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 that 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 along 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 world. His name is Ponter Boddit, having been a quantum physicist who passed somehow into our world as the result of an experiment gone wrong. They are fascinated by the fact of his existence, while exploring all 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