Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Hugo and Nebula Winner

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• January 2: Discovery Channel Canada airs Inventing the Future: 2000 Years of Discovery, a two-hour documentary co-hosted by Rob and Gillian Deacon.

• January 7: Rob attends the sales conference for H. B. Fenn and Company, Tor Books's Canadian distributor, presenting Calculating God to the sales force.

• January 14-27: Rob hosts the Writer's Studio on ChaptersGLOBE.com, the online bookstore jointly operated by Chapters and The Globe and Mail: Canada's National Newspaper.

• January 21: Finished revising my 1994 novel End of an Era, which Tor will be reissuing in trade paperback in 2001.

• January 22: Rob, Nick DiChario, and Marty Stanton, teach a genre-writing workshop at Writers and Books in Rochester, New York.

• January 23: Sold short-story collection Iterations to Quarry Press, a leading Canadian literary publisher. The book will be launched at the World Fantasy Convention in Montreal in November 2001.

• January 27: Rob is Guest of Honor at a wonderful celebration dinner held at the Bristol Lodge by staff and gifted students of the Canandaigua Middle School, Canandaigua, New York, where Rob's books are very popular.

• February 7: Recorded my fourth appearance on TVOntario's Imprint, a program about books.

• February 8: Received a commission from Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science to write an original science-fiction story for them.

• February 18-20: Attended Ad Astra science-fiction convention in Toronto.

• March 4: Did a day of consulting on futuristic uses of imaging systems for Kodak in Rochester, New York.

• March 14: Finished my story "The Abdication of Pope Mary III" for Nature.

• March 16-26: Writing retreat with Mary Stanton, and (for part of the time) Charles Sheffield and Nancy Kress, in West Palm Beach, Florida.

• March 23-25: Attended International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Gave a joint reading with Daniel Keyes, author of Flowers for Algernon.

• March 31: Welcoming reception for me at the Richmond Hill Public Library, where I will be Writer in Residence until June 30.

• Tor Books releases the paperback edition of my 1999 novel FlashForward. It hits number 5 on the Bestsellers' list published in Locus: The Newspaper of the Science Fiction Field.

• April 1-2: Attended Eeriecon Two science-fiction convention in Niagara Falls, New York.

• April 4-5: Attended annual meeting of Paleoanthropology Society in Philadelphia.

• April 8-9: Guest Reader at Blue Metropolis Literary Festival in Montreal.

• April 15: Taught science-fiction writing at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Alberta.

• April 26-28: Guest of Honor, North Country Writers' Festival, Watertown, New York.

• May 13: Keynote Speaker at Writers Circle of Durham Region Annual General Meeting.

• May 23: Interviewed live on CTV's Canada AM, Canada's most-watched morning show, about Calculating God.

• May 26-28: Guest of Honor, V-Con 25, Vancouver, British Columbia.

• May 29-30: Keynote Speaker, National Life's Group Brokers Conference.

• Calculating God published in hardcover by Tor Books, New York.

• DAW Books publishes anthology Star Colonies, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and John Helfers. My "The Shoulders of Giants" is the lead story in the book.

• Eos publishes Year's Best SF 5, edited by David G. Hartwell, containing a reprint of my story "The Blue Planet" (originally published as "Mars Reacts!" in The Globe and Mail: Canada's National Newspaper).

• June 9-10: Program participant, Bloody Words mystery convention, Toronto.

• June 19: Attended Canadian Booksellers Association trade show to promote Calculating God.

• June 19: Did a live on-stage interview with Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin at Indigo Books, Toronto Eaton Centre.

• June 20: Did a joint reading with Charles de Lint at the University of Toronto bookstore.

• June 25: Gala launch party for Calculating God at Richmond Hill Public Library.

• June 26: Guest on CNBC's Rivera Live with Geraldo Rivera.

• June 30-July 3: Taught science-fiction writing at the University of Toronto's Taddle Creek writer's workshop.

• July 6: "The Abdication of Pope Mary III" appears in today's edition of Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science.

• July 16: Rob wins the Canadian National Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards ("the Auroras") for both best English novel of the year (for FlashForward) and best English short-story of the year (for "Stream of Consciousness").

• July 16-July 30: Book tour for Calculating God, traveling through Ontario, Quebec, New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

• July 21-23: Attended Readercon in Boston.

• July 29: Calculating God is number 8 on the mainstream fiction bestsellers' list in The Globe and Mail: Canada's National Newspaper.

• July 31: Calculating God is number 7 on the mainstream fiction bestsellers' list in Maclean's: Canada's Weekly Newsmagazine, and remains on the list for the next two weeks..

• ShadowLands Press publishes anthology Strange Attraction, edited by Edward E. Kramer, containing my story "Fallen Angel."

• August 10-13: Attended Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts in Sechelt, British Columbia.

• DAW Books publishes anthology Far Frontiers, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Larry Segriff, containing my story "Star Light, Star Bright."

• Tundra Books publishes anthology Be Afraid!, edited by Edo van Belkom, containing my story "Last But Not Least."

• August 31-September 4: Attended Chicon 2000, the World Science Fiction Convention, in Chicago.

• September 12: Keynote speaker at "S/SF: The 1st Canadian Conference on Science and Science Fiction," held at the National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa.

• September 26: Bought a penthouse condominium in Mississauga, Ontario.

• October 20-22: Keynote Speaker, Writers Guild of Alberta Annual General Meeting.

• October 23: Guest Lecturer, University of Calgary.

• Autumn 2000 edition of Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction published with a photo of Robert J. Sawyer as the cover illustration and my essay "The Future is Already Here: Is There a Place for Science Fiction in the 21st Century?" as the lead article.

• DAW Books publishes anthology Guardsmen of Tomorrow, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Larry Segriff, containing my story "Wiping Out."

• October 30-November 14: Visited Japan.

• November 3-5: Keynote speaker at Contact JAPAN 4, a conference on first contact with extraterrestrial life, in Tokyo.

• November 11-12: Guest of Honour at Kyoto SF Festival.

• November 13: Met with Len Edwards, Canada's ambassador to Japan, at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo.

• November 20: Took possession of our new home in Mississauga.

• Launch for TransVersions anthology, with my "Iterations" as the lead story, at Sci-Fi Café in Toronto.

• December 5: Toured Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, 2 km underground in Sudbury, Ontario.

• December 14-15: Los Angeles, California, pitching a TV project to US networks with William Shatner.

• December 19: Finished a new novella, "No Choice," commissioned Hayakawa SF Magazine, to be published for the first time in the February 2001 edition in a Japanese translation [later published in English as "Ineluctable" in Analog].

• December 23: Hosted a 25th anniversary reunion party for NASFA, the Northview Association for Science Fiction Addicts, our high-school SF club, where Carolyn and I met.

More Good Reading

Rob's 2014 Year in Review
Rob's 2013 Year in Review
Rob's 2007 Year in Review
Rob's 2001 Year in Review
Rob's 2000 Year in Review
Rob's 1999 Year in Review
Rob's 1998 Year in Review
Rob's 1997 Year in Review
Rob's 1996 Year in Review
Rob's 1995 Year in Review

Decade in Review: January 1999 to December 2008

My Very Occasional Newsletter