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 • […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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
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 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 […]
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
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 […]
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, […]
An email I just sent: Thank you for your latest phone call and follow-up email. I should be frank, though. Optioning film and TV rights to my works for up-front money is a major part of how I make my living. When we first spoke on the phone, you offered me as full compensation 15% […]
Literary agent Ralph Vicinanza, 60, died peacefully Sunday night, September 26, of a brain aneurysm. He was my agent for the past fifteen years, and one of the executive producers of FlashForward, the TV series based on my novel of the same name. I remember, years ago, when I was looking for a new agent […]
I recently had cause to introduce a publicist to my current trilogy of Wake, Watch, and Wonder, and created the cheat sheet below so he could quickly come up to speed the books: First, you should watch the three book trailers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB2nt-Oqjt4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3A4aetrhs4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XI-PTTSjJw Here’s a synopsis of the first book, Wake: http://sfwriter.com/syw1.htm And a […]
Terence M. Green and I are either in booth FB12 or WB12 today at Toronto’s Word on the Street — not sure which. The stuff we got from the organizers says FB12, but today’s Toronto Star says WB12. FB stands for “Fringe Beat,” and WB for “Writers’ Block” — so the latter makes more sense, […]
I was Special Guest at the wonderful science-fiction convention FenCon in Dallas last weekend, and there Glenda Boozer debuted her new filk song Math Geek Love, based on my novel WWW: Watch. I think it’s absolutely charming, and with Glenda’s kind permission, I’m sharing the lyrics here: Math Geek Love by Glenda Boozer Math geek, […]
Come see me at Toronto’s Word on the Street this Sunday, September 26, in booth FB 12 (“Fringe Beat 12”) along with Terence M. Green. (Our booth is on Queen’s Park Crescent East, north of Wellesley Street.) I’ll be at our booth all day, except 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., when I’ll be at the […]
Sci Fi Writer to Explore Fear of Human Obsolescence Center for Values Offers Program as Part of ‘Incite Your Curiosity’ Lecture Series As smartphones get smarter and computers get faster, humans, who err and just get slower with age, seem to be almost superfluous at times. But award-winning science fiction novelist Robert J. Sawyer isn’t […]
A very nice article about the treatment of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence in my novels including Rollback and Factoring Humanity is online at Discovery News here. Robert J. Sawyer online:Website • Facebook • Twitter • Newsgroup • Email
In April 2009, I was asked by Cosmos, Australia’s leading science magazine, to contribute to their “Bookmark” column. Normally, that column has scientists recommending books; for the first time ever, they asked a science-fiction writer to do it instead. My suggestions appeared in issue 27: Robert J. Sawyer is a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning science-fiction […]
Happy 15th anniversary to my website — it’s older than Amazon.com, was the first science-fiction author site on the web, has been giving away fiction since the first week, and has over 1,000,000 words of content. Check it out at sfwriter.com. Robert J. Sawyer online:Website • Facebook • Twitter • Newsgroup • Email
The latest issue of The Journal of Consciousness Studies (Vol. 17, No. 5-6) lists “Notable Quotes” from this year’s Toward a Science of Consciousness conference in Tucson, including these from my keynote address:“Canada should have British culture, French cuisine, and American know-how. Instead, Canada has British cuisine, American culture, and French know-how.” “Scholars ask me […]
Here’s a first look at the cover for Wonder, concluding volume of my WWW trilogy, coming in early April 2011 from Ace in the US, Penguin in Canada, and Gollancz in the UK. Click the image for a larger version, and click again if your browser is still scaling it down. The covers for all […]
On Sunday, May 23, 2010, the 30th anniversary Aurora Awards banquet was held in Winnipeg at Keycon, this year’s Canadian National Science Fiction Convention. Fan Organizational nominee Kirstin Morrell used Robert J. Sawyer’s Twitter feed to tweet the proceedings live as they happened. Below is what she had to say; above is a photo of […]
The winners of the 2010 Prix Aurora Awards were announced over Victoria Day weekend at a gala banquet in Winnipeg concluding Keycon, this year’s Canadian National Science Fiction Convention. Liana Kerzer was mistress of ceremonies. The winners are: Best Novel in English: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer (published by Penguin Canada) Meilleur Roman en Français […]
All events are free and open to the public: Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver Public Library Central Branch Alma VanDusen Room on the lower level 350 West Georgia Street In conjunction with (but not at) White Dwarf Books Wednesday, May 5, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. Calgary, Alberta Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Centre Hearth Room, 1320 – 5 […]
This morning I submitted the manuscript for Wonder, the third volume of my WWW trilogy, and my 20th novel, to my three English-language editors: Ginjer Buchanan at Ace Science Fiction in New York Adrienne Kerr at Penguin Group (Canada) in Toronto Simon Spanton at Orion/Gollancz in London I spent six years working on this trilogy. […]
My book tour event in Calgary, Alberta, for Watch, has a new, bigger venue: Friday, May 7, 7:30 p.m., Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Centre, Hearth Room, 1320 – 5 Ave NW. The time and date are the same as before, but the place is different. The event is not at Pages at Kensington bookstore, but the […]
Today is the day everyone saw a glimpse of during their flashforwards in FlashForward , the ABC TV series based on my novel of the same name. It also happens to be my 50th birthday. In honour of both, I provide the English text of an interview I just did for a Hungarian publication. Enjoy! […]
Hello, Robert J. Sawyer reader! Welcome to my twice-a-year newsletter. This time: new novel, FLASHFORWARD news, cross-Canada book tour, and more! === NEW BLOG ADDRESS! I’ve switched my blog to WordPress, which necessitated a slight change to the address. My blog can now be found at: https://sfwriter.com/blog/ === WWW: WAKE now out in paperback! WWW: […]
