The Neanderthal Parallax is a trilogy of novels written by Robert J. Sawyer and published by Tor. It depicts the effects of the opening of a connection between two versions of Earth in different parallel universes: the world familiar to the reader, and another where Neanderthals became the dominant intelligent hominid. The societal, spiritual, and technological differences between the two worlds form the focus of the story. The trilogy's volumes are Hominids (published 2002), Humans (2003), and Hybrids (2003). Hominids first appeared as a serial in Analog Science Fiction, won the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award the same year; Humans was a 2004 Hugo Award finalist. In 2017, the full trilogy was presented the Aurora Award for Best of the Decade. The initial contact between the two worlds takes place at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Sudbury, Ontario, which is also the location of a scientific research facility in the Neanderthal world.
Terminology As the books unfold, the term human is used to refer to both species; both species agree to use the Neanderthal terms—gliksin for members of Homo sapiens and barast for members of Homo neanderthalensis—to distinguish between them.
Plot In Sudbury, Ontario, the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory is conducting a physics experiment. This is interrupted by the mysterious arrival of a strange man, who is believed by the people who meet him to be a Neanderthal. Geneticist Mary Vaughn, a professor at Toronto's York University, is called in to determine if the man really is a Neanderthal. Mary is reeling from being recently raped by a masked man on the University campus, and finds this a welcome distraction along with the scientific opportunity of a lifetime. She works with her friend physicist Louise Benoit, who'd initially encountered the man. The two, plus physician Ruben Montego, learn that he is a Neanderthal from a parallel universe. His name is Ponter Boddit, a quantum physicist who somehow passed into our universe as the result of an experiment gone wrong. Mary and Ruben are fascinated by the fact of his existence, and explore the many differences that distinguish his people from theirs. Meanwhile, Ponter's spouse and scientific partner, Adikor Huld, is distraught at his sudden disappearance, then doubly so after he's been accused of murdering Ponter due to his vanishing. Long-term contact is eventually created between the two worlds, along with formal diplomatic relations. However, issues of distrust and misunderstanding plague the characters. Ponter and Mary forge a relationship as they strive for both their people's mutual benefit even as they struggle to work through profoundly different beliefs as a potential crisis looms for our Earth.
Barast society The Barasts (Neanderthals) are dedicated hunter-gatherers and have no developed concept of agriculture. Despite this, they are still technologically advanced, possessing quantum computers, helicopters, communications, and biological recording instruments. They live in harmony with their environment, using clean energy and keeping a constant population. They measure long periods of time in lunar months, not years. The total barast population is much lower, numbering only 185 million worldwide compared to the gliksins' (humans') 6 billion.
Family life Due to their advanced sense of smell, barasts are very sensitive to pheromones. Accordingly, women and men live in separate communities for 25 out of every 29 days. The four days when they do come together — known as two becoming one — are the cause of a monthly celebration and holiday. All barast women have synchronized menstrual cycles, and the meeting-times are set so that conception is unlikely — except every 10 years, when another generation is purposely conceived. Generations thus grow in synchronized, ten-year cycles; barasts don't need to give his age, as simply stating his generation (if this is not simply inferred from his appearance) will give the needed information. All children live with their mothers until they reach the age of ten; boys then go to live with their fathers. Children remain with their appropriate parent until the approximate age of 18. Despite this separation of sexes, the barast find the idea of considering either sex better than the other for any reason to be completely foreign (female barast do not suffer any large-scale physical incapacity due to pregnancy). The separation is a voluntary and cultural thing, and people of both sexes are free to go where the other lives at all times but find it physically and socially discomfiting to do so when two are not one. However, facilities and living styles are fully and truly 'separate but equal' in barast society, and in the rare event that it is too difficult or resource intensive to do so (for example, large scale scientific facilities), this separation is ignored without incident. While opposite-sex couples form long-term bonds similar to marriage, the same is true of life during the rest of the month. All barasts would consider themselves bisexual by the gliksin definition; they form same-sex bonds while two are not one. Thus each adult who so chooses, no matter their gender, has a man-mate and a woman-mate; one for procreation and the genetic family basis, the other for companionship and a family unit base when their opposite-sex partner is not present. The larger, intertwined family networks that result add cohesion to barast society.
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