Local practical engineer publishes his first sci-fi novel
For R.S. Haines, the path to writing a novel started long before he ever sat down to write.
“Call me Bob,” he says almost immediately when introducing himself, soft-spoken and approachable in a way that feels fitting for someone whose imagination was shaped less by grand literary ambition than by a lifelong interest in engineering and a fascination with stories of possibility.
Haines will appear for a discussion and signing on June 14, where readers can meet the first-time novelist and hear from the author about the years of ideas percolating that led to this debut book.
The way he talks about his passion for sci-fi, it’s obvious that his new book, Bert’s Stars Book One, The Fate of Norry Li is not the work of someone chasing a popular trend. It’s the culmination of decades of Haines’s ideas and curiosities.
Science fiction entered Haines’s life at an early age. He grew up reading writers like Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein, along with the adventure-oriented Tom Swift and Hardy Boys books that pulled him toward worlds larger than his own. He also points to Australian science fiction writer A. Bertram Chandler as an influence, particularly in the way Chandler approached character writing.
“I try to make characters,” Haines says. “I’m influenced by their style of character writing.”
Just as formative were the stories told by his uncle, a sailor in the Canadian navy who would return from overseas deployments with tales from Brazil, Africa, and other far-flung parts of the world. To a young Haines, those visits carried a sense of scale and adventure that stayed with him.
“He was a bigger-than-life character,” Haines recalls. And he’s direct about the impact it had on him: “I’ve been a dreamer my whole life.”
That dreamer mentality eventually carried into his professional life as well. Though quick to clarify that he was not university educated in engineering, Haines nonetheless spent years working and building skill in engineering and manufacturing. During that time he developed what he describes as a “practical engineer’s mindset.” And in the mind of a sci-fi enthusiast, practical engineering paired with vivid imagination is a potent mix. He lights up when talking about space, exoplanets, statistics, and scientific possibility. It’s the rich enthusiasm of someone deeply curious about how the world works, blended with a dream of the future-possible.
For years, writing remained an idea without enough time attached to it. “When I was working I had ideas about it, but time was something I never had,” says Haines. But retirement changed that equation. “So I ended up retired, a mixture of life and choice, and… why not?”
The resulting novel carries many of the same interests that shaped him: a blend of imagination, engineering, curiosity, a little humour, and a cautious optimism. Haines describes the book as something not meant to be taken too seriously, though it still carries underlying themes about the kind of world people could build for one another.
“My writing has a little bit of social commentary,” he says. “I know it’s impossible for the world to be a utopia for everybody, but we should make it as good as we can.”
That balance between humour, reflection, and hope makes the project feel personal. Speaking with Haines, there’s a sense that the novel is less a sudden reinvention than the continuation of a lifelong habit of wondering about the future and the people who might inhabit it.
And now, after years of those ideas quietly percolating in the background, he finally gets to share them.
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R.S. Haines and his debut novel, Bert’s Stars Book One The Fate of Norry Li, will be at his book discussion and signing on June 14 at Storytellers Bookstore, 1473 Ottawa St. For more information visit storytellersbookstore.ca.
