Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 100

Filling and Fulfilling

So here’s a shot of last night’s roast beast, fresh from the oven. I splurged on a USDA Prime rib roast, the price of which quite startled me. I sprinkled it with Indonesian white pepper, garlic, and allspice (the Finnish housewife’s best friend), and then dusted it with flour before tossing it in the oven. I served it with buttermilk mashed potatoes stirred up with garlic and horseradish, brown-braised pearl onions, baby peas, and a gravy I made with red wine, sea salt, yet more garlic, yet...

Sprint for the Story!

Carrie Vaughn’s new Wild Cards story, “The Thing About Growing Up in Jokertown,” is live at Tor.com. I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you just might like it. No previous knowledge of the series is necessary, I’m sure.

Carols

This is the time of year for caroling. But what do we actually know about carols? For one thing, carol services are very recent. They were invented in 1880 by Edward White Benson, the Bishop of Truro. And what do we know about him? He later became Archbishop of Canterbury and his whole family had something of a mania for writing. His wife had 39 lesbian lovers. How do we know that? Because she kept a diary, and numbered them. One of his sons was the eminent gay novelist EF Benson. Another was...

Holidays Abroad

Travel is broadening, and this is particularly true if you eat the food. And Christmas is a time for food, right? A few years ago I was in Singapore and was surprised to discover that Spongebob was an important part of the Christmas holiday. Now I find out that in Japan, Christmas is celebrated withKurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii,or Kentucky for Christmas. Kentucky, that is, as in KFC. KFC in Japan has marketed itself as a Christmas tradition, and features a special deluxe menu that sometimes requ...

Remains of War

Here is Beach White 1 on the island of Peleliu, where a horrifically bloody, grinding and mostly unnecessary battle was fought in late 1944. In the foreground you can see the treads of a Sherman tank, still at the waterline 70-odd years later. In the middle ground is a weed-filled lagoon across which Chesty Puller’s 1st Marine Regiment crossed, some on foot, some in LVTs and DUKWs. In the background is the white line of the reef that stopped many of the landing craft and forced them to throw...

Wild Cards World

For all you Wild Cards fanciers out there, there are many treats in store (besides a book trailer in Spanish, that is). The Wild Cards website is now available for your browsing pleasure, featuring videos, author and character bios, interviews, and a blog with new posts appearing on a regular schedule. Plus book trailers in languages other than English! Check it out!

Health Update

Kathy had her hip replacement on Monday, and it went extremely well. She’s been through it all before, and is managing her recovery splendidly. When you’re prepping for surgery, and afterwards in recovery, the nurses are forever asking you for your name and date of birth, presumably so they can determine if your mental function is working at some base level. Kathy got bored with this a lot quicker than the nurses did, so she’d demonstrate her mental competence by reciting “The Walrus and the...

Lower Caves

So everyone got gloves and helmets with lights (batteries not provided). And then there was a certain amount of hanging around on ropes. And negotiating some rather complicated ladders and scaffolding. There was also a bit of belly-crawling, and squeezing through tight places generally. Plus maneuvering over wet and/or slippery surfaces. But it was all totally worth it, because for two hours we got to wander through stuff like this.

The New Calendar

As in the past, we’ve put together a new 2017 calendarfeaturing photos taken during the latest travels, so that we can share our experience with our friends. Because everywhere I’ve been this year had to do with boats and/or the ocean, there’s the focus of the calendar. You’ve already seen a number of photos on this blog. It’s a full-sized calendar, and features holidays celebrated in the States, Canada, U.K., and Mexico. Traditionally I’ve earned no money from selling these, but Lulu.com isn...

Reefs

I seem unable to stay away from coral reefs these days. Never mind that the Capitan Reef hasn’t been an actual reef for 125,000,000 years, and that the Delaware Sea dried up at the end of the Permian, Capitan still has that reef magic. And, like coral reefs throughout the world, it has caves and tunnels, some of which now make up Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Which is where I find myself this weekend. In part I’m here because I haven’t visited the caverns since I was in high school. In part...