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Identity Theft and Other Stories
In Robert J. Sawyer's new short-story collection you'll discover the dark secret of the only priest on Mars, revisit H.G. Wells' Morlocks, and learn what really happens when aliens beam us the Encyclopedia Galactica.
55 pages, ebook
First published March 1, 2008
11 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
About the author
Robert J. Sawyer
228 books2,493 followersRobert J. Sawyer is one of Canada's best known and most successful science fiction writers. He is the only Canadian (and one of only 7 writers in the world) to have won all three of the top international awards for science fiction: the 1995 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, the 2003 Hugo Award for Hominids, and the 2006 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Mindscan.
Robert Sawyer grew up in Toronto, the son of two university professors. He credits two of his favourite shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Search and Star Trek, with teaching him some of the fundamentals of the science-fiction craft. Sawyer was obsessed with outer space from a young age, and he vividly remembers watching the televised Apollo missions. He claims to have watched the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey 25 times. He began writing science fiction in a high school club, which he co-founded, NASFA (Northview Academy Association of Science Fiction Addicts). Sawyer graduated in 1982 from the Radio and Television Arts Program at Ryerson University, where he later worked as an instructor.
Sawyer's first published book, Golden Fleece (1989), is an adaptation of short stories that had previously appeared in the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This book won the Aurora Award for the best Canadian science-fiction novel in English. In the early 1990s Sawyer went on to publish his inventive Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, about a world of intelligent dinosaurs. His 1995 award winning The Terminal Experiment confirmed his place as a major international science-fiction writer.
A prolific writer, Sawyer has published more than 10 novels, plus two trilogies. Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Like many science fiction-writers, Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas. The first book of his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hominids (2002), is set in a near-future society, in which a quantum computing experiment brings a Neanderthal scientist from a parallel Earth to ours. His 2006 Mindscan explores the possibility of transferring human consciousness into a mechanical body, and the ensuing ethical, legal, and societal ramifications.
A passionate advocate for science fiction, Sawyer teaches creative writing and appears frequently in the media to discuss his genre. He prefers the label "philosophical fiction," and in no way sees himself as a predictor of the future. His mission statement for his writing is "To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic."
http://us.macmillan.com/author/robert...
Robert Sawyer grew up in Toronto, the son of two university professors. He credits two of his favourite shows from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Search and Star Trek, with teaching him some of the fundamentals of the science-fiction craft. Sawyer was obsessed with outer space from a young age, and he vividly remembers watching the televised Apollo missions. He claims to have watched the 1968 classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey 25 times. He began writing science fiction in a high school club, which he co-founded, NASFA (Northview Academy Association of Science Fiction Addicts). Sawyer graduated in 1982 from the Radio and Television Arts Program at Ryerson University, where he later worked as an instructor.
Sawyer's first published book, Golden Fleece (1989), is an adaptation of short stories that had previously appeared in the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This book won the Aurora Award for the best Canadian science-fiction novel in English. In the early 1990s Sawyer went on to publish his inventive Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, about a world of intelligent dinosaurs. His 1995 award winning The Terminal Experiment confirmed his place as a major international science-fiction writer.
A prolific writer, Sawyer has published more than 10 novels, plus two trilogies. Reviewers praise Sawyer for his concise prose, which has been compared to that of the science-fiction master Isaac Asimov. Like many science fiction-writers, Sawyer welcomes the opportunities his chosen genre provides for exploring ideas. The first book of his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hominids (2002), is set in a near-future society, in which a quantum computing experiment brings a Neanderthal scientist from a parallel Earth to ours. His 2006 Mindscan explores the possibility of transferring human consciousness into a mechanical body, and the ensuing ethical, legal, and societal ramifications.
A passionate advocate for science fiction, Sawyer teaches creative writing and appears frequently in the media to discuss his genre. He prefers the label "philosophical fiction," and in no way sees himself as a predictor of the future. His mission statement for his writing is "To combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic."
http://us.macmillan.com/author/robert...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
April 21, 2024
This is a collection of short fiction by Sawyer, who is far better known for his novels. Most of them first appeared in original anthologies, though a few are from the more traditional genre magazines and other sources. Most of them are straight science fiction stories, though a couple would qualify as more fantasy oriented, and several have more of a downbeat tone than you will find in his novel length works from the same period (mostly the first half of the first decade of the current century). He's always clear and thought-provoking, with interesting ideas and some clever twists. My favorites were the title story and its companion story Biding Time, both of which were incorporated into his delightful Martian fix-up crime novel Red Planet Blues, and I recommend that they should be read there. Many of the others are also worthwhile, such as Shed Skin, Immortality, and Ineluctable, not to mention a couple of short funnies, The Good Doctor and The Stanley Cup Caper. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the earlier Iterations, but it's still a good collection.
December 30, 2023
One Hardboiled Scifi novella (which had got me hooked on to the author, after I had read it in 'Down These Dark Spaceways') and sixteen lucid, thoughtful, simultaneouly despairing and uplifting, warm and cold short stories. That's not all. Every story (like the previous collection 'Iterations') contains author's personal notes telling us about its origin. In the process those notes tell us much about the author as well.
Wonderful collection, that shouldn't be missed by any lover of speculative fiction.
Highly recommended.
Wonderful collection, that shouldn't be missed by any lover of speculative fiction.
Highly recommended.
February 11, 2018
Interesting, to read some of Sawyer's early short stories. His writing has certainly changed over the years, but this was a refreshing and exciting set of stories, even if I'd read some of them in other places.
August 26, 2018
This is the first time I've read any short fiction by Robert Sawyer. I agree with many others that I prefer his novels. I've most recently read the WWW trilogy and enjoyed it although I did not think it was as good as other authors. I thought the best story in this collection was "Flashes". This was a not-so-optimistic look at alien first contact. It was an idea that I don't think I've seen anywhere before.
May 18, 2016
I am making my way through Robert J. Sawyer's works and find that some of the short stories are the seeds of some of his novels. Some are also extensions which I found interesting. I guess I would have been more impressed if I had not already read the novels. Still, the stories were enjoyable enough.
February 9, 2017
Great collection of short stories!
Let me start by saying that the titular novella that begins this book has to be the best SF/crime fiction story I've read since Asimov's "Billiard Ball" and the Caves of Steel (The Isaac Asimov Collection Edition) and is well worth the price of admission. Nor does the rest of the book disappoint. I especially enjoyed "Come Al Ye Faithful" about the 1st Catholic priest on Mars and "Mikeys" which lovingly revisits and revives the reputation of astronaut Mike Collins - the Apolo 8 astronaut who was left in orbit and didn't get to walk on the moon. There are other gems as well - "The Uploaded" which looks at the perils of humanity choosing between two paths, a new look at the Morlocks of HG Well's The Time Machine (Penguin Classics), and "Flashes" which considers the demoralizing effect of contact with a truly advanced civilization.
The only disappointments I had were the stories "Shed Skin" and "Immortality". The former is an earlier version of Sawyer's book Mindscan and the author did a much better exploration of the philosophical and moral issues of creating a copy of one's consciousness when he used the longer form. The latter, an homage to the music of Janis Ian (which I like - ie: Between the Lines) seemed a bit forced in integrating references to her music. (She's also a hardcore SF fan and apparently she loved it, so maybe you'll disagree with me.)
Another criticism IMHO is that I find Sawyer's openings somewhat weak and rely all to much on characters talking or thinking, but he quickly picks up the pace with a strong description, plot lines and characterization. IMV good hard SF is about "what if" and following through on the implications of ideas and in that respect Sawyer is one of most reliably good writers around today.
I highly recommend Identity Theft: And Other Stories for a good dockside or snuggle up next a fireplace read as well as his other short story collection "Iterations: And Other Stories".
Let me start by saying that the titular novella that begins this book has to be the best SF/crime fiction story I've read since Asimov's "Billiard Ball" and the Caves of Steel (The Isaac Asimov Collection Edition) and is well worth the price of admission. Nor does the rest of the book disappoint. I especially enjoyed "Come Al Ye Faithful" about the 1st Catholic priest on Mars and "Mikeys" which lovingly revisits and revives the reputation of astronaut Mike Collins - the Apolo 8 astronaut who was left in orbit and didn't get to walk on the moon. There are other gems as well - "The Uploaded" which looks at the perils of humanity choosing between two paths, a new look at the Morlocks of HG Well's The Time Machine (Penguin Classics), and "Flashes" which considers the demoralizing effect of contact with a truly advanced civilization.
The only disappointments I had were the stories "Shed Skin" and "Immortality". The former is an earlier version of Sawyer's book Mindscan and the author did a much better exploration of the philosophical and moral issues of creating a copy of one's consciousness when he used the longer form. The latter, an homage to the music of Janis Ian (which I like - ie: Between the Lines) seemed a bit forced in integrating references to her music. (She's also a hardcore SF fan and apparently she loved it, so maybe you'll disagree with me.)
Another criticism IMHO is that I find Sawyer's openings somewhat weak and rely all to much on characters talking or thinking, but he quickly picks up the pace with a strong description, plot lines and characterization. IMV good hard SF is about "what if" and following through on the implications of ideas and in that respect Sawyer is one of most reliably good writers around today.
I highly recommend Identity Theft: And Other Stories for a good dockside or snuggle up next a fireplace read as well as his other short story collection "Iterations: And Other Stories".
August 18, 2020
I am not always a fan of short story collections by authors whom I am only familiar with via their full length novels as they can be a bit hit and miss but this collection is mostly hits. Crime on Mars, Morlocks, relocation to end Moon, first contact, other Mars related tales and even a horror story thrown in.
Ray Smillie
Ray Smillie
January 28, 2018
Mars mind transfer into artificial bodies causes problems. A detective in his original body sorts it out
April 16, 2018
I liked his full length stories better. I didn't even understand the pun finale.
December 5, 2019
Sawyer is not a prolific short story writer but when he does write one, there are usually very good as this collection shows.
January 17, 2020
Stories wildly vary in quality, it's like he took all his novel idea rejects, sewed the edges, and bulk published them as a short story collection. I mean, sure, why not.
November 21, 2020
Audiobook. He is always good.
May 31, 2021
Consistently excellent.
January 9, 2022
Audiobook: Altered Carbon meets Phillip Marlow. Fun story.
Read
March 7, 2023Only read the story "Identity Theft". My version did not have the other stories.
April 17, 2023
Libby Library Audiobook. only the lead story available 'identity theft' - 2 hours. Science fiction mystery on Mars but just not a believable situation and the characters are trite in so many ways.
July 26, 2024
Highly recommended. A lot of fun!
April 18, 2011
After reading Rollback and not caring for it all that much (see my review), I decided to give Mr. Sawyer one more chance by reading this collection of short stories. Unfortunately, these short stories reinforced my original view of his works as liberalism masked as sci-fi.
There are some good stories in here: "Mikeys" was quite well-done; "Kata Bindu" was an interesting take on the typical moon colony story; and "Flashes" was a very good thought experiment about the Earth suddenly receiving "pages" of the "Encyclopedia Galactica".
However, too many of his stories take a post-religious view of the future, either outright denying the existence of the soul in favor of some nebulous definition of humanity ("Shed Skin") or mocking (and even villainizing) those who hold religious beliefs ("O Come All Ye Faithful").
There's also the ridiculous notion (as I mentioned in my previous review) of current fads and dubious theories being presented as real and enduring ("Emails from the Future"). There's even a "post-government utopia" story ("The Right's Tough") that is such utter nonsense that it is laughable that someone would conceive of the Earth functioning that way for more than a week.
Another problem I have with his stories are the hit-or-miss quality of them. There are some, as I said before, that are good, but others are like lesser-quality "Twilight Zone" episodes ("Ineluctable", "Driving a Bargain", ) or the insipidly bad "The Good Doctor" (yes, I get what he was doing there - it just failed miserably). Even the first and last stories ("Identity Theft" and "Biding Time"), which are detective stories that take place in the Martian colony of New Klondike, are intriguing, but leave something to be desired. While I was surprised by the perpetrator (and their motive) in one story, the other one I saw coming a long way before the big reveal.
I know I shouldn't expect every short story in any anthology to be a great story. However, I would hope that more than half of the stories would be less blatantly "trans-human and post-religion is the future" frustrating and would be more entertaining.
This is the last time that I take a book off the library shelf just because I think I recognize the author's name.
There are some good stories in here: "Mikeys" was quite well-done; "Kata Bindu" was an interesting take on the typical moon colony story; and "Flashes" was a very good thought experiment about the Earth suddenly receiving "pages" of the "Encyclopedia Galactica".
However, too many of his stories take a post-religious view of the future, either outright denying the existence of the soul in favor of some nebulous definition of humanity ("Shed Skin") or mocking (and even villainizing) those who hold religious beliefs ("O Come All Ye Faithful").
There's also the ridiculous notion (as I mentioned in my previous review) of current fads and dubious theories being presented as real and enduring ("Emails from the Future"). There's even a "post-government utopia" story ("The Right's Tough") that is such utter nonsense that it is laughable that someone would conceive of the Earth functioning that way for more than a week.
Another problem I have with his stories are the hit-or-miss quality of them. There are some, as I said before, that are good, but others are like lesser-quality "Twilight Zone" episodes ("Ineluctable", "Driving a Bargain", ) or the insipidly bad "The Good Doctor" (yes, I get what he was doing there - it just failed miserably). Even the first and last stories ("Identity Theft" and "Biding Time"), which are detective stories that take place in the Martian colony of New Klondike, are intriguing, but leave something to be desired. While I was surprised by the perpetrator (and their motive) in one story, the other one I saw coming a long way before the big reveal.
I know I shouldn't expect every short story in any anthology to be a great story. However, I would hope that more than half of the stories would be less blatantly "trans-human and post-religion is the future" frustrating and would be more entertaining.
This is the last time that I take a book off the library shelf just because I think I recognize the author's name.
May 18, 2009
I had not paid attention when I picked the book up and thought I was reading an anthology of identity theft stories though was puzzled as the individual authors were not being credited and why the anthology editor kept writing about himself so much. It was only after a few stories that I realized it’s a collection but it also shows how good Robert Sawyer is at writing in a “different hand” for each story. The first few stories are about identity theft in one form or another.
All of the stories are science fiction with one exception which is “Driving a Bargain” which would be a haunting or horror story. Many of the stories are thought provoking and in that sense are the best of what science fiction should be. My favorite was “Flashes” which explores a possible consequence to an intelligent alien race deciding to send messages to Earth that are essentially the contents of a galactic encyclopedia.
All of the stories are science fiction with one exception which is “Driving a Bargain” which would be a haunting or horror story. Many of the stories are thought provoking and in that sense are the best of what science fiction should be. My favorite was “Flashes” which explores a possible consequence to an intelligent alien race deciding to send messages to Earth that are essentially the contents of a galactic encyclopedia.
December 15, 2012
What a wonderful surprise this book was.
I grabbed it at the library, on impulse. I didn't even read the blurb before grabbing it, and I was surprised to find that it was sci-fi (I think I expected some kind of mystery/thriller from the title!).
Not only sci-fi, but sci-fi with a noir detective. It would be an understatement to say that my last foray into fiction with both of those elements did not go well. (A vast, vast understatement of epic proportions. So much so that I would have thrown this book aside if it hadn't been dark, and if I hadn't already been tucked into bed and wary of waking a snoring husband).
Boy am I glad I gave this book a chance. It was awesome! Funny, smart, witty in all the right ways, full of action, and kept my interest the whole way through. Yep, I loved it. Go figure.
I grabbed it at the library, on impulse. I didn't even read the blurb before grabbing it, and I was surprised to find that it was sci-fi (I think I expected some kind of mystery/thriller from the title!).
Not only sci-fi, but sci-fi with a noir detective. It would be an understatement to say that my last foray into fiction with both of those elements did not go well. (A vast, vast understatement of epic proportions. So much so that I would have thrown this book aside if it hadn't been dark, and if I hadn't already been tucked into bed and wary of waking a snoring husband).
Boy am I glad I gave this book a chance. It was awesome! Funny, smart, witty in all the right ways, full of action, and kept my interest the whole way through. Yep, I loved it. Go figure.
January 1, 2015
Robert J Sawyer is a Science Fiction author who I really enjoy. His novels to me sit between “hard” science fiction (think 2001: A Space Odyssey) and softer work, e.g. Star Wars (which I feel is more science fantasy).
This book is a collection of his short stories. He states in the book that he is aiming to stop writing shorter work since the time required, versus the pay doesn't make it worth as much as the time spent on writing novels. I understand, though as a reader I do enjoy the form.
This is a nice light collection. These stories are quick reads. Nothing earth shattering, but some stories were enjoyable. But I can only give this collection an average score because some of the stories I felt were surprisingly weak.
Not every story needs an “ah ha” twist at the end, but for some reason they didn't connect with me.
But overall I found enough that I did enjoy it.
This book is a collection of his short stories. He states in the book that he is aiming to stop writing shorter work since the time required, versus the pay doesn't make it worth as much as the time spent on writing novels. I understand, though as a reader I do enjoy the form.
This is a nice light collection. These stories are quick reads. Nothing earth shattering, but some stories were enjoyable. But I can only give this collection an average score because some of the stories I felt were surprisingly weak.
Not every story needs an “ah ha” twist at the end, but for some reason they didn't connect with me.
But overall I found enough that I did enjoy it.
April 17, 2009
I liked most of the stories in the book except for Shed Skin which I already read and hated as it made no sense (see below) The title story was an okay mystery and the stories Flashes and the Aurora Award winner Ineluctable were really good and gave one a lot to think about.
The problem with Shed Skin and its novel expansion Mindscan:
If you get a robot created with your memories and then retire to the moon to die, what exactly is the benefit for you other than knowing a robot with your memories is now bothering your family and friends?
The problem with Shed Skin and its novel expansion Mindscan:
If you get a robot created with your memories and then retire to the moon to die, what exactly is the benefit for you other than knowing a robot with your memories is now bothering your family and friends?
June 3, 2014
A good collection of short fiction from one of the best SF authors out there. It is far from his much better work in longer format fiction, but it is entertaining so see where some of the ideas for his novels have been played around with before making their debut in their novel forms. Though lacking some of the better stories in his earlier collection, Iterations, this collection is still a worth while read for any RJS fan.
December 25, 2010
Inventive Canadian science fiction. Plots tend to be a little simple, and sci-fi should be the one genre you have trouble finding plot holes...mild disappointment, however. No characterization whatsoever, which is a somewhat greater disappointment, but again, the genre is more forgiving than most in this area.
July 23, 2013
Short and sweet. Maybe this was practice or a lingering climax with no plot to attach it to, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Maybe this is a sign that subsequent Robert Sawyer plots will take on a different style...
I am beginning to get jaded with the eternal life through mind-scanned artificial beings that involve planets other than Earth tho.... 3.5 stars.
I am beginning to get jaded with the eternal life through mind-scanned artificial beings that involve planets other than Earth tho.... 3.5 stars.
July 28, 2013
I really enjoy Robert Sawyer, but I am generally more fond of full-length stories than short stories. (Whereas my partner says that short stories are like getting all the good ideas and none of the filler...kind of like watching movie trailers). So, I would've liked more from some of the stories, but I still enjoyed them. :)
September 8, 2013
I checked this one out after confusing the author with someone whose work I better. It wasn't particularly bad, but it also didn't strike me as particularly good. A little bit of fun playing around with body-swapping consciousnesses, but nothing revolutionary. My overall impression can be summed up by a shrug of the shoulders.
April 20, 2015
4 Stars for just the one story "Identity Theft." Listened to it on Audio Book, and was a worthy listen for a 2 hour mystery story. Although the central mystery was "Figure-out-able" it did not take away from the set, setting, and inviting nature of a future Mars colony crime scene and all that entails.
October 8, 2008
I'd like to rate this higher but I was generally more interested in the settings than the stories. There are a couple of excellent stories in here but this is definitely a collection for fans of Sawyer and not fans of short fiction.
August 4, 2011
Some great stuff here, including some Martian murder mysteries that reminded me of Asimov's detective stories with the sidekick robot. Also some in-jokes for Canucks and Torontonians. A great intro to the author, whom I'll definitely be reading more of.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews