Calgary Herald links

Here's a link to the review of Rollback in The Calgary Herald:

Rollback; Robert J. Sawyer
The Calgary Herald
Sun 20 May 2007
Page: C3
Section: Books & The Arts
Byline: Dan Healing

SCI FI - Talk about a slow conversation.

When Dr. Sarah Halifax decodes the first radio message ever received from aliens and helps write a response, the Canadian scientist is a vital 39-year-old.

But when the reply arrives from Sigma Draconis, a planet 18.8 light years from Earth, she's a frail 87-year-old standing impatiently in line for an appointment with the Grim Reaper.

And the reply seems written especially for her. Her life is suddenly worth billions and that's what a billionaire with an interest in aliens spends on "rollbacks" -- medical procedures designed to make recipients 25 again -- for Sarah and her retired CBC soundman husband, Don.

The human element of the drama takes centre stage when the rollback works for Don, but not Sarah. With a young mind, body and libido, will he desert her? Or, will he stick with her as she makes decisions that set the course for the human race?

This latest offering from sci-fi award collector Robert J. Sawyer meets all the requirements of summertime reading -- it's light at barely 300 pages, it's populated with likeable characters, it engages the imagination and it's hard to put down.

And it has robots. Can it get any better than that?

And here's a link to the Herald's bestsellers' list, showing Rollback at number 9 in the fiction category:

Calgary Bestsellers
For The Calgary Herald
Published: Sunday, May 20, 2007

Fiction

1 (1) Divisadero, Michael Ondaatje. A haunting story that ranges from northern California to central France.

2 (-) The Halifax Connection, Marie Jakober A Canadian counter-intelligence novel set in the 1860s.

3 (-) Falling Man, Don DeLillo. How events of Sept. 11 have changed our world.

4 (4) The Children Of Hurin, J.R.R. Tolkein. A fantasy with orcs, dragons, dwarves and elves.

5 (3) The Horseman's Graves, Jacqueline Baker. A German immigrant community on the Saskatchewan-Alberta border.

6 (-) Fluttertongue 4, Steven Ross Smith. A long poem looks at meanings of words and ponders language itself.

7 (-) Rant, Chuck Palahnuik. A fictional oral history of serial killer Buster (Rant) Casey.

8 (7) The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon. A whodunit, a love story and an exploration of the mysteries of exile and redemption.

9 (-) Rollback, Robert J. Sawyer. A new science-fiction novel by the award-winning Canadian author.

10 (5) Lullabies for Little Criminals, Heather O'Neill. A 13- year-old girl with no mother and a heroin-addicted father.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site