Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 178
June 17, 2012
Lovely Day in the Neighborhood
It’s been a relaxed weekend here at the Toolhouse, with the students playing tourist or working on their next week’s stories. I’ve taken a couple hikes, though one of them resulted in my sliding down a rock face and scraping the bejesus out of my knee and shin. It’s not bothering me much at present, though it’s not pretty.
Daniel Abraham’s talk on career paths was extremely good, and there were a lot of thoughtful looks afterward.
Tonight the students put on a potluck dinner, which was lovely a...
Daniel Abraham’s talk on career paths was extremely good, and there were a lot of thoughtful looks afterward.
Tonight the students put on a potluck dinner, which was lovely a...
June 15, 2012
Spamwall
A spambot has now targeted this blog. (Fake Gucci bags, anyone?) I’m spending an inordinate amount of time deleting spam.
But the spambot is only hitting one topic. Does anyone know how to turn off comments on a single topic in WordPress?
I can turn off all comments. I can turn off comments on pages, but permit comments on the blog. I can permit comments on pages, but turn off comments on blogs. I can turn off comments on all future blog posts.
But there seems to be no way to turn off comments o...
But the spambot is only hitting one topic. Does anyone know how to turn off comments on a single topic in WordPress?
I can turn off all comments. I can turn off comments on pages, but permit comments on the blog. I can permit comments on pages, but turn off comments on blogs. I can turn off comments on all future blog posts.
But there seems to be no way to turn off comments o...
June 14, 2012
Virtual Tee
More quotes from the critiquing ground that is Taos Toolbox.
Speaking as a mad hermit. . .
That book was so brilliant that I couldn’t finish it.
It’s difficult to have an orgasm and stab someone.
It would be really cool if Mom gets killed on a business trip.
This chapter has white hut syndrome.
Speaking as a mad hermit. . .
That book was so brilliant that I couldn’t finish it.
It’s difficult to have an orgasm and stab someone.
It would be really cool if Mom gets killed on a business trip.
This chapter has white hut syndrome.
Tolstoy’s Been Nookd!
‘In one of the truly bizarre incidents we’ve seen out of the e-book publishing world, a translation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace for Barnes & Noble’s Nook platform has replaced all mentions of the word “kindled” with “Nookd.”‘
I actually doubt Barnes & Noble is responsible for this, and I’m inclined to suspect the publisher and an overzealous use of Find and Replace.
Yet it reminds me of the German edition of Hardwired, where the text had been altered to feature a paid advertisement for Maggi...
I actually doubt Barnes & Noble is responsible for this, and I’m inclined to suspect the publisher and an overzealous use of Find and Replace.
Yet it reminds me of the German edition of Hardwired, where the text had been altered to feature a paid advertisement for Maggi...
June 13, 2012
Gopher Tuna
Still at Taos Toolbox, still workin’ hard. And, while I’m at it, fighting a spambot infestation.
No, I say, I do not want a man’s Gucci bag. Nor do any of my readers.
Thank you.
While we wait for my brain to be rebooted, please enjoy someone doing to “Carmina Burana” what ought to be done to “Carmina Burana.”
No, I say, I do not want a man’s Gucci bag. Nor do any of my readers.
Thank you.
While we wait for my brain to be rebooted, please enjoy someone doing to “Carmina Burana” what ought to be done to “Carmina Burana.”
June 12, 2012
Smooth Entry
Taos Toolbox is moving along— swimmingly, I must say— and has already featured two critique sessions, a couple of lovely catered meals, and a serious literary discussion in the hot tub.
Some of the moments of critique stood out, and here they are:
Your story gave me a minor epistemological crisis.
If you could write the next 20 chapters this afternoon, I’d like to read them in bed.
Cloud should be something more than a cute furry cat that Sam sleeps with.
Writing about music is like dancing about...
Some of the moments of critique stood out, and here they are:
Your story gave me a minor epistemological crisis.
If you could write the next 20 chapters this afternoon, I’d like to read them in bed.
Cloud should be something more than a cute furry cat that Sam sleeps with.
Writing about music is like dancing about...
June 9, 2012
Caine/Mountain/Caine
Nancy Kress and I are up the mountain now, preparing for Taos Toolbox. We have computers, a printer, lots of electric cords, and enough office supplies to equip the Pentagon.
Since I’ll be up here for two weeks closely engaged with over 300,000 words of fiction, I likely won’t be posting much.
For now, you’ll have to be satisfied with the sight, or rather the sound, of Michael Caine dueling Michael Caine.
June 6, 2012
Fahrenheit Zero
I found a picture of Ray Bradbury as he looked before he became the affable, bespectacled, white-haired figure we’ve seen over the last couple decades. This is a lot closer to how he looked when he wrote the stories and novels for which he’ll most likely be remembered.He looks serious, driven. He looks like he’s taking dead aim at something. Most likely he’ll hit it.
He also looks like someone who’s at home in a feud. My understanding is that this was pretty much the case.
I’ve been several tim...
June 5, 2012
Teh Science
Random news from the World O’ Science, all of which came in on the same day.
Via friend of the blog Density Duck, the news that the National Reconnaissance Office, which is so hyper-secret that its very existence was kept from the public for forty-odd years, has gifted NASA with a couple of space telescopes, either of which out-Hubbles Hubble by a factor of 100 to 1. The NRO doesn’t need them any more, which suggests that they’ve either got something better now, or ordered too damn many of the...
Via friend of the blog Density Duck, the news that the National Reconnaissance Office, which is so hyper-secret that its very existence was kept from the public for forty-odd years, has gifted NASA with a couple of space telescopes, either of which out-Hubbles Hubble by a factor of 100 to 1. The NRO doesn’t need them any more, which suggests that they’ve either got something better now, or ordered too damn many of the...
Venus/Melancholia
I spent much of the afternoon and early evening shuttling in and out of the house watching the Transit of Venus. Through the telescope the sun seemed quiescent and slightly blotchy, and then a black disk began to move across it, as if our star had donned a beauty patch. Venus was larger than I anticipated— I had expected a point, but I could see an actual disk.I took numerous pictures, but my zoom lens, as it turns out, couldn’t reach all the way to Venus. The sun’s disk, and the little mark...
