Marc Guggenheim says, "Pick up the novel."

People keep asking me if they should read my novel FlashForward, or whether doing so will spoil the fun of watching the new TV series based on it.

Rather than answer that myself, I'll just repeat what FlashForward showrunner Marc Guggenheim says in the October 1, 2009, edition of The Age, a daily newspaper in Melboure, Australia:

Guggenheim hopes the show's fans will pick up Sawyer's book. "That's part of the fun, trying to figure out what has happened, and I really encourage people to play along, pick up the novel, you never know what inspired us, what we used, or whether I'm misdirecting you by saying we didn't take anything from the novel. As for the show, record it, pause it, glean through it for hidden clues. That's part of the experience for some people."

You can read the full interview with Marc here, and more about the novel is here.

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Robert Charles Wilson reviews Margaret Atwood

In the Literary Review of Canada. Check it out.

Pictured: Robert J. Sawyer and Robert Charles Wilson with their Hugo trophies.

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Star Trek: The Original Series Blu-ray review

Splurged on a nice new Blu-ray DVD player yesterday (Sony BDP-S560, recommended by my video-guru friend H. Don Wilkat); also, got the lovely boxed set of the Planet of the Apes films on Blu-ray; quick check shows the first film looks stunning.

Next purchase: the remastered original Star Trek episodes on Blu-ray. The Canadian website DVDBeaver has a wonderful detailed review of the first season on Blu-ray, with amazing screen captures showing the improvement in quality over standard DVD. See here

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VCON in Vancouver this weekend

I'll be at Vancouver's science-fiction convention VCON this weekend. If you're in the area, come on out -- it'll be a blast!

More info

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Upcoming Canadian TV interviews

Just recorded interviews for Bravo! Canada's The O'Regan Files with Seamus O'Regan (above) -- for a full half-hour installment of the program -- and for CTV's ETalk. Not sure when they'll air.

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British edition of FlashForward

The British edition of FlashForward -- my novel which is the basis of the TV series of the same name -- published by Orion's Gollancz imprint, is due to hit stores in the UK next week. My UK editor, Simon Spanton, just wrote to say they've already gone back to press for a second printing, because new bookstore orders keep pouring in. Woohoo!

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Concordia University's The Link interview about Wake

A nice interview, by Christopher Olson, mostly about my novel Wake. You can read it online here.

And The Link has a brief review of the anthology Distant Early Warnings I edited here.

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Wake ads in Toronto subway cars

For the next four weeks, Penguin Canada will be advertising my new novel Wake in subway cars in Toronto. The ads will appear randomly in cars on the Yonge-University-Spadina line. (Wake is called WWW: Wake in the United States.)

I'm going to be traveling for all of October, and won't get a chance to go snap pictures of these on the subway trains myself. So, if any of you happen to see one and have a camera or a camera-phone with you, I'd love it if you emailed me a copy at sawyer@sfwriter.com.

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CERN interviews RJS about FF on ABC

My novel FlashForward, the basis for the ABC TV series of the same name, is largely set at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

CERN now has a video interview with me, conducted by horror writer Stacey Cochran, and a print interview with me, conducted by CERN's Antonella Del Rosso, on the CERN website. How cool is that?

Watch and read here.

[Photo caption: CERN / In his own words: Robert J. Sawyer on FlashForward]

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Missed the first episode of FlashForward?

The first episode, "No More Good Days," is legally online for American and Canadian viewers.

Americans can watch it at ABC, and Canadians at CTV.

Info about the novel by Robert J. Sawyer that it's based on his here.

Enjoy!

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The secret masters of Canadian SF media: Joe Mahoney and Mark Askwith

The CBC Book Club has interviews with the CBC's Joe Mahoney and Mark Askwith of Space: The Imagination Station about their relationships with me, along with their recommendations for SF books by authors other than me. Check 'em out:

Mark Askwith

Joe Mahoney

Photo above: Mark Askwith interviews Robert J. Sawyer live on stage at the launch party for Rob's latest novel, Wake, April 30, 2009.

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CBC Radio loves the Robman

On Saturday, September 26, 2009, I was interviewed on CBC Radio One's pop-culture program Definitely Not the Opera, hosted by Sook-Yin Lee (above in 2007, with Robert J. Sawyer), in an interview recorded at Thin Air: Winnipeg International Writers' Festival.

On Monday, September 28, 2009, I was interviewed on CBC Radio One's Q, hosted by Jian Ghomeshi (below, photographed today with Rob).

And earlier this month, on Saturday, September 5, 2009, I was interviewed on CBC Radio One's The Next Chapter, hosted by Shelagh Rogers.

All three interviews were about my novel FlashForward, and the hit ABC TV series based on it -- and all three interviews are now online as MP3 files:

• CBC Radio's DNTO interviews Rob (6 minutes)
  
  
• CBC Radio's Q interviews Rob (14 minutes)
  
  
• CBC Radio's The Next Chapter interviews Rob (12 minutes)
  

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A reminder: FlashForward is available as an audio book

Blackstone Audiobooks has a wonderful unabridged reading of FlashForward, the Robert J. Sawyer novel that the hit ABC TV series is based on. The reader is Mark Deakins, and he does a fabulous job (I recently listened to the whole thing during my morning treadmilling sessions).

You can download it from Audible.com or Amazon.com, or buy it on CDs from Amazon or anywhere else that sells audiobooks.

All of my Audible.com titles are here.

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FlashForward reaches #164 on Amazon.com

Woohoo! On September 26, 2009, the Tor mass-market paperback of my novel FlashForward, basis for the ABC TV series of the same name, hit "Amazon.com Sales Rank: #164 in Books" -- the highest I've ever been. (It's currently #424). Not bad for a ten-year-old book!

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Screen captures of my little FlashForward cameo

I'm very briefly in the first scene of the third act of the first episode of FlashForward, the ABC TV series based on my novel of the same name.

Remember the scene that ends with the guy watching the TVs through the store window with Joe Fiennes's character, and the guy says, "It's the whole world." Then there's a commerical break, and when we come back, Joe's character gets a call from Sonya Walger's character; I'm in the background of two of the shots of Sonya, talking on a cellphone.

Here are two wide-screen screen captures of Robert J. Sawyer's cameo in the FlashForward pilot, courtesy of FlashForwardTV.com.

Rob to the left of Sonya

Rob to the right of Sonya

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ABC debut episode credits as aired

Here are screen captures of the credits for Robert J. Sawyer from the ABC TV series FlashForward, as it first aired on Thursday, September 24, 2009.

The card "Based on the novel by Robert J. Sawyer" is the first card in the closing credits; the closing credits aired over scenes of upcoming epsisodes of FlashForward, and the shared cared "Consultant: Robert J. Sawyer" happened to have the series logo in the background.





Other credit screen captures are here and here.

The credits read:

Based on the Novel by
Robert J. Sawyer

and a bit later in the closing credits I also share this card:

Consultant
Robert J. Sawyer

Costume Designer
Kathleen Detoro

Costume Supervisor
Robyn Williams

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Canadian Press video interview with RJS

The Canadian Press has a video interview with Robert J. Sawyer about FlashForward, the TV sereis based on his novel of the same name, over at the website for The Globe and Mail: Canada's National Newspaper. You can watch it online here.

(Interview recorded at CTV's Queen Street facility in Toronto on August 11, 2009, and posted on the Globe's site on September 24, 2009.)

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ISFiC Press is having a sale in honor of FlashForward

See here. ISFiC Press is the publisher of my collection Relativity.

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FlashForward credits from CTV

ABC did a squeeze-and-tease on the ending credits of FlashForward, the TV series based on my novel of the same name, devoting most of the screen to a promotion for future episodes of the series. But CTV's /A\ in Canada ran the credits full screen. Here are screen captures from the streaming-video version of the first episode (which Canadian viewers can watch on the CTV.ca website). This will presumably be the DVD/Blu-Ray version of the credtis, as well.

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National Post on "The Man Who Knew Too Much"

Yesterday's National Post -- a major Canadian daily newspaper available coast-to-coast -- ran a great interview with Robert J. Sawyer about FlashForward (accompanied by a great photo!)

You can read the article online here; the author is Mark Medley and the photographer is Peter J. Thompson.

Below is how the article appeared in the printed newspaper.

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The ratings are in: FlashForward is a hit!

The overnight Nielsen TV ratings are in -- and FlashForward, the TV series based on Robert J. Sawyer's novel of the same name, is a hit!

Detailed ratings info, courtesy of The Futon Critic.

More info, from TV By The Numbers.

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Nice to be the first thing the Prime Minister saw over breakfast

Cool call-out above the fold on page 1 of the Ottawa Citizen, the largest-circulation newspaper in Canada's capital city:


Even nicer article inside by Tom Spears, the Citizen's science reporter inside. The article begins: "That there's fiction in science fiction is pretty obvious. But Canadian author Rob Sawyer also wants you to remember the science half, especially with one of his 20 novels coming out as a televised series."


You can read the whole article right here.

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National Post interviews Robert J. Sawyer

Today's National Post -- a major Canadian daily newspaper, available coast to coast -- interviews me about tonight's debut of the TV series FlashForward, based on my novel of the same name.

The terrific photo above, taken by Post photographer Peter J. Thompson, accompanies the article, which was written by Mark Medley.

FlashForward premieres tonight -- Thursday, September 24, 2009 -- at 8:00 p.m. / 7:00 p.m. Central on ABC in the US and CTV's /A\ in Canada.

Reminder: Winnipeg FlashForward launch party begins at 6:30 on Thursday

Those darned timezones! Thin Air: Winnipeg International Writers Festival, in conjunction with CTV, is hosting a public viewing of the pilot episode of FlashForward, the TV series based on my novel, as it airs on Thursday, September 24, 2009. The event will be held at McNally Robinson Polo Park in Winnipeg, with me doing commentary before the show, during the commercial breaks, and afterwards.

But the start time for this event is 6:30 p.m. (not an hour later as previously announced), because FlashForward airs at 7:00 p.m. Central Time -- including Winnipeg. D'oh!

Details are here.

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TIME.com profiles Robert J. Sawyer

Click this text for full-size video at TIME.com
It doesn't get much better than this! TIME.COM -- the website of Time magazine -- has just posted a 6-minute video profile of me and the science behind my novel FlashForward.

(Indeed, right now, it's promoted on top of the the main page of TIME.com, which is as close as I'll ever get to being on the cover of Time!)

The interview with me was done Thursday, August 27, 2009, in Los Angeles, at a location shoot for FlashForward. It's terrific!

The interview is hosted by Brian Malow. Special thanks to Nicole Marostica of ABC Studios for facilitating the shoot.

Watch the interview right here.

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More broadcasters for FlashForward

The list of broadcasters for FlashForward, the TV series based on my novel of the same name, just keeps growing. The show has now sold to broadcasters in 44 territories around the world including:

• Australia: Seven
  
• Canada: /A\
  
• Cyprus: Fox International
  
• Finland: Nelonen
  
• France: TF1
  
• Greece: Fox International
  
• Hong Kong: TVB
  
• Iceland: RUV
  
• India: Zee Cafe
  
• Ireland: RTE
  
• Korea: OCN
  
• Malaysia: Media Prima
  
• Netherlands: SBS
  
• New Zealand: TVNZ
  
• Norway: TV2
  
• Philipines: ABS-CBN
  
• Portugal: AXN
  
• Singapore: MediaCorp and Signtel
  
• Southeast Asia: Fox International
  
• Spain: AXN
  
• Spain: Cuatro
  
• Turkey: Digiturk
  
• UK: Five
  
• US: ABC

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Starred review for FlashForward

Flashing back to April 1999, when my novel FlashForward received a starred review -- denoting a book of exceptional merit -- from Publishers Weekly, the US trade journal of the book-publishing industry.

The review concluded: "This first-rate, philosophical journey, a terrific example of idea-driven SF, should have wide appeal."

The full review of the novel (which has a few spoilers for the book) appeared in the April 19, 1999, edition of PW:

FlashForward
by Robert J. Sawyer
[starred review]

A science experiment that unwittingly shuts down all human consciousness for two minutes is the catalyst for a creative exploration of fate, free will and the nature of the universe in Sawyer's soul-searching new work (after Factoring Humanity)

In April 2009, Lloyd and Theo, two scientists at the European Organization for Particle Physics (CERN), run an experiment that accidentally transports the world's consciousness 20 years into the future. When humanity reawakens a moment later, chaos rules. Vehicles whose drivers passed out plow into one another; people fall or maim themselves.

But that's just the beginning. After the horror is sorted out, each character tries desperately to ensure or avoid his or her future. Trapped by his guilt for causing so much destruction and driven by a need to rationalize, Lloyd tries to prove that free will is a myth. Theo discovers that he will be murdered and begins to hunt down his killer — tempting fate as in the Greek dramas of his ancestors. Some people start on their appointed roads early, others give up on life because of what they've seen.

Using a third-person omniscient narrator, Sawyer shifts seamlessly among the perspectives of his many characters, anchoring the story in small details. This first-rate, philosophical journey, a terrific example of idea-driven SF, should have wide appeal.

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The differences between writing for print and screen

The Dragon Page interviews me about the differences between writing for print and writing for television and film. It's a good, meaty interview, and you can listen right here.

We talk about the current adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife, about Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, about House, about The Simpsons, about the new Battlestar Galactica, and of course about FlashForward. And at the end, we talk about my new novel Wake.

I come in at the 16 minutes 0 seconds mark, and go to almost the end of the show, 43 minutes 8 seconds mark.

(The book I recommend during the interview is Writing the TV Drama Series: How to Succeed as a Professional Writer in TV by Pamela Douglas.)

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Symmetry Breaking interviews RJS

Symmetry Breaking: Extra Dimensions of Particle Physics -- a joint publication of Fermilab and SLAC -- interviews Robert J. Sawyer about his novel FlashForward, and the novel's setting at CERN. You can read the article right here. The interview is by Fermilab's Katie Yurkewicz.

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The RJS fans' guide to watching the debut of FlashForward

FlashForward, the ABC TV series based on my novel of the same name, debuts (as I write this) in three days -- on Thursday, September 24, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific and 7:00 p.m. Central. In the United States, it's on ABC and in Canada it's on CTV's /A\ Channels.

Things to watch for:

---

MY CAMEO:

I have a small, non-speaking cameo in the first episode about halfway through (blink and you'll miss me!).

Sonya Walger plays Dr. Olivia Benford, a surgeon; there's a scene in which she's walking down a long hospital corridor while talking on her cell phone to her husband, FBI agent Mark Benford, played by Joseph Fiennes.

Behind her, in the same blue shirt I'm wearing in the photo above, talking on his own cell phone is ... me! My thanks to director David S. Goyer (on the right in the above photo) for cheerfully including this little bit of business for me; it was fun!

---

My CREDITS

My credits appear at the end of the episode. The very first card in the closing credits says:

Based on the Novel by
Robert J. Sawyer

and a bit later in the closing credits I also share this card:

Consultant
Robert J. Sawyer

Costume Designer
Kathleen Detoro

Costume Supervisor
Robyn Williams

[Screen captures taken from the 17-minute preview at abc.com; actual closing credits may have different background images]

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Reminder: CANADA A.M. tomorrow

I'll be in Canada A.M. -- Canada's most-watched morning show -- tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:40 a.m.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

"The Aurora Award-winning novel that started it all!"

The back cover of the new TV-series tie-in editions of my 1999 novel FlashForward proudly proclaims "The Aurora Award-winning novel that started it all!"

And indeed, FlashForward did win the 2000 Prix Aurora Award -- Canada's top honour in science fiction and fantasy -- for "Best Long-Form Work in English" (yes, the award category names were decided by a committee; it's de facto the Best English Novel Award -- "English," because Auroras are also given for work in Canada's other official language, French).

Canadian SF&F readers from coast to coast nominate and vote for the Auroras, and they are presented at a ceremony at the annual Canadian National Science Fiction Convention (or "CanVention").

The awards given in 2000 were for work first published in 1999. That was a very strong year for Canadian SF&F, I must say, as the list of nominees in the Long-Form English category attests:

• Beholder's Eye by Julie E. Czerneda, DAW Books
  
• Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson, Warner Books
  
• FlashForward by Robert J. Sawyer, Tor Books
  
• Starfish by Peter Watts, Tor Books
  
• Bios by Robert Charles Wilson, Tor Books
  
• Death Drives a Semi by Edo van Belkom, Quarry Press

(As it happened, I also won the Best Short-Form Work in English Award that year, too; you can read my winning story "Stream of Consciousness" here.)

And a press release about my double Aurora win that year is here.

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AMCtv.com interviews RJS

AMCtv.com -- the website of AMC (originally, "American Movie Classics"), a US cable channel -- recently phoned me up and interviewed me about my novels FlashForward and Wake, and the TV adaptation of the former. You can read the interview, by Clayton Neuman, right here.

(And, I must say, there is lots of other good SF-related material on this site in their "SciFi Scanner" section -- including, recently, an interview with Dune author Brian Herbert, and columns by Mary Robinette Kowal and John Scalzi. Start here, and keep scrolling.)

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FlashForward: One of the Year's Best

Not the TV series (although it undoubtedly is), but the book.

Back in December 1999, Barnes and Noble released a list of its picks for the best science fiction and fantasy novels of that year: Robert J. Sawyer's FlashForward was listed third, with the following review:

Robert J. Sawyer consistently makes intelligent, mind-blowing science fiction accessible to the mainstream reader with his efficient, easy-flowing prose, his exciting ideas, and his superior character development.

Over the past several years, Sawyer's stunning thrillers have produced multiple Hugo and Nebula nominations, enough for most to recognize him as the leader of SF's next-generation pack.

His newest novel, the near-future FlashForward, is every bit as good, if not better, than his previously recognized high-tech whirlwinds.

The full list:

1. Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
   
2. Neil Gaiman, Stardust
   
3. Robert J. Sawyer, FlashForward
   
4. Michael Crichton, Timeline
   
5. Orson Scott Card, Ender's Shadow
   
6. Elizabeth Haydon, Rhapsody
   
7. Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, Dune: House Atreides
   
8. Brian Jacques, Marlfox: A Tale from Redwall
   
9. L.E. Modesitt Jr., Gravity Dreams
   
10. Guy Gavriel Kay, Sailing to Sarantium
    
11. George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings
    
12. Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky
    
13. Richard Bowes, Minions of the Moon
    
14. Elizabeth Hand, Black Light
    
15. Frank M. Robinson, Waiting
    
16. Terry Goodkind, Soul of the Fire
    
17. Ken MacLeod, The Cassini Division
    
18. Brendan DuBois, Resurrection Day
    
19. Ben Bova, Return to Mars
    
20. Sean McMullen, Souls in the Great Machine
    
21. Thomas Harlan, The Shadow of Ararat

You can read more about the novel FlashForward by Robert J. Sawyer here.

Pictured: Above, the 2009 TV series tie-in edition; below, the original mass-market paperback cover from 2000 (the hardcover came out in 1999).

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Slice of SciFi interviews RJS

The podcast Slice of SciFi interviews Robert J. Sawyer this week; you can listen here.

I come in at 31 minutes 0 seconds, and go to 46 minutes 30 seconds.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

Star attraction

Today's Winnipeg Free Press -- the major daily newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba -- has a great article about the upcoming Thin Air: Winnipeg International Writers Festival, which begins next week. The article, by Books section editor Morley Walker, observes, "The star attraction this year is arguably science-fiction novelist Robert J. Sawyer."

That's why I love being a science-fiction writer in Canada. In the US, a science-fiction writer is lucky to be allowed to buy a ticket to attend a literary festival; in Canada, we're celebrated as the stars of such festivals.

Morley Walker did a major profile of me in the Free Press earlier this year; you can read it here.

Thin Air website

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Great New Canadian SF & Fantasy

YouTube has video of the panel on this topic from the 2009 World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal. Panelists (left to right): Hayden Trenholm, John Park, Robert J. Sawyer.

Direct YouTube link (bigger picture, HQ available)

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Hijacked Amazon review threads

Thanks to my friend Virginia O'Dine for this very funny link.

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Wall Street Journal on FlashForward

... including the list of books David S. Goyer has the staff writers read (beside my novel FlashForward, of course!). See the article here.

I visited the writers' room for FlashForward earlier this month, but didn't feel comfortable blogging about it -- but you can read what David Goyer has to say about the room in this article.

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Paul Levinson podcasts RJS

Paul Levinson -- himself a very fine SF writer, and the author of The Plot to Save Socrates -- interviews me for 36 minutes on his podcast Light On Light Through about FlashForward.

You can listen here.

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The end of an era

Received today, via FedEx, the actual production manuscript for my novel Wake, returned from Ace Science Fiction, my New York publisher. This manuscript is the one that was marked up (in various colors of pen and pencil) by the copyeditor and the book designer and me (and Carolyn, too). I now have 18 such master manuscripts in my files, one for each of my novels to date.

But this will be the last one. Ace is switching over entirely to electronic production (they've come a long way since 1991, when, after much pushing by me and my Ace editor back then, Peter Heck, my Far-Seer, was the very first novel they ever typeset from an author's computer disk).

I now submit my manuscripts by email, and starting with Watch, the second WWW novel, they're being copyedited electronically, too. It's more efficient, yes, but it does signal the end of an era, and, of course, the kind of single, master marked-up manuscript that will no longer be produced was of considerable academic interest (I'm getting close to being ready to donate my papers to an institution). The times, they do change ...

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Rob on Canada A.M. on Tuesday

CTV is the Canadian broadcaster for the FlashForward TV series, and they've booked me on their flagship morning show Canada A.M. for this Tuesday, September 22, 2009 (because that's the last day I'm in Toronto before the series premiere, two days later). I'm scheduled to go on at 8:40 a.m. Eastern time.

Not that anyone's counting, but this will be my fifth appearance on Canada A.M.

My appearances:

• Tuesday 19 November 1996, talking about The Terminal Experiment and Starplex
  
  
• Monday 16 June 1997, talking about Frameshift
  
  
• Thursday 18 June 1998, debating Thomas M. Disch about science fiction's influence on society
  
  
• Tuesday 23 May 2000, talking about Calculating God
  
  
• Tuesday 22 September 2009, talking about FlashForward

(Yeah, it's been a long hiatus; Dan Matheson, who used to co-host Canada A.M., is a big fan of my books, but now he's anchoring newscasts for CTV. It's nice to be back -- although I have done 162 appearances on other shows in the interim!)

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Henry Gibson passes on

Henry Gibson died this week as well; people today probably knew him best for his recurring role as a virginal judge on Boston Legal, but to people my age or older, he was best known for his poetry on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, which I watched often with my parents in the 1960s.

Anyway, it astonishes me to learn from the obituaries that "Henry Gibson" wasn't the comedian's real name, and instead that it was a pun on the name of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (as said with a southern-US accent). Few puns slip by me, but maybe because I was all of eight when I first encountered Henry Gibson, I can be forgiven. :)

(Yes, I know, my parents are sounding like hippies this week, what with my earlier talk of them enjoying the 60s' protest folk songs of Peter, Paul and Mary, and now this discussion of Laugh-In.)

(And, yes, we never missed the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour -- the must-see prime-time American TV show for liberal intellectuals in the 1960s, either; of course, it's tame by today's standards, but it was, in fact, where people like Pete Seeger finally got to return to TV after being blacklisted in the McCarthy witch hunt.)

(I also remember my parents taking all three of us boys to see the Beatles' movie Yellow Submarine, and my parents leaving us at home so they could go see a nude production of the musical Hair ...)

(So, no, they weren't hippies, but the were hip.)

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How the heck did I know the new Pope was going to be Benedict XVI?

I reveal all in a short video interview with the CBC Book Club, which is doing my FlashForward this month. The interview is here.

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T-minus 1 week and counting

FlashForward, the TV series based on my novel of the same name, premieres one week from today in North America (at 8:00 p.m. / 7:00 p.m. Central).

In the United States, it's on ABC.

In Canada, it's on CTV's /A\ series of channels.

The pilot is fabulous.


Pictured: actor Joseph Fiennes and author Robert J. Sawyer on the set of ABC's FlashForward.

Adapting award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer's revolutionary novel, executive producers David S. Goyer (co-writer of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight), Brannon Braga (24, Star Trek: Enterprise), Marc Guggenheim (Brothers & Sisters, Eli Stone), Jessika Borszicky (Revelations) and producer Mark H. Ovitz (October Road) invite you to embark on a journey to answer the question, "if you knew what your future held, what would you do?" -- ABC.COM

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Karl Schroeder on the truth about Canadian health care

Karl Schroeder, one of my SF writing colleagues here in Toronto, had first-hand experience with Canadian health care recently, and is blogging about it here.

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Winnipeg Sun on Thin Air

Lots of info about Thin Air: Winnipeg International Writers Festival, featuring Robert J. Sawyer, Robert Charles Wilson, and Nick DiChario, in today's Winnipeg Sun newspaper.

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Humans back in mass market

After some supply-chain problems, I'm delighted to announced that my Hugo Award-nominated novel Humans, second in the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy (and my own personal favourite of the three books) is now back in print in mass-market paperback from Tor. This is the book's fifth mass-market printing.

Not only does Humans contain the hottest sex scene I've ever written, it also contains what I think is the best passage I've ever written, namely Ponter and Mary visiting the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington.

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Possible cure for colour blindness

This is fascinating: imagine seeing colours you have never seen before.

"Gene Cure" for Colour Blindness

(As some will recall, colour blindness figures in the plot of my novel Mindscan, and the plasticity of the brain is key to my novel Wake.)

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Mary of Peter, Paul and Mary passes on

One of the things I inherited from my parents is a love of folk music. I am a huge Pete Seeger fan, and also greatly admired Peter, Paul and Mary.

(In fact, this no doubt had an influence on the kind of writer I turned out to be. One school of writing says, if you want to send a message, call Western Union. Another -- the one Pete Seeger (and Woody Guthrie) and Peter, Paul and Mary -- subscribed to says, if you want to send a message, send a message! I'm of the latter school, and it's the protest songs of these artists that influenced me.)

Mary -- Mary Travers -- of Peter, Paul and Mary passed away today.

Among the songs the group was known for: "If I Had a Hammer" (which they performed during the 1963 March on Washington), "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," and "Blowin' in the Wind" (and, yes, "Puff, the Magic Dragon").

The New York Times has an death notice.

And here's Pete Seeger himself introducing a clip of Peter, Paul and Mary. I have tears in my eyes right now listening to it.

Frolic in the autumn mist, Mary: you deserve it. What you did mattered, and it made a difference.

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Planet of the Apes 40th Anniversary Blu-ray set

In Canada, both Amazon.ca and Futureshop.com have the 40th anniversary Planet of the Apes Blu-ray box set on sale for the terrific price of Cdn$59.99. Just ordered me a set.

(Now have to buy a Blu-ray player so I can watch it!)

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Page proofs and Jurors

Spent part of the afternoon going through the page proofs for Penguin Canada's new editions of The Terminal Experiment and Illegal Alien.

Illegal Alien is a courtroom drama with an extraterrestrial defendant. While looking at the proofs, I was pleasantly reminded of a bit of business from the book (first published in 1997) that I'd completely forgotten writing:

At nine a.m. the next morning, Dale and Frank entered Judge Pringle's chambers. Linda Ziegler was already there, as were juror number 209 -- a pudgy white woman of forty-one -- and a man Dale had seen around the courthouse over the years but didn't know. A moment later, Judge Pringle entered, accompanied by a stenographer. Pringle waited for the stenographer to get set up, then said, "Mr. Wong, will you please introduce yourself to the others?"

"Ernest Wong, representing Juror 209."

"Thank you," said the judge. "Let the record show that also present are Ms. Ziegler for the People, and Mr. Rice for Mr. Hask, who is not here. Also present with my permission is Dr. Frank Nobilio, American delegate to the Tosok entourage. Now, Juror 209, good morning to you."

"Good morning, Judge," said Juror 209, her voice nervous.

"Okay," said Judge Pringle, "Juror 209, your attorney is here. Feel free to stop me anytime you want to consult with Mr. Wong, and Mr. Wong, of course anytime you wish to interpose an objection or make an inquiry, you are entitled to do so."

"Thank you," said Wong.

"Now, Juror 209, some questions have been raised." Pringle held up a hand, palm out. "I'm not saying you've done anything wrong, but when questions are raised relating to juror conduct or juror impaneling, the appellate law here in California requires me to make an investigation, so that's what we're doing. Okay? Okay. You were asked to fill out a questionnaire prior to serving on this jury, correct?"

"That's right."

"Did you fill out the questionnaire truthfully?"

"Objection!" said Wong. "Calls for self-incrimination."

Judge Pringle frowned. "Very well. Juror 209, we have a problem here. Question 192 on the jury questionnaire asked if you had ever seen a flying saucer. Do you recall that question?"

"I don't recall a question using that term, no, Your Honor."

Judge Pringle looked even more irritated. "Well, let me read the question to you." She rummaged on her desk, looking for the questionnaire. Linda Ziegler rose to her feet, her copy in hand. Pringle motioned for her to bring it forward. The judge took the sheaf of papers, flipped through it until she found the appropriate page, and read, "`Have you ever seen a UFO?' Do you recall that question."

"Yes."

"You recall it now," said Pringle.

"I've always recalled it -- but you asked me about flying saucers, not UFOs."

Pringle was getting more annoyed by the minute. "What's the difference?"

"A UFO is an unidentified flying object. By definition, it's something the nature of which you don't know."

"And you put on your survey that you'd never seen a UFO."

"That's right."

"The Court has received a letter from a member of the Bay Area chapter of MUFON. That's the ... the --"

"The Mutual UFO Network," said Juror 209.

"Yes," said Pringle. "A member of the Bay Area chapter of the Mutual UFO Network, saying that you were a speaker at one of their meetings about eight years ago. Is that true?"

"Yes. I lived in San Rafael back then."

"What was the subject of your talk?"

"My abduction experience."

"You were kidnapped?" said Pringle.

"Not that kind of abduction. I was taken aboard an alien spacecraft."

Judge Pringle visibly moved away from the woman, shifting her weight on her chair. "Taken aboard an alien spacecraft," she repeated, as if the words had been unclear the first time.

"That's correct, Your Honor."

"But you specified on your questionnaire that you had never seen a UFO."

"And I never have. What I saw was wholly identified. It was an alien spaceship."

"Alien -- as in from another world?"

"Well, actually, I believe the aliens come from another dimension -- a parallel time track, if you will. There's a lot of good evidence for that interpretation."

"So you're making a distinction between a UFO -- something unknown -- and an alien spaceship?"

"Yes."

"Surely you're splitting hairs, Juror 209."

"I do not believe so, ma'am."

"You felt completely comfortable denying having ever seen a UFO on your jury questionnaire?"

"Yes."

"But surely the spirit of the question --"

"I can't comment on the spirit of the question. I simply answered the question that was asked of me."

"But you knew what information we were looking for."

"With all due respect, Your Honor, it says right on the questionnaire, it says -- may I see that? May I see the questionnaire?" Pringle handed it to her. "It says right here, right at the top, it says, `There are no right or wrong answers. Do not try to anticipate the answers likely to get you placed on or removed from the jury panel. Simply answer the questions as asked truthfully and to the best of you knowledge.'"

Pringle sighed. "And you felt what you gave was a truthful answer?"

"Objection!" said Wong. "Self-incrimination."

"All right," said Pringle. "Did you --"

"No, I don't mind answering," said Juror 209. "Yes, I felt my answer was truthful."

"But you know in court we want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

"Forgive me, Your Honor, but it's been quite clear throughout this case that you want nothing of the kind. I've seen Mr. Rice, there, and Mrs. Ziegler, cut off all sorts of answers because they were more than either of them wanted the jury to hear. By every example I've ever seen, the Court wants specific answers to the narrow, specific questions posed -- and I provided just that."

"Did you have a special reason to want to be on this jury?"

"Objection!" said Wong. "Self-incrimination again."

"All right, all right," said Pringle. "Juror 209, I don't mind telling you I'm extremely disappointed in you. As of this moment, you're dismissed from the jury panel."

"Please don't do that," said Juror 209.

"You've given me no choice," said Pringle. "Just be happy that I'm not finding you in contempt. Deputy Harrison will take you home. We'll try to get you there before the press gets wind of this, but I suspect they'll be all over you by this evening. I cannot order you to be silent, but I do ask you to please consider the impact any statements you might make to the media will have. All right? You're dismissed." Pringle sighed, then turned to the lawyers. "We'll move up the appropriate alternate juror. I'll see you in the courtroom in" -- she looked at her watch -- "twenty minutes."

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Beauty shot of the new Enterprise

Hi-res versions of the dramatic shot of the U.S.S. Enterprise rising up from Saturn's moon Titan from the 2009 Star Trek movie are here (thanks to TrekMovie.com for the link!).

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FlashForward reruns already?

Yes -- and in the best possible way!

The debut episode of FlashForward -- the ABC TV series based on my novel of the same name -- airs Thursday, September 24, at 8:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. Central) on ABC.

And the very next night -- Friday, September 25, also at 8:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. Central), ABC is repeating the series opener (which is called "No More Good Days").

The following week, on Thursday, October 1, at 8:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. Central), ABC is showing our second episode, "White to Play."

And the very next night -- Friday, October 2, at 8/7, they're repeating "White to Play."

This is amazing support by ABC (which has been super-amazing all along).

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Kayne West is a jackass

... and President Barack Obama was perfectly within his rights to call him that (when asked about West's conduct).

If Obama had called West an "asshole," maybe that would be marginally newsworthy, but none of the dictionaries I've checked flag "jackass" as objectionable, of questionable taste, or obscene. "Jackass" refers to a donkey, not an anus, for Pete's sake, and is a synonym for "blockhead" according to the American Heritage English Dictionary.

Why is this even remotely newsworthy? What Kayne West did to Taylor Swift was wrong, and it's reassuring to have a President who actually does recognize the difference between right and wrong.

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Hour of the Wolf interviews RJS

The long-running New York science-fiction radio program Hour of the Wolf recorded an interview with Robert J. Sawyer at Readercon in July 2009, and it aired on Saturday, September 12. You can listen to an MP3 of the broadcast right here.

I come on at 27 minutes and 20 seconds mark and run all the way to the 1 hour 43 minutes and 30 seconds mark. The host is Jim Freund.

Topics: why I gave up writing short fiction, my mission statement as a writer, the FlashForward TV series, why there are not many scientists on TV, my new novel Wake (including me doing a reading from the book), and more.

(The terrific theme music is from the 1972 movie Silent Running, always one of my favourites.)

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Final Draft: Good program, but, come on!

An email I received today about Final Draft, a popular scriptwriting program. The version I use, 6, is about to have tech support discontinued, which I don't mind. But I do mind this:

Because authorizing version 6 is very much a technical matter, this service will also be discontinued on December 23rd. You will still be able to run the program in full mode on an unauthorized computer as long as the CD is in the drive when the program is launched. Once the program is open the CD can be removed. You will still have every program command and feature available to you, the same as the day you bought it. The only difference will be if your computer is not authorized, you will need to take this one extra step in order to open the application.

The CD, of course, is copy-protected, so once it dies, you're hosed (and, of course, one can't use Final Draft 6 on most netbooks now, since they lack CD drives). Thanks heaps, guys.

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Portuguese edition of FlashForward coming

My wonderful agent Ralph Vicinanza just sold Portuguese rights to FlashForward, bringing to 18 the number of languages my work has or will be appearing in: Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, English, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, and Spanish. w00t! (And le w00t! and el w00té! and ...)

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Winnipeg FlashForward screening time change

Those darned timezones! Thin Air: Winnipeg International Writers Festival, in conjunction with CTV, is hosting a public viewing of the pilot episode of FlashForward, the TV series based on my novel, as it airs on Thursday, September 24, 2009. The event will be held at McNally Robinson Polo Park in Winnipeg, with me doing commentary before the show, during the commercial breaks, and afterwards.

But the start time for this event is 6:30 (not an hour later as previously announced), because FlashForward airs at 7:00 p.m. Central Time -- including Winnipeg. D'oh!

Details are here.

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The Holographic Principle

At Astronomy Picture of the Day, over here. Cool!

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Review of Distant Early Warnings

Great review of Distant Early Warnings: Canada's Best Science Fiction, edited by Robert J. Sawyer, is here at The Crotchety Old Fan.

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There's a Hugo Award for Best Related Book

... and, really, that means that each year there are two Hugos given for books, one for fiction and one for nonfiction (for instance, the year my novel Hominids won the Hugo, Better to Have Loved, the wonderful biography of Judith Merril, by Judy and her daughter Emily Pohl-Weary, also won a Hugo in the Related Book category).

To promote discussion of the nonfiction books about science fiction and related topics that are eligible for this award -- and are worthy of notice in their own right -- Dr. Farah Mendlesohn, herself the author of one of the very best nonfiction books of recent years, Rhetorics of Fantasy, has started a LiveJournal community to chat about such things. Check it out!

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And while I'm being grouchy ...

A response to the person who decided to nitpick about one sentence in a 12-minute radio interview I did a week ago:

An interview is a pop quiz -- you have to answer live on air immediately, often about things you haven't thought about for years. We who are brave enough to go on the air don't have the luxury of waiting days to compose a response and then emailing it at our leisure. :) Still, thank you for your comment.

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I will not read your %$#@! script

My great friend playwright Linda C. Carson sent me this link to an article by John Olson in The Village Voice. Given that I get asked almost every day to read someone else's manuscript, all I can say is that Olson has nailed it exactly: it's a terrible imposition and a no-win situation.

[Update: and listen to Harlan Ellison read a poem inspired by this here.]

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Holy cow! Wake on Locus bestsellers list for third month!

My new novel Wake is on the Locus bestsellers' list for a third consecutive month. It debuted at #2 (and was the highest-ranked SF, as opposed to fantasy, title) in the April 2009 data period, and was #5 in May (and the second-highest-ranked SF title), and now is tied for #10 in June (as reported in the September 2009 issue).

The only book with a longer run on the hardcover list currently is Stephenie Meyer's The Host.

The full list is here.

My previous three-consecutive-month runs were for Rollback in paperback (data periods February, March, and April 2008) and for Hominids in hardcover (before it had won the Hugo; data periods May, June, and July 2002).

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Transcript of my CBC Book Club online chat

... is now available here. (The Book Club is doing my FlashForward this month.)

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Official Hugo Awards logo

I missed the announcement last month, because I was traveling, but there's now an official Hugo Awards logo (shown above), which an be used on winning books (such as -- cough, cough -- my own Hominids).

The rocket is the one standard part of the Hugo trophy design; everything else varies from year to year. That's me on the left holding my award from 2003, and Robert Charles Wilson holding his from 2006:

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