Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Hugo and Nebula Winner

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Rob's New Nonfiction Book!

“Incisive and often startlingly frank views on writing, publishing, and human shenanigans past, present, and future.” —Amazing Stories

Drawing on a lifetime of insight, passion, and exploration, this 225,000-word collection brings together Robert J. Sawyer’s most compelling articles, reviews, and speeches about science fiction.

From talks at the Library of Congress and Cambridge University through articles for Science and Slate to columns for SF magazines and fanzines, Sawyer examines the field he loves so much from every angle, including its history, creators, ideas, and future, including:

• Commentary on the works of Margaret Atwood, Arthur C. Clarke, Michael Crichton, William Gibson, Cixin Liu, Judith Merril, Frederik Pohl, Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells, and many more

• Sawyer’s introductions to books by David Brin, Lois McMaster Bujold, David Gerrold, Jack McDevitt, Mike Resnick, Robert Charles Wilson, and other greats of the genre

• A comprehensive history of Canadian SF

• Oodles of how-to-write advice

• And a peek behind the curtain at how Sawyer’s own bestselling novels were written.

With his candid voice and signature humor, Sawyer on Science Fiction invites readers to consider not just what science fiction is but also what it might yet become.

“Rob is the real deal.” —David Brin

Robert J. Sawyer has won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel of the Year, as well as the Robert A. Heinlein Award and the top SF awards in Canada, China, France, Japan, and Spain. The ABC TV series Flashforward was based on his novel of the same name. A member of the Order of Canada, he lives near Toronto.

“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.” —The Toronto Star

“An editor once told Isaac Asimov, ‘When you write, you are the field.’ Robert J. Sawyer is the field. His new book is the most complete look at the word of science fiction since Asimov’s own essays on the subject. If you really want to understand the field of science fiction as it is today, you must read this book.” —ten-time Hugo finalist Michael A. Burstein

Audio Interview

Buying Links

“Robert J. Sawyer is one of the most prolific and celebrated modern authors of science fiction.” —John Scalzi

EBOOK:

• Kindle US
• Kindle Canada
• Kindle UK
• Kindle Australia
• Kobo
• Nook
• And other ebook vendors worldwide!

TRADE PAPERBACK:

Autographed Copies Directly From Me:

• My website
• My eBay Store

• Indigo & Chapters Canada
• Amazon Canada
• Amazon US
• Barnes & Noble US

• Audreys (Edmonton)
• Bakka-Phoenix (Toronto)
• McNally Robinson (Winnipeg and Saskatoon)
• Owl's Nest Books (Calgary)

Table of Contents

Decoherence Columns

• Defining Science Fiction
• Laws of Robotics
• The Hot New Thing
• 1968
• Kosher SF
• Appropriation
• Saying No
• May The Forbes Be With You
• The Noble Mission
• Con Job
• New Year's Resolutions
• Mental Time Travel
• What SFWA Was Supposed To Be
• Nick Bostrom Can Suck My Philip K. Dick
• The Future Waits For No One
• No-Name Awards
• The Problem With Three Bodies

Speeches and Keynote Addresses

• Is There a Place for SF in the 21st Century?
• AI and Sci-Fi: My, Oh, My!
• Science Fiction and Social Change
• "A Galaxy Far, Far Away" My Ass!
• Foresight and Fiction
• Lifetime Achievement Award (2013)
• Lifetime Achievement Award (2023)

Articles

On Science Fiction

• Reality Check 1993!
• Parallel Worlds
• Dinosaurs in Science Fiction
• The Purpose of Science Fiction
• Uncle Hugo's Legacy
• 1993: The Dark Side of the Force
• Designer Aliens
• Robot Ethics
• Five Misconceptions About SF writers
• Science Fiction in the Classroom
• The End of SF
• My Approach to Science Fiction
• Books and Movies
• Hitting the Reset Switch

On Science Fiction Fandom

• Pros and Cons
• On Conventions
• The 2003 Hugo Awards Ceremony
• Chengdu Memories
• Putting the "World" in Worldcon!
• Mike Glicksohn
• Randy McCharles
• Taral

Random Musings Columns

• Vintage RJS Rants
• The State of Fandom
• Virtual Unreality
• When Someone Waves Hello
• The Auroras Are Just Fine
• Fans Aren't Slans

Writing

• Eight Things New Writers Need to Know
• It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Theme)

On Writing Columns

• Great Beginnings
• Constructing Characters
• Point of View
• Speaking of Dialogue
• Show, Don't Tell
• Description
• Heinlein's Rules
• Professionalism

Canadian Science Fiction

• Canadian SF (1985)
• Writer's Map of Canada
• A Tale of Two Stories
• Introduction to Tesseracts 6
• Canadian Encyclopedia Entry
• Introduction to Crossing the Line
• Toronto: A Writer's Tour
• Whither Canadian SF&F?
• Introduction to Distant Early Warnings
• On Spec's 20th Anniversary
• The Old Pemmican Factory
• Sci-Fi: Taken for Granted

Profiles

• Buzz Aldrin
• Isaac Asimov
• Hal Clement
• Fred Gambino
• Terence M. Green (1988)
• Terence M. Green (1992)
• Robyn Herrington
• Donald Kingsbury
• Judith Merril
• Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens
• Ralph M. Vicinanza

Book Reviews

• Science, Salvation, and Atwood
• Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
• Stephen Baxter's Evolution
• Piers Bizony's The Making of Kubrick's 2001
• Michael Crichton's Next
• A.K. Dewdney's Planiverse
• Gardner Dozois's Year's Best SF 8
• Gibson & Sterling's The Difference Engine
• John Ibbitson's Starcrosser
• Bernardo Kastrup's The Idea of the World
• Jack London's Before Adam
• Garfield Reeves-Stevens's Nighteyes
• Andrew Weiner's Distant Signals
• R. Duncan Appleford's SF: Inventing the Future
• Summer Science Fiction
• Science Fiction Road Trip

Media Reviews

• Three Screeds on Classic SF TV
• Bill the Cat, Meet Bill the Shat
• Star Trek's "The Immunity Syndrome" Remastered
• Revisiting "Turnabout Intruder"
• Star Trek: The Animated Series
• The Primate Directive
• Search: PROBE Agents Guide
• Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer

Introductions to Books by Other People

• David Brin: Sundiver
• Lois McMaster Bujold: Komarr
• J. Brian Clarke: The Alphanauts
• Arthur C. Clarke: Childhood's End
• Arthur C. Clarke: Rendezvous with Rama
• Marcos Donnelly: Letters from the Flesh
• David Gerrold: The Man Who Folded Himself
• Gerrold & Sawyer: Boarding the Enterprise
• J.U. Giesy: The Palos Trilogy
• Terence M. Green: Sailing Time's Ocean
• Frederick Philip Grove: Consider Her Ways
• Matthew Hughes: The Commons
• Edward M. Lerner: Muses & Musings
• Danita Maslan: Rogue Harvest
• Jack McDevitt: Cryptic
• Moores & Rogerson: Daydreaming in the Solar System
• Frederik Pohl: Gateway
• Frederik Pohl: Man Plus
• Mike Resnick: Resnick at Large
• Mike Resnick: "All The Things You Are"
• Charles Billings Stilson: The Polaris Trilogy
• Andrew Weiner: Getting Near the End
• Robert Charles Wilson: Julian: A Christmas Story

Introductions to My Own Books

• Golden Fleece (Mexican edition)
• Golden Fleece (Limited Edition)
• The Terminal Experiment
• The Terminal Experiment (2009 Reissue)
• Starplex (Audible)
• Illegal Alien (2009 Reissue)
• Flashforward (2009 Reissue)
• Flashforward (Mail on Sunday)
• Calculating God (Audible)
• Hominids (Audible)
• Humans (Audible)
• Hybrids (Audible)
• Wake (SFBC)
• Wake (Audible)
• Wake (The Big Idea)
• Wake (Page 69 Test)
• Watch (Audible)
• Watch (Page 69 Test)
• Wonder (Audible)
• Wonder (Page 69 Test)
• Triggers (Audible)
• Triggers (Gollancz Blog)
• Triggers (Page 69 Test)
• "Identity Theft" (SFWA Bulletin)
• Red Planet Blues (Ace)
• Red Planet Blues (Page 69 Test)
• Quantum Night (The Big Idea)
• Quantum Night (Page 69 Test)
• The Oppenheimer Alternative (The Big Idea)
• The Downloaded (My Favorite Bit)
• The Downloaded (Afterword)
• Ghosts in the Machine (Page 69 Test)

Autobiography

• My Books, My Place
• Autobiography: 1960-2003
• Autobiography: 2003-2017
• Hopefully Not the Last Word
• About the Author

More Good Reading

Novels by Robert J.Sawyer

My Very Occasional Newsletter