I’m in tears right now. Terence M. Green passed away yesterday at 77 after a long battle with cancer. Terry was my mentor and, for 43 years, since 1982, one of my very best friends.

Terry was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for his novels Shadow of Ashland (1997) and A Witness to Life (2000). His short fiction appeared in Asimov’s, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and elsewhere, and was collected in The Woman Who Is The Midnight Wind (1987). I had the great privilege of publishing his novel Sailing Time’s Ocean under my Robert J. Sawyer Books imprint for Red Deer Press.

A celebration of Terry’s life will be held Saturday, January 3, 2026, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Local, a pub in Leaside (180 Laird Drive, East York, Toronto). Per his wishes, there will be no service.

Terry is survived by his wife Merle Casci and sons Connor, Owen, and Daniel. My 1997 novel Frameshift is dedicated to Terry and Merle.

Here’s an interview I did with Terry in 1992 for the newsletter of the Toronto International Festival of Authors: https://sfwriter.com/green.htm

And here’s an interview i did with him in 1988 for Books in Canada magazine: https://sfwriter.com/greenbic.htm

And here’s Terry’s own 10,000-word autobiography first published in Contemporary Authors and reprinted in The New York Review of Science Fiction: http://tmgreen.com/autobiog.html

Pictured: me and Terry at Carolyn and my place in 2016.

New ebook edition of my Hugo Award-nominated ROLLBACK in all markets worldwide! Wonderful new cover by Bibliofic Designs.

“Rollback gets my vote as SF novel of the year. A joy to read.” —Jack McDevitt

Canadian radio astronomer Dr. Sarah Halifax decoded the first-ever transmission received from aliens. Thirty-eight years later, a second message is received—and Sarah, now 87, may hold the key to deciphering this one, too … if she lives long enough.

A tech billionaire offers to pay for Sarah to have a rollback—a hugely expensive experimental rejuvenation procedure. She accepts on condition that Don, her husband of sixty years, gets a rollback, too. The process works for him, but it fails for her.

While Don tries to deal with the suddenly vast age gap between himself and his wife, Sarah struggles to do again what she’d done once before: decode a signal from the very stars.

• Hugo Award finalist

• John W. Campbell Memorial Award finalist

• Aurora Award Finalist

• A Main Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club

• One of the American Library Association’s Top-Ten SF Novels of the Year

“Canadian author Sawyer once again presents likable characters facing big ethical dilemmas in this smoothly readable near-future SF novel. Sawyer, who has won Hugo and Nebula awards, may well win another major SF award with this superior effort.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review, denoting a work of exceptional merit)

“Above all, the author’s characters bear their human strengths and weaknesses with dignity and poise. An elegantly told story for all libraries; highly recommended.” —Library Journal (starred review, denoting a work of exceptional merit)

“Thoroughly entertaining (and accessible) science fiction. One of those books you can’t put down … truly engrossing human drama. A great springboard for philosophical discussions on morality and ethics, man’s place in the universe, and more; there are several stop-and-think moments. All through this, Sawyer gives us characters that are totally realistic. The kind of book that can attract a wide audience: it’s got mainstream appeal but is also a great read for fans of thought-provoking science fiction” —SF Signal

“While Rollback is, on the surface, a book about reaching out to those across the universe, it is at its heart an investigation of our very humanity, and how relationships are a fundamental key to defining who we are. Sawyer’s crisp and accessible writing style allows for this interweaving of the personal and the scientific. The characters feel real, and their emotions and responses genuine. Beyond the SF trappings, this is a story about love and commitment, about humanity at its most basic — a novel to be savoured by science-fiction and mainstream readers alike.” —The Globe and Mail

“Robert J. Sawyer has a way of taking familiar ideas, looking at them from new angles and in greater depth than almost anybody before him, and tying them together to create extraordinarily fresh and thought-provoking stories. Rollback is a thoroughly engaging story, with some of the most memorable people you’ll ever meet.” —Analog Science Fiction and Fact

Robert J. Sawyer is a member of the Order of Canada. He has won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Robert A. Heinlein Award, the Hal Clement Award, the John W. Campbell and E.E. “Doc” Smith Memorial Awards, an Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada, and a record-setting seventeen Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (Auroras). He lives near Toronto.

Buying Links:

• Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G3B13Q8F
• Kindle Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0G3B13Q8F
• Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3B13Q8F
• Kindle Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0G3B13Q8F
• Kobo: https://kobo.com/en/ebook/rollback-10
• Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rollback-robert-j-sawyer/1100358499
• Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/ca/book/rollback/id6755450614

Today’s the day! My twenty-sixth novel The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine just had its worldwide debut as an audiobook on Audible. As with the original The Downloaded, the lead narrator is Academy Award-winner Brendan Fraser.

If your Audible account includes Plus Catalog, then The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine is free — no need to use up an Audible credit (otherwise, it’s one credit):

• US: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Downloaded-2-Ghosts-in-the-Machine-Audiobook/B0FNRXBKG1
• Canada: https://www.audible.ca/pd/The-Downloaded-2-Ghosts-in-the-Machine-Audiobook/B0FNRYLF6L
• UK: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Downloaded-2-Ghosts-in-the-Machine-Audiobook/B0FNRXT971
• Australia: https://www.audible.com.au/pd/The-Downloaded-2-Ghosts-in-the-Machine-Audiobook/B0FNRZM6YW

And in other Audible markets worldwide!

Advance praise for The Downloaded 2

“Ghosts in the Machine fulfills the promise of the first Downloaded then kicks it up a dozen notches: twists and turns, romance and tragedy, the end of our world and the start of several new ones. I couldn’t stop reading!” —James Alan Gardner, Theodore Sturgeon Award-winning author of Commitment Hour

“Speculative fiction at its very best, at once ferociously brilliant and heartbreakingly human with moments of absolutely delightful humor — a story of real people across the diverse spectrum of lived experiences navigating life in a strange, sometimes terrifying new world. The sharp plot twists combined with the genuine character relationships made it impossible to stop reading.” —Finnian Burnett, author of Redshirts Sometimes Survive

My Calculating God, the beloved Hugo Award-nominated novel about the conflict between science and religion — perfect for fans of Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow and Carl Sagan’s Contact — has a new 25th-anniversary edition (in hardcover, trade paperback, and ebook!) with spectacular new cover art by Lui Junwei.

An alien walks into Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum and asks to see a paleontologist. Dinosaur expert Tom Jericho is stunned to learn that many worlds experienced the same five great mass extinction events as Earth did, and that the aliens believe this proves God tampers with the evolution of life. As Tom faces his own mortality, will his life-long atheism be shaken by these revelations?

Praise for Calculating God:

• “Spectacular; this is unusually thoughtful SF.” —Publishers Weekly
• “The premise is astounding. A fine read; an intellectual thriller with real bite.” —Edmonton Journal
• “The best science fiction novel of the year.” —Denver Rocky Mountain News
• “An engrossing and nuanced novel, full of food for thought and meat for meditation, the sort of epistemological gavotte that reminds us why God invented science fiction in the first place.” —James Morrow, author of Towing Jehovah
• “Sawyer ends with grandeur worthy of Arthur C. Clarke.” —The Denver Post
• “An action-packed yet highly philosophical, theological, and ethical story. Well-melded into the fast-paced plot, a wonderful dialogue goes on over the God question and over right, wrong, and the purpose of life. It’s guaranteed to expand the minds of believers and non-believers alike.” —Tom Harpur in The Toronto Star
• “Sawyer once again demonstrates his wild talent for innovative, iconoclastic storytelling as he relates a thought-provoking, sobering, yet wryly compassionate tale of one man’s discovery of timelessness even as his own time is running out.” —Library Journal
• “Exciting and emotional. Sawyer smoothly combines ethical questions and comical dialogue in a highly absorbing tale.” —Booklist
• “Calculating God is the most captivating work of science fiction I’ve read since Carl Sagan’s Contact.” —Victoria Times Colonist

Calculating God buying links:

Hardcover:

• Amazon US
• Amazon Canada
• Amazon UK

Trade Paperback:

• Amazon US
• Amazon Canada
• Amazon UK
• Amazon Australia

eBook:

• Kindle US
• Kindle Canada
• Kindle UK
• Kindle Australia
• Kobo
• Nook

Five years ago today, my novel The Oppenheimer Alternative was officially published. I think it’s my finest book. It’s available in print, as an ebook, and as an audiobook — and you can get autographed copies directly from me.

Buying links for all formats worldwide: https://sfwriter.com/buylinks.htm#oa

Although marketed as an alternate-history science-fiction novel, I prefer to think of The Oppenheimer Alternative as the secret history of the Manhattan Project, filling in the untold story of the mystery that J. Robert Oppenheimer himself alluded to but never explained. Oppnehemer really did say, “There is a story behind my story. If a reporter digs deep enough he will find that it is a bigger story than my [security-clearance] suspension.” In The Oppenheimer Alternative, you learn just what that world-spanning secret is.

I wrote The Oppenheimer Alternative before Christopher Nolan announced his movie Oppenheimer, and, unlike that film, my novel vividly includes the full rich cast of characters involved with the Manhattan Project: not just Oppenheimer, but Edward Teller, Leo Szilard, Richard Feynman, Enrico Fermi, Kurt Gödel, Freeman Dyson, Hans Bethe, and Albert Einstein. As a novelist, I couldn’t have asked for more colorful characters to write about.

Praise for The Oppenheimer Alternative

“Extremely well researched and very accurate scientifically; a great book for anyone interested in Oppenheimer.” —Mark Wolverton, bestselling author of A Life in Twilight: The Final Years of J. Robert Oppenheimer

“An imaginative restructuring of a phantasmagoric life into an alternative phantasmagorical story. Oppenheimer fans will be intrigued.” —Martin J. Sherwin, co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the basis for Christopher Nolan’s movie Oppenheimer

“My favorite Sawyer book of all; the extrapolation is as brilliant as the history. An extremely clever science-fictional tale that grows naturally out of the research done by extremely smart people on the way to the development of the atomic age. They will live for you after you are done reading this book; this is what they were really like. A solid award contender!” —Steve Fahnestalk in Amazing Stories

“Sawyer does a magnificent job. Every individual pops right off the page, fully integrated both into their era and amongst themselves. The whole book is rich in emotional depth. This fine novel makes explicit its relevance to the present.” —Locus

“I loved it! I know the history of this period well and I’m one or two degrees of separation from many of these people. Sawyer’s portrayals ring true to me. Getting to read this early was a treat!” —Lee Smolin, bestselling author of The Trouble with Physics

“You can call this alternate history or alternate astrophysics (or both). Whatever term you choose, it’s a terrific story.” —Eric Flint, author of 1632

“Impressive use of scientific and historical detail and Sawyer’s characterization of the man himself pull back the layers of Oppenheimer’s morals, genius, and grief. Science fiction fans will devour this smart speculative tale.” —Publishers Weekly

Buying links for all formats worldwide: https://sfwriter.com/buylinks.htm#oa

Way back in 1997, in my Hugo Award-nominated and Seiun Award-winning novel Frameshift, I warned about US health insurance companies using nefarious means to acquire genetic profiles of potential clients.

Today, Carolyn and I had 23andMe delete our genetic data; the gene-sequencing company is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and there’s a real likelihood that an insurance company, or consortium of them, will acquire 23andMe specifically for its data as a way of screening potential clients.

Frameshift was originally published by Tor. Here are buying links for the current trade paperback and ebook editions worldwide: https://sfwriter.com/buylinks.htm#fr

Library Journal: “A gripping medical SF thriller. Highly recommended.” (Included on Library Journal‘s list of the five best SF novels of 1997.)

The Calgary Herald: “A finely crafted novel with a riveting plot and complex characters, deftly exploring issues of bio-ethics and moral philosophy.”

Barnes and Noble’s Explorations: “This book should be a major novel for a larger audience than the one which visits the science fiction section: a moving, exciting, touching, suspense-laden wonder. I cannot recommend it more highly. Sawyer has my vote for the next Nebula and Hugo awards.”

My 2016 Aurora Award-winning novel Quantum Night tells of a psychopathic US president using a trumped-up (ha!) excuse to invade Canada.

“Uncomfortably close to present-day fears.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review denoting a book of exceptional merit)

“Sawyer’s most blatantly Canadian book, an almost forensic examination of the cultural and political differences between Canada and its neighbor. Another thought-provoking and tense novel from a master science fiction writer.“ —Sci-Fi Bulletin

The new print editions have lovely interiors and covers designed by Bibliofic Designs.

Worldwide buying links:

https://sfwriter.com/buylinks.htm#qn

Forty years ago, at the end of 1984, I put together this roundup of the year’s Canadian achievements in science fiction and fantasy. It was published in The Bakka Bookie Sheet, the newsletter of Toronto’s Bakka: A Science Fiction Bookstore. 

===

John Robert Colombo‘s Canadian Literary Landmarks (Hounslow, December) contains many references to writers of the fantastic.

Book 2 of Vancouverite Michael Coney‘s “Song of Earth” was issued by Houghton Mifflin in September. It’s called Gods of the Greataway.

Ace published the first two novels by Charles de Lint of Ottawa: The Riddle of the Wren in June and Moonheart in October. Forthcoming are the novels The Harp of the Grey Rose from Starblaze, Mulengro: A Romany Tale from Ace, and a story entitled “In the Valley of the Troll” in Swords and Sorceresses, edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

The Memoirs of Alcheringia, Part One of “The Erthring Cycle” by Wayland Drew of Bracebridge, Ont., was published in May by Del Rey.

Augustine Funnell of Fredericton, N.B., sold “Worms from Mars” to Twilight Zone. His “Marin’s Eyes, With Needles” will appear in either Volume 3 or 4 of Far Frontiers.

Vancouverite William Gibson‘s first novel Neuromancer was published as an Ace Special in July, with hardcover following from Gollancz in August. It was the most recommended book on the preliminary Nebula Award ballot. Gibson has two more novels under contract: Count Zero to Ace and The Log of the Mustang Sally to Arbor. His “New Rose Hotel” appeared in the July Omni.

“Barking Dogs” by Toronto’s Terence M. Green, from the May F&SF, is also high on the preliminary Nebula ballot. “Legacy” will appear in that magazine in March 1985 and “Point Zero” will follow later.

The Summer Tree, first volume of Guy Gavriel Kay’s “Fionavar Tapestry,” was published in the Fall by McClelland and Stewart.

The death of University of Toronto Professor Edward Llewellyn-Thomas was a great loss to Canadian SF. His fourth DAW Books novel, Salvage and Destroy, appeared in January. Two more DAW novels and a short story in Analog will be published posthumously.

Judith Merril is editing an anthology of Canadian SF for Press Porcepic. She’s also working on an SF novel under a Canada Council grant. She founded “Hydra North,” a Toronto-area professional SF association, on April 29. In August she, Andrew Weiner, and Robert J. Sawyer gave a panel on aging themes in SF at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.

“Der Geist und die Maschine” by John Park of Ottawa had its first publication in Kopernicus 11, a West German anthology edited by H. J. Alpers and published by Moewig. His “The Software Plague” will appear shortly in Jim Baen’s new anthology series Far Frontiers.

The first publication of Melancholy Elephants by Halifax’s Spider Robinson was as a July Canadian trade paperback from Penguin.

The Quest for Cush, volume 2 in the “Imaro” pentalogy by Ottawa’s Charles R. Saunders, appeared from DAW in January. Volume 3, The Trial of Bohu, will be out in the second half of 1985. He also has a story in Bradley’s Swords and Sorceresses, slated for May from DAW.

Robert J. Sawyer of Toronto appeared in the Asimov, Carr, and Greenberg anthology 100 Great Fantasy Short Short Stories (Doubleday, April) with “The Contest.” He interviewed Donald Kingsbury in the Spring Science Fiction Review and reported on the Canadian computer graphics used in Search for Spock for the June 30 Toronto Star.

S. M. Stirling sold his first novel, Snow Brother, to Signet. It will be a March 1985 paperback original. Parts of an early version were in the Winter ‘81 and Spring ‘82 issues of the defunct Miriad.

Andrew Weiner‘s “Distant Signals” graced the May/June Twilight Zone and his “The Alien Station” appeared in October’s IAsfm. This Toronto writer profiled Phyllis Gotlieb, Donald Kingsbury, and Spider Robinson in the December 1 Financial Post Magazine. Keep an eye on IAsfm for his forthcoming “Klein’s Machine.”

CBC Radio’s Ideas bought 3 noteworthy triplets of hour-long radio documentaries. “Crimes of the Future” by Calgary’s Tom Keenan aired in October. “Black Water” by Alberto Manguel of Toronto was broadcast in December. “The Future Then and Now” by Robert J. Sawyer will air in 1985. Manguel adapted “Death and the Compass” by Jorge Luis Borges for CBC Radio’s Vanishing Point, which premiered in October.

Borderland, a dark fantasy semi-prozine appeared from Toronto in October, edited by R. S. Hadji and published by Raymond Alexander.

I put in “major Canadian cities,” and it replied:

What are the ten largest cities in Canada? The top ten largest cities in Canada are: Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton, Mississauga, North York, Winnipeg, Scarborough, and Vancouver.

That’s flat-out wrong. Neither North York nor Scarborough have been cities since 1998 — twenty-six years now; more than a quarter of a century. They were consolidated into Toronto back then.

The correct answer (via The Canadian Encyclopedia) is, in descending order of population: Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Mississauga, Vancouver, Brampton, Hamilton. That is, Google had two things that don’t even exist in its list of the top ten, and it missed both Brampton and Hamilton.

And, although Google didn’t explicitly state that it was ordering them by size, it was clearly trying to do that — but got it wrong. According to the latest Canadian census figures, Winnipeg should come before Mississauga, not after.

Sheesh.

Every Canadian of my generation knows the line, “I told him, Julie, don’t go!” It was said by Sylvia Lennick, the mother of my dear friend, the great Canadian filmmaker and special-effects expert Michael Lennick. Michael passed away ten years ago today, on November 7, 2014, at just 61 years of age.

He’d been admitted to hospital a month earlier and was diagnosed with a very aggressive brain tumor; he was put into a medically induced coma; he never woke again. His wife and business partner Shirley Guilliford eventually made the heartbreaking decision to have him taken off life support and he was gone within minutes.

His death was covered by The Hollywood Reporter and major Canadian newspapers. His celebration of life was held at Toronto’s Bakka-Phoenix Books; Harlan Ellison sent a great video tribute.

Michael and I had known each other for 19 years. He was one of Canada’s leading science documentary makers, and he interviewed me often for segments he produced for Discovery Channel Canada’s nightly science news program. He also used me in the special features he produced for the Criterion Blu-ray of Robinson Crusoe on Mars, in his documentary 2001 in 2001, his documentary series Rocket Science, and more. Michael and I co-wrote the original CBC Radio drama “Birth,” which aired in 2005.

Michael had my novel Illegal Alien under option for over a decade and had come close several times to getting it made.

As a special-effects producer, Michael worked on the films of David Cronenberg, on the TV version of War of the Worlds, and on many other projects.

Michael attended the 30th-anniversary party for Hydra, Canada’s first association of science-fiction professionals, at my place on May 31, 2014; that’s where the accompanying picture was taken.

Michael always signed his emails, “With the love.” And I loved that gentle giant and will miss him until the end of my own days.

Hollywood producer Chris Darling wrote the IMDb bio of Michael; here it is:

==

Michael Lennick was born in Toronto, Canada, the son of Canadian actors Sylvia Lennick and Ben Lennick. He and his siblings, David and Julie, were raised in the wings of numerous Canadian stages and film sets following their peripatetic parents’ careers. Michael read a ridiculous amount of classic science fiction and hard science books during this period, an infusion that informed (if not triggered) most of his eventual careers.

Michael co-created, co-wrote and directed the Canadian cult TV classic THE ALL-NIGHT SHOW (1980), one of several television series he was a part of during that period. (The original ANS team recently re-grouped for a feature-length anniversary special.)

After a two-decade run creating visual effects for such films as VIDEODROME (1983) and TV series like WAR OF THE WORLDS (1988), as well as writing and directing episodes of numerous Canadian kids’ shows (including the multi-season PBS/CBC series OWL/TV, where he created and performed the role of the talking skeleton Boneparte) Michael gradually shifted full-time to the parallel career he’d begun in 1976: producing, writing and directing science and history documentaries.

In the early days each of his documentaries was shot and completed on film — a long, arduous process (especially the money-raising part.) The mid-90s revolution in high-quality, inexpensive video production and non-linear editing facilities, coupled with the explosion of specialty cable channels, changed everything, making documentary production a viable full-time trade.

Michael is president and CEO of Foolish Earthling Productions, which produces space and technology-based documentary series and specials for The Discovery Channel, PBS and others. Their productions have won top prizes at numerous film festivals worldwide.

Michael and Shirley split their time between Canada, Los Angeles and Alamogordo, New Mexico, their adopted home-away-from-home and production hub of many of their recent documentary projects. The rest of the time they live with a couple of rambunctious dogs in deep-woodsy splendor about two hours north of Toronto, where they also churn out books, articles and special projects for DVD companies such as Criterion (ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS, FIRST MEN INTO SPACE), as well as space and science museums around the world.

==

Continue to rest in peace, my friend.