Relativity

Cover art by Jael.

Stories and Essays by Robert J. Sawyer

Robert J. Sawyer established his reputation as a fine novelist when he burst on the science fiction scene with Golden Fleece in 1991. More quietly, he has built an impressive body of short fiction, essays, articles, and speeches. Relativity is his first collection of these.

Read the stories collected, and you'll...

...become a modern day killer who walks with dinosaurs in "Just Like Old Times."
...experience first contact with an alien race, with all that implies in "Ineluctable."
...fly on board a space ship in "The Shoulders of Giants."

And enjoy five more flights of the imagination in "Immortality," "The Stanley Cup Caper," "Star Light, Star Bright," "The Hand You're Dealt" and the title story, "Relativity."

This collection also gives you a chance to read a selection of Sawyer's speeches, including his acceptance of the prestigious Hugo Award for his novel Hominids in 2003.

Among his articles, you'll discover how the author views science and religion, science fiction's importance to the world, what exactly he thinks is the difference between Canadian and American SF, and his fond remembrance of Judith Merril.

Relativity also contains all three years of his column "On Writing" from the Canadian SF magazine, On Spec, collected here for the first time.

Fascinating, controversial, thought-provoking this collection looks into the works and the mind of one of SF's most influential "new" writers. The Illinois Science Fiction in Chicago Press is proud to present: Relativity, a book every Robert J. Sawyer and SF fan should have in their collection.

Relativity received the 2005 Aurora Award (Prix Aurora) for Best Work in English.

Contents:

• Introduction by Mike Resnick
• Fiction
  • Just Like Old Times
  • Immortality
  • The Stanley Cup Caper
  • Relativity
  • Star Light, Star Bright
  • The Hand You're Dealt
  • The Shoulders of Giants
  • Ineluctable
• Speeches
  • 2003 Hugo Award Ceremony
  • The Future Is Already Here
  • AI and Sci-Fi, Oh, My!
  • Science Fiction and Social Change
• Articles
  • A Tale of Two Stories
  • Pros and Cons
  • Remembering Judith Merril
  • Science and God
  • Committing Trilogy
  • Privacy: Who Needs It?
  • The Age of Miracle and Wonder
  • Is Risk Our Business?
  • The Private Sector in Space
  • Science, Salvation and Atwood
  • Atwood's Depressing Future
• On Writing
  • Great Beginnings
  • Constructing Characters
  • Point of View
  • Dialogue
  • Show, Don't Tell
  • Description
  • Secret Weapons of Science
  • Heinlein's Rules
  • Word-Processing Tricks
  • Cover Letters and SASEs
  • Self-Promotion
  • Professionalism
• About Rob
  • Autobiography
  • Critical Essay: Valerie Broege (Vanier College)
  • Crossword Puzzle
  • Bibliography