Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 15

Assassins

Glancing through the latest offerings on Netflix, I came to the conclusion that Netflix has more shows and movies about fictional assassins than there ever were real assassins in all history.

Happy 80th Birthday, Joni Mitchell!

FUCK CANCER!

Well. Got that off my chest, anyway.

Last spring I received a diagnosis perhaps best expressed as a good news/bad news joke.

THE BAD NEWS: You have cancer.

THE GOOD NEWS: It’s in your prostate! Yay!

Yay?

Well yes. Prostate cancer is the only cancer that can be detected with a blood test, which means it can be found early. A test a couple years ago confirmed that my PSA was high, and so I was kept under “observation” —meaning I saw a urologist once a year— till this year, wh...

Roistering

The rollicking Extended Birthday Party, otherwise known as World Fantasy Con 2023, has come to an end, and I’m home trying to pick up the threads of my actual life.

Here I am on the mezzanine, with brilliant ideas forming over my head like little silver cannon balls.

The convention was wonderful, certainly the best I’ve attended since before the pandemic. The dealers’ room didn’t have enough books, and the art show was small, but the con was filled with friends I haven’t seen in ye...

World Fantasy Schedule

I’ll be spending the weekend in Kansas City, at the World Fantasy Convention. I’m on a couple programming, items, so if you want to see me, here’s where I’ll be.

READING 3:30PM Thursday, Chouteau Room A

(I’ll be reading from Heaven in Flames, the third Metropolitan book, so if you’re into that series, you might want to check this out.)

PANEL WHERE HAVE ALL THE SHARED WORLDS GONE? 11 AM Sunday, Empire A/B

The rest of the time, I’ll be wandering around the convention looking for adv...

Birthday Surprise

It’s not my birthday today, but it’s close enough for a celebration, and so we met with some of our friends at the Apothecary Bar for drinks and snacks and good conversation.

The invitation mentioned that no presents were necessary, but some people always ignore that. Terry and Jim gave me a special bottle of Remy Martin commemorating an award from King Louis XV back in 1738 (I think), and Kathy and our friend Nadine Pachanian gave me a tropical tapestry made up of couple dozen of my ...

Mysteries of Mylar

Here is Saturday’s partially eclipsed sun as viewed amid a series of bright floating objects, obviously alien in origin.

What happened (I think) was that I had a mylar sun filter on my camera, and a stray beam of light got into the filter and was shining on the mylar from behind.

This may serve as the background to the cover of one of my ebooks. Time will tell.

Days in the Life

A friend in Tel Aviv sent this.

The family is Ok. However, some in the wider circle , we lost people. And many are called to active service.

Here in Tel-Aviv we are relatively safe. As a military observer you would find it interesting to see how we adapted to at least 3-5 rocket attacks per day, aiming at my neighborhood…Each time we have a siren, having about 1,5 minutes alert , then we run into the shelter. We have one on each floor. Meeting the neighbours , sometimes in pajamas… Then w...

Annularity

Thanks to Nan Silvernail for hosting an excellent eclipse party this morning, complete with a fine buffet and jujubes pie. Pleasant snacks and pleasant chat while a cosmic event took place above our heads, reminding us all to keep looking up.

Luck Storm

This week I’ve been the victim of a bad luck storm, demonstrating that I shouldn’t be around animals, electronics, or machinery.

Sunday I got bit by a dog. A woman was walking her two dogs in the park, and I passed them at a respectful distance. Then the smaller dog came at me like a torpedo and ripped at my left calf. My trouser leg was undamaged, but the skin was ripped beneath it. No blood. The dog’s owner made herself scarce. Terry Boren patched me up with antibiotic cream and a b...