Robert J. Sawyer revels in asking the big questions.
The dean of Canadian science fiction, having penned an astonishing 24 novels that have taken us to space, into the future and explored an alternate reality where atomic bomb inventor J. Robert Oppenheimer is a saviour rather than a destroyer of worlds.
But Sawyer’s no space cowboy.
Through his novels, short stories and essays he explores life’s big scientific, philosophical and ethical questions.
His work often grapples with questions about artificial intelligence, consciousness, and the potential futures of the human race.
“I think science fiction should be fractal,” he writes on his website, www.sfwriter.com. “No matter what level of magnification you look at it — a single person, a couple, a family, a community, a city, a nation, a world, a solar system, a galaxy, a universe, the multiverse — it should be interesting. No other type of literature has that zoom-in/ zoom-out potential, and I like to take full advantage of it.”
Robert J. Sawyer as host of Vision TV’s Supernatural Investigator. (Photo credit: Carolyn Clink)
Sawyer holds a copy of his latest novel The Downloaded. (Photo credit: Carolyn Clink)
His latest novel The Downloaded, published in spring 2024, is a tightly-plotted story involving space travel, virtual reality, cryogenics and a dystopian future Earth.
The Downloaded’s release schedule illustrates Sawyer’s immense popularity.
Amazon negotiated a six-month exclusive debut on Audible, its audiobook platform. The Downloaded features an A-list cast of Canadian voice actors, led by 2022 Best Actor Oscar winner Brendan Fraser (The Whale/The Mummy trilogy), along with Emmy winner Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Colm Feore (The Umbrella Academy), Andrew Phung (Run the Burbs/Kim’s Convenience) and Vanessa Sears, star of the Canadian production of Kinky Boots.
Fan anticipation was so high for the printed novel, publisher Shawdowpaw Press ordered a second printing based on pre-release book orders.
With that level of popularity and anticipation, it isn’t surprising that Sawyer occupies a special place in the contemporary literary universe.
He is one of only eight writers in history and the only Canadian to win all three major science fiction awards.
In 1996, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America awarded him the Nebula for The Terminal Experiment.
In 2003, he won the World Science Fiction Society’s Hugo award for his novel Hominids, and, for his novel Mindscan, he was honoured with the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2006.
In 2009, ABC TV converted his novel FlashForward into a TV series that ran for two seasons, with Sawyer as scriptwriter.
Between 2010 and 2012, he won the Aurora, for Canada’s best Science Fiction and Fantasy novel, for each of the novels in his ‘WWW’ series, Wake, Watch and Wonder.
He’s hosted Vision TV’s Supernatural Investigator series, and the lifelong Trekkie wrote the two-part series finale for the popular web series Star Trek continues.
Sawyer beside his Legends Row installation outside Mississauga City Hall. (Photo credit: Carolyn Clink)
Born in Ottawa and raised in Toronto, Sawyer spent his childhood hanging out at the Royal Ontario Museum’s Saturday Morning Club learning all sorts of weird and fascinating stuff.
A great way to hone the imagination of a future novelist.
Even better was watching American TV. Sawyer loved the NBC science fiction series Search, which starred Hugh O’Brien and Burgess Meredith as high-tech private eyes investigating secretive political or criminal activities. The show ran for one season and in a quirk of Canadian broadcasting, each episode ran twice a week, first on a Canadian channel and then the next time on the original American channel.
Twelve-year-old Robert always wanted to watch both, even if it meant he’d be up past his bedtime. The first time to enjoy the story; and the second time to study how it was told.
The writer was starting to emerge.
The Canadian cover of The Oppenheimer Alternative designed by Bibliofic Designs.
Beyond his novels, Sawyer has contributed to the science fiction genre through numerous short stories and essays.
He also contributes to the academic study of science fiction, offering insights into the genre’s role in examining the human condition through speculative scenarios.
In addition to his writing, Sawyer is known for his advocacy for science fiction as a legitimate and valuable form of literature and its ability to show us a more peace-filled, accepting world.
Among some of his most meaningful work, Sawyer has conducted citizenship ceremonies for new Canadians from his home base of Mississauga.
In 2016, Robert became a member of the Order of Canada and the following year was inducted into Mississauga’s Legend’s Row.
In his novel The Oppenheimer Alternative, Robert offers this quote from Manhattan Project physicist and founder of the Council for a Liveable World Leo Szilard:
“Question: What is an optimist? Answer: One who thinks the future is uncertain.”
I guess that makes Robert J. Sawyer our eternal optimist.
Sawyer on the set of Flashforward with series star Joseph Fiennes, who portrayed Special Agent Mark Benford on the series based on Sawyer’s novel of the same name. (Photo credit: Carolyn Clink)
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