Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 23

Another Win on the Shelf

So Bonnie got another Grammy to put on her shelf, much to the astonishment and outrage of the world. (If you can’t outrage the world at an awards ceremony, what’s the point?) I could post the video of “Just Like That” here, but I thought I’d put up one that was new to me— a live performance of Bonnie and Keb Mo in “Can’t Get Over You.” Check out those mad guitar skills!

Some headline writer described her as a “unknown blues singer.” I guess that’ll put her in her place!

When Horses Fly

I suppose because I was the most junior person on board, I was first through the hatch, and then I just gaped.

The smell struck me first, horse dung and horse sweat and horse panic and horse urine, all blended into a primeval acid reek that scalded the back of my throat. And then there was the demented sight of a dozen or more horses thrashing in zero gravity, legs kicking, eyes starting, foam flying from their nostrils, teeth bared, manes flying… They kicked at each other, at the walls, and...

Whole Yellow

For Cousin Cindy’s visit the other day, I cooked a large ham. It was something like 12 pounds, so it lasted considerably longer than the night Cindy was here. Since then we’ve enjoyed ham sandwiches, ham omelettes, and ham fried rice. Because there was a leftover ham bone, I was inspired to make a memory from my childhood, whole yellow pea soup (with ham), which is very pleasing on a cold winter night.

I think it’s a Scandinavian thing. My mother used to make this all the time when I...

How I Are a Williams

Victor and Alexsandra

A few days ago I had a visit from my cousin Cindy, who was in transit from Minnesota to visit friends in Arizona. Cindy has been assembling a genealogy of our family, and I was able to share a few stories about our history, including the story of how I became a Williams.

I figure I may as well share it with the rest of you.

My paternal grandfather Victor Kuusikoski (born 1876) hailed from the town of Kankaanpää, which was then in the Finnish province of Ostrobo...

1941-2023

David Crosby is the only major rock star I ever had a conversation with, backstage at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. We weren’t exactly a mutual admiration society: I adored his music; and though a science fiction fan who knew my name, he’d never read any of my books. (I sent him some, but I have no idea if he ever read them.)

I’ve read his autobiographies, full of fraught and hazard, and I’m amazed he made it to 81.

Here he is performing “Déjà Vu,” which was for its tim...

A Little Joiking in the Night

Friend of the blog Steinar Bang has sent me this clip of Norway-born Sami Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen performing a masterful joik.

It appears to be some kind of competition show. Now why can’t we have shows like this in the States?

I Am Revu’d

Locus Online has published Russell Letson’s lengthy, thoughtful review of Imperium Restored. I quote from a key paragraph:

I will repeat (again) the observation I made at the very start, two decades back: that despite marketing language and cover iconography, these are not only space-operatic military adventures but also novels of manners, which makes them future-setting cousins of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin wooden-ships novels . . . Here character and social observation and the i...

Go Yeoh!

Via Variety:

Nobody is going to play off Michelle Yeoh. The actor, who won her first Golden Globe on Tuesday, jokingly told the awards show’s producers to “shut up” after trying to cut her speech short. 

“I can beat you up,” said Yeoh as music started to play midway through her remarks. “And that’s serious.”

Man, I would love to see that. Much better than watching comic actors bitch-slapping each other.

Saladin Swings Spider-Man

We continue with our survey of releases in 2022 from veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy.

Saladin Ahmed was at the very first Toolbox in 2007, where he workshopped his novel Throne of the Crescent Moon, subsequently nominated for every award in the field. Saladin was nominated for a short fiction Nebula before pivoting to the Marvel Universe, where he scripts Ms. Marvel and the Miles Morales version of Spider-man. He’s also continued hi...

Feed the Bear

It’s the New Year, so the application season for Taos Toolbox has finally opened!

Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy, has a proven record of helping new writers make sales, win awards, and build careers. If your New Year’s resolution for 2023 is “working toward becoming a professional writer,” this is the place to start.

George R.R. Martin will once again provide the Terran Award, a full tuition and lodging scholarship for a writer from a non-En...