Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 213

Villainy

No big secret here, but I'm attracted by dark characters.  I've created characters like Sarah, Black Shadow, Caroline Sula, and Loren Hawn.  I'm interested in shining light into the darker corners of their consciousness, interested in prowling along with them as they ghost about their desperate midnight errands.I regularly write about people that I wouldn't invite to dinner.   (And what would I talk to Loren about, anyway?  Sports?)But my point is that I often use as protagonists the...

From Yog-Tube

Because it's the Season.

Heard Any Good Jokes Lately?

I'm fighting off an attack of food poisoning.
Someone else be amusing for a change.

James Frey Responds

Some of you may recall my post of a couple weeks ago, in which I lambasted author James Frey for the exploitative methods used in his fiction factory, Full Fathom Five.  According to an article in New York, Frey was recruiting naive MFA students to write YA series while paying them a big $250 advance and a promise of a share of any profits, all the while shackling them in a hideously one-sided contract that included huge financial penalties for breaking any of its terms.   The New York

Newly Romanian

If you can read Romanian, you're in for a treat!
The Praxis is just out from Leda, and comes equipped with a terrific cover by Alex Popescu.
Find your copy wherever fine Romanian literature is sold.

Glass Houses

Color me stoked about the WikiLeaks scandal.  250,000 classified documents, half a billion words, a look at the way the US views the world, unfiltered by press secretaries (though apparently the cables will be redacted by several major news organizations, including the NY Times).And what earth-shaking secrets have been revealed so far?  Well, we've learned that Iran is hated and feared by its neighbors, that Angela Merkel is timid, that Sarkozy is thin-skinned, that Karzai is ineffectual and ...

Taos Toolbox

Just a reminder that the submission period for Taos Toolbox begins on December 1, only a very few days from now!
Taos Toolbox (as if you need reminding) is a master class in science fiction and fantasy taught by Nancy Kress, Walter Jon Williams, and special lecturer Jack Skillingstead.  It will take place in Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico, July 10-23, 2011.
If you have aspirations toward writing this stuff, you should definitely submit.

Flame and Citron (2008)

I caught this Danish film, based on the lives of two real-life Second World War Resistance heroes, thanks to Netflix.  Since it's based on real-life Resistance heroes, you know going in that this won't be a happy film, because pretty much all the real-life Resistance heroes died.  (Hey, I'm not telling you anything the original Danish audience didn't already know.)The story concerns two young Danes, Bent (called "Flame" for his red hair) and Jorgen (called "Citron" because he once sabotaged a...

Things To Be Thankful For

It's the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States, so I'll be spending the day with friends, engaged in drinking and gluttony.
Wherever you may be, have a happy Thursday.
And feel free to feast your eyes on the UK cover for DEEP STATE, available in the English-speaking world this coming February.

Mongol

When I was a child, Omar Sharif was my image of Genghis Khan.  I had seen the big-screen Hollywood biopic, perhaps the last to be made in the tradition of Ben-Hur and El Cid, with Omar as Temudjin, Stephen Boyd as the villainous Jamuga, and Robert Morley, of all people, as the Chinese Emperor.  The love interest, Temudjin's wife Borte, was played by the astoundingly blonde Francoise Dorleac (Catherine Deneuve's older sister).  Other notable Caucasians in the cast included Eli Wallach, James M...