Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 194

Apocalypse by Aerostar

 

Okay, I'm kinda speechless now, ever since I found out that the Pakistanis have taken to shuttling its hundred or so nuclear weapons around in ordinary cargo vans, in ordinary Pakistani traffic, without an escort.These are, by the way, "mated" nuclear weapons, containing both the casing and the core, which are supposed to be kept separate for, um, pretty well-understood security reasons.Now why, you ask, are the Pakistanis moving their bombs around?To hide them from its ally, the United...

Over to the Group Mind

Can anyone recommend a good .pdf to .doc and/or .rtf translator?I've tried a number of them, and they all load the resulting file with massive amounts of formatting clutter, which make it (among other things) impossible to produce a decent result while working in e-formats.Friend of the blog TJIC managed to fix Hardwired when it was afflicted with this problem, but (1) I'd hate to keep bugging him with one ms after another, and (2) I'd rather the problem never exist in the first place.So far ...

Didn't It Rain

Friend of the blog Dave Bishop, in response to my early post about Big Joe Turner, posted a reminiscence about seeing Sister Rosetta Tharpe playing a concert on a rainy railway platform in Manchester, U.K.
Another friend of the blog, Patricia Rogers, found online the video of that very concert! Here it is.  Maybe we'll be able to catch a glimpse of the young Dave Bishop somewhere in the audience.
Don't let it be said we don't give you fast service here in this forum.

Marigolds

 

The weekend featured Albuquerque's annual Day of the Dead Parade— though, since it took place several days after the actual Day of the Dead, it was called the Marigold Parade (marigolds, for those of you not into the worship of Mictecacihuatl, are believed to attract spirits).The local community center was full of ofrendas, improvised altars to one thing or another, often deceased family members.  There was one altar dedicated to Amy Winehouse, who was featured along with Ms. Winehouse's...

Come Naked

The following are alleged to be actual answers found on the official Australian tourist web site.  Even if that's not true, they're still pretty amusing.Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia ? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? ( UK ).A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? ( USA )

A: Depends how much you've been drinking.Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney – can I follow the...

Big Joe

So . . . who invented rock and roll?My money's on this guy.Not only did he record "Roll 'Em Pete", the first song with a backbeat, in 1938, but he mastered a whole series of musical genres.  Blues, jump blues, R&B, jazz, big band swing, and finally rock and roll.In addition to recording with jazz greats Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, and Sammy Price, he gave the Basie Orchestra a big shot in the arm with their collaboration.And then "Shake, Rattle, and Roll," with its risque lyrics, made him a...

Spacetime Rip

The Europeans, I am delighted to report, are planning on punching a hole in spacetime.(Into which, my cynicism tempts me to add, they will throw billions in their soon-to-be-worthless currency.)The combined power of 10 separate lasers would be focused down to a very small volume, creating conditions more extreme than in the center of our sun. It is hoped (yes, hoped) that this immense energy will punch a hole through the fabric of spacetime itself, heralding a new era of exotic physics...

Wild Cards in Film

 

Universal has just acquired the Wild Card books!
Universal is a major studio without a superhero franchise . . . till now.

WFC

When I tell my friends I'm off to the World Fantasy Convention, they always think I'll be attending a more exotic sort of event than it actually is.When I explain that it's a gathering of writers, artists, and editors, they sort of furrow their brows and say, "What the hell kind of fantasy is that?"Mine, apparently.  Sorry.But anyway, yes, I am off as of tomorrow morning.  Friday evening I'll be at the mass signing, probably arriving late, and will also be at a 3pm panel on Thursday...

Royalties

Three major publishers have announced that they're going to make sales data available to their authors.   I mean, like, wow.Those of you unconnected with the arcane world of publishing may have assumed that sales data was always available to authors.  I mean, why wouldn't it be?Because publishers stood to make millions by not telling authors how many books they were selling, that's why.I have before me a set of royalty statements from June 2011.  These reports didn't actually arrive last...