Observer

Available From:

Observer, by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress is a slick modern, hard sf, standalone, medical thriller combining classic Robin Cook with the hard edge of Black Mirror and Altered Carbon.

After neurosurgeon Caro Soames-Watkins’ career has gone down in flames, she receives a strange job offer from Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sam Watkins, a great uncle she barely knows, and desperation overcomes any suspicions.

Watkins’ mysterious medical facility conducts research into the nature of consciousness, reality, and life after death. Two obstacles stand in his way: an intel leak and his failing body may not last long enough for the tech to be ready.

As danger mounts, Caro finds more than she bargained for: murder, love, and a deep disturbing look into the nature of reality.

Reviews

Praise for Observer:

“Robert Lanza is one of the most exciting thinkers of our time, and his novel, Observer, is a thrilling exploration of his most daring theories, a thought-provoking page-turner that asks the most profound question of our existence — what is our role in the true nature of reality?”—Blake Crouch, New York Times bestselling author, and Executive Producer of the Apple TV series Dark Matter

“The viewpoint character is a brilliant neurosurgeon unwillingly drawn into a secret scientific project designed to prove that the generally accepted view of reality is completely wrong… a compelling story filled with believable characters.”―The Guardian

“The cutting-edge of science tipping into something new and marvelous … a startling, fascinating novel.”―Kim Stanley Robinson, New York Times bestselling author

“Mind-bending … A novel full of life-affirming ideas.”—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

“Real science and limitless imagination combine in a thrilling story you won’t soon forget.”―Robin Cook, New York Times bestselling author of Coma

“Brilliant … A riveting and moving story.”―Rhonda Byrne, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret

“Nancy Kress is a master storyteller, and her trademark empathy is on every page. Even as we venture into the heady territory of quantum physics and the nature of reality that Robert Lanza is known for, we never lose track of Caro, the brilliant surgeon who’ll do anything to save the people she loves. Observer is the best of science and fiction—an intellectual adventure with real heart.”—Daryl Gregory, award-winning author of Spoonbenders

“Fantastical … Do we each create our own reality? Debates about the fundamental nature of reality go back centuries. More recently, special relativity and quantum mechanics have provided solid grounding for the idea that the act of observation has an effect on external phenomena… Observer includes plot twists that are ripped from the headlines, including social-media shaming, drone technology and dark-web villainy.”—GeekWire/Alan Boyle, former NBC News & MSNBC Science Editor

About the Author

Robert Lanza is a renowned scientist and author whose research spans many fields, from biology to theoretical physics. He is the bestselling author of the nonfiction biocentrism trilogy (Biocentrism, Beyond Biocentrism, and The Grand Biocentric Design), the basis of Observer. His blogs on The Huffington Post and Psychology Today have millions of views. Time magazine recognized him as one of the “100 Most Influential People,” and Prospect magazine named him one of the “Top 50 World Thinkers.”

In addition to his groundbreaking work in the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine, Dr. Lanza has worked with some of the greatest minds of our time, including Jonas Salk and Nobel laureates Gerald Edelman (known for his work on the biological basis of consciousness) and Rodney Porter. He also worked closely with influential Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner.

A U.S. News and World Report cover story called him “the living embodiment of the character played by Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting” describing him as a “genius,” a “renegade thinker,” and likened him to Einstein. He was part of the team that cloned the world’s first human embryo, the first endangered species, and published the first-ever reports of pluripotent stem cell use in humans.

He has been featured in almost every media outlet in the world, including all the major TV networks, CNN, FOX News, Time, Newsweek, People, as well as the front pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today, among others.

His work has also been the cover story of US News & World Report, Wired, and Scientific American.

Learn More About Author

Nancy Kress is the author of thirty-five books, including twenty-eight novels, four collections of short stories, and three books on writing. She has also authored over 100 short stories. Her work has won six Nebulas (for Beggars in Spain, The Flowers of Aulit Prison, Out of All Them Bright Stars, Fountain of Age, The Erdmann Nexus, and Yesterday’s Kin); two Hugos (for Beggars in Spain and The Erdmann Nexus); a Sturgeon (for The Flowers of Aulit Prison); and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (for Probability Space). Her work has been translated into Swedish, Danish, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, Croatian, Chinese, Lithuanian, Romanian, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Russian, Hungarian, and Klingon, none of which she can read. Much—though not all—of her later work concerns genetic engineering, on which she holds strong opinions. She has contributed stories on this topic to an anthology based on Microsoft’s Advanced Research division and to one created by the magazine Economist to showcase tech developments in the year 2050, among others.

In addition to writing, Nancy has taught creative writing at various venues around the country, including Clarion, and abroad, and for thirteen years, she and Walter Jon Williams co-taught Taos Toolbox, a two-week intensive SF-writing course.

Nancy lives in Seattle with her husband, writer Jack Skillingstead, and Pippin, a very indulged Chihuahua.

Learn More About Author