Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 108

Nothing to See Here

“There would be absolutely nothing wrong with that except for the fact that absolutely everything is wrong with that.” You may have seen this already, but I thought it deserves as wide an audience as it can get, so here it is. There are all sorts of ways to buy debt in our country, and much of the debt an enterprising young capitalist can purchase is medical debt. Which is to say, the debt that people run up through getting sick, and being hospitalized, and undergoing surgery and having tes...

Greatest

So, who was the greatest martial artist of the 20th Century? Here’s a clue: he died last night. There are always going to be arguments about who could beat who, under what circumstances, under what rules. Maybe Joe Louis (or Joe Lewis) could have beaten Ali in the ring, maybe someone named Gracie or Silva could have beaten him out of it. But those people didn’t change the world the way Ali did. They didn’t speak truth to power the way Ali did. They didn’t inspire millions the way Ali did. He...

Champagne When I’m Thirsty

So last night I dreamed that I went fishing in the Jémez with Muddy Waters. Howlin’ Wolf and BB King were along, but I was mostly hanging with Muddy. He loaned me his Pocket Fisherman, and I pulled in some beautiful blue-and-gold butterfly fish, which is not exactly what you expect from a New Mexico mountain stream. Muddy kept going off to liberate people who had been confined in a hospital for political reasons, but I wasn’t a part of that operation because I was in charge of fishing. The w...

Hot

So I bought a WRX, which is this hot turbocharged rally car, and the only place I had to drive it to was Belen. Reality is once again failing to meet my expectations.

Contest!

The sale for the StoryBundle is in its final three days, so I thought I’d gin up some interest by running a contest. Identify these objects: First person to identify the subjects of one of the two photos below will receive a free StoryBundle— which means you get eight whole books for zero money! There’s no point in identifyingboth subjects, because that wouldn’t get you any more books than identifying one, and would deny someone else a lot of reading pleasure. If you win, I’ll send you a code...

The Final Hours

My 99-cent sale onHardwired is entering its final hours. Officially the sale ends at midnight Friday night, but (as sales remain brisk) I’ll likely keep the sale going until sales un-brisk themselves. So if you want the book, better move briskly! Find it atAmazon,iBooks,Google Play,Smashwords,Barnes & Noble, andKobo.

One Week to Go

Just a reminder that theStoryBundleis still available, but will disappear after one weeks. And, to remind again, you pay what you want. Name your own price forErrantry: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand, Lewis Shiner’s Collected Stories, and my own Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories. But if you pay at least $12, you get five more books! Books by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Murphy, Lisa Mason, C.C. Finlay, and Kathe Koja. (Of course, you can paymore than twelve bucks. Don’t let me stop you.) Che...

Two Weeks to Go

Just a reminder that theStoryBundleis still available, but will disappear after two weeks. And, to remind again, you pay what you want. Name your own price forErrantry: Strange Stories by Elizabeth Hand, Lewis Shiner’s Collected Stories, and my own Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories. But if you pay at least $12, you get five more books! Books by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Murphy, Lisa Mason, C.C. Finlay, and Kathe Koja. (Of course, you can paymore than twelve bucks. Don’t let me stop you.) Che...

Reveal’d

Here’s the cover reveal of my short novel featuring Caroline Sula. (Art by the utterly terrificJaime Jones.) The book will be released on October 4 in both trade paperback and e-formats, and you can preorder from Barnes & Noble, Amazon,Kobo (ebook only), and Google (also ebook only). I assume iBooks will have it soon, but they seem not to have it available as yet. To find out more aboutImpersonations, check here.

Smokestack Lightning

Heading into the weekend, let’s flash back to 1965, when the Rolling Stones consented to appear on the American music programShindig (created and hosted by Jack Good, who was English). This sort of prime time Bandstand show wasn’t really the Stones’ kind of thing, but they consented to appear only on condition that Howlin’ Wolf be their special guest. So here’s the Wolf, singing one of his early hits, “How Many More Years,” with the Rolling Stones sitting worshipfully at his feet. (Quick: tr...