Robert J. Sawyer

I love the fact that Robert J. Sawyer is smarter than me. There is a breadth to his concepts and ideas in his latest novel, Wake, that is exhilarating, if not exhausting. In the hands of a less skilled and less focused author, it would be like tab-surfing Wikipedia. Wake, however, is an engrossing, fascinating and, yes, challenging novel to read.

Wake has more great and intriguing ideas, philosophies and concepts interwoven throughout the plot than should be allowed in a single novel.

Wake is founded on theories that communication, in any form, is not just a way of sharing information, but is the central construct for all education, for true emancipation as well as the vehicle of all empathy and understanding. This is why Sawyer’s Wake succeeds; his unabashed optimism and hope for a shared future that is no longer bound and tethered by tyranny, petty opportunism and fear. “Communication,” says Sawyer, “is about breaking down barriers.” “(Nobel Peace Prize Winner, and former prime minister) Lester Pearson was my hero and we Canadians have a great history of mediating, of reaching across to grant greater understanding.”

The whole review is online here (and its publication at this somewhat late date is tied into the fact that I’m appearing in Calgary this Saturday night at at the EDGE Publishing launch party, also covered by FFWD).

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David G. Hartwell, the reviews and features editor for The New York Review of Science Fiction, tells me my rebuttal to American academic Amy J. Ransom can’t appear in print until three months from now, long after the end of the Worldcon in Montreal, and so I’m posting it here:

Amy J. Ransom’s frame for her article in the May 2009 NYRSF is just plain silly (as is the article’s title, which is, in part: “SFQ: More than Just a Hobby”). She leads with a reference to my blog posting that enumerated significant Canadian-SF anniversaries occurring in 2009 (and then mangled the URL of the entry so no one could consult it easily), then posits a supposed “companion” list for French-Canadian SF: the 13th anniversary of this, the 21st anniversary of that, the 16th of something else, another 13th, and the 11th of yet one more thing.

But every year is the anniversary of each preceding year. I had shown — within hours of its selection as a venue — why a Worldcon in Canada (not just in Montreal), in 2009, on the 30th, 25th, and 20th anniversaries of signal events in the history of Canadian SF, was appropriate. If I could have cherry-picked, as she did, from all of history (the 6th anniversary of this, the 17th of that), I could have produced a much longer list.

Ransom wrongly characterizes my list as being solely about English Canadian SF. Three of my eight anniversaries have significant French Canadian components: the first and all subsequent volumes (including the one I co-edited) of the Tesseracts anthology series; the founding of the bilingual national writers association SF Canada; and the gathering together of French and English writers that was ConText.

Still, Ransom is deliberately unfair in failing to mention that in a comment to my own blog posting I also listed three significant French-Canadian anniversaries, including the only two significant ones — that is, those ending in a zero or five — that Ransom herself mentions, plus one she missed.

And her conclusion (and the basis for part of the title), quoting six words selectively from what I said seven years ago, to wit, “French-Canadian sf is a hobby,” and then asking but failing to answer the question of whether on a per capita basis there really are more Anglo-Canadian SF writers doing this for a living, is specious.

First, what I actually said, in response to interviewer Steven H. Silver’s question, was much fuller: “English-Canadian SF can be a profession: people like me, Spider Robinson, William Gibson, Karl Schroeder, and Julie Czerneda do it for a living. French-Canadian SF is a hobby; there’s just no way you can do it as your principal undertaking in life. It’s got more in common with poetry — a labor of love, often, to be sure, producing exceptionally fine work, but confined to small presses, and read, to be honest, by only a few hundred people.”

To my list above, one could add, among others, Nalo Hopkinson, Karin Lowachee, Kenneth Oppel, Jo Walton, Peter Watts, and Robert Charles Wilson — and that’s before starting to include the fantasists who sometimes work in SF (Tanya Huff, Dave Duncan, etc.). Leaving hanging a question the answer to which is obvious and pretending instead that it’s a profound poser is not argumentation, it’s deception — and Ransom does no one a service by it.

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Le w00t! I’m delighted to report that French rights to Wake have sold to Éditions Robert Laffont in Paris, via my agents Ralph M. Vicinanza Ltd.

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The Campbell Memorial is considered the third of the big-three SF awards, after the Hugo and the Nebula (and is the only major award for which only science fiction, and not fantasy, is eligible).

Nick’s A Small and Remarkable Life, also published under my imprint, was previously nominated for the same award.

The winner will be announced in Kansas City at the Campbell Conference, July 9-12, 2009.

The full list of nominees is here, and you can read Nancy Kress’s introduction to the book here.

Congratulations, Nick!

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So says The Hollywood Reporter (and, of course, note that of all the ABC series they could choose to show a still from to illustrate this article, it’s Flashforward. Yes, we rock.)

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Lovely feedback from the Canadian Science Writers’ Association on my closing keynote address at their annual meeting last month in Sudbury:

“In a conference already packed with treats and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, Rob’s talk on the craft of science writing from a science fiction writers’ perspective stood out as a celebration of compelling science communication. His keynote at our meeting charged members with enthusiasm for new ways of showing-off science to the general public and his reading from his novel was perfectly tailored to our event.”

— Peter McMahon
Vice-President
Canadian Science Writers’ Association

You can listen to my talk as an MP3 here.

More about me as a speaker is here, and more quotes from groups I’ve spoken to are here.

Meanwhile, just booked a new keynote today: I’ll be giving the opening talk at the annual meeting of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of Manitoba, to be held in October 2009 in Winnipeg.

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Carolyn and I saw the new Land of the Lost film tonight in Saskatoon. There were eight people besides ourselves in the theatre — not a good sign for a film that’s been out for all of 100 hours at this point.

It was … bizarre. It actually might appeal to my friend Nick DiChario, the surrealist writer.

Still it is filled with all the things true Land of the Lost fans would want: the Sleestak (and the “Beware the Sleestak” grafitti), Enik the Altrusian, the Library of Skulls, the pylons and the crystals that control them, Grumpy and Alice (the T. rex and Allosaurus, respectively), Cha-ka and the Pakuni, and even the Zarn with voice by none other than Leonard Nimoy. And Will Ferrell does actually sing the classic theme song inside the movie (“Marshall, Will, and Holly / On a routine expedition / Met the greatest earthquake ever known …”).

But, man, it’s a strange film! Would you believe that the Broadway musical A Chorus Line figures heavily in the plot? It wouldn’t be wrong to call it an absurdist movie.

The effects are state-of-the-art, but evocative of the 1970s original. Still, in every place that there was CGI, I said to myself, “Ah, there’s some CGI.”

I can’t say I liked it, but I can’t say I disliked it, either. I’m mostly just stunned that the bizarre script got green-lit. (It’s also awfully scatological, with unnecessary profanity, and a Jesus joke that offended even me and seemed totally unnecessary.)

Next time I see my buddy David Gerrold (who created the original series, but was not involved in the remake), I’ll have to find out what he thinks of it. But I can’t imagine he liked it.

It’s definitely not anywhere as good (not even 1/10th as good) as J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek, and should be pretty far down your list of films to see in the summer of 2009, but it does, as the saying goes, have its moments …

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The cover painting, by Jael, is called “Euclid’s Child.

Learn more about Relativity here, and about Jael here.

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A brilliant look at interspecies communication with some remarkable insights into the future of artificial intelligence; one of Robert Sawyer’s best efforts and one that will open your eyes to new possibilities. He’s likely to score a hit with everyone from Gibson and Stephenson’s crowd to science oriented YA readers of both genders looking for a summer read.

What I found most interesting about the review (by Ernest Lilley, SFRevu‘s Senior Editor), though, is that it’s the first one (that I’ve seen anyway) that actually picks up on my reference to William Gibson’s Neuromancer, something I thought all of the SF reviewers would mention; Wake has been out for two months (precisely, as of today), and Ernest is the first one to make mention of it:

If books were movies, I’d suggest this on a double bill with Neuromancer, which Rob can’t resist making a humorous reference to, “The sky above the island was the color of television turned to a dead channel …” he mentions, and which we may remember is taken from opening line to Gibson’s classic. But he continues, “… which is to say it was a bright, cheery blue” which pretty much sums up the difference between the two books. In Neuromancer, there was a presumption of decay and heartlessness, while here there’s the opposite — people (and other entities) are as often helpful as hateful, though Sawyer does not dismiss selfishness or callousness by any means.

You can read the full review here.

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I’ve only got five writer-in-residence appointments not yet spoken for during my stint at the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon. If you want one, better book fast. I expect them all to be booked up shortly. Contact me at sawyer@sfwriter.com if you’d like to book an appointment.

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Come see me and a bunch of other fine authors at this event in Calgary on Saturday, June 13:

You may already have received this invitation, but I want to be sure you know about our upcoming Fine Fiction, Fine Art and Fine Wine multi-author book launch event …

Hades Publications is celebrating nine years of publishing Science Fiction and Fantasy genre books.

We have planned an evening including special guests and local authors reading from their recent books. Meet old friends, make new ones, get some autographs and talk about books and the publishing experience.

There will be author readings by Randy McCharles, Susan Forest, Marie Bilodeau, Robert J. Sawyer and special guest poet Christian Bök.

Also in attendance, celebrating the release of their new books will be:

J. R. Campbell
Eileen Bell
Tina Hunter
Billie Milholland
Barbara Galler-Smith
Justyn Perry
Charles Prepolec

We will also introduce our new imprint, Absolute XPress, and our squad of Hades’ Angels — the fine folks who make our publishing house so special!

Come for wine & cheese, cold cuts, chips, pop and hot coffee / tea (hot chocolate for those of you in the know).

Bring as many friends as you want — the more the better!

Cheers,
Brian Hades

Event Details

When: Saturday June 13th Doors open at 6:15pm, events at 7:00pm

What: Hades Publications Multi-Book Launch and soiree

Where: Venturion Art Gallery – Suite 104A, 214-11 Ave. SE Calgary (Doors at back of building)

Dress: Semi-Formal

Please R.S.V.P. if possible to Justyn Perry
403-254-0160
justyn@hadespublications.com
www.edgewebsite.com

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Planet S: Saskatoon’s City Magazine comes out every two weeks. The last page is a section called 14 Days which lists “City Events * Movies * Music” for the next two weesk, and at the right side of the page there’s a sidebar labelled Top 6, listing the six best bets for the coming fortnight. The current issue’s top pick?

1. ROBERT J. SAWYER
BOOK SIGNING
He’s probably the best sci-fi writer Canada has ever produced — and he’s coming to hang out as the writer in residence at the U of S for June and July! Catch Sawyer reading from and signing his latest novel, Wake (June 4, McNally Robinson).

Cool!

(#2: a concert by Mark Ceaser and Kirby Criddle, “Saskatoon’s best singer-songwriters”; #3: Saskatchewan Children’s Festival.)

I was also the cover story in Planet S back on April 9, 2009.

And the event was packed at McNally; I was trilled!

(The Canadian Light Source is on the University of Saskatchewan campus.)

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We flew here from Toronto on Monday, June 1, had lunch with Canadian Light Source’s Matthew Dalzell, then did our safety training at CLS, got our access cards, and had a tour of the synchrotron facility.

Tuesday was spent settling in, etc., and doing a bunch of things.

Wednesday, I spoke at at high school, did an interview for Saskatoon CBC Radio One’s “Blue Skies” program, had dinner with DAW SF writer Edward Willett and Kent Pollard of McNally Robinson Saskatoon, then attended Ed’s reading from his new novel at McNally.

Thursday, I had an interview at the local CTV station, then was interviewed at CLS by the local Shaw (cable-service provider) community channel, then had dinner with Matt and his wife at Prairie Ink at McNally Robinson, then I did my own event at McNally, a very well attended reading and signing for Wake.

Today, Friday, June 5, I read four manuscripts in preparation for my critiquing sessions tomorrow, did a by-Skype podcast interview with a fellow in Wellington, New Zealand (about which more later), and went over to the home of Yann Martel, the Man Booker Prize-winning author of Life of Pi, and fellow author Alice Kuipers for a wonderful dinner party.

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The Fort Morgan Times (Fort Morgan, Colorado), has just published a nice review of my novel Wake. The review begins:

“www:Wake” by Robert J. Sawyer is another delight from the pen of an author who knows how to romp through the kind of speculation which makes science fiction most fun.

Most intriguing is the end, though, which says:

If you’re in the habit of Googling authors or wanting to know them better, please don’t be thrown off by Sawyer’s political views, which are available on the Web. Just take the stories as they are written. We don’t have to agree with the philosophies of authors to enjoy their work.

Very true. :)

The whole review is here.

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Toronto’s Ad Astra science-fiction convention has always been very good to me, and next year, they’ll be having me back as one of their Guests of Honour. (The other author GoHs are Eric Flint and Todd McCaffrey, both of whom are friends — I’m looking forward to spening some time with them.)

This will be the fourth time Ad Astra has had me attend in a special capacity:

• Guest of Honour
  Ad Astra
  Toronto, Ontario
  April 9-11, 2010
• Toastmaster
  Ad Astra 2001
  Toronto, ON
  February 23-25, 2001
• Guest of Honour
  Ad Astra 18
  Toronto, Ontario
  June 5-7, 1998
• Special Guest
  Ad Astra 16
  Toronto, Ontario
  June 7-9, 1996

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Al Moritz, the leader of my wife’s poetry writing workshop — the venerable Algonquin Square Table at the University of Toronto — just won the Griffin Award, worth $50,000 (yes, you read that right: fifty thousand dollars)!

Al is a great guy, and a fabulous writer, and Carolyn and I are thrilled, thrilled, thrilled for him! W00t!

Here’s the coverage from:

The Globe and Mail
The Canadian Press
The National Post

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CBC’s website described the interview thus:

Fresh off our latest fear of a pandemic, sci-fi writer Robert Sawyer launches a new book that tackles that very subject…that, and the world-wide-web developing a mind of its own. The book is called Wake. It’s published by Viking Canada. And Robert joins Mary to talk about it and the state of science fiction writing in general. If you want to know more about Mr. Sawyer’s world, check out his website.

Oh, and here’s the speech I mention in the interview: my keynote address to the Canadian Science Writers’ Association.

Photo: Science-fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer with host Mary Ito at the swanky Book Lover’s Ball in Toronto in February 2007.

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In the interview, I discuss my residence at the Canadian Light Source, the Flash Forward TV series, and, of course, my new novel Wake.

(They also have a nice interview with DAW author Edward Willett here; that interview is by Chadwick Ginther.)

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If you want me to critique a manuscript while I’m writer-in-residence at the Canadian Light Source, you must adhere to the following guidelines. I’m happy to critique any kind of manuscript — fiction (all genres), nonfiction, scripts, plays, poetry, school essays, etc.

1) Book an appointment in advance with me by emailing me at: sawyer@sfwriter.com

I suggest you book soon; I’ve been in Saskatoon for one day now, and almost half of my appointment slots have already been filled. I offer daytime and evening appointments seven days a week — but only at specific day/time combos that fit around my other commitments in Saskatoon. Contact me, and I’ll let you know what appointment slots are available.

2) Submit your manuscript at least 72 hours in advance of your appointment.

Important:

* Your manuscript must be in RTF or Word DOC format.

* The filename must be your last name, plus the appropriate extension: SMITH.DOC, SINGH.RTF, etc. If you call it “Chapter 1.rtf,” or something equally generic, I probably won’t be able to tell it’s yours.

* Submit no more than 5,000 words.

* Your pages need to have headers on them that include your name and the page number. I’m printing out the manuscripts, and I need these for reference.

* For the love of God, submit in proper manuscript format. There’s only one right way to do it, and it’s easy — but do you really want to spend a hunk of your time with me going over it? The format is here.

3. Come to the Canadian Light Source for your appointment, and ask for me in the lobby.

If your appointment is after hours or on the weekend, the lobby may be closed, and you’ll have to wait for me to come down and get you. If you need to call me (because I haven’t come down when you expected me to, for instance), my office number at CLS is 657-3659.

Critiques are absolutely free; CLS is funding my residency internally and there is no cost to you for this service.

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“Flash Forward,” by Robert J. Sawyer. A science-fiction story that explores many of the questions of time travel and has well-developed characters that you care about. Great storytelling with good science knowledge and speculation.

The reviewer is Bob Charest, and the review is online here.

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Mississauga writer Robert J. Sawyer will have a flashy new sci-fi drama series on network TV this fall, adapted from his book Flashforward.

All of a sudden, he’s everywhere. These past few weeks he has hosted VisionTV’s self-explanatory Supernatural Investigator, and in tonight’s season finale, the program turns its inquiring mind on the peculiar 1961 alien- abduction case — an alleged alien abduction? — of Barney and Betty Hill in New Hampshire.

And the article concludes:

No moss grows on Sawyer, by the way. As you are reading, he has taken up his new position as writer-in-residence at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) physics-research centre in Saskatoon. Imagination is at the heart of both artistic and scientific endeavours, Sawyer commented on his blog, “and the science being done in Canada is world-class.”

So are TV shows about paranormal investigations.

Supernatural Investigator is Unsolved Mysteries for brainiacs, who like a little science with their fiction. (VisionTV, 10:30 ET/7:30 PT)

You can read the full article here.

Canwest, which produced the above story, publishes the following major Canadian daily newspapers, so the story will be in some of them: National Post, Victoria Times Colonist, Vancouver Province, Vancouver Sun, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Regina Leader-Post, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Windsor Star, Ottawa Citizen, and Montreal Gazette.

In fact, here it is in the Edmonton Journal, and here in the Ottawa Citizen, and here in the Victoria Times Colonist, and here in the Regina Leader Post, and here in the Montreal Gazette, and here in the Windsor Star, and below is how the top of the article looked in today’s Calgary Herald:

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Robert J. Sawyer June 2009 events — all are free and open to the public:

• Bookstore Reading & Signing from Wake
  McNally Robinson
  3130 8th Street East
  Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
  Thursday, June 4, 2009, 7:30 p.m.
  www.mcnallyrobinson.com/saskatoon_events
• EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Launch Party
  Featuring a reading by Robert J. Sawyer
  Venturion Art Gallery
  Suite 104A
  214 – 11 Avenue SE
  Calgary, Alberta
  Saturday, June 13, 2009, doors open at 6:15 p.m.; events begin at 7:00 p.m.
  www.edgewebsite.com
• Bookstore Reading & Signing
  Book & Brier Patch
  4065 Albert Street
  Regina, Saskatchewan
  Saturday, June 20, 2009, 2:00 p.m.
  http://www.bookbrier.ca/

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Visit The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
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Want a free critique of your manuscript — and happen to be in Saskatoon?

My first three critiquing days are all booked solid now, except for one appointment on Saturday, June 6 — I need someone to take the 3:00 p.m. slot for a critique (I don’t want to fall behind schedule my first week!).

Normally, I require manuscripts (up to 5,000 words in RTF or Word DOC) to be submitted 72 hours in advance, but if you grab this appointment, as long as I have the manuscript by 10:00 a.m. Friday morning, June 5, you’re fine. Any takers?

More info on my residency is here.

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For all of May — starting Friday, May 1 — I was “Author of the Month” at McNally Robinson, Canada’s second-largest bookstore chain.

Independently, both The Toronto Star (on Saturday, May 2) and The Globe and Mail (on Monday, May 4) had me as answers to clues in their crossword puzzles this month.

On Saturday, May 2, I got to go to a press preview of the new Star Trek movie — and loved it.

On Wednesday, May 6, I gave an invited talk at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Penn about the science behind my novel Wake.

On Friday, May 8, ABC picked up the TV series Flash Forward, based on my novel of the same name, for 13 episodes, to air starting this fall.

On Thursday, May 14, the Winnipeg Free Press, the largest-circulation newspaper in Manitoba, devoted the entire front of its Entertainment section to a profile of me.

The following week, Wake hit #1 on the Hardcover Fiction bestsellers list in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Also that week, the June 2009 edition of Communications of the ACM, the glossy magazine of the largest educational and scientific computing society, devoted its last page to me and Wake.

On Wednesday, May 20, the Waterloo Region Record, a major Canadian daily newspaper, ran a profile of me on Page 1 of the Front section.

On Monday, May 25, I gave the closing keynote address at the annual meeting of the Canadian Science Writers’ Association.

On Wednesday, May 27, I gave a talk about the science behind Wake at Google Waterloo — with the talk video-conferenced to all Google facilities worldwide.

And on Friday, May 29, Calculating God won the Audio Publishers Association’s Audie Award for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Audiobook of the Year.

And much more! See all of my May 2009 blog entries here.

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You can listen to Rob’s talk right here; he’s introduced by Google’s Alex Coman.

It was an amazing day. In addition to giving his talk, Rob, Hugo Award-nominated SF writer Paddy Forde, and science-fiction poet Carolyn Clink were given a great tour of new Google products, had one of those famous Google lunches, and participated in a fascinating roundtable discussion about the Web and sentience.

Rob has also been a guest at the Googleplex — Google’s worldwide headquarters — twice: last month, when he was on book tour for Wake, and in August 2006, where he led a brainstorming session about the web gaining consciousness as part of the first-ever Science Foo Camp. That’s Stewart Brand of the Long Now Foundation, Google co-founder Larry Page, and SF writer Greg Bear at that session below:

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Rob’s 52-minute talk to the CSWA (including Q&A session) is now available right here. (Matthew Dalzell of the Canadian Light Source introduces Rob.)

An excerpt: “In fact, those of us who are writing science fiction are by and large enormously well-versed in science, enormously careful about science, and I think serve an enormously important societal role in the public discourse about science.” — Robert J. Sawyer

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I’m super-proud of the team at Audible.com that produced the audio version as an original production for their Audio Frontiers series, including narrator Jonathan Davis.

(I had thought about going down to NYC for the Audies and BookExpo America, but just couldn’t get away, what with moving to Saskatoon for two months this Monday morning.)

Still: yahoo! The full list of all winners in all categories is here.

You can get the Audible.com production of Calculating God right here.

The full list of nominees was:

Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer, Narrated by Jonathan Davis, Audible, Inc.

Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke, Narrated by Eric Michael Summerer, Audible, Inc.

Ghost Radio, by Leopoldo Gout, Narrated by Pedro Pascal, HarperAudio

Skybreaker, by Kenneth Oppel, Narrated by David Kelly, Full Cast Audio

Sunrise Alley, by Catherine Asaro, Narrated by Hillary Huber, Blackstone Audio, Inc.

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The University of Saskatchewan’s alumni magazine is called Green & White, and the Spring 2009 issue has a nice little piece about my stint (which begins this Monday!) as Writer-in-Residence at the Canadian Light Source. It says:

Taking Up Residence

Award winning Canadian science-fiction writer, Robert J. Sawyer, will call the Canadian Light Source synchrotron (CLS) home for the summer. Sawyer states he will be immersed into the life of the CLS to get the “sensory experience of how scientists argue, eat lunch, their social activities … and you can’t get that on the VIP tour.” Sawyer will spend time working on his own projects, including his next book Wonder (the third book in the WWW trilogy) and an episode for the first season of a TV show based on his novel Flash Forward to be aired on ABC. About half of his time will be dedicated to mentoring other writers on a first come first served basis.

The article is online here and the whole magazine is available for free as a PDF here (I’m on page 8). Kudos to the magazine for a fine bit of close-cropping on the photo of me that they ran, by the way:

(The Canadian Light Source is located on the University of Saskatchewan’s campus.)

Many thanks to my friend Ian Wasserman for drawing this article to my attention.

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I’m pleased to see that the audiobook of Wake is one of Audible.com’s Best (So Far!) of 2009 Editors’ Picks — one of 19 audidiobook titles — and the only science-fiction one! — to be so honored.

You can get all my Audible.com audiobooks here.

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