Robert J. Sawyer

“Peking Man” was originally published as the lead story in Dark Destiny III: Children of Dracula edited by my friend Edward E. Kramer, and it won Canada’s Aurora Award for Best English short story of the year.

Above: Peking Man as he appears at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing — setting, incidentally, for part of my new novel Wake.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

… despite the “sexual innuendos.” So says Flamingnet, a YA book review site with YA reviewers. You can read the 17-year-old reviewer’s thoughts here. (Rating: 10 out of 10.)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

So, I spent a lovely afternoon here in Orlando, in the shade by the pool, working on revisions to Watch, the second volume of my WWW trilogy.

My beta-test readers have been getting back to me, and I must say the response has been extremely positive, but these comments from one particular reader made my day:

The last ten pages or so of this novel had me exceptionally transported. When I finished the last page, I paused; and the next thought I had was, “He’s fucked. How the hell is he going to top this?” But I’m looking forward to finding out.

I spent a while trying to decide if this was the best “middle book” of a trilogy ever. The only thing that I could come up with that comes close is the middle book of F. M. Busby’s Demu Trilogy … Watch is a great book.

:)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

The Friday, March 20, 2009, edition of the Ottawa Citizen — the largest circulation newspaper in Canada’s capital city — has an op-ed piece by me entitled “All Screens Are Not Created Equal” about multitasking, computer use, and attention deficit disorder. At some point it will go behind the subscribers-only wall, but right now it’s free to read online right here.

An op-ed is a signed opinion piece that appears opposite the editoral in a newspaper; it is an opinion piece by someone other than the paper’s editorial writer. You can find older op-eds by me here (scroll down).

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Many of Sawyer’s books (although I confess I haven’t read them all) are driven by a provocative thought experiment, often just the sort of thing that you’d find widely discussed in the philosophical literature. What would it be like if… everyone in the world were to catch a glimpse of the future? Or if we were to discover scientific evidence of a soul leaving the body at death? Or if we were able to return our aging bodies to their youthful condition? Or if we were to encounter an alien who believed in God? If you want to know what Sawyer thinks it’d be like if such things were to happen, read Flashforward, The Terminal Experiment, Rollback, and Calculating God, respectively. You can count on his books to engage your mind not only with plot and character but with ideas.

He then goes on to discuss Mindscan.

The post about me is here, and this is a general link to his blog.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

• Introduction by Robert Charles Wilson.
• Individual story introductions by Robert J. Sawyer.
• “Identity Theft,” copyright 2005 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in Down These Dark Spaceways, edited by Mike Resnick, Science Fiction Book Club, New York, May 2005.
  • Hugo, Nebula, and Aurora Award finalist; Premio UPC winner

• “Come All Ye Faithful,” copyright 2003 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in Space Inc., edited by Julie E. Czerneda, DAW Books, New York, July 2003.
• “Immortality,” copyright 2003 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in Janis Ian’s Stars, edited by Janis Ian and Mike Resnick, DAW Books, New York, August 2003.
• “Ineluctable,” copyright 2002 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November 2002.
  • Aurora Award winner

• “Shed Skin,” copyright 2002 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in The Bakka Anthology, edited by Kristen Pederson Chew, The Bakka Collection, Toronto, December 2002; first U.S. publication in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, January-February 2004.
  • Analog “Analytical Laboratory” Award winner; Hugo Award finalist

• “The Stanley Cup Caper,” copyright 2003 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in The Toronto Star, Sunday, August 24, 2003.
• “On The Surface,” copyright 2003 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in Future Wars, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Larry Segriff, DAW Books, New York, April 2003.
• “The Eagle Has Landed,” copyright 2005 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in I, Alien, edited by Mike Resnick, DAW Books, New York, April 2005.
• “Mikeys,” copyright 2004 by Robert J. Sawyer. First published in Space Stations, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and John Helfers, DAW Books, New York, March 2004.
  • Aurora Award finalist

• “The Good Doctor,” copyright 1989 by Robert J. Sawyer. First published in Amazing Stories, January 1989.
• “The Right’s Tough,” copyright 2004 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in Visions of Liberty, edited by Mark Tier and Martin H. Greenberg, DAW Books, New York, July 2004.
• “Kata Bindu,” copyright 2004 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in Microcosms, edited by Gregory Benford, DAW Books, New York, January 2004.
• “Driving A Bargain,” copyright 2002 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in Be VERY Afraid!: More Tales of Horror, edited by Edo van Belkom, Tundra Books, Toronto, 2002.
• “Flashes,” copyright 2006 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in FutureShocks, edited by Lou Anders, Roc Books, New York, January 2006.
• “Relativity,” copyright 2003 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in Men Writing Science Fiction as Women, edited by Mike Resnick, DAW Books, New York, November 2003.
• “Biding Time,” copyright 2006 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in Slipstreams, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and John Helfers, DAW Books, New York, May 2006.
  • Aurora Award winner

• “E-Mails from the Future,” copyright 2008 by Robert  J. Sawyer. First published in The Globe and Mail‘s Report on Business Magazine, Toronto, January 2008.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Vancouver: Monday, April 20

Calgary: Tuesday, April 21

Edmonton: Thursday, April 23

Moncton: Saturday, April 25

Montreal: Tuesday, April 28

Ottawa: Wednesday, April 29

Toronto: Thursday, April 30

Winnipeg: Saturday, May 16

Waterloo: Thursday, May 21

Sudbury: Monday, May 25

Saskatoon: Thursday, June 4

Regina: Saturday, June 20

“The wildly thought-provoking first installment of Sawyer’s WWW trilogy explores the origins and emergence of consciousness. The thematic diversity — and profundity — makes this one of Sawyer’s strongest works to date.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review, denoting a book of exceptional merit)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

In the Long Form category, very unusually, three of the five nominees are short-story collections. Also, three of the five nominees are my writing students: Douglas Smith, Hayden Trenholm, and Edward Willett. Go team!

This is my 37th Aurora Award nomination to date; I’ve previously won the award 10 times — that makes me both the biggest winner and the biggest loser on the English side of the awards. :)

The full list of nominees is here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

W00t! As Caitlin woud say, “I am made out of awesome!” :D

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

World Fantasy Award winner James Morrow

Nebula Award winner Ted Chiang

Hugo Award winner Robert J. Sawyer

All reading together on the same stage: this Saturday morning, March 21, 2009, at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando, Florida.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

My friend the great Canadian paleontologist Phil Currie is interviewed by the BBC today about Hesperonychus, the smallest meat-eating dinosaur yet to be found in North America. The story is here

Phil’s a big SF fan, and is mentioned in Calculating God.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Darby is the YA protagonist of a novel by my friend (and Surrey International Writers Conference programming guru) kc dyer, and here Darby speaks with me.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Old-timers in the science-fiction field hate the term “sci-fi,” considering it derogatory; they insist the preferred abbreviation is “SF.”

Me, I gave up the fight when the US cable network devoted to the genre chose to call itself SciFi. (And, in fact, the hardcover of my Rollback was branded with the SciFi logo on the lower-right of the front cover, and labeled “A Sci Fi Essential Book” as part of a cross-promotion between the channel and Tor.)

But now it turns out SciFi Channel has decided it doesn’t like the term SciFi, either — in part because they haven’t succeeded in trademarking it. And so — I kid you not — they are changing the name of the channel, the website, and the magazine to Syfy.

Many years ago, in the heydey of the Great Domain Name Gold Rush, I believe Martin Harry Greenberg got one million dollars for the domain name “SciFi.com” when he sold it to the channel’s owners.

Hey, if anyone wants SFwriter.com for a million bucks, let me know, and I’ll rebrand as EsEfwriter.com …

The New York Times has the scoop.

(And tip o’ the hat to my friend Kirstin Morrell for drawing this to my attention.)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

For the RJS completeists out there, I’ll note that the new issue, number 75, of the Canadian literary magazine CNQ (aka Canadian Notes & Queries) contains an excerpt from my now novel Wake.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

One of the highlights of my year each year is Toronto’s SF convention, Ad Astra (which in 2009 takes place March 27-29).

Here’s my panel and reading schedule for this year:

Sat 10:00 AM
Ballr. East
What’s In a Name
Ed Greenwood, Gabrielle Harbowy (moderator), Robert J. Sawyer

Sat 1:00 PM
Crowne Room
Reading
Robert J. Sawyer

Sat 2:00 PM
Salon 241
Those Pesky Laws of Physics
James Alan Gardner, Robert J. Sawyer, Calvin Climie, Derek Knsken (moderator)

Sat 5:00 PM
Salon 243
First Contact
James Alan Gardner, Robert J. Sawyer (moderator), Timothy Zahn, Steven Kerzner

Sat 9:00 PM
Salon 241
Move Over Meatbrains
Madeline Ashby, James Alan Gardner (moderator), Robert J. Sawyer

Sun 11:00 AM
Ballr. Centre
Working with a Smaller Press
Nick DiChario (moderator), Robert J. Sawyer, Rick Wilber, Erik Buchanan

Sun 12:00 PM
Ballr. East
Adding Humour to Serious Works
Steven Kerzner (moderator), D.K. Savage, Adrienne Kress, Ed Greenwood, Robert J. Sawyer

Sun 2:00 PM
Salon 243
Reading on Screens
Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Robert J. Sawyer, Karl Schroeder (moderator), Michael R. Colangelo, Sephera Giron

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

So, one of my editor friends just got a partial manuscript that she liked: she took time out of her busy schedule to read it, think about it, talk it over with her colleagues, and ask to see more (and her response time was rapid by the standards of our industry).

And what did the author have to say? Not, “W00t!,” or “Yay!,” or even “Thank you.” Nope. The author replied by saying he’d already sold the book somewhere else.

Folks, you wonder why publishers make reading over-the-transom stuff the last priority? It’s because people pulls crap like this. Even if a publisher allows simultaneous submissions (and most don’t, precisely to avoid this sort of thing), it’s mandatory that you inform editors when your work is no longer available for consideration.

This isn’t quite as bad as the clown who 13 years ago thought it was just fine to sell the same story to Carolyn and me (when we were editing Tesseracts 6) and to one of our competitors without telling any of us. But it still sucks.

Writers making submissions: show a little professionalism, please!

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Remote Viewing

Tues., March 17, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT, coast-to-coast in Canada on Vision TV

During the Cold War, the U.S. government tried to harness ESP as a tool for espionage, through a technique known as “remote viewing.” Today, most dismiss the notion. But there are still those who believe remote viewing represents the next step in the evolution of human consciousness. In this episode, Toronto science writer and adventurer Jeff Warren searches for the truth about remote viewing, and enlists famed scientific skeptic The Amazing Randi to help put the idea of psychic spies to the test. Produced by Paradocs.

Host: Robert J. Sawyer

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

My buddy Bruce Schneier — cryptographer, security specialist, incisive commentator — does a free monthly newsletter called Crypto-Gram. Well worth signing up for — which you can do right here.

His books — including the most-recent one, Schneier on Security, shown above — are also always worth reading.

(Oh, and he’ll be on 60 Minutes tonight talking about TSA screening …)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Cracked magazine puts up a photo or image every day at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, and invites people to write funny captions (or “Craptions”) for it. Today’s image is the Pioneer 10 plaque, and some of the craptions are hysterical. Check it out.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

The buzz has been amazing. The Hollywood Reporter calls Flash Forward “a strong companion to Lost.” TV Guide concurs, saying, “It could be an obvious fill-in when Lost ends its run next year.” And Entertainment Weekly calls it one of the season’s “most notable projects.” All the footage I saw in L.A., and everything I saw being filmed when I visited the set, totally lives up to the hype. This is going to be amazing.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

I was talking with my friend Virginia O’Dine just a couple of days ago about coincidences (after she’d watched Supernatural Investigator, which I host on Vision TV; this week’s topic — people who had dreams that seemed to presage the events of 9/11 — we both agreed could be chalked up to coincidences).

Well, how’s this for a bunch of cool coincidences?

Right now, today, they’re filming the pilot for a TV series based on my novel Flash Forward, which is set at CERN, the European particle-physics lab.

Right now, today, I received the very first copy of my new novel Wake, about the future of the World Wide Web, which got its start at CERN.

Right now, today, Tim Berners-Lee, the guy who invented the Web, is back at CERN for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of him drafting the idea for the Web.

And right now, today, he made this observation (as paraphrased by Scientific American Online), which is pretty much the starting point I took in writing Wake:

Berners-Lee pointed out that there are 100 billion Web pages today, roughly the same number of neurons in the human brain. The difference, he added, is that the number of pages grows as the Web ages, whereas the number of nerve cells shrinks as we get on in years.

Cool! :)

More on Sir Tim’s CERN homecoming is here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

I very fondly remember visiting David’s house in Michigan in January 2004, and having a tour of his amazing collection of first editions.

(The set includes a hardcover of my 2003 Hugo-winning novel Hominids, the original mass-market paperback first-printing of my 1995 Nebula-winning novel The Terminal Experiment, and the later first hardcover of that book, as well, all signed.)

(Hint: if you have to ask if the $116,530 is Canadian or American dollars, you probably can’t aford this …)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

My previous novel hardcovers were all 8.5″ by 5.75″, but Wake is 9.25″ by 6.25″ — three-quarters of an inch taller and half an inch wider.

The interior type (beautifully designed, by the way) is large, with good leading; it’s extremely readable.

Just yesterday, I received an email from a reader complaining about the general trend toward smaller type in books (to save printing costs by reducing page counts), and my 84-year-old father (an avid reader) was decrying that same thing a week ago. But there are no such concerns with Wake.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

The FedEx guy just delivered a copy of the finished American edition of Wake, my eighteenth novel, courtesy of my editor Ginjer Buchanan at Ace Science Fiction.

This is, I think, the best-looking book I’ve ever had (and I’ve had lots of good-looking books). It’s just stunningly beautiful. The cover and spine has selective use of matte and glossy finishes that is really classy. The jacket design is by Rita Frangie.

The back cover has advance praise for the book from Robert Charles Wilson, John Scalzi, Allen Steele, and Jack McDevitt.

Official on-sale date for this edition is April 7, 2009.

W00t!

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Carolyn decided the picture of my Nebula Award trophy on my website sucked — and it did; it was a low-res scan of a print that we’d put up back in 1996.

So she took a new one, and here it is:

I won the Nebula in 1996 for my novel The Terminal Experiment.

That was the period when William Rotsler, the artist who hand-crafted the trophies each year, was designing the best-novel trophies based on the winning author’s work.

For Greg Bear, the year before, who had won for Moving Mars, the Lucite block contained a large polished red sandstone sphere that looked like Mars; for Nicola Griffith, who won the following year for Slow River, the lapidary stones in the Lucite had mostly settled to the bottom.

For me, he actually honored my Far-Seer trilogy by featuring a giant polished agate that resembled a Jupiter-like planet, with a too-close moon orbiting around it (you can’t see the little moon on the face-on view, but it’s clearly visible in the side at the right of the picture and also at the top).

At the top, there’s a spiral nebula — the one constant element in all nebula designs.

The Nebulas are given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America; they are the field’s “Academy Award.”

Oh, and here’s an essay about the night I won the award.

Here’s another new shot:

And here’s the now-retired old .gif photo:

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

(That’s Courtney and Executive Producer Jessika Borsiczky Goyer above in Los Angeles last week.)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

I’ve been meaning to rant about this for a while, but haven’t found the time. But the topic came up in conversation with a good friend today — a brilliant lady who had done a book with a small press, and had cringed when she finally held the finished product in her hand because the cover, font choices, page design, and so forth all were, in her words, horrible.

Good friend that I am, I, of course, own a copy of her book, and she’s being kind. :) So, for those in the small press who think that just because you have layout software you know how to design a book, Rob’s four rules of book design, coined spontaneously while looking at the mess in question today:

Rule number one: be conservative.

Rule number two: if you haven’t seen somebody else do it that way before, it’s probably a bad idea.

Rule number three: actually have a published book at your side while designing your own — to see how it’s done.

Rule number four: don’t suck.

(For Robert J. Sawyer Books, we currently rely on the brilliant Karen Petherick Thomas to do our designs, and, back when we were based in Calgary, we used the equally fine Erin Woodward. Yes, designing books is actually a job — it’s not something you just wing.)

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Toward that end, we included a 17,000-word scholarly introduction by Fiona (which formed the basis of the cover story that took up most of the December 2008 issue of The New York Review of Science Fiction), and her extensive notes along with the stories.

And what stories! The anthology contains work by Gregory Frost, James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel, Jonathan Lethem, James Morrow, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, Tim Sullivan, and Connie Willis.

And now we’ve gone a step further. Prof. Kelleghan has prepared a comprehensive 7,000-word educators’ guide (or teachers’ guide) to the anthology — and we’re giving it away as a PDF right here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

And you know what? She deserves it. Her The Time Traveler’s Wife is one of the best science-fiction novels I’ve ever read.

The New York Times has the scoop.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site