Robert J. Sawyer

Man! Why couldn’t they have offered courses like this when I was in high school? In the 2009-2010 academic year, a teacher named David Rice at North Park Collegiate in Brantford, Ontario, is offering a “Studies in Literature” course on science fiction.

The class will do two core novels — the Hugo Award-winning Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer and the Hugo Award-winning Neuromancer by William Gibson — plus short stories by (among others):

* Isaac Asimov
* Greg Bear
* Gregory Benford
* Arthur C. Clarke
* Lester del Rey
* Greg Egan
* Harlan Ellison
* Joe Haldeman
* Harry Harrison
* Ursula K. Le Guin
* Murray Leinster
* Vonda McIntyre
* Larry Niven
* Alastair Reynolds
* Spider Robinson
* Robert Silverberg
* Theodore Sturgeon
* Vernor Vinge
* Kurt Vonnegut

How cool is that! (“Too cool for school!” as my buddy R. Scott Bakker is wont to say …)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

So says the official review from McNally Robinson, Canada’s second-largest bookstore chain (which also includes the McNally Jackson store in Manhattan).

You can read the full review here; the review is by Chadwick Ginther who is in charge of science fiction at McNally Robinson’s flagship store in Winnipeg.

I will be signing at the McNally Robinson in Winnipeg (the Grant Park store) on Saturday, May 16, at 2:00 p.m., and at McNally Robinson in Saskatoon on Thursday, June 4, at 7:00 p.m.

More about Wake.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

My dear friend Hugo winner Jeanne Robinson is recovering from surgery. Husband Spider has the scoop here.

Spider ends with, “And God bless Tommy Douglas, who created Canada’s socialized medicine.”

Amen to that, brother. Amen.

And best wishes to Jeanne!

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

The amazing Sonya Walger, who plays the female lead in the upcoming Flash Forward TV series, based on my novel of the same name, has just been nominated for a Saturn Award by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror Films, in the category “Best Guest Starring Role in a Television Series” for her work on Lost. The full list of nominees is here.

Congratulations, Sonya!

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

My 1997 Hugo Award-nominated and Seiun Award-winning novel Frameshift deals, in large part, with the hunt for Ivan the Terrible, a real-life Treblinka death-camp guard whose whereabouts have been unknown since the end of the war.

John Demjanjuk, a Cleveland autoworker, has spent the last few decades under a cloud of suspicion: he bears a passing resemblance to Ivan.

Based on all the research I did when writing Frameshift, I’m sure to a moral certainty that Demjanjuk is not, in fact, Ivan, but people continue to go after him figuring even though they were wrong about that, he must be guilty of something.

Today, German prosecutors charged him with 29,000 counts of accessory to murder.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Realms of Fantasy is coming back, it seems. SF Scope — as is so often the case these days, first with the news — has the scoop here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

An episode guide for Supernatural Investigator, the series I host on Canada’s Vision TV, is here at Vision TV’s site, and below:

The Antichrist
Tues., Jan. 27, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
Does the Antichrist walk among us? Are we nearing the End of Days? Surprisingly, belief in the Biblical prophecies of an Antichrist remain alive and well in the 21st century.

Life from Other Planets
Tues., Feb. 3, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
Are we alone in the universe? Or have we already been visited by life from other worlds? These questions burn in the mind of author and futurist Mac Tonnies.

What Killed Joe Fisher–Part 1: The Trap is Set
Tues., Feb. 10, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
In the 1970s, Joe Fisher forged a reputation as one of Canada’s leading investigative reporters. But there was another side to him. The rebellious son of Christian fundamentalists, he grew increasingly enthralled by Eastern religions, eventually becoming a popular media expert on paranormal phenomena.

What Killed Joe Fisher–Part 2: The Trap is Sprung
Tues., Feb. 17, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
When Joe Fisher’s efforts to learn more about his spirit lover Filipa ended in failure, his life began to unravel. Convinced that he had unleashed psychic forces bent on vengeance, Fisher fled to rural Ontario — and it was there, on the rim of the Elora Gorge, that his demons, real or otherwise, may have finally caught up with him.

The Crystal Skulls
Tues., Feb. 24, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
Narrated by Robert J. Sawyer (in addition to hosting)
Archaeologist Joel Palka retraces the journey of the adventurers who first found the skulls, and seeks out an isolated tribe that still believes in their mystic powers.

Remembering Past Lives
Tues., March 3, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
Reincarnation has long been a part of many Eastern belief systems, and the idea has gained increasing acceptance in North America during the last few decades. In this episode, Supernatural Investigator pursues some reported cases of reincarnation, from a Canadian singer who believes she was Marilyn Monroe in a past life, to a Louisiana boy who has vivid memories of being a World War Two fighter pilot. Are these simply the stories of individuals with over-active imaginations — or are they proof of life after death? Produced by Sorcery Films Ltd.

Seeing 9-11
Tues., March 10, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7 PM PT
Can precognitive dreams and visions provide warnings of impending disaster? Did thousands of people with no connection to the event somehow know in advance that 9-11 was going to happen? In this episode, Supernatural Investigator takes a critical look at the claims of those who say they have seen into the future. Produced by Elevator Films.

Remote Viewing
Tues., March 17, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
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.

Hex or Hoax?
Tues., March 24, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
Jinxes, curses, hexes, the evil eye: many cultures possess their own brands of black magic. Are there really people who can harness dark forces to strike down their enemies? In this episode, Halifax filmmaker Donna Davies enters the world of sinister sorcery to learn about Newfoundland witches’ spells, Haitian voodoo rituals and cutting edge contemporary research into the science of the curse. Produced by Sorcery Films Ltd.

March 31 & April 7, 2009: on hiatus

Chaos Magick
Tues., April 14, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
Newfoundland born mentalist and magician Jeremy Bennett investigates the mysterious brand of sorcery known as “Chaos Magick.”

Hunting Houdini
Tues., April 21, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
Gothic rocker Tara Slone (Rock Star INXS) travels to New York City at Halloween to enter the inner sanctum of escape artist Harry Houdini’s most obsessive followers. Produced by Arcadia Entertainment Inc.

The Nightmare
Tues., April 28, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
Filmmaker Adam Gray pursues a malevolent entity that strikes sleepers in the dark. Produced by Paradocs.

Occult Architecture
Tues., May 5, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
Filmmaker John Wesley Chisholm asks: is there a secret master plan carved into the Masonic art and architecture of Washington, DC? Produced by Arcadia Entertainment Inc.

The Seducers
Tues., May 12, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
A journey into the secretive underworld of “the Seducers” — men who use a mysterious power known as NLP to lure women into bed. Produced by Elevator Films.

Detour on the Road to Atlantis
Tues., May 19, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
Have ocean explorers found clues to the whereabouts of the lost civilization of Atlantis? Produced by Arcadia Entertainment Inc.

It’s in the Stars
Tues., May 26, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
For thousands of years, astrology has influenced both Western and Eastern cultures. But can the position of the stars really influence earthly affairs? Produced by Sorcery Films Ltd.

FINAL EPISODE: The White Mountain Abduction
Tues., June 2, 2009, 10:30 PM ET / 7:30 PM PT
Narrated by Robert J. Sawyer (in addition to hosting)
What happened to Barney and Betty Hill on the night of September 19, 1961? Their niece investigates the world’s most famous case of alleged alien abduction. Produced by Paradocs.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

I always find it interesting to see who is ponying up to use my name in the Google AdWords program (the thing that puts sponsored links to the right of Google search results). Chapters.ca and Amazon.ca have both bought “Robert Sawyer,” which is fine by me, and my speakers bureau has sometimes bought my name in association with other words, such as “talk” or “keynote.”

But now ABE.com has bought “sawyer flashforward” — to steer people interested in the show to their used-book service. Folks, my novel Flash Forward is in print, and has been continuously since it was first published a decade ago. You can get new copies in paperback easily, you can buy it for the Kindle, and you can get it as an audiobook from Audbile.com, or you can buy an autographed copy directly from me: all those things put money in my pocket, and I’m very grateful for that. But if you buy a used copy through ABE.COM or any other source, well, I don’t make a cent. Just so you know. :)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

I’m Author Guest of Honor at the convention Xanadu Las Vegas next month (April 17-19, 2009). There’s now a nifty video of me talking about why you should come to the con on YouTube.

(It’s also a nice tour of my living room and some of my toys.)

More about Xanadu Las Vegas is here, and their latest progress report is here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Nice checks from my agent today for royalties from Audible.com and my Spanish publisher Ediciones B, plus the Korean advance for End of an Era. W00T!

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Hee hee hee. See Cracked.com.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

The seventh episode of Supernatural Investigator — the series I host for Canada’s Vision TV — airs tomorrow night, Tuesday, March 10. This week’s topic:

Seeing 9/11: Can precognitive dreams and visions provide warnings of impending disaster? Did thousands of people with no connection to the event somehow know in advance that 9/11 was going to happen? In this episode, Supernatural Investigator takes a critical look at the claims of those who say they have seen into the future.

Oh, and here’s a cute little video promo for Vision’s Sci-Fi Tuesdays (including Supernatural Investigator).

SI is shown three times (with the debut at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time / 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time). Check for times in your timezone here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

EXT. LOS ANGELES - DAY

ROBERT J. SAWYER, a bald, bespectacled novelist, and CAROLYN CLINK, his beautiful poet wife, survey the dozens of trucks, the hundreds of people milling about, and all the general chaos.

               CAROLYN
    Just think -- all of this
    because of you.

               ROB
    And it isn't even a crime
    scene!

As I said back on Thursday night, I was too tired then to blog about our first day on the set of Flash Forward, so let me play catch-up here.

We arrived at the Flash Forward base camp (where all the trailers were parked: director’s trailer, actor’s trailers, make-up trailers, etc. etc. etc.) at 8:00 a.m. and were met by executive producer Jessika Borsiczky Goyer‘s terrific assistant Katie Greisiger, and then a little later by Jessika.

(Jessika, by the way, is from Montreal: although this is literally as big as a Hollywood TV project can get in terms of scope and budget, we have a Canadian executive producer, a source novel by a Canadian, and four UK actors in leading roles).

We took a shuttle over to the actual shooting location (which was really quite close; I never took the shuttle again, and instead just walked back and forth). As soon as we got to the location, we were warmly greeted by David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga; David is directing and David and Brannon co-wrote the pilot script.

Brannon had to leave mid-morning to get over to the offices of 24, the other show he works on. But we had a great chat before he left; he is such a nice guy.

It was an incredible day to be on set: we had 152 extras and background players, making the chaos even more elaborate than usual. (I chatted with a bunch of the extras during the day; it was fascinating that most of them had no idea what project they were part of, or that “David” the director was, in fact, David S. Goyer of Batman Begins fame.)

We were shooting in an existing building, and David (and Rebecca Poulos, his incredible script supervisor) actually didn’t watch from the room the filming was happening in, but from another nearby room, where monitors were set up to show what the cameras were getting. Carolyn and I were given headsets so we could listen in to what the microphones were actually recording, and we bopped between sitting in director’s-style chairs behind David and standing discreetly out of shot watching the actual filming.

Everything was ramped up to the highest level: long dolly shots, Steadicam shots, etc. etc. The look is amazing.

It’s said that a director sets the tone for the entire production off-camera as well as on. David is so approachable, and he has such a great smile, and he was funny and warm with the actors and crew; despite the incredibly long hours and the endless takes (our first day on the set was the ninth day of shooting), everyone seemed loose and relaxed and upbeat because David himself was all those thing.

Lunch was wonderful; David said he’s used the same caterers (Mario’s Catering) on other projects, and we could see why — it was a banquet … that had to be consumed in just 30 minutes, including time getting between the catering tents and the set! We sat with David and the person who is developing the official web site for the series.

After lunch, I was interviewed for the “Making of Flash Forward” featurette — cool!

We met Jack Davenport, who plays Lloyd Simcoe; I’m a huge fan of the BBC sitcom Coupling, which starred Jack. He is much taller than I would have guessed, and very, very funny (not all people who play in comedies are actually witty without a script, but Jack really is). Today Jack had only 13 words of dialog — which caused him to quip that at least for one day, he was the highest-paid-per-word actor in Hollywood. :)

I also had a nice chat with Sonya Walger (who had read and enjoyed my novel Flash Forward) and her agent, and I spent a lot of time with actor Zachary Knighton, who is a great guy (and I don’t say that just because he’s huge fan of my novel).

Near the end of the day, I was introduced to the charming and brilliant Nne Ebong, the vice-president of dramatic programming development for ABC Studios, and she immediately suggested putting me into one of the scenes, and so I got a little cameo as a man on a cell phone (and the super-nice Jennifer Dunn, who was Sonya Walger’s stand-in and also a background player, coached me to hold the phone in my other hand, because I was covering my face with it in rehearsal).

Filming the scene I was part of delayed my departure from the set, so we ended up having a later dinner than planned with my terrific Hollywood agent Vince Gerardis and his associate Eli Kirschner; we ate at Luna Park, and I had a great steak. Of course, we’re all thrilled with how Flash Forward is going, but we also spent time talking about various other projects … ;)

All in all, it was a terrific first day on the set, and I am so glad I decided to come down to Los Angeles. I’m way busy with other things, and had been vacillating about whether I should really clear the days to take this trip but — man! — it totally, totally has been worth it. :)

Joseph Fiennes, one of the stars of Flash Forward, and Robert J. Sawyer, author of the novel upon which it is based.

MORE FROM THE FLASH FORWARD SET

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Today was outdoor location shooting for Flash Forward, the ABC TV series pilot based on my novel of the same name.

Carolyn and I were on hand from 7:45 a.m until noon, then had to head to LAX for the flight back to Toronto. We had an incredible three days in Los Angeles. Everybody treated us spectacularly well. As I said to Carolyn, the trip simply could not have gone better. :) This has been one of the peak experiences of my life.

I can’t say enough about how kind executive producers David S. Goyer, Brannon Braga, and Jessika Borsiczky Goyer have been to Carolyn and me. David kept taking time out from directing to show us things (including the incredible matte paintings Kevin Blank has created for us, and the amazing “sizzle” reel David has put together of the highlights shot so far — it looks like the trailer for the best damn movie you’ve ever seen); Jessika made sure we were introduced to everybody; and Brannon kept saying nice things and talking to me about writing. David, Jessika, and Brannon have known each other and worked together for years, but they made us feel like part of their family; it was wonderful.

I was frankly astonished (and thrilled!) by how much attention was paid to me by people, and how many had read or were reading my novel Flash Forward (series regulars Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger, and Zachary Knighton have all read it, special-effects wiz Kevin Blank had just started it on his Kindle, etc. etc.). Brannon quipped to David that he was envious because I work in publishing — an industry in which writers are respected. :)

My biggest thanks, of course, go to my Hollywood agent Vince Gerardis of Created By (who was gently teasing me on Thursday night because four years ago we’d had another offer on the property from a major television player and I’d been reluctant to walk away from it even though Vince said we should, because he felt we could do much better. Now, of course, I’m thrilled that we did walk away).

The buzz from ABC and the industry press is incredibly positive about Flash Forward. It seems highly likely that we’ll be picked up for the Fall 2009 season. We’ll know for sure by May 17 — and ABC will announce its fall line-up over two days on May 18 and 19.

A few more pictures:

David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga, authors of the pilot script based on the novel Flash Forward by Robert J. Sawyer

Robert J. Sawyer and Katie Greisiger, the amazing assistant to Jessika Goyer

Carolyn Clink and series star Joseph Fiennes, of Shakespeare in Love fame

Tony Stevens (stand-in for Joseph Fiennes), Jennifer Dunn (stand-in for Sonya Walger), and Sheila Louie (the on-set medic)

Carolyn Clink, Brannon Braga, and Robert J. Sawyer

Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, and Robert J. Sawyer — it was a chilly morning in L.A., so we’re all bundled up.

Robert J. Sawyer and Kevin Blank. Kevin was the special-effects genius on Lost and Cloverfield — and now he’s doing astonishing work on Flash Forward; I was stunned by the samples I was shown.

MORE FROM THE FLASH FORWARD SET

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Another fabulous day on the set of Flash Forward. We were there from about 7:30 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. (meaning we worked a much shorter day than just about everyone else!).

Had lunch with Sonya Walger, but can’t show a picture of her because she was in costume all day. (For those trying to divine the secrets of Flash Forward, sorry, but none of the photos I’m posting are of the actors in costume, and none were taken on the sets.)

Sonya was definitely the hardest working actor today, with the most lines and the most scenes, and she was fabulous. She’s incredibly intense when called for, and is absolutely riveting to watch. (How intense? Director David S. Goyer had to remind her at one point yesterday to blink …) She’s British, and has the most wonderful accent, but is playing an American, and it was fun watching her turn the accent on and off (or is that off and on?) when bouncing between playing her part and talking to others.

Zachary Knighton also did incredible work today. In fact, he and Sonya together did what is my favorite scene from the entire script — and did it and did it and did, from angle after angle after angle ;). Zach’s father, stepmother, and girlfriend visited the set today, and I showed them around, which was fun.

Also on hand today and yesterday was Nne Ebong, vice-president of dramatic program development for ABC, and I had a great time talking to her (and yesterday she was responsible for something incredibly cool happening for me — about which more later).

Brannon Braga was on hand for part of yesterday morning, and it was great getting to chat with him again. He has been wonderfully warm and friendly and supportive, and had some very nice things to say about my Calculating God, which pleased me. He had to leave mid-morning, though, to get back to 24, the other show he works on. :)

John Cho and Courtney B. Vance didn’t even have any scenes today, but they dropped by the set (and Jack Davenport came back, too, even though he wasn’t filming today, either). Besides being in Flash Forward, John, of course, is Mr. Sulu in the new Star Trek film. He told me he’d just finally seen the whole thing, and thinks it really came out wonderfully.

Robert J. Sawyer, author of the novel Flash Forward, and series regular John Cho.

Series regular Courtney B. Vance and Executive Producer Jessika Borsiczky Goyer; Jessika was the first of the producers to read my novel Flash Forward; the project owes its existence to her enthusiasm for the book.

David S. Goyer who is director, co-author of the pilot script, and executive producer, with Kramer Morgenthau, the Director of Photography; between them, they’ve given Flash Forward an amazing look — every frame looks like it’s from a feature film, not a TV show; the footage is stunning.

MORE FROM THE FLASH FORWARD SET

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

The pilot for the ABC TV series based on my novel Flash Forward is coming along fabulously.

We’re having an absolute blast here in Los Angeles. We spent from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on the set today, and it was OMG amazing. I’m way too exhausted to write much now, but here are a few pictures:

Yes, it really is happening!

Robert J. Sawyer, author of the novel Flash Forward, and Jack Davenport, who plays Lloyd Simcoe, the novel’s main character

Rob being interviewed for the Making of Flash Forward featurette

Author Robert J. Sawyer and actor Zachary Knighton

Author Robert J. Sawyer and director David S. Goyer

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Check it out right here.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

… to watch the pilot for Flash Forward be filmed. W00t! It’s really happening! :D

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

So, I’ve been emailing a bit this week with the producers who have motion picture rights to my novella “Identity Theft” under option, and that’s moved me to actually go back and read the story, something I haven’t done for four years now, since before it was first published. I’m pleased to see it holds up well. :)

The easiest place to get it in print right now is in my collection Identity Theft and Other Stories, although that story is also availalbe as a standalone ebook from Fictionwise.

Anyway, here’s the introduction to “Identity Theft” from my collection of the same name:

Doubleday’s venerable Science Fiction Book Club, which normally only publishes reprint editions of books, recently experimented with doing its own original anthologies — special collections of brand-new stories that would only be available through them. One of the first such collections was an anthology edited by Mike Resnick called Down These Dark Spaceways. It contains six SF hard-boiled detective novellas by award-winning authors (Mike, me, Catherine Asaro, David Gerrold, Jack McDevitt, and Robert Reed).

Why did Mike ask me to contribute? Well, my science fiction often has crime or mystery overtones; indeed, I won the Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award for Best Short Story of 1993 for my time-travel tale “Just Like Old Times,” and The Globe and Mail: Canada’s National Newspaper called my SF courtroom drama Illegal Alien “the best Canadian mystery of 1997.” My other SF/crime crossovers include the novels Golden Fleece, Fossil Hunter, The Terminal Experiment, Frameshift, Flashforward, Hominids, and Mindscan.

My story for Down These Dark Spaceways follows. At 25,000 words, it’s by far the longest piece in this collection, so I’m leading off with it — but I’ll note up front that the last story in this book, “Biding Time,” is a sequel to it.

To my delight, “Identity Theft” won Spain’s Premio UPC de Ciencia Ficción, which, at 6,000 euros, is the world’s largest cash prize for science-fiction writing. It was also a finalist for the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Award (“the Aurora”), as well as for the top two awards in the science-fiction field: the World Science Fiction Society’s Hugo Award (SF’s “People’s Choice” Award) and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s Nebula Award (SF’s “Academy Award”) — making “Identity Theft” the first (and so far only) original publication of the SFBC to ever be nominated for those awards.

My association with the Science Fiction Book Club continues, of course: my next novel, Wake, will shortly be a Main Selection of the SFBC.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

The Authors Guild sent this note to its members today concerning Amazon.com’s announcment last week:

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Amazon Reversal on Text to Speech on the Kindle 2

At the end of the business day on Friday, Amazon announced that it would allow publishers (and thereby many authors) to block text-to-speech audio functionality on a title-by-title basis for its Kindle 2 reading device.

This is a good first step. Amazon’s Kindle 2 can convert text to audio through text-to-speech (TTS) software, making it a combination e-book reader and low-quality audiobook device. (The quality of the audio will improve, of course, as TTS software is refined.) Amazon’s initial implementation of Kindle 2 would have added audio playback to your e-book regardless of whether Amazon had properly acquired audio rights. For most of you, Amazon’s announcement means that it will now respect your contractual right to authorize (or not) the addition of computer-generated audio to your e-books sold for the Kindle. We will be sending recommendations to you shortly on your TTS audio rights.

One important consideration in those recommendations will be to ensure that visually impaired people have access to this technology. Book authors have traditionally authorized royalty-free copies in specialized formats intended for the visually impaired, and copyright law has long provided a means to distribute recordings to the blind. We can work this out.

Wall Street Journal on Amazon’s announcement

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Richard Curtis was my first literary agent (and he still represents several of my friends, including James Alan Gardner, Linux guru Marcel Gagn&eacute, Harlan Ellison, and Greg Bear).

Richard is one of the most insightful writers about the book business, and here he sheds light on the mystery of why ebooks cost so much.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

I’ve been pimpin’ for months on behalf of James Alan Gardner’s remarkable “The Ray-Gun: A Love Story,” as you can see here. And I was mightily disappointed when the final Nebula ballot was released last week, and it wasn’t on it. This story made not one but two year’s best anthologies, after all, and was one of only nine novelettes on the preliminary Nebula ballot.

Well, well, well, turns out SFWA made a mistake. A revised ballot has now been released, and Jim is on it (and so is another work accidentally left off the earlier version, “Mars: A Traveler’s Guide” by Ruth Nestvold).

SFWA actually has a pretty long history of balloting screw-ups; I myself was victim of one in 2000, when the blindingly obvious fact that Flash Forward by Robert J. Sawyer and Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer were the same book escaped notice, and so the novel was left off the preliminary ballot (as was a work by William Barton that same year), and a few years before that Ursula K. LeGuin was left off the ballot, too (although that ballot, at least, was corrected and reissued).

Now, let us hope that there’s no harm, no foul, in what just happened to Jim Gardner — but the fact is that award nominations do tend to be cumulative, and in the crucial last couple of days of nominating for this year’s Hugos and Auroras, SFWA blithely announced to the world that Jim’s work wasn’t, in fact, award calibre in the view of the membership — only to reverse that stance after the nominating for the other awards had closed.

The Nebulas are a black box — no one ever sees the nominating or voting tallies; the Hugos do release their nominating stats. If Jim misses that ballot by just a few nominations, well, we’ll always wonder what happened in the alternate universe in which the preliminary Nebula ballots were dealt with correctly the first time.

For those who missed the story in the February Asimov’s last year, and don’t want to wait for the Dozois or Horton Year’s Best anthologies (or my own forthcoming Distant Early Warnings: Canada’s Best Science Fiction, which will also include this story), the full text is here at Jim’s site.

Oh, and: Congratulations, Jim!

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

As Don stood, looking at Sarah, the moment came back to him, and he shook his head in amazement. It had been front-page news, back when there were front pages, all over the world. On March first, 2009, a radio message had been received from a planet orbiting the star Sigma Draconis.

So says Chapter 2 of my 2007 Tor novel Rollback, which was a finalist for the Hugo Award, the Aurora Award, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, received starred reviews in Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, was a main selection of the Science Fiction Book Club, was serialized in Analog, made the American Library Association’s list of the top 10 SF novels of the year, and will be read later this year in 25 installments on CBC Radio’s Between the Covers.

Rollback tells the story of Sarah Halifax, the University of Toronto astronomer who decodes the message received today, and an attempt to prolong her life so that she can live long enough to engage in a decades-long dialog with the beings from Sigma Draconis.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

CTV is the parent corporation of Space (Canada’s science-fiction specialty channel) and Discovery Channel Canada. The are predicting a $100 million loss from their broadcast TV operations this year.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Amazon.com released this statement on Friday:

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Kindle 2’s experimental text-to-speech feature is legal: no copy is made, no derivative work is created, and no performance is being given. Furthermore, we ourselves are a major participant in the professionally narrated audiobooks business through our subsidiaries Audible and Brilliance. We believe text-to-speech will introduce new customers to the convenience of listening to books and thereby grow the professionally narrated audiobooks business.

Nevertheless, we strongly believe many rights-holders will be more comfortable with the text-to-speech feature if they are in the driver’s seat.

Therefore, we are modifying our systems so that rightsholders can decide on a title by title basis whether they want text-to-speech enabled or disabled for any particular title. We have already begun to work on the technical changes required to give authors and publishers that choice. With this new level of control, publishers and authors will be able to decide for themselves whether it is in their commercial interests to leave text-to-speech enabled. We believe many will decide that it is.

Customers tell us that with Kindle, they read more, and buy more books. We are passionate about bringing the benefits of modern technology to long-form reading.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Y’all know I submitted Watch, the second volume of my WWW trilogy to my editors (in Toronto, New York, and London) on Monday of this week.

And just before midnight tonight (Friday), I finished up the only other outstanding project I had. I can’t tell you much about it, except to say it’s a TV project, and has nothing to do with Flash Forward, but I’ve now finished my work on that, too — and I think it turned out quite well (not to mention the fact that I had a blast doing it).

And so I acutally get to take a day off: Saturday. And it’ll be a fun day, too: my family is getting together to celebrate my mother’s 84th birthday.

On Sunday, it’s back to work: off to Paris, Ontario, for the wrap up of “One Book, One Brant.” Monday and Tuesday will be spent doing research reading for Wonder, the third WWW book. And then on Wednesday, it’s off to Los Angeles to watch part of the filming of the Flash Forward TV pilot. Whew!

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

The Rocky Mountain News, a major daily newspaper in Denver, Colorado, one of the few US dailies to routinely and intelligently review science-fiction novels over the years, is gone.

Mark Graham, the usual SF reviewer there, had been very kind to me. For instance, on Calculating God, he wrote:

“I always look forward to Robert J. Sawyer’s books. One reason is that Sawyer is just about the best science fiction writer out there these days: compelling stories, believable scenarios, science and fiction that really interact. But the main reason is that after reading and reviewing several Sawyer novels, I know that each book he writes will be unique.

I think it is safe to say that no book of popular science fiction exists that is remotely similar to Calculating God. In an effort to convince Tom Jericho of God’s existence, Hollus uses scientific laws and the mathematics of probability. His arguments are the most convincing I have seen since Thomas Aquinas — maybe more so.

I have always thought that a good novel keeps readers turning the pages to find out the fate of characters they care about. But for fiction to be called literature, the story should stay with readers and keep them thinking about it long after the book has been put away. It is safe to say that Sawyer has accomplished both with Calculating God

The paper went on to name Calculating God the best SF novel of the year — giving it the paper’s Rocky Award — and included it on their list of the year’s best books of any type.

And on me in general:

“Here are a few of the things I like about Robert J. Sawyer: His novels are fast moving and tightly constructed; his characters are developed so that I care what happens to them; the science in his science fiction is intrinsic to the plot but not so arcane that readers have to be nuclear physicists to understand it; and he doesn’t imitate others or himself.”

Robert Charles Wilson and I had a wonderful lunch with Mark Graham at last year’s Worldcon in Denver (Mark’s a big fan of Bob’s books, too), and when I was in Denver on book tour for Rollback, Mark gave the introductory comments about me at my event at The Tattered Cover.

The Rocky Mountain News published its last edition today, 55 days shy of its 150th birthday. They will be sorely missed by the science-fiction publishing industry.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

I said very nice things about Patrick Rothfuss’s first novel on the book’s dustjacket:

“Hail Patrick Rothfuss! A new giant is striding the land. The Name of the Wind is an astonishing novel that just happens to be the writer’s first. The bestsellers’ lists and the award ballots are beckoning toward Rothfuss, and readers will be clamoring for more of the riveting life story of Kvothe. Bravo, I say! Bravo!” — Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids

We are indeed clamoring, but Pat is behind schedule on the second book, and his long blog post today (with cartoons!) about that makes fascinating reading.

Among other things, Pat says:

I say that as a joke, but like most jokes it has a grain of truth to it. That’s the reason I’ve turned the comments off for this blog. I know they would break down roughly like this:

30 considerate, supportive comments.
20 touching, heartfelt comments.
15 funny comments
10 comments saying, “Meh, I already knew.”
5 passive-aggressive snarks masquerading as one of the above.
1 comment from some anonymous frothy dickhole.

And you know which comment I’d focus on? Yeah. The last one. It would sit there like a steaming turd in my bowl of cereal. It doesn’t matter how delicious the cereal is. It could be Fruity Pebbles, or even Cookie Crisp. But in a situation like this it doesn’t matter. You can’t just eat around it. All you can do is focus on the turd.

Man, I know exactly how he feels. I turned off anonymous commenting in my blog many months ago because of that. I wonder why people choose to be nasty and snarky and I wonder if they know just how small they are for doing so anonymously or under a pseudonym?

(Tip ‘o the hat to Virginia O’Dine for drawing Pat’s post today to my attention.)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Over in my Yahoo! Groups newsgroup, Martin Bennedik wrote:

I read Wake on my phone by downloading the ebook version of Analog from Fictionwise. Not only was the novel excellent, but I found this was a good way to get the book early and in a format which allowed me to take it with me on my commutes.

So I wonder if there is any chance for Watch being serialized in Analog, too?

Thanks for asking. I’m not planning to offer Watch to Analog. It was great publicity for launching the series to have the first volume serialized there (I did the same thing with the first volume of my Neanderthal Parallax series, Hominids), but I’m not sure it makes business sense to cannibalize overall book sales of the entire series.

Analog has about 26,000 readers (paid circulation in 2008); if they all bought the paperback (not the hardcover, just the paperback) of Watch, my income would be $18,000 in royalties … whereas Analog would pay $4,000 (at 4 cents a word) for serialization rights.

Of course, not all Analog readers will love Wake enough to want to buy Watch, but some number will. Still, even with relatively conservative numbers, it might in fact be best for me personally to sell the serialization rights (assuming they’d want them) to Analog. Some plausible sounding numbers:

1 out of every 10 Analog readers decides they liked Wake well enough that they want to read Watch, too. Of those 2,600 people, three-quarters are content to wait for the paperback and one-quarter spring for the pricier hardcover.

Then the math looks like this (my paperback royalty from Ace is 70 cents a copy; my hardcover royalty is $2.50, on the first 5,000 copies and more thereafter):

((2,600*75%)*$0.70)+((2,600*25%)*$2.50) = $2,990
But that’s what I get. What about my publishers (Ace in the US, Penguin/Viking in Canada, Orion in the UK)? What’s their share? On serialization rights? Nothing at all. On book sales, well, they doubtless make at least as much profit as me per book sold (even after they bear all the expenses, too — printing, distribution, promotion, editorial costs, etc. etc.).

Yes, I could sell the serialization rights without their permission, but my publishers have advanced me a lot of money for the book rights, and I owe it to them to help them earn that money back. :)

(I do think that serializing the first book is good for everyone — me, Analog, and my book publishers, because we have 26,000 people who have read the book now before it comes out, and they can provide good word-of-mouth for the series when the first volume starts appearing in stores next month. But I’m not sure it makes sense to serialize later volumes.)

However, fear not: unlike Tor, which has been crappy about getting my books out as ebooks, Ace is vigorous on that front, so you’ll certainly be able to read Wake, Watch, and Wonder electronically.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Over at Publishers Weekly, you can read all of this week’s reviews, including the full text (no spoilers) of their review of my upcoming Wake.

(There are a lot of reviews on that page; do a search on “Sawyer” to find the Wake review.)

I notice — cough, cough — that Wake is the only SF&F title to get a star this week, and one of just seven starred titles out of the 51 works of fiction of all types reviewed in total. Woot! (A starred review “denotes a book of exceptional merit.”)

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site