Robert J. Sawyer’s The Downloaded 1 and 2 are Now Available on Audible … Narrated by Brendan Fraser!
This Science Fiction news today at Life After Gateway features award-winning Canadian SF writer Robert J. Sawyer, and award-winning Canadian actor Brendan Fraser. You can’t get much better than that.
I just want to reiterate that previous sentence.
Robert J. Sawyer has won the Hugo and the Nebula Award. He’s the author of Flashforward, Illegal Alien, The Oppenheimer Alternative, Hominids, and Red Planet Blues, among others. Brendan Fraser recently won the Best Actor Oscar for The Whale, and starred in The Mummy trilogy, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Killers of the Flower Moon, and more. Now the two creative forces have collaborated for these audio novels.
Here is the first book’s jacket copy:
The new novel by Canada’s top Science Fiction writer.
In 2059 two very different groups have their minds uploaded into a quantum computer in Waterloo, Ontario.
One group consists of astronauts preparing for Earth’s first interstellar voyage. The other? Convicted murderers, serving their sentences in a virtual-reality prison.
But when disaster strikes, the astronauts and the prisoners must download back into physical reality and find a way to work together to save Earth from destruction.
Reviews of The Downloaded:
“Hope wins out in this triumph of a postapocalyptic tale from Hugo and Nebula award winner Sawyer . . . Sawyer keeps the stakes climbing ever higher as he toggles between the perspectives of his disparate cast. A smattering of droll humor breaks up the gloom and plot twists aplenty keep the pages flying. Sci-fi fans will eat this up.” – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
“The Downloaded absolutely sizzles with fascinating ideas. You want space travel, a ruined Earth, virtual worlds, a cast of relatable characters, and a glimpse into the labyrinth of human destiny? Look no further: this book has all that and more.” ―Robert Charles Wilson, Hugo Award-winning author of Spin
Both Books Now on Audible
Robert J. Sawyer and Shadowpaw Press released The Downloaded on 7 May 2024. The sequel, The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine is coming on 19 May 2026 … but the audible version is available RIGHT NOW!
Here is the Indigo link for The Downloaded.
Here is the Amazon link for The Downloaded.
Here is the Amazon/Audible link for The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine.
Here is the link to Robert J. Sawyer’s official website.
Bios
Robert J. Sawyer has won both the Hugo and the Nebula Award for best science-fiction novel of the year. The ABC TV series FlashForward was based on his novel of the same name. A member of the Order of Canada, past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and Guest of Honor at the 2023 World Science Fiction Convention, Rob lives just outside Toronto in Mississauga. (Bio from SFWriter.com)
Canadian-American actor Brendan Fraser is known for his appearances in movies like The Mummy trilogy, George of the Jungle, and The Whale, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2023. He is the first Canadian to receive the honor. (Bio from biography.com)
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A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.
— Timothy S. Johnston, 19 November 2025
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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel
“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop
“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite
“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories
“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest
“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels
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A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!
WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.
FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE
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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.
Book Cover & Jacket Copy:
AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!
A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …
Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.
Taunting him.
Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.
If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.
But the assassin could be anyone …
Watch your back, Mac.
A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.
FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE
The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:
The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007
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TSJ’s Awards
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THE WAR BENEATH: FIRST PLACE 2018 GLOBAL THRILLER Action / Adventure Category Winner, 2019 Silver Falchion Award Finalist, 2018 CLUE Award Semi-Finalist, 2019 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist, & 2019 CYGNUS Award Shortlister
THE SAVAGE DEEPS: FIRST PLACE 2020 CYGNUS Award Winner, 2019 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards Finalist, 2022 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist; 2019 CLUE Award Shortlister
FATAL DEPTH: FIRST PLACE 2021 GLOBAL THRILLER Award Winner, 2022 Silver Falchion Award Finalist (Best Action Adventure), 2021 CYGNUS Award Semi-Finalist
