A trip report for China’s SCIENCE FICTION WORLD magazine by Robert J. Sawyer I’m back safe and sound in Canada after two wonderful weeks in China. The highlight for me, of course, was the Chengdu Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival, at which I won the Galaxy Award for Most Popular Foreign Author of the Year. […]
I’m very pleased to announce the sale of a German edition of my novel Flashforward to Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, an imprint of Random House GMBH, and for a nice pile of euros, too, I might add. ;) The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
Vasquez Rocks in southern California is where the classic Star Trek episodes “Arena” and “Friday’s Child” were filmed. And the good folks at HeroComm.com — a site devoted to the actual original communicator props from the series — decided to take one of the original communicators to Vasquez Rocks for a reunion, recreating the famous […]
Over at Yahoo! Questions, someone asked, “What do YOU think science fiction is? Do you think it could be a prediction of the future?” I posted this answer: My own definition is this: Science fiction is the mainstream literature of a plausible alternative reality. That is to say, it is stories told as if to […]
For those looking for my Aurora Award-nominated short story “Biding Time,” it’s online during the voting period here as a Word document, in the DAW science-fiction anthology Slipstreams edited by Martin H. Greenberg and John Helfers, and also, I’m pleased as punch to announce, in the wonderful new anthology The Penguin Book of Crime Stories, […]
The actual fill-it-in-and-mail-it ballot for the Aurora Awards is now available online as a PDF here. If you’re an attending member of VCon in Vancouver, voting is free; otherwise, it’s Cdn$6.00 to vote — the fees go entirely to pay for the Aurora Awards trophies (which are gorgeous and are designed and built by the […]
This query, with attached manuscript, showed up in my email box today, and, yes, it was in all-caps: DEAR SIR/MADAM I AM A MEMBER OF WINNING WRITERS , USA. I PICKED YOUR CONTACT DETAILS FROM ONE OF THE WIINING WRITERS WEBSITES RECENTLY.. What did our hapless wannabe do wrong? 1. “Dear Sir/Madam” — No. Address […]
Cathy Palmer-Lister, the chair of Con*Cept, the Montreal regional SF convention, agreed several days ago to having on-site voting for the Auroras this year at Con*Cept (in addition to the on-site voting at VCon in Vancouver, the actual venue for the Aurora ceremony this year). The world should note that having on-site voting at Con*Cept […]
So, now there’s a rumor that a fan saw me in Kyoto around the time of the Worldcon in Yokohama. I was NOT — absolutely not — in Japan at any time this year. Jeepers, if I was in Japan, you think I’d pass up the chance to go to Worldcon? Besides the fact that […]
The final ballot of the Aurora Awards is now available, at long last. I’ve added a wiki version of the list of finalists to the Canadian SF Works Database that Marcel Gagné and I created earlier this year. If you know of a nominated work that is available online, go there and add a hyperlink […]
After two weeks in China, Carolyn and I are struggling mightily with Jet-lag. It’s 15 hours earlier here in Dawson than it is in Beijing, and our internal clocks are not adjusting. We finally got to sleep at 7:00 a.m. this morning and got up at almost 2:00 this afternoon — which would have been […]
With the just-announced nomination of my short story “Biding Time” for Canada’s Aurora Award, I’ve hit a major career milestone: my 100th award nomination. It’s a number that astonishes and delights me, and it breaks down thus (the number in brackets is actual wins): Analog Analytical Laboratory Award: 1 (1) Aurora Award: 33 (9) Barry […]
It looks like Astronomicon, the wonderful little SF con in Rochester, New York, has been canceled for this year. It was to have been November 9-11, 2007, but that info is gone from their website, which now says “Our next convention will be held in November, 2008.” I was guest of honor at Astronomicon 5 […]
After a wonderful two-week trip to China, Carolyn and I are back at Berton House in Dawson, Yukon. We’ll be here for 24 more days. I still plan to get more pictures and commentary up about the Chengdu SF conference, but for now — back to work on my novel! The Robert J. Sawyer Web […]
A Call for On-Site Aurora Voting at Con*Cept We now face a major crisis — yet again — related to the credibility of the Aurora Awards, thanks to the tardiness of release of the final ballot. The facts: 1) For good or ill, VCon, the convention at which the Aurora Awards will be presented in […]
Yup, that’s right: Dennis promised — his word — that he’d FINALLY have the Aurora Ballot done by Labor Day. But apparently that’s not to be; the promise has disappeared from the Aurora website, to be replaced with: “Apologies for the delays. 2007 voting ballot will become available later this week. As well as mail-in […]
Today, Sunday, September 2, was our last full day in Beijing. Once again, the wonderful Juana and Dede were our guides. We started with shopping (well, the women shopped — I parked myself in the English-language bookstore and browsed). Then it was off to lunch at a restaurant Juana recommended — terrific. After that it […]
Yesterday (Saturday, September 1, 2007) Carolyn and I were met at our hotel (the Park Plaza Beijing) by Juana, a lovely woman who had worked as a translator at the Chengdu SF conference, and her friend Dede — and also by a wonderful guide we’d hired for the day who used the western name Remington. […]
Yay! I, of course, am thrilled! Montreal Worldcon Homepage The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
A provocative banner outside the Beijing Book Fair We began today by making an appearance at the Beijing International Book Fair. No sooner had we arrived than we ran into Neil Gaiman, who accompanied us to the Canadian Publishing booth, where Fitzhenry & Whiteside, and my Robert J. Sawyer Books imprint, were very well represented. […]
I will be reading at the International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront in October. More details as I get them, but information about the Festival is here. This is one of the largest and most prestigious writers’ festivals in the world, and I’m thrilled to be part of it again. The Robert J. Sawyer Web […]
Neil Gaiman also attended the Chengdu Science Fiction and Fantasy Conference, and he’s much further ahead in getting it blogged than I am. Check out his excellent reportage here, and in the other posts Neil links to at the end of that one. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
Yesterday (Thursday, August 30, 2007), Carolyn and I hired a driver and guide to take us on the road trip to a portion of The Great Wall of China, and we hiked along the wall. This was, I think, the hardest physical exercise I’ve ever done. It was boiling hot, the sun was beating down […]
I promise to post lots more pictures of my China trip when I have a chance, but for now, here’s one: that’s a real live panda bear in my lap. Do I have the coolest job in the world, or what? ;) The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
CBC Radio’s Q with Jian Ghomeshi interviews Robert J. Sawyer about his winning China’s Galaxy Award for Most Popular Science Fiction Author of the Year. You can listen here (grab the Tuesday 28 August 2007 show). The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
The article in Tuesday’s Globe and Mail about my Galaxy Award win is based in part on this email interview I did with the Globe‘s James Adams yesterday: Have any of your novels been translated into Cantonese or Mandarin for the mainland China market? Or have your books just been brought in as English-language imports […]
The Globe and Mail: Canada’s National Newspaper reports on Robert J. Sawyer winning the Galaxy Award, China’s top science-fiction award, for most popular foreign author here. Quill and Quire, Canada’s publishing trade journal, has its report on Rob’s win here. And CBC Radio One’s Q interviews Rob today: In about two hours, as I post […]
Says Dennis Mullin, “Apologies for the delays. I’m aiming for sooner, but promise the 2007 voting ballot will become available on the website no later than Labor Day.” In other words, he’s just delayed it another full week after the latest possible day he’d said it would be available. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
… is here, with photos. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
A good article, with photos, is here. Oh, and the CBC has a nice piece about my award win here. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
