The novel “To Your Scattered Bodies Go” by Philip J. Farmer was published for the first time between 1965 and 1966 in the magazine “Worlds of Tomorrow” and in 1971 as a book. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel of the Year. It’s the first book in the Riverworld series.

Sir Richard Francis Burton dies in 1890 but wakes up in an unknown place where he finds himself surrounded by other people who, just like him, are naked and totally hairless but he seems to be the only one awake. He’s trying to figure out what’s going on when everyone is thrown into a valley next to a river.

The people in the valley include an alien from the Tau Ceti system who arrived on Earth in the early 21st century and a Neanderthal. Everyone says they died and found themselves there. On the riverside, there seem to be people everywhere, who could have created such an environment and resurrected all the sentient beings that ever existed on Earth?

The novel “A Memory Called Empire” by Arkady Martine was published for the first time in 2019. It won the Hugo Award as the Best Novel of the Year. It’s the first book in the Teixcalaan series.

Mahit Dzmare is sent as the new ambassador of Lsel Station to the Teixcalaani Empire, which rules over most of humanity. Upon her arrival in the imperial capital, she discovers that her predecessor Yskandr Aghavn died, officially of accidental causes.

The reluctance that everyone seems to show about what happened to Yskandr Aghavn leads Mahit Dzmare to suspect that he was killed but why? The new ambassador suddenly finds herself in a stranger land enmeshed in intrigues of which she knows nothing.

Lsel Station’s embassy has no other staff and the people who are supposed to assist it were assigned by the local authorities. Her only help should come from Yskandr Aghavn’s imago, a reproduction of his consciousness and memories, but the discovery of his death seems to have caused it to malfunction.

The novel “Foundation’s Fear” by Gregory Benford was published for the first time in 1997. It’s the first book of the so-called second Foundation trilogy.

Emperor Cleon I intends to appoint Hari Seldon as Prime Minister but the political situation is complicated. The imperial choice is due to the belief that the psychohistory that Seldon is developing can help the Galactic Empire. Betan Lamurk, a member of the Imperial Council, has his own ambitions and is ready to do anything to eliminate Seldon.

One controversy among the populace concerns artificial identities. Simulations of Voltaire and Joan of Arc are used to explore different positions on the nature of artificial identities but their activity ends up taking unexpected turns.