it will also give Clemens an unbeatable edge when it comes to battling the various warlike societies that dominate the Riverworld.

But Clemens is not alone in his quest for the iron, which arrives on the planet in the form of a giant meteorite. In fact, Clemens is besieged on all sides by forces determined to seize the precious ore, leading him to make a deadly pact with one of history's most notorious villains, John Lackland. Lackland's crimes during his reign as king of England were so hideous that no other English monarch will ever carry his name, and he's up to equally nefarious tricks on Riverworld. However, Clemens has a guardian angel in the form of Joe Miller, a giant subhuman with a big nose, a serious lisp, and a cutting wit. Miller has also been to the very headwaters of the river, where he saw a mysterious tower in the middle of the North Sea and where the creators of Riverworld are thought to reside. He will be an invaluable ally in completing the riverboat and sailing to the headwaters, but even an 800-pound giant may not be enough to help Clemens fulfill X's mission. --Craig E. Engler

From the Inside Flap
Resurrected on the lush, mysterious banks of Riverworld, along with the rest of humanity, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) has a dream: to build a riverboat that will rival the most magnificent paddle-wheelers ever navigated on the mighty Mississippi. Then, to steer it up the endless waterway that dominates his new home planet--and at last discover its hidden source.

But before he can carry out his plan, he first must undertake a dangerous voyage to unearth a fallen meteor. This mission would require striking an uneasy alliance with the bloodthirsty Viking Erik Bloodaxe, treacherous King John of England, legendary French swordsman Cyrano de Bergerac, Greek adventurer Odysseus, and the infamous Nazi Hermann Göring. All for the purpose of storming the ominous stone tower at the mouth of the river, where the all-powerful overseers of Riverworld--and their secrets--lie in wait . . .

From the Back Cover

"A VASTLY IMAGINATIVE TOUR DE FORCE."
--Books and Bookmen

"Charts a territory somewhere between Gulliver's Travels and The Lord of the Rings."
--Time

Customer Reviews

Not Free SF Reader
Clemenering for transport.


Or, as you may guess by the title, Sam wants to be able to put together a nice and nifty craft that will last the trip to find out what is going on in this great big river.

Not so easy to do with the lack of materials around, and so he has to try and make deals with various individuals along the way.

Here we have Odysseus, Cyrano, and other entertaining personages.

suck fest
after the first book I was suspecting a lot more. It got to the point where I was just skipping pages to finish. The 3rd book was a little better but not much.

Mark Twain in Space
This second installation in the Riverworld series stars the real-life historical figure of Samuel Langhorn Clemens, aka Mark Twain. He, too, has been resurrected on this strange planet. With the aid of a "Mysterious Stranger", who claims to be a renegade member of the species who built the planet and resurrected the humans, he struggles to build an enormous paddle-wheeler and search out the tower said to be found at the river's source. Unfortunately he is tied to the most notorious traitor in English history, John Lackland. As I said about the first book in the series, this book is entertaining but ultimately dissatisfying because of little character development and no solution to the mystery of the planet.