Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 166
February 18, 2013
Eyeballs. Still Sucking.
Still blind. Kinda. Off and on.
This morning I went to my regular eye doc, and he opined that my problem was the result of cells being knocked off the “flaps” that were cut in the surface of my eyes in order to lase the corneas underneath. My flaps are lacking cells, therefore there is discomfort, therefore my extreme photophobia.
My flaps are trying to grow new cells, but every time I blink, I knock the new cells off.
So my doc decided to protect my new cells by installing contact lenses. The c...
This morning I went to my regular eye doc, and he opined that my problem was the result of cells being knocked off the “flaps” that were cut in the surface of my eyes in order to lase the corneas underneath. My flaps are lacking cells, therefore there is discomfort, therefore my extreme photophobia.
My flaps are trying to grow new cells, but every time I blink, I knock the new cells off.
So my doc decided to protect my new cells by installing contact lenses. The c...
February 14, 2013
Blinded By The Light
Okay, making this brief . . .
Yesterday, buoyed by stories of people having the operation and leaving with perfect vision, I had Lasik to correct my vision problems.
Let’s just say it didn’t go as well as I could have hoped.
I have become so sensitive to light that, pretty much, I can’t see. Sunlight blinds me. I can’t wath television or look at a video monitor because they’re too bright. I can’t read because I can’t focus well enough.
Basically what I can do is sit in a darkened room and hope th...
February 12, 2013
Mi Vida Loca
So on Chinese New Year I ate boeuf bourguinon.
On Mardi Gras I had Indian food.
Just livin’ la vida loca, I guess.
But wait a minute . . . what cuisine would be totally inappropriate for Valentine’s Day?
On Mardi Gras I had Indian food.
Just livin’ la vida loca, I guess.
But wait a minute . . . what cuisine would be totally inappropriate for Valentine’s Day?
February 8, 2013
Career Path
This morning’s career conversation:
“Walter, you’re in the wrong line of work. If only you made cute cat videos, you’d have an audience of millions and be on your way to fame and fortune.”
“In that case, I need a cuter cat.”
“Oh. You’re right.”
“Walter, you’re in the wrong line of work. If only you made cute cat videos, you’d have an audience of millions and be on your way to fame and fortune.”
“In that case, I need a cuter cat.”
“Oh. You’re right.”
February 7, 2013
Why, It’s Clarion!
Did I forget to mention Clarion? I was probably in Australia when the application period began for this granddaddy of all science fiction workshops, and I neglected to mention it to you.At any rate, the application period is still ongoing, so you can still get in your application, which of course you will want to do.
Clarion is a six-week short story workshop of incredible star power, this year featuring Andy Duncan, Nalo Hopkinson, Cory Doctorow, Robert Crais, Karen Joy Fowler, and Kelly Link...
February 6, 2013
Nupdate!
No updates here! Nupdate!
It’s rare that a post of mine generates such unanimity, but it looks as if the question I asked in my last post has been answered.
The Riftwill therefore hit the net unaltered, except for the usual tweaks and small improvements. People reading the novel will experience an alternative universe rather more pleasant than the one we live in now, where Katrina and Fukushima and 9/11 never happened.
We, as a culture, have learned the lesson that a merciless world can kill us...
It’s rare that a post of mine generates such unanimity, but it looks as if the question I asked in my last post has been answered.
The Riftwill therefore hit the net unaltered, except for the usual tweaks and small improvements. People reading the novel will experience an alternative universe rather more pleasant than the one we live in now, where Katrina and Fukushima and 9/11 never happened.
We, as a culture, have learned the lesson that a merciless world can kill us...
February 4, 2013
Revised? Updated?
As you all surely have noticed, not least because I keep nagging you about it, I’m reissuing my backlist in ebook form. I have only two books left, one last privateer book and The Rift. (Plus, of course, a whole lot of short fiction.)The privateer book just awaits sufficient time to format it and fling it onto the electronic seas of the Internet, but The Riftis a special case.
For one thing, getting it in shape is going to take a while, because it’s my longest work. 310,000 words, more than 70...
February 3, 2013
Objective Confirmation of My General Swellitude
Every single thing I published in 2012 ended up on Locusmagazine’s recommended reading list.
Both of them!
Yes! You may consider this objective confirmation of the fact that I’m just as swell as I think I am!
And just in case it slipped your mind what I published last year, here they are, along with locations where they might be found. Because I’m just helpful that way.
THE FOURTH WALL, Orbit Books, February 2012 [excerpt][kindle][nook][trade paperback]
“The Boolean Gate” Reprinted atSubterranea...
Both of them!
Yes! You may consider this objective confirmation of the fact that I’m just as swell as I think I am!
And just in case it slipped your mind what I published last year, here they are, along with locations where they might be found. Because I’m just helpful that way.
THE FOURTH WALL, Orbit Books, February 2012 [excerpt][kindle][nook][trade paperback]
“The Boolean Gate” Reprinted atSubterranea...
January 31, 2013
Mindermast
I see that Moriarty has raised his hoary head in yet another Sherlock Holmes adaptation, and that therefore the series is almost certain to go to go off the rails. A pity, because I was getting to like it.
It’s all very well to do Sherlock Holmes, even modern adaptations of Sherlock Holmes. (My favorite is “House.”) But sooner or later the writers feel obliged to introduce Professor Moriarty, and then everything collapses.
The problem is that Moriarty has to come up with a plot so complex, so...
It’s all very well to do Sherlock Holmes, even modern adaptations of Sherlock Holmes. (My favorite is “House.”) But sooner or later the writers feel obliged to introduce Professor Moriarty, and then everything collapses.
The problem is that Moriarty has to come up with a plot so complex, so...
January 30, 2013
Reviews Too Late: Zero Dark Thirty
Jessica Chastain has two movies in the theaters at this moment. Mamais a horror film, and Zero Dark Thirtyisn’t.
Without having seen the first, I suspect the second film is far, far scarier.
It’s fortunate that I heard a lot about this movie before I saw it. I knew to be prepared for grueling torture scenes. I knew to be hyper-alert for signs that the director either endorsed torture or didn’t endorse it or was exposing it to public view, and/or was trying to weasel out of the implications of w...
Without having seen the first, I suspect the second film is far, far scarier.
It’s fortunate that I heard a lot about this movie before I saw it. I knew to be prepared for grueling torture scenes. I knew to be hyper-alert for signs that the director either endorsed torture or didn’t endorse it or was exposing it to public view, and/or was trying to weasel out of the implications of w...
