Science fiction writer releases book for Chinese readers

Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, who has been consulted by a U.S. defense agency on the futuristic design of spaceships, has published his new book "Triggers" in China. Known for exploring the intersection between science and religion, Sawyer has brought "Triggers" about memory erasure to Chinese sci-fi fans. The translated version was released this month, with Sawyer in China to promote the book. In an interview with Xinhu on Friday, Sawyer said he noticed that in China, science fiction is often perceived as popular science articles or even children's story, while in Canada, it is cultural heritage and an integral part of the national character. "Literature places more emphasis on its form rather than the content while science fictions are the opposite, because the idea itself is powerful and does not need to be packaged in flowery language," he said. Listed as one of the world's top science fiction writers, Sawyer has written novels such as "Far-Seer," "The Terminal Experiment" and "Calculating God." In writing a piece, Sawyer tends to make people think. He was consulted by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, about future spaceships, together with other writers Stephen Baxter and Allen Steele, as well as the film director George Lucas. Sawyer is frequently invited to professional conferences or for idea exchanges with researchers working in state-of-the-art science and technology. He believes that sci-fi writers can speak more freely than scientists. They are not bound by nondisclosure agreements, the way many commercial and government scientists are. Sawyer said recent sci-fi works have tackled such issues as the management of global climate change as in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Forty Signs of Rain" and biological terrorism as in Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl."