Most Popular Books by Robert Charles Wilson

"Vortex" tells the story of Turk Findley, the protagonist introduced in "Axis," who is transported 10,000 years into the future by the mysterious entities called "the Hypotheticals."

Science fiction roman.

"The style is rich, lucid, and literate . . . Hideous creatures mass and threaten in an ending reminiscent of Stephen King . . . remarkable indeed." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) A Hugo Award Finalist In 1912, history was changed by the Miracle, when the old world of Europe was replaced by Darwinia, a strange land of nightmarish jungle and antediluvian monsters. To some, the Miracle is an act of divine retribution; to others, it is an opportunity to carve out a new empire. Leaving an America now ruled by religious fundamentalism, young Guilford Law travels to Darwinia on a mission of discovery that will take him further than he can possibly imagine . . . to a shattering revelation about mankind''s destiny in the universe. "In the best tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and H. G. Wells . . . A page-turner." — The Globe and Mail "A remarkable book, worthy of the highest honors of our field. Don''t miss it." — Locus

The sequel to the Hugo Award-winning SF epic Spin

2017 Aurora Awards Best of the Decade Finalist 2004 Hugo Award Finalist for Best Novel Robert Charles Wilson, says The New York Times, "writes superior science fiction thrillers." His Darwinia won Canada''s Aurora Award; his most recent novel, The Chronoliths, won the prestigious John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Now he tells a gripping tale of alien contact and human love in a mysterious but hopeful universe. At Blind Lake, a large federal research installation in northern Minnesota, scientists are using a technology they barely understand to watch everyday life in a city of lobster like aliens upon a distant planet. They can''t contact the aliens in any way or understand their language. All they can do is watch. Then, without warning, a military cordon is imposed on the Blind Lake site. All communication with the outside world is cut off. Food and other vital supplies are delivered by remote control. No one knows why. The scientists, nevertheless, go on with their research. Among them are Marguerite Hauser and the man she recently divorced, Raymond Scutter. They continue to work together despite the difficult conditions and the bitterness between them. Ray believes their efforts are doomed; that culture is arbitrary, and the aliens will forever be an enigma. Marguerite believes there is a commonality of sentient thought, and that our failure to understand is our own ignorance, not a fact of nature. The behavior of the alien she has been tracking seems to be developing an elusive narrative logic--and she comes to feel that the alien is somehow, impossibly, aware of the project''s observers. But her time is running out. Ray is turning hostile, stalking her. The military cordon is tightening. Understanding had better come soon.... At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Scott Warden is a man haunted by the past--and soon to be haunted by the future. In early-twenty-first-century Thailand, Scott is an expatriate slacker. Then, one day, he inadvertently witnesses an impossible event: the violent appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested interior. Its arrival collapses trees for a quarter mile around its base, freezing ice out of the air and emitting a burst of ionizing radiation. It appears to be composed of an exotic form of matter. And the inscription chiseled into it commemorates a military victory--sixteen years in the future. Shortly afterwards, another, larger pillar arrives in the center of Bangkok--obliterating the city and killing thousands. Over the next several years, human society is transformed by these mysterious arrivals from, seemingly, our own near future. Who is the warlord "Kuin" whose victories they note? Scott wants only to rebuild his life. But some strange loop of causality keeps drawing him in, to the central mystery and a final battle with the future. The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson is a 2002 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel and the winner of the 2002 John W. Campbell Memorial Award. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

From the Hugo Award–winning author of Spin, an early classic of time-travel and human transformation. Originally published in 1991, we are bringing this back as a reprint.

The Hugo Award–winning author''s first novel: "One of the most impressive bodies of work in contemporary science fiction." — The New York Times In the hard years of the Depression, young Travis lives with his uncle and aunt. Upstairs lives the mysterious Anna. Anna says she''s going to be "changing," and she needs Travis''s help . . . for purposes she won''t explain. Robert Charles Wilson''s A Hidden Place is a science fiction tale of passion, terror, and hope, opening out to a great, dark, and unsuspected universe. "An astonishing debut. Set in the American Depression, it is first and foremost a novel of character—of Travis Fisher''s coming of age when he is transplanted to the Midwest; of his girlfriend Nancy Wilcox, trapped in a small town with its small town bigotries; of Travis''s uncle, a strong man forced to accept his limitations; and most of all the strange hobo, Bone, and the mysterious boarder that Travis''s uncle has taken in . . . Whether dealing with such dramas, or the quiet moments between Travis and Nancy, Wilson proves his remarkable talent on every page. Recommended." —Charles de Lint, The Ottawa Citizen " A Hidden Place is an impressive first novel, and Wilson is clearly a writer to watch." — San Francisco Chronicle " A Hidden Place will please you, and Wilson has a good deal to say to us all—let''s hope for more of it." — Locus

Bursting with ideas, replete with human insight, Bios is science fiction in the grand tradition: a novel of bravery, exploration, and discovery in a universe charged with awe. In the 22nd century, humankind has colonized the solar system. Starflight is possible but hugely expensive, so humakind''s efforts are focussed on Isis, the one nearby Earthlike world. Isis is verdant, Edenic, rich with complex DNA-based plant and animal life. And every molecule of Isian life is spectacularly toxic to human beings. The entire planet is a permanent Level Four Hot Zone. Despite that, Isis is the most interesting discovery of the millennium: a parallel biology with lessons to teach us about our own nature. It''s also the hardest of hardship posts, the loneliest place in the universe. Zoe Fisher was born to explore Isis. Literally. Cloned and genetically engineered by a faction within the hothouse politics of Earth, Zoe is optimized to face Isis''s terrors. Now at last Zoe has arrived on Isis. But there are secrets implanted within her that not even she suspects--and the planet itself has secrets that will change our understanding of life in the universe. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Hugo Award–winning author of Spin, praised as "a hell of a storyteller" by Stephen King, gives time travel his own mind-bending twist . . . Two events made September 1st a memorable day for Jesse Cullum. First, he lost a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Second, he saved the life of President Ulysses S. Grant. In the near future of Robert Charles Wilson''s Last Year, the technology exists to open doorways into the past—but not our past, not exactly. Each "past" is effectively an alternate world, identical to ours but only up to the date on which we access it. And a given "past" can only be reached once. After a passageway is open, it''s the only road to that particular past; once closed, it can''t be reopened. A passageway has been opened to a version of late 19th-century Ohio. It''s been in operation for most of a decade, but it''s no secret, on either side of time. A small city has grown up around it to entertain visitors from our time, and many locals earn a good living catering to them. But like all such operations, it has a shelf life; as the "natives" become more sophisticated, their version of the "past" grows less attractive as a destination. Jesse Cullum is a native. And he knows the passageway will be closing soon. He''s fallen in love with a woman from our time, and he means to follow her back—no matter whose secrets he has to expose in order to do it. "Wilson''s prose is beautifully constructed in this intelligent and gripping novel." — Chicago Review of Books

In an alternate world, peace comes at a terrifying cost—as aliens kill to maintain their secret—in this novel by the Hugo Award–winning author of Spin. Cassie Klyne, nineteen years old, lives in the United States in the year 2015—but it''s not our United States, and it''s not our 2015. Cassie''s world has been at peace since the Great Armistice of 1918. There was no World War II, no Great Depression. Poverty is declining, prosperity is increasing everywhere; social instability is rare. But Cassie knows the world isn''t what it seems. Her parents were part of a group who gradually discovered the awful truth: that for decades—back to the dawn of radio communications—human progress has been molded, made more peaceful and benign, by an extraterrestrial entity. That by interfering with our communications, this entity has tweaked history in massive and subtle ways. That humanity is, for purposes unknown, being farmed. Cassie''s parents were killed for this knowledge, along with most of the other members of their group. Since then, the survivors have scattered and gone into hiding. Cassie and her younger brother Thomas now live with her aunt Nerissa, who shares these dangerous secrets. Others live nearby. For eight years they have attempted to lead unexceptional lives in order to escape detection. The tactic has worked. Until now. Because the killers are back. And they''re not human.

La vie de Scott Warden bascule le jour où il est témoin de l''apparition du premier Chronolithe à Chumphon, en Thaïlande. Ce monument hors du commun célèbre la victoire du seigneur de la guerre Kuin. Mais cette victoire n''aura lieu que dans vingt ans et trois mois. Qui peut bien être ce Kuin dont on ignore tout ? Et comment ce monument a-t-il pu venir quasi instantanément du futur ? Autant de questions auxquelles vont tenter de répondre Scott et son ancien professeur de physique, Sulamith Chopra, pendant qu''autour d''eux le monde semble s''écrouler, dans l''attente de l''avènement de Kuin. Un grand roman de science-fiction aux allures de thriller scientifique empreint, comme souvent chez Robert Charles Wilson, d''humanisme et de mélancolie.

Botschaften aus der Zukunft Rätselhafte Artefakte erscheinen eines Tages auf der Erde – doch sie stammen nicht von Außerirdischen, sondern von uns selbst, von einer zukünftigen Menschheit, die Botschaften in die Vergangenheit schickt. Doch was haben diese Botschaften zu bedeuten? Ein Wettlauf gegen die Zeit beginnt ...

Robert Charles Wilson''s time has come. His first novel from Tor, Darwinia, was a finalist for science fiction''s Hugo award, and a #1 Locus bestseller in paperback. His next novel, Bios, is a critical and commercial success. Now Wilson''s brilliant short science fiction is available in book form for the first time. Beginning with "The Perseids," winner of Canada''s national SF award, this collection showcases Wilson''s suppleness and strength: bravura ideas, scientific rigor, and living, breathing human beings facing choices that matter. Also included among the several stories herein are the acclaimed Hugo Award finalist "Divided by Infinity" and three new stories written specifically for this collection. "Beautifully observed, skillfully worked out: stories that flow subtly, almost imperceptably, from the prosaic to the preternatural."-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

"Astute, romantic, philosophical, compassionate, and often uproariously funny, Julian Comstock may be Wilson''s best book yet." —Cory Doctorow In the reign of President Deklan Comstock, a reborn United States is struggling back to prosperity. Over a century after the Efflorescence of Oil, after the Fall of the Cities, after the False Tribulation, after the days of the Pious Presidents, the sixty stars and thirteen stripes wave from the plains of Athabaska to the national capital in New York. In Colorado Springs, the Dominion sees to the nation''s spiritual needs. In Labrador, the Army wages war on the Dutch. America, unified, is rising once again. Then out of Labrador come tales of the war hero "Captain Commongold." The masses follow his adventures in the popular press. The Army adores him. The President is . . . troubled. Especially when the dashing Captain turns out to be his nephew Julian, son of the President''s late brother Bryce—a popular general who challenged the President''s power, and paid the ultimate price. As Julian ascends to the pinnacle of power, his admiration for the works of the Secular Ancients sets him at fatal odds with the Dominion. Treachery and intrigue will dog him as he closes in on the accomplishment of his lifelong ambition: to make a film about the life of Charles Darwin. "It''s like Margaret Atwood meets The Wild Wild West ." — SciFiDimensions "A sprawling, gorgeous meditation on the inexplicable ways that history mutates culture . . . It may be the best science fiction novel of the year so far." — io9

A discounted ebundle of author Robert Charles Wilson''s Hugo Award-winning and critically-acclaimed Spin Saga Trilogy, which includes: Spin, Axis, and Vortex “Robert Charles Wilson is a hell of a storyteller.” —Stephen King on Spin “Wilson does so many fine things, it’s hard to know where to begin to praise him.” —The Washington Post on Spin Spin One night in October when he was ten years old, Tyler Dupree stood in his back yard and watched the stars go out. They all flared into brilliance at once, then disappeared, replaced by a flat, empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives... Life on Earth is about to get much, much stranger. Axis Visit the "world next door"—the planet engineered by the mysterious Hypotheticals to support human life, and connected to Earth by way of the Arch that towers hundreds of miles over the Indian Ocean. Humans are colonizing this new world—and, predictably, fiercely exploiting its resources, chiefly large deposits of oil in the western deserts of the continent of Equatoria. Vortex Turk and his young friend Isaac Dvali are taken up by a community of fanatics who use them to enable a passage to the dying Earth, where they believe a prophecy of human/Hypothetical contact will be fulfilled. The prophecy is only partly true, however, and Turk must unravel the truth about the nature and purpose of the Hypotheticals before they carry him on a journey through warped time to the end of the universe itself. Tor books by Robert Charles Wilson Last Year The Affinities Burning Paradise Julian Comstock Blind Lake The Chronoliths The Perseids and Other Stories Bios Darwinia Mysterium A Bridge of Years A Hidden Place At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Winner of the Philip K. Dick Award: A Michigan town is transported into an alternate-world theocracy in this "intelligent, compelling work of fiction" ( Publishers Weekly). In a top-secret government installation near the small town of Two Rivers, Michigan, scientists are investigating a mysterious object discovered several years earlier. Late one evening, the local residents observe strange lights coming from the laboratory. The next morning, they awake to find their town literally cut off from the rest of the world . . . and thrust into a new one. Soon the town is discovered by the bewildered leaders of this new world—at which point, the people of Two Rivers realize that they''ve arrived in a rigid theocracy. The authorities, known as the Bureau de la Covenance Religieuse, have ordered Linneth Stone, a young ethnologist, to analyze the arrivals and report her findings to the Lieutenant in charge. What Linneth finds will challenge the philosophical basis of her society—and lead inexorably to a struggle for power centering on the mysterious object that Two Rivers'' government scientists were studying when the town slipped between worlds . . . "A study in culture shock as simple people find their values and their future irrevocably redefined . . . a graceful storyteller." — Library Journal "Blends science, religion, philosophy and alternate history." — Publishers Weekly "Mr. Wilson is adept at drawing fully rounded characters in a few paragraphs . . . The true nature of the disaster that has befallen Two Rivers becomes clear only at the end of the book, in a denouement as poignant as it is unexpected." — The New York Times Book Review "Probably the finest science-fiction author now writing." —Stephen King

After becoming a part of the Tau, one of twenty-two large global network Affinities in the near future, young Adam Fisk thinks his life has improved for the better until the different Affinities begin to go to war with one another in a conflict that will change Adam''s world forever.