Two months ago, the SciFi Channel’s SciFi Wire ran a nice little piece by John Joseph Adams entitled “Identity Theft is Sawyer’s Last Collection.” To prepare that article, John did a much longer by E-mail interview with me, and I thought I’d share the whole thing here: (1) Please describe the book — just enough […]
Remember back in July, in reference to my stint as Special Guest at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, I asked, “So how does a free trip end up costing $2,700?” The answer — in part — has arrived! I’m torn between announcing “Thunderbirds are Go!” and “The Eagle has Landded!” :) When Americans interview me, […]
One of the more memorable lines from the 1956 classic SF film Forbidden Planet. And the most memorable character from that film was the one who said it: Robby the Robot. Carolyn got me this fabulous seven-inch-tall diecast Robby figure, manafacutred in Japan by X-Plus, at the Denver Worldcon. It sits next to my living-room […]
Man, have I been swamped! In the last month, I’ve had lots of writing projects that had to be done — two major ones that I can’t say anything about just now, but I got them done ahead of deadline (go, me!); another that I turned in yesterday on deadline; and today I finished writing […]
Yesterday, a study was announced that showed that although our ancestors made different stone tools than did Neanderthals living at the same time, our designs weren’t in fact better. Among the news stories picking up on the study was this. Because of my Hugo-Award winning novel Hominids and its sequels (“The Neanderthal Parallax” trilogy), I […]
After gnashing teeth for months over the outrageous airfares (all air travel is expensive these days; domestic travel in Canada is outrageous, because of lack of competition), I bit the bullet and booked flights today for the World Fantasy Convention in Calgary. Carolyn and I arrive early Thursday afternoon, October 30, and are staying to […]
If I had a quarter for every time I said, “If I had a nickel …,” I’d have five times as much theoretical money. — Stephen Colbert The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
I’m delighted to report that an excerpt from my Aurora Award-winning short story “Stream of Consciousness” will be used in the new middle-school Canadian textbook Literacy in Action 8: Time Will Tell, edited by Chris Atkinson, and coming out in September 2008 from Pearson Education Canada. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
These days, so much of my communication with people is via email. That’s certainly efficient. But, still … So, in the last couple of days I picked up the phone, and called two of my closest friends — people I hadn’t talked to in far too long. And it was great to just hear their […]
I got asked in my Yahoo! Groups newsgroup today what was in my to-be-read pile. Well, as it happens, my favorite ebook retailer, Fictionwise.com, is having a big sale right now, so I picked up the 27 books below. Some — Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot; William Gibson’s Neuromancer; and James Alan Gardner’s brilliant collection Gravity […]
I just received this note from the editor I’m working with on an essay I was commissioned to write: I must say, I feel defunct! This is fabulous. I loved it. Thank you. I have one minuscule suggestion … [an excellent point about adding a comma]. But that’s my only comment. My work on this […]
There’s a discussion over in MobileRead.com about what authors make. Jeffrey A. Carver already chimed in there, and I just added this: To expand a bit on what my friend Jeff Carver said above, many major US publishers pay the following royalty rates, or similar amounts: Hardcovers: 10% on the first 5,000 copies; 12.5% on […]
Five years ago today — on Monday, August 25, 2003 — I sent out the following email notice to 21 very talented new writers. The workshop that grew out of this notice, The Fledglings, is still going strong, and the members are producing some very fine work. (As an example, last year Fledgling member Stephen […]
I’m delighted to report that Snoot Entertainment in Los Angeles has renewed its option on my Nebula Award-nominated novella “Identity Theft” and its sequel short story, the Aurora Award-winning “Biding Time,” for a third year. When Carolyn and I were in Los Angeles earlier this month, we had a wonderful meeting at Snoot’s offices with […]
Carolyn is away for the weekend. She’s helping our niece Melissa move into residence at McGill. I’m bacheloring it. Lunch was chicken wings from Swiss Chalet. Dinner was a frozen pizza onto which I added a lot of garlic. For desert, I had a chocolate bar sweetened with sugar alcohols. Memo to self: don’t mix […]
You can hear my appearance from Tuesday, August 19, 2008, on psychologist Howard Gluss’s radio show online right here. Dr. Howard Gluss is a psychologist in Los Angeles. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
I’m speaking and reading at a Canadian literary festival next month, and I confess to have been in a rather feisty mood when it came time for me to answer a by-email interview sent to me by the publicity manager for the festival. Here’s what I had to say: 1. How is the role and […]
I’ll be the guest for an hour tomorrow night (Tuesday, August 19, 2008) on The Howard Gluss Radio Show, starting at 11:00 p.m. Eastern time (8:00 p.m. Pacific). The topic: The psychology of science fiction. More info is here A podcast will be available. :) The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
Carolyn and I are home after 12 days on the road. Our trip took us to Denver for the World Science Fiction Convention, to NORAD’s Cheyenne Mountain Complex, to Los Angeles for four days, and finally to Malibu for the Writers of the Future conference/ceremony. All in all, a wonderful trip, and I think I’m […]
A fine day in Los Angeles — gorgeous weather. Carolyn and I had lunch with Marc Scott Zicree and his wife Elaine; very pleasant. (Marc and I both just lost Hugos — me for novel; him for dramatic presentation short form for his New Voyages Trek episode “World Enough and Time.” Among his other writing […]
My best intentions of blogging my time at Worldcon fell by the wayside because of the severe cold I was suffering through during the convention. It’s mostly abated now (yay!), and Carolyn and I are safely in Los Angeles, doing a little business … (and had a pleasant relaxing dinner at Tony P’s, our favorite […]
How cool is this? A fine fellow called ionreflex has started a SETI@home team named ROLLBACK in honor of my novel of the same name. Woohoo! The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
The NORAD trip I was on on Thursday is blogged here by Annalee Newitz of io9. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
… Michael Chabon won the Hugo for The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, beating my Rollback. Congratulations, Michael! Sorry that I haven’t been posting more. I’m fighting a nasty cold here at the con — spent 13 hours in bed last night; missed a panel today. I might be feeling a little bit better … but I’m […]
Today, a bunch of us SF writers played hooky from the Denver Worldcon and went on a VIP tour of the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex, followed by a tremendous dinner at Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta Anderson’s palatial home. Just got back — dead tired. It was a wonderful, wonderful day. The Robert J. […]
The Denver Worldcon has moved my reading. It is no longer in the Hyatt; rather it’s in the Convention Center, room 601. Time/date remains the same: Saturday at 4:00 p.m. I’ll be reading from my upcoming novel Wake. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
Well, it’s off to a nice start here in Denver, but it feels small (sparsely attended). Of course, it’s just begun. Wonderful lunch with NASA scientist Paul Abell, his wife writer Amy Sisson, and friend Shoshana Glick. Dinner with my Tor editor David G. Hartwell. Some party hopping. Exhausted, though, and a bit under the […]
Denver, here we come! How can you not love a Worldcon whose slogan is, “A mile closer to the stars”? The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
Here’s one to try on friends next time you’re at a party: What common English word contains this sequence of letters: A-C-H-A-C-H Answer in the comments. :) The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
Tor is preparing a new trade-paperback edition of my 2000 Hugo Award-nominated Calculating God, which will included a book-club discussion guide at the back. This afforded an opportunity to update the splash page at the front of the book (the one in the existing mass-market paperback doesn’t take advantage of the best reviews the book […]
