Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 212

Seated Freestanding

Here's the cover photo for our splendid calendar, featuring the giant bronze Buddha on Lantau Island, in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.   The local gwailo call him "Big Buddha," and, at 112 feet [35 meters or so], he is claimed to be the largest seated freestanding Buddha in the world. (One would think that "seated freestanding" is a contradiction in terms, but apparently not.)The Po Lin Monastery was founded around 1900 with the intention of becoming a "rich monastery," and...

Western Sunset

It's that season when old friends come to town, when social occasions like fondue parties, tree-decorating parties, dinner parties, and party parties all start crowding together.This is one reason why I haven't been online much, and haven't been posting much here.  Cuz, dude, I have friends who want to see me.  And they are all so awesomely cool that I have to go.(Well, I suppose I could have live-blogged the fondue party.  "We are now trying the Gruyere.  Wow!  Tasty!"  But I decided to...

Scary Solstice

It's not often that you get an actual solar eclipse right on the solstice.  (I've watched Third Contact even as I write.)
But you have to ask yourself . . . is this unique astronomical event part of a sinister Plan?  Are the stars now Right?
Will They return?

Early Xmas

So here I am modeling my nifty holiday present from the students of Taos Toolbox 2010, a custom tee with a splendid, special design front and back.  (That bear must have made quite an impression.)My thanks to all concerned for my lovely new fashion statement.And while I'm here, allow me to remind everyone that we're still accepting applications for Taos Toolbox 2011— the gift that really keeps on giving.And by the way, have I mentioned that there is a financial incentive to apply for Toolbox ...

Tron Holiday Special

With the new Tron in the theaters, maybe it's time to flash back to 1982 .  . . and the Tr0n Holiday Special.
[via Monte Cook]

The 1982 Tron Holiday Special from Rip Taylor

Shark El-Sheikh

The Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh was being terrorized by a shark that had killed one swimmer and injured three more.Then the man-eater was killed mano-a-mano by Dragan Stevic, a drunken Serb tourist.   The only problem being, he was too drunk to remember doing it.Milovan Ubirapa, one of Stevic's friend who witnessed the incident explained that Dragan had decided to go to the beach for a swim after a long night of drinking. As Dragan and his friends approached the beach, he saw a...

Not For Christmas

If any of you have bought what seems to be a new $45 Walter Jon Williams collection off Amazon . . . well, maybe it's not too late to get your money back.Folks seem to have packaged my Wikipedia page plus 80 pages of other publicly-available information and are selling it between covers for an outrageous amount of money.And it's a paperback!  These people have no shame.I've just found out about this, so I don't know what can be done about it, if anything.  Maybe we can all review it on...

Clarion Calls

The six-week Clarion writers' workshop is now accepting applications for 2011.
It's a six-week workshop for writers of science fiction and fantasy, featuring six writer-instructors.
It's harrowing, merciless, brutal, and life-changing.  Fifty percent of the graduates eventually stagger on to some kind of career in the field.
Check it out.

Awesomely Awesome

What's more awesome than a 2100-year-old astronomical computer found on the sea floor a century ago?
A 2100-year-old astronomical computer reconstructed in Legos!

And, for those of you for whom sheer awesomeness is not enough, here's a 3D digital reconstruction of the original mechanism, complete with gear ratios for the home hobbyists among you.

Vicious Grace

This post belongs to my good friend MLN Hanover, whose new book Vicious Grace has just been released.  Vicious Grace is Book III of The Black Sun's Daughter, which (as you can tell by the heavily armed, seminude voluptuous female on the cover) is an urban fantasy series.Urban fantasy isn't always my personal cup of tea, but MLN's is as good as it gets, and that turns out to be pretty darned fine.The first two books, Unclean Spirits and Darker Angels, introduced MLN's heroine Jayne Heller...