Robert J. Sawyer

Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer

Archive for May, 2007

China, here I come!

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

To my astonishment and delight, my Chinese publisher has just informed me that I’ve won the Galaxy Award, China’s top science-fiction award, in the category “Most-Popular Foreign Author of the Year.” Go me! And I will: all the way to Chengdu, China, to collect the award in person in August, and to attend the 2007 […]

Aurora nominations looming; full-text of Sawyer story

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

Nominations for the 2007 Aurora Awards — the Canadian science fiction and fantasy awards — are now open. You can get the nominating ballot here. Any Canadian, whether or not resident in Canada, may nominate, and there’s no charge to do so. My own story, eligible for nomination, is the SF/mystery “Biding Time,” from the […]

Another keynote

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

I’m off to Montreal tonight to give the keynote address tomorrow moring at the conference “Reasons to Hope, Knowledge to Cope — Innovations in Cancer Patient Education,” being presented by the Cancer Patient Education Network Canada. I do a lot of keynotes for corporations and organizations, talking about the current and projected state of science […]

ABC’s LOST and Flashforward

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

I have to confess to never having watched an episode of the ABC TV series Lost, but I know it’s hugely popular — and I know it has a main character named Sawyer. Well, a fan both of Lost and my work, points out that the name of a funeral home in a recent episode […]

How I spent Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

Author Adam-Troy Castro and his wife Judi picked us up at the hotel at 10:00 a.m. and we drove the 50 miles to the Kennedy Space Centre (getting slightly lost on the way). The Castros’ rental car’s windshield got so plastered with splattered insects (“love bugs,” we were told they were called) that we actually […]

Singularity video

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

There’s a good video here about The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Check it out, and Digg it if you like it! The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

SFBC’s Things to Come

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

Anybody out there got a copy of the bulletin/catalog of the Science Fiction Book Club, that has my Rollback listed as a main selection? If you don’t need your copy, I’d love to have it for my files. My address is: Robert J. Sawyer100 City Centre DrivePO Box 2065Mississauga ON Canada L5B 3C6 Many, many […]

Wilson and Sawyer’s Toronto

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

Karen Bennett has a wonderful survey article on her website entitled The Speculative Torontos of Robert Charles Wilson and Robert J. Sawyer. Check it out! The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

The Rollback book tour comes to an end

Monday, May 28th, 2007

And so, with the end of Oasis 20, the SF convention in Orlando, Florida, at which I was one of the Guests of Honor this weekend, the book tour for Rollback, my 17th novel, comes to an end. From Vancouver, B.C., to Washington, D.C.; from Toronto to Denver; from Calgary to Orlando — 18 cities […]

Dinner on the Robman

Sunday, May 27th, 2007

In 2004, Mike Resnick was commissioned to edit an original anthology for the Science Fiction Book Club entitled Down These Dark Spaceways. It consisted of six novellas, all by award-winning SF writer, all hard-boiled-detective SF. The Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) in Spain sponsors the world’s largest cash prize for science-fiction writing, the 6,000-euro Premio […]

Florida evening

Saturday, May 26th, 2007

How’s this for a group of people on one convention panel? Mike Bishop, Jack McDevitt, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Joe Haldeman, Mike Resnick, and Robert J. Sawyer? You don’t usually get a line-up that stellar, if I do say so myself, even at a Worldcon, but that was the roster for the 7:00 p.m. panel on […]

Florida

Friday, May 25th, 2007

The fourth and final phase of the Rollback book tour is coming to an end; this was the by-plane in the USA part. Last weekend, I was in Denver, and this weekend I’m in Orlando, Florida — where the weather is gorgeous! I’m one of the Guests of Honor at Oasis 20, the annual SF […]

Publicity Doesn’t Just Happen: A Case Study

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

When Publishers Weekly did its cover story on science fiction (in their April 2, 2007, issue), the lead interview was with me, Robert J. Sawyer. The article, by Bethanne Kelly Patrick and Michael Coffey, began: Robert J. Sawyer knows a thing or two about the future. “It’s here,” says the Hugo Award-winning author of 18 […]

Membership rates to Denver Worldcon going up

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

Sadly, I won’t be at this year’s Worldcon in Japan. But having just returned from a trip to Denver, and been reminded of what a beautiful city it is, I can’t wait until next year’s Worldcon, which will be there. And I noted this morning, while looking at the convention’s website, that membership rates go […]

Author’s comment for the SFBC

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

My Rollback is a current featured selection of the Science Fiction Book Club. The SFBC asked me for a comment on the book as its author; here’s what I had to say: One of the most interesting panels I ever saw at a science-fiction convention had Larry Niven and Mike Resnick on it. The moderator […]

Calgary Herald links

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

Here’s a link to the review of Rollback in The Calgary Herald: Rollback; Robert J. SawyerThe Calgary HeraldSun 20 May 2007Page: C3Section: Books & The ArtsByline: Dan Healing SCI FI – Talk about a slow conversation. When Dr. Sarah Halifax decodes the first radio message ever received from aliens and helps write a response, the […]

Orlando, here I come!

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

I’m Guest of Honor at Oasis 20 this weekend along with Mike Resnick, Joe Haldeman, Michael Bishop, Kathleen Ann Goonan, and Jack McDevitt. Check it out! The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Calgary Herald reviews Rollback

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

Dan Healing reviews Rollback in the Sunday, May 20, 2007, Calgary Herald, the major newspaper in that city. The review is on page C3; I haven’t yet been able to find it online, but it concludes: “This latest offering from sci-fi award collector Robert J. Sawyer meets all the requirements of summertime reading — it’s […]

Yet another bestsellers’ list

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

Rollback is number 9 on the fiction bestsellers’ list in Calgary, Alberta, as published in The Calgary Herald, the major newspaper there: Calgary BestsellersThe Calgary HeraldSun 20 May 2007Page: C3Section: Books & The ArtsSource: For The Calgary HeraldFiction 1 (1) Divisadero, Michael Ondaatje. A haunting story that ranges from northern California to central France. 2 […]

Fictionwise 25% off sale

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

Dozens of my short stories are available through Fictionwise.com, including Aurora winners and finalists for the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker Awards — and their all 25% off right now, as part of Fictionwise’s 7th anniversary sale. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Biblio’s Bloggins

Monday, May 21st, 2007

What a great name for a book-lover’s blog: Biblio’s Bloggins. Brilliant! The fact that the blogger loves Rollback, calling it “Sawyer’s best yet,” is just gravy … :) The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Denver Rocks!

Sunday, May 20th, 2007

Phase Four (of four!) of the book tour for Rollback is now underway: by-plane in the United States. It started on Friday, May 18, 2007, when I flew from Toronto to Denver. The Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers had brought me in to run a day-long workshop for them — and they kindly agreed to let […]

The loonie is killing me …

Friday, May 18th, 2007

As a guy who makes most of his money in US dollars, but lives in Canada, the high value of the loonie (Canadian dollar) is killing me. It’s at a 30-year high today, according to this report in The Globe and Mail. One of the reasons for my switch to a cross-border Penguin Canada / […]

Rollback promo on YouTube

Friday, May 18th, 2007

Check it out! (Craig Rintoul of BookBits produced this.) The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Jackson Reads

Friday, May 18th, 2007

I spent a wonderful day today at A.Y. Jackson Secondary School in North York (part of Toronto), as the guest author for the “Jackson Reads” celebration. I did events all day long: an assembly for all the grade-10 students in the morning; lunch (Swiss Chalet chicken!) with the faculty; and two afternoon sessions, one with […]

International Reading Association

Thursday, May 17th, 2007

I spent Monday night and all day Tuesday at the International Reading Association conference, which this year was in Toronto, a massive (11,000 people) convention of educators and librarians involved with reading and literacy. Monday night, May 14, 2007, Tor YA publisher Kathleen Doherty took Carolyn and me, Charles de Lint, graphic-novel author Tim Eldred, […]

A discussion of the state of SF

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

… from last weekend’s Nebula Awards conference is reported on by Galley Cat here. It’s fascinating reading. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Rollback filk!

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

That’s Dr. Paul Shuch, Executive Director Emeritus of The SETI League. Paul is an accomplished filker (science-fiction folk-song artist) and he’s written a lovely filk based on my novel Rollback. You can read the filk here on Paul’s website. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Rob on Denver radio on Friday

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

I’ll be on KHOW AM630 in Denver this Friday, May 18, at 9:00 a.m. Denver/Mountain time (11:00 a.m. in Toronto/New York). If you’re not in Denver, you can still listen live here. The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Rob in Denver on Friday

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

Come on out and see me in Denver this Friday night, May 18, 2007, at 7:30 p.m., at Tattered Cover, 2526 East Colfax Avenue at Elizabeth Street. I’ll be reading from and signing Rollback. And on Saturday, I’m doing a day-long writing seminar for The Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. I’m delighted to be returning to […]