New Releases by Robert J Sawyer

Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer continues his "wildly though- provoking" science fiction saga of a sentient World Wide Web. Webmind is an emerging consciousness that has befriended Caitlin Decter and grown eager to learn about her world. But Webmind has also come to the attention of WATCH-the secret government agency that monitors the Internet for any threat to the United States-and they''re fully aware of Caitlin''s involvement in its awakening. WATCH is convinced that Webmind represents a risk to national security and wants it purged from cyberspace. But Caitlin believes in Webmind''s capacity for compassion-and she will do anything and everything necessary to protect her friend.

A Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author joins Ace with a stunning new science fiction epic. Caitlin Decter is young, pretty, feisty, a genius at math, and blind. When she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality she perceives the landscape of the World Wide Web-where she makes contact with a mysterious consciousness existing only in cyberspace.

This new collection by the man Anne McCaffrey calls "an absolutely marvellous writer" includes Hugo Award nominee "Shed Skin," Nebula Award nominee "Identity Theft," and Aurora Award winner "Ineluctable." In these pages, you''ll discover the dark secret of the only priest on Mars, revisit H.G. Wells''s Morlocks, and learn what really happens when aliens beam us the Encyclopedia Galactica.

La doctora Sarah Halifax fue quien logró descifrar y comprender la primera transmisión de radio recibida de unos extraterrestres. Ahora, treinta y ocho años después, llega un segundo mensaje y Sarah, ya con ochenta y siete años, puede tener la clave para

Exploring morals and ethics on both human and cosmic scales, Rollback is a new SF novel by Hugo and Nebula Award-winner Robert J. Sawyer. Dr. Sarah Halifax decoded the first-ever radio transmission received from aliens. Thirty-eight years later, a second message is received and Sarah, now 87, may hold the key to deciphering this one, too . . . if she lives long enough. A wealthy industrialist offers to pay for Sarah to have a rollback—a hugely expensive experimental rejuvenation procedure. She accepts on condition that Don, her husband of sixty years, gets a rollback, too. The process works for Don, making him physically twenty-five again. But in a tragic twist, the rollback fails for Sarah, leaving her in her eighties. While Don tries to deal with his newfound youth and the suddenly vast age gap between him and his wife, Sarah struggles to do again what she''d done once before: figure out what a signal from the stars contains. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Face of God is what every young saurian learns to call the immense, glowing object which fills the night sky on the far side of the world. Young Afsan is privileged, called to the distant Capital City to apprentice with Saleed the court astrologer. Buth when the time comes for Afsan to make his coming-of-age pilgrimage, to gaze upon the Face of God, his world is changed forever- for what he sees will test his faith... and may save his world from disaster! At the publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

His new novel concerns the appearance at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto of a spiderlike alien paleontologist named Hollus. The alien has come to Earth to study the five great extinction events that have hit our planet over the eons, the best known being the asteroid collision that wiped out the dinosaurs. When the museum''s head paleontologist, Tom Jericho, consults with the alien, he is shocked to discover that Hollus has proof that her own planet and that of another alien race suffered a similar series of five catastrophic events at virtually the same times as Earth did. More surprising still to a 21st-century disciple of Darwin like Jericho, both alien races see this synchronicity, along with other scientific evidence, as proof of the existence of God. Much of the novel is relatively cerebral, as Jericho and Hollus argue over the scientific data they''ve gathered in support of God''s existence, but Sawyer excels at developing both protagonists into full-fledged characters, and he adds tension to his story in several ways: Jericho has terminal cancer, which gives him a personal stake in discovering the truth of the alien''s claims, and lurking in the background are a murderous pair of abortion clinic bombers who have decided that the museum''s Burgess Shale exhibition is an abomination that must be destroyed. Finally, there''s the spectacular, if not entirely prepared for, climax in which God manifests in an unexpected manner. This is unusually thoughtful SF. (June) FYI: Sawyer''s The Terminal Experiment won the 1995 Nebula Award for Best Novel.

Science fiction roman.

A scientist in Berkeley, California discovers that a series of murders is the work of an insurance company. After collecting information on the genes of policy holders, the company analyzed them to see which ones were a bad risk and proceeded to kill them. By the author of The Terminal Experiment.

Fossil Hunter is hard SF in the tradition of Larry Niven about a world inhabited by the Quintaglios, a dinosaurian species that has evolved a human level of intelligence and culture. Toroca, a Quintaglio geologist, is under attack for his controversial new theory of evolution. But the origins of his people turn out to be more complex than even he imagined, for he soon discovers the wreckage of an ancient starship -- a relic of the aliens who transplanted Earth''s dinosaurs to this solar system. Now, Toroca must convince Emperor Dybo that evolution is true; otherwise, the territorial violence the Quintaglios inherited from their tyrannosaur ancestors will destroy the last survivors of Earth''s prehistoric past. At the publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist from a parallel Earth, and his lover, geneticist Mary Vaughan, are torn between two worlds, struggling to find a way to make their relationship work.

A twenty-first-century scientist sacrifices her family life to decipher the strange signals coming from interstellar space, messages that show her how to build an extraordinary machine that allows one to travel via the mind.

Neanderthal physicist Ponder Boddit resumes his relationship with geneticist Mary Vaughn as cultural and scientific exchanges begin between the two parallel Earths--our own, and one in which Neanderthals became the dominant species.

"Hominids, " the first book of the Neanderthal Parallax, is a story of parallel worlds: this one, and another in which Neanderthals become the dominant intelligent species.

2017. Depuis maintenant dix ans, la Terre reçoit des messages codés d''Alpha du Centaure, dont personne n''a réussi à comprendre la signification. Heather Davis, professeur à l''université de Toronto, a décidé de se consacrer à leur décryptage, jusqu''à présent sans succès. Kyle, son mari, se voue pour sa part à ses travaux sur le développement de l''intelligence artificielle, avec l''aide d''un ordinateur parlant et pensant. En découvrant que l''ensemble des informations transmises, correctement assemblées, forme le plan d''un objet technologique extraterrestre, Heather est cependant loin de se douter de l''ampleur des extraordinaires révélations que son utilisation apportera à notre civilisation. Et cela alors même que les recherches de Kyle sur l''essence de la conscience humaine, étayées de longues discussions philosophiques avec son ordinateur, progressent à grands pas... Dans la lignée d''ouvrages récents de science-fiction prospective - tel Contact, de Carl Sagan -, Dernière chance pour l''humanité propose une formidable plongée dans la psyché humaine, et stimule avec intelligence et brio la réflexion sur une possible évolution de l''homme vers un nouveau stade de conscience.

Archaeologist Brandon Thackery and his rival Miles ''Klicks'' Jordan fulfill a dinosaur lover''s dream with history''s first time-travel jaunt to the late Mesozoic. Hoping to solve the extinction mystery, they find Earth''s gravity is only half its 21st century value and dinosaurs that behave very strangely. Could the slimey blue creatures from Mars have something to do with both? At the publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Pour Frank Nobilio, le conseiller scientifique du président des Etats-Unis, le premier contact entre l''humanité et une race extraterrestre est assurément un succès : les Tosoks, malgré leur aspect déroutant, sont amicaux et tout disposés à faire bénéficier les hommes de leur avance technique. Quant à ces derniers, ils ont réussi à passer outre un bien légitime désarroi face aux caractéristiques morphologiques de leurs visiteurs pour réserver à ceux-ci le meilleur accueil possible. Mais une nuit, un des savants de l''entourage des aliens est assassiné dans des conditions atroces, et tous les indices semblent accuser Hask, l''un des Tosoks. Bientôt arrêté, emprisonné et traduit en jugement, Hask risque d''être exécuté à moins que Frank et Dale, son avocat, ne parviennent à établir son innocence. Leur tâche s''annonce d''autant plus difficile que leur client se montre peu coopératif, laissant entendre que l''enjeu de ce procès dépasse de loin le cadre étroit de la justice humaine... Un roman époustouflant - et souvent drôle - qui fait cohabiter très intelligemment la thématique classique du " premier contact " et le thriller juridique haletant à la John Grisham !