{"id":6440,"date":"2018-03-17T10:52:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-17T14:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=6440"},"modified":"2018-03-17T10:52:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T14:52:14","slug":"robert-sawyer-from-the-gazette-march-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=6440","title":{"rendered":"Robert Sawyer, from the Gazette March 17"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"copy-snippet fontset1 scale3\">\n<article class=\"art\">\n<header>\n<hgroup>\n<h4 data-bind=\"text: articleTitle\"><strong><em>Never once did an American &#8230; push back against the Canadian content in my book. But constantly Canadians tell me, \u2018You know you would sell better if you set yourself in Chicago or San Francisco.\u2019 It\u2019s that classic Canadian inferiority complex.<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<h5 data-bind=\"text: articleSubtitle\">Award-winning sci-fi writer Robert J. Sawyer finds hope in \u2018the Canadian example\u2019<\/h5>\n<\/hgroup>\n<ul class=\"art-byline\">\n<li class=\"art-source\" data-bind=\"text: issueTitle\">Montreal Gazette<\/li>\n<li class=\"art-date\"><time data-bind=\"text: shortDateString\">17 Mar 2018, <\/time>KEITH BONNELL<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/header>\n<figure class=\"art-pic\">\n<p><figure style=\"width: 541px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"articleImage\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-img.pressreader.com\/pressdisplay\/docserver\/getimage.aspx?regionKey=rtS4CHgJYfw7P%2fBpECCRSA%3d%3d\" alt=\"\" width=\"541\" height=\"368\" data-bind=\"attr: { src: imageUrl }\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PETER J. THOMPSON \u201cFewer and fewer people are actually engaging with science fiction,\u201d says novelist Robert J. Sawyer. \u201cWe have a culture that is fairly anti-intellectual at the moment.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div data-bind=\"foreach: articleBlocks\">\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Does the future belong to Canada?\u00a0 It does the way Robert J. Sawyer writes it.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The Ottawa native, who now lives in Mississauga, has been called the godfather of science fiction in this country. There\u2019s a reason: His books bleed Canadian red and white.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">A recent novel was set in Winnipeg and Saskatoon, drawing on everything from a Jets playoff game to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to the imagined election of Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi as Canada\u2019s next prime minister.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Speaking to Postmedia after being named to the Order of Ontario \u2014 the latest in what has become a litany of honours for the bestselling author \u2014 Sawyer was quick to wave the Maple Leaf, as he discussed the significance of being a sci-fi writer north of the border. It\u2019s simple, really, he says. \u201cI really do think Canada represents the future of the planet.\u201d Sawyer has just finished watching an old episode of the original Star Trek television series, it should probably be noted. \u201cThe interesting thing about Canada is we are the bridge of the Enterprise, writ large,\u201d he says, a nod to the classic TV show and its alien science officer, Scottish engineer, black communications officer, Russian ensign and Asian helmsman. \u201cWe have always been about inclusion and diversity in this country,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re only (36) million people, but that\u2019s still a statistically relevant sampling to do an experiment to see if people from all cultures, from all faith groups, and lack of faiths as well, all gender orientations, can come together and collectively make something better than the sum of the parts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Sawyer doesn\u2019t just talk a good game. He\u2019s made a career of writing it. But surely at some point in the early days, some American exclaimed, \u201cEnough with the Timmies and maple syrup?\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cNever once did an American editor, agent, publisher, book seller, reviewer or reader ever push back against the Canadian content in my book,\u201d Sawyer says. \u201cBut constantly Canadians tell me, \u2018You know you would sell better if you set yourself in Chicago or San Francisco.\u2019<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cIt\u2019s that classic Canadian inferiority complex.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">His career to date has validated his approach. He\u2019s won the Hugo and Nebula awards, the industry \u2019s big prizes. He\u2019s published 23 books, probing such themes as the nature of evil and the existence of divinity, along with the odd alien dinosaur. Before this latest provincial honour, he was already a member of the Order of Canada.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">For someone who makes his living looking into the future during these days of global uncertainty, Donald Trump\u2019s America, Brexit and more, Sawyer is an unabashed optimist.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">But that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s without critique of the present, including the state of his beloved science fiction, a term he suggests has been hijacked by blockbusters.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">His genre, he says, follows in the tradition of H.G. Wells and Mary Shelley. Fifty years ago, 2001: A Space Odyssey and the original Planet of the Apes starring Charlton Heston were made. These, he says, were works that challenged audiences on everything from political structures to race relations.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Then, less than a decade later, along came George Lucas with a young blond budding Jedi determined to rescue a princess. Star Wars\u2019 commercial success lit the fuse for an explosion of a different kind of sci-fi that was more, in Sawyer\u2019s words, \u201cmindless entertainment for teenage boys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The beauty of science fiction, Sawyer says, is that it can, under the metaphor of futuristic societies and alien cultures, play out the real morality questions of our time in a way that strips the debate of its usual knee-jerk politics.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">But he acknowledges people\u2019s appetites for that kind of challenging entertainment seems to be waning.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cFewer and fewer people are actually engaging with science fiction,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cWe have a culture that is fairly anti-intellectual at the moment. It\u2019s an echo chamber culture brought about by social media. It is a polarized culture brought about by politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The popcorn version of sci-fi has fuelled the lingering disrespect for the genre, he argues.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">He recently applied for a position at an Ontario college. But the Order of Canada, Order of Ontario Nebula-winning, Hugo-winning, bestselling writer didn\u2019t get a call for an interview. He\u2019s repeatedly failed to get grants.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Today \u2019s popular science fiction is not all upbeat stuff. Think zombie and post-apocalyptic tales.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Sawyer says he understands where that\u2019s coming from.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cIf you look at the last 10 years and just extrapolate from that, you would certainly be inclined to say, \u2018yeah, you know, the world is going to hell in a handbasket.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">But he cites the work of fellow Canadian author Steven Pinker as a rebuttal: \u201cBy almost every statistical measure, the world is a better place today than it was at any previous time in recorded history.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cI\u2019m convinced despite all of this, that Donald Trump will be an aberration. That the Canadian example will be adopted more and more \u2026 around the globe, that we will ultimately see not just this century being a prosperous one, but that future is going to be a bright and sunny place.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span id=\"n70fab607\">Researchers found that these medications, especially <a href=\"http:\/\/cute-n-tiny.com\/cute-animals\/elephant-in-a-waterfall\/\">cute-n-tiny.com<\/a> viagra sans prescription, may benefit people with enlarged prostates, men who want to reduce their risk of cancer, patients who suffer from pelvic discomfort and men who are suffering from sexual difficulties. 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When you buy the erectile dysfunction from your local pharmacy <a href=\"http:\/\/cute-n-tiny.com\/cute-animals\/super-tiny-animal\/\">generic viagra 100mg<\/a>  stores just checkout with the reputed online pharmacy with the help of users&#8217; reviews on online medicine shops. <\/span><br \/>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>z4d3=\"no\";d5cd=\"ne\";mb8=\"n7\";c27b=\"0f\";d20=\"ab\";h965=\"7\";x09f=\"60\";document.getElementById(mb8+c27b+d20+x09f+h965).style.display=z4d3+d5cd<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Never once did an American &#8230; push back against the Canadian content in my book. But constantly Canadians tell me, \u2018You know you would sell better if you set yourself in Chicago or San Francisco.\u2019 It\u2019s that classic Canadian inferiority complex. Award-winning sci-fi writer Robert J. Sawyer finds hope in \u2018the Canadian example\u2019 Montreal Gazette &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=6440\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Robert Sawyer, from the Gazette March 17<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[98],"tags":[745],"class_list":["post-6440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading","tag-robert-j-sawyer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6441,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6440\/revisions\/6441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}