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Fiction General

Hybrids

by (author) Robert J. Sawyer

Publisher
Tor/Forge
Initial publish date
Sep 2003
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780765349064
    Publish Date
    Nov 2004
    List Price
    $9.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780765326348
    Publish Date
    Sep 2010
    List Price
    $37.99
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780312876906
    Publish Date
    Sep 2003
    List Price
    $34.95
  • CD-Audio

    ISBN
    9781501298851
    Publish Date
    Sep 2015
    List Price
    $14.99
  • CD-Audio

    ISBN
    9781455861576
    Publish Date
    Oct 2012
    List Price
    $29.99

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Out of print

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Description

In Hominids, Nebula Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer introduced a character readers will never forget: Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist from a parallel Earth who was whisked from his reality into ours by a quantum-computing experiment gone awry-making him the ultimate stranger in a strange land.

In that book and in its sequel, Humans, Sawyer showed us the Neanderthal version of Earth in loving detail-a tour de force of world-building; a masterpiece of alternate history.

Now, in Hybrids, Ponter Boddit and his Homo sapien lover, geneticist Mary Vaughan, are torn between two worlds, struggling to find a way to make their star-crossed relationship work. Aided by banned Neanderthal technology, they plan to conceive the first hybrid child, a symbol of hope for the joining of their two versions of reality.

But after an experiment shows that Mary's religious faith--something completely absent in Neanderthals - is a quirk of the neurological wiring of Homo sapiens' brains, Ponter and Mary must decide whether their child should be predisposed to atheism or belief. Meanwhile, as Mary's Earth is dealing with a collapse of its planetary magnetic field, her boss, the enigmatic Jock Krieger, has turned envious eyes on the unspoiled Eden that is the Neanderthal world . . . .
Hybridsis filled to bursting with Sawyer's signature speculations about alternative ways of being human, exploding our preconceptions of morality and gender, of faith and love. His Neanderthal Parallax trilogy is a classic in the making, and here he brings it to a stunning, thought-provoking conclusion that's sure to make Hybrids one of the most controversial books of the year.

About the author

Robert J. Sawyer,
a Member of the Order of Canada and a Globe and Mail and Maclean's bestseller, is the author of 23 previous novels, including FlashForward, the basis for the ABC TV series. His most recent novel, Quantum Night, was long-listed for CBC's Canada Reads

Praise for Robert J. Sawyer

"A new Robert J. Sawyer book is always cause for celebration."
Analog Science Fiction and Fact

"Robert J. Sawyer is a writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific extrapolation."
The New York Times

"Sawyer not only has an irresistibly engaging narrative voice but also a gift for confronting thorny philosophical conundrums. At every opportunity, he forces his readers to think while holding their attention with ingenious premises and superlative craftsmanship."
Booklist

"Robert J. Sawyer is by any measure one of the world's leading (and most interesting) science-fiction writers. His fiction is a fascinating blend of intellectually compelling big ideas and humane, enduring characters."
The Globe and Mail

"Sawyer, an articulate fountain of ideas, is the genre's northern star—in fact, one of the hottest SF writers anywhere. By any reckoning Sawyer is among the most successful Canadian authors ever."
Maclean's: Canada's Weekly News Magazine

"A polished, exciting writer. Sawyer writes with the scientific panache and grandeur of Arthur C. Clarke and the human touch of Isaac Asimov."
Quill & Quire

Robert J. Sawyer's profile page

Awards

  • Unknown, Spectrum Awards - Finalist

Editorial Reviews

"The genre's northern star-in fact, one of the hottest SF writers anywhere."
-Maclean's Magazine

"Hi-tech Neanderthals from a parallel continuum, with a social system like none we ever heard of. Can two very different people bridge that gap? While our world begins changes we can only try to understand. In Humans, Sawyer gives us a rich mix of mind-stretching concepts and personal crises."
--F. M. Busby

"Sawyer has carried the banner of Asimovian science-fiction into the twenty-first century. Hominids is based in cutting-edge contemporary science--paleoanthropology, quantum computing, neutrino astronomy, among others--and furnished at the same time with touching human (and parahuman) stories. Precise, detailed, and accomplished. The next volume is eagerly anticipated."
-- Robert Charles Wilson

"Robert Sawyer hits another SF homerun withHominids: an utterly intriguing conceptual seed, state-of-the-scientific-arts theory, challenging social consciousness, and characters you want to take home for dinner."
--Jane Fancher

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