FlashForward - Softcover

Sawyer, Robert J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0575091010 ISBN 13: 9780575091016

Publisher: GOLLANCZ, 2009

Synopsis

Suddenly everyone in the world loses consciousness for two minutes. Planes fall from the sky, there are millions of car crashes, millions die. And when everyone comes round they have had a glimpse of their life in the future.

When it awakes the world must live with the knowledge of what is to come.

Some saw themselves in new relationships, some saw exciting new technologies, some saw the stuff of nightmares. Some, young and old alike, saw nothing at all ...

A desperate search to find out what has happened begins. Does the mosaic of visions offer a clue?

What did you see?

Now the basis for the Channel 5 hit series FLASHFORWARD

About this title

Review

What would you do if you got a glimpse of your own personal future and it looked bleak? Try to change things, or accept that the future is unchangeable and make the best of it? In Flashforward, Nobel-hungry physicists conducting an unimaginably high-energy experiment accidentally induce a global consciousness shift. In an instant, everyone on Earth is "flashed forward" 21 years, experiencing several minutes of the future. But while everyone is, literally, out of their minds, their bodies drop unconscious; when the world reawakens, car wrecks, botched surgeries, falls, and other mishaps add up to massive death and destruction.

Slowly, as recovery efforts continue, people realize that during the Flashforward (as it comes to be called) they experienced a vision of the future. The range of visions is astounding--those who would be asleep in the future saw psychedelic dream landscapes, while others saw nothing at all (presumably they'd be dead). But those who saw everyday life 20 years hence have to come to grips with evidence of dreams forsaken (or realized). Soon, the physicists who caused the Flashforward are struggling to help the world decide whether the future is changeable--and whether the experiment is worth repeating. Robert J. Sawyer has captured a truly compelling idea with Flashforward, and he fully explores what such an event might mean to humanity. Fans will find this to be his best work to date, although the ending seems rushed after a detailed buildup. --Therese Littleton

From the Publisher

"[Robert J. Sawyer is ] fast becoming one of the most important names in science fiction." --Rocky Mountain News

Edition details

• Publisher: GOLLANCZ
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0575091010
• ISBN 13: 9780575091016
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320