Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 145
April 10, 2014
Crashing Carriers
I saw the new Captain America movie the other night. Which I liked just fine, it’s one of the best of the Marvel film adaptations, and it avoided several obvious pitfalls (like forcing Cap and Black Widow into a romance).
I don’t feel the need to analyze it. There are plenty of analyses elsewhere, and I doubt I’d add anything to the conversation.
What I want to talk about is S.H.I.E.L.D. Specifically the Helicarrier, which is this giant flying aircraft carrier that serves as its headquarters.
I...
I don’t feel the need to analyze it. There are plenty of analyses elsewhere, and I doubt I’d add anything to the conversation.
What I want to talk about is S.H.I.E.L.D. Specifically the Helicarrier, which is this giant flying aircraft carrier that serves as its headquarters.
I...
April 7, 2014
CounterIntuitive
Recently I’ve encountered two counterintuitive, if not outright heretical, arguments about history and culture.
The first belongs to New Mexico’s own Corey Fincher and Randy Thornhill, both biologists, who have marshaled evidence to support their theory that culture, including political culture, is a function of the disease pathogens infesting your particular neighborhood. If you have high levels of malaria, dengue, typhus, T.B., etc., then your culture becomes increasingly wary of outsiders w...
The first belongs to New Mexico’s own Corey Fincher and Randy Thornhill, both biologists, who have marshaled evidence to support their theory that culture, including political culture, is a function of the disease pathogens infesting your particular neighborhood. If you have high levels of malaria, dengue, typhus, T.B., etc., then your culture becomes increasingly wary of outsiders w...
April 5, 2014
Rolling Deep
More proof, if one were needed, that reality is takingDeep State as a template.
USAID— a branch of government that normally gives humanitarian aid— tried to undermine the Cuban government by setting up an social media project funded by the US government, but routed through third parties in Spain, Nicaragua, and elsewhere. They intended to build a a subscription base by concentrating on non-controversial content like baseball or music, and then eventually start creating flash mobs that could,...
USAID— a branch of government that normally gives humanitarian aid— tried to undermine the Cuban government by setting up an social media project funded by the US government, but routed through third parties in Spain, Nicaragua, and elsewhere. They intended to build a a subscription base by concentrating on non-controversial content like baseball or music, and then eventually start creating flash mobs that could,...
April 1, 2014
Mr. Poe Requests the Honor of Your Presence . . .
. . . at a great big ol’ war.
Which is all by way of saying that my novella “No Spot of Ground,” featuring the Civil War adventures of Edgar Allan Poe, is now available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords. It will appear on other forums presently.
And it’s only $1.99! Less than two bucks for a short novel! What more do you want?
I have a fairly personal relationship with the Poe canon— but then so does everybody else, so far as I can tell.
I think that the first short stories I ever...
Which is all by way of saying that my novella “No Spot of Ground,” featuring the Civil War adventures of Edgar Allan Poe, is now available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords. It will appear on other forums presently.And it’s only $1.99! Less than two bucks for a short novel! What more do you want?
I have a fairly personal relationship with the Poe canon— but then so does everybody else, so far as I can tell.
I think that the first short stories I ever...
March 31, 2014
Enter the Dark Pool
Michael Lewis, author ofLiar’s Poker andMoneyball and other fine works about money (and who owns it and how it moves), has a new bestseller inFlash Boys, about a few brave souls who discovered that the U.S. stock market was rigged, and who decided to do something about it.
What did they do? They started their own stock exchange.
An adaptation can be found over atZero Hedge.
What did they do? They started their own stock exchange.
An adaptation can be found over atZero Hedge.
Eventually Brad Katsuyama came to realize that the most sophisticated investors didn’t know what was going on in their own...
Taos Toolbox: the News is Good
Recent news from graduates of Taos Toolbox has been pretty darn good, if I say so myself.Graduate Fran Wilde has a story, “Like a Wasp to the Tongue,” in the April/May ASIMOV’S. She’s also sold three books to Tor, one of which was workshopped by the Toolbox gang.
Graduate Gail Strickland has sold the novel she submitted at the workshop.
Graduate Brian Lowe’s “Rights and Wrongs” is live at the Intergalactic Medicine Show.
Graduate Lawrence Schoen has been nominated for a Nebula for his novella “T...
March 27, 2014
WTF, Turkey?
Crikey, the news out of Turkey is justinsaaaaane!
For one thing, two major forces for modern Islam are trying to destroy one another. Prime Minister Erdogan— who leads the “moderately Islamic” AK Party— is now doing his best to destroy his former allies, the organization of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen (who I fictionalized inDeep State as “Riza Tek.”)
The Gulen organization (informally called “Hizmet”) is a significant voice in progressive Islam, and runs charter and prep schools, clinics, r...
For one thing, two major forces for modern Islam are trying to destroy one another. Prime Minister Erdogan— who leads the “moderately Islamic” AK Party— is now doing his best to destroy his former allies, the organization of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen (who I fictionalized inDeep State as “Riza Tek.”)
The Gulen organization (informally called “Hizmet”) is a significant voice in progressive Islam, and runs charter and prep schools, clinics, r...
March 26, 2014
For Your Downloading Pleasure
My longish novelette,The Tang Dynasty Underwater Pyramid, is now available for download via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.
Kobo seems to have some kind of complicated problem with the file, and despite my turning the air blue with curses, this is not at present resolved.
I’ve been trying to get serious about uploading the short fiction, and with mixed success. I figured I could get a couple stories up each week, but then I was overestimating the intelligence of the various softwares in...
March 24, 2014
I Have An Owie
So I’ve been hors de combat for a few days due to a cut finger. Which is sort of embarrassing, but still . . .
A few nights ago I was cutting up some lemongrass, which as I’m sure you know is a tough, fibrous plant. The knife slipped and took a big slice out of my left index finger. The knife was serrated and carved a wavy line so irregular that it never did close up properly. (And hasn’t still. I’m just generating new flesh in the gaps.)
The blood came out in rivers. (Small rivers, admittedly....
A few nights ago I was cutting up some lemongrass, which as I’m sure you know is a tough, fibrous plant. The knife slipped and took a big slice out of my left index finger. The knife was serrated and carved a wavy line so irregular that it never did close up properly. (And hasn’t still. I’m just generating new flesh in the gaps.)
The blood came out in rivers. (Small rivers, admittedly....
March 18, 2014
Superman With a Go-Pro
What else need be said?
