Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 164

Holiday

Happy International Wong Fei Hung day!

This Bear Wants Writers!

There are still places available at Taos Toolbox,the master class in writing science fiction and fantasy taught by Nancy Kress, yours truly, and Melinda Snodgrass.
You want to write, right? Of course you do. And Taos Toolbox is a place that will give you the tools that you need.
We await your application with interest.

There are still places available at Taos Toolbox,the mast...

There are still places available at Taos Toolbox,the master class in writing science fiction and fantasy taught by Nancy Kress, yours truly, and Melinda Snodgrass.
You want to write, right? Of course you do. And Taos Toolbox is a place that will give you the tools that you need.
We await your application with interest.

Get Your Glory Here!

My first published novel, To Glory Arise,also known as The Privateer, is now available in electronic form at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. From the latter it should migrate to Kobo, iBooks, Baker & Taylor, and other fine locations.
Reading the novel for the first time in over thirty years, I was impressed. Impressed, that is, by how much I had left to learn. To Glory Ariseis, alas, by a substantial margin the weakest of my published works. The Tern Schooner, which followed, is maybe...

Are Your Eyeballs Your Destiny?

I had an interesting discussion the other day with my eye doc.
(Allow me to interrupt myself with a report on my Lasik. [Because some of you are bound to ask.] My eyesight is very, very good, particularly distance vision. I’m seeing the nearby mountains better than I’ve ever seen them, even with contacts or glasses. I’m still a bit sensitive to bright light and glare, and my eyes get tired and sore more easily than formerly. But on the whole the Lasik is a big thumbs-up.)
Anyway, what my doc sa...

Trial Cover

Here’s my first attempt at a cover for To Glory Arise, originally published as The Privateer.
I’m particularly proud of the way in which I smooshed the two ships together to produce a more dramatic composition.
Your comments are solicited.

Mighty St. Urho

My we all have a festive St Urho’s Day!
Let us all chant along with Finland’s mighty saint:
“Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen!” (“Grasshopper, grasshopper, go from hence to hell!”)
Long live the green and purple!

Aesthetic

So I’ve just read a steampunk novel, and now I’m going to get all grumpy on its ass.
The book had nearly everything you might expect to find in a steampunk novel. Zeppelins. Goggles. Weird pseudo-Vernian inventions. Intrepid explorers.
It ha practically everything on the steampunk checklist except the one thing steampunk actually needs: a steampunk aesthetic.
Steampunk isn’t just a collection of tropes. It’s an aesthetic movement, and if the writer is not some kind of aesthete, the writer is sim...

Works of Art

After travel, the holidays, and a period in which my eyes refused to contemplate a display screen, I’ve finally returned to my part-time job as a publisher, and am working on the final ebook of my sea series, To Glory Arise, originally The Privateer.
Behold a couple pieces of art, conveniently in public domain, that might be suitable as cover art. Let me know which you like best.
Returning to my first published novel has been just a little bit humbling. It isa first novel, after all, and as a f...

Don’t Embarrass Me

I’ve been “enjoying” (if that is indeed the right word) the “controversy” (if that’s what it is) over on John Scalzi’s blog concerning the unconscionable contract boilerplate which Random House proposes to inflict upon the victims, um, I mean authors in its new ebook programs.
I won’t summarize the issues here, that’s what the link is for. Suffice it to say that the loathsome little asswipes at Random House propose to acquire all rights for no money and charge the author f or expenses normally in...