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Sawyer (Flashforward; Factoring Humanity), a Canadian, is one of contemporary SF's most consistent performers. His new novel concerns the appearance at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto of a spiderlike alien paleontologist named Hollus. The alien has come to Earth to study the five great extinction events that have hit our planet over the eons, the best known being the asteroid collision that wiped out the dinosaurs. When the museum's head paleontologist, Tom Jericho, consults with the alien, he is shocked to discover that Hollus has proof that her own planet and that of another alien race suffered a similar series of five catastrophic events at virtually the same times as Earth did. More surprising still to a 21st-century disciple of Darwin like Jericho, both alien races see this synchronicity, along with other scientific evidence, as proof of the existence of God. Much of the novel is relatively cerebral, as Jericho and Hollus argue over the scientific data they've gathered in support of God's existence, but Sawyer excels at developing both protagonists into full-fledged characters, and he adds tension to his story in several ways: Jericho has terminal cancer, which gives him a personal stake in discovering the truth of the alien's claims, and lurking in the background are a murderous pair of abortion clinic bombers who have decided that the museum's Burgess Shale exhibition is an abomination that must be destroyed. Finally, there's the spectacular, if not entirely prepared for, climax in which God manifests in an unexpected manner. This is unusually thoughtful SF. (June) FYI: Sawyer's The Terminal Experiment won the 1995 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Diagnosed with lung cancer, paleontologist Thomas Jericho expects to die within the year. What he doesn't expect is the appearance of a spiderlike alien in his museum seeking confirmation from Earth's prehistoric past of the existence of God. The author of Factoring Humanity once again demonstrates his wild talent for innovative, iconoclastic storytelling as he relates a thought-provoking, sobering, yet wryly compassionate tale of one man's discovery of timelessness even as his own time is running out. A good choice for most sf collections. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Husband, father, and Royal Ontario Museum paleontologist Tom Jericho is dying of lung cancer brought on by breathing rock dust. Yet his predicament hasn't been the most important part of his life since an eight-limbed alien, Hollus, climbed out of its shuttlecraft, walked into the museum, and asked to see a paleontologist. Now, in the last months of his life, Tom is explaining Earth's geologic history and learning about the world of the Forhilnors, which he finds uncannily similar to Earth, right down to mass extinctions like that of the dinosaurs. Hollus is traveling with other aliens, the Wreeds, whose planet is again astoundingly similar. To the aliens, the three worlds' congruities bespeak the direct intervention of God, which lifelong nonbeliever Tom finds hard to swallow. Sharing information leads to friendship, but, meanwhile, Christian fundamentalists plan to attack the museum's fossil exhibits because of their "lying evolutionary" nature. Overshadowing that are a much more portentous global event and Tom's own abbreviated timeline. Sawyer smoothly combines ethical questions and comical dialogue in a highly absorbing tale. (Reviewed April 15, 2000)0312867131Roberta Johnson From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.