"Identity Theft" novella available as audibook

"Identity Theft" -- my Hugo and Nebula Award-nominated / UPC Award-winning hard-boiled detective novella set on Mars -- is now available as downloadable audiobook from the good folks at Audible.com -- with physical media coming soon, too.

Publisher is Blackstone Audio, and narrator is Anthony Heald (pictured). "Identity Theft" is about 25,000 words long, or one-quarter the length of one of my novels; the audibook runs about two and half hours.

A motion-picture version of "Identity Theft" is in the works from Snoot Entertainment in Los Angeles.

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Starplex now available from Audible.com

Audible.com's unabridged reading of my 1996 novel Starplex is now available. The narrator is Mark Boyett, and the audiobook also includes an exclusive introduction read by me.

The Audible.com catalog page for Starplex is pretty bare-bones, so I'll mention a few things they fail to: Starplex was the only novel of its year to be nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards, and it won Canada's Aurora Award and the CompuServe Homer Award, both for best SF novel of the year.

In addition it was a selection of the Science Fiction Book Club, was serialized in Analog, and was a Locus bestseller.

You can get Starplex and all my other audio books from Audible.com right here.

For those who prefer print, the new trade-paperback edition is coming in March 2010 from Red Deer Press.

REVIEWS OF STARPLEX:

Science Fiction Chronicle: "Excellent hard SF, with Sawyer tossing stars, people and time travel around with reckless abandon. One of the best SF novels of the year."

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald: "Starplex appears to be traditional science fiction — it takes place aboard a spaceship, and several characters are extraterrestrial — but it's actually a rumination on several very deep questions, including: Where did we come from? Where are we going? And the deepest of the deep, Is there a God?"

Sci-Fi Weekly: "An audacious engineering effort that makes Larry Niven's Ringworld look like a high-school science project."

About Books: "Very, very cool. This is a book not to be missed."

Andrew Weiner, author of Getting Near the End: "Mind-blowing! Who says there are no more big ideas?"

Asimov's Science Fiction: "Starplex should gladden the hearts of readers who complain that nobody's writing real science fiction anymore, the kind of story that has faster-than-light spaceships and far-off planets and interstellar combat and all the neat things they gobbled up so greedily when 'Doc' Smith was dealing them out. Here's a story with plenty of slam-bang action but no shortage of material to attract thinking readers, either. Sawyer deftly juggles half a dozen sweeping questions of cosmology (not to mention everyday ethics and morality) while keeping the story moving ahead full speed. His scientific ideas are nicely integrated into the plot, yet they also hint at larger metaphorical levels. Enjoy."

Gregory Benford, author of Timescape: "Complex but swift, inventive but real-feeling, with ideas coming thick and fast. For big-time interstellar adventure, look no farther."

Astronomer Andrew Fraknoi, co-author of Voyages Through the Universe: "Complex hard-science novel by a Canadian amateur astronomer with intriguing ideas about the nature of dark matter and even dark matter life forms. Includes more cosmological concepts than any novel we have seen."

Library Journal: "An epic hard-science adventure tempered by human concerns. Highly recommended."

Jack McDevitt, author of Time Travelers Never Die: "Starplex takes us on the ultimate grand tour: an elegant intergalactic ride with Sawyer's signature mix of cosmic concepts and solid characterization. This one is a treat for the mind; I enjoyed it thoroughly."

The New York Review of Science Fiction: "An enormous grab bag of ideas — and a whole lot of fun."

Analog Science Fiction and Fact: "Mind-boggling. A complaint often heard these days is that there's not enough 'sense of wonder' in today's science fiction. Robert J. Sawyer's Starplex ought to lay that complaint to rest for quite a while."

Quill & Quire: "A swift, inventive, enjoyable book. Unexpected twists keep the plot moving briskly, but Sawyer is able to do this while raising intriguing philosophical issues."

James Schellenberg on the Crystalline Sphere web page: "Starplex is an astonishing novel, hard science fiction with heart, with a grand overarching vision. This book contains many of Sawyer's trademarks — addictive readability, a frank engagement with ethical questions, and a fondness for Canadiana. The grand sweep of the story and Sawyer's graceful manipulation of the reader's sympathies combine to make this a fine book; Starplex outdoes any book in Sawyer's oeuvre, and the majority in the field of science fiction. Sawyer uses a heady mix of big ideas and crafty storytelling, and he challenges the reader intellectually while grabbing their emotional sympathy. Quite the accomplishment."

The Toronto Star: "Here, at last, is an ambitious attempt to exploit the possibilities that the genre is capable of."

More about Starplex is here.

Visit The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
and WakeWatchWonder.com

A reminder: FlashForward is available as an audio book

Blackstone Audiobooks has a wonderful unabridged reading of FlashForward, the Robert J. Sawyer novel that the hit ABC TV series is based on. The reader is Mark Deakins, and he does a fabulous job (I recently listened to the whole thing during my morning treadmilling sessions).

You can download it from Audible.com or Amazon.com, or buy it on CDs from Amazon or anywhere else that sells audiobooks.

All of my Audible.com titles are here.

Visit The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
and WakeWatchWonder.com

The voice of Caitlin

Carolyn and I just finished listening to Audible.com's unabridged production of my novel Wake. We were blown away!

Audible used four narrators: Jessica Almasy (as Caitlin Decter), Jennifer Van Dyck (as Shoshana Glick), A.C. Fellner (as Sinanthropus), and Marc Vietor (as Phantom) (plus myself, reading the entries attributed to The Online Encyclopedia of Computing; I also read an exclusive introduction I wrote for the audiobook).

It's a magnificent production, and all of the narrators are fabulous -- and I now hear Jessica Almasy's voice in my head when writing Caitlin in Wonder, the third book in the series, which I'm working on now (that's Jessica pictured above).

A truly amazing production -- and I'd say that even if it wasn't of my work; I'm a big consumer of audibooks (and have been an Audible.com subscriber since March 2001), and I can honestly say this is one of the best productions I've ever heard; I actually had tears in my eyes listening to the final scene, they did it so well.

You can get the Audible.com production of WWW:WAKE, and other audio books by me (including FlashForward and Audible's production of Calculating God, which won this year's Audie Award for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Audio Book of the Year), right here.

Visit The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
and WakeWatchWonder.com

Calculating God wins the Audie Award!

My friend Alethea Kontis is in New York City at the Audie Awards and reports that Calculating God by one Robert J. Sawyer just won the 2009 Audie Award from the Audio Publishers Association for best Science Fiction or Fantasy Audio Book of the Year!

I'm super-proud of the team at Audible.com that produced the audio version as an original production for their Audio Frontiers series, including narrator Jonathan Davis.

(I had thought about going down to NYC for the Audies and BookExpo America, but just couldn't get away, what with moving to Saskatoon for two months this Monday morning.)

Still: yahoo! The full list of all winners in all categories is here.

You can get the Audible.com production of Calculating God right here.

The full list of nominees was:

Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer, Narrated by Jonathan Davis, Audible, Inc.

Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke, Narrated by Eric Michael Summerer, Audible, Inc.

Ghost Radio, by Leopoldo Gout, Narrated by Pedro Pascal, HarperAudio

Skybreaker, by Kenneth Oppel, Narrated by David Kelly, Full Cast Audio

Sunrise Alley, by Catherine Asaro, Narrated by Hillary Huber, Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Visit The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
and WakeWatchWonder.com

Wake audio book an Audible.com Editors' Pick

I'm pleased to see that the audiobook of Wake is one of Audible.com's Best (So Far!) of 2009 Editors' Picks -- one of 19 audidiobook titles -- and the only science-fiction one! -- to be so honored.

You can get all my Audible.com audiobooks here.

Visit The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
and WakeWatchWonder.com

Audible.com interviews Rob

Right here.

And all my Audible audiobooks are here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

SFFaudio reviews Wake

And a lovely review it is, too. Of course, they're reviewing the unabridged audio book version from Audible.com, but the review says lots of nice things about the novel. Particularly gratifying to me is this:

Is Caitlin’s blindness realistic? This is where my own personal experience comes into play. I’ve been legally blind since birth, although since I have some residual vision the comparison isn’t exact. Even so, it’s evident to me that Robert J. Sawyer has done his homework in this regard. Caitlin’s life is replete with all the trappings associated with blind life: white canes (which I just traded in for my first guide dog), text-to-speech screen-reading software, and braille displays. More importantly, Sawyer understands how the world is conceived and constructed for those of us with either no vision or limited vision.

And the reviewer (Seth Wilson) likes my characters, too:

Wake strikes a good balance between the cerebral and the emotional. [Caitlin] Decter is a complex and ultimately likable character. ... The supporting cast of characters in Caitlin’s life are just as three-dimensional. ... The interactions and conflicts between the characters are subtly portrayed, lending Wake a sense of realism despite the bizarre goings-on behind Caitlin’s eyes.

You can read the whole review here, and get Audible.com's version of the novel here, and learn more about my novel here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Wake audio book released

Audible.com has the exclusive audio book of Wake, released today to coincide with the release of the American hardcover edition. It's a terrific multi-voice unabridged reading, narrated by Jessica Almasy, Jennifer Van Dyck, A.C. Fellner, Marc Vietor, and yours truly, Robert J. Sawyer, and featuring an exclusive audio introduction by me.

You can get it, and all my Audible.com audio books, here.

(Audible has unabridged audiobooks of Wake, Rollback, Calculating God, Flash Forward, The Terminal Experiment, Hominids, Humans, and Hybrids, plus my short story "Shed Skin.")

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Audible.com and Starplex

W00t! I'm thrilled to announce that Audible.com has just bought audiobook rights to my novel Starplex -- without doubt, the hardest hard-SF novel I've ever written.

Starplex was the only novel in its year to be nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula, and it won Canada's Aurora Award and CompuServe's Homer Award, and was a finalist for Japan's Seiun Award.

This brings to eleven the number of my novels that have, or will have, unabridged audiobook editions. I'm absolutely thrilled, needless to say.

Asimov's Science Fiction: "Sawyer's latest should gladden the hearts of readers who complain that nobody's writing real science fiction anymore, the kind of story that has faster-than-light spaceships and far-off planets and interstellar combat and all the neat things they gobbled up so greedily when `Doc' Smith was dealing them out. Here's a story with plenty of slam-bang action but no shortage of material to attract thinking readers, either. Sawyer deftly juggles half a dozen sweeping questions of cosmology (not to mention everyday ethics and morality) while keeping the story moving ahead full speed. His scientific ideas are nicely integrated into the plot, yet they also hint at larger metaphorical levels. Enjoy."

Analog Science Fiction and Fact: "Mind-boggling. A complaint often heard these days is that there's not enough `sense of wonder' in today's science fiction. Robert J. Sawyer's Starplex ought to lay that complaint to rest for quite a while."

Gregory Benford, author of Timescape: "Complex but swift, inventive but real-feeling, with ideas coming thick and fast. For big-time interstellar adventure, look no farther."

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald: "Starplex appears to be traditional science fiction — it takes place aboard a spaceship, and several characters are extraterrestrial — but it's actually a rumination on several very deep questions, including: Where did we come from? Where are we going? And the deepest of the deep, Is there a God?"

Library Journal: "An epic hard-science adventure tempered by human concerns. Highly recommended."

Science Fiction Chronicle: "Excellent hard SF, with Sawyer tossing stars, people and time travel around with reckless abandon. One of the best SF novels of the year."

Sci-Fi Weekly: "An audacious engineering effort that makes Larry Niven's Ringworld look like a high-school science project."

The Toronto Star: "Here, at last, is an ambitious attempt to exploit the possibilities that the genre is capable of."

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Calculating God nominated for the Audie

Woot! Audible.com's unabridged audiobook of my novel Calculating God has just been nominated for an Audie Award. Given by the Audio Publishers Association, the Audies are the top honor in the audiobook industry.

The full list of finalists in the Science Fiction and Fantasy category:

Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer, Narrated by Jonathan Davis, Audible, Inc.

Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke, Narrated by Eric Michael Summerer, Audible, Inc.

Ghost Radio, by Leopoldo Gout, Narrated by Pedro Pascal, HarperAudio

Skybreaker, by Kenneth Oppel, Narrated by David Kelly, Full Cast Audio

Sunrise Alley, by Catherine Asaro, Narrated by Hillary Huber, Blackstone Audio, Inc.

You can get Audible's version of Calculating God here.

(Oh, and I'll just mention in passing that the introduction to one of the other nominees -- Childhood's End -- is by none other than yours truly; I also do an introduction to the Calculating God audiobook, too.)

The winner will be announced at the Audies gala on Friday, May 29, 2009, at the New York Historical Society in New York City.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

And speaking of Audible ...

I just recorded a small portion of the Audible.com multiple-cast unabridged reading of my next novel, Wake.

I am the voice in the novel of the "Online Encylopedia of Computing," and I recorded my parts with my brand-spanking new Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Cardioid Condenser Microphone, which Wired recently recommended, and I picked up new on eBay for the bargain price of US$130 (list is US$249).

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Audiobook of Hominids for $4.95

Until Tuesday, January 27, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time Audible.com has the unabridged audiobook of my Hugo Award-winning Hominids (as well as 70-odd other first volumes in series) on sale for only US$4.95. To get Hominids go here.

This version features an exclusive audio introduciton by yours truly.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

The voice of Caitlin

Audible.com is doing unabridged recordings of my novels Wake, Watch, and Wonder. Today was the first recording session for Wake, and actress Jessica Almasy, who is voicing Caitlin Decter, reports that it went well. Other voicing is being done by Aze Fellner, who, like me, turns out to be a fan of Julian Jaynes's The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (which figures in the plot of Wake).

For Audible.com's existing offerings of books by me, see here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Introducing Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Steve Feldberg and the wonderful folks at Audible.com have been absolutely terrific to me, so when Steve emailed to ask a favour, I pretty much would have said yes, no matter what it was.

But this favour was also an honour and a privilege: Steve wanted me to write and record brand-new introductions for Audible's exclusive unabridged audiobooks of two of Arthur C. Clarke's greatest novels: Childhood's End and Rendezvous with Rama.

As the write-ups over at Audible.com say, Childhood's End "includes an exclusive introduction by Hugo Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer, who explains why this novel, written in the 1950s, is still relevant today."

And Rendezvous with Rama "includes an exclusive introduction by Hugo Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer, who explains why Rendezvous with Rama will make the listener 'feel both humbled and exhilarated at the same time.'"

Enjoy!

Oh, and if you want some novels by Robert J. Sawyer from Audible.com, they're here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Guest Editor at Audible.com

I'm the smiling guest editor at Audible.com this month in the science-fiction and fantasy section, recommending some of my favorite audiobooks by other authors. Check it out here -- click on "(more)" to see the rest of my essay, and my comments on each audiobook.

And you can get all my Audible.com titles here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Audible and science fiction

Audible.com has recently released editions of my Hominids, Humans, Hybrids, Calculating God, The Terminal Experiment, and Flashforward. You can get them all here.

This is all part of a big push into science fiction for Audible.com, and over at io9, they have an interview with Steve Feldberg about all this. Check it out.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Flashforward at Audible.com

The Robert J. Sawyer blitz at Audible.com continues!

They've just added my novel Flashforward to their collection of RJS unabridged audibooks (joining Calculating God, Hominids, Humans, Hybrids, and The Terminal Experiment, plus my Hugo-nominated short story "Shed SKin").

You can get all my Audible titles right here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Audible.com goes big time into science fiction

I'm thrilled to be part of Audible.com's new science-fiction initiative. All my Audible.com titles are here, and the press release is below:

---

Audible Announces New Imprint and Exclusive Agreements with Orson Scott Card and Other Top Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers

Audible Frontiers imprint launches with 25 exclusive audiobooks, including 10 Hugo Award winners from award-winning science fiction & fantasy authors

NEW YORK--The leading provider of premium digital spoken audio information and entertainment, Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), today announced a major new science fiction and fantasy initiative that will give fans exclusive access to their favorite authors and deliver exclusive content.

Highlights of this new initiative include:

Audible Frontiers imprint and exclusive production agreements:

Audible is launching its original science fiction and fantasy audio imprint, Audible Frontiers, backed by a series of exclusive production agreements with today’s most-popular writers. The goal of Audible Frontiers is to expand greatly the number of audiobooks available to science fiction and fantasy fans. As a result, Audible is bringing to audio for the first time works by Jack Campbell, Harry Turtledove, Joe Haldeman, Robert J. Sawyer, Mike Resnick, Allen Steele, Connie Willis, Simon R. Green, Sean Williams, and other authors. These titles include more than a dozen Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novels and novellas.

“Science fiction is all about exploring strange new worlds -- and doing it in new ways! I'm excited to be part of Audible's initiative, and applaud them for recognizing what Hollywood has long known but few others seem to have grasped: the most popular entertainment today is science fiction,” said science fiction favorite Robert J. Sawyer.

Orson Scott Card Selects:

In an exclusive relationship, Audible is launching a monthly recommendation program with Hugo Award-winning Orson Scott Card, the author of the classic Ender’s Game, and one of the industry’s best-selling writers. Card will provide exclusive audio critiques of each selection.

“It's easy for great novels and novellas to get lost in the bookstore -- not everything can get front-of-store display!” Card said. “That's what I'll be doing with ‘OSC Selects’ - moving new and classic sci-fi and fantasy right to the front, so fans will have a better chance of noticing terrific stories performed by first-rate readers.”

“Orson Scott Card Selects” kicks off with the April selection, Star Born by Andre Norton.

Guest Editors:

Each month, a different prominent science fiction and fantasy writer will write an exclusive guest column for Audible customers, highlighting great listens in the Audible catalogue. Best-selling author Ben Bova will be the inaugural Guest Editor for April.

“Audiobooks have opened a new dimension to the enjoyment of good fiction, and I'm happy to be part of the Audible team that brings the best in science fiction (and other genres) to this new and growing audience,” said Bova.

In addition, through content relationships with HarperCollins, Macmillan Audio, Recorded Books, Blackstone Audio, Harlequin, and Wonder Audio, Audible is pleased to offer digital exclusives from John Scalzi, Vernor Vinge, Jay Lake, Philip K. Dick, Philip Jose Farmer, Kim Stanley Robinson, Maria V. Snyder, and many more.

The Audible science fiction and fantasy catalogue now exceeds 1,500 titles. Visit www.audible.com/scifi for more than 100 exclusive and digital exclusive titles and more than 50 Hugo and Nebula Award winners.

About Audible

Audible (www.audible.com) is the leader in spoken audio information and entertainment on the Internet. Content from Audible is downloaded and played back on personal computers, CDs, or AudibleReady computer-based and wireless mobile devices. Audible has over 40,000 audio programs from more than 470 content providers that include leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers. Audible is the preeminent provider of spoken-word audio products for Apple's iTunes Store. Audible, Audible.com, AudibleListener, AudibleReady and AudibleKids are trademarks of Audible, Inc. or its affiliates. Other product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, significant amount of indebtedness, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, and subsequent filings.

Robert J. Sawyer titles at Audible.com

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Seven RJS novels coming from Audible.com

I've been a very satisfied Audible.com customer since March 2001, and so I'm particularly delighted to report that Audible.com has jut bought audio-book rights to seven of my novels:

• Calculating God

Plus the complete Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, consisting of:

• Hominids
  
• Humans
  
• Hybrids

And (as they are released in print form) my complete upcoming WWW trilogy, consisting of:

• Wake
  
• Watch
  
• Wonder

I won't be recording the narration myself; it'll all be done by professional voice artists.

I really do listen to material from Audible.com all the time, and I'm thrilled to have them making such a big commitment to me. My thanks to them, and to Chris Lotts, my agent who handled the negotiations.

(Audible.com is the world's leading retailer of downloadable audiobooks -- their titles can be played on iPods, Palms, desktops, mobile phones, many MP3 players, etc. etc., and can be burned to CD.)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site