Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 180

Paths, a-Winding

I am off by various winding paths to the East, where I will serve as toastmaster at the upcoming Nebula Weekend.
See you there, I hope. In the meantime, posting here may be on the spotty side.

1916-2008

It’s Mothers’ Day here in the States, and Fêtes des Méres in Canada. Mexico had Dia de las Madres a few days ago.
Just like everybody’s got a Mom, it looks like every country has a Mothers’ Day.
Here’s a photo of my mom before I ever knew her, in the years just before the Second World War. She is a newly-minted schoolteacher embarking on a career of teaching in one- and two-room schools in northern Minnesota.
(You can tell it’s Minnesota by the piles of snow in the corners.)
I have to say that I’...

Dead Fang

I made the mistake of eating popcorn, and broke a tooth on a popcorn hull.
An early-morning call on my dentist would seem to be in order.

Daniel’s Latest

I thought I’d bring to your attention the fact that my friend Daniel Abraham’s latest fantasy, The King’s Blood, is now available wherever fine books are sold.
This is the second book of Daniel’s excellent Dagger and Coin series, and continues the series’ tradition of luring you onto what seems to be familiar fantasy terrain, then drawing aside the curtain to show you that you’ve been in some freaking unexpected weird place all along.
After you’ve finished buying all my stuff, you should defini...

Running Off the Cliff: City on Fire

This is one of a series of essays written on recently republished works. This one is about City on Fire (newly available in ebook form via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords). Since City on Fire is a sequel to Metropolitan, it might be best to start with the three big essays I wrote on that work.
Are we up to speed now? Good.
City on Fire was, firstly, an accident. Secondly, it was very difficult. Thirdly, it led to catastrophe.
It was an accident because I’d only intended to write a single...

Avengers (The Endoscopy)

So I finally did see the Avengers movie. And hey, there really was a Hulk v. Loki scene of which I could totally approve. Not as awesome as mine, but still pretty good.
If you like superhero movies, you’ll like this one. If you don’t like superhero movies, don’t see this, because it’s like all the superhero movies you didn’t like, only more so.
But the real reason to see this movie is . . . beefcake. There is more testosterone-packed manflesh in this film than in an NFL shower scene. (Not that...

Avengers (Disassembled)

I haven’t seen the Avengers movie yet. But I know how I want it to end.
How I want it to end is not with the 35-minute action scene that I know is actually there, the kind where CGI goes toe-to-toe with CGI, and CGI wins. I’ve seen enough of those for a lifetime. Those sorts of scenes just make me long for the days when Bogie would just shoot Major Strasser, and Major Strasser would slump to the floor, and that would be that.
So here’s my ending for The Avengers.
(LOKI and THE AVENGERS meet for...

Easter Inland?

It’s Choose Your Own Caption Day!

Marginal

Being at the Secret Site last week, along with some remarks from friend of the blog Ralf, have set me thinking about life on the margins.
Those folks on that mesa-top pueblo lived there for several generations at least, and got by. They planted crops with a digging stick, and they had to irrigate them with water carried in clay pots from a spring, but they got by. They made tools, looked after their domestic turkeys and dogs, caught game— there were elk tracks all around, and back in bygone da...

City on Fire Goes Live!

City on Fire has gone live on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.
Congratulations to B&N, which actually made the book available before Amazon did. Good work, O brick-and-mortar dinosaur!
And though you can buy the book from Smashwords, it won’t be sent to any of the Smashwords affiliates (like Kobo and iBooks) for some time. My last four ebooks are still awaiting approval over there, and currently it’s running 3-4 weeks. If any of you Bay Area residents would like a job proofreading for Sm...