Robert J. Sawyer

Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer

Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Edmonton event is at 7:00 p.m. …

Sunday, April 8th, 2012

… not 7:30 p.m., as incorrectly reported in a few places. The event for TRIGGERS takes place this Wednesday, April 11, at Audreys, 10702 Jasper Ave. NW, Edmonton at 7:00 p.m. Free; everybody welcome.

John Demjanjuk, 1920-2012

Saturday, March 17th, 2012

John Demjanjuk passed away today at 91. He was the Cleveland autoworker who had been tried and convicted of being Ivan the Terrible, a horrific guard at the Treblinka death camp, and, when that conviction was overturned, was later convicted of being a different guard at the Sobibor death camp, a conviction that was on […]

Need a new title for my next book — help!

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

The Great Martian Fossil Rush is no more. The sales force for my US publisher doesn’t like the title, and I need to have them enthusiastic about the book. I’ve been asked to come up with a new title. It’s a hard-boiled detective novel set on Mars, expanded from my novella “Identity Theft” and my […]

Calgary’s Con-Version SF convention cancelled for 2011 and 2012

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

On the Facebook page for Con-Version XXVII, Calgary’s long-running science-fiction convention, con-com member Amilee Hagon posted the following on September 18:Good evening everyone. It is with deepest regret that I inform you all that until further notice Con-Version will not be going ahead as planned next year. I am truly sorry for this and would […]

Free Sawyer talk in Ottawa on Monday, October 17

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

A Glimpse into the Future on “Faster-than-Light Neutrinos”: Hope, Hype and Magic World-renowned science-fiction writer and futurist comes to Canada Science and Technology Museum Robert J. Sawyer was been called “a writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific extrapolation” by the New York Times, and declared “one of the most-successful Canadian authors ever” by Maclean’s. […]

Read my Aurora Award-nominated poem

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

The full text of “The Transformed Man”, my Aurora Award-nominated poem is available right here. Enjoy! Robert J. Sawyer online:Website • Facebook • Twitter • Newsgroup • Email

Robot caregivers

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

I was recently asked by a journalist from Fox News Online for my thoughts about robot caregivers for the disabled, resulting in this brief article. But, as always in an interview, I sent him much more material than was actually used. Here are my fuller thoughts on the matter: Absolutely robots will play a major […]

Boldly going into my living room

Saturday, July 9th, 2011

The Globe and Mail: Canada’s National Newspaper has been running a feature called “My Books, My Place,” featuring writers in their favourite reading spots, and in the Saturday, July 9, 2011, edition, my living room is featured. Here’s the version at the Globe and Mail website, and below is a longer version of the same […]

TV interview with me

Saturday, July 9th, 2011

YouTube has a wonderful TV interview with me done during my book tour for Wonder. I appeared on Wednesday, April 6, 2011, on Studio 4, Shaw’s morning show, hosted by Fanny Kiefer. Part One (12:12): Part Two (10:49): Robert J. Sawyer online:Website • Facebook • Twitter • Newsgroup • Email

Friend me on Facebook!

Sunday, June 26th, 2011

I’ve been pretty lax about updating this blog. I’m much more active on Facebook these days. But I’m getting close to the 5,000-person limit for Friends there. I happily friend my readers, so if you’d like to send me a friend request, please do. My Facebook wall is here. Here’s a taste of what you’ve […]

BBC World Book Day coverage and more

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

The Winnipeg Free Press ran a short version of this interview in Kenton Smith’s “Paper Chase” books column in its Saturday, May 14, 2011, edition; here’s the full interview: 1) What compelled you to sign the letter to the BBC re: its coverage of World Book Day? What would you personally have to add to […]

Final Wonder book tour event in Winnipeg

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Come join me for the conclusion of the book tour for Wonder, the final volume of my WWW trilogy: Thursday, May 19, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. at McNally Robinson in Winnipeg (Grant Park Mall). Here’s a little interview with me about what to exepct at the event.“Wonder is not only a superb conclusion to a […]

Rollback stage play debuts tomorrow!

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

To be young again, knowing all you know now… May not be the dream you hoped it would be. Adapted from the popular novel Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer, Rollback: The Play will premiere in Prince George, British Columbia! Thirty years in the future, technology provides us with the ability to roll back our bodies […]

Come see me in Ottawa, Waterloo, Prince George, Winnipeg, Phoenix, and Milan!

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

Still lots of events left on the Wonder book tour! Reading and signing from Wonder The Ottawa International Writers Festival Mayfair Theatre 1074 Bank Street Ottawa, Ontario Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. Carleton Students with ID can get tickets for free General tickets are $15, reduced tickets are $10 writersfestival.org Reading and signing […]

Canadian book tour for Wonder begins today!

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Saskatoon McNally Robinson Booksellers Prairie Ink Restaurant 3130 8th Street East (8th Street at Circle Drive) Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. McNally Saskatoon Regina Keynote Speech 6th Annual University of Regina Student Research Conference University of Regina Research and Innovation Centre (RIC) room 119 Regina, Saskatchewan Friday, April 1, 2011 at […]

Upcoming US releases

Friday, March 25th, 2011

Over the next 13 months, I have eight new U.S. editions of books by me coming out (all are Ace, except the MINDSCAN and HUMANS reissues, which are Tor): WATCH mass-market paperback: April 2011 WONDER hardcover: April 2011 THE TERMINAL EXPERIMENT mass-market paperback: September 2011 HUMANS mass-market paperback: October 2011 MINDSCAN trade paperback: December 2011 […]

Con-Version AGM

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Con-Version, the long-standing Calgary SF&F convention, has announced its Annual General Meeting — just four days in advance of it actually taking place. The meeting is this Monday, March 21, 2011, at the Sentry Box in Calgary from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. A Facebook announcement is here. Robert J. Sawyer online:Website • Facebook • Twitter […]

The Walrus on the WWW trilogy

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

The Walrus is a very popular Canadian glossy newsstand magazine, rather similar to The Atlantic. The April 2011 issue has a 2,500-word essay built around my WWW trilogy of Wake, Watch, and Wonder. The essay/review is called “Intelligence Deficit: What will happen when computers become smarter than people?,” and is written by Alex Hutchinson. You […]

Canadian book tour for Wonder

Friday, March 11th, 2011

Here’s the current itinerary for the Canadian book tour for Wonder, third and final book in the WWW Trilogy (more events will be added when they are confirmed, and the up-to-date list will always be here). All events are free, except for the mega-three-author blowout in Calgary, which is in a fancy theatre; that one’s […]

Wonder from Amazon.ca

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

For those who’d pre-ordered WWW: Wonder through Amazon.ca (the Canadian Amazon), Amazon was mistakenly listing the American edition. They’ve now cancelled those orders, but unfortunately didn’t refer buyers to the Canadian edition. If you want to pre-order Wonder from Amazon.ca, this link will do the trick. Robert J. Sawyer online:Website • Facebook • Twitter • […]

Canada’s answer to …

Monday, December 13th, 2010

I rather like putting meta-references in my books (sly things that acknowledge that they are, in fact, fiction), and sometimes I give a freebie to the reviewers — a chance for them to take a free shot (I still regret letting myself being talked out of calling my second short-story collection Infodumps). An example: for […]

Fourth consecutive Main Selection of the SFBC!

Monday, November 29th, 2010

W00t! Senior Editor Rome Quezada at the Science Fiction Book Club has just picked up my next novel WWW: Wonder, coming in April 2011, as a Main Selection of the Club. This is the fourth consecutive main selection I’ve had: Rollback, Wake, Watch, and Wonder. Needless to say, I’m thrilled. (In total, 12 of my […]

Quote of the Day in the Montreal Gazette

Saturday, November 27th, 2010

Every day, the front page of The Montreal Gazette, the major English-language daily paper in Montreal, contains a “Quote of the Day,” and on Thursday, November 25, 2010, the quote was from me:“Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace” — Robert J. SawyerThe quote is from Chapter 14 of […]

The password for my books: “Rationality”

Friday, November 26th, 2010

Over at the National Post, one of Canada’s national newspapers, Mark Medley asks Canadian novelists to provide passwords for their fiction: single words that might sum up what they’re trying to do. My password was “rationality.”Rationality: the belief that the universe makes sense, that it is comprehensible to the human mind, that the scientific method […]

Toronto Public Library reading on Thursday

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

I’ll be reading and giving a talk as part of “The Eh? List” Canadian-author series at the Toronto Reference Library this Thursday, November 25, at 7:00 p.m. Come join me! Robert J. Sawyer online:Website • Facebook • Twitter • Newsgroup • Email

The purpose of science fiction

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

I agreed some time ago to give a general science and science fiction talk. The organizer sent me this proposed description for my talk today: The Future Isn’t What It Used to Be What did science fiction writers get right … and wrong … about “the future?”But that didn’t work for me. I wrote back […]

Twenty years a novelist

Monday, November 15th, 2010

Twenty years ago today — November 15, 1990 — I received my very first copy of my very first novel. Golden Fleece was a mass-market paperback original from Warner Questar. It was technically a December 1990 title, but books trickle into stores a bit in advance of the publication month. A lot of water has […]

New author photo

Sunday, November 14th, 2010

The amazing new official photograph of science-fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, author of Wake and FlashForward. Click on the photograph for a high-resolution version. Photograph taken 12 November 2010 by Christina Molendyk. Robert J. Sawyer online:Website • Facebook • Twitter • Newsgroup • Email

The End of Science?

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

My novel FlashForward, the basis for the ABC TV series of the same name, is set at CERN, so I’m always interested when scientists associated with CERN speak up about the fundamental nature of reality. And Russell Stannard does that today in the Huffington Post. I’ve posted a comment there, but here’s a longer version […]

Rollback stage play in Edmonton

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Tomorrow night, Friday, October 22, 2010, come to the Pure Speculation Festival in Edmonton and see a live public reading of Virginia O’Dine‘s stage-play adapation of Robert J. Sawyer‘s Hugo Award-nominated novel Rollback. The play will have its formal debut in British Columbia next spring, but this reading will star me, Tanya Huff, Randy McCharles, […]