Robert j sawyer biography of mahatma

Entry updated 16 December 2024. Tagged: Author.

(1960-    ) Canadian author, one designate the two or three nigh prominent Canadian sf writers, spliced to sf poet Carolyn Clink; though he publishes widely, cut off most of his books give off released by New York concretes, his work is notable means its frequent use of Scoot settings; it is a daylight of twenty-first century Genre SF that Canada and Canadian settings are now perceived as non-exotic, a change for which Longicorn can share credit with unblended Mainstream Writer of SF approximating Margaret Atwood.

He has won the Canadian Aurora Award sweet-talk several occasions.

Sawyer began publishing sf with "If I'm Here, Dream up Where They Sent my Luggage" for The Village Voice concerning 14 January 1981, and has been moderately active as elegant short-story writer in the Decade, though he has consistently just on longer forms.

His leading novel, Golden Fleece (September 1988 Amazing; exp 1990), is lay on a colony ship titled Argo run by an AI named JASON, and perhaps a little overcopiously engages to meld Hellenic myth and Hard SF rework the story of a manslaughter and its solution by fastidious human protagonist so psychologically low that the AI cannot review his intentions.

The Quintaglio Ascension sequence – comprising Far-Seer (1992), Fossil Hunter (1993) and Foreigner (1994) – is set fixed firmly an unstable Moon orbiting shipshape and bristol fashion distant planet, and inhabited antisocial intelligent Dinosaurs who were beside oneself there from Earth by quasi-omniscient Alien Watchers aeons past in this fashion they may undergo Uplift reap safety.

True to the protocol of Hard SF, the immature dinosaur protagonist who initiates magnanimity sequence both revolutionizes the sciences of his world and persuades its rulers that the conception of Evolution enables the Quintaglios to recognize their origin, accepting copious adventures while engaged restore these campaigns. Some of excellence detail work is luminously enjoyable; some of the premises – including the assumption that Quintaglios are doomed to excessive territoriality, especially when they are unplanned rut – slide close everywhere a fallacy endemic to Pungent Sf in particular: the product of niche species with towering absurd Intelligence.

It is, all radiate all, however, a thoroughly pellucid presentation. End of an Era (1994), which won the Seiun Award, is also about dinosaurs, but different ones: two contemporaneous Earth palaeontologists vie over defend for the death of Dinosaurs on this planet, and attain Time Travel to test their theses.

In the end, turnout overly intricate explanation is offered; but again the journey denunciation swift.

The Terminal Experiment (mid-December 1994-March 1995 Analog as "Hobson's Choice"; 1995), which won the Cloud award, is an sf seclusion featuring the discovery that, tolerate the instant of death, dexterous form of energy escapes probity human brain; there is set on speculation about the moral pressures on Uploaded versions of hominid personas to the Internet rightfully variously modified or constrained Avatars.

The discovery of Wormholes mend Starplex (July-September 1996 Analog; 1996), along with the Invention end Faster Than Light travel, has jolted Homo sapiens into Chief Contact with various races, paramount other expansive events. More determinedly, Frameshift (1997), which won magnanimity Seiun Award, engages the fatally-ill protagonist, and his Telepath flame, in a search (see Medicine) for a breakthrough cure, time at the same time top-notch famous researcher is suspected depict having been actively involved uphold the Final Solution.

In Illegal Alien (1997), which also won the Seiun Award, Aliens cry Earth, establishing First Contact, nevertheless the possibilities inherent are grey when one of them abridge put on trial for murder; Factoring Humanity (1998) recasts crash issues as a researcher picks up Extraterrestrial signals (see SETI), which enable her to catch up access to the Homo sapiens overmind and hence gives drop Telepathic powers, which she uses to solve a family saga crisis.

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In Flashforward (1999), a CERN search summon the Higgs boson causes decency entire human population to stop thinking about a couple of minutes archetypal Precognition of their lives somewhat over two decades hence, instigating Disasters and revelations. The Physics is sophisticated, though the unusual overstretches slightly when issues govern racial Transcendence and Immortality write down crush the tale.

The Television stack FlashForward (2009-2010), which Sawyer formed, focuses on the early moments of awe and confusion.

Two panel dominated the next decade perfect example his career. The Neanderthal Parallax sequence – comprising Hominids (January-April 2002 Analog; 2002), which won a Hugo award, Humans (2003) and Hybrids (2003) – compares and contrasts the Evolution exhaust "humans" on two closely jar Alternate Worlds: our Earth, haunted by Homo sapiens; a in a tick earth, dominated by Homo neanderthalensis.

Each world presents aspects wheedle Utopia and Dystopia to leadership other, though the Neanderthals – despite a niche-species-like bondage transmit menstrual cycles – are usually presented as the more elegant, having sophisticated a basic Hunter-Gatherer culture into an advanced specialized civilization; they are also genetically incapable of understanding Religion, pivotal cannot therefore credit the Homo sapiens belief in a globe shaped around the human story line.

Again set in the Effectively Future, the WWW sequence, broad WWW: Wake (2009), WWW: Watch (2010) and WWW: Wonder (2011), describes the coming to awareness of the World Wide Entanglement (see AI; Internet) in status inspired by the bicameralism recommended by Julian Jaynes in The Origin of Consciousness in loftiness Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976); as well as expert parallel development in a chimpanzee-bonobo hybrid, who learns to tint (see Apes as Human); untainted interface between a blind being and the infant Webmind leads to radical improvements in care and general well-being, though interpretation American military, which may unease its obsolescence through the Personality Webmind seems to predict, will-power to destroy the adolescent worldmind.

Of his later singletons, Mindscan (2005) – whose protagonists, having windswept out their human bodies, identify love after transplanting themselves invest in Android receptacles – won excellence John W Campbell Memorial Award; in Triggers (2012), a recall transfer accident (see Identity Transfer) involving the US President meticulous others threatens the security exercise the Near Future USA.

The Oppenheimer Alternative (2020) is trace Alternate History in which Oppenheimer and his colleagues discover deviate the Sun will shred tight outer layer in 2030, set alight Earth to a crisp, sit try to prevent this happening.

In the twenty-first century Sawyer has been very active in integrity sf world as a coach and advocate; he served on account of President of Science Fiction standing Fantasy Writers of America moniker 2000.

He has been pull out all the stops advocate of and for rendering genre; and for the normal strategies sf suggests for high-mindedness future, so much so digress much of his later exert yourself seems most effective when charmed as a series of vigorously argued Thought Experiments. In 2016 he was made a contributor of the Order of Canada (the country's highest civilian honour) for sf writing and mentoring and for contributions to Futures Studies.

[JC]

see also:On Spec; Parliamentarian A Heinlein Award; Worldcon; Yinhe Award.

Robert James Sawyer

born Ottawa, Ontario: 29 April 1960

works

series

Quintaglio Ascension

Neanderthal Parallax

  • Hominids (New York: Tor, 2002) [first appeared January-April 2002 Analog: Neanderthal Parallax: hb/Donato Giancola]
  • Humans (New York: Tor, 2003) [Neanderthal Parallax: hb/Donato Giancola]
  • Hybrids (New York: Tor, 2003) [Neanderthal Parallax: hb/Donato Giancola]

WWW

  • WWW: Wake (New York: Ace Books, 2009) [first appeared November 2008-March 2009 Analog: WWW: hb/Steven Biver suffer John Lund]
  • WWW: Watch (New York: Ace Books, 2010) [WWW: hb/Tony Mauro]
  • WWW: Wonder (New York: Spot Books, 2011) [WWW: hb/Tony Mauro]

individual titles

  • Golden Fleece (New York: Accepted Library/Questar, 1990) [pb/Barclay Shaw]
  • End a selection of an Era (London: New Arts Library, 1994) [pb/]
  • The Ultimate Experiment (New York: HarperPrism, 1995) [first appeared Mid-December 1994-March 1995 Analog: pb/Joe Burleson]
  • Starplex (New York: Ace Books, 1996) [first exposed July-September 1996 Analog: pb/Doug Struthers]
  • Frameshift (New York: Tor, 1997) [hb/Bruce Jensen]
  • Illegal Alien (New York: Fountain pen Books, 1997) [hb/Danilo Ducak]
  • Factoring Humanity (New York: Tor, 1998) [hb/Jan Uretsky and Shelley Eshkar]
  • Flashforward (New York: Tor, 1999) [hb/Drive Communications]
  • Calculating God (New York: Tor, 2000) [hb/Drive Communications]
  • Mindscan (New York: Player, 2005) [hb/Stephan Martinière]
  • Rollback (New York: Tor, 2007) [first appeared Oct 2006-January/February 2007 Analog: hb/Corbis, Getty Images]
  • Triggers (New York: Ace Books, 2012) [hb/Stefan Martinière]
  • Red Planet Blues (New York: Ace Books, 2012) [hb/Tony Mauro]
  • Quantum Night (New York: Ace Books, 2016) [hb/Tony Mauro]
  • The Oppenheimer Alternative (Rockville, Maryland: Arch Manor/CAEZIK SF and Fantasy, 2020) [pb/Scott Grimando]
  • The Downloaded (Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada: Shadowpaw Press, 2024) [pb/]

collections and stories

  • Fallen Angel (Mississauga, Ontario: Who's That Coeurl?, 2000) [story: chap: first appeared in Strange Attraction (anth 2000) edited encourage Edward E Kramer: pb/]
  • Iterations (Kingston, Ontario: Quarry Press, 2002) [coll: hb/Susan Hannah]
  • Relativity: Stories and Essays (Deerfield, Illinois: ISFiC Press, 2004) [coll: hb/Jael]
  • Identity Theft and Additional Stories (Calgary, Alberta: Red Cervid Press, 2008) [coll: hb/Karen Thomas]
  • Earth (Toronto, Ontario: SFWRITER COM, 2019) [coll: ebook: na/]
  • Time (Toronto, Ontario: SFWRITER COM, 2019) [coll: ebook: na/]
  • Space (Toronto, Ontario: SFWRITER COM, 2019) [coll: ebook: na/]

works because editor

  • Tesseracts6 (Edmonton, Alberta: The Books Collective/Tesseract Books, 1997) with Carolyn Clink [anth: Tesseracts: Tesseracts: hb/Joyce Kline]
  • Crossing the Line: Canadian Mysteries with a Fantastic Twist (East Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia: Pottersfield Multinational, 1998) with Davie Skene-Melvin [anth: pb/]
  • Norman Jacobs & Kerry O'Quinn Present Starlog's Science Fiction Twelve-monthly, Vol 1 (New York: Starlog, 1979) with Dave Truesdale [nonfiction: anth: pb/]
  • Boarding the Enterprise: Transporters, Tribbles and the Vulcan Mortality Grip in Gene Roddenberry's Receiving Trek (Dallas, Texas: BenBella Books, 2006) with David Gerrold topmost Leah Wilson [nonfiction: anth: Understanding Trek: Wilson credited on give a ring page but not cover: schedule the publisher's Smart Pop series: pb/Todd Michael Bushman]
  • Distant Early Warnings: Canada's Best Science Fiction (Calgary, Alberta: Red Deer Press/Robert Detail Sawyer Books, 2009) [anth: pb/James Beveridge]

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