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Sleeper, Awake Kindle Edition

4.8 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

Retired film star Flora Fielding was diagnosed with cancer. Her solution: she had herself put into suspended animation, and invested her fortune in cancer research. She expected to return to life in five to ten years -- but is awakened into an utterly different world, 1433 years later. Population is strictly limited to one million, but there is plenty of wealth for everyone. This new world is controlled by an AI called "Artif," whose power derives from implants in the brains of the all the planet's inhabitants. Why has Flora has been awakened now and who has designs for her new existence? Her very life and the control of planet Earth may rest in the answer to that question.
"Vividly written,
Sleeper, Awake transports you into a world beyond comprehension, yet he presents it so well, it becomes plausible. Wonderful landscapes, incredible gadgets, love and a touch of poignancy, this book has it all. Like me, if you weren't a Sci-fi fan before, you will be converted after reading this book."
--Barbara Tanner, author of
Hannah's Choice
"As a dedicated environmentalist as far back as the 1970s, I found this book refreshing... Rich's portrayal of a new society, its inventions and innovations-all of them designed in harmony with the laws of nature-is nothing short of brilliant. This reader was captivated by the spiritual growth of the protagonists and by the wonderful devices they use in everyday living."
--Florence Byham Weingberg, author of
Unrest in Eden
"
Sleeper, Awake is an unusual novel, full of clever inventions and the echoes of myths and older customs. The Norse Tree is there in spirit, so are Greek Icarus and the philosophy of the Frontiersman. Rites of passage are alive and well, and teenaged girls are still-well-teenaged girls. The ending is thoroughly satisfying, with the final scene putting the whole novel into a new and amusing perspective."
--Sally Odgers, author of
Elysian Dawn

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"As the title suggests, this is a book concerns a person waking from cry-o-genic sleep far into the future. You may think this concept has been explored unto the point where nothing more can be said. However, the sleeper is just a small part of this tale. It is the intro-ductory device that allows the author to show us his version of the future of mankind. This is a highly polished, well constructed work that gives the reader a glimpse into Bob Rich version of mankind's destiny. It is not a story high in action content-this is far more SF in the vein of Asimov where the ideas are all important than of Heinlein's militaristic aggressive style but with Asimov my favorite SF author I certainly wasn't complaining." --Steve Mazey, The Eternal Night

"In this story, Rich has fleshed out well-rounded, very human characters. Though of a different time and place, Flora's new friends bear close likenesses to people we encounter in our everyday lives. Sleeper, Awake contains insightful messages about living in a world where racial boun-dar-ies are nonexistent; about relationships between family members, friends and lovers; and, most poignantly, perhaps, it's about Flora's soul-search-ing journey as she comes to a new understanding about the cycle of life and death. If you relish thoughtful, imaginative speculations about what our future may bring, you won't regret taking the time to read Sleeper, Awake by Dr. Bob Rich!" --Jeanne Allen, Ivy Quill Reviews

"When beautiful, wealthy actress Flora Fielding had herself placed in suspended animation, she expected to be revived during the twenty-first century so that her breast cancer could be cured. Instead, she is shocked to find herself awakened almost fifteen hundred years later. Flora faces physical and mental challenges, but she is a somewhat passive protagonist because of her health. Abel, Kiril, and Tamás provide most of the action, and there are lots of thrills and chills as they and other male characters scale mountains, ride bulls, and navigate stormy seas. The women are strong and independent, loving and inspiring the men who may soon father their children. The story brims with fascinating, sometimes contro-versial theories about our present and future. Dr. Rich, who writes with compassion and irony, has fashioned a rather complicated plot, and the reader may occasionally feel as overwhelmed as Flora does upon awaken-ing. Still, the tale moves swiftly and is filled with charm, tenderness, and excitement. And the scenic descriptions are fabulous." --Ilene Sirocca, Running River Reader

"Sleeper, Awake, a science fiction novel by Dr. Bob Rich, is a truly amazing experience. To step inside this novel is to step inside an almost alien, but totally believable, world. Dr. Rich designs the futuristic world of Sleeper, Awake with such compelling detail that one comes to the conclusion that this must indeed be the reality of our future earth. Despite its alien quality, the world of Sleeper, Awake is in many ways a vast improvement over the world today. I give this fascinating book 5 stars. --Marilyn Peake, author of The Fisherman's Son

"The author, through a descriptive narrative and well-developed charac-terization, shows a future where a great upheaval shifted the environment and altered landmasses. For example, a huge mountain formed where Chicago once existed. In his fluid writing style, Dr. Rich creates a world of the far future where hunger, war, and disease are but a faint memory in the consciousness of humanity. The world of Sleeper, Awake is a fascinating read. I give it all my fingers and toes up." -- Michael L. Thal, EBooksNBytes


About the Author

In 1972, Bob Rich had young children, and a Ph.D. thesis to write up. He was bored with the project, and kept himself awake during his library research by reading about unrelated topics. He wanted to be able to predict the future for his kids, and so drifted to futurology. No, not Nostradamus or astrology, but the use of existing trends to predict the future. The evidence was unmistakable. The coming world was horrendous. Resources then still plentiful such as cheap petroleum would become depleted, leading to hardships and even wars. This would lead to far more expensive, and environmentally more damaging methods of supply. Air and water would be polluted, so that cancers, asthma, allergies and other severe health problems would become epidemics. Increasing global mobility was bound to increase the rate at which new strains of diseases, and entirely new diseases would emerge, and even then, genetic engineering was a possibility, leading to the risk of releasing entirely new monster organisms. He was aware of research on the effects of crowding on mammals, and predicted the breakdown of the family, increasing stress-related diseases like strokes, heart attacks and digestive ulcers, wars of genocide based on unreasoning hatred, addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling and anything else with the slightest promise of easing distress. Horrendous weather events were guaranteed to become more frequent, and more severe. In other words, he predicted today's society. Some details were still to come. For example, this was over forty years before scientific evidence confirmed that we are in the sixth extinction event of earth. Species are dying out at more than 1000 times the "background rate," and the numbers of many so-far not endangered species are plummeting. Of particular concern is the drop in insect and bird numbers, in part due to the climate catastrophe, in part to our insanity in bathing the entire planet in pesticides and other toxins. Destroy species at the base of a food chain, and the entire ecosystem disintegrates. And we are a part of nature, not apart from nature. Since that time, Bob has never stopped fighting for a saner world, on the grounds that, when the Cataclysm comes, he can at least say, "It wasn't my fault." You can read about his proposed solution to humanity's problems in his essay, How to Change the World (http: //wp.me/P3Xihq-5). Bob is the author of 18 books to date. You can inspect them all, and find lots of writing that is informative, challenging, inspiring - but never boring - at his blog, Bobbing Around (https: //bobrich18.wordpress.com/).

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08VQ8V411
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Modern History Press
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 1, 2021
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2.2 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 313 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

About the author

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Robert Rich
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Bob Rich is an Australian storyteller, with 19 published books in a variety of genres including both fiction and nonfiction. Five of his books, and over 40 short stories, have won awards. He has retired 5 times so far, from 5 different occupations, but is still going strong as a Professional Grandfather. Any human born since 1993 qualifies as his grandchild. Everything he does, including his writing, is working toward a survivable future for them, and one worth surviving in. He carries on much of this work at his popular blog, Bobbing Around https://bobrich18.wordpress.com

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
13 global ratings

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A Strong Addition to a Science Fiction Sub-genre
5 out of 5 stars
A Strong Addition to a Science Fiction Sub-genre
Sleeper, Awake belongs to a sub-genre of science fiction in which one or more people are put to sleep, usually for medical reasons, and wake up in the far future to a radically transformed, perhaps even utopian society. As I began this novel, it reminded me briefly of others I had read, such as Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward: 2000–1887, but I soon realized that the author was taking the narrative in a new and imaginatively challenging direction. Flora Fielding is awakened after over 1400 years asleep and finds herself in a world with a population restricted to only one million. She is the first of 123 terminally or seriously ill sleepers to be restored to consciousness, and she is bombarded by staggering concepts. To name just one, people can now send multiple “images” of themselves to distant locations at the same time and actually interact with people there. Flora, who has terminal cancer, had herself preserved because she hoped to wake up in a society that had a cure. Does it? The answer to this question might surprise some readers. While Flora’s attempt to cope with her disease and this new environment is fascinating, there are other interesting and sympathetic characters, such as the violent, love-torn Kiril and Tamàs, “a boy on the verge of manhood.” Both go on dangerous, beautifully described “quests” throughout the world in order to acquire status and “credentials” that will enable them to father children. Only a select few males can earn this right, and the women alone have the right to choose the father of their child. The ending in particular, is unexpected and fully satisfying. I highly recommend Sleeper, Awake to all readers.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2018
    Sleeper, Awake creates a fascinating and possibly utopian world of the future. A thousand years after a vaguely defined global catastrophe humanity is leading a blissful existence with only a million people spread over the planet. Some live on the ground, some on the oceans and some in the sky with their houses supported by balloons. Though physically separated,people are linked through implants and holographic (or similar) image transference, while their lives are controlled by a benign artificial intelligence. Actually, there are a little less than a million people actively living on the planet with the rest made up of sleepers, people from an earlier era who had themselves cryogenically frozen in the hope of future developments allowing them to be cured of otherwise incurable illnesses.

    The book is an engrossing read full of psychological insight and one that raises deep questions about what is an ideal society: is a small peaceful, but controlled society better or worse than our own with its many problems and yet bubbling with new ideas and discoveries? More profoundly, can artificial intelligence be fully trusted, can it really stay benign? This is a book that provokes thought and stays with you for a long time after finishing it.
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2021
    I love reading sci fi novels, and this one made my day, very interesting and capturing, I couldn't stop reading it until I finished.
    Strongly recommend that book. In these weird and uncertain times a welcome distraction from every day tasks and duties and at the same time a mind bugging about the future
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2013
    I loved this book when I read it the first time years ago. The concept of how the earth was devastated by an environmental catastrophe is intriguing, and how the future society operates with the use of an omniscient benevolent computer is actually uplifting. I love this book and highly recommend it to anyone, not just scifi geeks.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2015
    Suppose you had an incurable and deadly disease. And suppose that technology had advanced so that your body & life force could be preserved until a far future where a cure may have been found. Then suppose you were awakened to a world centuries later only to find that your incurable disease no longer existed and no cure had been developed because there was no longer any need.
    What would that future life become for you? What relation would you have to those future generations?
    Dr. Bob Rich provides some intriguing answers to these story questions and creates an interesting future world with its own set of problems. In that world, technology had advanced beyond imagining, but the consequences of environmental misuse remain. The positive and the negative aspects of human relations also remain much the same.
    Dr. Rich has written a clear and readable novel. There are some action sequences that seem to go on a bit too long and some of the characters could have been more memorable. Despite these minor considerations, 'Sleeper, Awake' remains an enjoyable read.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2018
    The best thing about Sleeper, Awake is undeniably the characters. They're so human: flawed, yet lovable, genuinely good people. I felt that, through reading them, that I befriended them. Dr. Bob Rich handles the multiple points of view as skillfully as George R.R. Martin handles his epic cast in Game of Thrones, but where Martin is brutal, Dr. Rich is compassionate. I enjoyed this approach with much relief: let me tell you, books like this are gold for a sensitive reader. It was wonderful to read an eyes-wide-open, character-driven story that presents truths about our humanity and mortality in a gentle, yet involving way. I also liked seeing multiple views of the story through such diverse, interrelated characters. All the complexities of love, kinship, need and desire were sensitively yet succinctly explored, making the story gripping. These are characters I really felt for!

    Characterization's not the only thing I loved about this book, though! The setting is some 1500 years in the future, with a unique, vivid and believable culture nothing like our own, though sprung from it. This makes it wonderful and disturbing in turns. To guide you through it there's sweet Flora who was put into cryogenic sleep in our time, and is completely bamboozled to find herself awakened over a thousand years later than she expected. It's thrilling to discover it all alongside her. Imagine our world if the health of the population improved with every generation. Imagine a future with so much abundance that money is long forgotten and everyone has everything they need and want. Imagine a society where unconditional assistance and healthcare can be provided with a thought. It's a vividly imagined reality where the environment is perfectly restored and delightfully pristine, where people like you and me are equipped with comfortable travel that doesn't pollute, and there's adventures for anyone brave enough to take them, not just for the rich. Combine that with characters so diverse and personable I wish I had them in my life, and I was totally there!

    But... Would it disturb you to discover this future utopia is enabled by the neural connection every person has to a global computer, an artificial intelligence? It bothered me at first. What about that Jesus has been replaced by a disabled genius scientist whose inventions improved human welfare far beyond what any man (or god!) had done before him? It certainly bothered me to discover that competition for the right to reproduce had replaced competition for resources... until I watched my new friends' lives unfold and saw how this system brought out genius and caring in prospective parents. It was an answer to getting people to willingly cherish their children, apply themselves to work they loved, and contribute to society. My suspicion that these unexpected, if believable caveats would devolve into dark themes ended up only revealing my distrust for other people and our popular storytellers. Sleeper, Awake gave me a pleasant surprise, remaining intelligent without ever taking the well-trod, paranoia-inducing path of technological evil. Dr. Bob's take on benevolent technology was refreshing without being naive, a genre bend I'd love to see more of.

    After a roller-coaster ride with my new friends in a new world, undergoing everyday (and often dangerous) adventures, I left the final pages of Sleeper, Awake feeling hope. If Dr. Rich can imagine a positive future, then surely we could create it. Here's a humanity that not only survived catastrophes and climate change, but who enjoy a bright and thriving time without any sign of ending. Dr. Rich doesn't write away human problems- his characters have unique weakness and strengths, after all- but he does write us as a species in balance, focusing less on struggle and more on simply living. I know I'd live that way if I could!

    My biggest criticism? I wished it was longer. I wished it kept on going! Not that Sleeper, Awake is particularly short. I just liked it that much.

    Sleeper, Awake is an intelligent, fascinating adventure containing a reassuring vision, which elegantly explores the kind of future we secretly wish for. It'll make you fall in love and make your heart race without ever relying on war, righteousness or evil as plot excuses. Anyone who loves the world and dreams of making society a better place for whole humans will find plenty to like in these pages. And anyone who wants a gripping sci-fi adventure that stays positive and enlightened the whole way through will be delighted!

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