Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 114

Caviar

Who’s this little guy? Why, he’s one of theOpistognathidae, of course. Otherwise known as a jawfish. If he look as if he’s got his mouth stuffed full of caviar, it’s because his mouth is in fact stuffed with caviar. The jawfish females lay the eggs, after which the males hold the eggs in their mouths until they hatch. That’s how I know this one’s a him, and not a her. Jawfish are like blennies in that they live in little forts they build under the sand. On the surface, a jawfish home just loo...

David

Science fiction editor David G. Hartwell suffered a fall in his home on January 19th, allegedly while carrying a box of books on the stairs, and suffered a “massive brain bleed.” I’ve just received the word that he’s died. I was never one of David’s authors, but I’ve known him for more than thirty years, and I deeply respected him as an editor, a spotter of talent, and an encyclopedia of the true history of science fiction, fantasy, and publishing. He was at 74 the oldest living editor of sc...

Soaring

This is a spotted eagle ray, caught in another photo by Troy. Your heart always gives a leap when you see one of these soaring in silent majesty over the reef. They have a wingspan of over eight feet, and they’refast. They’re shy around people, and if they become aware of you they leave you in the dust in short order. However . . . they often circle around, so you can swim along the radius and often catch them flying straight at you. I saw a number of them on the trip, but I never got a good...

The Goldilocks Zone

For those of you trying to break into this business, this is the season to start thinking about workshops. And we’ve got workshops of for every size, every budget, and every variety of time commitment. First up is the granddaddy of them all,Clarion. Clarion is a six-week-long journey into writing, with an emphasis on short fiction. 2016’s faculty features the stellar lineup of Kelly Link, Ted Chiang, Andy Duncan, Victor LaValle, Delia Sherman, and Ellen Kushner. Hell, evenI could learn a bunc...

Action Me

Here’s another photo by Troy, this time of Action Walter in Action in the Water. And if you don’t like looking at me, you can look at the fish. Win/win! Being on a live-aboard dive boat is sort of like being in the nicest military on earth. Everything’s very regimented and works according to a strict schedule: reveille 0630, breakfast 0700, first dive 0800, snack 0900, second dive 1100, substantial lunch 1230, third dive 1400, snack 1500, fourth dive 1700, substantial dinner 1830, fifth dive...

Reviews in the Nick of Time: The Big Short

First I have to say that, with all respect to The Force Awakens and JJ Abrams,this is the movie I wanted to see this holiday season. Due to various delays, including the movie not showing any closer than 65 miles away, I didn’t get to the theater till this week. Check out the star power here. Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Karen Gillan, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Gosling, Casey Groves, Selena Gomez, Margot Robbie, and Anthony Bourdain as “himself.” All of whom are compelling evidence for th...

Lion Fish

I’ve taken a lot of photos of lion fish over the years, but none this good. This was taken by Troy, theAggressor’s pro photographer, who had the advantage of a camera that probably cost about $10,000 more than mine, which is the underwater equivalent of a Kodak Brownie. That said, this is an invasive species in the Atlantic, and I can only hope that sharks will figure out a way to eat them all in the next few years.

Things Seen

From the boat I saw the green flash for the second time in my life. Rob, the chief engineer, told me that conditions looked about right, and so I paid special attention as the sun went down into the sea, and was rewarded by a moment of purest, brightest, emerald green. The video doesn’t do it justice, really. Once you’ve adjusted the camera so that it can properly film the sun, it tends to wash out anything that is less bright than the sun.
I kept looking for the rest of the week, but the we...

Iron Dome

WTF? Qu’est-ce que c’est? Scattered about the ocean floor off the Northwest Point of Providenciales are found a number of these curious objects. Once upon a time, they formed an actual iron underwater dome used during the filming of a pilot episode for a French reality show, a sort of Francophone version of “Survivor.” On this program, contestants on a nearby uninhabited island performed tasks such as building huts, finding water, making tools, etc. When a task was successfully completed, a c...

Iron Diver

I am in port but not yet ashore, and will leave the boat early tomorrow to catch my 0900 flight home. Here I am with my medal and certificate as an Iron Diver, for “completing all available dives” during my week aboard theTurks & Caicos Aggressor. (That would be 26.) They misspelled my name, but I’m used to that. There were only two other Iron Divers aboard, and both were women my age. Which leads me to ask: What’s the matter with the youth of today? Please note that I’m flashing the same Sa...