When messages that the Earth has been receiving from interstellar space suddenly stop, a scientist finds herself in possession of the signal telling humanity to build a special machine--one that allows mind travel into the collective subconscious of the human race. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

It's the personal implications of first contact that Sawyer (Illegal Alien) dramatizes in his disturbing and uneven new novel. Set in Canada, circa 2017, the story focuses on Heather and her computer-scientist husband, Kyle, who have separated following the suicide of their daughter Mary. When younger daughter Rebecca confronts her parents and accuses her father of molesting her, the family starts to shake apart. Redemption comes in the unlikely form of alien altruism: the messages from Alpha Centauri that psychologist Heather has studied for years prove to be blueprints for a "psychospace" device that enables her to see into the overmind of humanity, and to know anyone's deepest thoughts. In a flash, Kyle is exonerated, Rebecca apologizes--and her nasty, manipulative therapist is blamed for the false accusation. Although the novel ends with Heather greeting the first starship from Alpha Centauri, the bulk of the plot centers around the family's own mystery, and so the conclusion comes off as anti-climactic. Sawyer also includes too many digressions about the cultural significance of Seinfeld, Star Trek bloopers and quantum physics, delivering a tale that ultimately works more as a study of the human heart than as believable story of alien encounter. (June) FYI: Sawyer, whose The Terminal Experiment won the 1995 Nebula for Best Novel, was recently elected president of the Science Fiction Writers of America.Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

When a ten-year-long barrage of encoded messages from Alpha Centauri suddenly stops, researcher Heather Davis accelerates her efforts to interpret the alien communication. Her attempts result in the construction of a miraculous device designed to transform humanity's perceptions of the universe--and of themselves. Sawyer's (Frameshift, LJ 5/15/97) latest novel explores the enigmatic and perplexing landscape of the human mind and the interplay of true, false, implanted, and collective memories that comprise the phenomenon of consciousness. Recommended for large sf collections.Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Math professor Heather Davis, in Toronto, tries to decipher the famous messages that have been arriving for years from Alpha Centauri. At last, she realizes that they describe a particular geometic shape that is to be built of particular, positively charged materials. Within this structure, once built, she finds that she can journey, like Jung's overself, through the consciousness of all humanity, in which individual selves lodge as if in the cells of a beehive. Heather's discovery becomes personally important when her grown daughter accuses her estranged husband, Kyle, of sexually abusing her when she was a child. Heather explores Kyle's mind and finds him innocent; her daughter has been duped into false memories by an illicit therapist. Sawyer gets high marks for working out extraordinary concepts in ordinary human terms, but his plot is too dependent on coincidence and his speculations are on the New Age side. Heather's machine is a thing of great beauty, though, and her trip through our collective racial consciousness is an amazing cruise. (Reviewed May 15, 1998)0312864582John Mort From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.