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SCIENCE FICTION WRITER  ROBERT J. SAWYER  Best Novel Hugo and Nebula Award Winner SFWRITER.COM > About Rob > SF Crowsnest Interview   SF Crowsnest Interview with Robert J. Sawyer     Conducted by Geoff Willmetts   From SF Crowsnest: Europe's most-popular science-fiction website sfcrowsnest.com You'd think Robert J. Sawyer's books would be easy to find in the ¨ UK. Sure, he lives in Toronto, but his The Terminal Experiment won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1996; his ¨ Hominids won the Hugo Award for Best Novel of 2003; and¨ his novels The Terminal Experiment, Starplex,¨ Frameshift, Factoring Humanity, Calculating God, and Humans were all also Hugo finalists. He's¨ also won Japan's top SF award, the Seiun, three times, and¨ Spain's top SF award, the 6,000-euro Premio UPC de Ciencia Ficción three times, as well. His novels are top-ten¨ national mainstream bestsellers in Canada, and have hit number¨ one on the bestsellers list in Locus, the US trade journal¨ of the SF field. But on British bookshelves they're rare, which¨ is unfortunate, cos, based on the ones I've read, he really is an¨ author that needs more recognition over here. This interview focuses on his latest book, Mindscan, which was reviewed¨ last month, and deals with the ramifications of having your¨ personality transferred into an android body. SFC: I always find it odd that it's rare to come across your¨ books in the UK. Do you think its because so many of your books¨ deal with US/Canadian law? Robert J. Sawyer: I'm really surprised myself, I must say. I¨ mean, usually there's an affinity between Canadians and Brits, so¨ I've never quite understood why my books haven't yet found a¨ decent-sized audience in the UK. I actually almost never talk¨ about Canadian law, by the way; my courtroom stuff is either in¨ the US, as it is in Illegal Alien and Mindscan, or¨ in another world, as it is in Hominids. I avoid Canadian¨ law, although I'm flagrantly Canadian in most other things,¨ because even Americans, our next-door neighbours, don't know¨ about it. But I don't think that that's the reason I haven't¨ caught on in the UK; I do extremely well in Japan and China,¨ which are much more culturally removed from Canada than the UK¨ is, and am popular in many European countries, including France¨ and Spain. With my most recent book, Mindscan, for the¨ first time I've given my US publisher, Tor, world English rights,¨ instead of just North American rights. Hopefully, that will¨ improve the situation — but I'd love to find a separate UK¨ publisher for my future books. SFC: You like examining law courtroom situations in your stories. Do you have a degree in law or are you a good researcher? Sawyer: Although when I was fourteen, I briefly thought I wanted to become a lawyer, no, I don't have a law degree; I have a¨ degree in broadcasting from Ryerson University in Toronto. But I¨ love doing research, and have read an enormous amount about legal¨ procedures, books with titles like The Art of¨ Cross-Examination, and so on. Plus, I've got a number of¨ lawyers, both in Canada and the U.S., who read my stuff in draft¨ when it has legal elements — just as I have a group of¨ physicists, geneticists, and so on that I rely on to vet other¨ aspects of my books. SFC: Who do you base your lawyers on or are you as your character Karen Bessarian says in Mindscan writing solely from¨ imagination? I'm making this distinction with lawyers cos of how¨ such characters have to deal with people in court that they have¨ to act the same way to win? Sawyer: I really was making a point with the words I put into Karen's mouth: characters are made up by authors, they're¨ normally not based on anyone. And I certainly wouldn't base my¨ lawyers on anyone — after all, no one's more likely to start¨ litigation than a lawyer! I'm often told my characters are¨ realistic and ring true, which is flattering, but they are, as¨ the disclaimer on the copyright page says, fictitious. Oh, I¨ might take a trait from one person, and a verbal tic from¨ another, but the combination is something I've devised. I mean,¨ speaking of Karen Bessarian in Mindscan, she's an author¨ — so, obviously, some of her is based on me, the author I¨ personally know best. But Karen is in her eighties, a woman, and¨ stinking rich; I'm in my forties, a man, and, at best, just¨ slightly redolent. SFC: Do you think the legal aspects of change in a SF reality isn't something that isn't readily explored in Science Fiction? Sawyer: Absolutely! Why don't we have flying cars? Not because they're technically impossible, but because of the liability¨ issues. Imagine the lawsuit if one of those malfunctioned and¨ dropped into a school playground. I grew up reading hard SF,¨ which was filled with engineers and technicians — but¨ lawyers are a huge factor in how science impacts society, and I¨ think realistic science fiction, which is what I strive to write,¨ has to acknowledge and explore the legal element, as well. SFC: What authors influenced you when you were young? Sawyer: Isaac Asimov was a huge influence, and so was Arthur C. Clarke. I love writing about extraterrestrials and their¨ psychology, and there's no doubt that James White, Hal Clement,¨ and Larry Niven were big influences on me. It was a great joy to¨ me to become friends with Hal in the last decade of his life; he¨ and I often ended up at the same conventions. And Larry and I¨ are friends now, and I always enjoy seeing him. To me, that's¨ the coolest thing about this profession: your childhood heroes¨ end up being your friends. There's no doubt that Frederik Pohl¨ was a big influence on me, especially his stuff from the late¨ 1970s, including Gateway and Man Plus. And I find¨ myself constantly including SETI in my novels, and my first real¨ introduction to that was James Gunn's wonderful novel The¨ Listeners. SFC: Would I be right to think that there's a touch of Heinlein in how you handle some characters' attitudes? I started looking¨ around wondering if you were hiding yourself amongst some of the¨ secondary characters. Sawyer: Well, Heinlein's politics and my own are a world apart. And there's certainly no Robert J. Sawyer avatar lurking in the¨ background of each of my books. I suppose the character who is¨ closest to me in all my books is Tom Jericho in Calculating¨ God; on the other hand, I don't think there's anyone who is¨ much like me in either Illegal Alien or¨ Flashforward. That said, I have no compunctions about¨ putting little bits of my personal philosophy, or my personal¨ hobby horses, into my books. Creating characters is like method acting: you have to get¨ inside the character, discover his or her — or its! — inner feelings. A character doesn't just serve a function in a story¨ — hero, villain, wise old man — but rather is a person, with an interior monologue full of private thoughts. The power¨ of writing characters, as opposed to shuffling around archetypes,¨ is you get to really see issues and situations from another¨ person's point of view, often one very different from the¨ author's own. I've learned an awful lot about being different¨ kinds of people, and I think I've gained a lot of empathy, by¨ trying to get inside of characters who aren't me. SFC: Would you want to have your personality transferred into an android body as in Mindscan? Sawyer: Well, the scenario in Mindscan is that this is normally done at the end of one's natural life, and, at that¨ point, sure, why not? I'm not a mystic; I don't believe there's¨ anything supernatural or ineffable about human consciousness. I¨ suspect it will ultimately be copyable with absolute fidelity.¨ But I do think there are lots of interesting legal, moral, and¨ philosophical issues to be resolved about uploading, and that's¨ one of the reasons I wrote the book — to get that dialog¨ going. SFC: I noticed with Mindscan a lot of TV SF references. I know from how I originally came in contact with you there's a¨ certain amount of love for such shows, so do you have any¨ favourites and how do you see them in comparison to today's TV SF¨ series? Sawyer: I've had almost no time to watch TV in the last twenty years, so the SF that influenced me was stuff that's older than¨ that, particularly the original Star Trek. I also quite¨ liked the first three seasons of The Six Million Dollar¨ Man, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and I was a huge¨ — huge — Gerry Anderson fan. I'm an SF writer¨ today because of Fireball XL5. I've got a four-foot¨ XL5 model in my office, along with big Stingray and¨ Supercar and Thunderbird 2 models, and my wife and¨ I recently rewatched all of UFO on DVD. SF movies were¨ also a big influence on me, particularly 2001: A Space¨ Odyssey and the original Planet of the Apes. SFC: How did you enjoy the latest Doctor Who season? Sawyer: I thought it was absolutely terrific. I've got a total crush on Billie Piper — who I gather is a pop star in the¨ UK; I'd never encountered her before the new series started¨ airing. And I'm really sorry that Christopher Eccleston has¨ left; I thought he was great. Episodes like "Dalek" and¨ "Father's Day" absolutely blew me away. I'm looking forward to¨ the next season. As you know if you read the ending credits, the¨ new Doctor Who is a co-production with the Canadian¨ Broadcasting Corporation, and I got to do a lot of commentary for¨ the CBC's documentary The Planet of The Doctor, which was¨ tremendous fun. By the way, since people are always curious, my¨ favourite classic Doctor was Jon Pertwee. SFC: What advice have you got for neo-writers? Sawyer: Perseverance. That's rule number one: if you give up, you'll fail. And rule number two is revise; the soul of good¨ writing is revision. I'd never show anything earlier than a¨ third draft to my editor. I edit my own line of SF books for a¨ Canadian publisher, and I'm constantly amazed at the poor quality¨ of the submissions I see; way too many people are trying to¨ market first drafts. Finally, have something to say. Books¨ about something — that is, books with a theme and a¨ philosophical position — are way more interesting, and far¨ more likely to do well — than mindless action-adventure. SFC: Many thanks.   More Good Reading   Other interviews with Robert J. Sawyer The first chapters of Mindscan Further reading on Mindscan Rob's essay on winning the UPC contest Rob's Writing Advice

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