Cassandra Screaming

It sometimes seems like it’s easy to overlook the magnitude of Robert J. Sawyer’s contributions to speculative fiction. He’s friendly, avuncular, and approachable — hardly the demeanour of someone who has taken home every significant award in the genre. Now 66, the affable Canuck can make a reasonable claim to being the most Award-winning science fiction author in his country’s history. His office is littered with trophies: the Nebula, Le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire, the Seiun, the Aurora, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and the Galaxy. Sawyer was a university student when his first works were published in the early 1980s, appearing in non-genre magazines such as Village Voice, The White Wall Review of the Ryerson Literary Society, andLeisure Ways: The Magazine of the Canadian Automotive Association.(Image via SFwriter.com)In the 70-year history of the Hugo Awards, only 13 novels written by Canadian-born authors have appeared on the shortlist. Nine of those were written by…