A Man of Science: An Interview with Robert J. Sawyer

Robert J. Sawyer has won just about every award there is in the genre of science fiction. He is the author of the novel Flashforward, which the TV series was based on, and has just completed his WWW trilogy with Wonder .Robert was first interviewed on BookBanter on July 11, 2009 shortly after the release of Wake. You can listen to that interview here.

In this recent interview, he talks about how he has changed as a writer in writing the trilogy, what he hopes readers get from the WWW books, what he thinks about screenwriting, what his next book will be about, where he thinks technology is headed, and what his favorite food is!

To read the interview, click here. To read reviews, click on the covers below:

“WWW: Wonder” by Robert J. Sawyer (Ace, 2011)

In Wonder, award winner Robert J. Sawyer’s thrilling conclusion to his WWW trilogy, after Wake and Watch, he takes the evolved consciousness of the Internet, known as Webmind, to a whole new level.  After almost being destroyed by the US agency WATCH, Webmind is now released to the world by its discoverer, Caitlin Dector, a teenager, who goes on TV to broadcast the existence of this animate consciousness.  Word spreads lightning fast on the Internet, and Webmind is soon communicating with millions of people around the world, simultaneously, learning much and helping those it can.  In a short while it has discovered a possible cure for cancer, but Webmind’s goal is some form of world peace and to bring joy to humanity.  Meanwhile Colonel Peyton Hume, the Pentagon’s top expert on artificial intelligence, thinks Webmind isn’t what it says it is; that its intentions aren’t for the improvement of human kind, but for personal gain; with the power it has it could take over the world, or worse.

In Wonder, Sawyer brings his separate storylines – Caitlin the blind girl, Hobo the ape, and Communist China – all together in a page-turning finish, going beyond the basic story and questioning philosophical ideas and scientific theories and what they mean for humanity and the future.  While Sawyer may be letting his own ideology show itself here, it is no doubt one that is subscribed to by many readers, who will enjoy seeing some of these ideas come to fruition in this possible world.  And isn’t that one of the reasons for the existence of science fiction?

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Originally written on March 6, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.

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Robert J. Sawyer Interview Coming Soon to a BookBanter Near You

Due to scheduling issues, didn’t have time to get the interview with Robert J. Sawyer up on BookBanter today, but will be working on it over the weekend and will have it up by Monday in time for the release of the final book in the WWW trilogy on Tuesday, Wonder.  There will be plenty of notification once it’s up.

Thanks for your patience.

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