Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 182

Metropolitan: the Worldbuilding

I’m delighted to report that the Metropolitan ebook is now available on Amazon and via Smashwords, from whence it will migrate in time to the Apple Store, the Sony Store, the Kobo Store, Baker & Taylor, etc.
Those of you with Nooks, as usual, will have to wait another day or two for the file to clear customs at Barnes & Noble. Sorry about that.
Metropolitan was such an unusual project for me that I’ll probably devote several posts to it, one of which will have to do simply with its odd legal an...

Lo! The Mighty Cover Art Approacheth!

As you can see, Photoshop and I finally called a truce, and I produced this.
I have to say that I was mightily enabled by a wonderfully moody piece of stock art.
The ebook should be available, umm, soon.
City on Fire may take a few weeks, due to formatting and copy-editing delays.
So my next ebook will probably be my short novel Investments, which is set in the Praxis universe and which I wrote for a Robert Silverberg anthology some years ago. I imagine most Praxis fans haven’t ever seen it.

Run Run Reinstall

So I’ve finished the edit of Metropolitan, and I downloaded a surprisingly atmospheric and appropriate piece of art for the cover, and then when I tried to create the cover with Photoshop, Photoshop up and crashed on me. And crashed again. And kept on crashing.
So it’s now to the point where I de-install it, then re-install it. Except that it’s telling me that I have to de-activate it before I can de-install it, and I can’t de-activate it, because in order to de-activate Photoshop, you have to...

Camus Cat

I’m still locked in combat with Constantine and Aiah, so by way of apology I offer this philosophical video. (via Suzy Charnas)

I Am Working

I'm working on getting Metropolitan set up as an ebook.  (I thought you'd approve.)
But since I've got my head buried in a text file, so I've arranged for Eddie Izzard to assist you with the choice of a martial art.
Whether you follow his fashion advice, on the other hand, is entirely up to you.

Being Aristoi

When I wrote Aristoi I damn near had to teach myself to write all over again.  The book was just that different.When I started writing science fiction, I believe in late 1983, I came up with a list of what I wanted to do.  Because I'd come from a fairly limited branch of historical fiction— naval action-adventure, where every plot concerned about 200 males on a ship— I wanted to expand in as many directions as possible.So here is my list:The future where everything went right.  (This became...

Three Works Fly Free

So I've received word that Harper has reverted, Metropolitan, City on Fire, and The Rift.
Actually they were reverted last autumn, but the notification was sent to my late agent, Ralph Vicinanza, who passed away in 2010, and whoever is in that office now did not forward the news.
But in any case ebooks will soon be forthcoming!

I Shall Rise on Easter

I'm very pleased to announce that I will be next year's guest of honor at Eastercon, the UK national convention.
Nothing like a ticket to Europe to raise the spirits!
Let's all hope the Mayans were wrong, shall we?

 

Print-on-Demand?

A question for you all.I've been engaged in the lengthy project of converting all my out-of-print works into ebooks, a project which has been a modest success, and which stands to keep me in beer money for a while.   (Or it would if I actually drank a lot of beer, which I don't.)But I can also make the same books available via print-on-demand.  I haven't done a ton of research into this, but I believe I could make the books available as hardbacks on quality paper with dust jackets for around ...

Kenpo Fable

The Kenpo Master was about to begin class with his senior students when he was approached by a stranger who said he was a Tai Chi Master."I would like to do push-hands with you," said the Tai Chi Master."I'm about to begin class," said the Kenpo Master."I am a Tai Chi Master," said the Tai Chi Master, "and I would like to do push-hands.""An august personage such as a Tai Chi Master is always welcome to my school," said the Kenpo Master. "By all means come into the training area, and let us...