Robert L. Forward Books In Order

Publication Order of Cheela Books

Publication Order of Rocheworld Books

Publication Order of Robert Forward Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Robert Forward Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Robert L. Forward was a published author. Born in Geneva, New York, on August 15, 1932, he passed away on September 21, 2002. He was an American physicist in addition to being a science fiction writer, and his fiction has been praised for its scientific credibility and it used multiple ideas that were developed during his work as an aerospace engineer. He had also made contributions to the field of gravitational wave detection research.

He attended University of Maryland, where he earned his doctorate in 1965. Forward then worked at Hughes Aircraft’s research labs, where he continued to research gravity measurement and received 18 patents. He retired early in 1987, so that he could continue to write fiction and also do consulting for his clients (which included the U.S. Air Force and NASA). He co-funded Tethers Unlimited, Inc., in 1994 with Robert P. Hoyt and was chief scientist/chairman up until 2002.

Forward’s work in the gravitational wave detection field also included inventing the Forward Mass Detector or the rotating cruciform gravity gradiometer. He also published his theoretical design for a Casimir battery in 1984.

The author published over two hundred papers and articles in his career and was able to publish eleven novels in his career as an author of fiction. Forward frequently received mixed reviews from the critics and his hard science topic treatment in fiction has been compared to Hal Clement’s work. In addition, some of the work that he has done researching in speculative physics has led to being inspiration for science fiction that can be found in modern/contemporary science fiction today.

He is the father to Bob Forward, his son who has pursued a career working as a storyboard artist and a writer in television animation on shows/projects such as The Legend of Zelda, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and Beast Wars. He has also written novels, such as The Owl and The Owl 2. His youngest daughter Eve Forward has also pursued a career in writing, penning the books Villains by Necessity and Animist.

Robert unfortunately received a diagnosis of terminal cancer in 2001 and would pass away shortly after on September 21, 2002.

Dragon’s Egg is the first book in the Cheela series by Robert L. Forward. The book has been positively reviewed and praised by many famous science fiction authors. This includes Arthur C. Clarke, who referred to the book as one of ‘a handful of books that stretch the mind’.

Isaac Asimov stated that the book is written in the tradition of Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement, carrying the book a ‘giant step’ forward. Larry Niven called the novel ‘superb’, also saying that he could not have written it himself as it required too much of ‘real physics’. Frank Herbert also had good things to say about this book, saying that it was one ‘for the real science-fiction fan’.

If you’ve been looking for a unique science fiction book to read, check this one out! In a story of triumph and sacrifice, human scientists have set out to cement a relationship with the cheela, intelligent life forms who are living on Dragon’s Egg.

Dragon’s Egg is a neutron star. There one hour on Earth is the same as hundreds of their years. The cheela are able to culturally evolve from being in a space of savagery to discover science. For just a brief moment in time, the men are their teachers.

This is a book that Freeman J. Dyson says that is a ‘good story’ told by the author and asks the profound question of if we ‘run into a race of creatures who live a hundred years’ to our hour, what could we say to them or can they say to us? The Washington Post also praised the ideas of this novel as being ‘big, original, speculative’.

Starquake is the second novel in the Cheela series by Robert L. Forward. If you enjoyed the first book in this series, be sure to check out the sequel and see what you think!

This story takes place on a neutron star’s surface. The gravity is equal to that of 67 billion Earth gravities. The native cheela there are roughly the size of sesame seeds. They are able to live the equivalent of a million times faster than the same human friends do in orbit.

When a starquake occurs, humans find out that they have just one day if they want to rescue what remains of the cheela civilization from going extinct. Will they be able to pull it off, or will they fail miserably in the process? Read this book to find out!