Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 190

Solip:System Now!

I am pleased to report that my novella Solip:System, which as it sez right here on the cover is the sequel to Hardwired, is now available via Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords.Your price is a mere $2.99!The cover art is by Innovari.  While I confess that the cover does not actually illustrate any scene in the novella (sorry, lads!) it's not only a striking image but has about the same blend of sleaze and shiny that you'll find in the story.The next ebook up should be Aristoi, the unusual...

Revisiting Knight Moves

I've always felt a certain ambivalence about my novel Knight Moves.  (Which, I am compelled to point out yet again, is newly available for Kindle, Nook, and on multiple formats via Smashwords.)I had barely started the novel before I had the idea for Hardwired, a book that just demanded to be written.  Unfortunately I'd just contracted for Knight Moves, so I had to write this whole other book before I could get to the one I was absolutely insane to write.I've always felt that I maybe...

Reviews in the Nick of Time: Many Things Go Crash

This holiday season I've actually seen some movies that are still in the theaters! Great blistering barnacles!First up was Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows .  Nothing wrong with this one except that I didn't care about the characters, I didn't care about Moriarty's plot (which was stupid anyway), I was relieved when Irene died (because she was so awful), and I was in no suspense about the ending, because as soon as I heard the name "Reichenbach," I knew what the ending was going to be.Having e...

Reviews Too Late: Skandinavian Film Fest!

I've been having a small Scandinavian film festival of my very own, full of gorgeous images from my ethnic and spiritual homeland.  Some movies drove me to cheer, some to drink.  Herewith some brief reviews: Troll Hunter (2010),  a Norwegian film in the "found documentary" genre, like Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield.A group of film students, out to make a documentary about a bear poacher, encounters a mysterious, taciturn hunter who lives in a smelly, disgusting Airstream and drives a...

2012

Let's all raise a glass of champagne and fly the hell out of 2011.

 

Flight

We went to the Bernardo Bird Refuge today, a pleasant 20-minute drive from where we live.  Cold, clear, and filled with the sound of thousands of birds, mostly sandhill cranes and snow geese.
Here are hundreds of snow geese panicked by the sound of my camera shutter.

 

 

The best pictures were those taken right at sunset, with the corn in the fields glowing gold, the mountains pink, and the sky deep blue. This is one of those.

Taos Toolbox

Taos Toolbox has survived the holidays very well, and is still accepting applications. 
So if you want to participate in a two-week workshop, in luxury mountain accommodations, with me, Nancy Kress, and Daniel Abraham, you should apply soon.  Particularly because if you beat the January 1 deadline, you can save a few bucks.

The Centaur Is In the Building

 

Okay, so finally Knight Moves is available for Kindle, Nook, and on multiple formats via Smashwords.
This book is brought to you courtesy of my crowdsourcing program.
My holidays are finally complete.

Making the Holidays Even Brighter

By now I trust you've all had the chance to open your holiday presents, eat your holiday meals, and belch your holiday belches.  By now you're all sitting bemused about the tree amid piles of wrapping paper and ribbon, while 95-proof eggnog does triple axels in your head.  And you're probably asking yourself, What next?Well, if you happen to be one of the 4,000,000+ people who got a Kindle this holiday season, or the many others who received iPads or Nooks or Kobos or other readers, I am...

Good Merlinpeen To All

This is a not-particularly-brilliant photo of this year's Merlinpeen tree.  I must admit that I was on my second margarita when I took it.I hope you all enjoy this year's Festival of Mouth Pleasures, or— if you happen not to share my Verdukian faith— a wonderful Christmas, a joyous Festival of Lights, a riotous Saturnalia, delightful Daft Days, a glorious reemergence of Amaterasu, a good Biewe Festival, a mickle Maidyarem, a memorable citrus bath at Donzhi, a great Goru, a joyous Junkanoo, a ...