Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 131

Jimmy Hits the Big Time

Here’s the trailer for the new TV series based on James S.A. Corey’sExpansestories.
Are you excited? I’m excited. I’m ready for this, like, right now.

Trama Idiota

So how often have you seen, or read, this?
Your stalwart detective protagonist is on the trail of the bad guys, who are maybe serial killers, or anyway are known to kidnap and torture people. The bad guys then threaten not the detective, who is of course too stalwart to pay attention to such threats, but the detective’s spouse and/or children. The detective pays no attention to the threat, because he’s stalwart I guess, and maybe doesn’t even warn his family about the threat because . . . beca...

Taking the Bullet

I got a bunch of free premium channels for a limited time, and I saw “The Lone Ranger” so you’ll never have to.
I don’t know why I keep taking these bullets for you people. It’s not like I’m paid for this, and it’s not like the bullets are real silver.
I thought, as I viewed it, that this might in fact be the worst movie ever made. It’s well past the “It’s so bad it’s good,” and well into the “It’s so bad it’s perfectly unspeakable.”
Eventually I decided that there may be worse movies that I hav...

The Toolbox Cometh

Just a reminder that the submission period for Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy, is well under way. There have been submissions and acceptances, and we’re looking to increase the number of both!
And that, my friends, is whereyou come in. If you’re serious about making your mark in the science fiction and fantasy field, Taos Toolbox is here to help you.
Finish up that manuscript, and get it in the mail!

Parkour Crazy

It’s Damien Walters’ latest show reel.

Uncle Hugo

Hugo Gernsback, the founder of modern science fiction, at his desk.
Feel free to make up your own joke.
(And what is that thing attached to his telephone?)

Five Armies, No Waiting

For the most part the holidays were spent in attitudes of collapse, but I did manage to drag myself to the theater to viewThe Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies.
Those who remember my notes on the previous two films will recall that I feared the third movie would consist only of the Battle of Lake Town, the Battle of Dol Guldur, and the Battle of the Five Armies, for two and a half hours of solid combat. And alas, I was pretty much right.
The Battle of Dol Guldur, at least, is mercifully brief,...

Part Six, At Last!

The grand serialization experiment is over, andHardwired, Episode Six is now available at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. The folks at Apple are apparently taking an extended holiday, and Episode Six isn’t yet available on their site despite my waiting more than 24 hours to make this announcement.
It’ll probably be up on iBooks by Monday, though.
It has to be admitted that the experiment of serializing a book that is already available in its entirety hasn’t been a great success— t...

My Private Idaho

This morning’s surprise was to look out the window and see 4-5 inches of fresh powder lying on everything. My neighbor had hooked up a small sled to his ATV and was pulling his little girl around his yard. (Safety experts would cringe, but I thought it was lovely, and kinda wanted to jump on myself.)
We usually get 3-4 severe winter storms each season, but the snow almost always melts after a few hours. This storm came after many days in which the temperature rarely got above freezing, so thi...

Dropping the Light Ball

It’s New Year’s Day. I am for the most part recovered from the stomach bug that’s kept me down the last couple days, and which meant that instead of going to any New Year celebrations, I remained at home and watched the Times Square ball dropnot on CNN, because CNN cut to commercialjust before midnight, causing me to jump to NBC just as the countdown reached 11.
(I know that all the celebrations were on tape delay, because the ball dropped on the East Coast two hours before midnight here, but...