Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Hugo and Nebula Winner

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What price would you pay for an extra 50, 75, or 100 years of life? Renowned futurist Robert J. Sawyer says the technology to indefinitely extend the human lifespan is just around the corner. Children born in 2007 can certainly expect to see the year 2107, and maybe 2207, as well, he says.

Sawyer, who was the only writer invited by Canada's Federal Department of Justice to participate in its "Genetic Futures" think tank, says society will have to face profound ethical issues as rejuvenation technology starts out as something only the super-rich can afford. And as it percolates down to the general public, how will we deal with a world in which new people are constantly being born but the old ones never pass on?

Sawyer — whom the Montreal Gazette calls "Canada's answer to Michael Crichton" — explores the ethics of life prolongation in his latest novel, Rollback (Tor Books, New York, distributed in Canada by H.B. Fenn).

Rollback is the seventeenth novel from the man the Denver Rocky Mountain News calls "just about the best science fiction writer out there these days," and whom the New York Times refers to as "a writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific extrapolation." New Scientist says Sawyer's work is "scientifically plausible and ethically important."

Rollback will be the lead science-fiction hardcover for April 2007 from New York's Tor Books, the world's largest SF publisher. It has been designated the month's "SciFi Essential Book" in Tor's cross-promotion with the U.S. SciFi Channel, and is a Main Selection of Doubleday's Science Fiction Book Club.

Robert J. Sawyer is one of only seven authors in history to win all three of the science-fiction field's top awards for best novel of the year: the Nebula, which he won in 1996 for The Terminal Experiment; the Hugo, which he won in 2003 for Hominids; and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, which he won in 2006 for Mindscan. His books are top-ten national mainstream bestsellers in Canada, appearing on The Globe and Mail and Maclean's bestsellers' lists, and they've hit #1 on the bestsellers' list published by Locus, the US-based trade journal of the science-fiction field. Maclean's says, "By any reckoning Sawyer is among the most successful Canadian authors ever."

Sawyer has previously appeared on such US programs as Rivera Live with Geraldo Rivera and National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation; in Canada, he's a frequent science commentator for CBC Newsworld and Discovery Channel, and has appeared on such shows as Canada A.M., The Fifth Estate, and The Hour.

Advance praise for Rollback has been lavish. Bestselling author Jack McDevitt says, "Rollback gets my vote as SF novel of the year; a joy to read." Analog Science Fiction and Fact, the world's top selling SF magazine, calls Rollback "extraordinarily fresh and thought-provoking, with some of the most memorable characters you'll ever meet." And in a starred review (denoting a work of exceptional merit), Publishers Weekly says, "Sawyer once again presents likable characters facing big ethical dilemmas in this smoothly readable near-future SF novel. Sawyer, who has won Hugo and Nebula awards, may well win another major SF award with this superior effort."

An extensive author tour is planned for Rollback, starting with a launch party at Toronto's Bakka-Phoenix Books on Saturday, April 14, where Sawyer himself worked in the early 1980s. The tour will conclude with Sawyer receiving an honorary doctorate from Laurentian University in recognition of the societal impact his science fiction novels have had.

More Good Reading

This press release as a PDF

More about Rollback
Analog cover for Part One of Rollback (PDF)
Analog blurb for Rollback

Rob won the 2006 Campbell!
Rob won the 2003 Hugo!
Rob won the 1995 Nebula!

Rob's 2004 Premio UPC Win

Press Backgrounder: Robert J. Sawyer
Press Backgrounder: SF Awards
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