History Creator / RobertJSawyer

*** Some event known as the Month of Terror is said to have occurred at some point between when ''Rollback'' was written in 2007 and when it is set in 2048. One character who is in her mid-40s in 2067 mentions it happening before she was born but beyond that, we don't know what it was or when, though with a name like that, it couldn't have been good.

* TakeThat: From ''Calculating God'', Hollus and Thomas are discussing TV shows about aliens.

* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** Much of the Canadian history scattered throughout Sawyer's various novels, at least to non-Canadian readers. {{Subverted|Trope}} by the fact that this is mixed with future predicted Canadian "history" with no indication of which is which except the publication date of the novel.
** In ''Quantum Night'', Calgary mayor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naheed_Nenshi Naheed Nenshi]] [[spoiler:becomes the first Muslim Prime Minister of Canada]], but most non-Canadian readers probably don't realize he's a real person (although Sawyer notes this in the prologue).
** Happens with many locations as well. The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory from ''The Neanderthal Parallax'' is real, as are Saskatoon's synchrotron and Winnipeg's Human Rights Museum in ''Quantum Night'', plus numerous other examples.
** {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''Flashforward'' and ''The Terminal Experiment'', both of which feature appearances by [[UsefulNotes/ThePope Pope]] Benedict XVI and are set during his RealLife papacy, but were written before he became Pope, meaning his inclusion was not intentional.

* TakeThat: From ''Calculating God'', Hollus and Thomas are discussing TV shows about aliens

* InhumanableAlienRights: On the opposite end of the scale, we have Robert J. Sawyer's novel ''Illegal Alien'', in which one of the first aliens to visit the Earth is arrested and put on trial on suspicion of murdering a human. The aliens are quite obviously more technologically advanced than humanity, and could very well wipe out the entire planet if they decided to, so only the most radical humans oppose giving the suspect a fair trial. That said, there is some argument over whether an alien can be considered "sane" by human standards, and several times it's brought up that most people think of the aliens as interchangeable and identical rather than varied individuals. That being said, it's also made clear, at least by some, that the alien's rights aren't ''greater'' than those of humans. A Black preacher and civil rights activist (think Al Sharpton) confronts the Los Angeles District Attorney to point out he would have sought the death penalty against a Black man had he killed the (white) victim under similar circumstances, and he'd better not be seen as giving more value to an alien's life than a Black human's. [[spoiler: It is eventually revealed that most of the aliens do not regard ''humans'' as having any rights, and planned to destroy us as a potential threat, which the alien suspect foiled.]]

* InhumanableAlienRights: On the opposite end of the scale, we have Robert J. Sawyer's novel ''Illegal Alien'', in which one of the first aliens to visit the Earth is arrested and put on trial on suspicion of murdering a human. The aliens are quite obviously more technologically advanced than humanity, and could very well wipe out the entire planet if they decided to, so only the most radical humans oppose giving the suspect a fair trial. That said, there is some argument over whether an alien can be considered "sane" by human standards, and several times it's brought up that most people think of the aliens as interchangeable and identical rather than varied individuals. [[spoiler: It is eventually revealed that most of the aliens do not regard ''humans'' as having any rights, and planned to destroy us as a potential threat, which the alien suspect foiled.]]

* PowderKegCrowd: [[spoiler:Taken UpToEleven]] in ''Quantum Night'' where riots in Winnipeg over the Jets losing the Stanley Cup Finals [[spoiler:escalate into a lengthy series of riots across Canada and eventually parts of the US. This spurs a psychopathic US President, already miffed that Canada elected a Muslim PM, to invade and annex the country. Russia then sends troops to "liberate" the Canadians, and the world comes within a hair's breadth of nuclear war.]]

** Jock, a very conservative former consultant with the RAND Institute in ''Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax'', goes from expressing skepticism over the Neanderthals to [[spoiler: attempting their genocide]]. Meanwhile in ''Quantum Night'', we have a right-wing US President who's quite Islamophobic, [[spoiler: turns out to be a psychopath, and eventually ''invades Canada'']]. Not to mention a Texas governor who passed a law removing all legal rights for illegal aliens (which is actually ridiculously unconstitutional), sparking their mass murders. That, plus the Georgia jury who believe in capital punishment and (even if not everyone agrees on that) reacts in understandable horror after learning the main character (called by the defense to show the defendant is a psychopath, thus he couldn't help killing) favors infanticide for disabled babies.

* {{Aesoptinum}}: Sawyer has written several books that feature a technological loss of privacy as then leading to a better society. His ''[[Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax Neanderthal Parallax]]'' trilogy features a society in which everyone wears a gadget that records everything they do 24/7, storing it in an archive that can only be accessed by the person in question, or by the authorities if they have sufficient cause. Another book features plans sent by aliens. The plans are for a gadget that lets people read each others minds without limit, and it is strongly implied that this will lead to utopia. His book ''Triggers'' has humanity becoming a {{hive mind}} with the same effect-this is shown explicitly as utopian. One short story also has a future Earth that has become an anarchic utopia by means of similar technology as ''The Neanderthal Parallax'' features, since a government isn't needed anymore with everyone under sousveillance.

* HollywoodAtheist: {{Discussed}} in ''Triggers'', where the US President is a closet atheist. Following from numerous terrorist attacks in the US, culminating with his own near-assassination, he decides to destroy Pakistan with nuclear missiles for harboring terrorists. An old woman finds out about his nonbelief and this plan, trying to convince him that doing so will not only cause him to be viewed as a monster, but later people would say only an atheist could have ever done such a terrible thing (he had planned to admit his atheism after leaving the White House). Also averted by Caitlin and her dad in ''Literature/WWWTrilogy''. Both are simply nice, ordinary people. Sawyer is himself an atheist, and thus averts this in his works.

* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: {{Subverted}} with the Neanderthals in ''Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax'' books, who never had a concept of an afterlife or gods to begin with due to different brain structures [[spoiler: (though played straight with the finale of the trilogy, when a magnetic pole reversal affects humans' minds by first stimulating then later eliminating paranormal, mystical or religious beliefs. With them gone, peace breaks out in the Middle East, among other improvements)]]. It's also inverted with the aliens in ''Calculating God'' who are more technologically advanced than humanity but firmly believe in a creator on the basis of scientific evidence. It's the atheist human protagonist who slowly has to adjust and accept it.

* StrawCharacter: Jock, a very conservative former consultant with the RAND Institute in ''Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax'', goes from expressing skepticism over the Neanderthals to [[spoiler: attempting their genocide]]. Meanwhile in ''Quantum Night'', we have a right-wing US President who's quite Islamophobic, [[spoiler: turns out to be a psychopath, and eventually ''invades Canada'']]. Not to mention a Texas governor who passed a law removing all legal rights for illegal aliens (which is actually ridiculously unconstitutional), sparking their mass murders. That, plus the Georgia jury who believe in capital punishment and (even if not everyone agrees on that) reacts in understandable horror after learning the main character (called by the defense to show the defendant is a psychopath, thus he couldn't help killing) favors infanticide for disabled babies. In ''Calculating God'', we have two anti-abortion, creationist fundamentalist terrorists who try to destroy the Burgess Shale for its conflict with their literalist view of the Bible.

*** An odd {{Subversion}} in ''Flashforward'' where many of the incidents seen in the visions would certainly qualify, except that there's no indication if they ever came to pass. Donald Trump is said to be building a pyramid in the middle of the Nevada desert to house his remains which would be ten meters taller than the Pyramid of Giza. Given what happened to Trump in RealLife in the time gap spanned by the visions, this is either HilariousInHindsight, HarsherInHindsight, or quite possibly a bit of both, depending on your perspective.

*** Some event known as the Month of Terror is said to have occurred at some point between when the novel was written in 2007 and when it is set in 2048. One character who is in her mid-40s in 2067 mentions it happening before she was born but beyond that, we don't know what it was or when, though with a name like that, it couldn't have been good.

*** For some reason, Colombia has an odd tendency to get involved in nuclear wars in the Future Past of the Sawyer-verse.

** In the epilogue of ''Frameshift'', set 13 years after the conclusion of the main portion, the USA is said to [[ExpandedStatesOfAmerica have 51 states]]. This has absolutely no bearing on the plot, and what state was added is never mentioned.

** Much of the Canadian history scattered throughout Sawyer's various novels, at least to American readers. {{Subverted|Trope}} by the fact that this is mixed with future predicted Canadian "history" with no indication of which is which except the publication date of the novel.
** In ''Quantum Night'', Calgary mayor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naheed_Nenshi Naheed Nenshi]] [[spoiler:becomes the first Muslim Prime Minister of Canada]], but most American readers probably don't realize he's a real person (although Sawyer notes this in the prologue).

* AuthorTract: It becomes pretty obvious what Sawyer thinks about various issues across his novels (e.g. atheism, religion), and this even extends to his pet peeves, such as how January 1, 2000 wasn't the ''real'' new millennium given that there was no year zero -- rather, it's January 1, 2001. ''Quantum Night'' seems pretty heave-handed against the US right wing too. It's hard to imagine even the most hardline Republican in the US ever invading Canada or abolishing illegal aliens' human rights.

* NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion: A RunningGag in one chapter of ''Rollback'' features Don and Sarah going out to a fancy restaurant while discussing whether to go through with the titular procedure. A waiter repeatedly asks them if they've decided yet, and they repeatedly tell him they haven't. Eventually, the two of them agree to go through with it and tell the waiter they've made their decision, only to realize they don't actually know what they're ordering for lunch yet.

* DoomsdayDevice: In ''The Oppenheimer Alternative'', Oppie comes across a list of proposed nuclear devices, each listing its power and proposed means of destination. The location for the final one is simply listed as "Backyard", to which Oppie has a moment of FridgeHorror when he realizes the device would destroy the entire world, so there would be no need to transport it before using it.

Robert James Sawyer [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever CM]] (born April 29, 1960) is a Canadian Science Fiction author. His novels mainly deal with the conflict between science and mysticism/religion.

* The ''[[Literature/WWWTrilogy WWW]]'' trilogy

** Much of the Canadian history scattered throughout Sawyer's various novels, at least to American readers. {{Subverted}} by the fact that this is mixed with future predicted Canadian "history" with no indication of which is which except the publication date of the novel.

** Happens with a lot of locations as well. The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory from the Neanderthal Parallax is real, as are Saskatoon's synchrotron and Winnipeg's Human Rights Museum in ''Quantum Night'', plus numerous other examples.
** {{Inverted}} in ''Flashforward'', and ''The Terminal Experiment'', both of which feature appearances by Pope Benedict XVI and are set during his RealLife papacy, but were written before he became Pope, meaning his inclusion was not intentional.
* AuthorTract: It becomes pretty obvious what Sawyer thinks about various issues across his novels (e.g. atheism, religion), and this even extends to his pet peeves, such as how January 1, 2000 wasn't the ''real'' new millennium given that there was no year zero-rather, it's January 1, 2001. Quantum Night seems pretty heave-handed against the US right wing too. It's hard to imagine even the most hard-line Republican in the US ever invading Canada or abolishing illegal aliens' human rights.
* BigBrotherIsWatchingYou: Presented as a ''good'' thing in ''Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax'' and the ''[[Literature/WWWTrilogy WWW Trilogy]]''. Sawyer also believes this in RealLife. It should be mentioned though that in the Neanderthal Parallax, the watching is done automatically; an individual's implanted Companion computer records everything he or she does, sending that recording to a storage facility where only you can access your records, or the authorities if a judge orders it after you've been accused of a crime.

* ReligionIsWrong: ''Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax'' reveals that religion (and mystical beliefs generally) is simply the result of magnetic rays affecting people's brains. After the magnetic field around earth reverses polarity, these beliefs at first flare up, and then disappear, causing improvements like peace in the Middle East.

** Much of the Canadian history scattered throughout Sawyer's various novels, at least to American readers. {{Subverted}} by the fact that this is mixed with future predicted Canadian "history" with no indication of which is which.