Readercon 2008 Bio-Bib

Next month, I will be attending Readercon 19, near Boston. It's a conference devoted entirely to the printed literature of science fiction. In their program book, they publish elaborate "bio-bibs" (biography/bibliography combos) for each program participant, with all kinds of detailed info. Since it's a good overview of my career, I thought I'd share mine here:

Robert J. Sawyer ("Rob") was one of only three authors included on Canadian publishing trade journal Quill & Quire's recent list of the "30 most influential, innovative, and just plain powerful people in Canadian publishing" (the other included authors: Margaret Atwood and Douglas Coupland).

He has sold twenty science-fiction novels, including:

Golden Fleece (Warner/Questar, 1990; revised edition from Tor, November 1999; winner of the Aurora for Best English-Language Novel; named best SF novel of 1990 in Orson Scott Card's year-end summation in F&SF; finalist for the Seiun Award);

Far-Seer (Ace, 1992--"Quintaglio Ascension'' trilogy volume 1; winner of the CompuServe Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Forum's Homer Award for Best Novel of 1992; finalist for the Seiun Award; New York Public Library "Best Book for the Teen Age'' list);

Fossil Hunter (Ace, May 1993--Quintaglio 2; Homer Award winner);

Foreigner (Ace, March 1994--Quintaglio 3);

End of an Era (Ace, November 1994; revised edition from Tor, September 2001; Seiun Award winner; Homer Award winner; Aurora Award finalist);

The Terminal Experiment (HarperPrism, May 1995 [transferred to the Avon Eos imprint with its seventh printing in 2002]; serialized in Analog as Hobson's Choice, Mid-December 1994--March 1995; Nebula Award winner, Aurora Award winner, Hugo Award finalist);

Starplex (Ace, October 1996; serialized in Analog, July--October 1996; Aurora Award winner, Hugo and Nebula Award finalist);

Frameshift (Tor, May 1997; Hugo and Aurora finalist, Seiun Award winner);

Illegal Alien (Ace, December 1997; Seiun Award winner; Aurora Award and Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award finalist);

Factoring Humanity (Tor, June 1998; Hugo and Aurora Award finalist; Spain's Premio UPC Ciencia Ficción winner);

Flashforward (Tor, July 1999; Spain's Premio UPC Ciencia Ficción winner, Aurora Award winner);

Calculating God (Tor, June 2000; Hugo, Aurora, Homer, and John W. Campbell Memorial Award finalist);

Hominids (Tor, May 2002--"Neanderthal Parallax'' trilogy volume 1; serialized in Analog, January--April 2002; Hugo winner; Aurora, John W. Campbell Memorial Award, Seiun, and Spectrum finalist);

Humans (Tor, February 2003--"Neanderthal Parallax'' trilogy volume 2; Hugo finalist; Aurora finalist);

Hybrids (Tor, September 2003--"Neanderthal Parallax'' trilogy volume 3; Spectrum finalist);

Mindscan (Tor, April 2005; John W. Campbell Memorial Award winner);

Rollback (Tor, April 2007; serialized in Analog, October 2006-January/February 2007; Hugo, Aurora, and John W. Campbell Memorial Award finalist; included on the American Library Association's list of the top 10 SF novels of the year);

and Wake (Ace, April 2009-- "WWW" trilogy volume 1; serialized in Analog, November 2008-March 2009).

Rob's short fiction, collected in two volumes as Iterations (Quarry Press, 2002; reissued by Red Deer Press, 2004) and Identity Theft and Other Stories (Red Deer Press, April 2008), includes:

"Fallen Angel'' from Strange Attraction, edited by Edward E. Kramer (ShadowLands, 2000; Bram Stoker Award finalist);

"Just Like Old Times'' from Dinosaur Fantastic, edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW, 1993; Aurora and Arthur Ellis Award winner);

"You See but You Do Not Observe'' from Sherlock Holmes in Orbit, edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW, 1995; winner of Le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire, France's top SF award, for best foreign short story of the year);

"Above It All'' from Dante's Disciples, edited by Peter Crowther and Edward E. Kramer (White Wolf, 1996; winner of the Homer Award for Best Short Story of 1995);

"Peking Man'' from Dark Destiny III: Children of Dracula, edited by Edward E. Kramer (White Wolf, October 1996, Aurora Award winner);

"The Hand You're Dealt'' from Free Space, edited by Brad Linaweaver and Edward E. Kramer (Tor, July 1997, Hugo Award finalist, Science Fiction Chronicle Reader Award winner);

"Ineluctable'' from Analog, November 2002 (Aurora Award winner);

"Shed Skin'' from Analog (Analog Analytical Laboratory winner, Hugo finalist);

and "Identity Theft'' from Down These Dark Spaceways, edited by Mike Resnick (Science Fiction Book Club, May 2005, Premio UPC de Ciencia Ficción winner, Hugo finalist).

Other short fiction by Rob has appeared in Amazing Stories (March 1987, September 1988, and January 1989); TransVersions 3 and 12, and The Village Voice (14 January 1981).

Rob used to work at Bakka, Toronto's SF specialty store, is a regular commentator on the Canadian version of Discovery Channel, and has appeared on Rivera Live with Geraldo Rivera. Rob's "On Writing'' column ran for three years in On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of Speculative Writing; those columns and other nonfiction about SF are collected in Relativity (ISFiC Press, 2004, Aurora Award winner).

He edits Robert J. Sawyer Books, the science-fiction imprint of Canadian publisher Fitzhenry & Whiteside; is a contributor to The New York Review of Science Fiction; has taught SF writing at Toronto's Ryerson University, the University of Toronto, the Banff Centre, and the Humber School for Writers; has been Writer-in-Residence at the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy (the only person to hold that post besides Judith Merril herself) and the Odyssey workshop; and is a judge for the Writers of the Future contest.

Rob and his wife Carolyn Clink edited the Canadian SF anthology Tesseracts 6 (Tessearct Books, December 1997), and Rob co-edited the anthologies Crossing the Line: Canadian Mysteries with a Fantastic Twist (with David Skene-Melvin, Pottersfield Press, October 1998), Over the Edge: The Crime Writers of Canada Anthology (with Peter Sellers, Pottersfield Press, April 2000), and Boarding the Enterprise: Transporters, Tribbles, and the Vulcan Death Grip in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek (with David Gerrold, BenBella, August 2006).

He has a Bachelor of Applied Arts degree in Radio and Television Arts from Toronto's Ryerson University (which gave him its Alumni Award of Distinction in 2002) and an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor Litterarum, honoris causa) from Laurentian University, the largest university in Northern Ontario.

Rob lives in Mississauga, Ontario. Visit his web page at www.sfwriter.com.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site