Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
$8.99$8.99
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
$7.36$7.36
FREE delivery May 17 - 23
Ships from: BOOK_DEPOT Sold by: BOOK_DEPOT
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Audible sample Sample
Illegal Alien Mass Market Paperback – December 27, 2011
Purchase options and add-ons
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAce
- Publication dateDecember 27, 2011
- Dimensions4.2 x 0.91 x 6.7 inches
- ISBN-101937007219
- ISBN-13978-1937007218
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
He is one of only seven writers in history—and the only Canadian—to win all three of the world’s top awards for best science-fiction novel of the year: the Hugo (which he won in 2003 for Hominids), the Nebula (which he won in 1995 for The Terminal Experiment), and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (which he won in 2005 for Mindscan).
In total, Rob has authored over 18 science-fiction novels and won forty-one national and international awards for his fiction, including a record-setting ten Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”) and the Toronto Public Library Celebrates Reading Award, one of Canada’s most significant literary honors. In 2008, he received his tenth Hugo Award nomination for his novel Rollback.
His novels have been translated into 14 languages. They are top-ten national mainstream bestsellers in Canada and have hit number one on the Locus bestsellers’ list.
Born in Ottawa in 1960, Rob grew up in Toronto and now lives in Mississauga (just west of Toronto), with poet Carolyn Clink, his wife of twenty-four years.
He was the first science-fiction writer to have a website, and that site now contains more than one million words of material.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The Navy lieutenant poked his close– cropped head into the aircraft carrier’s wardroom. “It’s going to be another two hours, gentlemen. You should really get some sleep.”
Francis Nobilio, a short white man of fifty with wavy hair mixed evenly between brown and gray, was sitting in a vinyl– upholstered metal chair. He was wearing a two– piece dark– blue business suit and a pale blue shirt. His tie was undone and hung loosely around his neck. “What’s the latest?” he said.
“As expected, sir, a Russian sub will beat us to the location. And a Brazilian cruise ship has changed course to have a look– see.”
“A cruise ship!” said Frank, throwing his arms up in exasperation. He turned to Clete, who was leaning back in a similar chair, giant tennis– shoed feet up on the table in front of him.
Clete lifted his narrow shoulders and grinned broadly. “Sounds like a big ol’ party, don’t it?” he said, his voice rich with that famous Tennessee accent— Dana Carvey did a devastating Cletus Calhoun.
“Can’t we cordon off the area?” said Frank to the Navy man.
The lieutenant shrugged. “It’s in the middle of the Atlantic, sir— international waters. The cruise ship has as much right to be there as anyone else.”
“The Love Boat meets Lost in Space,” muttered Frank. He looked up at the Navy man. “All right. Thanks.”
The lieutenant left, doing a neat step over the raised lip at the bottom of the door.
“They must be aquatic,” said Frank, looking at Clete.
“Mebbe,” said Clete. “Mebbe not. We ain’t aquatic, and we used to land our ships at sea. This very aircraft carrier picked up an Apollo command module once, didn’t it?”
“My point exactly,” said Frank. “We used to land our ships at sea, because that was easier than landing them on land, and— ”
“I thought it was because we launched out over the ocean from Canaveral, so— ”
“The Shuttle goes up from Canaveral; we bring it down on land. If you’ve got the technology, you come down on land— if that’s where you live; the Russians came down on land from day one.”
Clete was shaking his head. “I think you’re missing the obvious, Frankie. What was it that boy said a moment ago? ’International waters.’ I think they’ve been watching long enough to figger it’d be a peck o’ trouble landin’ in any particular country. Only place on Earth you can land that ain’t nobody’s turf is in the ocean.”
“Oh, come on. I doubt they’ve been able to decipher our radio or TV, and— ”
“Don’t need to do none o’ that,” said Clete. He was forty years old, pale, thin, gangly, jug– eared, and redheaded— not quite Ichabod Crane, but close. “You can deduce it from first principles. Earth’s got seven continents; that implies regional evolution, and that implies territorial conflict once the technology reaches a level that lets you travel freely between the continents.”
Frank blew out air, conceding the point. He looked at his watch for the third time in the last few minutes. “Damn, I wish we could get there faster. This is— ”
“Hang on a minute, Frankie,” said Clete. He used one of his long arms to aim the remote at the seventeen– inch color TV mounted on the wall, turning off the mute. The aircraft carrier was picking up CNN’s satellite feed.
“. . . more now on that story,” said white– haired Lou Waters. “Civilian and military observers worldwide were stunned late yesterday when what was at first taken to be a giant meteor skimmed through Earth’s atmosphere over Brazil.” Waters’s face was replaced with grainy amateur video of something streaking through a cloudless blue sky.
“But the object flew right around the Earth well inside our atmosphere, and soon almost every public and private telescope and radar dish on the planet was trained on it. Even the U.S. government has now conceded that the object is, in all likelihood, a spacecraft— and not one of ours. Karen Hunt has more. Karen?”
The picture changed to show a pretty African– American woman, standing outside the Griffith Park Observatory. “Lou, for decades human beings have wondered if we are alone in the universe. Well, now we know. Although the U.S. and Russian military aircraft that flew over the splashdown site earlier today failed to make public the videos they shot, a Moroccan Airlines 747 en route to Brasilia passed directly over the area about three hours ago. That plane has now safely landed, and we’ve obtained this exclusive footage, taken by passenger Juan Rubenstein with his home– video equipment.”
The image was coarse, but it clearly showed a large object shaped like a shield or a broad arrowhead floating atop gray water. The object seemed capable of changing colors— one moment it was red; the next, orange; then yellow. It cycled through the hues of the rainbow, over and over again, but with a considerable period of pure black between being violet and red.
Cut to a dour, middle– aged man with an unkempt beard. The title “Arnold Hammermill, Ph.D., Scripps Institute,” appeared beneath him. “It’s difficult to gauge the size of the spaceship,” said Hammermill, “given we don’t know the precise altitude of the plane or the zoom setting used at the time the video was taken, but judging by the height of the waves, and taking into account today’s maritime forecast for that part of the Atlantic, I’d say the ship is between ten and fifteen meters long.”
A graphic appeared, showing the vessel to be about half the size of a Space Shuttle orbiter. The reporter’s voice, over this: “The United States aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk is on its way now to the splashdown site. Earlier today, the president’s science advisor, Francis Nobilio” (black– and– white still of Frank, a few years out of date, showing his hair as mostly brown) “and astronomer Cletus Calhoun, best known as the host of PBS’s popular Great Balls of Fire! Astronomy series” (silent clip of Clete at the rim of Arizona’s Barringer crater) “were fl own by military jet to the Kitty Hawk, and are now on their way to rendezvous with the alien ship. The Kitty Hawk should reach its destination in just over one hundred minutes from now. Bobbie and Lou?”
Back to CNN Center in Atlanta and a two– shot of Lou Waters and Bobbie Battista. “Thanks, Karen,” said Battista. “Before Dr. Calhoun left the U.S., our science correspondent Miles O’Brien managed to interview him and University of Toronto exobiology professor Packwood Smathers about what this all means. Let’s have another look at that tape.”
The image changed to show O’Brien in front of two giant wall monitors. The one on the left was labeled Toronto and showed Smathers; the one on the right was labeled Los Angeles and showed Clete.
“Dr. Smathers, Dr. Calhoun, thanks for joining us on such short notice,” said O’Brien. “Well, it looks like the incredible has happened, doesn’t it? An alien spaceship has apparently landed in the middle of the Atlantic. Dr. Smathers, what can we expect to see when this ship opens up?”
Smathers had a square head, thick white hair, and a neatly trimmed white beard. He was wearing a brown sports jacket with leather patches on the elbows— the quintessential professorial look. “Well, of course, we first have to suspect that this ship is unmanned— that it’s a probe, like the Viking landers, rather than carrying a crew, and—”
“Look at the size of the thing,” said Clete, interrupting. “Pete’s sake, Woody, ain’t no need for the thing to be that big, ’less it’s got somebody aboard. ’Sides, it looks like it’s got windows, and— ”
“Dr. Calhoun is famous for jumping to conclusions,” said Smathers sharply. O’Brien was grinning from ear to ear— he evidently hadn’t expected to get an impromptu Siskel and Ebert of science. “But, as I was about to say, if there are alien beings aboard, then I expect them to be at least vaguely familiar in body plan, and— ”
“You’re hedging now, Woody,” said Clete. “Couple years ago, I heard you give a talk arguing that the humanoid body plan would be adopted by purty near any form of intelligent life, and— ”
Smathers was growing red in the face. “Well, yes, I did say that then, but— ”
“But now that we’re actually goin’ to meet aliens,” said Clete, clearly enjoying himself, “you ain’t so sure no more.”
“Well,” said Smathers, “the human body plan might indeed represent an ideal for an intelligent lifeform. Start with the sense organs: two eyes are much better than one, since two give stereoscopic vision— but a third eye adds hardly any value over two. Two ears likewise give stereophonic hearing, and they’ll obviously be on opposite sides of the body, to give the best possible separation. You can go right down the human body from head to toe, and make a case why each part of it is ideal. When that spaceship opens up, yes, I’ll stand by my contention that we’ll probably see humanoids inside.”
The Clete on the TV set looked positively pained. The one sitting next to Frank aboard the Kitty Hawk shook his head. “Peckerwood Smathers,” he said under his breath. “That’s hooey, Woody,” said the TV Calhoun. “Ain’t nothin’ optimized about our form— y’all only get optimization when you’ve got an ultimate design goal in mind, and there wasn’t one. Evolution takes advantage of what’s handy, that’s all. You know, five hundred million years ago, durin’ the Cambrian explosion, dozens o’ different body plans appeared simultaneously in the fossil record. The one that gave rise to us— the ancestor of modern vertebrates— weren’t no better than any of the others; it was just plum lucky, is all. If a different one had survived, nothin’ on this planet would look the way it does today. No, I bet there’s some critter inside unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.”
“Clearly we have some differing points of view here,” said O’Brien. “But— ”
“Well, that’s the whole point, ain’t it?” said Clete. “For decades, guys like Woody been getting grants to think about alien life. It was all a good game till today. It wasn’t real science— you could never test a one of their propositions. But now, today, it all goes from being a theoretical science to an empirical one. Gonna be pretty embarrassing if everything they’ve been saying turns out to be wrong.”
“Now, hang on, Clete,” said Smathers. “I’m at least willing to put my cards on the table, and— ”
“Well, if you want to hear my— What? Crying out loud, hon, can’t you see I’m on TV?”
A muffled female voice, off camera; Frank recognized it as Clete’s secretary, Bonnie: “Clete, it’s the White House.”
“White House?” He looked directly into the camera and lifted his red eyebrows. The shot widened, showing more of Clete’s cluttered study. Bonnie crossed into the frame, holding a cordless phone. Clete took it from her. “Calhoun here. What— Frankie! How good to— no, no. Sure, yeah, I can do that. Sure, sure. I’ll be ready. Bye.” Clete put down the phone and looked into the camera again. “I gotta go, Miles— sorry ’bout this. They’re sending a car for me. I’m off to rendezvous with the alien ship.” He unclipped his microphone and moved out of the shot.
Cut back to O’Brien. “Well, obviously we’ve lost Dr. Calhoun. We’ll continue our conversation with Dr. Smathers. Doctor, can you— ”
Clete hit the remote, and the TV went dead.
Product details
- Publisher : Ace; Reissue edition (December 27, 2011)
- Language : English
- Mass Market Paperback : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1937007219
- ISBN-13 : 978-1937007218
- Item Weight : 6.9 ounces
- Dimensions : 4.2 x 0.91 x 6.7 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,727,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7,946 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- #8,794 in Alien Invasion Science Fiction
- #30,029 in Murder Thrillers
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Robert J. Sawyer is one of only eight writers ever to win all three of the world’s top awards for best science-fiction novel of the year: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He has also won the Robert A. Heinlein Award, the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award, and the Hal Clement Memorial Award; the top SF awards in China, Japan, France, and Spain; and a record-setting sixteen Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”).
Rob’s novel FlashForward was the basis for the ABC TV series of the same name, and he was a scriptwriter for that program. He also scripted the two-part finale for the popular web series Star Trek Continues.
He is a Member of the Order of Canada, the highest honor bestowed by the Canadian government, as well as the Order of Ontario, the highest honor given by his home province; he was also one of the initial inductees into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Rob lives just outside Toronto.His website and blog are at sfwriter.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon he’s RobertJSawyer.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Although it is definitely science fiction, this is one of those books I often recommend to people who think SF is all space battles to show them the genre has something to offer many kinds of readers.
I had read this book when it was first published and loved it, so I was apprehensive about rereading it when my SF book group chose it---so often SF does not stand the test of time. I was delighted to find I enjoyed it as much this time around. Definitely worth the second read!
It's hard to find anything initially wrong with Sawyer's work in Illegal Alien. Indeed, it immediately grabs the reader, and is a page-turner in every conceivable way. Though not exactly what one would expect, based on the synopsis, the courtroom scenes are well written, and show a deep and accurate knowledge of legal proceedings. Though preceding it by several years, Illegal Alien is in many ways similar to Sawyer's Mindscan, in style, if not in substance; that novel, too, revolved deeply around courtroom proceedings.
The characters introduced in the novel are both memorable, and intriguing. The Tosok race in particular is an interesting species, though Sawyer reveals precious little about their culture, beyond a few sentences that fill in a bit. It's hard to imagine any alien encounter that doesn't involve countless hours of question-and-answer sessions with everything from scientists, to mathematicians, to theologists. Not just the aliens are memorable, however, as the human characters are as well. In particular, Clete Calhoun, the celebrity scientist seems to jump off the page, and endear himself with readers. Each of the Tosok characters are presented fairly uniquely, and therefore lend further credence to the world-building that Sawyer has done in the novel.
Though the story intially begins with the introduction of the Tosok's, and the events surrounding their appearance on Earth, the story quickly-and dramatically-takes a turn. A human is murdered, and all clues implicate a Tosok. From here out, the story revolves almost exclusively around the courtroom and legal procedures that take place in the prosecution of the alien. It's interesting to see how humanity deals with the implications the trial will have both on the current, and future relations that Humans and Tosoks will have with each other. Unfortunately, because the novel takes so much time delving into the justice procedures, it does tend to drag a bit from time to time-not in a way that will prevent users from continuing to read, but in the way that seems to avoid the subjects that readers may be most interested in; just when the conversation starts going down a road that will actually reveal some interesting details about the Tosok race, an objection, or cut-off answer leaves the reader hanging. Also frustrating is the lack of exploration of the knowledge about the local stellar neighborhood that the Tosoks may be able to provide.
Illegal Alien is an interesting story of first-contact, and depicts a believable, intrinsically different species, obviously evolved from different life-forms. In many ways, it's exactly what one would expect of a first-contact scenario. This book's page-turning pace, and fascinating subject matter will keep readers well-entertained.
In 2009, a small alien space ship lands on Earth in the Atlantic ocean. It is greeted by a Russian submarine, a USA aircraft carrier, and a cruise ship. After exchanging signals, the alien space ship takes off and lands on the aircraft carrier deck. An alien steps out of the space ship which turns out to be a lander. There is a 300 meter long deep space ship in a polar orbit that we had not seen previously. The aircraft carrier then heads to New York City for the alien to meet with the UN.
At the UN, various speeches are exchanged. Then the lander heads back to the mother ship and brings down the rest of the crew of eight. But one crew member died during the two hundred plus year journey. And then a human dies and an alien is put on trial in Los Angeles for his murder.
Plots: It is interesting how Sawyer uses the alien as a complete zero in looking at the American justice system. The author admits (on other forums) to have thoroughly researched our system of justice and in many ways it does come up wanting. The shifting of gears between defense and prosecution, the calling up of witnesses, jury selection, and so on is interesting.
Themes: Racism plays some part; also reliability, trust, deception and a stick-to it tiveness runs the gamet of the novel.
The only thing I did not like about the novel was its apparent criticism of those who love UFOs, Star Trek and other geek elements. Minor point.
Bottom Line: Creative, a bit dated, and fascinating look from a Canadian (alien?) perspective of our sometimes wild and crazy justice system. Recommended for lovers to To Kill a Mockingbird and whoever sat through the entire broadcast of the O.J. Simpson trials.
This is the the latest in a his list of scifi novels that I have read. The first was AWAKE! , which is stunning.
He has replaced Arthur C. Clark as my favorite writer.
Top reviews from other countries
宇宙人が犯罪の容疑者として逮捕され、地球の制度で裁かれるというアイデアは奇抜で、ユーモラスな場面もあり、SF的要素に謎解きをからめて緊張を高めた末のハッピーエンドまで、確かにおもしろく読むことができる。
しかし、設定こそスケールが大きいものの、起きている出来事はなぜかこじんまりした感じを受ける。クライマックスも、それまでの流れから乖離した唐突感があって無理やりまとめたという印象が拭えず、「どんでん返し」としてもあまりフェアなものとは思えなかった。
アメリカ以外の国や人物が出てくるシーンが非常に少なく、登場人物も皆クセがある(まあ、アメリカはこうした個性がないとやっていけない社会なのだろう)。こじんまりした印象を受けたのは、「法廷もの」に加えてこの「国際的広がりのなさ」のせいもあるだろう。なのに(多少ネタバレになるが)「地球人は技術的には遅れているが、他の宇宙人にない長所がある」というありがちなトーンでまとめられ、何とも違和感を抱いてしまう。
アーサー・C・クラークのファーストコンタクトものの名作「幼年期の終わり」や「太陽系最後の日」、さらに法廷ミステリなどの要素をソウヤ−風に料理したということなのだろうが、あまりうまく行ったようには思えなかった。理屈をつけて読むべき小説ではないといえばそれまでだが。
陪審制度やアメリカの文化を知らないとよく理解できないところもあるが(実在の人物やエンタメ作品などの名前も次々に出てくる)、筋書きがわからなくなってしまうほどではなかった。ただこうした背景を理解してストーリーを読み込めれば、カナダ人であるソウヤーのアメリカ社会や制度に対する(批判的と思われる)見方やメッセージが伝わり、感想も変わってくるのかもしれない。
ただ、陪審裁判が描かれているとはいえ、当時話題だったO.J.シンプソン事件にここまでよりかかる必要があったのかという気はする。時代と地域にここまで枠がはめられるのは、北米あるいは英語圏以外の読者にとってはありがたくないことだ。日本人読者である自分にはそうした点が気になり、「地球人は遅れているが見どころがある」というクライマックスのメッセージが、よけいに白々しく響いたのかもしれない。