Robert J. Sawyer

Phase Four (of four!) of the book tour for Rollback is now underway: by-plane in the United States.

It started on Friday, May 18, 2007, when I flew from Toronto to Denver. The Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers had brought me in to run a day-long workshop for them -- and they kindly agreed to let me do a bookstore signing the night before. And the place to sign when you're in Denver is the Tattered Cover, a wonderful, giant independent bookstore (actually, they have a couple of branches in Denver; I was at the one on East Colfax).

The event brought out a good crowd of 40 people: a mix mostly of those involved with the RMFWs; those involved in MileHiCon, the Denver science-fiction convention (at which I was guest of honor last year); and those who had seen the event promoted in-store or who had heard my interview earlier that day (by phone, from Toronto, just before I headed to the airport) with radio station KHOW.

One woman, who bought a copy of Rollback, said she had never bought a novel before in her life, but couldn't resist after hearing me describe Rollback in the interview. Woot!

Mark Graham, the man quoted (if not by name) on most of my dust jackets introduced me to the audience. He's the reviewer for The Rocky Mountain News who called me "just about the best science-fiction writer out there." He gave a witty, comprehensive introduction, then I read from Rollback, answered questions, and signed books. It was a really, really pleasant event -- and we managed to drum up some more business there for the next day's RMFW workshop, so it was mutually beneficial.

The workshop itself was held on Saturday, May 19, 2007, at the Denver History Museum, a wonderful venue. We started at 9:00 a.m. and went through to 3:00 p.m. (even skipping our afternoon coffee break, so we could cover more material). The audience was terrific -- totally attentive, and filled with wonderfully perceptive questions. Feedback on the seminar was hugely positive, and so Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers were pleased.

I got to the airport in time to catch an earlier flight. United bumped me up to United Plus (not as good as Executive Class, but still with extra leg room), and gave me a whole emergency exit row; I had a well-deserved nap on the flight.

I'm in Calgary right now, for what's left of the Victoria Day weekend (long-weekend, celebrating the Queen's birthday). I'm home briefly in Toronto starting Tuesday, then Thursday Carolyn and I head out for the final stop on the Rollback book tour: Orlando, Florida, where I'm one of five guests of honor (along with Michael Bishop, Joe Haldeman, newly minted Nebula winner Jack McDevitt, and Mike Resnick -- quite a line-up!) at the SF convention Oasis.

Photos: