Carolyn and I are back safe and sound from Denver, where I was one of the Guests of Honor at the science-fiction convention MileHiCon 38. We had a truly fabulous, very pleasant, and very relaxing time. A large part of the joy in attending this con was our fellow guests of honor. Garfield and Judith […]
I wrote this commissioned essay, entitled “The Old Pemmican Factory,” exactly one year ago, sending it to Locus, the trade journal of the SF field, on November 1, 2005, for their January 2006 special report on Canadian SF. Locus edited the piece down, to my sadness, removing all the references to H.B. Fenn and Company, […]
Those who bother to read the Acknowledgements in my novels may have notice the name Howard Miller there; it’s in just about every novel of mine starting with The Terminal Experiment (and will be in the Acknowledgments of my upcoming novel Rollback). Howard read and commented on those books prior to publication, as well as […]
Today, MileHiCon 38 begins in Denver, Colorado. The author guests of honor are yours truly, plus my great friends Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens. I wrote this tribute to Gar and Judy for the convention program book: Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens If you call their house — which used to belong to Liam Neeson — you […]
Yesterday’s Doctor Who episode (as shown here in Canada on the CBC) actually made me cry at the end, it was so moving. The episode was “School Reunion,” and featured the return of Sarah Jane Smith and K-9. Sarah Jane had been the final companion for the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and the first companion […]
I had great times in Regina, Montreal, and Surrey. In Regina, I gave a keynote at a conference on the future of nursing sponsored by the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association I read at three libraries in Montreal in a very well organized mini-tour sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts, and spent this past […]
The wonderful Italian publisher Delosbooks has just released my novella “Identity Theft,” which was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Aurora Awards and won Spain’s 6,000-euro Premio UPC de Ciencia Ficción, in a translated edition, with this beautiful cover.
A new audio interview with me is available online over at The Sci Phi Show podcast from Australia; Sci Phi celebrates both science fiction and philosophy. You can access the interview directly as an MP3 file right here. The interviewer is Jason Rennie.
For those in Ontario, Canada, this is the week to cast your vote for the Evergreen Award, for library patrons’ favourite book — and my Hominids is one of the nominees this year. Details on the program are here. Please visit your local library branch, and cast a ballot. Thanks! Rob(quickly chaning planes en route […]
I’m in Calgary, Alberta, for a couple of days, for the Fall 2006 Write-Off retreat organized by Imaginative Fiction Writers Association. It goes through Sunday evening, but I have to leave Sunday morning, ’cause I’m off to Regina, Saskatchewan, where I’m giving a keynote at a conference on nursing in 2020, sponsored by the Saskatchewan […]
VCon in Vancouver was lots of fun. Not a particularly large convention, but very well run with lots of really first-rate programming. It was a joy to see FRIENDS AND colleagues including Bonnie Jean Mah, Walter from White Dwarf Books, Alma Alexander and Deck Deckert, Ed Willett (launching his first novel from DAW), Rhea Rose […]
In Vancouver today, the science-fiction convention VCon 31 begins. Fan Guest of Honour is my great friend Randy McCharles. I wrote the tribute to him for the convention’s program book (and will also be conducting the Guest of Honour interview with him on Saturday afternoon). Here’s the tribute: === These days, the only ethnic jokes […]
Wednesday was another day of dealing with the aftermath of the accident. I had a long-standing commitment to speak to the Toronto Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada — and I had absolutely zero chance to prepare my talk in advance. So I just got up and winged it — an hour and […]
James Alan Gardner is a great science-fiction writer, and one of my best friends. And tonight, he was there for me when I needed him. The repercussions of the car accident involving one of my family members that I mentioned yesterday are continuing, and I spent most of today back at the hospital. In total, […]
So, a member of my family was in a car accident today — no one was hurt, but the car is a right-off. And Google — through Gmail — thoughtfully provided all these ads along side an email I just received from someone I told about the accident: temporary car insuranceQuotes, Rates & Coverage Online! […]
If you’ve got a Palm OS device with a WiFi Internet connection, you might like Quickipedia; I just registered it — a US$14.95 client for reading Wikipedia articles on your handheld. Cool!
This may be a record for photos of my in Locus, the SF trade journal — six in one issue! I’m clearly visible in the front row of the audience for the Hugo Awards in Los Angeles in August on page 7, there’s a nice photo of me (in a tux, no less!) on page […]
I’m actually a very big fan of ebooks. I love having lots of stuff to read with me when I travel; I love being able to read in the dark; I love being able to make the text large enough to read without my glasses; I love having a couple of big dictionaries available as […]
In honor of the discussion below, of ebook-reading devices, this week’s Monday Spotlight is actually a page linked off my site: the Robert J. Sawyer page at Fictionwise.com, the leading ebook vendor. It lists 28 of my short stories, two of my novels, and one audio book available in a variety of formats. Enjoy!
One of the great joys of reading ebooks — which I do all the time — is reading in the dark, when your partner is sleeping. But the much-touted e-ink in the Sony ebook is passively illuminated: it depends on ambient light falling on it to be visible. It’s great if you’re reading outdoors, less […]
Well, I got to see one of the sexed-up Star Trek: The Original Series episodes, with new CGI effects. It was “The Naked Time,” certainly one of the best episodes. There were a number of nice touches — Scotty’s phaser cutting through the engineering bulkhead now has a visible beam; the PSI 2000 research station […]
As I had a small hand in the revival of Robotech, and receive a “thanks to” credit in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, I was delighted to see that the film has won an award.
I’m thrilled to announce that I will be Guest of Honor at Loscon 32 in Los Angeles, November 23-25, 2007 (next year); Loscon is the annual convention of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society. The theme of the con next year will be paleontology and archeology in science fiction — I can’t wait! This is […]
Hi, Folks. Next week, I’m off to VCon 31, the Vancouver Science Fiction Convention, in British Columbia, being held October 6-8. Here’s my programming schedule: Saturday 3:00 PM Rob Sawyer interviews Fan Guest of Honour Randy McCharlesExecutive Boardroom 1 hour Saturday 5:00 PM Panel: How Possible Is Time Travel? Boardroom A 1 hour Sunday 11:00 […]
