Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 216

Shades of Porn

So I've watched a few episodes of Season Two of True Blood, and I'm beginning to sort out the whole idea of porn for girls and how it works.Porn for boys, for instance, works as follows:1. Pizza deliveryman rings doorbell.2. Beautiful woman in negligee answers.3. They have hot sex.Whereas porn for girls runs like this:1. Vampire rings doorbell.2. Beautiful woman in Daisy Dukes answers and

Write-a-Thon!

The Clarion Workshop is holding this year's Write-a-Thon even as I'm typing this. Writers will be beavering away for the next month, trying to write enough copy to trigger donations from their sponsors.You could be that sponsor! Support the Writers of the . . . well, I can't say Future, can I? That's another outfit. Support the Writers of Tomorrow! Pledge today!

Alien Cool

I think it was Joe Haldeman who said about creating aliens for science fiction: "If they're not at least as weird as the Japanese, the author has failed." Well, the Japanese have got even weirder.Cracked.com demonstrated this with a list of 6 Japanese Subcultures That are Insane (Even for Japan). Check out the Mountain Hags, the Male Host gigolos, the Yankiis, and the Visual Kei. Plus the

Hurrah for the Ground Observer Corps!

We had a pleasing holiday weekend, including a small gathering on the Fourth of July for a few friends. We served only patriotic American foods: hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, potato chips, macaroni salad . . . though it has to be admitted that we did have fruit salad in case anybody brought a Communist who couldn't eat red meat. Our friend Pat Rogers brought a completely evil version

A Bare Bodkin

I had a recent email from the Romanian translators of The Praxis. It seems that "Sula" is a very rude word in Romanian--- the literal meaning is "bodkin," but the slang meaning is something else again. So my heroine's Romanian name is now Caroline Sylla. This is fine with me. When I offend foreigners, I want to do it deliberately, not by accident.

The Folklore of Pasta

It occurs to me that pasta seems to be the foodstuff with more folklore and superstition attached to it than any other. My mom, for example, always poured oil into the pasta water in order to keep the pasta from sticking together. It also kept the water from boiling over. When the pasta was cooked, she'd rinse it in hot water in a colander, "to wash off the extra starch." (I think it was

Mystery Plane (3)

Okay, the last Mystery Plane was identified after a mere 32 minutes. Let's see if this one does better.What is this aircraft? And why is it not what you might think?

Mystery Plane (2)

The last time I was at an air museum, I posted a picture of a mysterious aircraft and challenged you all to solve the puzzle. Diana Rowland came up with the solution in, like, twelve seconds, but now that I've been to the Museum of Flight I hope to do better.What is this aircraft? And no, it's not the one you probably think it is.

Back from Seattle

So I'm back from Seattle, having had a wonderful time with any number of old friends. And having finally met Ursula K. Leguin, and actually been on a panel with her, as opposed to just looking at her from across the room as she's mobbed by admirers, which I gather happens to her more or less all the time.The first place we stopped was the Museum of Flight, which is right next to Boeing Field. In

Away to Seattle

I'm leaving for Seattle to help with the induction of Roger Zelazny into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, which will take place on Saturday. I'll be doing a panel on science fiction on Saturday morning at 10:00, followed by a signing at 11:00. Both will be at the Courtyard Seattle Lake Union hotel, and will be followed by the Locus Awards.Come join me if you're in the area.