Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 176

Macedonian 1.0

Here’s my first pass at a cover for the next sea adventure.
Some of you quite intelligently suggested a period font for Brig of War, and I tried it both with BoW and this. Alas, there is a reason that people felt it necessary to invent new fonts. The old ones just didn’t carry the message very well.
(Plus, all the esses looked like effs.)
((That’s a joke, by the way.))
The original art is from the period, by a painter named Higgins. Here’s the original, just so you can see how far I took it.

Son, That Brig Has Sailed

Brig of War, aka The Raider, is now live at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.
Please download and enjoy. They are DRM-free, as are all my reissued ebooks.
It was fascinating revisiting this book, which I haven’t read since I last corrected the proofs. It was almost like discovering the writing of a stranger. I’m not that person any longer, and I’m not that writer, either.
Not that the book is inferior or anything. I think it’s quite good. It’s just that the me that wrote it is no longer...

Maometto Secundo

The other night I found myself at the Santa Fe Opera watching, and more importantly listening to, Maometto II, a Rossini opera, performed with its original score for the first time since 1820.
The opera wasn’t a big hit in its first performance in that year. It’s completely sung-through, which was pretty radical for the time, and there are no places where the music stops to allow the audience to cheer and applaud. The performers spend a lot of time singing about things that are happening offst...

Brave New World

What you’re looking at here is apparently the world’s first printed firearm. It may look a little odd, but that’s because it’s the receiver for an AR15 semiautomatic assault weapon with a pistol barrel attached.
The receiver and its various components were created on a 3D printer. The barrel is actual metal: you still needs mills and lathes for those. At least this week.
It’s been test-fired. Nothing blew up.
Have Blue details the creation of this prototype in a couple of posts.
In Conventions of...

Devaluation

Now that the London Olympics are under way, giving television viewers the chance to view sports, like judo or archery, that they only care about every four years, we can brace ourselves for the inevitable editorials pointing out how the Olympic ideal has been debased by (choose one) nationalism, money, professional athletes, money, television, or money.
Okay, so the sports have been debased. But what about the medals?
This year’s Olympic gold medals aren’t gold . . . much. They’re 92.5% silver,...

Version the Second

Right, here’s an alternate version of the Brig of War cover.
The main objections to Version the First were the green and orange type— the orange in particular, I’m guessing— and the various highlights and shadows I added to the typeface.
The green and orange were the same shades used in the art— I was hoping to harmonize the colors. I hoped the orange would reflect the gunfire and pick up the reddish tinge of the clouds.
The highlights and shadows were necessary to make the type visible, particu...

Brig of War, First Effort

Here’s my first try at a cover for Brig of War (formerly The Raider). Let me know what you think.

Dorothy, We Found Your Home, And It’s Not In Kansas

Would you trust this architecture department?

Beach Party

Tonight the Clarion students took me out for a farewell beach party. Good company, sand as light as talcum powder, and the sea as profound as ever.
Afterwards there was tequila and, um, tequila.

TGIF

Okay, my part in Clarion is over. Over, that is, except for the Celebrating at the Beach, in which I will partake this evening.
Everyone has been very hospitable. The students have been energetic, highly organized, and very talented, and they’ve made my job easier than I had any right to expect.
As they are not draped over the furniture in attitudes of despair, I feel that perhaps I haven’t done my job properly; but I guess I’ll have to leave that to Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, who follow...