Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 116

Tamales

Here in New Mexico we celebrate the holidays by eating tamales, decorating the graves of our kin, and setting things on fire. Whatever your solstice tradition may be, may you practice it in joy and peace. (Though if it doesn’t involve tamales and setting things on fire, I feel just a little bit sorry for you.)

Third Time’s the Charm!

I’m pleased to report that I’ve completed the process of making the three Praxis novels available outside North America. All revised! Improved! At a better price! Andjust in time for the holidays! Conventions of War, the third in the series, is currently available at Google Books,Amazon, iBooks, and Kobo. Because Apple and Kobo won’t let me so much as look at the page of any book that isn’t for sale in North America, I can’t be absolutely certain of those links. So if you live outside North A...

Following the Money

My friend Constance, who I’ve known since our college days, has written fantasy as “Constance Ash,” and now something very different in a collaboration with her husband, the musicologist and historian Ned Sublette. This isThe American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry. Which is about the single most informative book on American history you will ever read. Despite the rather sensational subtitle, The American Slave Coast is a very serious work, buttressed with over 100 page...

Parkour on a Bicycle

I’ve been doing holiday-type stuff, which leaves me little time for thought or leisure or posting on my blog. Within a single week, I’m scheduled for three potluck dinners, one birthday dinner (not mine), and a concert in Santa Fe (with dinner). Right now I’m home, but I’m exhausted. So in my absence, by all means enjoy this amazing video of Danny MacAskill and his bicycle bounding over the roofs of Gran Canaria. The backdrop of the Canary Islands is spectacular, music is by the Dodos, the a...

Too Kermit to Quit

After you see this, you’ll probably have to go down to the cellar to find your jaw, after which you may attempt to reattach it.

Pour le Weekend

After you see this, you’ll probably have to go down to the cellar to find your jaw, after which you may attempt to reattach it.

Getting Expansive

I’m off doing karate things all weekend, so I thought I’d leave you with some entertainment. Here’s one of the trailers forThe Expanse, the new Syfy series based on the books by James S.A. Corey. (Disclosure: Jimmy Corey’s a pal of mine.) I was in Santa Fe last week for the premiere of the first two episodes, which I saw in an actual theater, with popcorn and free booze and TV stars and GRRM and all the goodies you get with a premiere. And the experience was a double helping of CompleteAweso...

Two Goodies

My campaign to make all my work available throughout the world continues with the second of my Praxis books,The Sundering, which is now available as an ebook outside North America for the first time. Find it at Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, and Google. (As with previous attempts I’m not 100% confident about the Kobo and iBooks links, because I live in North America, and I’m not allowed to see my own work because I’m not allowed to buy it! I have to say this is really annoying.) For those of you who h...

Muppets Go Boom

After my initial analysis of The Muppets, I’ve continued watching, and come to the conclusion that one thing missing from the new show isincredible levels of violence. The reality in which the Classic Muppets lived was both plastic and volatile. Muppets were always being eaten, blown up, transformed, annihilated, stretched, kicked, shot, duplicated, and having their heads smashed by mallets. OnThe Muppets, very little of this is going on. A recent episode was built around the idea that Gonzo...

Independence Day

It’s Finland’s Independence Day! And what better way to celebrate than to convene a singing flashmob at Helsinki’s central station? Forwarded by friend of the blog Marcus Prest, this video was made to support presidential candidate Pekka Haavisto, who made it to the final round a few years ago but lost. The song is “Finlandia,” by Sibelius, with lyrics written after the Winter War of 1940, when Finland barely survived a ferocious conflict with the Soviet Union. In case you want to sing along...