Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 127

On the Road Again

Spot the fish in this picture. I’m not sure I can do it myself. I know there’s a frogfish in the frame somewhere, but I’m not sure which of the lumps is fish and which is coral. The guide said, “If you see a piece of coral with a frown on it, that’s a frogfish.” It all looks pretty frowny to me. I’m going to leave you to chew on this for a few days, while I go to the Jack Williamson Lectureship, where I’ll be hanging with Connie Willis, Paolo Bacigalupi, Steve Gould, and I presume others. So...

Revisiting the Classics

As part of my program to revisit books that I liked when I was younger, I recently re-read Heinlein’sStranger in a Strange Land for the first time since I was in college. Oh, my. I should point out that as a young person I read all the Heinlein I could find. (Have Space Suit, Will Travelremains one of my favorite books of all time.) Nordid I stick just to the juveniles. Heinlein had the gift of a perfect avuncular voice: if you were a bright kid of thirteen and curious about the world, he was...

Crisis Mode

I’ve been in Crisis Mode since I returned to the mainland last week, and so I haven’t been posting much. The term is misleading, however, because there’s no actual crisis. There’s just a bunch of annoying tasks with deadlines, one after the other, so that I barely have a chance to catch my breath. None of these tasks are really worth discussing in detail, but a partial list includes: Trying to get the tractor fixed. Pick up tax documents from the accountant. Finish a rewrite. Giving u...

Amen

We have here three versions of the “Amen Break,” as originally recorded back in 1969, on a song called “Amen Brother,” by a group called the Winstons. (There was a time, as George Clintonof Parliament recalls, groups were either named after cigarettes, cars, or birds.) ”Amen Brother” was the B side of the Winstons’ hit “Color Him Father,” and was recorded in maybe 20 minutes, not because the Winstons were enamored of the song, but because they needed a B side to their single. “Amen Brother”...

Tenth Anniversary

Today is the tenth anniversary of the day I drove myself to the hospital with a ruptured appendix. Every day since then, no matter how lousy, has been pretty darn good.

Brides on the Beach

Kathy’s workshop is over, and we’re now spending a couple nights in Waikiki before heading home. Today (Saturday)the town was full of Japanese brides being photographed in front of iconic local sites. When we ate at Orchids,we shared the restaurant with several large bridal parties. I took any number of photos of cute Japanes couples. I guess Saturday is the big wedding day because the family and friends fly in for just the weekend. I’d have a lot more fun in Oahu if I weren’t so exhausted. I...

Submariniana

Here’s a mother humpback whale breaching, while her calf waves a fin good-bye. We had to head for port before this pair became really active, and they started jumping once we were too far away to really get a good view. This was a formal whale watching cruise, sort of a disappointment because the whales were given to “logging,” which is pretty much what it sounds like. I’d seen much more active whales from the dive boat on the preceding couple of days, and I’d been expecting a bit more specta...

Geocontest

I’m on the road again, so posting may be erratic. But my question to you all is,Where am I?
Anyone guessing where the above picture was taken will win free downloads of the audio books for all three Praxis books. Begin . . .now!

Cape Sounion

Here’s another photo from my long-ago trip to Greece, of sunrise at the temple to Poseidon on Cape Sounion, at the end of the Attic peninsula. I took the bus out to Sounion, bought a ticket, viewed the ruin— which is perhaps the most perfect small temple ever built— and then had souvlaki in a seaside cafe. I had a bathe, and met two Second World War vets who’d been in the underground. One showed me the scars from a German machine pistol, which stitched him from his right shoulder across his b...

Secret Masters

So for years, when visiting Santa Fe, I’ve been driving past a giant pink Moorish castle, and wondering what went on inside. For the place was Santa Fe’s Scottish Rite Temple, where met the Secret Masters of Whatever It Is They’re Secret Masters Of.
The other day, for the first time in history, the temple was opened to the public in a kind of open house. So I hied myself thither to check out the scene.
I’ve always had a modest interest in Freemasonry, partially on account of a couple literary p...