Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 229

Rupes Weighs In

So far I've been watching the Macmillan-Amazon feud with a degree of disinterest--- other than my wide-eyed jaw-dropping awe at Amazon's bad, irrational behavior, and my compassion for my fellow authors who are being screwed, I have no books with Macmillan, so I didn't really have a dog in the fight.But now Rupert Murdoch has weighed in, suggesting to Amazon that it is, in fact, time to

My Glorious Name Shall Ring Forever

Locus magazine has bowed to the inevitable and put This Is Not a Game on their end-of-the-year recommended reading list. The other stuff on the list isn't too shabby, either!

25 Years After . . .

I'm pleased to report that I've just signed contracts for a French edition of my 1985 novel Knight Moves, from Editions l'Atlante. Go, me! Go l'Atlante!

Speeding Past in the Blink of an Eye

While I was enjoying a pleasurably distracting weekend and unable to properly follow events, a huge earth-shaking contretemps broke out between publisher MacMillan/St. Martin's/Tor and Amazon, to determine which business model will prevail on the Internets of the Future. The whole thing seems to have flown past in an eyeblink, to what some are claiming as a sort of resolution, but which really

. . . and Other Stories

I'm pleased to report that I've signed contracts for The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories, to be published by Night Shade in April 2010.Yes!!! You have only a few weeks to wait!!! Night Shade moves fast!(Actually the book has been in production for a while now. The actual contract was somewhat delayed, though.) This valuable volume was edited by Jonathan Strahan, and contents are as follows

Story. Plot. Imagination.

Yesterday I saw Terry Gilliam's new movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus--- yes, a month or more after the rest of you saw it--- and I came out of the theater with a theory. But first, a brief review.The movie is dreadfully slow. Much of the dialog just meanders about and doesn't advance the story (apparently a lot of it was improvised by the actors, and it sounds it). Tony, our main

When Latin Tattoos Go Wrong

I knew people tattooed idiotic dog-Chinese on their skins, but Latin? Latin from an online translation program?You know, I liked Pulp Fiction a lot, too.But I didn't like it so much that I needed a quarter of my chest devoted to Sam Jackson's badass Biblical quotation. I sure as hell didn't need it put in Latin. If I did need it in Latin, I wouldn't have put it through an online translator,

The Obligatory Hugo Pimping Topic

I notice that other writers are out in the blogosphere doing what they do best: working hard to get folks to give them awards. Yes!!! It's Hugo Nomination Time! I've never pimped for awards (at least, not in such a public place). I've always made the assumption that you know damn well what I've published, and therefore have an obligation to vote for my works, so that any awards I win will

Zero Rupees

A new weapon has been deployed in India's war against official corruption--- the zero rupee note.. . . the idea was first conceived by an Indian physics professor at the University of Maryland, who, in his travels around India, realized how widespread bribery was and wanted to do something about it. He came up with the idea of printing zero-denomination notes and handing them out to officials

I Am A Mere Drudge

Page proofs finished.2-hour endless dispute with UPS about getting the page proofs back to the publisher. Result: proofs still in hand.Novelet still unfinished. All fun postponed to the morrow.