Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 197

What's Next

I've been working to get an ebook version of Hardwired up and available for your digitized pleasure.Here's the first draft of the cover.  (It's a classic, if you ask me.)  And of course I couldn't resist the Zelazny quote, because, y'know, if you've got a Zelazny blurb, you really want to use it.This is maybe the first of my ebook covers that could pass muster as the cover of a real book.  The reason is that ebook covers don't need anything other than the title and the author's name, whereas ...

Procurement

When I wrote my one and only Star Wars book,  I gave some thought to the Empire's military procurement procedure, something I suspect had not actually been done before.  I put my thoughts into the mouth of Han Solo, as he contemplates the Empire's response to the invasion of a bunch of blue meanies called the Yuuzhan Vong:"What the Empire would have done was build a super-colossal Yuuzhan Vong-killing battle machine.  They would have called it the Nova Colossus or the Galaxy Destructor or...

Reviews Too Late: Treme

I would most likely have a deeply embarrassing fanboy moment if I ever met David Simon.  I'd babble and drop whatever I had in my hand and maybe do a Snoopy Dance.  I would almost certainly drool.  And the reason is that David Simon is such a damn good writer.And of course David Simon created The Wire, which is the Best Dramatic Television Series Ever, and which ran for five whole years and only got more brilliant from one season to the next.Because I don't have HBO I wasn't able to watch...

Ghosts

I think it was when ABC News started broadcasting messages from the 9/11 dead that I made up my mind.  I won't be watching the news on the tenth anniversary, or watching or listening to any of the ten-year commemorations.ABC is, after all, one of the country's premiere news organizations, but apparently they can't tell the difference between a tribute to the martyred dead and an episode of Syfy's Ghost Hunters.The fall of the Towers was a tragedy that radically changed this country and the...

Well Whinge

 

We've had two days of clouds and rain, and that's lowered the temperature enough so that this was the first day since May, maybe, when we haven't had to turn on the AC.I hope that the rain is raising the water table.  We live in the country, and that means our water comes from a well.  Even at the best of times the water is hard, and we use a water softener to make it something we actually want to wash our stuff in.  Except that this year's been so dry that the water table's gone down, and o...

A Day Without Email . . .

 

. . . is like a day without being bitten on the hand by a chihuahua.In other words, a day without something that is vaguely painful and annoying but not in any way harmful or dangerous.For some technical reason, never quite deciphered, I couldn't log onto the Internet from my Atlanta hotel, and I went five days without being able to access my email.  When I got home and was able to look at my four hundred-odd messages, there wasn't a single one that required an answer.But that doesn't mean I...

Dragon*Con

(Dragon*Con sort of wants the asterisk to be there, and I sort of don't.  So I'll put it in the first sentence and the title, and you can take it as read from this point onward.  Right?)Typographical issues aside, My Horrible Month of Travel is now over.   During the last thirtysome days I've got to spend eight whole nights at home, and the rest on the road.  Though I had a good time wherever I went, I'm not about to do anything like this again.  (Not unless people offer to hand me great...

Kicking It Old School

 

Via Ian McDowell, this juicy trailer from Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. Directed by my onetime creative associate Tsui Hark, with fight chorography by Sammo Hung, and starring Andy Lau, Carina Lau, and Tony Leung (Ka-fai).  The movie was nominated for thirteen Hong Kong Film Awards and won six.I'm always happy to see Judge Dee in any of his incarnations.  My first introduction to the character came from the series of mystery novels by Robert van Gulik, a Dutch diplomat ...

Dragoncon Schedule

I am off to Dragoncon at the unfortunate hour of 6:25am.  Fortunately it's a nonstop flight and I can sleep the whole way.  This is the fourth convention in a row for me, and I'm surprised I can stay on my feet.Here's my schedule.  I seem to be mainly on alternate history panels, but there's a whole hour where you can ask me anything you like.After all this travel, I may be too beat up to understand the questions, though.Title: A-Viking We Will Go!
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: International ...

Mostly Complete Ebook List!

 

I've updated my ebook list to a nearly-complete status!  So if you're looking for my work in e-formats, check there.
Because some of my stories are available in anthologies that have been e-formatted, new stuff is popping up all the time, so the list can't possibly be complete.  But in the meantime, feel free to download and enjoy what's there.