The Oppenheimer Alternative

by Robert J. Sawyer Narrated by Josh Bloomberg

Overview

Writing with “a sense of wonder that hasn't prevailed since the days of Heinlein” (Books in Canada), bestnovel Hugo and Nebula Award winner Robert J. Sawyer brings you “a truly science-fictional work of alternate
history” (S.M. Stirling).
While J. Robert Oppenheimer and his Manhattan Project team struggle to develop the A-bomb, Edward Teller
wants something even more devastating: a weapon based on nuclear fusion-the mechanism that powers the sun. But
Teller's research leads to a terrifying discovery: by the year 2030, the sun will eject its outermost layer, destroying the
entire inner solar system-including Earth.
After the war ends, Oppenheimer's physicists combine forces with Albert Einstein, computing pioneer John von
Neumann, and rocket designer Wernher von Braun-the greatest scientific geniuses from the last century racing
against time to save our future.
Meticulously researched and replete with real-life characters and events, The Oppenheimer Alternative is a
breathtaking adventure through both real and alternate history.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

04/06/2020

This dense alternate history from Hugo and Nebula Award–winner Sawyer (Quantum Night) probes into the ambitions and shortcomings of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. As the reluctant director of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, N.Mex., Oppenheimer believes he has “sold his soul to the atom bomb” and laments the mass killings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Meanwhile, Hungarian physicist Edward Teller’s work on a nuclear fusion bomb leads him to discover that the sun has an unstable core and will extinguish all life on Earth by 2028. Now Oppenheimer has the chance to turn his genius to good, gathering a team of the greatest scientists in the world to figure out how to shield Earth and whether humanity can flee to Mars. Sawyer’s impressive use of scientific and historical detail makes the drastic solution they land on believable, but threatening to derail their progress is communist paranoia and Oppenheimer’s loveless marriage. Though the subplots about Oppenheimer’s romances are poorly handled, Sawyer’s characterization of the man himself are well done and pull back the layers of Oppenheimer’s morals, genius, and grief. Science fiction fans will devour this smart speculative tale. Agent: Chris Lotts, The Lotts Agency. (June)

From the Publisher

Alternate history usually turns on the decisions of politicians and generals. Robert J. Sawyer has done a truly science fictional work of alternate history which turns on the decisions — and discoveries — of the great physicists who wrote the history of the 20th century: Einstein, Fermi, Gödel, and … Oppenheimer, the organizer of the Manhattan Project. They are the vividly realized, all-too-human characters who people this novel, and give its brilliant speculations human life and blood. I read this book at a gulp, and you should too — now I’m going to go read it again. Bravo!”

—Analog Science Fiction and Fact

—S.M. Stirling, New York Times bestselling author of Dies The Fire

“Incredibly realistic: the characters, locations, the era, and even the science. I felt like I was back in Los Alamos — and I should know: I worked there! The plot was breathlessly riveting and kept me wondering how anyone could possibly survive, but Robert J. Sawyer masterfully pulled it off.”

—Dr. Doug Beason, former Associate Laboratory Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory

“An expert and engrossing knitting of the threads of history, with genuine characters of the mid 20th Century, to weave out a compulsive fictional narrative.”

—Jem Rolls, author of the play The Inventor of All Things about Leo Szilard

“In The Oppenheimer Alternative, Robert J. Sawyer portrays brilliantly and poignantly the struggles of the scientists who started it all and were consequently obliged to bear an unbearable burden.”

—Dr. James Christie, Chair, Project Ploughshares, member organization of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons

“I enjoyed it tremendously! Really great, a page turner. I was hooked from the beginning to the end. Another fine addition to the Sawyer canon!”

—Andre Bormanis, co-executive producer, The Orville and Cosmos

"Well-drawn alternate history, rigorous SF thriller, social commentary, redemption narrative—The Oppenheimer Alternative reimagines one of the most influential lives of the twentieth century. Well worth reading." “I loved it!” —Lee Smolin, bestselling author of The Trouble with Physics

“An imaginative restructuring of a phantasmagoric life into an alternative phantasmagorical story. Oppenheimer fans will be intrigued.”—Martin J. Sherwin, co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

“A truly science fictional work of alternate history which turns on the decisions—and discoveries—of the great physicists who wrote the history of the 20th century: Einstein, Fermi, Gödel, and Oppenheimer. They are the vividly realized, all-too-human characters who people this novel, and give its brilliant speculations human life and blood. Bravo!”—S.M. Stirling, author of Dies The Fire

“Incredibly realistic: the characters, locations, the era, and even the science. I felt like I was back in Los Alamos—and I should know: I worked there! Breathlessly riveting; Sawyer pulls it off masterfully.”—Doug Beason, former Associate Laboratory Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory “The feel and detail of the Manhattan Project figures is deep and well done. I knew many of these physicists, and Sawyer nails them accurately.”—Gregory Benford, author of The Berlin Project

“I enjoyed it tremendously! Really great, a page turner. I was hooked from the beginning to the end. Another fine addition to the Sawyer canon!”—Andre Bormanis, co-executive producer, The Orville and Cosmos

“An expert and engrossing knitting of the threads of history, with genuine characters of the mid 20th Century, to weave out a compulsive fictional narrative.”—Jem Rolls, author of the play The Inventor of All Things

“Sawyer portrays brilliantly and poignantly the struggles of the scientists who started it all and were consequently obliged to bear an unbearable burden.”—James Christie, Chair, Project Ploughshares, member organization of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

“Sawyer has outdone himself! No one could have taken on this project with such gusto and with such a search for the truth as this outstanding author. I’ve never read such a complete and thrilling account of Oppenheimer’s world.—Jonas Saul, author of the Sarah Roberts series

PRAISE FOR ROBERT J. SAWYER

“A new Robert J. Sawyer book is always cause for celebration.”— Analog Science Fiction and Fact

“Sawyer not only has an irresistibly engaging narrative voice but also a gift for confronting thorny philosophical conundrums. At every opportunity, he forces his readers to think while holding their attention with ingenious premises and superlative craftsmanship.”— Booklist

“Can Sawyer write? Yes—with near-Asimovian clarity, with energy and drive, with such grace that his writing becomes invisible as the story comes to life in your mind.”— Orson Scott Card, author of Ender’s Game

“Robert J. Sawyer is by any measure one of the world’s leading (and most interesting) science-fiction writers. His fiction is a fascinating blend of intellectually compelling big ideas and humane, enduring characters.”— The Globe and Mail

“Sawyer, an articulate fountain of ideas, is the genre’s northern star—in fact, one of the hottest SF writers anywhere. By any reckoning Sawyer is among the most successful Canadian authors ever.”— Maclean’s: Canada’s Weekly News Magazine

“Robert J. Sawyer is a writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific extrapolation.”— The New York Times

“Sawyer’s books—always rich in science, action, and profound thinking—never fail to surprise, delight, and cause us to transcend our ordinary thinking. I’ve read Crichton, Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, King, and Koontz—and Sawyer outdoes them all.”—Clifford A. Pickover, author Time: A Traveler’s Guide

“A polished, exciting writer. Sawyer writes with the scientific panache and grandeur of Arthur C. Clarke and the human touch of Isaac Asimov.”— Quill & Quire

“Cracking open a new Robert J. Sawyer book is like getting a gift from a friend who visits all the strange and undiscovered places in the world. You can’t wait to see what he’s going to amaze you with this time.”—John Scalzi, author of Old Man’s War

“Sawyer is Canada’s answer to Michael Crichton.”— The Toronto Star

“No reader seeking well-written stories that respect, emphasize and depend on modern science should be disappointed by the works of Rob Sawyer.”— The Washington Post

“Sawyer is a terrific writer. He can write about the most sophisticated science while giving readers the room to understand what’s happening and follow the plot.”— Winnipeg Free Press

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176083835
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	06/16/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

“You’re bad luck for me,” said Haakon Chevalier. “I hope you know that.”

Robert Oppenheimer looked at his friend, seated next to him on the pink-and-green living-room couch as the party bustled about them. Oppie’s sense was the exact opposite: Hoke had brought him nothing but good fortune, including getting him into this offbeat rooming house here on Shasta Road. “Oh?”

“Absolutely. When I go places without you, I’m considered the attractive one.”

Oppenheimer made a small chuckle. Chevalier, who had just turned thirty-five, was three years his senior, and was indeed movie-star handsome: gallant, as befitted his last name, and long of face, with wide-spaced eyes and sandy hair swept back in a slight pompadour.

By comparison, Oppie knew he himself was scrawny, his tall body angular, his coarse black hair a wild nimbus, and his duck-footed gait awkward—one friend had described it as a constant falling forward as if he were forever tumbling into the future.

“See that one over there?” continued Hoke, with a subtle nod. “She hasn’t glanced at me once since we got here, but you—” Chevalier shook his head in good-natured exasperation. “It’s those goddamn eyes of yours, I tell you. Fucking opals.”

Oppie was used to compliments about his pale blue eyes: he often heard them called “transparent” or “luminous,” but this metaphor was new to him. He smiled as he turned to look at the woman Hoke had indicated, and—

And, my God, he’d seen that lovely face before—he was sure of it. But where? “Wow,” said Oppie softly.

“Wow, indeed,” agreed Hoke. “And she keeps looking your way. You should go over and say hello.”

“I ... um ...”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, Robert, go! You study the mysteries of the universe; girls are simple by comparison.”

Hoke taught French literature at the University of California’s Berkeley campus; Oppie was a professor of physics there. Normally, members of such diverse faculties would have little to do with each other, but Oppie loved French poetry, and the two men had become great friends. One advantage Hoke had was a lot of female students—he’d married one, in fact—whereas in Robert’s circles, women were rare. “Come on,” said Hoke. “Give me a story to tell Barb when I get home. Go try your luck.”

Luck. Einstein said that God didn’t play dice with the universe—but, then again, God probably wasn’t itching to get laid. “All right already,” Oppie said, unfolding himself from the couch. Of course, he couldn’t just go up and say hello, but Mary Ellen, his landlady, was swirling by in one of her floor-length batik dresses. She threw many parties, often as fund-raisers. This one was for the Republicans in Spain—or maybe it was for the Spanish Nationalists? Whoever the good guys were, anyway; Oppie had come downstairs from his room for donuts and drinks, not the cause.

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