Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 192

And Now, a Message from Mr. Fawkes . . .

The hacker collective Anonymous has, to no one's surprise, come out against the National Defense Authorization Act, which recently passed the Senate on a 93-7 vote.For those of you unfamiliar with the act— which may be most of you, since the mainstream media seems too caught up in the doings of the Kardashians and the Republican Flavor-of-the-Month to report anything about this— it contains a provision jointly authored by John McCain (R-Ariz) and John Levin (D-Mich) that (1) declares that...

Got 2012?

Once again, by way of sharing our adventures with our friends, we've published a calendar.This one, interestingly enough, is for 2012.  Why, that's next year!You'll probably need a calendar for that.  You might as well have this one.Once again, I make no money from this.  I just make calendars out of the spirit of sharing the good things that happen to me.This photo was taken on May 16, 2011, and features the final launch of Endeavor, STS-134. Since the launch was delayed the first time, we e...

Preview of Coming Attractions

Behold, the cover for the forthcoming e-release of Angel Station!

Reviews in the Nick of Time: Hugo

Martin Scorsese directing a fantasy?  A fantasy with a juvenile protagonist?  A fantasy with a juvenile protagonist based on a Caldecott Award-winning children's book in which absolutely no one is stabbed in the jugular with a kitchen knife to spray gallons of blood over the scenery?  Say it ain't so, Marty!Yeah, it's so.Despite its general air of wholesomeness, the movie had me right at the opening scene, in which a clockwork mechanism slowly dissolves, or maybe mutates, into a panoramic...

Galactic Onanation Device

Happy Holidays, everybody!  Jesus is returning!As a Borg!On a Cube!Which is disguised as a comet!And you can prove this through scripture!Via io9, the exciting new UFO theory so insanely implausible and dimwitted that of course tens of thousands of people believe in it without question.Conspiracy theorists believe that Comet Elenin is rapidly approaching Earth, and that it's a perfect cube. A cube piloted by cyborgs who seek to assimiliate the human race into their collective. A Borg Cube...

Mayan Stylin'

If you've been fretting about the end of the world (which, for those of you still waiting for Y2K, has been rescheduled for 2012), you can now rest easy.If, that is, you own an Invisible Mystic Mayan Power Cloak.The Mayan Power Cloak not only guarantees that you will survive the arrival of Bolon Yokte' K'uh, a close encounter with the planet Nibiru, or a dangerous proximity to Lars von Trier, but will also "Harness unlimited Love, Money, and Power!"Be careful, though, when wearing your Power ...

Aboundeth Irony

 

Word (via Dangerous Minds) that the soundtrack of those "you wouldn't steal a car" anti-download ads is, in fact, pirated.  Somebody owes Dutch composer Melchior Rietveldt a great big bucketful of Euros.
Adding injury to insult to injury, the national royalty collection agency Buma/Stemra demanded a hefty bribe before investigating the matter.   Which demand Rietveldt cheerfully recorded on a hidden microphone.
A bunch of evil exploiters hoist on their own petard.   Eat shrapnel, swine!

Comin' Atcha

So here I am, fresh (and reeking) from my three-day black belt test.I am now a fifth-degree black belt in Kenpo Karate.  One of six in our organization.Score!!!I am in almost too much pain to type this— let's just say my physical resources were thoroughly tested, and leave it at that— but I have to say that I enjoyed myself a lot more than I thought I would.  Thanks to the judging board, Mr Gilbert, Mr Davis, Ms Thibault, Mr Racette, and Mr Keschinger, for making my actual test such a...

Return Engagement

We're experiencing the first big winter storm of the season, with what are quite literally hurricane-force winds.  My neighbor appears to have lost part of his roof.  The 0nly damage we've sustained so far is that the cover to the hot tub tore off, flinging aside the heavy water-filled weights that we'd placed on it to prevent that very thing.The only objects we could find heavy enough to weight the cover down were plastic containers filled with books and manuscripts.   We used strapping...

Taos Toolbox

For all you folks interested in writing SF and fantasy:  the application period for Taos Toolbox begins December 1
Toolbox is a two-week master class taught by myself, Nancy Kress, and special lecturer Daniel Abraham.  It takes place June 10-23, 2012, in the lovely mountain environs of Taos Ski Valley.
For more information, by all means click the link.