Robert J. Sawyer

Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer

Archive for the 'R.I.P.' Category

R.I.P., J. Brian Clarke

Monday, January 17th, 2022

One of the greats of Canadian science fiction has left us. Calgary’s own J. Brian Clarke, born May 23, 1928, who used to often appear in Analog, passed away on December 17, 2021, at the age of 93; his son James just wrote me with the news. Brian was the inaugural winner of the A.E. Van Vogt […]

R.I.P., James Gunn

Thursday, December 24th, 2020

The great James Gunn has passed away at 97. When people ask me what books influenced me the most as a writer, I always cite his The Listeners, the first great novel (a fix-up of novellas, actually) about the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Without it, I doubt my two Hugo nominees also about SETI — […]

Remembering Robyn Herrington 15 years on

Friday, May 3rd, 2019

Robyn Meta Herrington, active member of both SFWA and SF Canada, passed away fifteen years ago today, on Monday morning, May 3, 2004, in Calgary, Alberta, after a courageous multi-year battle with cancer. Robyn’s short fiction appeared in such places as On Spec, Talebones, Adventures of Sword and Sorcery, Parsec, and in Mike Resnick‘s DAW […]

John A. Sawyer, R.I.P.

Monday, December 31st, 2018

My father, John A. Sawyer, Ph.D., passed away at the age of 94 on Monday, December 17, 2018, at his retirement residence in North York, Ontario, Canada. The following death notice / obituary appeared in The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star:Sawyer, John A. (Jack) Died December 17, 2018 Professor Emeritus (Economics), University of […]

R.I.P., Virginia Sawyer

Wednesday, December 9th, 2015

My mother, Virginia Sawyer, aged 90, passed away very early yesterday morning (Tuesday, December 8, 2015), at North York General Hospital in Toronto. She was lucid until the end, and made her own decision to have life-sustaining aids removed. She was able to say goodbye in person to Jack (her husband of sixty-three years), as […]

Remembering Michael Coney

Wednesday, November 4th, 2015

Ten years ago today, we lost a giant of Canadian SF. Michael G. Coney, whose 1976 novel Brontomek! won the British Science Fiction Association Award, died November 4, 2005, at the age of 73 This year he is being inducted posthumously into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Robert J. Sawyer online:Website […]

Eric Wright, R.I.P.

Monday, October 26th, 2015

A giant of Canadian literature has left us. My friend Eric Wright, whom I’d known since 1993, and whose Charlie Salter mystery novels, which I began reading in 1984 and which were flagrantly Canadian in setting and tone, were a huge influence on me as a writer, passed away October 9, 2015, at the age […]

On the fifth anniversary of Ralph Vicinanza’s death

Saturday, September 26th, 2015

Five years ago today, on September 26, 2010, my literary agent, the legendary Ralph Vicinanza, passed away, at the age of 60. Here’s the tribute I wrote to him back then: Ralph Vicinanza was my agent for the past fifteen years. I remember when I was looking for a new agent calling many of his […]

Martian War Machine lands in Mississauga

Thursday, May 28th, 2015

My great friend Michael Lennick, who passed away November 7, 2014, was a special-effects supervisor for the 1988 War of the Worlds television series — a direct sequel to the George Pal film. For the series, this Martian War Machine was built, exactly copying the move version. This original screen-used fiberglass miniature — 45 inches […]