Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 161

Mortality

Jack Vance died a few days ago, but the news was only released today. He was 96.
Admiration for Jack’s works came late to me. I read some Vance when I was a teen, but either I read the wrong stuff, or I simply didn’t Get It. But coming to Vance as an adult, I Got It indeed, and I’m pleased I was able to contribute to Songs of the Dying Earth, the Jack Vance tribute anthology edited by GRRM and Gardner Dozois.
I have to say, that generation of SF writers was a tough bunch. Unless they were the v...

From the Mountain

We’re having a jolly fine time here at Rio Hondo, the workshop as big as all outdoors.
Here are Carrie Vaughn, Kim Jollow Zimring, and Michaela Roessner in front of some of the luxe lodging available here in the Carson National Forest.

And Now, For the Kiddies . . .

Toolbox Scores Again!

I’m going up the mountain for the next week, and so posting here may be a little thin.
But before I go, I thought I’d pass on some good news.
Alan Smale (Taos Toolbox ’11) has sold a three-book deal to Random House/Del Rey. The first book was one he workshopped at Toolbox.
And Fran Wilde (Taos Toolbox ’12), has just got herself a high-powered agent in the form of Scovil, Galen, Gosh Literary.
Congratulations to the both of them!
And I may just give myself a little pat on the back in the process. B...

Passive Entertainment

While I’ve been traveling and working and livin’ large and otherwise engaged, my DVR has been recording hours and hours of stuff. Is it worth watching? You tell me.
I have a good many episodes of Defiancestored up. I’ve watched the first half of the pilot, in which high production values were matched with an utter lack of originality. Generic post-holocaust future, generic aliens with generic Star Trekforehead bumps, and a great deal ripped off from Alien Nation, assuming of course that Rockne...

Talkin’ Till I’m Blue in the Face

I’ve updated my interview page with every online interview I could track down. Including one in which I speak absolutely perfect French.
So now you can find out everything about me that I’m willing to talk about.
You’ll just have to infer the rest.

The Process

Taos Toolbox grad Catherine Schaff-Stump has put up an interview about my writing process.
Check it out.

Motor Sport

This is the new Lamborghini. It’s called the Egoista, which means just about what you think it does. it’s got a 5.2 liter V10, lots of carbon fiber, and room for only one person. (I’m guessing, from the appearance of the vehicle, that it’s intended for the Dark Lord himself.)
The driver compartment is detachable. Like an ejection seat. Just in case, y’know, you need to leave the vehicle for some reason, like maybe James Bond has got a bead on you with his rocket launcher.
I’d really like one....

Guinea Foul

This anecdote is perhaps best accompanied by the above video, which will give you an idea of the sounds, and the volume, which I regularly endure.
Last night I went out to close the gate leading to our single-lane dirt road, as I do every night, and I saw that one of the neighbor’s guinea fowl had got stuck on our side of the fence. It was dashing frantically back and forth across the same ten-foot stretch of fence, making its desperate barking cry in hopes that its flock would somehow rescue...

Another Bust

The New Mexico Book Fiesta was, as I feared (and more or less expected) a desert. Picture a giant convention hall full of booths and dealers. Then picture a handful of people wandering around in silence, most of them authors and dealers just strolling over to say hello to one another.
I looked in at the talks and lectures, and none had an audience of more than half a dozen.
I began by being annoyed that they couldn’t think of anything more interesting to do with me than a signing, and left reli...