Robert J. Sawyer

On Thursday, May 7, I was in at Penguin Group (Canada)'s offices for some meetings, and received the wonderful news from Don Robinson, Vice President of Sales, that just twenty-three days after the Canadian release of Wake, Penguin Canada is going back to press for a second hardcover printing. W00t!

Of course, Penguin has done a great job getting the book out there, but I also have to thank Canada's independent booksellers, and the two chains -- Chapters/Indigo and McNally Robinson (where I'm Author of the Month chain-wide for May) -- who have all gotten behind the book.

Needless so say, I'm thrilled!

"Sawyer is one of the most successful Canadian writers ever. He has won himself an international readership by reinvigorating the traditions of hard science fiction, following the path of such writers as Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein in his bold speculations from pure science. Clashes between personalities and ideologies fuel [Wake's] plot, but they're not what the book is about. It's about how cool science is. Sawyer has marshalled a daunting quantity of fact and theory from across scientific disciplines and applied them to a contemporary landscape — with due regard to cultural and political differences, pop culture, history, economics, adolescent yearnings, personal ambition and human frailty. —National Post (Calgary)

"Sawyer paints a complete portrait of a blind teenage girl, and imagines in detail — from scratch — the inside of a new being. Almost alone among Canadian writers, he tackles the most fundamental questions of who we are and where we might be going — while illuminating where we are now." —The Ottawa Citizen

"A fast-paced and suspenseful story full of surprises and humour." —The Saskatoon StarPhoenix

"It's refreshing to read a book so deliberately Canadian in a genre dominated by Americans, and it's easy to see why Sawyer now routinely wins not only Canadian science fiction prizes but also international accolades. His fans won't be disappointed, and readers picking up his work for the first time will get a good introduction to a writer with a remarkable backlist." —Winnipeg Free Press

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