羅伯特·索耶（Robert J.Sawyer）是加拿大最有影響力的科幻作傢。已齣版17部長篇科幻小說，屢獲雨果奬、星雲奬等多種科幻奬項，被譽為加拿大科幻教長。索耶的科幻小說涉及多種主題，從電腦狂魔、恐龍復活、時間旅行，到平行時空、太空偵探，想像奇偉，異彩紛呈。索耶的代錶作除《金羊毛》外，還包括《計算中的上帝》、《終極實驗》、《恐龍文明三部麯》（《遠望》、《化石獵人》、《異族》）、《星叢》、《原始人類》和《混血》等。

Robert J. Sawyer was born in Ottawa and lives just outside of Toronto, Canada. He has won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best novel. Visit his Website at

個人網站：

www.sfwriter.com.

In this polished anthropological SF yarn, the first of a trilogy from Nebula Award winner Sawyer (The Terminal Experiment), Neanderthals have developed a radically different civilization on a parallel Earth, as both sides discover when a Neanderthal physicist, Ponter Boddit, accidentally passes from his universe into a Canadian underground research facility. Fortunately, a team of human scientists, including expert paleoanthropologist Mary Vaughan, promptly identifies and warmly receives Ponter. Solving the language problem and much else is a mini-computer called a Companion implanted in the brain of every Neanderthal. A computerized guardian spirit, however, doesn't eliminate cross-cultural confusion permanent male-female sexuality, rape and overpopulation are all alien to Ponter nor can it help his housemate and fellow scientist back in his world, Adikor Huld, when the authorities charge Adikor with his murder. Ponter's daughter Jasmel believes in Adikor's innocence, but to prevent a horrendous miscarriage of justice (Adikor could be sterilized), she must try to reopen the portal and bring her father home. The author's usual high intelligence and occasionally daunting erudition are on prominent display, particularly in the depiction of Neanderthal society. Some plot points border on the simplistic, such as Mary's recovering from a rape thanks to Ponter's sensitivity, but these are minor flaws in a novel that appeals to both the intellect and the heart