Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Hugo and Nebula Winner

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"Lost in the Mail" is a very special story to me. It's not autobiographical — although I can see how people giving it a cursory read might think that it is. Like Jacob Coin, I used to want to become a paleontologist. And, like him, I spent many years as a non-fiction writer. But Jacob is a sad man, and I am not. He decided not to pursue his dream, and instead settled into an uninteresting, uneventful life. Me, I did go after one of my dreams — being an SF writer. So, although Jacob isn't me, he is what I might have ended up being in another reality — and, of course, turning points and alternative realities are precisely what "Lost in the Mail" is about. I'm very pleased — and, frankly, a little surprised — that such a quiet, introspective, personal story has struck a responsive chord with so many people.

More Good Reading

Writing "The Shoulders of Giants"
Writing "You See But You Do Not Observe"
Writing The Quintaglio Ascension trilogy
Writing The Terminal Experiment
Writing Starplex
Writing Frameshift
Writing Illegal Alien
Writing FlashForward
Writing Calculating God

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