Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 149

Coming Soon to a Refrigerator Near You

Bruce Schneier points out that the Internet of Things may well turn out to be the Botnet of Things. Hackers have started to target routers and modems, which are, it turns out, easier to hack than home computers. Routers use cheap, generic chips, and the manufacturers who make the actual router tend to use off-the-shelf software, maybe with a few proprietary tweaks.
The problem with this process is that no one entity has any incentive, expertise, or even ability to patch the software once it’s...

Filmed in ShawScope!

Sir Run Run Shaw, the quintessential Chinese movie mogul, has died at the venerable age of 106.
Run Run and his brother, Run Me (the names are Anglo-Chinese puns), shot their movies in Singapore beginning in the 1920s, and started a theater chain. With the $4 million in gold they buried during the Japanese occupation, Run Run shifted his operation to Hong Kong following the Second World War. At its height, Shaw Brothers released a movie a week, and controlled all aspects of the business: they...

Hard Numbers

My 99 cent sale forBrig of War is going along nicely. Got down– or is it up?— to #67 with Barnes & Noble and #115 at Amazon, and because I can look up sales figures I know what those numbers actually mean in terms of ebooks sold. So that’s good.
Though, sadly, because I only make $0.35 on each copy sold, this is not exactly making my fortune. So far I think I may have sold just enough to pay for the BookBub ad that send everyone stampeding to my site in the first place. An ad for historical...

Stirring Sea-Saga Sale!

My historical sea-adventure taleBrig of War is now on sale for a mere $0.99 wherever fine ebooks are sold!
Which is to say Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and Smashwords.
(I’ve got to say, Apple doesn’t make it easy to find my stuff. If you type in my name, it will say “no results found,” though down on the bottom of the page it will display some audio books. If you click on one of the audio books, and then from there click on my name, the actual ebooks will pop up, or some of them anyway...

Hereby Resolved!

If you want to be a writer, here’s a New Year resolution for you: apply to Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of fantasy and SF.
We have a solid record of producing professional writers who sell and continue to sell, even in our current dodgy market.
Resolve to send us your application. You’ll be glad you did.

Reviews in the Nick of Time: American Hustle

Just check out the star power inAmerican Hustle:Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., Brad Cooper, and an uncredited Robert de Niro. Holy cripes!
And let’s just say that it wasn’t a second-rate script that attracted all these megawatt actors. It was the chance to fuckingact! Andact their asses off!
And the parts were so good, and so juicy, that the actors didn’t mind if they ended up looking ridiculous. I mean, this movie is set on Bad Hair Planet. And the men...

True Tale of Christmas Terror!

Youknow, when I was small, there were two things that really scared me. One was the threat of nuclear war, and the other was . . . Christmas trees.
I’d like to think that the fear of nuclear war is self-explanatory. I was raised with air-raid drills and little public-service films, shown to us by our wonderful, caring teachers, that explained what to do if we were accidentally caught outside during a thermonuclear exchange.
Is it any wonder that so many of my generation turned into peaceniks? I...

Sentimental

It’s the time of year when, full of tamales, posole, and eggnog, I tend to get a little sentimental. So here’s a sentimental holiday video for you all.
By which I mean to say:
Happy birthday, Shane MacGowan!
And a tip of the hat to you, Jimmy McNulty, wherever you are . . .

Mad Clown

I’ve been occupied with holiday-type stuff over the last week, visiting with friends who’ve come to town, etc., and I haven’t been doing much posting. (Well, actually, none.)
So in lieu of the clever essay I intended to write, please enjoy this photo of an anemone fish, or clownfish, defending its home. These little guys, only a couple inches long, can be very aggressive, and sometimes they bite hard enough to drawn blood.
I find them pretty hilarious, actually, and their antics are always good...

Reviews in the Nick of Time: The Everlastion of Smaug

This afternoon I saw the second Hobbit movie, the second of three based on a modestly-sized children’s book by JRR Tolkien.
Not surprisingly, there is middle-of-the-trilogy syndrome. The first part set up the characters and situation, and all will be resolved in the third movie; the middle begins no place in particular, and ends on a cliffhanger so you’ll be sure to see what’s next.
Fans of the novel will recognize the scenes with Beorn, the spiders, the Elf King’s jail, the escape via wine bar...