Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 164

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...

Geek Fail!

So there is an actual political controversy now over President Obama’s mentioning the “Jedi mind meld,” with demi-geeks and geek wannabees claiming that he mixed up Star Trek and Star Wars, which should never be done, ever.
I feel duty-bound to point out that there isa Jedi meld, and that furthermore I was the first person to write about it, in my one-and-only tie-in novel, 2002′s Destiny’s Way. as well as the related novella “Ylesia.”
And furthermore, you can just google “Jedi meld” and learn...

After the Flood

My house doesn’t have a furnace proper, it has a boiler that pumps hot water to registers in each room. Which is a terrific, energy-efficient system, right up to the point where the water pump springs a leak. Oddly enough, it wasn’t the boiler room that flooded, but the closet of the room next door. Which room happens to serve as our (desperately overcrowded) library.
All of which is by way of saying that it’s really lucky that Ty Franck got sick. I was planning on gaming with Ty an’ Daniel an...

The Fin Revealed!

My last post challenged you loyal readers to identify the strange aircraft in the photo (which loyal reader Lektu correctly identified as a Caproni CA 22), and to explain the bizarre canvas-covered fin on the top wing.
Despite deeply charming suggestions such as sun shades and camp beds— which I wish didexist, because it would imply a much more interesting world— the correct answer did not emerge. Which is not surprising, because this aircraft is completely unique.
What the fin apparatus actual...

Mystery Plane

Here’s a challenging one for all you members of the Ground Observer Corps! What is this aircraft?
And yes, the strange canvas-covered fin-like object above the wing is a part of the plane.