Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 103

Reviews Too Late: Staying Up Too Late with HBO

I got free HBO last weekend as part of a promotion forWestworld, which I didn’t watch. But I did sit down to watch a number of movies I hadn’t seen in theaters. (I see so few movies on release that if I were an Oscar voter, I’d be voting only for the Retro Oscars.) And speaking of Oscars, here’s Steve Jobs, the film for which Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet were nominated for Academy Awards. Aaron Sorkin wrote the script as a kind of three-act play taking place in the moments before a tri...

Taos Toolbox 2017

Taos Toolbox, master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy, is on track for 2017! The workshop will take place June 18-July 1 2017, in Angel Fire, NM. Teaching will be Nancy Kress, Walter Jon Williams, and special lecturers Stephen Gould and EM Tippetts. This is a serious workshop for anyone who wants to take their writing to the next level, and we have acolossal record of successat doing just that. The application period will begin December 1. If you’re looking to be a writer, do...

Here, There, and Another Place

I am newly located in various corners of cyberspace. First up, I am interviewed at MyLifeMyBooksMyEscape, specifically aboutImpersonations, but also about a few other things. Nextly, over on Tor.com, I have provided an appreciation of the strange and marvelous fiction of Cordwainer Smith. And lastly, EBookDaily has seen fit to giveInvestments a promotion. This is normally the sort of thing for which I pay, but apparently this one’s free, so check them out since they seem to be generous people...

Release Day!

George R.R. Martin writes: “Interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams.” Now, my friends, comes the Return of the King. The newPraxis novelImpersonations is released upon the world today, either in trade paperback or ebook format. You may order the book from your local bookstore, or order online fromBarnes & Noble,Amazon,Kobo,iBooksandGoogle! Impersonations may be the fifth work in a series, but you don’t need to read the first four books in order to appreciat...

Uranus is Heaven!

Betcha didn’t know that Frank Sinatra recorded science fiction songs. Not only that, these were on an album that sold incredibly well and was nominated for Grammys. “Trilogy: Past, Present, Future” was a three-album boxed set released in 1977, and was produced by Gordon Jenkins, who more or less invented the concept album with his expanded version ofManhattan Tower in 1957. Jenkins had produced a number of Sinatra’s albums, plus others by Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holliday, Ella...

Ice Cream Taco

Saturday night I returned to the Plaza Mayor for more of Globalquerque! Again the concert was preceded by Jambo’s reliable curried chicken, and by Santa Fe Brewery’s excellent porter. I also ate my first ice cream taco. Which, for the record, was enormous, a huge chunk of ice cream wrapped in a folded-over waffle. Nothing to hate here, though it was a little more than I was prepared for. Still, it fueled some dancing. Opening the festival was Austria’sFederspiel,a mostly-brass band doing fol...

Friday Night Lights

I spent two nights this last weekend at Globalquerque, our annual world music fiesta. There were eighteen bands rotating on three stages, which meant there was always music being played somewhere, and because I was often somewhere listening to music, that meant I couldn’t beeverywhere. So I’m going to describe only what I saw and heard, and if I missed your favorite band, I’m sorry about that, I’ll try to do better next time. Supporting my quest for new sounds were the hucksters of the Santa...

Another Formula

So former publishing person Jodie Archer and analyst Matthew L. Jockers have developed an algorithm to isolate features common in bestsellers, and will reveal their new formula in their soon-to-be- published work,The Bestseller Code. What does the algorithm (and the public) like? Young, strong heroines who are also misfits (the type found inThe Girl on the Train, Gone Girl,andThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). No sex, just “human closeness.” Frequent use of the verb “need.” Lots of contraction...

BoA Physics

Friend of the blog Michael Wester tells me that noted science foundation Bank of America has issued a report to its clients that there is a 20-50% chance we are living in a Matrix-style simulation. (Where are my cool shades and shiny leather coat?) The report cites Elon Musk, Neil de Grasse Tyson, philosopher Nick Bostrom, and others. You may well wonder why the Bank of America takes such an interest in the question. Perhaps they want to assure their clients that any money lost by BoA never r...

Beware the Black Spot!

Arya Stark puts her sword Needle to good use, here skewing every beauty product ad ever made.