Sawyer's work frequently explores the intersection between science and religion, with rationalism winning out over mysticism[8] (see especially Far-Seer, The Terminal Experiment, Calculating God, and the three volumes of the Neanderthal Parallax (Hominids, Humans, and Hybrids), plus the short story "The Abdication of Pope Mary III," originally published in Nature, July 6, 2000).
Sawyer often explores the notion of copied or uploaded human consciousness, mind uploading, most fully in his novel Mindscan, but also in Flashforward, Golden Fleece, The Terminal Experiment, "Identity Theft", "Biding Time", and "Shed Skin".
His interest in consciousness studies[9] is also apparent in Wake, which deals with the spontaneous emergence of consciousness in the infrastructure of the World Wide Web. His interest in quantum physics, and especially quantum computing, inform the short stories "You See But You Do Not Observe"[10] (a Sherlock Holmespastiche) and "Iterations,"[11] and the novels Factoring Humanity and Hominids.
SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, plays a role in the plots of Golden Fleece, Factoring Humanity, Mindscan, Rollback, the novelette "Ineluctable," and the short stories "You See But You Do Not Observe" and "Flashes." Sawyer gives cosmology a thorough discussion in his far-future Starplex.[12] Real-life science institutions are often used as settings by Sawyer, including TRIUMF in End of an Era, CERN in Flashforward, the Royal Ontario Museum in Calculating God, the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Hominids and its sequels, the Arecibo Observatory in Rollback, the Canadian Light Source in Quantum Night, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Institute for Advanced Study in The Oppenheimer Alternative.
Sawyer has won both Canada's top SF award (the Prix Aurora Award) and its top mystery-fiction award (the Arthur Ellis Award) for his 1993 short story "Just Like Old Times".[15]Illegal Alien is a courtroom drama with an extraterrestrial defendant; Hominids puts one Neanderthal on trial by his peers for the apparent murder of another Neanderthal; Mindscan has the rights of uploaded consciousnesses explored in a Michigan probate court; and Golden Fleece, Fossil Hunter, The Terminal Experiment, Frameshift, Flashforward, and Red Planet Blues are all, in part, murder mysteries. Of Sawyer's shorter SF works, the novella Identity Theft and the short stories "Biding Time," "Flashes," "Iterations," "Shed Skin," "The Stanley Cup Caper," "You See But You Do Not Observe," "The Hand You're Dealt," and the aforementioned "Just Like Old Times" are all also crime or mystery fiction.
Sawyer continues to use WordStar for DOS to write his novels.[20]
Film and televisionedit
In May 2009, ABC ordered 13 episodes of FlashForward (an hour-long dramatic TV series) for the 2009–2010 season. It is based on Sawyer's similarly titled novel, after successful production in February and March 2009 of a pilot episode scripted by David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga, directed by Goyer, and starring Joseph Fiennes and Sonya Walger.[21] After some adjustments, the first season was set to consist of 22 episodes.[22] Sawyer was a consultant on each episode of the series[23] and wrote the 19th episode, entitled "Course Correction".[24]
Sawyer wrote the original series bible for Charlie Jade, an hour-long science-fiction TV series that first aired in 2005–2006, and he did conceptual work in 2003 for reviving Robotech. He has also written and narrated documentaries about science fiction for CBC Radio's Ideas series, and he hosted the 17-part weekly half-hour documentary series Supernatural Investigator for Canada's Vision TV, which premiered January 27, 2009.[25] He provided analysis of the British science fiction series Doctor Who for the CBC's online documentary The Planet of the Doctor,[26] frequently comments on science fiction movies for TVOntario's Saturday Night at the Movies, and co-edited an essay collection in honor of the fortieth anniversary of Star Trek with David Gerrold, titled Boarding the Enterprise.
Teaching and public speakingedit
Sawyer has taught science-fiction writing at the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, Humber College, and the Banff Centre. In 2000, he served as Writer-in-Residence at the Richmond Hill, Ontario public library. In 2003, he was Writer-in-Residence at the Toronto Public Library's Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy (the first person to hold this post since Judith Merril herself in 1987).[27] In 2006, he was Writer-in-Residence at the Odyssey Writing Workshop. Also in 2006, he was the Edna Staebler Writer-in-Residence at the Kitchener public library in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario,[28] following the Region of Waterloo's choice of Sawyer's Hominids as the "One Book, One Community"[29] title that all 490,000 residents were encouraged to read in 2005. In 2007 he was the Berton House Writer-in-Residence at Berton House in Dawson City. In 2009, he was the first-ever Writer-in-Residence at the Canadian Light Source, Canada's national synchrotron facility in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.[30]
Sawyer is a frequent keynote speaker about technology topics,[31][32] and has served as a consultant to Canada's Federal Department of Justice on the shape that future genetics laws should take.[33]
Influence and recognitionedit
Canadianedit
Sawyer has long been an advocate of Canadian science fiction.[34] He lobbied hard for the creation of the Canadian Region of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America[35]
. The Canadian Region was established in 1992, and Sawyer served for three years on SFWA's Board of Directors as the first Canadian Regional Director (1992–1995). He also edited the newsletter of the Canadian Region, called Alouette in honor of Canada's first satellite; the newsletter was nominated for a Prix Aurora Award for best fanzine.
In addition to his popularity at home, Sawyer's work is well received internationally. All of his novels have been issued by New York publishing houses and translated editions have appeared in Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, Hungarian, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, and Spanish.[38]
Professional associationsedit
In 1998, Sawyer was elected president of SFWA on a platform that promised a referendum on various contentious issues, including periodic membership requalification and the creation of a Nebula Award for best script; he won, defeating the next-closest candidate, past-SFWA-president Norman Spinrad, by a 3:2 margin. However, Sawyer's actual time in office was marked by considerable opposition to membership requalification and negative reaction to his dismissing, with the majority support of the Board of Directors, one paid SFWA worker and one volunteer. He resigned after completing half of his one-year term, and was automatically succeeded by then-incumbent vice-president Paul Levinson. Prior to resigning, Sawyer's promised referendum was held, resulting in significant changes to SFWA's bylaws and procedures, most notably allowing appropriate non-North American sales to count as membership credentials, allowing appropriate electronic sales to count as membership credentials, and creating a Nebula Award for best script.
^Writers of the Future (2007). "List of Judges". Archived from the original on 2007-09-09. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
^Sawyer, Robert J. (2009-06-23). "RJS on WordStar cited in paper about accessibility for the blind". sfwriter.com. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
^Nellie Andreeva (2009). "ABC picks up 'Flash Forward'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
^Josef Adalian (2009). "ABC's 'FlashForward' Finds New Leaders". Archived from the original on 2010-04-16. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^SFWRITER.COM Inc. (2008). "TV rights to Sawyer's novel Flashforward sold to ABC". Retrieved 2009-05-09.
^SFWRITER.COM Inc. (2010). "On FlashForward set Watching the Episode I Wrote Being Filmed". Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^"SF author Robert J. Sawyer to host Supernatural Investigator". McNally Robinson. 2008-11-24. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
^Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (2005). "Planet of the Doctor". Archived from the original on 2007-08-12. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
^SFWRITER.COM Inc. (2003). "Merril Collection Writer-in-Residence". Retrieved 2007-09-25.
^Robert J. Sawyer blog (2006). "Edna Staebler Writer-in-Residence". Retrieved 2007-09-25.
^Danielle Fuller; DeNel Rehberg Sedo (2014). "Reproducing 'the Wow Factor'? Negotiating Values of Reading through One Book, One Community Events". Australia Humanities Review. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
^Ashleigh Mattern (2009). "Light Speed, Mr. Sawyer – Engage!". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
^Robert J. Sawyer (2007). "Keynotes and Talks". Retrieved 2007-12-05.
^Speakers' Spotlight (2007). "Robert J. Sawyer: The Challenge of Tomorrow". Archived from the original on 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
^Steven H Silver (2003). "Genetics Future Forum Includes Author". Archived from the original on 2008-04-29. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
^Robert J. Sawyer (1983–1992). "Northern Lights: Canadian Achievements in SF". Retrieved 2017-09-16.
^Robert J. Sawyer (1992–1995). "The Canadian Region of SFWA". Retrieved 2017-09-16.
^Laurentian University (2007). "Honourary Doctorates". Archived from the original on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2017-09-16.
^"Five exceptional people to be honoured at Spring Convocation" (8 May 2014). NewsCentre, University of Winnipeg. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
^Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (2007). "Robert J. Sawyer Curriculum Vitae". Retrieved 2007-08-08.
^The Writers' Union of Canada (2007). "Membership Directory". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
^Writers Guild of America East (2017). "Find a Writer". Retrieved 2017-09-16.
^"Twenty-Three Exceptional Honourees to be Appointed to the Order of Ontario". Ontario Government. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
^"Robert J. Sawyer: Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)". The Governor General of Canada. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
^"1995 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
^"2003 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
^"2006 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
^"The 2010 Hugo and John W. Campbell Award Nominees". AussieCon 4. April 4, 2010. Archived from the original on January 21, 2012. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
^ abCanadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (2017). "Past Winners". Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2017-09-16.
^New England Science Fiction Association, Inc. (2014). "The E. E. Smith Memorial Award". Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2017-09-16.
^"Governor General Announces 113 New Appointments to the Order of Canada". 20 September 2017.
^The Heinlein Society (2017). "Robert J. Sawyer Named 2017 Heinlein Award Winner". Retrieved 2017-09-16.
^"The 2017 Appointees to the Order of Ontario". January 29, 2018.
^"Robert J Sawyer – Red Planet Blues cover art reveal (and release date!)". Archived from the original on 2012-11-11.
^Briefly reviewed at Sakers, Don (May 2016). "The Reference Library". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 136 (5): 105–108.
^Fernandes, Marriska (November 7, 2023). "Brendan Fraser gets cryogenically frozen and creates a universe with his voice in a new audio drama". CBC Arts. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
External linksedit
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