Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 219

Daring to Ask: Post-Katrina

The Daring to Ask Blog has dared to ask me some very comprehensive questions about my novel, The Rift. The book was published in 1999, but don't let that stop you from enjoying it.

Gaining Altitude

Me and my friend here, Iron Chef Walter, are off to Taos for a week. My appearances are likely to be intermittent for the next seven days or so. In fact I make not make it back if I'm hanging out with this guy. As you can see, he can really put it away.

Somewhere Clint Eastwood Is Smiling

With the environment under threat, and the so-called "experts" failing to come up with a solution, the President makes a wild call, and a rag-tag band of mavericks steps up to the plate and jury-rigs a solution that saves the day . . . No, this isn't the movie Armageddon. This is real life. With PB unable to stop its gusher on the floor of the Gulf, Obama has now called in his own team. I note

Your Daily Dose of Paranoia

It's been a week since Wall Street's flash crash, when runamuck automated selling wiped out a tenth of my retirement fund--- and, somewhat less importantly, a trillion dollars of assets worldwide. The stocks have come back, but what I find interesting is that no one's actually found what triggered the manic selling. They seem to have ruled out mistakes by traders, so the whole "fat finger

The Green Leopard and Other Plagues

My new collection, The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories, is now available! Ask for it wherever fine books are sold! Contained in the volume are two stories that actually won Nebula Awards, as well as other stories that were nominated for Nebulas, Hugos, and/or Sidewises, but due to some horrid cosmic accident did not actually win. Plus there's an introduction by Charles Stross and

Where the Oil Comes From

Via Ralf, a highly scientific explanation of how the U.S. gets its oil.

In Sizzle Requiescat

She never lost the sizzle. Here's she is from 1965.RIP, Miss Lena Horne.

A Really Cool Idea That I Can't Know Anything About

I could use some free publicity about now, so could one of you please load a cooler with a bunch of my books and leave it in Times Square? Just don't tell me when or if you're going to do it. Or who you are. Or anything.Thank you.(/irony)

Coffee Bread

Recently my cousin Karla and her mom Alice passed through New Mexico on the way to a bowling tournament in El Paso. I get to see my relatives maybe once every decade, so I was pleased to invite them over for dinner and to show them around Albuquerque. Unfortunately this was a day of a huge windstorm, cold gusts to sixty knots or so, so the outdoor activities we'd planned--- aerial tram,

Angel Mike

Via Patricia, this really astounding virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel. It's got everything but the Pope!