Today‘s Winnipeg Free Press contains this review of my new novel The Downloaded; the reviewer is David Pitt:
Robert J. Sawyer isn’t merely one of Canada’s best-known science fiction writers, he’s one of the best in the business. He’s won pretty much every major genre award there is to win, and his novels challenge us to open our minds to new ideas and new futures.
In The Downloaded (Shadowpaw Press, 192 pages, $20), coming out on Tuesday in paperback, he asks us to consider what might happen if there were a global apocalypse and the only survivors were people who had been in a form of virtual suspended animation while it happened.
Sawyer’s greatest skill is his ability to create characters who are abundantly human and to tell a story as though we were seeing it through their eyes. No matter how far-out his ideas are, they never seem implausible — the stories are grounded in a solid, familiar reality. He’s a great storyteller; if you haven’t been reading him, you’ve been missing out.
Meanwhile, we have our first course adoption for The Downloaded. It will be required reading next term in the course “Science Fiction” (ENGL 208B) at the University of Waterloo, taught by Dr. Jay Rawding (whose academic specialty is Canadian literature).
BOOK TOUR!
My cross-Canada book tour for The Downloaded starts in THREE DAYS! Here are my May 2024 book-launch events:
Calgary Public Library Central Branch
800 3rd Street SE, Calgary Alberta
Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at 6:00 p.m.
Please register in advance hereAudreys Books
10702 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta
Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at 7:00 p.m.
More infoHirut Cafe and Restaurant
2050 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Ontario
Saturday, May 11, 2024, 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
More about the venueKitchener Public Library Central Branch
85 Queen Street North, Kitchener, Ontario
Monday, May 13, 2024, 7:00 p.m.
Get your free tickets hereWord on the Lake Writers' Festival
Shuswap, British Columbia
17-19 May 2024
More infoMcNally Robinson Grant Park
1120 Grant Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 7:00 p.m.
More info
Later this year, I’ll be doing events in:
Brampton, Ontario
River John, Nova Scotia
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Calgary
Atlanta
Eden Mills, Ontario
Brookings, South Dakota
Toronto
Niagara Falls, New York
Ottawa
All the details are here: https://sfwriter.com/lnappear.htm
Buying The Downloaded
EBOOK:
Amazon Kindle:
Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CWZG9N8X
Kobo:
Nook (Barnes & Noble US):
And other ebook vendors worldwide!
PRINT:
Autographed copies directly from me!
From my website: https://sfwriter.com/autograp.htm
My eBay Store: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/386886929824
My book-tour partners (plus Bakka, the store I used to work at):
Audrey's (Edmonton): https://www.audreys.ca/item/GeBfxovSNkrszFBvOpLgyA
McNally Robinson (Winnipeg and Saskatoon): https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/9781989398999/robert-j-sawyer/downloaded?blnBKM=1
Owl's Nest Books (Calgary): https://www.owlsnestbooks.com/item/GeBfxovSNkrszFBvOpLgyA
Bakka-Phoenix (Toronto): https://bakkaphoenixbooks.com/item/GeBfxovSNkrszFBvOpLgyA
Print edition from Amazon:
Print edition from Barnes & Noble (US):
Print edition from Indigo and Chapters (Canada):
Or ask your local bookstore to order The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer; the ISBN is 978-1-989398-99-9.
Thanks, everyone! I hope to see you at one of these events this month: