The Toronto Star loves my new book
by Rob - August 1st, 2026.Filed under: Uncategorized. Tagged as: Sawyer on Science Fiction.
The great Alex Good, the long-time science-fiction reviewer for the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper, gave my just-released nonfiction collection Sawyer on Science Fiction a glowing review in the Saturday, July 25, 2026, edition:
You could see this massive collection of Robert J. Sawyer’s critical writings as a response to his doctor’s advice to begin setting his affairs in order after the Canadian sci-fi legend was diagnosed in 2020 with an incurable form of cancer. But it’s more than that, and much more than the sort of book he describes, not in a mean-spirited way, as “shop-floor sweepings.”
No, what we have here is a wonderful anthology of columns, addresses, introductions, interviews, profiles, reviews and autobiographical sketches that mainly address the subject of science fiction — its past, present and future — but that also have something to say about writing and the art of fiction, as well as science, politics and even how being Canadian may have impacted Sawyer’s thinking about these things.
Sawyer has all the qualities you could want in a guide, being well read, perceptive and a keen and generous critical writer. You can dip into this book at any point and come away with some insight that will stick. For Sawyer the goal of science fiction is “to shake up complacency” and not make predictions, but provide visions of potential futures. It’s the same for writing about science fiction, and Sawyer does so with experience, brio and an optimistic faith in the shape of things to come.
Sawyer on Science Fiction by Robert J. Sawyer
Shadowpaw Press (distributed by LitDistCo)
Print: 6×9″ trade paperback • 673 pages • US$29.95 • Cdn$39.95 • ISBN 978-1-998273-74-4
eBook: US$4.99 • Cdn$6.99 • and other markets worldwide • ISBN 978-1-988415-82-6
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