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                          GOLDEN FLEECE

                A Science Fiction Murder Mystery 

                       by ROBERT J. SAWYER

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     On December 1st, 1990, Warner Books of New York will publish 
GOLDEN FLEECE, a hard SF novel by Toronto's ROBERT J. SAWYER, as 
part of the Popular Library/Questar Science Fiction line.

     GOLDEN FLEECE is set in the year 2177 A.D. aboard the giant 
starship ARGO.  ARGO is halfway through a ten-year voyage to the 
planet Colchis, a newly-discovered Earth-like world 47 light-
years from our solar system.  The crew is already under great 
stress, stress made far, far worse when JASON, the ship's 
computer, murders astrophysicist Diana Chandler, making the death 
appear to be a suicide.  Diana's ex-husband, Aaron Rossman of 
Toronto, blames himself for her death, but slowly, in the best 
mystery-story fashion, Aaron uncovers the horrible truth about 
the ARGO's mission -- a truth so dangerous that JASON is willing 
to kill to keep it a secret.  

     MYSTERY SCENE Magazine, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, says, "With 
JASON, Sawyer's created one of the most interesting characters in 
years.  Suspenseful, entertaining, inventive, thought-provoking, 
and funny.  I enjoyed this one a lot.  Highly recommended."

     GOLDEN FLEECE unfolds against a backdrop of Bussard Ramjet 
starships, relativistic travel, artificial intelligence, and 
first contact with aliens.  "Telling the tale from the computer's 
(and murderer's) point of view is unusual -- and Sawyer does it 
quite well," says John E. Stith (author of REDSHIFT RENDEZVOUS).  
Terence M. Green (author of BARKING DOGS) says GOLDEN FLEECE is 
"the best novel of its type I've ever read."

     QUILL & QUIRE: THE CANADIAN BOOK NEWS MONTHLY says GOLDEN 
FLEECE is "a well-paced page-turner replete with hard science."  
LOCUS: THE NEWSPAPER OF THE SCIENCE FICTION FIELD, Oakland, 
California, calls it "surprising and ingenious."  SCIENCE FICTION 
CHRONICLE, Brooklyn, New York, says it's "fascinating" with a 
"double surprise ending."  THE TORONTO STAR calls GOLDEN FLEECE 
"elegant" and "clever."  ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION / SCIENCE FACT 
says, "The writing is smooth and the reading effortless.  The 
characters -- even JASON -- evoke your sympathy."  

     Hugo and Nebula winner Orson Scott Card says, "JASON is, in 
my opinion, the deepest computer character in all of science 
fiction.  And Aaron is, in my opinion, one of the most 
well-drawn, fallible, *human* detectives I've encountered in 
mystery fiction.  You might as well buy two copies in the first 
place -- one to read and keep, and one to shove at your friends, 
saying, 'Read this!  Now!'" 

     Card, in his lead review in the December 1990 issue of THE 
MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, goes on to say:  "What 
Sawyer sets up in GOLDEN FLEECE is a damn good science fiction 
mystery.  What he delivers is much more.  Yes, the mystery is 
resolved to our perfect satisfaction.  But more important, Sawyer 
gives us something far more rare in this age of the quotidian 
hero:  a genuine tragedy.  It is no accident that he invokes 
Greek myth in the title of the book.  Sawyer is willing to play 
on the same field as Aeschylus and Euripides, and he proves 
himself equal to the task.  Can he write?  Yes -- with 
near-Asimovian clarity, with energy and drive, with such grace 
that his writing becomes invisible as the story comes to life in 
your mind.  How good is GOLDEN FLEECE?  A friend of mine -- an 
English professor -- used to ask, whenever he saw me, 'Why are 
you still writing that spaceship stuff?'  Now I can answer.  
Because *this* is possible."

     About one-fifth of GOLDEN FLEECE originally appeared as the 
cover story in the September 1988 issue of AMAZING STORIES, the 
world's oldest Science Fiction magazine.  That version made it to 
the preliminary Nebula Award ballot of the Science Fiction 
Writers of America and the 1988 Recommended Reading List 
published by LOCUS.  It came in second place for the Ninth Annual 
Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (the Auroras) in the 
category of best English-language short story and earned an 
Honorable Mention in Gardner Dozois's THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE 
FICTION.  

     Robert J. Sawyer is Associate System Operator of the 
CompuServe WordStar Forum and a member of the WordStar Advisory 
Board.  He lives in Toronto, Canada, with his wife Carolyn, and 
has recently completed his second novel, END OF AN ERA.


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WARNER BOOKS, Inc.              GOLDEN FLEECE by Robert J. Sawyer
666 Fifth Avenue                Questar Science Fiction Paperback
New York, NY                          $4.50 U.S. / $5.95 Canadian 
U.S.A.  10103                                       December 1990
(212) 484-2900                                 ISBN 0-445-21078-8 

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                       M A I L   O R D E R
                       ===================


GOLDEN FLEECE should be available in the Science Fiction 
paperback section of most large bookstores in the United States
and Canada throughout December 1990.  

(The file COVER.COM in CompuServe WordStar Forum library 11 
[Mayflower Inn] is a self-extracting archive containing a 
WordStar/WordStar 2000 PIX InSet graphic of the cover of GOLDEN 
FLEECE.)


YOU CAN ALSO ORDER AUTOGRAPHED COPIES DIRECTLY FROM THE AUTHOR.


In the United States, send a U.S. dollar check for $6.00 ($4.50 
U.S. cover price plus international shipping and handling) to the 
address below.

In Canada, send a Canadian dollar cheque for $7.00 ($5.95 Canadian 
cover price plus postage and handling) to:

                        Robert J. Sawyer
                      300 Finch Avenue West
                          Apartment 301
                       Willowdale, Ontario
                         Canada  M2R 1N1

                     CompuServe:  76702,747
                     Phone:  (416) 221-6842
                      Fax:  (416) 229-2372

Please indicate to whom you'd like the book autographed; if no 
name is specified, I'll autograph it to the first name of the 
person whose name appears on the check/cheque.

                              * * *

A final note:  GOLDEN FLEECE is intended for mature audiences.  
It contains harsh language and deals with adult themes.

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