Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 20

Well Damn

The world has lost Tina Turner. She had a career that lasted over 50 years and even in the new millennium she was still one of the hardest-working acts in the business. (She danced for how many hours? And in those heels?)

Here she is at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, doing an unrehearsed version of “River Deep, Mountain High” with some unexpected faces in her backup band.

And here’s a bonus video of Tina singing with a lifelong pal.

Okay, so now Youtube isn’t al...

Worst. Trip. Ever.

After 24 hours in planes and airports I’ve returned from the Med, jetlagged, miserable, in considerable pain, and without Kathy. This trip sucked.

Bad luck struck on my first day in Valetta, when I tripped on a marble stair and seriously damaged my right knee. The heavy frames on my sunglasses blocked my view of my own feet, and I didn’t realize the stairway had an extra step right under my feet. I landed heavily on my right foot, and the shock went to my knee. The rest of the day I wa...

Cast Ashore

So after 30 hours in airports and aircrafts, we finally washed up on the shores of Malta.  

Here is a photo of Valetta Harbor at night, taken from our hotel.

Valetta was named after Jean Parisot de la Valette, Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, who defended the island during the Ottoman siege. Valette is probably more famous as a reputed ancestor of my character Drake Maijstral. 

Royalty

Tapisserie de Bayeux – Scène 55 : le duc Guillaume se fait reconnaître.

There’s an indescribable something about being stuck somewhere, waiting for the plane to arrive, and having nothing to watch but a horror film which I thought at first was Invasion of the Frog-Faced Chinless People, but which turned out to be the coronation of Charles III of the United Kingdom.

I am not by any stretch a monarchist, but I watched in the same spirit with which I always watch the peculiar ceremonies of...

Malta Bound

In just a few hours we’re going to be flying off for another archaeo-maritime adventure. After something like 20 hours in planes and airports, we’ll arrive on the island republic of Malta. After a couple days to recover from jet lag, we’ll be getting on a smallish boat to visit Tangier and circumnavigate Sicily.

As with our trip to the Greek islands last year, this trip is organized by the American Institute of Archaeology, so we’ll have our own archaeologist to show us around, from ...

Quenelles!

So the other night I had some friends over for a Spring Feast. Starters were cappelletti stuffed with chicken, cheese, and herbs, served with a lemon-cream sauce and asparagus. Chief protein was sous vide leg of lamb, served with a chickpea salad with vegetables, herbs, and mint.

Dessert we never got to. Too full even to think about it.

In making the cappelletti I ran out of pasta before I ran out of the stuffing, so a few nights later I decided to make a meal of the leftovers. ...

Questing

You know how the Internet allows you to dive deep on some weird, forgotten subject? I’ve fallen victim to the deep dive syndrome more than once, diving on turnspit dogs, Venetian galleys, Bobbitt worms, and Anglo-Saxon kings.

It’s all by way of wasting time while pretending to educate yourself.

The latest quest was a result of listening to Fluffy Hunter’s classic “The Walking Blues,” which opens with the line “I got a man who likes to hucklebuck.”

Hucklebuck?

What, pr...

Can’t Stop Talking

This seems to be the season when you can’t walk the internet without stumbling over one of my interviews. The odd thing is that they’re all different, and that I hardly ever have to repeat myself.

Here I am interviewed by Selina of Annie’s Book Stop in Worcester, MA. I’d like to think it’s a pleasant and informative interview, marred only slightly by some Zoom filter removing the upper right corner of my head.

Terran Prize Awarded!

The Terran Prize for 2023, sponsored by George R.R. Martin and awarded by Walter Jon Williams and Nancy Kress, has been awarded to Santiago Márquez Ramos. The prize consists of tuition and lodging at this year’s Taos Toolbox workshop, and is awarded to applicants coming from a non English-speaking background.

Santiago Márquez Ramos was raised in México and Latin America. He lived in Querétaro, Bogotá, Bayamón, and Monterrey before studying psychology and computer engineering at Boston U...

Off Again

So I’m off to the Llano Estecado for the annual Jack Williamson Lectureship, this year featuring guest Arkady Martine. I’ll hope the plumbing doesn’t blow up while I’m away.

Either way, I’ll check in when I get back.