Robert J. Sawyer

Coming this fall: a new Gorn figure!

I love the Gorn from classic Star Trek. He probably has the highest ratio of toys-made-of-him to actual-screen-time of any character in television history :) and I own most of them.

The best likeness to date is the Art Asylum version -- but Mego has a new one coming this fall (that's a prototype for it pictured above), and I'll be first in line to get one. :) More details at the always interesting TrekMovie.com.

I shall be merciful and quick ...

McNally Robinson loves Identity Theft

The official review from Canada's McNally Robinson bookstore chain is here.

As it happens, I'm signing at their Winnipeg Grant Park store this Saturday, May 17, 2008, at 2:00 p.m.

More about Identity Theft and Other Stories is here.

Eric Layman passes on

A fixture of Toronto SF fandom, and a mainstay of the science-fiction club U.S.S. Hudson Bay, Eric Layman passed away recently. A poet and a thinker, Eric could be cantankerous, but he was always courtly toward my mother, who sometimes attended meetings of that same club. He won an Aurora Award in 2004 for his fan writing.

Eric was born in 1943 in New Westminster, British Columbia, and died April 27, 2008, in Toronto, unexpectedly, after a brief bout of pneumonia. A bio of him, published in 2000 in the club newsletter, is here.

The last time I saw him was at the Hudson Bay meeting on April 12, 2008, a special filk-concert meeting he'd organized for the club. The photo of Eric above was taken by me at a party at my place on January 14, 2006.

Eric was intelligent and talented and passionate, and my friend. He's already missed.

More e-ink devices announced

The Astak Mentor line of electronic-ink ebook readers was formally announced yesterday, although they're not yet shipping. Also rumored: support for the eReader (formerly Palm Reader) format, now owned by Fictionwise, my favorite ebook-reading platform (and with the best/fairest/least-awkward DRM scheme around). Some more info is here. Interesting times in the ebook market.

Looking at the photos of the 9.7-inch unit, and the specs on the Astak website, I see they're touting a non-glare screen, which, of course, is essential, but they've put the unit in a glossy black chassis -- which will reflect light back into the reader's eyes. The Amazon Kindle and the iRex iLiad both were sensibly designed with matte-finish housings; I hope Astak will rectify this before they go into production. Ergonomics are hugely important to the reading experience, after all.

(Plus, an ebook reader has to be handled a lot, and glossy finishes show fingerprints ...)

Me, I'm lovin' my iRed iLiad ...

Stan Schmidt for the Hugo!

Stan's the man!

I received the latest progress report from Denvention, this year's World Science Fiction Convention, today here in Canada, and it contains the Hugo voting ballot. So it's a good time to remind people of all the reasons, back at the nomination stage, that I suggested it's high time Stanley Schmidt got a Hugo.

This year, 2008, is the 30th anniversary of Stanley Schmidt becoming editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Despite Analog being consistently the English-speaking world's #1 best-selling SF magazine for that entire period, Stan has never won a Hugo Award for Best Editor.

Stan's own web page is here. In addition to 2008 being Stan's 30th anniversary as editor of Analog, it's also his 40th anniversary as a published SF writer. Besides actually editing Analog (and in a very hands-on fashion, working diligently with his writers), it should be noted that Stan is the only editor of a major SF magazine to write an editorial for each issue, and his editorials are in themselves worth the cost of the magazine.

Sacremento News & Review loves Rollback

A very kind review is here.

Free public event in Winnipeg!

Not one, not two, but three science-fiction authors will be appearing at McNally Robinson Grant Park in Winnipeg this Saturday afternoon, May 17, at 2:00 p.m. Come here Robert J. Sawyer, Nick DiChario, and Hayden Trenholm read and talk about the state of SF.

I'll be reading from Identity Theft and Other Stories, Nick will be reading from Valley of Day-Glo, and Hayden will be reading from Defining Diana.

McNally Robinson has a great review of Nick's book here.

Earthquake in China

Death toll currently at almost 10,000. The quake's epicenter was just 100 km north of Chengdu, where the International Science Fiction Festival I attended was held last year. I'm hoping for the best for all my wonderful friends there.

News is everywhere on the net, including here.

Orthopedic Horseshoes

Herb Kauderer and Al Katerinsky, who live in Western New York, have a show on Think Twice Radio called Orthopedic Horseshoes. They interviewed me for half an hour -- without any prep, I must say: I was simply asked cold, "What makes you cranky?"

And off we went, discussing (as the web site says), "gas prices & red herrings, a national vision for all mankind or at least for energy policy, loving America, the military draft, JFK’s legacy, Uncle Sam and the Tar Baby, and who really puts money in your pocket."

Check it out here. You want the show for "5/9/08," which Americans think is May 9, 2008 ... ;)

(And, yes, attentive readers of my books will recognize Al's name: the disease Katerinsky's Syndrome in my novel Mindscan is named after him ...)

Keycon Schedule

Next weekend -- Friday, May 16, to Monday, May 19, 2008 -- I will be at Keycon in Winnipeg. Not only is it this year's CanVention -- the Canadian national SF convention, at which the Aurora Awards will be presented -- but it's also the 25th anniversary of Keycon (and, in those 25 years, I'm the only person to twice have been Guest of Honour there, in 2003 and in 2006).

My programming schedule is:

Friday: 8pm to 9pm: Book Launch with Nick DiChario (Nick is launching Valley of Day-Glo and I'm launching Identity Theft and Other Stories)

Saturday: 11am to noon: Reading from Rollback

Saturday: noon to 1pm: Five Most Surprising Developments in the Next 20 Years.

Sunday: Noon to 1pm: The Future of SF&F with Eric Flint.

Sunday: 2pm to 3pm: Promotions? But I want to Write with Virginia O'Dine.

Sunday: 4pm to 5pm: Is it too late to colonize space with Hayden Trenholm and Edward Willett

Monday: Noon to 1pm: The Difference between Canadian and American SF&F with Tanya Huff and Justyn Perry.

Bewitched theme song lyrics

There are lyrics to the theme songs of lots of TV shows that normally aren't heard -- most famously, classic Star Trek (for which Gene Roddenberry wrote lyrics to Alexander Courage's instrumental theme so he could claim half the royalties).

Sometimes the lyrics are very good; I'm rather fond of the lyrics to the 1980s series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, which were only heard in the original movie but not in the series. You can see/hear it right here on YouTube.

As I've mentioned before, I'm also fond of the movie version of the TV series Bewitched. That movie's soundtrack does use the lyrics to the original TV theme ... but, looking at the versions of the lyrics turned up by Google, I noticed that the versions posted don't precisely match the delivery by Steve Lawrence on the movie's soundtrack. And so, for the record, here's what he actually sings:

As It Happens

On Friday, May 9, 2008, CBC Radio One's very popular As It Happens aired three and a half minutes from my opening comments at the Walrus Magazine debate between me and Hal Niedzviecki. You can listen here -- I come in at the 10 minute, 27 second, mark.

Needless to say, I'm taking a much stronger position in these opening comments than I actually hold; this was a formal, moderated debate -- essentially, "Resolved: Canada should embrace the surveillance society," and my brief was to argue the affirmative.

(Of course, I explore the pros and cons of a surveillance society at length in my Neanderthal parallax trilogy, starting with the Hugo Award-winning Hominids.)

Many thanks to Hal -- who has an excellent article on the surveillance society in the current issue of The Walrus -- for asking for me to be his opponent.

Are science fiction ebook sales declining?

Over in the Fictionwise Yahoo! Groups newsgroup, science-fiction ebook author Darrell Bain has noted that whereas SF titles used to dominate the bestsellers lists at Fictionwise.com (and, indeed, my own work has hit number-one on various lists there in the past), the current top-ten list has only one SF title on it. Darrell asks, "What's happened to all the science-fiction readers"? My response:

The statistician in me says there may have been no reduction in the number of science-fiction readers at Fictionwise, but, rather, as Fictionwise has added depth in more categories, and now that people other than technophilic early adopters (who tend to be SF readers) are widely using ebook technology, larger numbers of readers of other types of fiction have arrived on the scene, overwhelming the SF sales. Note, for instance, the large number of Harlequin Romances now available at Fictionwise.

Alternatively, the fact that there are more SF writers published by major New York houses giving away their electronic content under Creative Commons licenses than there are writers in any other genre of fiction, plus the fact that SF publishers like Baen and now Tor are giving away ebooks by major writers, means the market for actually selling science-fiction ebooks may have become depressed (not that it was ever very big to begin with). Most of those giving away free content in the SF field do it to drive sales of PRINT editions of the same or similar works, not to drive traffic to ebook merchants.

Pictured: an iRex Iliad, my current ebook reader of choice

Book launch tomorrow!

Come one, come all, to Toronto's Bakka-Phoenix Books, 697 Queen Street West (just west of Bathurst), for the launch party of Identity Theft and Other Stories by Robert J. Sawyer, with an introduction by Robert Charles Wilson.

The event is tomorrow, Saturday, May 10, 2008, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., and afterwards Carolyn and I will head of to the Banknote Pub (King and Bathurst) with anyone who wants to join us.

Clearing my plate

Whew! I've at long last cleared my plate of all sorts of things I'd promised to do.

Over the last little while, I wrote an introduction to Jack McDevitt's new short story collection Cryptic, coming from Subterranean Press; I wrote introductions to two classic pulp reprints coming from the Battered Silicon Dispatch Box (the Polaris trilogy and the Palos trilogy); I did an article on book promotion for the newsletter of The Writers' Union of Canada; I recorded audio introductions for Audible.com's versions of Calculating God, Hominids, Humans, and Hybrids; I finished my editorial work on Fiona Kelleghan's forthcoming anthology The Savage Humanists; I attended a bunch of meetings at the CBC; attended the "Local Authors Night" sponsored by the Mississauga Public Library; spoke at the Creative Book Publishing Program at Humber College; spoke to a high-school English class; did a live debate for The Walrus magazine; and oodles more.

But be warned, world! I'm not taking on anything else (well, at least not unless you dangle real money in front of me) for the rest of the year. I've got to work on Watch (the sequel to Wake) plus a couple of other big projects (about which more soon). It's nose-to-the-grindstone time for the Robman. :)

Debating Hal

"HAL, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!"

Oops! Wrong Hal. Today I was debating Canadian writer and cultural critic Hal Niedzviecki. We were the entertainment at a $110-a-plate luncheon at the University Club in Toronto, sponsored by Canada's The Walrus magazine, a wonderful glossy newsstand magazine that's a bit like a Canadian Atlantic Monthly.

The debate, about whether we should embrace the surveillance society, was moderated by Carol Off, co-host of CBC Radio One's As It Happens, and the following Q&A was moderated by Ken Alexander, the editor of The Walrus.

H.B. Fenn and Company, my Canadian distributor, generously donated a dozen Robert J. Sawyer novels as a door prize.

This was a high-powered audience. Among those in attendance: Pamela Wallin, Valerie Pringle, Peter Kent, and Brian Stewart. Appropriate sparks flew between Hal and me, and everyone seemed to have a good time.

(Me, I like any event for which they pick me up in a limo ...)

Pictured left to right: Robert J. Sawyer, Carol Off, Ken Alexander, Hal Niedzviecki

E-ink device roundup

Today, I spoke to students in the Creative Book Publishing Program at Toronto's Humber College, run by former Penguin Canada publisher Cynthia Good. Great students, great questions, and a great time.

I'd brought along my brand-new iRex iLiad -- and Cynthia has an Amazon Kindle (one of very few in Canada, I'm sure; it's not for sale here) and a Sony Reader. These are three of the most-popular electronic-ink devices currently available, and Carolyn snapped the above photo of them with the camera built into her Palm Zire 71.

Left to right: Amazon Kindle, iRex iLiad, Sony Reader PRS-500

The iLiad has the largest screen, obviously, and is the only one with a touch screen. Next to it, I have to say the plastic Kindle seems rather flimsy, but it's got pretty good ergonomics. This version of the Sony Reader has the worst screen and the worst ergonomics, but there's a newer model now (the PRS-505).

Anyway, I'm delighted with my iLiad -- thanks again, Vanessa and Peter!

Rob live on CBC Radio on Wednesday

From 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow, Wednesday, May 7, 2008, I'll be live in studio in Toronto for CBC Radio One's Ontario Today. We'll be doing a phone-in show about why people like science fiction (and plugging the launch of my new collection Identity Theft and Other Stories, which happens this Saturday afternoon, May 10, at 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Toronto's Bakka-Phoenix Books).

You'll be able to listen live as the show airs by clicking on the "Listen Live" link on this page.

IEEE's Today's Engineer

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) interviews Robert J. Sawyer, Mike Resnick, and Lawrence Watt-Evans about the relationship between science fiction and real-world engineering in this article by John R. Platt in the magazine Today's Engineer.

OMG, I have the best fans ever!

So, I was at the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival in Montreal this past weekend. After my event on Friday night, I ended up going out for dinner with a couple of my local fans there, a man named Peter and a woman named Vanessa (neither of whom I'd ever met before).

The panel I'd been part of that evening had been about the business of publishing, and I'd spoken of my enthusiasm for ebooks. Turns out Vanessa and Peter share this passion -- but they felt I was behind the times using a Palm OS backlit LCD device (my trusty Sony Clie TH55) as my principal ebook-reading device.

Peter and Vanessa are devotees of the iRex iLiad, an electronic-ink device made by a Dutch company (with a much bigger screen than Amazon's Kindle device). I'd only ever seen pictures of the iLiad online (although I've tried a Kindle and a Sony eBook, two of the other e-ink machines currently on the market).

Well, Satuday night, I gave my reading at the festival, and Vanessa came to that (Peter, sadly, had a bad headache, and couldn't make it). After, about a dozen of us who had been at my reading went to the hotel bar for drinks, and Vanessa gave me the most amazing gift, from Peter and herself: a brand-new iRex iLiad. Oh my God!

The iLiad is a stunning device, and the e-ink display is absolutely freakin' gorgeous. The physical unit is much more stylish and beautiful than the klunky-looking Kindle, and, as I said, the screen is bigger:

iLiad: 8.1", 1024x768, 16 shades of gray, touch screen

Kindle: 6.0", 800x600, 4 shades of gray, not a touch screen

Like the Kindle, the iLiad uses the Mobipocket ebook format (among others), and can also read PDFs. Of course, for several years now the major US science-fiction magazines (Analog, Asimov's, and F&SF) have all been available in Mobipocket format from Fictionwise.com, as well as in PDF (the large-type PDFs from Fictionwise fit the iLiad screen very nicely, and are quite readable on it). I already owned a bunch of great Mobipocket dictionaries, and now have these installed on the iLiad, as well.

Before presenting me with the gift, Vanessa made me promise not to overreact to it, so I'll simply say a very heartfelt THANK YOU to both Vanessa and Peter. I'm very grateful, very touched, and very, very pleased.

Rollback paperback on Locus bestsellers' list

I'm pleased to see the mass-market paperback of my Rollback on the bestsellers' list published in the May 2007 issue of the science-fiction trade journal Locus (covering the data period February 2008), which arrived today. The full list is here.

End of an Era in Korean

I'm delighted to announce that my agent Ralph Vicinanza has just sold Korean rights to my 1994 novel End of an Era to the charmingly named Woonghin Think Big Company; the deal was done in conjuction with Ralph's Korean co-agent, Shin Won Literary Agency.

This brings to 16 the languages my novels are in: Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, and Spanish.

(And, as always, it's wonderful to still be making money for work done so long ago!)

Aurora Award mail-in voting deadline is Friday, May 9

The postmarked-by deadline for paper-mail ballots for this year's Aurora Awards -- the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards -- is this Friday, May 9, 2008. My novel Rollback is one of five finalists in the Best Long Form in English category (and the book is also a current Hugo Award finalist).

Any Canadian may vote; there is a $5 voting fee, which goes to pay for the wonderful trophies designed and built by Edmonton's Franklyn Johnson.

You can get the paper ballot, which lists all the nominees in all the categories, here.

Deadline today: Robyn Herrington Memorial Short Fiction Competition

I normally don't approve of contests with entry fees, but it's just six bucks in this case, and so I'm going to plug this one, anyway: "In Places Between: The Robyn Herrington Memorial Short Fiction Competition." Robyn was my friend, my writing student, and a fine writer herself, and my latest novel, Rollback, is dedicated to her. I've repeatedly been a judge for this contest (although won't be this year); if you're not yet eligible for SFWA membership, you can enter. Details are here.

Note: Deadline for submissions is postmarked today. Now you know what to do over your lunch hour. :)

SF writers at Gartner Security Summit

Booked my outbound flight today for the Gartner IT Security Summit in Washington, DC, June 2-4, 2008, at which I'll be chairing a panel discussion by science-fiction writers Arlan Andrews, Greg Bear, Robert J. Sawyer, and Bruce Sterling. More info is here.

Speaking of flights, tomorrow morning I'm off to Montreal for the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival, where I'll be reading from Identity Theft and Other Stories on Saturday night, May 5, 2008.

Booklist loves Identity Theft

Go me! The American Library Association's magazine Booklist -- one of the buying bibles for bookstores as well as libraries -- has a review coming in its May 14, 2008, edition of my new short story collection Identity Theft and Other Stories. Says reviewer Carl Hays:

Not a bad birthday present at all! (Today is my 48th birthday ...)

The Savage Humanists

This morning I handed over to our typesetter the tenth volume under the Robert J. Sawyer Books imprint. This one is an anthology entitled The Savage Humanists, edited by Fiona Kelleghan of the University of Miami; we'll be publishing it later this year.

We have high hopes for this book in the academic market (it's got a 17,000-word scholarly introduction by Fiona Kelleghan, plus her notes on each story), as well as good bookstore sales.

The back-cover copy says:

Photograph: Fiona Kelleghan

Audible.com goes big time into science fiction

I'm thrilled to be part of Audible.com's new science-fiction initiative. All my Audible.com titles are here, and the press release is below:

Audible Announces New Imprint and Exclusive Agreements with Orson Scott Card and Other Top Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers

Audible Frontiers imprint launches with 25 exclusive audiobooks, including 10 Hugo Award winners from award-winning science fiction & fantasy authors

NEW YORK--The leading provider of premium digital spoken audio information and entertainment, Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), today announced a major new science fiction and fantasy initiative that will give fans exclusive access to their favorite authors and deliver exclusive content.

Highlights of this new initiative include:

Audible Frontiers imprint and exclusive production agreements:

Audible is launching its original science fiction and fantasy audio imprint, Audible Frontiers, backed by a series of exclusive production agreements with today’s most-popular writers. The goal of Audible Frontiers is to expand greatly the number of audiobooks available to science fiction and fantasy fans. As a result, Audible is bringing to audio for the first time works by Jack Campbell, Harry Turtledove, Joe Haldeman, Robert J. Sawyer, Mike Resnick, Allen Steele, Connie Willis, Simon R. Green, Sean Williams, and other authors. These titles include more than a dozen Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novels and novellas.

“Science fiction is all about exploring strange new worlds -- and doing it in new ways! I'm excited to be part of Audible's initiative, and applaud them for recognizing what Hollywood has long known but few others seem to have grasped: the most popular entertainment today is science fiction,” said science fiction favorite Robert J. Sawyer.

Orson Scott Card Selects:

In an exclusive relationship, Audible is launching a monthly recommendation program with Hugo Award-winning Orson Scott Card, the author of the classic Ender’s Game, and one of the industry’s best-selling writers. Card will provide exclusive audio critiques of each selection.

“It's easy for great novels and novellas to get lost in the bookstore -- not everything can get front-of-store display!” Card said. “That's what I'll be doing with ‘OSC Selects’ - moving new and classic sci-fi and fantasy right to the front, so fans will have a better chance of noticing terrific stories performed by first-rate readers.”

“Orson Scott Card Selects” kicks off with the April selection, Star Born by Andre Norton.

Guest Editors:

Each month, a different prominent science fiction and fantasy writer will write an exclusive guest column for Audible customers, highlighting great listens in the Audible catalogue. Best-selling author Ben Bova will be the inaugural Guest Editor for April.

“Audiobooks have opened a new dimension to the enjoyment of good fiction, and I'm happy to be part of the Audible team that brings the best in science fiction (and other genres) to this new and growing audience,” said Bova.

In addition, through content relationships with HarperCollins, Macmillan Audio, Recorded Books, Blackstone Audio, Harlequin, and Wonder Audio, Audible is pleased to offer digital exclusives from John Scalzi, Vernor Vinge, Jay Lake, Philip K. Dick, Philip Jose Farmer, Kim Stanley Robinson, Maria V. Snyder, and many more.

The Audible science fiction and fantasy catalogue now exceeds 1,500 titles. Visit www.audible.com/scifi for more than 100 exclusive and digital exclusive titles and more than 50 Hugo and Nebula Award winners.

About Audible

Audible (www.audible.com) is the leader in spoken audio information and entertainment on the Internet. Content from Audible is downloaded and played back on personal computers, CDs, or AudibleReady computer-based and wireless mobile devices. Audible has over 40,000 audio programs from more than 470 content providers that include leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers. Audible is the preeminent provider of spoken-word audio products for Apple's iTunes Store. Audible, Audible.com, AudibleListener, AudibleReady and AudibleKids are trademarks of Audible, Inc. or its affiliates. Other product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, significant amount of indebtedness, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, and subsequent filings.

Robert J. Sawyer titles at Audible.com

Matthew Hughes review-a-thon

I had the great pleasure of publishing a novel by Canadian author Matthew Hughes late last year: The Commons, under my Robert J. Sawyer Books imprint from Red Deer Press / Fitzhenry & Whiteside.

A portion of that book, published as a standalone novella, was up for the Nebula Awards given this past weekend; Matt didn't win, but his work is without question award-calibre, and I said as much in a blurb I just provided for his next book, coming from Britain's terrific PS Publishing:

And now James Nicoll is trying to organize a blogosphere review-a-thon for Matt's new book. See James Nicoll's LiveJournal for all the details.

Photo above: Stephanie Stewart (US marketing director for Fitzhenry & Whiteside), editor Robert J. Sawyer, and author Matthew Hughes at the World Fantasy Convention, 2007.

Nebula winners announced

The winners of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's 2007 Nebula Awards were announced this evening at a banquet in Austin, Texas. Of course, I congratulate all the winners, but I'm particularly happy for two good friends who won: Nancy Kress and Ted Chiang.

Novel: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)

Novella: "Fountain of Age" by Nancy Kress (Asimov's, Jul07)

Novelette: "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang (F&SF, Sep07)

Short Story: "Always" by Karen Joy Fowler (Asimov's, Apr/May07 issue)

Script: Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic)

Damon Knight Grand Master for 2008: Michael Moorcock

SFWA Service Award: Melisa Michaels and Graham P. Collins

Author Emeritus: Ardath Mayhar

What I've been up to

Things I've been doing ...

Well, let's see ... the days are flying by, but how am I occupying them?

On Tuesday, April 15, 2008, I finished revisions on Wake, my eighteenth novel. Yay! Go me! :)

On Wednesday, April 16, 2008, Carolyn and I picked up Joe and Gay Haldeman (who were in Toronto, staying with our great friends Mike Glicksohn and Susan Manchester). I recorded an interview with Joe for the CBC (being banked for future use); it went really well.

Then it was lunch at Eastside Mario's, more or less across the street from the CBC Broadcasting Centre, with CBC producer Fergus Heywood and fellow SF authors Pat Forde and Suzanne Church, plus Joe and Gay; a wonderful time.

Then it was off to Bakka-Phoenix, so Joe could sign stock; there, I had my first bookstore sighting of my own new short story collection Identity Theft and Other Stories (the launch for which will be at Bakka-Phoenix on Saturday, May 10, at 3:00 p.m.). Then I arranged Carolyn and my flights for the San Diego Comic-Con, at which I'm special guest this year.

Thursday, April 17, 2008, was my lovely wife's 50th birthday. I spent the day getting oodles of stuff done: finishing "The Story So Far" synopses for the upcoming
Analog serialization of my 18th novel, Wake; doing editorial work on the next book from Robert J. Sawyer Books (about which more soon in another post); and more.

Carolyn's brother David was our house guest that night (and we watched Madagascar on DVD -- Carolyn's birthday; Carolyn's pick), so we could all get an early start heading down to Niagara Falls, New York, for Eericon 10 (at which Joe Haldeman and Sephera Giron were guests of honor). Carolyn rendezvoused there with Susan Manchester and they went on a shopping expedition on Friday afternoon, while Dave and I hung around the con for great conversations.

As I've said elsewhere, Eeriecon is the best-kept secret in SF: a wonderful, mostly literary, SF con. As Larry Hodges said to me, you normally have to go to a Worldcon to attend a panel with a line-up of participants including Joe Haldeman, Nancy Kress, James Alan Gardner, and Robert J. Sawyer. :) Next year's Guest of Honor: Vernor Vinge.

Eeriecon celebrated Carolyn's birthday big time: posters announcing it everywhere (including the elevators), a big cake on Friday night, and more. As con chair Joe Fillinger said to me in an email after the con, "We didn't make a big deal of it, Carolyn IS a big deal to all of us. She is one of the sweetest and nicest people I have ever met and I know you realize how lucky you are to have her. (Is it even conceivable that there is anyone in the world that might dislike her?)." So true! And it's not just my loving-husband's eyes: nobody could believe that she was 50; she looks a decade or more younger.

Monday, April 21, was more fandom: the "Third Monday" fannish pub night at Toronto's Orwell's pub. As always a great time (although regulars Lloyd and Yvonne Penney were muchly missed -- they were off in Las Vegas celebrating their wedding anniversary).

Tuesday, I did an interview for Britain's Kerrang! Radio ("The Night Before" with Nick Margerrison) about Calculating God (the book that just keeps on attracting interest -- it was also released as an audio book by Audible.com this week). I also wrote an essay for Audible.com entitled "Science Fiction Road Trip," which will be featured on their website in June.

Wednesday was the annual "Local Authors' Night" organized by the Friends of the Mississauga Public Library -- quite a pleasant evening. Also did some interesting stuff related to a possible future writer-in-residence gig, and some stuff with my Hollywood agents and others about a possible TV project ... more later about both if they actually materialize. ;)

Thursday, April 24, was one of those stunningly beautiful, perfect days Toronto has in the spring and the fall. But I spent most of it setting up a "new" computer. I have two work stations in my home: one in my office, and another in the living room. I tend to use the former more in the summer, and the latter more in winter (because it's in front of the fireplace).

The office workstation has been based for two years now around a Dell D410 laptop (with docking station, two external monitors, wireless keyboard, and mouse, and obligatory-for-Rob La-z-boy recliner), which I dearly love, and I decided my living-room station needed a new computer, and so I retired my old Acer Travelmate 600TER there (which had given great service for 7.5 years, but had become a bit flaky of late, and had a noisy hard drive) with a second Dell D410 laptop, which I bought off of eBay: the second unit was used, but in mint condition. I spent most of the day setting it up and installing software.

(I wanted a spare Dell D410 anyway; I don't like widescreen laptops [the normal screen aspect-ratio is better for writing], and I prefer matte-finish to glossy-finish screens, and I want to stick with XP Pro rather than go to Vista for the foreseeable future, and it's getting very hard to find laptops that aren't widescreen and don't have LCDs that you could use as a shaving mirror, and, of course, most ship with Vista now.)

Friday, April 25 (yesterday), 2008, Carolyn and I picked up my friend (and former writing student) Bev Geddes at Toronto's airport. She'd flown in for a weekend rendezvous with her boyfriend, the Hugo and World Fantasy Award-nominated author Nick DiChario, who lives in Rochester, New York; they're staying with us through Sunday night. And this meant I had the great pleasure of presenting to Nick the first copies of his new novel, Valley of Day-Glo, the latest title from Robert J. Sawyer Books. It is a truly beautiful book (cover and interior design by Karen Petherick Thomas), and Nick was delighted; for me, the greatest thing about being an editor is seeing the author's face light up when they hold their book in their hands for the first time.

Last night, Nick and Bev took Carolyn and me out to dinner at Canyon Creek, one of our favourite restaurants, and then we stayed up late talking writerly stuff, and having a blast.

So, good times -- but busy!

Calculating God and others at Audible.com

Hot on the heels of their release of The Terminal Experiment, Audible.com has just released unabridged recordings of my novels Calculating God, Hominids, and Hybrids (with Humans coming soon). The new readings are by Jonathan Davis.

Check 'em all out right here.

RJS e-Mail Newsletter

I sent out this e-mail newsletter today to the people on my email-notices list; if you'd like to be added to that list, drop me a note at sawyer at sfwriter dot com.

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Hello, Robert J. Sawyer reader!

You're most likely getting this note because you've written to me in the past about my science-fiction novels. I hope you don't mind this update -- I only send such things out a couple of times a year. If you'd prefer not to receive future updates, just email me at sawyer@sfwriter.com and I'll drop you from this mailing list. :)

In this issue:

New short-story collection
Book launches in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Rochester
Hugo Nomination for ROLLBACK!
Aurora Nomination for ROLLBACK!
American Library Association top-ten list!
Audible.com and RJS
Praise for ROLLBACK
Coming next: WAKE
Book Rob as a speaker

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NEW SHORT-STORY COLLECTION

Just out: IDENTITY THEFT AND OTHER STORIES by Robert J. Sawyer, with an introduction by Robert Charles Wilson, published by Red Deer Press.

"A collection of great stories; highly entertaining and thought-provoking -- this book has something for almost any science-fiction fan." -- QUILL & QUIRE

Seventeen short stories, each with an individual introduction by me.

The book is in stores now, and Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Chapters.ca, and McNallyRobinson.com are all shipping it.

More info

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IDENTITY THEFT BOOK-LAUNCH EVENTS

MONTREAL, QUEBEC:
Reading from IDENTITY THEFT at the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival
Saturday, May 3, 2008, at 8:30 p.m.:
More info

TORONTO, ONTARIO:
IDENTITY THEFT launch party
Saturday, May 10, 2008, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Bakka-Phoenix Books
697 Queen Street West (just west of Bathurst in Downtown Toronto)

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA:
Launch party at science-fiction convention Keycon on Friday night, May 16, 2008
*and*
Readings and signing on Saturday, May 17, 2008, at 2:00 p.m. by Robert J. Sawyer,
Nick DiChario, and Hayden Trenholm at McNally Robinson Grant Park

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK:
Launch party for IDENTITY THEFT and Nick DiChario's new novel VALLEY OF DAY-GLO (which I edited), plus Nancy Kress's NANO COMES TO CLIFFORD FALLS:
Saturday, June 21, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
Barnes and Noble, 3349 Monroe Avenue, Pittsford (Rochester), NY

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HUGO AWARD NOMINATION

I'm thrilled that my novel ROLLBACK -- now out in mass-market paperback from Tor -- is one of five finalists for this year's HUGO AWARD (the top honor in the science-fiction field) for Best Novel of the Year.

More about Rollback

For those who are interested in how the Hugos work: to vote, you need a "Supporting Membership" in the current year's World Science Fiction Convention. (If you also wish to attend the convention, which this year is in Denver August 6-10, you'll need a "Full Attending Membership." I'll be there, of course; World SF Conventions are wonderful!):

Worldcon info

The online Hugo ballot, with the list of nominees in all categories, is here:

Online Hugo ballot

Printable Hugo ballt

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FREE ELECTRONIC COPY OF ROLLBACK FOR HUGO VOTERS

If you are, or become, a member of this year's World Science Fiction Convention, you can get FREE electronic copies of ROLLBACK, plus three other Best Novel nominees (Ian McDonald's BRASYL, John Scalzi's THE LAST COLONY, and Charles Stross's HALTING STATE).

More info

(Many thanks to John Scalzi for organizing this!)

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AURORA AWARD NOMINATION

In addition to its Hugo nomination, ROLLBACK is also a finalist for this year's Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards ("the Auroras").

Any Canadian may vote for the Auroras; the voting fee -- which helps defray the cost of manufacturing the lovely trophies -- is $5:

Aurora ballot

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AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

To my delight, the America Library Association has named ROLLBACK one of the year's ten best SF novels:

More info

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AUDIBLE.COM

AUDIBLE.COM -- the world's largest provider of audio books -- has just released an unabridged recording of my Nebula Award-winning THE TERMINAL EXPERIMENT -- with more to come!

Over the next few months, they'll also be releasing CALCULATING GOD, HOMINIDS, HUMANS, and HYBRIDS. This link will always take you to the full list of RJS titles at Audible.com.

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ROLLBACK REVIEWS:

"Thoroughly entertaining; one of those books you can't put down. Truly engrossing human drama -- characters that are totally realistic. It's got mainstream appeal but is also a great read for fans of thought-provoking science fiction."
Five stars [out of 5]" --SF SIGNAL

"A story that is so poignant I found myself in tears. ROLLBACK has become one of my favorite science fiction novels; Sawyer has written another classic." --THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE, Davis, California

"ROLLBACK is a story about love and commitment, about humanity at its most basic -- a novel to be savored by science-fiction and mainstream readers alike."
--THE GLOBE AND MAIL

"A dynamite science fiction novel; a wholly satisfying story." --JANUARY MAGAZINE

"Above all, the author's characters bear their human strengths and weaknesses with dignity and poise. An elegantly told story for all libraries; highly recommended." --LIBRARY JOURNAL (starred review, denoting a work of exceptional merit)

"ROLLBACK gets my vote as SF novel of the year. A joy to read." --JACK McDEVITT, author of Odyssey

"A brilliant premise; a riveting book. Highly emotional and original -- a complex story with sympathetic and believable characters." --ROMANTIC TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"A reminder of why Sawyer is one of our most highly regarded writers of speculative fiction, able to handle the demands of the heart and the cosmos with equal skill." --QUILL & QUIRE

"I highly recommend Robert J. Sawyer's ROLLBACK. It's a shoo-in to be short-listed for next year's major awards."
--SciFi DIMENSIONS

"Sawyer, who has won Hugo and Nebula awards, may well win another major SF award with this superior effort." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review, denoting a work of exceptional merit)

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COMING NEXT: WAKE

I've finished writing WAKE, the first volume of my upcoming WWW trilogy about the World Wide Web gaining consciousness. The book will be published in hardcover in March or April of 2009 by Ace Science Fiction in the US and Penguin in Canada.

Prior to that, the full text will be serialized in ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION AND FACT, the world's #1 best-selling English-language SF magazine, starting in the "November 2008" issue (which goes on sale in early September):

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BOOK ROBERT J. SAWYER TO SPEAK TO YOUR GROUP:

As a science-fiction writer and futurist, Robert J. Sawyer has given KEYNOTE ADDRESSES for many corporations, associations, and government groups:

More info

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ROBERT J. SAWYER ONLINE:

Website

Blog

Newsgroup

Upcoming Appearances

===

ROBERT J. SAWYER, Science Fiction Writer

Hugo Award winner for Hominids

Nebula Award winner for The Terminal Experiment

John W. Campbell Memorial Award winner for Mindscan

The living nightmare of Wi-Fi

I've been having no end of lost connections to the Internet with the Wi-Fi router in my home ... ugh I installed a firmware update tonight, and hopefully that will help.

Off to Eeriecon 10

Off to one of my favorite conventions -- Eeriecon, a small but high-energy con in Niagara Falls, New York. The fun begins this evening. Guests of Honor this year are Joe Haldeman and Sephera Giron. Details are here.

Rewatching The Time Warrior

My all-time favourite Doctor Who serial is "The Time Warrior," written by Robert Holmes for Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor.

It's packed with firsts: new opening credits, the unveiling of the diamond-shaped Doctor Who logo, the revelation that the Doctor's home planet is Gallifrey, the introduction of the Sontarans, and the introduction of one of the most-popular companions in the history of the series, Sarah Jane Smith.

The BBC has at last released "The Time Warrior" on DVD, including commentary tracks, pop-up text, a half-hour making-of documentary, and (optionally) new CGI special effects.

Carolyn and I watched it, savoring each of the four episodes one per night; it holds up very well indeed. The dialog crackles (echoing Thomas Hobbes, the Doctor refers to Linx, the Sontaran, as "nasty, brutish, and short," while the medieval robber-baron Irongron calls the Doctor, "a long-shank rascal with a mighty nose"), the cast is excellent, and the story line is very clever. Among many other great bits, it contains what I think is the defining statement by the Doctor about what the series Doctor Who is all about:

Highly recommended.

Mindscan film option renewed

... for a third year, by Toronto producer Scott Calbeck. I'm delighted!

Mindscan, which won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel of the Year, is a story of transferred human consciousness and attempting to define what it means to be human.

Robert J. Sawyer

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Coming this fall: a new Gorn figure!

McNally Robinson loves Identity Theft

Eric Layman passes on

More e-ink devices announced

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Stan Schmidt for the Hugo!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Sacremento News & Review loves Rollback

Free public event in Winnipeg!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Earthquake in China

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Orthopedic Horseshoes

Keycon Schedule

Bewitched theme song lyrics

As It Happens

Friday, May 09, 2008

Are science fiction ebook sales declining?

Book launch tomorrow!

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Clearing my plate

Debating Hal

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

E-ink device roundup

Rob live on CBC Radio on Wednesday

IEEE's Today's Engineer

Monday, May 05, 2008

OMG, I have the best fans ever!

Rollback paperback on Locus bestsellers' list

End of an Era in Korean

Aurora Award mail-in voting deadline is Friday, May 9

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Deadline today: Robyn Herrington Memorial Short Fiction Competition

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

SF writers at Gartner Security Summit

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Booklist loves Identity Theft

The Savage Humanists

Monday, April 28, 2008

Audible.com goes big time into science fiction

Matthew Hughes review-a-thon

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Nebula winners announced

What I've been up to

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Calculating God and others at Audible.com

Sunday, April 20, 2008

RJS e-Mail Newsletter

The living nightmare of Wi-Fi

Friday, April 18, 2008

Off to Eeriecon 10

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Rewatching The Time Warrior

Mindscan film option renewed

The Terminal