Hugo Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Author of WWW:Wake and FlashForward

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SHORT STORIES

by Robert J. Sawyer

Right Here | As eBooks | Audible.com | Printed Collections

Short Stories

Robert J. Sawyer's short stories have been called everything from "quietly intelligent" (Booklist) to "gobsmacking" (Publishers Weekly). You'll find the full text of the following Rob Sawyer short stories available right here:

"Just Like Old Times" — a time-travel yarn, the lead story in the anthology Dinosaur Fantastic, 1993. Midnight Zoo called it "a marvelous story." Winner of both the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award and the Aurora Award (4,800 words).

"The Shoulders of Giants" — the lead story in the 2000 anthology Star Colonies. A sleeper ship arrives at a supposedly uninhabited planet. Finalist for the 2001 Aurora Award (5,800 words).
- Bonus: my essay on writing "The Shoulders of Giants."

"You See But You Do Not Observe" — from the 1995 anthology Sherlock Holmes in Orbit. Sherlock Holmes tackles the Fermi Paradox. Starlog called this story "delightful." Winner of France's Le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire for Best Foreign Short Story of the Year (6,400 words).
- Bonus: my essay on writing "You See But . . ."

"Identity Theft" — a hard-boiled detective novella set on Mars, from the anthology Down These Dark Spaceways, 2005. Finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Aurora Awards, and winner of Spain's 6,000-euro Premio UPC de Ciencia Ficción (25,000 words).

"Star Light, Star Bright" — from the 2000 anthology Far Frontiers. A community living on the surface of a Dyson Sphere discovers the universe (4,800 words).

"The Hand You're Dealt" — from the 1997 anthology Free Space. A murder mystery set aboard a space habitat. Finalist for the Hugo Award for best short story of the year; winner of the Science Fiction Chronicle Reader Award for best short story of the year; finalist for the Aurora Award and the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for best short story of the year (6,500 words).
- Bonus: my notes on the science in this story, and my introduction to the story's Polish edition.

"Peking Man" — the lead story in the 1996 anthology Dark Destiny III. What really happened to the bones of Peking Man? Winner of the Aurora Award (3,600 words).

"Forever" — from the 1997 anthology Return of the Dinosaurs. A tale of intelligent dinosaurs during the Mesozoic. Honorable Mention in Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction (3,200 words).

"Gator" — from the 1997 anthology Urban Nightmares. The truth behind the stories about alligators in the sewers of New York City. Honorable mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (4,400 words).

"Iterations" — the lead story in Transversions: An Anthology of New Fantastic Literature, 2000. A story of revenge across multiple timelines. (3,800 words).

"Stream of Consciousness" — First published in the 1999 anthology Packing Fraction. An alien ship crashes in Sudbury. Winner of the Aurora Award (4,100 words).

"Wiping Out" — from the 2000 anthology Guardsmen of Tomorrow. How do you achieve closure on an interstellar war lasting 500 years? A homage to James White (4,300 words).

"Above It All" — from the 1996 anthology Dante's Disciples. A dark-fantasy story set aboard the Mir space station. Winner of the CompuServe HOMer Award for Best Short Story of the Year (4,400 words).

"The Eagle Has Landed" — from the 2005 anthology I, Alien. An alien explorer watches Earth's progress in space exploration from a vantage point on the moon. (2,500 words).

"Fallen Angel" — from the 2000 anthology Lisa Snellings' Strange Attraction: Turns of the Midnight Carnival Wheel. A young circus performer fears falling. Finalist for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Short Story of the Year, and one of three stories cited as "highlights" from this the anthology by the Denver Rocky Mountain News (4,700 words).

Stories as eBooks!

You'll find a bunch of my previously published short stories at:

Fictionwise.com

Why are they there, instead of on this site? Simple. Although people who already know my work come to this site, those who haven't yet discovered me won't ever be stopping by here. But over at Fictionwise, I've found lots of new readers. I view my short fiction as a sort of advertising for my novels, so I wanted them available to a wider audience.

Fictionwise sells stories dirt cheap (mine are mostly priced between 49 and 79 cents U.S.), and for one price you can download them in any or all standard eBook formats, and use them on all your personal machines. Fictionwise books can be read on desktop computers, netbooks, PDAs, smartphones, BlackBerrys, iPhones, the iPods touch, and most dedicated ebook reading devices, including Amazon's Kindle, Barnes and Noble's nook, and the Sony Reader.

I've licensed most of my stories to Fictionwise.com. So, to read Robert J. Sawyer short fiction, go to:

Fictionwise.com

Stories from Audible.com

A number of my novels are available from Audible.com, but if you want to check out my short stories, there are only two available:

1) "Shed Skin," first published in The Bakka Anthology: Original Science Fiction, then reprinted in Analog's Jan/Feb 2004 issue.

"Shed Skin" won Analog's Analytical Laboratory Award for Best Short Story of the Year, and was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story of 2004.

This story was the genesis of my novel Mindscan. The story and the novel are quite different, but there are common themes and actions.

Check out Audible.com for "Shed Skin."

Unabridged audio of "Shed Skin" from Audible.com

2) "Identity Theft," first published in Down These Dark Spaceways, then reprinted in Nebula Awards Showcase 2007. Both these anthologies were edited by Mike Resnick.

"Identity Theft" won Spain's top science fiction award the Premio UPC de Ciencia Ficción, for Best Novella of the Year. It was a finalist for both the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2005.

It's a hard-boiled dectective story set on Mars.

Check out Audible.com for "Identity Theft."

Unabridged audio of "Identity Theft" from Audible.com

Identity Theft and Other Stories

A new collection of 17 short stories published in May 2008, by Red Deer Press of Calgary, Alberta.

The introduction is by Hugo Award-winning author Robert Charles Wilson.

You can order autographed copies of the hardcover from this web site!

More about Identity Theft and Other Stories

Iterations and Other Stories

Twenty-two of Rob's short stories are collected in Iterations, published in hardcover in January 2002, by Quarry Press of Kingston, Ontario.

Reprinted in trade paperback in February 2004 and again in March 2008 by Red Deer Press of Calgary, Alberta.

The introduction is by award-winning author James Alan Gardner.

You can order autographed copies of the hardcover from this web site!

See what the hardcover and trade paperback covers look like.

More about Iterations and Other Stories

Relativity: Essays and Stories

An eclectic mix of short stories, speeches, articles, plus all twelve "On Writing" columns are collected in Relativity, published in hardcover in November 2004, by ISFiC Press of Chicago, Illinois.
Winner of the Aurora Award for Best Work in English (Other).

The introduction is by multiple-award-winning author Mike Resnick.

You can buy copies of this Aurora-Award-winning hardcover from Bakka-Phoenix Books in Canada, or directly from ISFiC Press.

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Hugo Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer ROBERT J. SAWYER Author of WWW:Wake and FlashForward