Robert J. Sawyer

Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer

RJS December 2016 newsletter

by Rob - December 13th, 2016.
Filed under: Far-Seer, Newsletter.

Myy latest newsletter is below; you can subscribe here.

Hello, Robert J. Sawyer reader! A few exciting news items for you — including a free ebook!

ORDER OF CANADA

First up, probably the biggest thing that will ever happen to me: On Canada Day, July 1, 2016, I was named a Member of the Order of Canada, the highest civilian honour bestowed by the Canadian government; I was honoured for “accomplishments as a science-fiction writer and mentor and for contributions as a futurist.” This makes me the first person ever to be admitted into the Order for work in the science-fiction field.

I will be presented with a medal by the Governor General of Canada early in the new year, and now am entitled to append the post-nominal initials C.M. to my name.

As a bonus, I’m now also empowered to officiate at Canadian citizenship ceremonies. I’ve been having the time of my life swearing in new citizens at the Mississauga office of the Canadian Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship; I’ve sworn in about 500 new Canadians so far, from over 40 countries.

BACKLIST EBOOKS

Sorry to make Kindle users wait, but Kobo users can get eight of my backlist titles right now, all cheap — and one for FREE!

The free one is Far-Seer, first volume of my Quintaglio Ascension trilogy. The trilogy is a parable about the dawning of modern science featuring alien counterparts of Galileo, Darwin, and Freud. The Quintaglio books are simultaneously my worst-selling books of all time and have also generated the most fan mail over the years. So, if you’ve got a Kobo E Ink device, or the free Kobo app for iOS or Android, please give Far-Seer a try; it’s FREE until the end of 2016 worldwide:

FAR-SEER for FREE

Other backlist titles now available directly from me as Kobo ebooks: Fossil Hunter, Foreigner, Golden Fleece, End of an Era, and Hugo Award finalists Starplex, Frameshift, and Factoring Humanity:

SAWYER EBOOKS

(Why Kobo editions first? Three reasons. First, they’re the home team; the Kobo head office is here in Toronto. Second, they’re giving me some free promotion in exchange for this brief exclusive period. And, third, I think it’s important for the long-term health of the ebook industry to foster a competitive marketplace rather than a monopoly.)

Kindle editions of the same books will be available in February 2017, to coincide with the paperback release of my novel Quantum Night, after its successful run in hardcover.

Speaking of which:

QUANTUM NIGHT

You know, I was happier that I correctly predicted the name of future pope Benedict XVI in 1995’s The Terminal Experiment than I am about this …

… but in my latest novel, Quantum Night, I predicted the rise from out-of-the-blue of a far-right-wing U.S. president with disastrous consequences for undocumented immigrants … and for Canada. The book also posits a scientific explanation for why the election went the way it did!

I honestly think Quantum Night is my best book yet, and many reviewers have agreed. It’s a mainstream bestseller in Canada and hit #1 on the bestsellers list published by LOCUS, the U.S. trade journal of the science fiction and fantasy fields.

“Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Sawyer’s latest work is a fast-moving, mind-stretching exploration of the nature of personality and consciousness; it balances esoteric speculation with action and character.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review, denoting a book of exceptional merit)
If you’re a Hugo Award, Nebula Award, or Aurora Award nominator, please keep Quantum Night in mind; nominations for the Nebulas are open now, and Aurora and Hugo nominations open January 1 or thereabouts.

Oh, and if you live outside North America, you can get the Quantum Night ebook — Kindle or Kobo — for just $2.99 or the equivalent in local currency (because outside of Canada and the U.S., I can set my own price instead of the publisher doing so):

QUANTUM NIGHT EBOOK

Reviews of Quantum Night are here.

KEYNOTES

I’ve given over 100 futurism keynote addresses for corporations, associations, and government agencies including the Federation of State Medical Boards, the International Association of Privacy Professionals, Health Canada, the Institute for Quantum Computing, Lockheed Martin, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Mensa, and Sanofi. I have spoken at the Library of Congress, the Googleplex, Cambridge University, the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing, and multiple TEDx events, among many other venues.

For information on booking me as a speaker, please see here.

IN CLOSING

Personally, it’s been a rough year for me. After having lost my younger brother to cancer in 2013, in the last twelve months I’ve also lost my mother (at 90), my only uncle, and my only aunt. That, plus pursuing some TV projects (about which I hope to be able to say more next time), means not a lot of fiction writing got done this year, and so I apologize that there will be no new RJS novel in 2017.

But if you’re looking for a new writer to fill the void, these debut novels greatly impressed me in 2016: The Courier by Winnipeg’s Gerald Brandt (published by DAW), Sleeping Giants by Montreal’s Sylvain Neuvel (published by Del Rey), and Archangel by Kansas writer Marguerite Reed (published by Arche Press).

If you like short stories, the new collection Soulmates (Arc Manor) gathers together the wonderful collaborations between Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn.

And my great friend Robert Charles Wilson‘s new novel Last Year just came out in hardcover from Tor; that’ll be my own vacation reading.

I hope you have fabulous holidays!

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