Philip Jose Farmer wrote a serious of science fiction books that are collectively known as The Riverworld. The works are classics in the realm of science fiction literature. The first book in the series, To You Scattered Bodies Go, won The Hugo in 1972. I have read all of the books from the original series, and thoroughly enjoyed them. Farmer wrote another novel using the Riverworld characters after what was supposed to be the final novel, and also has published various short stories in The Riverworld universe.
SciFi made a failed pilot for a Riverworld Series a few years back. I remember watching it, and remember that it sucked. But the general idea behind the movie/pilot was very interesting, which eventually led me to read the books. In a way this rather bad 86 minutes of television is responsible for my discovery of a great set of novels.
On April 18th SciFi is taking another stab at telling The Riverworld story with a new, four-hour Riverworld movie/miniseries. It looks like it will be much better that their earlier effort. From the few clues I garnered from the trailer it would appear they have included much more from the books.
