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
Labels: Audible, Starplex
