Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 110

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...

Panama Gold

So I was about to write something along the lines of, “Once again, the global financial underbelly has been exposed.” But then I thought, Hey, how many global financial underbellies are there, anyway? Lots, apparently. Maybe 11.5 million of them. 11.5 million is the number of documents extracted from the Panamanian law firm of Mossack Fonseca, then given to theSüddeutsche Zeitung, which shared the information with theGuardian and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. (No...

This Week in History

For some reason this blog seems to be tracking a number of history stories. Here are some more Satellite photos seem to have revealed a Viking settlement in North America. Magnetometer readings later taken at the remote site, called Point Rosee, a grassy headland above a rocky beach an hour’s trek from the nearest road, showed elevated iron readings. And trenches that were then dug exposed Viking-style turf walls along with ash residue, roasted ore called bog iron and a fire-cracked boulder —...

Do Right

From a young Peggy Lee, one of many classic renditions of “Why Don’t You Do Right,” also known as “The Weed Smoker’s Dream.” While touring with the Goodman band, Miss Lee obsessively played Lil Green’s rendition of the song, which had earlier been recorded by the Harlem Hamfats (who were, by the way, from Chicago). Goodman heard Lil Green so often he decided to create his own arrangement. So this is the Peggy Lee/Benny Goodman version, with tasty additions from both Miss Lee and Goodman’s cl...

Reviews Too Late: The Heavy Water War

The Heavy Water War (UK title:The Saboteurs), streamable on Netflix, is a six-episode Norwegian television production that tells a number of parallel stories: that of the Nazi nuclear program, the British and Norwegian saboteurs who tried to stop it, and the management of Norsk Hydro, the company who owned the heavy-water plant at the center of the story. It’s unusually authentic for a historical project, as good asBand of Brothers in that regard. Some characters are composites, but the compo...