Well, the SF-publishing-related portion of the blogosphere is abuzz with the sad story of an author who decided to try a grass-roots campaign to get readers to email the Tor editor to which she’d made her novel submission, encouraging that editor (a very nice person) to buy her book. This, of course, was a very, […]
Yes, I know, you thought I was done ages ago, when I finished final revisions on the manuscript. But there are many stages in bringing a book to market, and, for the author, the last one is going over the page proofs (advance printouts of the typesetting). Today, I finished going over those pages, looking […]
The barbecue I discussed here has been cancelled, because the Saturday Calgary weather looks crappy. Says 2008 World Fantasy Convention chair Randy McCharles: Winter has come early.Well, at least fall has. Mother Nature has chosen our BBQ weekend to have unseasonably cold weather. I’ve been watching the forecast all week and it has been getting […]
Derek Weiler’s editorial in the October issue of Quill & Quire, the Canadian publishing trade journal, is about the importance of authors taking a hand in the promotion of their own books, and it makes kind mention of yours truly: If you’re an author, doing what you can may involve courting the media or networking […]
Over the next six weeks — between now and the end of October 2006 — I have to take these flight: Toronto to CalgaryCalgary to TorontoToronto to VancouverCalgary to ReginaRegina to MontrealMontreal to TorontoToronto to VancouverVancouver to CalgaryCalgary to DenverDenver to Toronto Gak! It’s a good thing I’m very good at getting writing done on […]
See this posting over at NewScientist.com If you don’t know what Gliksins are, you haven’t read enough Rob Sawyer … ;)
… and so do I. All The Boys Love Mandy Lane had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this week. Executive Producer is Keith Calder, who, as Variety reported, has optioned film rights to my Hugo-, Nebula-, and Aurora-Award-nominated novella “Identity Theft.” Carolyn and I didn’t go to the first screening at […]
A press release from Washington University in St. Louis: Modern humans, not Neandertals, may be evolution’s ‘odd man out’ Looking incorrectly at Neandertals Could it be that in the great evolutionary “family tree,” it is we Modern Humans, not the brow-ridged, large-nosed Neandertals, who are the odd uncle out? New research published in the August, […]
This week’s Monday Spotlight, highlighting one of the 500+ documents on my website at sfwriter.com, is my Press Kit. Every published author should have a page like this one that gathers together the various bits of background that reporters and other media-types need when doing an interview with you. It’s a lot easier than trying […]
I get asked all the time if I’ll look at people’s manuscripts and offer an opinion. Another such request just showed up in my email box. Here’s what I had to say: I’m afraid the answer is no, for a couple of reasons. First, because my lawyer has advised me not to read unpublished manuscripts, […]
During this week of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, I’ve thinking about which one of the classic 79 episodes is my favorite. My choice has shifted over the years; the pacifist in me has long loved “Errand of Mercy” (with the Organians, and John Collicos as the first Klingon, Kor). But I actually think […]
As anyone who has been to my home and seen my small collection of replicas knows, I love the props from the classic Star Trek series — and now there’s a fabulous new site devoted to the communicators from that series, discussing in minute detail the differences between each of the ten communicator props originally […]
I couldn’t take seeing ads for PublishAmerica and other outfits I’d never in my life recommend showing up on my blog, so, as of this evening, the Google AdSense ads are gone from here. I’m very interested in the issue of monetizing a writing career in the decades to come. If it ceases to be […]
Carolyn Clink and I edited Tesseracts 6 … and now Tesseracts 11 is open: TESSERACTS ELEVENFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Tesseracts Eleven, the 2007 volume in the award-winning anthology of Canadian Speculative Fiction, is now open for submissions. Editors for Tesseracts Eleven are: Cory Doctorow and Holly Phillips. The Tesseracts anthology series is open […]
I’m quoted extensively (but not till page two) in this article about SETI, over at National Geographic‘s website. Analog editor Stanley Schmidt is also quoted; the article is by Richard A. Lovett.
Folks, I’m just saying, don’t start your email subject lines with “TOP SECRET!!!!” It looks like spam. I just missed out on the surprise 50th birthday party for my great friend Mark Askwith from Space: The Imagination Station because I didn’t get the email invitation. The invitation went out while I was at Worldcon, and […]
Well, it’s nice to know people actually read my blog! I screwed up in the original version of this earlier blog post, and gave the wrong link for Lloyd Penney’s LiveJournal, where you can read all his many wonderful letters of comment to SF fanzines. The correct link is http://lloydpenney.livejournal.com/. Sorry, Lloyd!
First up, there’s my great friend Lloyd Penney (above), one of the most prolific letterhacks in science-fiction fandom. He’s come thisclose to making the Hugo ballot for best fan writer several times and has won an Aurora Award. I suggested he start a LiveJournal so that all his LoCs (letters of comment) that normally appear […]
This was drawn to my attention this evening: a nice review of my Mindscan at Blogcritics. org.
A life lesson for wannabe writers: it pays to have money in the bank. Because you know that check you’re expecting? Money you’re owed for work you’ve done? It can take an awfully long time to show up. My editor at Tor accepted the final revisions on Rollback on Thursday, April 27. That act — […]
Just got a congratulatory email from my friends Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens, who saw the Variety piece about my deal with Snoot Entertainment for “Identity Theft,” and I see it’s also written up here and here.
So, I sometimes get asked why I bother editing my own little line of books. After all, it’s often frustrating, it’s time-consuming, the pay is miniscule, and on and on. But the answer is obvious to me when one of the new books arrives hot off the press. Today, I got my first copies of […]
Down below, in my blog entries from August 31, 2006, through September 4, 2006, I describe the first-ever Mississauga Write-Off, a writing retreat held at Carolyn and my place over the Labour Day long weekend, with these participants: Carolyn Clink, Al Katerinsky, Herb Kauderer, Val King, Randy McCharles, Robert J. Sawyer, Elizabeth Trenholm, and Hayden […]
From the Tuesday, September 5, 2006, edition of Variety, the Hollywood trade paper: Snoot plans grand ‘Theft’A new ‘Identity’ for Calder By Pamela McClintock Keith Calder’s frosh financing and production company, Snoot Entertainment, has bought the film rights to Robert J. Sawyer’s acclaimed futuristic novella “Identity Theft.” Story revolves around a private eye working on […]
And the first-ever Mississauga Write-Off is officially over. Herb and Al drove back to Buffalo around 5:00 p.m., and Randy and Val took Carolyn and me out to dinner this evening, then took a 9:00 p.m. flight back to Calgary. Although the company for dinner was fabulous, I have to say the food was not. […]
I was too busy this past month with travel to provide regular Monday spotlights, highlighting documents on my website at sfwriter.com, but I hope to get back to doing so each week … and for this week, simply because I had to fix some broken code in it today, the spotlight is this guide to […]
Well, it’s winding down. Hayden (who wrote 8,700 words this weekend) and Liz (5,300) have been deposited at the Toronto airport. Herb and Al are checked out of our condo’s first-floor guest suite (but are still here). Herb is writing on the balcony, but the rest of us keep rushing out to join him, since […]
Well, as those who read my blog directly at sfwriter.com/blog.htm have doubtless noticed, I’ve been trying an experiment in having Google AdSense ads on my blog. But I’m not sure I’m happy with the results: the ads seem to mostly be either from vanity publishers or authors of self-published books, or from fee-charging agents, and […]
Today’s food was a brunch at our place in the morning, followed by an early dinner at Emerald Chinese, one of Mississauga’s best, and most authentic, Chinese restaurants (by the time our dinner was over, the place was reasonably packed, and we were the only non-Asians eating there). Liz and Hayden very kindly bought for […]
Progress has been slow for me today — stayed up too late last night, plus I’m at the difficult stage in which I’m defining characters’ voices; once I have those down, my pace tends to pick up. It’s still overcast here, but it’s not raining today. Hayden has gone for a walk, Herb is now […]
