Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 110

Looming Up Out of the Night

Despite its frightening resemblance to a face-hugger from theAlien films, it’s merely a lobster.

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Mountbatten!

It’s not like I’m a monarchist, but when someone spends 64 years as head of state, I feel she’s entitled to a bit of applause.

Dark Horse, Mad Dog, Warrior Monk

You’ve probably heard of dark horse candidates, right? Now, if certain deep-pocketed conservatives have their way, we may have a candidate that’s a mad dog. That would be James “Mad Dog” Mattis, USMC, retired. Former lieutenant general, former NATO Supreme Commander (Transformation), and David Petraeus’ successor as Central Command’s big honcho, with responsibility for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mattis’ campaign is being floated by the Usual Group of Shadowy Billionaires, whose front m...

Walters of the World

All my life, I’ve been keeping track of the other Walter Williamses out there. On the whole, we seem to be a pretty distinguished bunch. To start with, there was my father, who was another Walter Williams. We had different middle names— his was Ulysses, believe it or not. After my dad was born (in the sauna, on a Finnish-American farm), my granddad returned to the farmhouse and said my dad’s middle name would be Ulysses, “because he would travel far.” Considering my dad was part of the Norman...

Clip Officiel

After a few days of perfect springtime weather, winter descended again with wind and rain and cloud. Which made me long for the tropics, so I thought I’d check out the music scene on the island of Mauritius. (Which calls itself Maurice, by the way.) I used to stream music from a radio station in Port Louis during the daytime here, when it was late at night in Mauritius (and so very few commercials). The DJs were as obnoxious as DJs everywhere, but the music— sega— was terrific, and seemed to...

Interactivity

The entertainment has been interactive around here. And no, I’m not talking about Xbox games. A few weeks ago we visited License to Spy , a traveling exhibit of spy gear sent from Australia to (for some reason) the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. (See a dinosaur, spy on your neighbor . . . all good fun!) There’s a story involved. You can spend a couple hours tracking down enemy agents suspected of stealing a quantum computer, spotting hidden cameras, working bugging equipment, listening t...

Why I Love Akira Kurosawa

InMetropolitan, I describe a scene in a film based on Constantine’s life. Even though the book takes place in a fantasy world, it’s clear from the description that Kurosawa directed.

Last Chance for the Toolbox

There are still a very few places left at Taos Toolbox, this year’s master class for science fiction and fantasy. But if you’re planning to apply, you’d better get the applications to us in the next couple weeks, because after that, you’ll have to wait till next year. Remember, this year’s special guest instructor is James S.A. Corey, creator ofThe Expanse. This is theonly time he’s ever taught, and since he’s busy he doesn’t look likely to teach for the foreseeable future, so if you want to...

Enter the Pirate

I’m still recovering from the unending riot that was the Jack Williamson Lecture, so I’ve called in Pirate Bob to substitute. Kindly watch to the very end, because it only gets stranger.

Fiat Lux

I’ll be leaving tomorrow for a couple days in the sophisticated metropolis of Portales, NM, for the fortieth annualJack Williamson Lectureship. Fun will be had. In the meantime I’m deeply enjoying my schadenfreude at the continuing revelations of the Panama Papers. The premiere of Iceland has resigned. And the Great Firewall of China has been raised to frantically block news or comment about the Politburo figures whose nearest and dearest have stashed their millions abroad. These include Pres...