Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 206

1982: The Writer's Life

It'll be Tax Day in less than a week, and preparing my own 1040 has reminded me that it's time for another installment of The Writer's Life.As you will no doubt recall, this is Part Four of a series of posts about my early years as a writer, with my old tax returns supplementing my fading memory.1982 was the year my career writing historical fiction was flushed down the Toilet of Doom.  In fact practically every writer of historical fiction went down that same toilet at the same time. ...

Waldo/Herzog

That slash between "Waldo" and "Herzog" is meant to call to mind the slash between "Marat" and "Sade."  Because this is one extreme artist, Werner Herzog, giving his own unique voice to the work of another artist— namely, the creator of "Where's Waldo?"

May I just state that I've really enjoyed Herzog's sense of humor ever since his star turn in Incident in Loch Ness?

Jamoke

About a year ago I started drinking coffee again.I'd avoided coffee for at least 25 years, and for a very good reason: it made me sick.  If I had coffee— even coffee ice cream— in a few days I'd come down with stomach pains, sometimes very severe, and they'd go on for days.  This was part of the gastritis from which I'd been suffering since I was 22— coffee was the only thing I knew of that would absolutely bring on a gastritis attack.Working this out took a number of years, because the...

Sometimes These Things Take Time

I'm currently working on a novella that I've been planning for over twenty years.  I think I came up with the idea in the late 1980s.I guess you could say I'm not the fastest writer around.The story is the latest installment in the "Dead Romantics" series, in which I craft science fiction stories about writers.  Past installments have featured Poe ("No Spot of Ground"), Mary Shelley ("Wall, Stone, Craft"), and Nietzsche ("The Last Ride of German Freddie").  "Red Elvis," which features, well, ...

Steal This Book. (This Magazine. This Song. This Idea.)

Some of the finest writing advice I've ever encountered, boiled down into one brief blog post, with illustrations.  (via Steven)
HOW TO STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST (AND 9 OTHER THINGS NOBODY TOLD ME)

Sieges Perilous

There are just a very few places left at Taos Toolbox, this year's master class for science fiction and fantasy, taught by Nancy Kress, Walter Jon Williams, and special lecturer Jack Skillingstead.
If you're planning to write this kind of thing, your future could be beckoning right this very minute.

Zooming to Portales

I am off to the Llano Estecado, for the 35th annual Jack Williamson Lecture, held in metropolitan Portales, NM.
Y'all come.

Democracy

The world is going through some staggering changes.As I write this, it looks as if Libya may be in for a long period of civil war, despite its seemingly being pummeled by every country in the world– including Qatar!— which has an air force.  Saudi Arabia has sent armed forces into Bahrain to help suppress dissent.  The government of Yemen seems shakier by the day.  Egypt has voted on a new constitution, and will elect a new president in June.  Tunisia is trying to establish a new democratic o...

Make of This What You Will, Dr. Freud

So I had this dream the other night in which I joined a Live Action Roleplaying Game.  (I've never joined a LARP in real life.)  The game was rather action oriented, in that I carried a weapon and had to infiltrate a heavily defended area, evading bad guys and fighting the ones I couldn't avoid.  I remember battling my way up a canal or river, and that a medium-sized motor yacht was blown up and sunk by a rocket-propelled grenade as I watched.And then I got "killed," and the game stopped and ...

Hand Jive

It looks like another busy weekend without a lot of opportunity for posting, so while I'm away, please enjoy this latest terpsichorean odyssey (via Gardner).