Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 227

28 Views to a Job

Inspired by Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules for Writing Fiction, the Guardian asked 27 other writers for their own contributions. The result is overlong, contradictory, but intermittently fascinating. I'll reproduce some of the advice here, but only the bits I agree with. Using adverbs is a mortal sinNever use an adverb to modify the verb "said" . . . he admonished gravely.Avoid prologues: they can

Fish-Faced Enemy of the Empire

A few years ago, the University of Mississippi canned their mascot, Colonel Reb, because, well, he looked like a stereotypical slave-owning plutocrat, and even Ole Miss is committed to diversity these days.But where to look for a new mascot? Especially if your team is called the Rebels?You look to a galaxy far, far away. Yes, there's a movement on campus to replace Colonel Reb with Admiral Ackbar

Das Energi

Two notes from the world of energy:Bloomenergy today rolled out its Bloom Boxes, new-generation fuel cells that can generate electricity in the home (or the factory, or the server farm, or wherever). The cells take in oxygen from one direction, natural gas (or biogas) from another, and produce kilowatts in exchange. The industrial-sized cells weigh ten tons; the home-sized ones are about the

This Is America!

Fast food, homicidal clowns, and there's a logo on everything.Yeah, that's home.[via Lucius Shephard:]

Ideas. Execution.

Majorly big Twilight fan Kayla Patterson has written an open letter to Universal Studios, accusing them of, like, totally, ripping off Stephanie Meyer when they made a movie about a werewolf.I actually started to like werewolves after seeing Jacob Black and all his awesomeness on the big screen at the movies. That was until I saw your crappy remake of what you call to be a "were wolf". I don't

Leaps and Bounds

Watching the skating at the Winter Olympics while improving my vocabulary. I've learned that many of the jumps are named after the person who invented them. The lutz is named after Alois Lutz, the walley after Nate Walley, the axel after Axel Paulson, and the salchow after Ulrich Salchow.And the toe loop, of course, is named after the great British amateur, Sir Basil Toe-Loop.

With a Mighty Bound I Land in the OED

I've invented a brand new word. Soon you will all be using it.It's "googledy-squat." Which is what you get when your search engine can't find the information you want.

A Nebula Nomination Could Soon Be Yours!

The Science Fiction Writers of America have released the list of this year's Nebula nominees. And you know what's the second thing* I noticed about it? Two of the nominees in the short story category--- Will McIntosh and friend-of-the-blog Saladin Ahmed--- are graduates of my Taos Toolbox workshop! Amazingly enough, there is still room available in this year's workshop! Just click the link, and

All About the Rocks

I've been enjoying the Winter Olympics quite a bit. Where else can you hear people intone sentences like, "Right now, you're looking at the future of curling!"But I've gradually become fascinated by the sport. It's cool, it's got strategy, and for a sport that's all about control, it still features players heaving great big chunks of granite at targets very, very far away.It's sort of like lawn

Dead Egyptian Blues

A new series of genetic tests has revealed that poor young King Tut suffered from a raft of genetic disorders, including a cleft palate, club foot, and Kohler's disease, which was slowly destroying the bones of his left foot. He probably had to walk with canes. He was the poster-boy for why you shouldn't be the ultimate product of multiple generations of brother-sister incest.All these disorders