Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 180

The S Word

Here we see a view of one of the most famous back porches in America, that of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.
I spent a couple days traveling through Virginia before the Nebula Weekend, and one day— while Kathy was visiting a school chum in Charlottesville— I decided to go off in search of history.
I started with Monticello, and I tried to program my smartphone to give me directions. I thumbed in “Monticello Charlottesville Va.,” and was then asked, “Do you mean 1201 Monticello Lane, 1202 Montic...

Above and Beyond

Here we see astronaut Mike Fincke pointing out some of the features of the moon suit on display at the Air & Space Museum on the Washington Mall.
Mike didn’t have to do this. He and I were asked to guide a tour after the Nebula Weekend organizers were unable to find a docent able to take a party around on Friday afternoon. And whereas my contributions were along the lines of, “Oh look, it’s Skylab! Oh look, it’s a Ford Tri-Motor!”, Mike’s talks were informed by his knowledge of aerospace histo...

Ruling Ring

Behold! A composite photograph of yesterday’s annular eclipse, showing all stages of the event.
The reason the light turns amber as the eclipse progresses has nothing to do with the eclipse, and everything to do with the fact that the sun is setting as the event occurs.
In fact, the sun was still in partial eclipse when it set.
We are indebted to Cheryl and Bill Macey, who fed us a lovely dinner on their patio as the event progressed.

Burning Ring of Fire

It’s been a long and interesting day. At one o’clock this morning I was chatting at a room party with astronaut Mike Fincke. At dawn I was lost in Washington D.C., circling the Washington Monument (a lovely sight, actually). At noon I was landing at the Albuquerque Sunport, and shortly before sunset I was eating chilled shrimp and lobster mac and cheese, and also watching and photographing this annular eclipse of the sun.
You could see the mountains of the Moon silhouetted against the sun. Sun...

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...