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Flashforward Mass Market Paperback – September 1, 2009

by Robert J. Sawyer (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 1,028 ratings
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The basis for the hit ABC TV series and the Aurora Award-winning novel that started it all!

FLASHFORWARD

Two minutes and seventeen seconds that changed the world

Suddenly, without warning, all seven billion people on Earth black out for more than two minutes. Millions die as planes fall from the sky, people tumble down staircases, and cars plow into each other.

But that's the least of the survivors' challenges. During the blackout, everyone experienced a glimpse of what his or her future holds―and the interlocking mosaic of these visions threatens to unravel the present.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    320 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Tor Science Fiction
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    4.28 x 0.83 x 6.84 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0765363836
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0765363831
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert J. Sawyer is the Aurora Award-winning author of FlashForward, basis for the ABC TV series, the Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids, and the Nebula Award-winning author of The Terminal Experiment. He is also the author of Calculating God, Mindscan, the WWW series―Wake, Watch and Wonder―and many other books. He was born in Ottawa and lives in Toronto.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tor Science Fiction; 2nd edition (September 1, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0765363836
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0765363831
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.28 x 0.83 x 6.84 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 1,028 ratings

About the author

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Robert J. Sawyer

Robert J. Sawyer

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Robert J. Sawyer is one of only eight writers ever to win 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. He has also won the Robert A. Heinlein Award, the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award, and the Hal Clement Memorial Award; the top SF awards in China, Japan, France, and Spain; and a record-setting sixteen Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”).

Rob’s novel FlashForward was the basis for the ABC TV series of the same name, and he was a scriptwriter for that program. He also scripted the two-part finale for the popular web series Star Trek Continues.

He is a Member of the Order of Canada, the highest honor bestowed by the Canadian government, as well as the Order of Ontario, the highest honor given by his home province; he was also one of the initial inductees into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Rob lives just outside Toronto.His website and blog are at sfwriter.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon he’s RobertJSawyer.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
1,028 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

mrliteral
5.0 out of 5 stars One score and one year from now....
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2009
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When it comes to inspiration for TV shows, novels are not on the top of the list, though there are some exceptions. Robert Sawyer's Flash Forward is one such exception, though a quick glance at the plot summaries of TV show and novel show some big differences. Both, however, revolve around the idea of a simultaneous blackout of everyone on Earth, during which the victims are given a vision of the future.

In the novel, this vision is of a time over two decades away; on the TV show, this is shortened to around half a year. The novel focuses on the scientists who may or may not have caused the incident; the TV show deals with non-scientists.

In Sawyer's book, the main character is Lloyd Simcoe, a physicist working at CERN, a Swiss science agency with a large particle collider. Lloyd works with his fiancee Michiko Komura and fellow scientist Theo Procopides. An experiment to create the elusive Higgs boson fails to create the particle but instead results in the blackout.

The initial effect is widespread disaster as people lose control of vehicles, surgeries are catastrophically interrupted and other such accidents. Then, as people begin to piece things together, the questions begin. What caused the blackout? Is the future immutable? For Lloyd and Michiko, there is a vision where they are no longer together; is there love doomed? For Theo, there is a murder mystery: he had no vision, and soon learns he was murdered a couple days prior to the Flash Forward.

Originally published in 1999 but taking place in 2009, Sawyer misses on some of his predictions; amusingly, one thing he gets right is that the Pope would be named Benedict. As in the best hard science fiction, Sawyer raises a lot of interesting issues and keeps the reader entertained in the process. Whether you watch the TV show or not, this book is well worth reading for science fiction fans.
5 people found this helpful
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Michael Juge
4.0 out of 5 stars "Doubtless" a great read
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2012
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4.5 out of 5 stars. Robert Sawyer sure knows how to explore that whole free will verses determinism thing in the most entertaining way. First, let's get on with the comparison between the novel and the television series. I loved both, but they are completely different stories outside of the starting premise that an experiment involving a Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is instrumental in accidentally causing all humanity to black out for a couple of minutes to experience a vision of the future. Of course, the act of the entire human race suddenly losing consciousness makes for a bit of a mess as planes crash upon take off and landing, cars collide into each other, people tumble down flights of stairs, milk is over-frothed. And this is where the novel and the TV series diverge.

In the TV series, the flash forward is set 6 months in the future, whereas the novel it is set 21 ½ years in the future. This sets the tone for an entirely different set of problems, especially for those who didn't have a vision. Additionally, the main characters are different (outside of Lloyd Simcoe) and the story itself goes into a completely different direction between novel and the TV series.

Sawyer did an outstanding job of exploring the various theoretical physics models of the universe and its implications for the human condition in a way that was digestible for those of use without degrees in the hard sciences. The main character Lloyd was attempting to find the Higgs Boson particular with the LHC at CERN; however, he inadvertently caused the flash forward which caused the deaths of millions (car crashes, planes falling from the sky, etc). Naturally, Lloyd feels immense guilt. Meanwhile his partner, the young Theo had no vision at all, which he soon realizes means that he is dead in 21 ½ years. Theo wants to find how he died in order that he may prevent it. Theo and countless others hope that the future is not set, that time is not immutable. But Lloyd sees it differently. Given his own guilt, he hopes that time is immutable; he posits that we live in a block universe whereby time is analogous to layers of film stacked upon itself. Everything that happened has happened and that which is going to happen has already happened, just as the ending of a film has been finished whether or not you you've seen the ending. Casablanca will always end the same way, will always be the way it has always been no matter where you are in the film. I forget the particulars of the theory, but Lloyd calls this a "block universe." The important thing is that a block universe is completely deterministic, completely immutable. We cannot change anything.

Sawyer showcases some of the most intriguing concepts coming out of physics, most of which are in conflict, through the discourse and the drives of the characters. The story itself is engaging, rarely did I find myself skimming through, and Sawyer assumes the reader is capable of asking oneself some hard questions about what it is free will. I've always counted on Sawyer's ability to do this, as he is a remarkable and accomplished story teller with talent for creating original and cerebral concepts to explore the human condition in an entertaining way. That being said, Sawyer, this is a message for you. Please use that Thesaurus option in MS Word. You have penchant for the word "doubtless," don't you? At first I thought it was just a strange Canadian thing like watching hockey or being polite. But my Canadian friends never say "doubtless." And levitating cars in 2030? Really, Sawyer? Really? We're going to drive cars that levitate? Are they also going to fold up and fit into our wallets? I think you're spot on so many points that that little part about levitating cars (not flying, I grant you) threw me off. Other than those two little objections, I am a total fan of the novel. Sawyer has me thinking late at night about free will and whenever an author does that, I know it's a winner. Good going!
4 people found this helpful
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Cadance Renene
3.0 out of 5 stars Unexpected and unexplainable but provocative
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2016
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(Spoiler Review) The characters could have been fleshed out more and I felt that the female characters were given the short shrift when it came to character development. (But, this is a flaw of many male writers, not just this one.) There is also a mish mash mixture of sound scientific theory interwoven in a fairly strong and complex story line that is weakened considerably toward the end with the addition of a liberal wash of unsubstantiated personal gnosis which left me puzzled. Like some other readers I was drawn to the book because I loved the TV series and wanted to see what happened (the second season of the series was cancelled). I readily accepted the fact that the characters (in the book) were different than the TV series and that most of the activity took place in the EU as opposed to the US (like the TV series). The book's strength lies in the mosaic story telling about multiple characters and how they were affected by the Flashforward and how simply advanced physics concepts are explained; my favorite being how 3 dimensional reality becomes 4 dimensional reality by adding the variable of "time" along the space time continuum. I was, however, troubled by: (1) the character Mr. Cheung (who identifies himself as Christian, several times, but, does not act in the least in according to the principles of Christianity); (2) the fact that in Lloyd Simcoe's millenic tableau vision of the future (in which Mr. Cheung appears) there is only *one* instance in the universe of the collective human "consciousness" (being the one that which appears on earth which advances along the afore mentioned space-time continuum -- in accordance with accepted Biblical theology); and (3) the fact that Mr. Cheung uses his considerable financial resources to become a demi-god himself and offers the chance of demi-godery to a select few individuals (Nobel laureates)... It is a provocative read for these reasons.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Thom
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good
Reviewed in Spain on October 12, 2019
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Awesome, very well written and interesting. Quite different from the series but still really good
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Libro in lingua inglese.ben tenuto
Reviewed in Italy on December 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
Ottimo prezzo, forse xké in inglese, tenuto come descritto
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Bartlett
3.0 out of 5 stars DISAPPOINTING
Reviewed in Australia on June 14, 2021
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I had high hopes for this book. It sounded so good from the blurb but, unlike the little engine that could, this just failed to get there.
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D. Martland
5.0 out of 5 stars Great in its own right
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2014
Verified Purchase
Like many others, I bought this book in an attempt to understand what was going to happen in the cancelled TV series. Instead, a found a classic sci-fi story asking thought provoking 'what if?' questions.

Rather than having an alcoholic FBI agent running all over the place, the book focusses on two physicists at the centre of the Flashforward (or are they?). The event happens, they wonder if they caused it and they try to survive the fall-out. The book is much more slow paced, focussing on the personalities and their reactions to two very different futures which they would like to avoid. But can they?

The book has several over-lapping plot threads within it which intertwine nicely and I only got the twist about a page before the reveal, so it kept me guessing really quite well. A gentle ride, but very enjoyable none the less. Give it a go in its own right.
6 people found this helpful
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Phil-Don
5.0 out of 5 stars Original et intéressant!
Reviewed in France on November 30, 2010
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A la suite d'une expérience scientifique, tous les hommes connaissent un 'black out' durant lequel leur conscience est projetée 21 ans plus tard. Ils entrevoient alors 2 minutes de leur vie future. Au réveil, c'est la consternation en découvrant les innombrables accidents causés par la perte de conscience collective; et les visions suscitent de nombreuses questions...

En plus des réactions des populations, le lecteur suit le parcours de quelques individus et partage leurs doutes et leurs interrogations. On ne s'ennuie pas un seul instant et on est pris par le mystère de cette expérience du futur. Une histoire originale et qu'on suit avec intérêt jusqu'à la fin!
3 people found this helpful
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