Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 12

Not Saving

So the other night something weird happened with Scrivener, my word processor. I finished my work, backed it up to Dropbox, and went about the rest of my evening. Next night, I opened Scrivener, and discovered that none of the new writing I’d done the previous night was anywhere in the file.

I checked the time stamp, and the file had registered no updates from the time I first opened it. When I hit “save,” nothing happened.

I very much doubt that I’d forget to save after hours of wr...

Honor St. Urho!

It’s St. Urho’s day! Time to dress up in green and purple, and empty the bars of all contents before the Irish get in tomorrow!

Shining, Darkly or Otherwise

Here’s a brand-new March release, and another in our survey of books by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy. My Stars Shine Darkly is the first book in a new YA series, featuring a young heroine’s attempt to escape the dystopia into which she was born.

Living on a conservative colony world, Sienna Tascioni is no stranger to pushing boundaries. Constrained by what’s expected of her as a proper young lady, she still reads books from classe...

Glassical Glass

Here’s another in the series of works recently published by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy..

Dorothy Winsor attended the very first Toolbox in 2008, and has been publishing regularly in the time since.

I’ve often felt that glassmaking and glassblowing was magical, and Dorothy liberalizes the metaphor with Glass Girl.

Seventeen-year-old Emlin is about to become a fully-fledged crafter of dragon-inspired stained glass. The...

Hail to the Chief

The mysterious, enchanting red-gold shimmer of an el presidente cocktail.

Rum, dry vermouth, Grand Marnier, and a few dashes of my friend Terry Boren’s homemade grenadine.

Spooky Kitty

I’m not your ordinary gumshoe.

My name’s Nina Cohen. Born: 1898, died: 1912. I’m a poltergeist in a human body. I work from home as a private investigator. I watch entirely too much TV, and I talk to my cat. Say hello, Djinn.

Meow.

Thus begins Dead of Winter, the second in James R. Strickland’s Poltergeist series. (It’s a pretty damn good opening, isn’t it?)

James Strickland, I should point out, went to Taos Toolbox back in 2011, and has been publishing regularly in the years s...

Medium Rare

Tonight’s dinner: sous vide leg of lamb cooked medium rare, with a sort of roux/wine sauce, plus cheesy potatoes and a spring salad.

Six Weeks In

So I’ve been to the Cancer Center for my six-week checkup. My PSA came in at 0.1— any lower and it would have been undetectable. (It was over 70 when I started treatment.)

So . . . happy news! Cancer confirmed dead! Champagne in my sights!

Toolbox in ’23

Here’s the second in my survey of works published by graduates of Taos Toolbox in 2023. The Kuiper Belt Job is the first in David D. Levine’s Cannibal Club Chronicles, a new adventure series following a collective of highly shady individuals.

Once upon a time in the Solar System, there was a gang called the Cannibal Club led by the man known as Strange. Max was the muscle, Damien the pilot, Alicia the thief, Tai the hacker, and Shweta the grifter. They would break into banks, hack comp...

Don’t Sleep. Just Read.

The new Wild Card book, SLEEPER STRADDLE, launches on February 8! The book contains a new story by me, “Semiotics of the Strong Man,” and features two of the series’ most popular characters.

SLEEPER STRADDLE features stories about Croyd Crenson, known as the Sleeper and created by Roger Zelazny. Roger created the most brilliantly useful character in the series, because every so often the Sleeper falls into a coma and wakes in a completely new body, and acquires a completely new set of p...