Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 137

Ticking, Ever Ticking

My 99-cent sale forMetropolitanends midnight on Wednesday, so if you haven’t yet got a copy, check outAmazon,Kobo,Barnes & Noble,iBooks, andSmashwords. (Actually I may delay a bit, because there’s a late run at Smashwords, with the book running off the shelves ever since Saturday night. I assume someone said something nice about the book somewhere online, but I don’t know who, or where . . . so if you’re responsible, you have my thanks.)
The book got to #168 at Amazon, broke the top fifty at B...

On Its Way

A fine piece of art by John Picacio, for a story scheduled to appear on Tor.com in November.
Pity about the spelling of my name, though.

For the City that Girdles the World, a Mere 99 Cents!

The ebook of my novelMetropolitan is on sale for the next week for a mere 99 cents!
99 cents for a novel about the city that covers the world! How can you possibly resist this deal?
I’ve previously made a whole series of posts about the book, which I won’t repeat now, but which you can find here, here, and here.
You can findMetropolitan at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and Smashwords. And some other places like Baker & Taylor and Sony, but I haven’t checked to see if the price change mig...

I am NPR’d

Last week NPR ran a piece on the Hachette-Amazon controversy, and I was one of the authors interviewed. The interview ran for about an hour, but the piece as aired cut my contribution down to three sentences. (This is two sentences longer than my usual quote on national media.)
I was told that I’d be informed when the piece ran, but somehow the news went astray. Which is also typical.
If you’ve got four minutes to spare, I’d suggest listening to the actual audio rather than reading the summary....

Scent

So right now I want to go all Andy Rooney on the subject of armpits.
I recently went to a drugstore to get myself some stick deodorant. You know, the containers that allow you to stuff aluminum into your armpits, so that people around you won’t faint if you’re stuck in crowded elevator.
I like the unscented deodorant because it seems to me that the wholepoint of deodorant is to be unscented. Plus, being unscented permits the option of adding the scent of your choice, if scent seems desirable. (...

Babymetal

Cuties in flouncy skirts mixing J-pop and heavy metal in front of a giant statue of Kuan Yin.
And yes, mixed message is thepoint. [via Oz]

Forcing the Romance

In answers to my recent query about TV I should be watching, friend of the blog Foxessa mentioned the perils that might come with giving the fans what they want. Because what fanatical viewers want may not be the best thing for the series, and I thought I’d rant about that for a while.
Usually what the super fans want is some kind of ill-advised romance. If there are two major characters in a show, fandoms can and will develop around the romantic possibilities involving those two characters. M...

Review Via Telescope

Readers of The Rift might remember the appearance at crucial moments of an Astroscan telescope, which featured in a number of different plot elements. I made full use of its unconventional appearance, its general durability, and its more-than-passing resemblance to a trench mortar.


I am therefore delighted to note that Norman Sperling, the co-creator of the Astroscan, has reviewedThe Rift on his blog! (Favorably, needless to say.)
I’ve never been reviewed by one of my own plot elements before....

What Should I Be Watching?

So I’m looking for new stuff to watch on TV. I don’t spend a lot of time in front of the set, and I usually watch (1) when I’m running on the elliptical trainer, and (2) just before bedtime. So I’m lookin’ for high quality stuff.
I’ve seenThe Wire, Dexter, Weeds, the Sopranos, Treme, White Collar, Covert Affairs, 30 Rock, Leverage, House, Burn Notice (and man, those last two seasons were grim),Damages, Veronica Mars, Bones, Royal Pains, The Mentalist, Lillyhammer . . . hey, maybe I watch more...

Monday Launch!

TheHardwired serial continues with Episode Two, which is released on Monday. It’s available for preorder atKobo, Amazon, iBooks, and Smashwords. (As usual, Barnes & Noble is late to the party.)
If you preorder, the story will appear as if by magic in your reader bright and early on Labor Day, which is the day that you don’t have to labor, so you’ll have time to read it!
And of course the whole novel is still available, if you have the labor-free time to read it.