Robert J. Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer—“the dean of Canadian science fiction,” according to both the CBC and The Ottawa Citizen—is the only Canadian to have won all three of the world’s top awards for best science-fiction novel of the year: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Rob has also won more Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”) than anyone else in history, and he was a guest of honour at the 2023 World Science Fiction Convention (the Worldcon). A member of both the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario, Rob’s 25 bestselling novels include Quantum Night (long-listed for Canada Reads), FlashForward (basis for the ABC TV series), and his latest, The Downloaded. Website: sfwriter.com.
The Downloaded
By Robert J. Sawyer
Published by Shadowpaw Press
In 2059 two very different groups have their minds uploaded into a quantum computer in Waterloo, Ontario. One group consists of astronauts preparing for Earth’s first interstellar voyage. The other? Convicted murderers, serving their sentences in a virtual-reality prison. But when disaster strikes, the astronauts and the prisoners must download back into physical reality and find a way to work together to save Earth from destruction…