Rollback is a 2007 science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 novel by Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer

Robert J. Sawyer

Robert James Sawyer is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 20 novels published, and his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Amazing Stories, On Spec, Nature, and many anthologies. Sawyer has won over forty awards for his fiction, including the Nebula Award ,...

 that was serialized in four parts in
Analog Science Fiction and Fact

Analog Science Fiction and Fact

Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2011, it is the longest running continuously published magazine of that genre...

 from October 2006 to January 2007. It deals primarily with the social effects of drastic age rejuvenation technology and first contact

First contact (science fiction)

First contact is a common science fiction theme about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life, or of any sentient race's first encounter with another one....

 theory. In 2008 the novel was nominated for a Hugo Award

Hugo Award

The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...

 and a Campbell Award

Campbell Award

Campbell Award may refer to:*Science fiction awards named in honour of John W. Campbell:**John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel**John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer...

.

Plot summary

The novel focuses around Sarah Halifax, an astronomer who translated the first transmission sent from an extra-terrestrial source to Earth 38 years prior to the opening of the story. Sarah, now 87, is tasked to decode the second message sent from the unknown alien race. A wealthy industrial billionaire, Cody McGavin, offers to put up billions of dollars to perform a "rollback" on not only Sarah, but her husband of 60 years, Don. This process, which reverts a person's body to a much younger state, is successfully performed on Don, but fails to work with Sarah. This leaves Sarah gradually creeping toward death while Don's life begins anew.

External links

• Rollback at Worlds Without End