Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 157

Spin Tricks

Taos Toolboxended over the weekend, and in the days since I’ve mostly been staring at the walls, and murmuring to myself, “Guess it’s time to do the critiques.”
On the last day Nancy and I taught a special class inspinning people through the air with the power of our minds, as illustrated by the photograph.
Tumbling through the sky is participant Kenneth Kao, who is not only a talented new writer but does parkour, pole dancing, chiropracty, and is a sometime contestant on American Ninja Warrior...

The Final 48 Hours . . .

The electronic version of my novel Angel Stationwill continue to be available for $0.99 through the weekend, so by all means race off to purchase it now viaAmazon,Barnes & Noble,Kobo,andSmashwords, because shortly thereafter it will cost you more money.
It’s not available at iBooks because, well, They Are Dicks. Sorry about that.

Muscaria

I’m sure all you Sixties refugees recognize thesepretty red babies! I found quite a few of them scattered around during my trail hike.
I’m surprised all the old Taos hippies haven’t scoffed them up by now.

The Ursoid Cometh

I’m pleased to report a visit from the mascot of Taos Toolbox, who appeared on the cliff above the lodge and gave us the once-over.
I’m pleased because every year we’ve had an ursoid visitor, the classes have been harmonious and were followed by an unusual number of sales.
One of which happened just yesterday. Lawrence Schoen (Toolbox ’11) just sold a novel to Tor. Could it be entirely a coincidence that in 2011 an ursoid loper happened by and gave the workshop its blessing?

[photo by Sonia Cook...

Angel Sale!

I’m pleased to announce that for the next week or so, the ebook of my novel Angel Stationis on sale for a mere $0.99. (Or, if you live outside North America, for whatever $0.99 is worth in your currency, probably 00,99.)
You may find Angel Station atAmazon,Barnes & Noble,Kobo,Smashwords, and other places like Baker & Taylor, Diesel, and iBooks. (I’d love to provide a link for iBooks, but Apple seems immune to my attempts to search it.)
(If you want to find out a little bit more about the book,...

Field Exercises

Let it not be said that we at Taos Toolboxleave any educational stone unturned! Today’s literary exercise took us into the field, to green, fragrant Yerba Canyon, in order tovisit theTaos Toolbox Sacrifice Stoneand re-enact The Hunger Games.
Here’s Toolbox student Jessica May Lin‘s take on the exercise, featuring fellow student Kenneth Kao.

Crossing the Threshold

Today was the first day of Taos Toolbox, the master class for science fiction run by Nancy Kress and my ownself. We’re up the Ski Valley with fourteen talented, hard-working students, and we spend a lot of time talking about writing.
To get an idea of what we talk about, check out this masterful exposition of Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey.”

(thanks to Effie)

Rejoicing Over the Water

Awright, my friends, Implied Spaces is finally available in electronic form outside North America!
Because Nook and Smashwords aren’t very good about separating North American rights from others, the book is available only on Kobo and Amazon. (Here’s Amazon.co.uk. It’s also available on all the other Amazons outside North America.)
I can’t provide you a link for Kobo, because I happen to be in North America,and Kobo will only show me books I can legally buy. (Which is lucky for me on other coun...

Minutes I’ll Never See Again

I finally went to see one of the summer blockbusters (World War Z), only to find that it was proceeded by forty minutes of previews and ads. Forty minutes from the time when the movie was supposed to start.
Forty minutes I’ll never see again. Some of the ads were shown more than once!
What the hell did I spend my twelve bucks for? So that I can be pummeled by ads for products I’ll never buy and movies I’ll never see? If I’d watched two hours of commercial TV, I wouldn’t have seen that many ads,...

Pretend Reading

Bookriot has published a list, complete with a handy Venn diagram, of books people lie about having read, along with books they wishthey’ve read.
(Both they, and I, were a little surprised that Pride & Prejudicetopped both lists. It’s not as if comprehending the adventures of Miss Elizabeth Bennett require knowledge of post-structuralist theory, now does it? I mean, you want to read it, just read it,it’s not that hard, honestly.)
And people pretend to read 50 Shades of Grey. If I’d read it, I’d...