To Your Scattered Bodies Go

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To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author	Philip José Farmer
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Riverworld
Genre(s)	Science Fiction
Publisher	Putnam Publishing Group
Publication date	June 1971
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 9-997-51198-0
Followed by	The Fabulous Riverboat, 1971

To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971) is a science fiction novel and the first book in the Riverworld series of books by Philip José Farmer. It won a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1972 at the 30th Worldcon. The title is derived from the 7th of the "Holy Sonnets" by English poet John Donne:

At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go.

[edit] Plot introduction

The novel is set on a world terraformed into one large river, where every person who ever lived is resurrected. The book follows the adventures of Sir Richard Burton, Alice Pleasance Liddell Hargreaves, and others through several years as they try to survive, including being attacked by Hermann Göring. The story also revolves around the recruitment of Burton by a mysterious stranger who is attempting to subvert the purpose of the Riverworld.

This novel, and the Riverworld series itself, is based on Farmer's earlier, unpublished novel Owe for the Flesh.