's Best of 2001
Robert Charles Wilson is an accomplished and acclaimed writer with an impressive body of work. The Chronoliths is his best novel yet, an intelligent, fascinating, and frightening account of a unique incarnation of time travel.

American software developer Scott Warden is living a careless expatriate life on the beaches of 21st century Thailand when a monolithic pillar, sheathed in ice and composed of an unknown, indestructible material, appears in the jungle. The artifact is a chronolith, a memorial commemorating the conquest of Thailand--20 years in the future. As Warden follows his estranged wife and badly injured daughter back to the U.S., more chronoliths celebrating future victories appear, to devastating effect. Bangkok and Jerusalem are destroyed, and societies worldwide dissolve in chaos or teeter on the brink of collapse. As the chronoliths close in on America, Scott joins with biker and undercover agent Hitch Paley and experimental physicist Sue Chopra in a literal race against time to find a way to change the future--which has already happened. --Cynthia Ward


From Publishers Weekly
A talented SF writer who has never gained the name recognition he deserves, Wilson (Darwinia) is a master of character development, comparable to the late Theodore Sturgeon in his believable portrayals of emotionally scarred loners. Scott Warden, an abuse survivor, first drags his family off to Thailand for a short-lived programming job and then refuses to leave the country when his job ends, forcing his wife and daughter into poverty. One fateful day, Scott takes off for the backcountry to witness the advent of the first Chronolith, an enormous high-tech monument sent from 20 years in the future to commemorate the military victory of an Asian tyrant named Kuin. By the time Scott returns home he discovers that his family has fled to the U.S. and that his marriage is effectively over. Soon after, another Chronolith appears, destroying Bangkok, and it's followed by many more, each one proclaiming the victories of the mysterious Kuin. Scott is contacted by a former teacher, the physicist Sue Chopra, who believes that Scott's proximity to the original Chronolith has connected him to the ongoing disaster in some strange fashion. As Sue and Scott attempt to figure out what's going on, society gradually collapses around them. People begin to worship Kuin as a virtual god and, as the years pass, the date on which the first Chronolith was launched draws near. This superb novel, combining Wilson's trademark well-developed characters and fine prose with stunning high-tech physics, should strongly appeal to connoisseurs of quality science fiction. (Aug. 20) Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Out-of-work software developer Scott Warden is studying Thai beach culture and struggling to support wife and daughter when he notices a sonic boom and a sudden drop in temperature one night. Next morning, he and a friend investigate. Police roadblocks are up, but the two find a smugglers' trail to the source of the disturbance, a large monument, the first chronolith, which has materialized in the middle of the jungle and commemorates the victories of someone or something named Kuin on December 21, 2041--20 years in the future. Returning after being questioned about the monument, Scott discovers his wife has returned to the U.S. So he does, too, and tries but fails to save the marriage. He puts his life back together while closely following news of further chronoliths throughout the world. Wilson drags us through Scott's life, hoping that the chronoliths will eventually be explained. In part they are, though lack of clarity in the closing chapters could leave some readers rather disappointed. All in all, however, this is acceptable entertainment. Bryan Baldus
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"In his quiet way, Robert Charles Wilson has produced one of the most impressive bodies of work in contemporary science fiction . . . The Chronoliths stands with his best."--The New York Times

"Superb."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)



Book Description
Scott Warden is a man haunted by the past-and soon to be haunted by the future.

In early twenty-first-century Thailand, Scott is an expatriate slacker. Then, one day, he inadvertently witnesses an impossible event: the violent appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested interior. Its arrival collapses trees for a quarter mile around its base, freezing ice out of the air and emitting a burst of ionizing radiation. It appears to be composed of an exotic form of matter. And the inscription chiseled into it commemorates a military victory--sixteen years in the future.

Shortly afterwards, another, larger pillar arrives in the center of Bangkok-obliterating the city and killing thousands. Over the next several years, human society is transformed by these mysterious arrivals from, seemingly, our own near future. Who is the warlord "Kuin" whose victories they note?

Scott wants only to rebuild his life. But some strange loop of causality keeps drawing him in, to the central mystery and a final battle with the future.



About the Author
Robert Charles Wilson was born in California and grew up in Canada. He is the author of many acclaimed SF novels, including A Hidden Place, The Divide, Gypsies, Bios, Darwinia, and The Chronoliths. His work has won the John W. Campbell Award, the Aurora Award, and two Philip K. Dick Awards. He lives near Toronto.

ANNOTATION

This is no ordinary artifact. Its arrival collapses trees for a quarter mile around its base, freezing ice out of the air and emitting a burst of ionizing radiation. It appears to be composed of an exotic form of matter. And the inscription chiselled into it commemorates a military victory...sixteen years in the future.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Scott Warden is a man haunted by the past—and soon to be haunted by the future.

In early 21st-century Thailand, Scott is a slacker in a beach community of expatriates, barely supporting his wife and daughter. One day he witnesses an impossible event: the appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested interior.

This is no ordinary artifact. Its arrival collapses trees for a quarter mile around its base, freezing ice out of the air and emitting a burst of ionizing radiation. It appears to be composed of an exotic form of matter. And the inscription chiselled into it commemorates a military victory...sixteen years in the future.

Not long after, another, larger pillar arrives in the center of Bangkok—obliterating the city and killing thousands.

Over the next several eyars, human society is transformed by these mysterious arrivals from, seemingly, its own near future. Who is the warlord whose victories they note? Scott wants only to rebuild his life. But some strange loop of causality keeps drawing him, to the central mystery and a strange final battle with the future.

SYNOPSIS

21st century Thailand, Scott is a slacker in a beach community of expatriates, barely supporting his family. One day he witnesses the appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested interior.

FROM THE CRITICS

VOYA

Scott Warden and his family are living a marginal existence in southern Thailand in 2021 when the first chronolith arrives with a rumble and a shock wave of bitter cold and radiation. It is a massive, three-hundred-foot-high blue pillar, celebrating a military victory that will take place twenty years in the future. Scott is among the first to arrive on the scene, linking him inexorably with subsequent chronoliths. Some arrive in uninhabited areas;others devastate cities. All are monuments to victories by a mysterious future leader called Kuin. Later, Scott, divorced and living in the United States, is offered a job by physicist Sue Chopra, whom he had met while a student at Cornell. Sue is working on the chronoliths and making even more progress than her government bosses realize. As new chronoliths appear ever closer to Europe and America, economies crumble and violent cults appear in the name of Kuin. Scott undertakes a desperate mission to Mexico to rescue his own daughter, who has been drawn into a Kuinist cult. Although by now scientists can predict the arrival of a chronolith, they are still powerless to destroy them. Sue believes that if a chronolith could be destroyed, the mythic power of Kuin would erode. Wilson writes intelligent, well-crafted, original science fiction that results in an excellent read. The hero is a flawed being who gradually redeems himself. The other characters are likeable, self-centered, or frightening, but always believable. The author's premises might be less so, but the plot moves along nicely to a surprising and satisfying conclusion. VOYA CODES:5Q 3P S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being any better written;Will appeal with pushing;Senior High, definedas grades 10 to 12;Adult and Young Adult). 2001, Tor, 256p, $22.95. Ages 15 to Adult. Reviewer:Rayna Patton—VOYA, December 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 5)

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