Marcel dedicates book to Rob and Carolyn

The biggest honour a writer can pay to another human being is to dedicate a book to him or her.

I have been touched and deeply moved to have books dedicated to me before by Edo van Belkom, James Alan Gardner, and Mike Resnick. And I can tell you now from experience that the thrill doesn't diminish over time.

On Saturday, my great friend Marcel Gagné presented Carolyn and me with the very first copy he'd received of his new book Moving to Free Software from Addison-Wesley. It's dedicated to Carolyn and me, with these words:


This book is dedicated to
my friend, Robert J. Sawyer,
who said, "I want you to write a book
titled Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye!",
thereby getting me into this mess . . .
and to Carolyn Clink, who, as far as I know,
hasn't gotten me into any trouble.


The comment refers to the fact that I suggested Marcel write his first "Moving To" book, which was called Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye! The current book is his fifth in the "Moving To" series.

Many, many thanks, Marcel!